The Almaza World Cup Game

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Talk about a World Cup Facebook game! While watching a football game with his friends, the 40-something year old Lebanese soccer player slams an ALMAZA beer bottle on the table and dives into the TV box. Zigzagging and dribbling his way through defenders, the player is supposed to reach the goal and score to get to the next level and accumulate the highest points possible.

To increase Almaza’s brand awareness on social networks, Eastline Marketing’s main focus is to reinforce mate-ship between friends while keeping Almaza as the consumer’s first choice of beer. At the end of the day Almaza consumers not only take pride in drinking their local beer but they also take pride in their local beer culture as well which reflects in the ALMAZA’s slogan “Haida Jawna. Haida Ne7na.” ALMAZA who undoubtedly has the biggest market share when it comes to beer consumption, chose to leverage the 2010 World Cup event to introduce one of the most addicting soccer games on Facebook today. Moreover, to build up to the release of the game, Eastline Marketing created a Greeting Card application “TA3ABEER“, mixing fun and daring Lebanese lines with inventive ALMAZA visuals.

The game which enables the user to choose his favorite World Cup team and take on swarming defenders and referees, adds a special twist with special moves that he can perform for extra points. The more the user collects cashew nuts and peas – yeah, nuts and peas – the more he has the ability to do special moves and brush off defenders and referees. The best part of the whole game is that players with the highest scores win a customized foosball table.

Logging over 30,000 registrations through the first couple of days, the ALMAZA IHTIYAT Game is set to become one of the biggest socially enabled soccer games on Facebook. I’ve been trying it out for a while and my highest score is somewhere around 75 thousand points.

Play the game here and try to beat my score?

Measuring up to Social Media Efforts

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While the progress of your social media efforts can be observable, the old mantra still rings true:  How can you tangibly assess social media value, gauge effectiveness and ROI? How can social media translate in sales and lead generation and when can one expect that to happen? Those are all viable expectations. The take-home lesson however is that Social Media Management requires commitment and patience. Modern times have left us with the impression that technology should shorten sales cycles. When it comes to social media, technology has placed you close to your ultimate consumer like never before, but with fewer barriers it has also left you vulnerable and more open to risk. Your success in terms of sales and rate of return on ad spent will strongly depend on your content and level of engagement over time. “It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted” and if you embed social media into your corporate culture, you will soon notice how this seed will start greening the landscape around it.

In short, what you should expect to reap from social media is worth a lifetime of seeding:

– Increased satisfaction, brand loyalty and awareness stemming from more efficient customer service. Get a feel for what your current or potential customers are saying as it happens.

– Competitive insights, business intelligence and innovation through identifying similarities and differentiating features. Join communities that advocate your products. Join that of your competitors.

– Efficient use of Public Relations and identifying influencers. Look for consumer endorsers and ambassadors and provide them with relevant content to activate a viral distribution of your brand across channels.

– More effective organic visibility and an extended brand reach through Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

– Reduced market research costs for product development and audience analysis. Listen to consumers, empower them, enable them to take charge and gain benefits while they do.

– Reduced hiring and HR costs and less churn.

Social Media measurement is not merely about displaying number of tweets, followers, fans or impressions. How you determine your success largely boils down to restating your initial objectives and goals, so try to tailor your metrics accordingly. With this in mind, look for the real value of your online plan by asking for meaningful and concrete results such as user behavior before, during, and after interacting on your social platforms, as well as blog retention rates, audience analysis, the sorting and monitoring of social media conversations, and lead generation data both online and offline. Keep a regular eye on both the frequency and depth of engagement with consumers.

The choice is yours: Do you want your ads to interrupt consumer conversations, or do you want to become what consumers are actually talking about?

The "Fifth" P of Marketing

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Marketing 101 teaches us that acute marketing decisions should take into four main aspects into consideration: Product, Price, Place and Promotion (4 P’s). However, what Marketing 101 does not teach is the importance of the 5th P of marketing.

