Category: Audience

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Why College Students Shouldnt Handle Social Media
Why College Students Shouldnt Handle Social Media

College students and recent college graduates love social media.  According to a January 2012 survey published by CampusLIVE (now DailyBreak), 73% of college students use some form of social media in their everyday lives.  For many people, this is indicative of a young culture that has grown up with social media all around them.  (Or maybe it just accounts for a lot of UCF students Facebooking during class.)
It can be tempting to hire a student or college graduate to handle your company’s social media.  Hiring a student is typically cheaper than hiring a Florida marketing agency to handle your social media, but is this really a good idea?

Consider the case of Red Cross, where a social media specialist sent out a drunken Tweet from the highly respected organization’s Twitter account.  The message said in part, “…when we drink we do it right #gettinslizzered.”  The person who sent the Tweet, Gloria Huang, admitted in a follow-up message that her error was based on her unfamiliarity with how to properly use Hootsuite, a social media management application.  Such an oversight has the substantial capacity to diminish a brand’s strength. (Although, it was HILARIOUS to see that post coming from a leading non-profit).

While this particular case was an employee error, it has major implications as to the types of harm that can result from inexperienced users “#gettinslizzered” on the job.  A brand’s social media is an extension of its identity, and in the same way Apple would never risk its impeccable reputation by putting its social media in the hands of someone who just passed the legal drinking age, it may not be wise to entrust your own brand to someone with little experience in brand management strategies.  Even at a local level, working with an Orlando advertising agency will allow your business to more effectively leverage trending topics and popular events in order to ensure that your business’s social media truly is an embodiment of your brand.

Contrary to what many people think, it takes significant time and effort to manage a company’s social media.  For most businesses, social strategy should be framed as its own entity, rather than as an extension of editorialized brand content.  Of course, if your social media strategy requires more of a plan than posting puppy photos and keeping your fingers crossed for the best, it might require more resources.  As such, it may be in your business’s best interest to hire an Orlando marketing agency with a division dedicated to social media.

Media experts, such as those with a full-fledged advertising and media agency background, fully comprehend the tactics behind successful marketing, advertising and customer service.  These individuals attend conferences and seminars pertaining to social media growth and expansion, and have a much deeper understanding of the consumer cycle from an overall brand strategy perspective.  For example, who might be a better person to run your FourSquare brand page account than the social media expert who just spent her dinner discussing the state of the industry with Dennis Crowley?  (Here’s a hint: it’s probably not the girl who just spent her dinner eating Ramen while discussing the state of Seal and Heidi Klum’s breakup.)

Just because a person can write a few funny Tweets doesn’t mean that individual can understand the significance of the Facebook API, or knows how to effectively pull and apply complex data analytics for future use.  These extremely valuable facets help companies build strong and compelling multi-pronged social media strategies, and can help to elicit customer engagement by doing more than posting random comments about the VMAs and the Kardashian family that don’t effectively generate a future return.

Social media has the potential to reach millions of people in seconds.  A social media goof can lead to a public relations disaster that can cause a consumer perception to sink faster than the Titanic (read: the recent case of Progressive Insurance), and the risk of such faux pas is greater with someone who lacks the experience to understand what it means to manage and maintain a brand identity.

As with most digital content strategies, it’s typically better to invest in resources to find a person who has demonstrated digital media marketing capabilities.  At even the most fundamental levels, it can be extremely difficult to execute social media engagement, even for seasoned professionals.  Therefore, it’s important to carefully consider whether it makes sense to have a student manage the online presence of the entire brand.  If you do opt to go in this direction rather than working with the experts at an Orlando ad firm, you may find your brand strategy schooled by the professionals.

If all this has given you something to Tweet home about, contact us as we offer a full multi-pronged advertising and social media approach to help you develop and maintain a branding plan that won’t come down with a case of senioritis.

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Audience Audience Analysis Digital Targeting Services Media & Analytics
All Inkd Up – Plastisol inks versus Water based inks – Whats best for printing t shirts
All Inkd Up – Plastisol inks versus Water based inks – Whats best for printing t shirts

Got your brand perfected? All your social media marketing ducks all in a row?
Well don’t stop there. Reward your customers for their loyalty with a real, tangible product that can also catapult your brand presence offline. A well-made, well-designed t-shirt can do just that. When executed correctly, a t-shirt can be quite a valuable marketing tool. Think of it as cost-effective, word-of-mouth advertising—social media in a real-life social setting. And who doesn’t love a t-shirt—especially when it’s free! Think of all the times you’ve seen fans go bananas for a free t-shirt at a Magic game or at a concert or event.

