At Single Throw, we understand the importance of social media and how it effects businesses.  This article from Entrepreneur has outlined six key points as to why social media marketing is a must for any business.  Single Throw thrives on researching and developing new ways to reach the target market of its clients with social media marketing.

Source: Entrepreneur

If you’re not only the CEO, but also the CMO you may be wondering if all of your social media efforts are panning out. According to a new report, you’re not alone.

While 90 percent of marketers now say that social media-related marketing is important for their business, nearly 25 percent are still in the dark when it comes to measuring its effect, according to the third annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report from Michael A. Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com.

Although it’s hard to justify plowing resources into something that you’re not sure is working, marketers overall have deemed social media a must. Here are six of the key takeaways from the more than 3,300 marketers from businesses of all sizes who participated in the survey:

1. Social media takes time.

Fifty-eight percent of marketers said they use social media six hours or more a week and another third spend 11 or more hours a week on it. Those with the most years of experience pour more than 20 hours a week into the effort.

2. Have a goal in mind.

Eighty-eight percent of marketers said social media was ideal for generating exposure for their business, while 72 percent claim it has helped increase traffic or subscribers. Sixty two percent of marketers added that social media improves their business’ search rankings. Other benefits of social media marketing include creating new business partnerships, generating qualified leads, reducing marketing expenses and improving sales.

3. Social media isn’t just useful for reaching consumers.

Business to consumer, or B2C, marketers continue to place a high value on social media, with 90 percent saying it is most important for their business. But business to business, or B2B, companies have joined the fray — with more than half saying they’ve been engaged in social media longer than a year. That’s compared to 31 percent in last year’s report.

4. Pick your medium.

Not every social media site will help you accomplish your goals; it’s best to pick according to the sites that your customers use. But if you want to build a presence in front of the most eyeballs, Facebook edged out Twitter for the top spot — a change over last year. With 92 percent of marketers saying they use the tool and 75 percent planning to use it, Facebook once again reigns supreme. Still, 77 percent of respondents say they intend to increase their YouTube and video marketing efforts — making it the top vehicle that marketers want to invest in for 2011.

5. Wade in to new(er) sites.

Less than one third of marketers say they’ll hike their participation in geolocation services such as Foursquare and Gowalla. And a paltry 19 percent of marketers plan to step up their use of Groupon or similar group-shopping sites.

6. Consider getting help.

Twenty-eight percent of businesses plan to outsource part of their social media marketing efforts in 2011. That number has doubled since last year’s report when 14 percent said they outsourced such tasks as design and development, content creation and analytics to others outside the company.

For the full article, click here.

As social marketing evolves, so will search engines.  This article from Search Engine Watch, reviews the new updates Google and Bing will be making by integrating organic search results and social context via Facebook and Twitter.  Single Throw can help your business grow in search engine results and social media marketing with internet marketing strategies and a great team!

Source: Search Engine Watch

Social search updates by Google and Bing have generated a lot of buzz in recent weeks. Instead of separating results from social networks like Twitter and Facebook from organic results, both search engines are streamlining search engine results pages (SERPs) by combining organic results with this social context.

Both Google and Bing have declared that, for some searches, social context will boost the rankings of results higher on the SERP than regular results. These announcements are just further confirmation of the convergence of social and search, and signal the growing importance of social media marketing for businesses.

What’s noteworthy about these changes:

• Both Google and Bing have moved away from showing tweets and sectioned-off “Liked Results” in the SERPs.
• Search engines are now sending users to the correct websites, as well as providing the detail about the origin of the recommendation (i.e., friend’s profile, original recommendation).
• With these social annotations, the search engines are giving users some visibility as to why they’re algorithms are picking certain results over the others.

Google’s Evolution: Twitter Integration

Google’s SERPs have progressed from showing organic results as a website link, to a specific tweet from a user within your social circle who mentions a link, and now to a combination of the two: the website result, a link to the friend’s social network profile (e.g. Twitter account) who did the sharing, and a link to the original recommendation are now combined into one result.

• Classic result: Google’s organic result for a keyword search pointing to a website.
• Tweet result: An link to the actual tweet from friends within your social network, mentioning your search query.
• Combined result: The website result, with additional annotations linking to your friend’s profile and a time stamp that redirects to the original recommendation are all combined in one result.

Bing’s Evolution: Facebook Likes

Bing has primarily focused on the integration of Facebook Like data in their SERPs and algorithm. Their social search features have evolved from showing organic result as a website link to a module within SERPs that’s set apart the organic search results with the header, “Liked by your Facebook friends,” to listing organic results with an added social annotation mentioning friends from your Facebook network who have also Liked the URL.

• Classic result: Bing’s organic result for a keyword search pointing to a website.
• “Liked Results”: A separate module included alongside organic results in the SERP (includes the website result, friend’s profile)
• Combined result: The website result front and center, with social context (friend’s names and profile pictures who have liked the link).

Facebook Uses Bing Search Results

Another development of note is coming from Facebook, which has started providing Bing’s web results as a part of their internal search feature. Twitter isn’t using Google results, just yet, but judging from Facebook’s and Bing’s partnership, it might be a matter of time before we see this unfold.

How Significant is This Change for Marketers?

This is yet again confirmation that social media optimization should be an integral part of any company’s search strategy.

Actions like getting retweets and mentions on Twitter, Likes on Facebook, and mentions on Quora are crucial for today’s online businesses to gain visibility through search engines and social networks.

As search gets more social, the idea of the social footprint which gives you exponential reach into a follower or fan’s social network just from a simple @mention, retweet, Like, or follow will have a whole new large-scale network effect.

