News
With Earth Day coming up on April 22, we are focusing on what we can do to help Mother Nature. Our lives and careers have become inundated with new technology that may make our lives a little easier, but doesn’t always leave the smallest carbon footprint. However, we can all contribute to preserving our planet through simple actions. The team here at Marketing RELEVANCE wants to help kick start your conservation efforts by providing some ideas for celebrating Earth Day.
Our Chicago and Atlanta Offices recycle all paper, cardboard, aluminum, glass and plastic bottles.
Mitch Levinson, Ben Heisler and Stefan Miller suggest that you donate or recycle your old electronics rather than just throwing them out. There are plenty of toxic components inside electronics, which are safer to have removed by professionals rather than sitting in a dump. The EPA provides a great list of places to recycle your old electronics, or if you’re in the Chicago area, feel free to bring them by the Chicago office!
Carol Flammer uses all natural, earth friendly cleaners in her kitchen.
Delaney Young suggests taking reusable bags along with you on your shopping trips.
Desirae Johnson says that many towns have local initatives that work to keep your hometown beautiful. For example, Keep Paulding Beautiful, “works with Paulding citizens to promote a clean and healthy environment in which to live, work and play.”
If your town doesn’t have a local initiative, Patrick Murray suggests getting together with local friends and family to clean up your community by picking up litter and garabage. (more…)
Many of our blog readers, Twitter followers and Facebook fans know mRELEVANCE as a company focused on marketing strategies that revolve around blogging, social media, search engine optimization and website development. You probably know us for our internet savvy staff, staying on the ever-changing, cutting-edge of online marketing. You might picture us sitting in front of our laptops, iPad to our left, smart phone to our right, connected 24/7. And you’re right.
But what you might not know is while we are a bunch of techies living in the world of Yelping, keyword ranking and website analytics; we also know the importance of one-on-one attention, careful media relations strategy and how to differentiate our clients from their competitors in the eyes of the media and the public. What you don’t see is when we turn OFF the email to write a bylined article. Or when we pop out of bed at 3 a.m. because we came up with a great story lead. Or the hours we spend each month scouring through editorial calendars trying to come up with the perfect pitch. (more…)
Google+ says, “Me too” and adds Cover Photos. In an ever changing world of social media, sites are constantly vying to have the latest and greatest thing. However, it seems that one of the newest members, Google+ is playing “Me too” with one of its older predecessors.
This scenario is similar to the one that probably occurred when you were a kid. Whenever Johnny the older boy next door got a new toy, had the most delicious cereal or something equally as envy-inspiring, you had to have one too.
In the latest “I gotta have that too” moment, Google+ has redesigned their site. Just like Facebook, Google+ now has a cover photo section, ribbon of navigation icons across the top of profiles and side of the main page, an increased emphasis on photos and a streamlined design. Also similar to Facebook, the new “explore” section is a news feed of recent activity from those in your circles. There are also other updates to the site including a new Hangouts page, and (more…)
Google+ debuted for the general public in late September, and is already an eighth the size of Facebook. With 100 million users, Google+ could over time become the next hot social networking site. Mashable reported in February that Google+ users spend an average of 3.3 minutes per month on the site. Compared to the 7.5 average hours Facebook users spend per month on the social media giant, Google+ obviously has room for improvement. However, Google+ is continuing to gain users and is now a crucial aspect of Google search, so business owners should not ignore this social media platform.
The recent launch of Search Plus Your World, which tailors your Google search results to meet your needs, has made Google+ a powerful factor in Google search. Anyone who is signed into Google when conducting a search will notice that the top of their search results now displays a “personal results” section, which is derived from information on Google+. This means that companies need to step up their Google+ game, so that they too can appear in people’s “personal results” section during a Google search. (more…)
Have you Yelped lately? Yelp is a website that allows people to write reviews on local businesses. Your restaurant, shop or even real estate company may already be listed on Yelp and have user reviews without you even knowing it.
Yelp has become increasingly popular since its conception in 2004, and it had 66 million monthly unique visitors in the last quarter of 2011. Plus, Yelpers have written over 25 million reviews on the website to date. With a growing presence like this, you need to take the next steps in updating your internet marketing strategy to make sure your business has a positive presence on Yelp and the other review sites.
• Every business owner can create a free account on Yelp where they can post photos of their place or business or products, update their business information, track how many people view your page, create a deal and even message their customers.
• Businesses can also place an ad on the website for a small fee. (more…)
Sign up now for Generate Leads and Sales with Internet Marketing. This FREE NAHB webinar features one of mRELEVANCE’s founders, Mitch Levinson and takes place on Wednesday, April 11 from 2 – 3 EST.
Mitch is a MIRM, Managing Partner of mRELEVANCE, LLC and author of Internet Marketing: The Key to Increased Home Sales. He will provide you with tips on how to enhance your online presence.