But of course, your customers have to actually wear it for the whole thing to work. Start with a graphic or message that will connect with your target audience, then make sure you meet what we call the “t-shirt trifecta”: comfortable material, proper fit, and quality ink.Your printer may never mention ink types when you place your order, so it’s up to you to address the issue when collecting pricing and quantities. Don’t overlook this important part of the process or you will risk printing t-shirts that you and your customers will never want to wear.

So what’s the best ink to use on your tee? There are two major types of inks used by today’s screen printers: water based and plastisol. The latter is a thermoplastic, so it will melt or smear when in contact with heat like an iron. It will also feel thicker to the touch than a water-based print. Plastisol inks are often cheaper for printers to use and, over time, they will chip or peel after repeated washings.

Thus, plastisol inks are not our favorite inks at BIGEYE. In our opinion, water-based inks are always the way to go. It’s a little more expensive, but totally worth it in the end. Water-based inks are softer, lighter, and more eco-friendly than plastisol inks. When you place your hand over a graphic printed with water-based ink, it won’t feel stiff like a plastisol-printed graphic would. In fact, you’ll barely feel the graphic at all since water-based inks seep deep into fabric.

We’ve recently designed and printed a variety of t-shirts for many of our clients, and the results have pretty impressive, especially when the “t-shirt trifecta” is met. It’s a great feeling when we see people around town wearing our clients’ tees or even our own.

Check out this photo of our newest BIGEYE tee, designed for the summer and of course, printed with our favorite water-based ink.

Our team can be a big help if you’re thinking about getting tees of your own. Call us at 407.839.8599.

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Audience Branding Consumer Insights Strategy & Positioning
3 Greatest QR Code Fails of 2011 1200x600 c default
3 Greatest QR Code Fails of 2011 1200x600 c default


RedBull ran a series of subway ads featuring QR codes. This was not an ideal situation, considering most subways don’t provide mobile phone reception. Woops.

Continental created a QR code for its in-flight magazine. But when passengers were actually able to scan the code (before takeoff and after landing) they were directed to a pop-up window that displayed off screen.

Esquire magazine featured a QR code on the cover of one of its magazines, only to place it where the mailing label goes. Another unfortunate blunder.

To prevent one of these fails, contact us here to keep you on the right track!

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Audience Consumer Insights Content Marketing Creative & Production Motion Graphics Video Production
Illuminate 1200x600 c default
Illuminate 1200x600 c default

Illuminate the way you connect with your audience. Create a short and fun video, aka “splainer,” to engage and inform your viewers. Here’s a splainer we created for Illuminate – a children’s health and wellness blog by Arnold Palmer Hospital. Check out the blog for more of our handiwork!

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Audience Branding Consumer Insights Consumer Journey Mapping Content Marketing Creative & Production Strategy & Positioning
To Google or Not to Google 1200x600 c default
To Google or Not to Google 1200x600 c default

So you’ve heard the hype about Google+. You’ve caught snippets of its new features and heard word of its competition with Facebook, but you don’t quite get the benefits and aren’t completely decided if you are going to sign up for an account.
New social media platforms can be overwhelming. Heck, a lot of people are still figuring out how to integrate Twitter into their social media routines. We’ll give you the rundown of Google+, and help you decide if this is one social media weapon you might consider adding to your arsenal.

Circles

In the real world, we have different circles of relationships. We have work friends, friends we like to have fun with on a Friday night, family and so on. So, sharing things on social networks should work in a similar fashion. With Google+, you can create different circles of people and share photos accordingly. This way you can share only your most flattering pictures with Grandma.

Hangouts

The next best thing to a real life conversation. Google Hangouts allows you to video chat with up to 10 people at a time, and even watch YouTube with them. You can let specific friends or entire circles know you’re hanging out, allowing other friends to join in the conversation at any given time, just like in real life.

Instant Upload

If you have a Facebook, you know how great it is sharing mobile photos of your latest adventures. If you have a Facebook, you also know how un-great it is uploading those photos from your phone onto your account. Enter Google Instant Upload. Your photos and videos will automatically upload to an album on Google+ that will be kept private until you choose whom you’d like to share them with.