I would divide the “Fifth” marketing P into two halves that are of equal importance: People (listen) then Participation (engage). Assuming that your passive one-way communication model will be enough for you to be a successful marketer is the easiest road to failure. Web 2.0’s social media services have helped businesses reach out to consumers and encourage brand loyalty through an active two-way relationship.

To conqeur the 5th P, marketers should take the following steps:

– Step one is to listen to the customers for which you have to monitor all talk that is generated about your company. Listening to your target marketing and monitoring conversations that are related to your brand will help you understand your customers’ behavioral patterns and your customers’ perception of your brand.

– Step two is to engage in the conversations. This can be done by participating in existing blogs (commenting), tweeting and retweeting (Twitter), sending e-mails, creating chat rooms on your website where customers can talk to you about their problems, and even by allowing customers to post testimonials about your brand and company. Participation means allowing the customer to have a say in the company’s actions, making sure that they are involved in the entire brand loyalty process, rather than being led by the company. The goal of your participation should be convincing your customers that you are interested in their welfare.

Adding the 5th P to a brand’s marketing mix could play a key role in your brand’s success. Build the right community around your brand, be honest with your customers and give them the tools to create and share right alongside you.

Can online banners be scented?

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Click-through rates tell a lot about an online marketing campaign’s performance – especially if a click-through rate is 43x the global average.  When Kaiak asked for a creative idea to introduce their fragrance online, TBWA answered with a brilliant one – Scented Banners! Banners cannot have real scent, or can they?

To execute the idea, TBWA sponsored 15 lan houses across Brazil and installed custom scent strip producers on the back of the screens so when people click the special Kaiak banner, the producers instantly deliver  real life samples from the back of the screens!

Results: 10,000 scented strips were distributed in one weekend!

10 Critical SEO Mistakes to Avoid

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Launching an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) campaign is not that hard a task these days, but avoiding the common mistakes and misconceptions involved in the process of developing a campaign is a tricky trap that could be avoided through the guidelines mentioned below.

Nothing is perfect, and the same applies to SEO campaigns, therefore no one can be 100% sure of the perfect keyword or phrase that has to be used at the right moment as a target.

Some of the mistakes could be totally avoided when specified and realized in advance and others could be corrected, therefore, their damage to the campaign minimized.

1. Underestimating the Efforts/Energy Involved in an SEO Process

Optimizing a website is not a one-round adventure or project. The more time and effort put into the project, the higher the success prospects and the probability the site gets to maintain its exposure figures, as regular updates and adjustments are done to the site keep the clients and those interested hooked to the site.

2. Addiction to Multi-Tactics

Taking things at their pace with an SEO campaign is the best road to a successful one. Trying too many tactics at the same time will diffuse any solid result to be felt through using any one strategy on its own, and therefore a vague result will be the product of any SEO campaign based on multi-tactics.

3. Locked in a Box

Sometimes the corporate interest of any company takes over the simplest elements in an SEO campaign: the title. The title is one of the most effective spaces on a webpage. The power in the title tag is significant enough to either draw a potential customer deeper into the site or repel them through the unnecessary placement of the company’s name/brand in it. If the name overshadows the main listing on a search engine, then the ranking is definitely not at its best, which is more of a priority than the corporate name.

4. Blind Faith in the SEO Specialists

While there are guidelines to any missions/tasks undertaken by a firm when it handles a client, there is a limit to how much is expected out of this venture, all depending on the circumstances, the skills involved and where the influence of these skills extends. SEO professionals should be given all the space needed to flex their skills in all directions, marketing initiatives, PR efforts, design, writing… But overloading them will strain on a certain aspect of the process.

5. Choosing the Wrong Keywords

No building could stay erect without supporting pillars from the inside, and the same applies to websites. Websites with issues are those with little content in them and even fewer links. First step should be about bulking up the content through more keywords to elevate the main ones. Proper ranking could hardly happen depending on the other aspects if the content and its architecture are not highlighted.

6. The Link Vs. the Brochure

A decade and so into this field and most sites are still played out as plain brochures, with minimal interaction/attraction. Building a healthy structure of links is not easy but it is the right path to avoid having a boring website acting as a simple brochure or a plate of data. The link strategy should have its roots in the content, any demos, guides, videos, tools, samples, interactive use of a product that could interest a visitor will definitely move him to the potential client category.

