If you've been reading you're probably well aware that here at Times Ten Creative Marketing Solutions we're big fans of Google+.  It is, after all, the fastest growing website in the history of the internet.  

As Google continues work on their social networking endeavor, they are simultaneously operating with one of the highest managed systems around.  Spam accounts, fake accounts and personal accounts that are being used for businesses have been disappearing as soon as they arrive (so long as they've been flagged by other users).  This is a refreshing, far cry from Facebook's automated way of dealing with spam and other all too familiar functionality issues.

With that said, Google promised to accelerate their timetable with Google+ for businesses. Google kept good on this promise as they've sent out generic Google Group-style invitations to the "Google+ Platform Preview."  The purpose for Google+ for business is to create an environment where businesses use all of Google's services as a single platform, and Google+ becomes the binding agent for sharing and collaborating.  This almost sounds like Google's way of plotting to take of the world (quite brilliant).

Essentially, Google is using the popularity of Google+ to push their other services.  You have to have a Gmail account to be able to use Google+, after all.  Anyone who said they didn't this coming would have to be lying.

                       

Times Ten Creative Marketing Solutions is dedicated to expanding the definition of marketing.  We pride ourselves on staying on top of emerging and up and coming technology.  Staying afloat in an industry based on being a step ahead, Times Ten ceases to have a lack of resources from which to learn.  Through the use of the Internet, print publications, and cutting edge software, this is a company that could easily be referred to as a full-service advertising agency, which specializes in Internet technology and marketing providing a creative edge that guarantees results.

Technology is what dictates how a company should market themselves.  Times Ten understands that this an industry that is ever-evolving and being uninformed would be at the cost of the client. 

Times Ten would like to recognize and welcome their newest clients, Central Bark USA, Atlantic Shores Hospital, British Swim Schools and Fort Lauderdale Hospital.

Central Bark is a day care center for dogs that specializes in understanding dog behavior with their own unique philosophy in customer service.  Central Bark offers grooming services, boarding services and features in-house boutiques that offer dog foods that cannot be found at your other local pet stores.  As the nation’s largest network of day care for dogs, Central Bark is committed to providing a clean, healthy, fun and nurturing environment for your dog while you’re away in all 29 locations (need to confirm this number).

British Swim Schools has been dedicated to teaching water survival for over 30 years.  Rita Goldberg, owner of British Swim Schools, has worked to develop, improve and fine-tune their teaching methods.  Before opening her British Swim School locations in the US, Goldberg was a national swimmer in Britain whose passion led her to teaching.  Goldberg added author to her list of titles with the release of her children’s book, “I Love to Swim.” 

Water safety and drowning prevention are of utmost importance to British Swim School’s instructors in all 12 locations (need to confirm this number).  Their methods are based on teaching beginners of all age groups that the ability to float on their back is the most important survival skill of all.    

Atlantic Shores Hospital is a private 24-hour, freestanding substance abuse and psychiatric hospital offering a comprehensive continuum of healthcare services including inpatient programs, medically supervised detoxification and individual, group and family therapy.  The hospital is located less than a mile away from the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean on 2-acres of land and accommodates 72-beds.

Atlantic Shores is licensed and accredited by Join Commission, State of Florida, Department of Children & Families and 12-Step Licensed Chemical Dependency Program.

Fort Lauderdale Hospital is also a 24-hour facility that provides inpatient and outpatient treatment to adults and adolescents suffering from addiction, co-occurring disorders or psychiatric issues.  This is a fully licensed and accredited private hospital that has been in business for more than 30 years. Their goal at Fort Lauderdale Hospital is to provide patients the level of care that they need to achieve sobriety and maintain a healthy lifestyle

Times Ten Creative Marketing Solution treats every client as an individual.  There is no job that is too big or too small for this staff that prides themselves in their unique strategy to providing quantitative results.

Welcome to the family!

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The end of the year 2010 is near. The world is looking forward to everything they hope 2011 will bring. As far as the World Wide Web goes, the one unanimous prediction is that SEO will wrangle its way through to each and every website and search engine. If you want to be reckoned with, SEO has to be on your list of priorities and there is one firm that should on your speed dial for this purpose, it is a internet marketing agency.

The use of social media and online resources like broadcast emails to market products and services looks like it is in the need of some serious uplifting. The use of email has characterized the marketing solutions of most companies. 2011 ought to be interesting as the use of SEO services and email marketing needs to get more personalized and specific to succeed. This involves some delicate and crafty work, only a Florida advertising agency can grasp the gravity of this situation.