Sparks

This feature is sort of like Google News, only you receive all of your updates in one place, and links, articles, videos, etc. are easily shared with friends. Let Sparks know some things you’re interested in and it’ll send you some things it thinks you’ll enjoy.

Huddle

Google Huddle simplifies the back-and-forth of making plans with multiple friends via text messages. Huddle creates one simple group chat where all your friends can text at once. Less time texting, more time doing.

+1 Button

This is a feature that, in many ways, resembles the Facebook Like button. Just hit the +1 button on a page to let everyone know they should check it out. If you’re a business, having the +1 button on your page will help you stand out and get better traffic. This is definitely a feature you don’t want to miss out on, even if you opt out of creating a Google+ account for yourself.

So what does this mean for your business?

Considering Google+ is still in what it calls a “field trial” and hasn’t yet rolled out its business account option, the truth is no one can be certain. The success of social networks is generated by people. And since Google+ is still in a trial mode, we can’t predict how it will be received by consumers. But what we are seeing is an undeniable buzz and excitement about this social media platform.

There’s no doubt that Google+ makes connecting and sharing with friends an absolute breeze. It also looks like the social network will revolutionize the business world. Functions like Huddle and Hangouts may play a significant role in the way colleagues and clients communicate remotely, allowing up to 10 people to communicate at once via their personal computers by video or by text. And the +1 button is an obvious benefit for businesses receiving increased traffic thanks to the button’s ability to increase your website’s popularity and visibility.

We’ve seen more and more employers ban Facebook from the workplace, and older generations deny its marketing benefits due to its college-centered demographic. The Google brand may bring about a more widely received approval from businesses and older demographics, based on its professional reputation. Unlike Facebook, Google+ wasn’t first released with a college-only clientele.

The future looks promising for Google+, and while we don’t suggest creating an account for your business just yet (Google promised to unveil an account for businesses soon), we encourage you to set up a personal account and become familiar with the platform. While Google+ is still in trial mode, and the popularity of its future is still not certain, now is a great time to become acquainted with the functionality. To create a personal account and start exploring the platform, you currently have to be “invited.” If you don’t have a friend who’s got an account, we’d love to invite you! Just email us at info@bigeyecreative.com and you can join the party, too.

So there you have it. The wonders of Google+. It’s hard to say how this social media platform will fare against the social media giant that is Facebook, but there’s no denying Google+ has some truly innovative features that improve connecting and sharing with friends, family and even coworkers. And that’s a real plus.

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Audience Consumer Journey Mapping Creative & Production Media & Analytics Search Engine Optimization Video Production Website Development
Traditional vs. Digital Agencies
Traditional vs. Digital Agencies

In the advertising industry, we are now seeing a divide between traditional and digital agencies. And the people searching for creative advertising agencies are left feeling like they need to pick a side. Do you stick with the conservative, traditional agency or try something different with a trendy, digital agency? This definite division between agencies and marketing philosophies leaves consumers stuck between two extremes.
On one side of the spectrum, you have traditional agencies that cling to what is safe and commonplace in marketing, such as print, billboards, radio, newspaper, TV and direct mail. Some traditional agencies think along the lines of, “print isn’t going anywhere,” and “social media is just a phase.” Although overhead costs may be a bit of a burden, the vast visibility of these marketing mediums has been proven reliable and successful.

On the other side of the spectrum, you’ve got modern-day digital agencies pushing Web, video, mobile apps, social media, QR codes, SEO and other non-traditional forms of advertising. These agencies live by the latest and greatest trends and stick with edgy, innovative marketing concepts. With a “print is dead” mentality, these agencies tend to focus on the next big thing on the marketing horizon.

Like most things in life, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Print is not dead and social media is not just a phase. It’s not about utilizing one or the other. It’s about integrating these mediums together. Weave your social media platforms into your print pieces, and vice versa. Your billboard’s call to action can be to visit your robust website for more information. And your business cards can don a QR code that links to an innovative video explaining your company’s philosophy. These types of collaborative marketing initiatives can work together to provide greater brand awareness and, ultimately, ROI.

When shopping for an agency, make sure you find one that sees the big marketing picture. You shouldn’t have to pick a side. Instead, pick an agency that is on yours. BIGEYE seamlessly integrates digital and traditional marketing initiatives into one big picture, your big picture. Give us a call at 407.839.8599 or contact us here to get started.

