aimClear® Search Marketing Blog

During the summer of 2010, an interesting international client encouraged us to take a look beyond our borders and check out where Facebook was popular in other parts of the world. With Facebook’s 500 million (at the time) users easily eclipsing the total U.S. population, it was clear that the phenomenon was not limited to our country, and we wondered how far it might continue to grow before eventually maxing out. The research project enlightened our team to the massively extending global reach of the still-young social network… and what a difference a year makes, as Facebook approaches 700 million users worldwide, wins a true social search patent, and prepares to launch what may be the definitive cloud-based music service.

While it seems Facebook continues to reign supreme across most of the wired globe, we also got to thinking that it’s not enough to gauge international social media activity by  how much of a population is on Facebook. If you really want to understand, connect with and market to demographics in another country, you have to get familiar with their homegrown channels. What other networks already have a stronghold in each country? Where is Facebook “uncool?”

This post kicks off a series of country-specific social networks overviews, complete with best practices, advertising opportunities, and example demographic targets. Up first under our microscope is the “OG” Google social network, Orkut. Read the rest of this entry »

Online Marketing Trifecta: Pulsing user-base of nearly 700 million, deadeye targeting functionality, and comparably cheap CPCs… it’s these very factors that help make Facebook a truly fertile playground for cutting-edge marketers and calculating community managers. Demographic samples from all walks of life gather on this social landscape. From skydiving senior citizens to teens who love molecular biology, these folks come to FB hungry for human interactions and entertaining distractions.

Despite international popularity, Facebook is still by and large in its infancy. The user interface and Ads platform seem to be constantly evolving, making it difficult for even some experienced advertisers to have a tight grip on this beast. For seasoned social marketers and newbies alike, aimClear is proud to announce the third wave of our Facebook Marketing Intensive workshop taking place Friday, August 19 as a part of SES San Francisco and Connected Marketing Week. Read the rest of this entry »

From pharmaceutical mega-corporations, attorneys, and health care purveyors to insurance companies and universities, skittish B2C and B2B online marketing managers operating in regulated industries are still afraid to participate in social media. Other unregulated companies, led by old school PR-adverse managers, self-restrict to a ridiculous extent out of paranoia, misunderstanding or ignorance. Such are the realities of the micromanaged marketer, some of whom need to (literally) get every tweet and Facebook post approved by legal. This article offers proven social media tactics to navigate even the most onerous industry regulations and/or paranoid managers. Read the rest of this entry »

Barely a month has passed since aimClear’s Manny Rivas tore up the stage at SMX Toronto, but the stars have aligned, and we’re back in beautiful Toronto! The reason? Search Engine Strategies Toronto, the northernmost outpost of this search and social marketing event series.

The online marketing industry is well represented at SES Toronto with some tech visionaries including Lee Odden (@leeodden), Mike Grehan (@mikegrehan), Bruce Clay (@bruceclayinc), Greg Jarboe (@gregjarboe), Jonathan Allen (@jc1000000), Bryan Eisenberg (@thegrok) and many more. Representing the aimClear team this go-round is our own Marty Weintraub, who’s gearing up to deliver “Killer Facebook Targeting Tactics” on Tuesday, June 14, at 3:00pm EDT. Read on for the full scoop. Read the rest of this entry »

#SMX Advanced, accelerated arm of Search Marketing Expo, is always a welcome addition to aimClear’s June calendar. This past week in Seattle marked one heck of an installment, drawing together tech luminaries like Bruce Clay, Addie Conner, Christine Churchill, Rand Fishkin, Vanessa Fox, David Mihm, and many more. For two jam-packed days we attended top-shelf sessions, panels, and keynotes, not to mention rad networking events spanning the online marketing spectrum.

The aimClear team enjoyed attending a variety of sessions this go-round.  Read on for a synopsis of  the conference,  key session takeaways & additional links to comprehensive coverage. Read the rest of this entry »