Broadly sending out bulk emails to each and every client irrespective of their history with the company may be working in a detrimental fashion proving the business to be an automated nuisance. This is certainly not what Times Ten Creative does or is about. Rather, they are a powerful automated asset. Furthermore, on the other end of the spectrum, giants like Google also believe that search engines need to be more personalized.

The age old marketing adage “If it does not strike a personal chord in me, it is not for me” will be proven true all over again. Reaching out to a target audience is easy but ensuring that each client is dealt with in a manner pertaining specifically to their usage and interests is the hard part. This hurdle needs to be solved and the way to do this in 2011 is to put behavioral monitoring technology to use. This technology will help Google to launch a default personalized search option which will hold the personal preferences of each user. Marketing too will undergo a dramatic change by paying cognizance to the needs and interests of each consumer so that only the most relevant offers and information is sent out to them.

How simple does this sound? It may sound simple but it is difficult and complex to initiate and employ. Hitting a Cliff Lee fastball may sound simple but it most certainly is not. If your car’s transmission needs to be repaired, would you hire someone or attempt to tackle this issue in your garage with your own ratchet set? Lary Arnett, Director of Marketing, Times Ten Creative, located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida hopes it is the former and so does your own employees.

Social media seems to get all the attention nowadays. From TV commercials to radio and everything in between, businesses both small and large are seeming to push their social media sites on consumers at an almost annoying pace. Being told to “find us on facebook” or “follow us on twitter” is something everyone is used to hearing and many companies actually favor promoting their social media sites over their actual websites. But why is all the focus on facebook?

Facebook is huge, especially over the last 2 years as it blazed past MySpace to take the lead as the most popular social networking platform with over 500 million active users, making the facebook community the 3rd largest country in the world.  Reports show that many of those users log in multiple times a day to interact with friends both local and abroad, which definitely offers a good chance for businesses to gain the attention of their target market at little or no cost. But what can a business really offer to those who befriend them on facebook? Well, updates for one – and lot’s of them. But typically, most of those updates always end up pointing to the website of that company anyways. So the conclusion is simple - facebook is a great tool for generating extra leads to a website in an attempt to create brand awareness or sell their products or services. And of course, if done correctly, it works.

But is the thrill of social media and the “liking” of a facebook page just a fad? Will people begin to be annoyed by the continual bombarding of their profiles with updates from businesses trying to push products? Only time will tell; or maybe it already has.

Facebook recently announced the introduction of Titan, a next-generation email service combining SMS and instant messaging capabilities that according to facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg  "handles messages seamlessly across all the ways you want to communicate".  Could this be a sign that facebook sees a future where social media becomes less popular or is it just another attempt to monopolize all platforms of communication? Is facebook making an early attempt to create a stronghold on its users before they wander off? It’s a good question.

As the popularity of facebook has soared to new heights, so has advertising. But some companies are seeing a decline in the return they are receiving from advertising with facebook.  Many smaller businesses are suspecting favoritism of facebook towards big spenders due to ad rejection and surprisingly low click rates.  Some are claiming that when directing ads to offsite URLs, they are showing less than 30% of supposed click-throughs actually appearing as page visits to the site. A handful (or maybe a few hundred handfuls) of advertising firms seem to swear that facebook advertising is useless for anything than to gain “likes” from users. Some are showing independent tests yielding a repetitive ROI of less than .02% - and these are experienced marketers using proven methods of tracking.

Is facebook ahead of their own game? Do they know that they can’t make money with advertising forever as it begins to feel more like spam while numbing the message of the ad? Are they creating this new email system to lure in users so when certain users decide not to frequent facebook as often they will still be presented with ads via Titan? Nobody knows for sure.  However, with the current questions regarding facebook privacy, it may not be the wisest idea to compound all of your personal information into a “do it all” communication platform such as Titan.

While it could pose a threat to gmail and yahoo mail, there’s no telling if Titan will be a hit with users. One thing is for sure – facebook is popular, and it’s probably not going anywhere anytime soon. But just like MySpace, it can only remain the biggest and baddest for so long.

For more information regarding social media marketing for your business, contact Times Ten Creative, Inc. at 954.533.7851 or by visiting our website at www.timestencreative.com