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Audience Audience Analysis Branding Conversion Optimization Creative & Production Digital Targeting Services Media & Analytics Media Analysis & Measurement Real Time Monitoring & Tracking Strategy & Positioning
AP Stylebook Gets Social 1200x600 c default
AP Stylebook Gets Social 1200x600 c default

The highly esteemed Associated Press Stylebook, also known as the “Journalist’s Bible,” has recently inducted “unfollow,” “retweet,” “tagging,” and 18 other social media terms into its newly revised 2011 print edition. Surprised? We’re not. Over the past several years, new connotations of such words have emerged through social networking sites, and have moseyed their way into day-to-day dialogues.
Language is extremely fluid, changing and adapting to current culture. A “wall” is no longer just a structure that ensures personal space; it’s now a public space where “friends” can post comments, videos and pictures.

Created in 1953, the AP Stylebook has been a very prestigious source of information for more than 50 years. The fact that the AP editors think social media terms are worth publishing just goes to show the impact social media platforms have on the public.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offer successful routes toward global communication, allowing you to essentially keep a public account of what’s happening in your world, and follow the lives of others. And it’s not just the younger generation that’s “tweeting,” but corporate companies and other professional organizations are as well. Company leaders are utilizing social media sites to increase exposure on the same platforms as their target audience. Even the AP Stylebook tweeted about the addition of these social media terms!

With technology continuously progressing and advancing, the digital world is becoming the most efficient way to do, well … just about everything! So, in the past, if you have been wary about engaging in the alternate universe we call social networking, don’t be afraid. Submerge yourself; you will be surprised at the endless possibilities available to you within just a few clicks.

Ready to jump in? Give us a call at 407.839.8599, or email us at info@bigeyecreative.com

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Audience Branding Campaign Creation & Development Consumer Insights Content Marketing Copywriting Creative & Production Messaging Strategy & Positioning
Ben Jerrys Twitter Treats 1200x600 c default
Ben Jerrys Twitter Treats 1200x600 c default

Most Twitter users hardly ever use all of the allotted 140 characters they’re allowed to tweet. Ben & Jerry’s decided to utilize this fact to promote a witty campaign called Fair Tweets (see the video splainer – a BIGEYE favorite), not only for its company, but also for a good cause.
On May 14, in honor of World Fair Trade Day, Ben & Jerry’s asked Twitter users to donate their spare characters to raise awareness of Fair Trade. They created a user-friendly application that allows people to type tweet whatever they’d like and automatically fills in the remaining unused characters with a Fair Trade message and hyperlink. So, if your tweet is only 20 characters, Ben & Jerry’s will immediately fill in a 120-character message about Fair Trade for you … and they might even throw in a link or hashtag too.

Once your message is created, you simply click the “Tweet It!” button, and your Fair Trade message is sent off to Twitter for all of your followers to see. It takes two seconds (depending on your typing skills), and spreads awareness for Fair Trade around the world. Not to mention, it leads people to Ben & Jerry’s as well. Promoting a cause through your company is always admirable, but Ben & Jerry’s showed us how to make it clever and fun too. We think they deserve two thumbs up for promoting themselves and a good cause in a cool, non-garish sort of way. Don’t you?

To learn how to effectively incorporate twitter into your campaign, contact us here!

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Audience Branding Campaign Creation & Development Consumer Insights Creative & Production Insights Strategy & Positioning
How Marketing Helps Companies
How Marketing Helps Companies

According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing, marketing can be defined as the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably. With this definition, we can see that marketing is essential to the success of a company.
To take this a step further, we can say that marketing even begins before the production process as it helps the entrepreneur identify what the customer needs and also to see to it that the production meets the demands in quantity as well as in quality. It can also be said that it also involves the promotion of the products as well as the distribution.

Therefore all the strategies that a business uses to boost sales and improve profits can be described as marketing. To be precise, we can say that marketing is composed of Advertising, Sales, Building and maintaining customer relations and business development strategies. Therefore in order to understand how marketing helps companies, it is imperative to understand the part that each of these processes affect a company. We have seen this with our Orlando marketing agency and hope it helps you.

Sales

The end point of every economic activity is not only to make sure that the final product or service becomes available to the consumers, but that the consumers may buy, use it and then come back for more. The people that are in direct contact with the consumers are the salesmen, and getting a good sales strategy can do a lot to put a company far ahead on competition and help it make profits.

