Facebook attempting to purchase Twitter… Again.
In this constantly changing world of social media, nothing seems to amaze me anymore. New and better ideas are lurking at every corner just waiting to be discovered. As we all have seen recently, Twitter has taken social media by storm with its exponential growth over the past year. They are a major player now and can’t be ignored by anyone, especially Facebook. During this time, Facebook has encountered criticism for not actively incorporating a system similar to the Twitter platform. They did however make an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the phenomenon last fall for an estimated $500 million in Facebook stock. They’re at it again and seem to be closer to reaching a behind the scenes agreement with Twitter. Facebook believes it’s wiser for them to purchase a functionally working entity as opposed to creating an entirely new one that may fail. Unfortunately for Facebook, this will be an even more lucrative buy only 6 months later. I’ve seen no definitive info regarding monetary details, however, I would think the offer would be over a billion dollars now.
The social media industry is constantly changing, I know enough to warrant an opinion based on my everyday usage of both products. I strongly feel a marriage between the two would be the best case scenario for most users. As a decision maker in at MDS Interactive, I would personally love for this to occur. Constantly updating both sites is becoming quite annoying to be honest. An interface of the two would eliminate this setback while also giving me a larger, more established audience to market our company towards. I honestly hope Twitter isn’t simply testing the water to see their market value only to snub Facebook once again.
You can find more this New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2009/04/01/technology/personaltech/facebook-twitter/facebook-twitter-acquisition.html
On a sidenote, as of March 31st 2009, Facebook CFO Gideon Yu, is leaving the company. This is not supposed to affect the addition of Twitter.
http://www.insidefacebook.com/
Matt Eastridge
SEM Growth/Forecast: What recession???
I am elated to see our industry finally begin to get the notice it deserves! At MDS Interactive, we have always prided ourselves on two core elements, accountability and transparency. These two staples are now giving the entire SEM world credibility and growth in a time where print and broadcasting are at best stagnant. With a projected growth rate of 13% per year until 2013, it’s difficult to argue the power of search engine marketing.
The ability to attain and track tangible leads in a matter of days utilizing a budgetable campaign has and will continue to peak the interest of businesses still avoiding online marketing. The objective results and empirical proof are impossible to argue. This ‘tight’ economy has reminded all businesses to do two things; determine how much marketing dollars they are and can spend, then find out a measurable return they receiving for that investment. When MDS Interactive can show a company an accurately estimated return on their investment, said client can then make a much more informed decision with less worry when using our services.
I’d like to echo Mr. Mullins’ sentiments for those who haven’t seen the article, ‘Search marketing should be a cornerstone of any marketing strategy. Any company that isn’t visible when users are looking for their services or products online is throwing away opportunities to capture new sales and customers.’
More info on this Richard Mullins’ article can be found at http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/16/34414.html
**I’d like to send a special thanks to our tracking capabilities and reverse proxy, you provide MDS Interactive a unique accountability and transparency rarely seen in any medium of marketing.
Matt Eastridge
We are very spoiled at MDS Interactive. Many times as we go to lunch we conveniently and leave our wallets. Today we went to Beantown Tavern!
Beantown is a favorite spot for the guys at MDSI and we all like to have a good time away from the daily marketing rat race. In the second picture, we asked them which one was flipping the bill …. Jim lost … Mark forgot his wallet too 
. Thanks guys!
Jim Wilson (blue shirt) and Mark Alberghini (the dapper tie and striped shirt) started MDS 20 years ago! Congrats on your 20th year anniversary! Maybe we will let you pay for the next “Interactive” group luncheon in celebration. We are also celebarating our 5th anniversary of MDS Interactive this year!
Education and awareness of what is happening in the SEM / SEO world is of vast importance! I found myself stuck between two ballgames for my sons’s, so we decided to visit Barnes & Nobles. I can only take so many Thomas the Train and Dora the Explorer books, so I went SEO book hunting.
I was immediately struck by a book by a familiar name (Kristopher Jones & Pepperjam) – both of which are leaders in our industry and very well respected. The book I started to read was entitled “Search Engine Optimization,” and just from the introduction and outline, I can tell this is going to be a great read. I am buying a copy today and I will give a book review when I am done. You can find out more about Pepperjam at Pepperjam
SEO by Kristopher Jones … Kristopher Jones is the President & CEO of Pepperjam and is a pioneer in the SEM / SEO industry.
Alright, I have my green tea from Starbucks and it’s time for coach pitch baseball!
www.MDSInteractive.com supports youth soccer and baseball. Okay, they are mine … Still supporting them! Go Nolan & Peyton! http://twitpic.com/2b5n4
Here is Josh …… http://twitpic.com/29yg1
It’s a busy Friday here at MDSI! Josh is having his laptop serviced this morning, so we have him in the receptionist area working on the initial set up of some online marketing campaigns for Sharp Business Systems. www.sharp-sbs.com.
