Social Focus

Website Launch: Paul Mazzarella

admin — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:37:41 +0000

Local author, Paul Mazzarella, recently released his first novel, Promissory Notes. This witty and wryly observed women’s fiction examines a thirty- something woman getting a new lease on life, her unexpected romantic interlude, and an encounter with a long-held family secret that threatens to undo her newfound happiness.

Social Focus designed and developed Paul Mazzarella’s website in conjunction with an online marketing campaign to announce the launch of Paul’s book.

Website Launch: Dave Cowhig Masonry

admin — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:18:11 +0000

We recently launched the website for Dave Cowhig Masonry. Dave has been specializing in both residential and commericial masonry for over 40 years in the Boston area!

Sharable Content

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:34:08 +0000

Social media is all about a shared experience and connecting people and ideas. Nowadays, when measuring the clout of a brand for search results, search engine algorithms take a website’s social media influence into consideration. What this means is that your SEO strategy needs a social component, and if you have already been active with social media then you are essentially killing two birds with one stone.

When it comes to creating sharable content, there are a few techniques that always seem to do the trick. For one, the content must either be visually appealing and evocative or sensational, appeal to wants and needs, have some reward or incentive, or contain useful information. It’s a given that people tend to respond well to videos for a number of ingrained, evolutionary reasons but if video is out of reach within your budget, then images with corresponding text are the next best thing. Contests and coupons for obvious reasons get shared but so do how-to guides and lists. These are easy for people to share and bookmark for later use. Infographics are also a great approach to presenting otherwise boring data in a palatable and visually appealing way.

At social focus, we specialize in content creation. We are experts at creating great content that users will share; content that reinforces your brand. Contact us to discuss how sharable content can be incorporated in your current SEO or marketing strategies.

LinkedIn Improves Company Pages

admin — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:58:03 +0000

LinkedIn has recently rolled out the new changes to their Company Pages. Like the recent changes made to Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn has added a cover image to these pages. This cover image provides enough space for a company to have an image that expresses their brand, and have a blurb that describes or defines them more prominently since the ‘About’ section has been moved to the bottom of the page. Take for instance Dell’s cover image. They have tackled the issue of the less conspicuous ‘About’ section by slapping definitive text on their cover image in addition to other design elements.

Tabbed sections above your cover image more prominently display areas such as the ‘Products & Services’ section. This allows companies to increase visibility of their products and services. The Products section cover image allows you to scroll through images of featured products or services, again providing the opportunity for companies to express their brands visually.

LinkedIn has also made the update stream more relevant by enabling companies to share status updates and job opportunities with the right members, and they will continue to improve their Company Pages over the coming year so stay tuned for updates! If you would like to us to help customize your LinkedIn page contact Daniella today at daniella@socialfocus.com or call 978-594-4002.

David H. Roper, Boston Globe Best-Selling Author of Watching for Mermaids

admin — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:47:44 +0000

“From start to finish, Social Focus was there for me during the roll out and promotion of my book
Watching for Mermaids, which quickly became a three-time Boston Globe Bestseller. They listened carefully,
assessed my marketing needs, built the materials and process to meet those needs, and stayed with me
way beyond launch. I couldn’t have found a better team.”

David H. Roper, Boston Globe Best-Selling Author of Watching for Mermaids

It’s that time of year again!

admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:24:54 +0000

It’s that time of year again when the air is crisp, rust-colored leaves collect on sidewalks, and pumpkins dot the neighborhood porches. October in Salem is everything you would imagine; goblins and ghouls appear in every shop window, witches parade down main street, and cauldrons and brooms flank most doorways. For us at Social Focus however, it’s business as usual but with a little more traffic during our daily commutes, and an official reminder that we have entered the fourth quarter.

The first three quarters of this year have seen big changes for our small but growing company as we expanded our services, our client base, our team, and our office. For the remainder of the year we’ll be seeing our clients’ 2012 marketing plans through to completion, and preparing them for the opportunities and challenges of 2013. Through 2012, we have seen clients become more experimental with their marketing, allocating much more to online initiatives than they had in previous years, and the trend is set to continue into next year.

Fall is traditionally a time to take stock of the work year, and plan for the year ahead. What are your plans for 2013?

Twitter Changes: It’s beginning to look a lot like Facebook

admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:00:09 +0000

In September, the ubiquitous microblogging site we all have come to love and know as Twitter, surprised companies and their agencies when they rolled out their redesigned profile pages. The new design, which is meant to help brands engage, allows for a punch of personalization with a large horizontal header image over which appears the profile picture, as well as the user’s location, website URL, and a short profile blurb.

According to Twitter, users can make their presence on Twitter “more meaningful” by uploading an all-new header image on mobile apps for iPad, iPhone and Android or Twitter.com, and the same image will appear whenever anyone views their profile on the web or through these apps. For the iPad, Twitter’s new app allows users to view photos and stories in full-screen landscape mode. The new mobile apps display users’ “photo stream” beneath their tweets, giving uploaded photos new prominence on the site. A user’s header photo will appear above their Tweets.

Do you like the new look and feel of Twitter?

Think Pinterest isn’t for your business? Think again.

admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:30:51 +0000

By now, most of you have should have heard of Pinterest. We have been advising clients for some time to get on board with Pinterest, and for many clients, especially those in the retail space, joining this social media mecca is a no brainer. For others, mainly those whose brands aren’t as instinctively visual, the decision isn’t quite as clear.

Launched in 2010, Pinterest has grown from relative obscurity into one of the most trafficked websites on the web, garnering approximately 20 million users to date. This rapidly growing social media giant allows users to express themselves visually via “themed” pin boards made up of “pins” that consist of visually appealing content from across the web. This is a departure from the text “status updates” which reign on Facebook and Twitter.

Pinterest users aka “Pinners”, share everything from designer clothing they aspire to own to fantastic meal ideas; if it has a picture, it can be pinned. While Pinterest may seem like an effortless match for brands with retail products, companies without a retail outfit can still translate their brand into graphic format, and successfully market in this space. Potential pins would consist of infographics, videos, links to articles, and general boards that customers would find interesting. And if you think that just because you are in a dull industry that Pinterest wouldn’t apply to you, think again, even TurboTax has a Pinterest account with boards that consist of tempting “refund splurges” and tax season tips.

If you’re on the fence about Pinterest, or still completely in the dark, contact us to set up a time to discuss how Pinterest could work for you.

Adriatic Restaurant & Bar

admin — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:26:42 +0000

Client:

Adriatic Restaurant & Bar

Services:

Website Design

Daphne Baking Company

admin — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:05:15 +0000

Client:

Daphne Baking Company

Services:

Web Design, E-Commerce, Social Media Marketing, SEO, Email Marketing