Advertising

Advertising is the process of making a brand known by giving information to people about the brand, as well as by creating it a place in the society. Good advertising will usually end up creating a jingle, a color, a picture or a lifestyle that becomes associated with the product or service and will trigger a response of recognition from the consumer once these triggers are seen or heard, even before seeing the product. Great advertising has been known to improve the performance of many businesses, and the most successful companies and products are usually recognized as such.

Customer relations

Good customer relations can set a company way above their competitors. This includes dealing with customers issues like follow up of orders as well as in answering their questions and calming their doubts. It may also have to do with troubleshooting with them to find solutions to problems they might have encountered in using your product or service.

Business development

The business development team identifies, proposes and overseas ideas that should help to give the company a bigger share in the market. They are usually concerned with product improvement and the creation of new products. The business development team usually studies the market, talk to customers to know what they need and try to create products that satisfy them better.

Adjustments

Sometimes, even well thought out marketing strategies may not work, and the company will need to change its tactics in dealing with either the product or the market. Adjustment is a marketing strategy that tries to identify what is going wrong, and to make proposals for addressing the problem and proposing new strategies.

In order to profit from these strategies, companies need to use a marketing section of their company that will apply and integrate all these different sectors of marketing and help the company apply them or consult with an external marketing agency that will bring expert help to work with them on all these sectors to ensure that they meet their target, become profitable and grow.

Need a little marketing expertise to kickstart your company’s brand? Contact our team today – we’re poised to help you develop strategies to move the needle!

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Audience Audience Analysis Content Marketing Creative & Production Insights Website Development
Characteristics of a Great Website 1200x600 c default
Characteristics of a Great Website 1200x600 c default

If you hit a search term and come up with websites dealing with the same subject, it is certain that some will attract your attention than others, even when they may all carry the same content. If you are a user, you can switch until you find a site that can quickly give you what you want. However if you are a web designer, you will want to produce a website that will attract and keep your visitors engaged. [quote] The trick is to get users attracted with great web design as well as with engaging content. [/quote]
Formula for a Great Website:

Create Original Content

Besides the obvious problems of plagiarism, making sure that your content is well written, appropriately presented and unique will give your readers something to always come for. It is common to see sites that just spread the information around, or just throw keywords for SEO purposes without making much sense. Try to make give value to your visitors by presenting carefully thought out text to attract and keep them coming for more quality information.

Design for your Target Audience

Keep your target audience in mind. You cannot design for the whole world, of course you can but if you are trying to sell a product or service, you will want to target a particular niche and keep that niche population in mind when you create your site. You have to think about them, put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself if you were of the target population would you like your site.

Create a simple but creative and professional design. You might have come across sites whose webmasters have included all the tips and tricks of web design that they have learned to get and keep visitors. This is counterproductive as it reduces the value of the site. What is more the user gets confused with too much elements and you may find them avoiding your site instead. Therefore choose your design and follow through to the end. If it doesn’t work then change, reinvent and give your site a facelift.

Work on your Navigation

One of the important characteristics of a good website is the navigation. Great navigation lets users see where they are on your site, and also lets them know how to move about. Use creative techniques, text and symbols to help visitors navigate your site. Chances are when a person needs to look for information on the subjects that you deal with, they will likely come to your site, and also keep coming for more as they can find what they want, and they can also reference and cross reference with ease.

Design for Speed

Make sure that your site is easy to load on the browsers. Limit the graphic elements or optimize them for speed. If your site takes too long to load, it may be frustrating and users may tend to avoid your site.

Optimize your site for search engines

Good SEO techniques will enable your site to be indexed and found. Do not use keyword stuffing or other guerrilla tactics to get your site indexed and ranked. Use keywords so that they blend naturally into your web content and you will be on the way to attracting and keeping great clients.

A Good Website should have Functional and Reciprocal links

Create good content, but support them with great links for further information that that they may find your site an excellent resource. Moreover these links should regularly be checked to know if they are not dead links. Dead links should be checked, removed and replaced.

A good website regularly has information updated. They will keep information fresh so users can benefit from fresh content. You can use feeds to let users know when content is updated and also employ social marketing skills to make people know that your site is up, running and improving daily.

Need a little expert advice on how to take your online presence from good to great? Contact our team of web development gurus today!