Josh is the Director of Campaign Management / Analytics at MDS Interactive!
So I decided to let my son play hooky today! Very excited to have him in the office! So he is coloring a picture for about 10 office doors and begging to play games on every ones iPhone. Ha! To be that young and no worries. Check him out …. Nolan at work! New COO!
The single greatest factor for measuring the success of your online marketing company is “client retention.” Across America there are many different industries of business and commerce. Among those industries there are companies that do a great job and then there a few that bring down the reputation of the good companies. When you are able understand the success and failures of these companies, there is always one thing that separates the two …. How long do you normally keep your clients? It’s an easy rule to follow: Good companies keep their clients!
I am very fortunate to have learned this lesson over the years working for one of the largest and most successful marketing firms in the Southeast (Multiple Directory Service Inc. – www.multipledirectory.com). I learned the basics of the company / client relationship and I have carried these same basic principles to my online marketing company. At MDS Interactive we have made it the number one priority to make our clients #1. That does sound cliché and I have no doubt that most will say it’s simple. However, the fulfillment of that isn’t the case for the majority of companies that I interact with on a daily basis. There are many things that come in the way of fulfilling that priority … poor hiring choices, poor business practice, business ethics, to name a few. Here are those basic principles that we incorporate in the daily business affairs with our clients at MDS Interactive that I believe are the building blocks to a successful search engine marketing company.
Client Knowledge
Whenever I speak with a new client, the first thing that I typically do is ask to spend a few hours with them either talking about their business or even sitting on their own business affairs. Once you place yourself in your client’s shoes, you immediately find out their passions, their likes, their dislikes, what makes them money, what loses them money, and a multitude of other things specifically about their business. When my clients hand me marketing dollars to spend, it is my job to ensure them that we are spending those dollars as judiciously and responsibly as possible in order to achieve the maximum amount of return on investment. Interactive marketing can be as targeted as you want, focusing down to the IP address marketing your client’s service or products. I can’t tell you how many clients I have taken over their SEM/SEO where the data that I would receive would be focusing on the wrong product, wrong service or even wrong geographical area for that particular client. Client knowledge is paramount to a successful online marketing campaign. The more you know, the more you retain and the longer you retain!
Honesty & Transparency
Honesty and transparency are the fuel that drives the business / client relationship. If your client doesn’t trust you, losing that client is almost a certainty. Every new client has heard me say that I have two tenants of my business practice when it comes to their marketing. Transparency is one those tenants! In an online marketing world that crunches so many numbers (visits, impressions, calls, emails, submittals, click through rates, web page activity, click to call, cost per call, cost per lead and I am sure I forgot 10 more), it is very easy to confuse the client or even mislead the client. Our client’s depend on us telling them if what we are doing is good, bad, or average. In my experience the majority of the marketing departments all the way to the CEO’s aren’t really sure about the “search medium.” They know spending money in the “search medium” is a necessity many times out of pure gut or even fear! Client retention is built upon a company being transparent and working through issues, encountering problems and correcting them as quickly as possible. I would love to say, as almost any company, that every online campaign that I begin or start is off the metric chart and has strong analytics. However, that isn’t just the case! Sometimes you actually have to work at being successful and having successful online marketing campaigns! There is nothing wrong with working hard and nothing wrong with letting your clients know you are working hard to see your marketing efforts succeed for them.
Accountability
The second tenant that I expound upon with every new client is accountability. Accountability improves performance and increases profitability. Knowing your client and being honest / transparent combined with the driving force of being accountable for every dollar you spend for you clients are the hallmarks of client retention. Accountability is a two way street. Our clients expect us to the best job for them concerning their online marketing. When they see that we have been successful for them, the fact that they held us accountable begins to work in our favor. That two way street that accountability provides will lead to longer and more successful client retention. For most of MDS Interactive’s clients online marketing provides them the opportunity to achieve the lowest form of cost per lead of any marketing medium and to not be accountable to that standard results in much poorer performing campaigns. Client retention feeds off the ability to be accountable!
Minor Building Blocks to Search Engine Marketing Success
Don’t force long term contracts on clients. If you are proving value, understand their needs, you’re transparent and accountable they aren’t going anywhere.
Force the client to play a part of every stage in the setup and maintenance process of the campaigns. If they don’t understand what you are doing, how do they know you are proving value?
Grow at a rate the client is comfortable with! Many clients are already of search marketers who promise the world and spend their money without proving worth. Some of them have never done online marketing before you came into the picture. Once they are comfortable with you and trust you, you will not only the rest of the business, but you will retain their business.
Be realistic in what you can deliver. Never over promise! Never say anything or promise anything you don’t expect to or can’t deliver. This has everything to do with being honest and transparent.
