DDC Marketing Group

Social Media Marketing
The explosion of social media, the use of online technologies, including user-generated content that encourages people to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives, has captured the attention of both marketers and consumers. Today's marketers look to these technologies as innovative and effective ways to reach their targeted audiences while also achieving branding and marketing communication goals.

The goals of a Social Media Marketing (SMM) campaign are distinctly different for each business or organization. However, our experience in this new marketing environment shows that most campaigns involve the following:
• Increased brand awareness
• Brand engagement (pages viewed, time on site)
• Publicity, positive buzz and word of mouth (often uncovering brand evangelists)
• Relationship building
• Driving traffic to a website
• Sales conversions for products and services
• Strong inbound link generation, which benefits organic search engine rankings
• Positive ROI when maximum exposure is reached

The social media audience in the US totals over 122 million, or 64% of the total Internet audience, according to the research firm comScore, Inc. According to Nielsen there are now 87% more online social media users now than in 2003, with 883% more time devoted to those sites. In the last year alone, time spent on social networking sites has surged 73%, while earlier this year, social network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail usage for the first time.

Facebook has now surpassed MySpace in the number of active members in the U.S. with over 70 million and now they claim to have 300 million worldwide. Facebook early this summer let members choose their own "vanity URL's" and had 5.75 million usernames grabbed up in the first two days. Facebook is currently the fastest growing social network on the Internet.

Twitter, the free social networking and micro-blogging service, topped the list as the fastest growing Web brand in May of this year, increasing 1448%, from 1.2 million unique visitors in May 2008 to 18.2 million in 2009.

Twitter allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default).

Estimates now predict that in 2009, there will be 18 million US adults who access Twitter on any platform at least monthly. That represents a 200% increase over 2008 levels. Usage will reach 26 million US adults in 2010, a further 44.4% climb.

DDC offers a number of social media marketing services. We would be glad to have an initial consultation with you to determine the best way to integrate our services with your needs.

Social Sweeps^TM interactive promotions utilize the viral features of social media marketing for a winning combination. Interactive promotions are highly measurable tactics and can be very effective. However, they can't achieve your objectives if proper awareness of the promotion is not created. A Social Sweeps interactive promotion is integrated with at least one social media platform that can generate awareness and buzz for your brand.

Consumer Benefits
People love the chance to win! Fifty percent of online users enter sweepstakes at least once a month, 25% enter weekly and only 20% of internet users never enter sweepstakes. In fact, entering promotions such as sweepstakes and contests is one of the most popular online activities, second only to activities like search and email. Social Sweeps interactive promotions enable consumers to access to them in a more convenient, more targeted and more effective way.

Viral Marketing
By integrating an online promotion with the viral features of social media, we can help marketers easily spread the word and create positive brand awareness for your company far more widely and cost effectively than ever before. With a few easy clicks, consumers can inform their friends about a promotion and these friends can in turn inform their friends. On social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Ning, newsfeeds are generated when a member interacts with your promotion, so potentially hundreds more may see it and engage with your brand as well.

Build Your Customer Database
Interactive sweepstakes and contests promotions are a highly cost effective way to build your database and start a dialog with your customers.

Drive Traffic to your Website, Social Network Pages and Blogs. According to Forrester Research, companies that run sweepstakes have 50% more fans on their social network pages than those that don't. Each Social Sweeps interactive promotion can simultaneously be launched on Facebook, Twitter, Ning as well as your website.

Build Brand Awareness
With a Social Sweeps interactive promotion you can upload branded banners or videos to appear on social networks along with the newsfeeds. This is a great way to reach new consumers and to build brand awareness.

Drive Sales
One famous online retailer drove sales by requiring participants to visit the company's website to select the SKU numbers of the product(s) they would select if chosen for the $5000 shopping sweepstakes. Another company, a gym chain, provided a free one-week gym membership to all people who entered.

Gather Valuable Data and Consumer Insights
You can customize your promotion entry form to ask whatever questions you wish. Thus, Social Sweeps interactive promotions can also serve as a highly effective survey tool.

Social Sweeps^TM Interactive Promotions Service 
Our expertise in both interactive promotions and social media enable us to develop exciting promotions from concept through to execution.

DDC is an authorized user of a proprietary new web application that allows promotions to be simultaneous launched on a website as well as on Facebook, Ning and Twitter. This pre-developed and tested web tool is a Facebook Verified App which we can offer our clients to quickly and cost-effectively have branded sweepstakes, contests, coupons, surveys and quizes online in days.

Social Media Marketing Services

Social Media Marketing Strategy Development - Goal setting for your social marketing program should be no different than with any other brand communications plan. We can work with you to help set them.

Social Media Marketing Consultation & Workshops – We can work with you directly to educate your team about today's social media tools and how they may be applied to your business. We are more than happy to come to you and put on a ½ day or full day workshop, or do it as a webinar if you have a team that is in various locations.