When people share your content, it will show up across their social networks and in their friends’ SERPs.

For the full article, click here.

Here we found a great NY Times article that we wanted to share with you all.  This article is a must read for anyone with a website and wanting to show up better on Google.  Search Engine Optimization is ongoing and overnight will not make your website appear on the first page of Google.  This article discusses J.C. Penney and the “black hat” optimization tactics that were discovered.  Google doesn’t tolerate these “black hat” techniques and you could potentially really hurt your web ranking, which is what happened to BMW in 2006.  To ensure that you are using “white hat” optimization, read this article and then contact us for all of your SEO needs.
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With more than 1,100 stores and $17.8 billion in total revenue in 2010, Penney is certainly a major player in American retailing. But Google’s stated goal is to sift through every corner of the Internet and find the most important, relevant Web sites.

Does the collective wisdom of the Web really say that Penney has the most essential site when it comes to dresses? And bedding? And area rugs? And dozens of other words and phrases?

The New York Times asked an expert in online search, Doug Pierce of Blue Fountain Media in New York, to study this question, as well as Penney’s astoundingly strong search-term performance in recent months. What he found suggests that the digital age’s most mundane act, the Google search, often represents layer upon layer of intrigue. And the intrigue starts in the sprawling, subterranean world of “black hat” optimization, the dark art of raising the profile of a Web site with methods that Google considers tantamount to cheating.

Despite the cowboy outlaw connotations, black-hat services are not illegal, but trafficking in them risks the wrath of Google. The company draws a pretty thick line between techniques it considers deceptive and “white hat” approaches, which are offered by hundreds of consulting firms and are legitimate ways to increase a site’s visibility. Penney’s results were derived from methods on the wrong side of that line, says Mr. Pierce. He described the optimization as the most ambitious attempt to game Google’s search results that he has ever seen.

“Actually, it’s the most ambitious attempt I’ve ever heard of,” he said. “This whole thing just blew me away. Especially for such a major brand. You’d think they would have people around them that would know better.”

For the full article click here.

We recently helped out the home automation specialists, Savant Systems, build a brand new website! Check out this blurb from our case study below, or click here to read the full account!

In under four months, Savant Systems increased their website visits by 400%.  On average, Google linked 13,179 more visitors a week to the Savant pages, and pages viewed by visitors increased measurably.  These statistics seem as rapid and revolutionary as the introduction of the iPod to the music market.

Savant’s secret to Internet success is just as probable and accessible—they contracted Single Throw Internet Marketing, a talented and proficient group of Internet marketing consultants with a plethora of services the size of your mp3 library.

Savant Systems provides the height of technological chic by offering a luxury home automation system that works with Apple technology bringing your home into the future.  Savant provides services for individual homeowners and corporations.  Single Throw Internet Marketing unified this image of Savant with its web presence.

While the Internet is an indisputably powerful—some might even say marvelous—tool, it is also an unwieldy thing to manage.  Many businesses’ experience with the Internet is akin to the proverbial child laying a hand on the hot stove—they get burned, so they don’t try it again. As such, their websites are old fashioned and out of date; they do a poor job of reflecting their product or service.  They target the wrong clientele, and they don’t show up in a typical Google search.

If the Internet is a hot stove, the experts at Single Throw are wearing flame retardant suits.  They build websites from years of experience and research, and they’re quite eager to share their suits with you.  They did with Savant.

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I have a Nikon SLR digital camera with 10 megapixels of power to capture the finest detail digitally and reproduce analog printed masterpieces that I hang in my home and office. Instead I opted for the camera my Blackberry Curve to capture a rare, low-the-sky double rainbow in the Adirondacks, leaving me only the opportunity to share it’s miniature likeness here or on Facebook, or use it as the home screen on a display that’s smaller than a business card.

We have no less than 4 working computers in our home, each with brilliant wide screen displays, yet I sit outside typing away on the small keyboard screen of my iPad, battling the harsh glare of the summer sun.

Why? Convenience. As technology “miniaturizes” it becomes more convenient. It enables us to jump online even though we are a couple hundred feet from our homes. It enables us to capture a moment in time - at our convenience - and share it with our friends, and the rest of the world, just as it happens.

This convenience comes with a cost, of course. The quality of my photos isn’t always what it should be, although I am able to capture memories I might have otherwise missed.

While I type away now on my iPad I might be able to get this done much more quickly on my larger laptop or desktop computer - and with far less eye strain - however the compact nature and ease of use makes the tradeoff worthwhile. I can site comfortably and catch a few rays, while at the same time, write this post.

The same goes for our messaging. Twitter has enabled the world to share information in 140 character sprites - quickly and easily from anywhere you can get online.

Our conversations are miniaturizing, yet we are communicating with one another like never before. The question remains, is the tradeoff quality? The answer: not necessarily.

The access to information and the speed of which we are able to share it allows us a far greater platform for communication. Combining a better understanding of the principles and techniques of Internet marketing, with the same for social marketing, you are now wildly enabled to provide relevant messages of extremely high quality. The tools are transparent yet the thoughts remain complete. I can ensure you hear the latest news about our company with a quick tweet and elaborate later in a longer blog post. I can do either of these tasks while on the road, in my backyard, or in my office - from my laptop, my cellphone, or any device I choose - and you’d never know the difference.

The portability and choice provided by technology has empowered us in ways most of us have never imagined. The challenge remains to ensure that these choices do not interfere with a quality outcome. Enjoy the freedom that “small” provides but strive to keep the ideas and messages BIG.