7. Sharing is Succeeding

Avoid singular work modes and use all data that could be found with your colleagues. The goal is shared by all and working solo in separate cells will not enforce the task in any positive manner. Use the group input and discussions to enhance any ideas, new tactics, innovative elements, and use of new elements to come closer to the achieving the task.

8. Beyond Returns on Investment (ROI)

The success of a search engine specialist lies in the management of keywords and achieving the most exposure/attraction for a website through them. The traffic is the scale to measure success and any savvy businessman should understand their value and help enforce them through nurturing an ROI strategy into maturation. Check the website, is it effective? Are the colors proper and befitting? Is the right text in the right location? Is the navigation smooth or too crammed? Does it look like a top-notch operation? Include a phone number and contact info properly and do not fixate your website on one color or image…

9. Rankings: The Awful Truth

his is a fertile field for committing mistakes. Do the polls show that you’re #3 on Google? Don’t pop the champagne just yet, because do you know what search term you targeted? Check the traffic and its equivalence. Rankings are awesome if they build up a flow of traffic into your site to be converted into profit.

And what if 2 pages rank differently for the same search term? Does the one at #6 appeal more than the one at #16? Which one would you work on enhancing?

Three Points to Follow:

  • What webpage of the site has more conversion material?
  • Which webpage do you think has the potential to move up higher in ranking?
  • Which webpage would you think can serve another search term even better?

10. Limited Content Crimes

It is never wise to think that you’ll be able to get things working with little content. It is NOT going to work. While you might think you’re simplifying the process for the visitor, you are not. Do not fear endangering the usability of a page, instead, add useful content besides data, more links, summaries of bigger articles on the site that might save the visitor’s time and keep him/her interested. FAQ sections and testimonials give the site a further interactive depth that makes the reader feel as if the owners of this site or company have an idea of what he/she is thinking. According to the type of product, allow downloads, and samples to further drive the visitor’s interest.

SEO campaigning is a wide field of great potential for marketing, profit, and exposure. But it’s also a minefield ripe with traps and small loopholes that could hinder the final result. Your site’s potential could be increased and used to the maximal levels if properly handled using SEO as one of the main keys.

Eastline Marketing has a long record of highly successful SEO campaigns that have not only expanded its clients’ business, traffic, and internet exposure, but also elevated the firm’s reputation among the top firms making it a sure win for any client/firm that decides to employ our skills.

Source: Click here

Monetary Value of a Facebook Fan

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After putting the effort in building Facebook communities of fans, brands have been wondering about the monetary value of these fans. Virtue, a firm specialized in social media, has conducted a study to estimate the value of facebook fan at $3.60 per fan.

Virtue determined that each post that is posted on a brand’s Facebook page yields 6 impressions through fans’ friends’s news feeds. For example, with an average CPM of $5, Starbucks‘ 6.5 million fans are worth $23.4 million in media annually; however, not all brands get the same value for their fans. Some brands receive more impressions than others because their posts get shared and intereracted with by more users.

What makes users share and interact with a brand’s post? Open-ended opinion-seeking status updates, interesting industry-related news and other quality fan-related content that targets your fans’ intersts are guaranteed to receive interaction from fans. On average, a Facebook fan’s monetary value is $3.60; yet, the quality of your posts is what determines how much your fans will actually be worth.

Love Letters to the Future Winner of Two Webby Awards

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Beirut, Lebanon, May 11, 2010: EASTLINE MARKETING IS CONGRATULATED FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF THEIR ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY LEADING TO THE SUCCESS OF LOVE LETTERS TO THE FUTURE, WINNER FOR BEST GREEN SITE AND THE WEBBY PEOPLE’S AWARDS IN THE 14th ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS.

The 14th Annual Webby Awards today named Love Letters to the Future, as Best Green website of the year. The global Web community has also voted Love Letters to the Future as Best Green website of the year in the Webby People’s Voice Awards.