This webinar is part of the National Association of Home Builders BuilderBooks series of webinars designed to help you ramp up your business plan as the housing industry and economy begin to recover. The BuilderBooks Live! webinar series provides tips and techniques from leading industry experts on your own computer. Get the tools you need to help prepare your business for the recovering economy. NAHB professional designation holders will receive one hour of continuing education credit for each webinar.
This webinar is available free of charge thanks to the generous support of Liberty Mutual, the NAHB affinity program vendor for members on auto and home insurance. Find out more about Liberty Mutual Auto & Home Insurance or call 800-531-3398..
Of course NAHB has and entire library of webinars that you can visit for further education including this popular one on creating relevant content for the Internet and attracting the search engines.
He Said. She Said: Social Media for Home Builders 2.0 Webinar REPLAY
Visit the webinar archive today to immediately stream this webinar.
Fee: $19.95 for NAHB council members, $24.95 for NAHB members, $44.95 for non-members
Mitch Levinson, MIRM, CSP, Managing Partner of mRELEVANCE LLC and Carol Flammer, MIRM, CAPS, CSP, President of Flammer Relations Inc. and Managing Partner of mRELEVANCE LLC offer a wide range of information on how to utilize social media to sell your homes online.
The homepage of the new CTBestApts.com mobile site
mRELEVANCE is pleased to announce the launch of the new CTBestApts.com mobile website. Created to accommodate an increasing number of users who access the website from mobile devices, the new site gives Connecticut apartment shoppers convenient and easy access to community information from smartphones and tablets.
“As smartphones and tablets become more mainstream in our society, many people are choosing to search for their new apartments on these devices,” said Jason Schlesinger with CTBestApts.com. “We’re excited to now be able to accommodate the needs of these shoppers, making it easier for them to find the information they need quickly.”
The CTBestApts.com mobile site is a compact and comprehensive version of the apartment communities’ main website. It provides general information about CTBestApts.com apartment communities in Stamford, Branford, Norwalk and Hamden including home and community descriptions, contact information, photos, directions and amenity information. Additionally, the mobile website is fully integrated with CTBestApts.com’s social media sites including Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. (more…)
Postagram is one of the many free apps for iPhone or Android smartphones that is becoming increasingly popular among consumers. Postagram allows a user to take photos from their Instagram, Facebook or phone gallery and turn it into a personalized postcard for just 99 cents.
The resulting product is a glossy, black postcard with a 300 dpi photo that can be popped out of the postcard and kept as a souvenir or keepsake.
Sounds pretty cool, right? Well what makes this app even cooler is that businesses can use this as an innovative marketing tool. Here are some ideas on how your business can use Postagram in its marketing strategy:
- Snap a picture of happy customers with your product and send it to them as a thank you.
- Send a potential customer a photo of your goods or services as an enticement to visit and buy.
- Hosting an event? Use an eye-catching image and include all of the event details in the personalized message to invite attendees.
- Send postagrams of attendees after the event, so that they have a keepsake.
- Need to promote a new product or service? Feature it in a photo and include highlights in the postcard’s message. (more…)
With the housing market on the rise again and social media gaining an even greater presence in the business world, knowing just who you’re targeting and how to reach them effectively has become increasingly important. Currently, two of the largest generations in history are in the housing market at the same time, and they both have their separate wants and needs. These generations are the Baby Boomers and Generation Y.
The Baby Boomer generation is considered to be the 76 million people who were born in the period between 1946 and 1964. This generation grew out of a period of dramatic social change. They were the first generation to experience rock n roll and broadcast television, but they also experienced de-segregation and Vietnam.
Generation X are the 41 million people who were born between the early 1960s through the early 1980s. People in this generation tend to be individualistic and skeptical. They are considered the MTV generation, and they are highly educated. This makes them not brand loyal or receptive to traditional advertising methods.
The 80 million people born between 1979 and 1994 make up Generation Y. This generation is highly dependent on team work, and they have a deep trust for authority. They are influenced by the War on Drugs and September 11, 2011. They are more socially liberal, and are constant communicators who are connected (more…)
Maintain Social Media Sites Effectively
I don’t know about you, but every time I get on Facebook, I find that my wall is full of tweets and when I visit Twitter I can see everyone’s Facebook status updates. It just goes to show you that all of our social media websites are becoming a lot more interconnected these days: every time you log into one account, you’re asked to connect it to another account. While I LOVE all social media sites, I believe that there is a time and place for each (and not necessarily plastered all over my Facebook wall or Twitter stream). Connectivity is great, but it has to be relevant. Below are a couple of reasons why you should think about what you post where. In most cases it is a good idea to keep your Facebook and Twitter as separate accounts.
#1: At mRELEVANCE, we’re in the business of driving traffic to your websites, and Twitter and Facebook are two of tools that we use to accomplish that goal. However, when you connect your Facebook account with Twitter and vice versa, you’re sending all of your traffic to Twitter or all of your traffic to Facebook. Don’t you want traffic on your website instead? (more…)
