The Loud Few - Interactive Marketing Agency

Beyond The Cocktail Party: Making Social Media Work for Your Business

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to speak at the first ISES STL “learning lunch” of 2010. The topic of the presentation was how event planners can leverage social media for business, a topic ISES had identified as a growing interest amongst their members. ISES noted that many of their members were currently utilizing Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube or Twitter for their business; but felt that they needed some insight into how to build a marketing strategy around social media, and they were hungry for some social network-specific tips as well.

Smackdown Part 2: Your Competitors’ Link Strategy & Indexed Content

Be competitive with your online marketing efforts; even chess players harbor a little animosity for their opponents. You should know who you are up against, what makes them strong, and then work to be even less imperfect than them. In the second part of my Competitive Smackdown Series, I will show you how gauge the amount of content your competitors have indexed and how to analyze their backlinks.This will help guide your own SEO, since making sure all of your valuable site content is indexed and then increasing the number of quality links to valuable pages on your site should account for most of your search engine optimization efforts. I suggest tracking the data you uncover for each competitor you investigate; a tracking spreadsheet works very nicely for this.

Facebook Places vs. Foursquare (On a Boat)

In the ongoing war of location based iPhone apps, we now have a new contender: Facebook Places. Will the 300 lb. gorilla that is Facebook smash the leading competition-- the tiny, but mighty foursquare? The Loud Few heads to the Boat House of Forest Park in St. Louis to unlock the coveted I’m On a Boat Badge and debate the two options.

But first, we unlock our “I’m On a Boat” foursquare badge:

Mobile Marketing Tips: How to Create an Effective Foursquare Special

Sometimes, there are sad days in mobile marketing. For me, that sad day is when I see a lame foursquare special. I’ve seen these missed mobile marketing opportunities come from both social media mavens and newbies. Bad foursquare marketing can happen to the best of us.Whether you are new to location based advertising for your business or are A.J. Bomber’s savvy, here are some tips to help you create a stellar special that will make me want to check-in to your place over and over again:

Competitive Smackdown Part 1: Using Google for Competitive Research

Researching your competition is an unbelievably important step in establishing your site online. It will help set the basic framework for your internet marketing strategy, and if done effectively will also greatly reduce the resources you invest to increase your website visibility. Part 1 of our competitive analysis blog post...

The Circle of Trust

When asked what sources "influence your decision to use or not use a particular company, brand or product" 71% claim reviews from family members or friends exert a "great deal" or "fair amount" of influence (Harris Interactive, June 2010)." - Bazaarvoice.comThe above backs what everybody else already knows: people buy from their friends. Imagine the iPhone 4 was released today and 10 people you follow on Twitter said it was the worst product since Pontiac came out with the Fiero (This was my dad's midlife crisis mobile). How would it effect your decision in purchasing the latest goody by Apple? You'd likely think twice. Had Maslow lived in the 80's in 90's I think he might have adjusted his hierarchy of needs.

So You Want to Start a Website?

Whether you have a brick and mortar or you want to bring a new idea to life, the online world is likely a good option to explore. So, where do you start?

How to Rise to the Top

To tell the truth, I was kind of nervous, but it was a good nervous. It was gorgeous day as I walked into Araka in Clayton (also for the first time) and was greeted by Jennifer Volk. She was manning the registration booth and then handed my name tag. From this point on I mingled. I went on a recon mission on what to expect at the event.

Wordpress Installation – Learn how to Install Wordpress, Themes, and Plugins

In my Wordpress introduction , I explained some basics about why Wordpress is a favorable content management system for websites. I’m going to detail the process of installing Wordpress today. Wordpress Hosting Requirements: Before explaining how to install Wordpress, I should first cover some server requirements and provide a few suggestions on hosting (if you don’t already

Robin Presents at Wash U iPhone App Class

Earlier this month, we were invited to present to an iPhone development class at Washington Universities School of Engineering and Applied Science. The class, taught by Todd Sproull teaches students to create the code needed to write applications for the hot selling products. You can learn more about the class over at this article on Fox 2 News and by watching a clip of a news cast about them.In my presentation, I primary talk to our experience with Radial 50, a game released for the iPhone in July 2009. I detail our experience with the project management process. I also talked about general marketing strategies and a few other points, but unfortunately the video "tape" ran out, so next time I present I will record it and update the video.