The site (www.loveletterstothefuture.com) was produced by Xenophile Media under the creative direction of Ralph Dfouni and marketed online by Eastline Marketing’s team of experts. Eastline Marketing deployed and managed various social networks to exploit their viral aspect, one-to-one contact methods to create a trustworthy and personalized environment, and paid online advertising to give the right push to the letter submissions.

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile websites. The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy. The 14th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states.

About Eastline Marketing
With over 12 years of experience in the field of online marketing in Canada, and a proven track record of unparalleled strategic capabilities, since its establishment in the Middle East, Eastline Marketing is reputed for the conception and deployment of successful online strategies.

About Xenophile Media (www.xenophile.ca)
A two time Emmy Award winning production company, Toronto based Xenophile Media produces innovative cross platform television for broadcast clients from Disney to Cartoon Network, Jetix, Teletoon and BBC. Some of Xenophile’s recent work includes Emmy nominated Total Drama Island – Totally Interactive, with 7+ Million Players around the world, Emmy nominated and Rose D’Or winner MI High Whack the Mole, Alternate Reality Game for CBBC, Emmy nominated Inside Hana’s Suitcase and Rollbots Online. Flashpoint Interactive, Sanctuary Online, Empire of the Word and Love Letters to the Future are the newest Xenophile Productions.

Microfunding through Social Media

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Instead of reaching out to companies for large donations, social media enables NGOs to reach bigger audiences and raise more donations. Recently, I came across an interesting project that has been leveraging the benefits of social media to raise awareness about several causes and gathering donations through microfunding.

Microfunding allows users to donate very small amounts ($10 for example), while working together towards larger goals. Although the donated amounts are bitty, the few donated dollars by each user sum up to make a difference in the lives of many others. The 12for12k Challenge has been able to reach a very large audience through Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other social media tools.

You might not give a lot with microfunding, but when you add up all of the people giving, you can reach significant fundraising goals to support your cause.

Geo-Targeted news updates: Evacuation of Times Square

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The Wall Street Journal’s check-in to Times Square, last week, shifted the way location-based news services have been used up till then. After teaming up with Foursquare, the location-based news update service, the WSJ showed a new means of using the service, changing the perception of geo-targeted news.

WSJ Times Square evacuation news update on Foursquare

Foursquare, which has been known mostly for food-related and fashion reviews, offered the WSJ the infrastructure to dispatch news about the evacuation of Times Square to those who are mostly concerned – the people who happened to be in Times Square the moment the news broke out.

Previously, users who followed a certain branded place or location, subscribed to get location-related information without having to specifically check-into the location through Foursquare. Location happened to be incidental information in a piece of news. However, what Foursquare enabled the WSJ to do was to check-in to the Times Square and alarm people about the evacuation –  “Location” in this becomes the news. “Times Sqaure evacuation” is a noteworthy piece of news – no doubt; however, it was much more pertinent to those who are in Times Square rather than those who are not.

With twitter geo-tagging apps such as TrackinU and Facebook anticipated “places” feature, it will be interesting to see how the peer-to-peer location-based titan Foursquare takes the “location-based” news frenzy to the next level.

Chatroulette’s got some issues!

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Recently, Chatroulette, the world’s biggest random video chatting social network, has been having some issues — nudity issues.

The website which was founded by 17-year-old Andrey Ternovskiy, has been flooded with users going naked on webcams, most of whom are men. Chatroulette enables quick switches between random chats coupled with seamless streaming webcam video to give users the full effect of the random chat experience which has boosted the site’s traffic to staggering numbers. Nonetheless, the increase in the amount of random nude men has decreased Chatroulette’s popularity and has Chatroulette’s chances of becoming a profitable, brand-advertising supported site.

A competition has been held to engage users in creating a solution for the problem. Some ideas like: auto-pixelating the image if no facial features are recognized and creating a sister website – Rawchatroulette.com are pretty brilliant; however, it would be intersting to see how the young Russian founder handles this issue.

Click here for more info on Andrey Ternovskiy’s future plans for chat roulette.