Posts Tagged ‘Visible Technologies’
Exciting News Over at Visible Technologies
Thursday, March 26th, 2009Congratulations to our friends and partners over at Visible Technologies! Last night, at the Washington Technology Industry Association’s annual awards ceremony, Visible’s TruCast solution won in the “Best Commercial Product or Service of the Year” category.
We’ve known for a long time that Trucast is a great product and service that allows companies to measure, listen to, and engage with their customers in the social media sphere, and it’s good to know that others are starting to not only take notice, but are also beginning to officially commend the Visible gang on the great work they’re doing.
For more information, make sure you check out Visible’s take on the announcement.
Partners
Monday, March 16th, 2009About Us
Our Team | Press | Philosophy | Ethics | Partners | Associations | Jobs
At Spring Creek Group, we are proud to partner with a variety of technology and marketing services companies which provide complementary tools, creative and development capabilities, and channel expertise necessary to drive maximum impact in the social media channel for our clients. We invite you to learn more about our partners by clicking through to their websites below.
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Services
Thursday, February 19th, 2009Our Services
Social Intelligence
and Analytics
- Social media channel brand listening and monitoring tools. Deployment and analysis across the entire social media web.
- Brand frequency, sentiment, and ‘Share of Voice’ analysis and reporting.
- Key influencer/top domain indentification.
- Benchmarking reports and custom dashboards
Channel Guidance
and Strategy
- Your brand’s opportunity identification: Where you could – and should – invest in a managed brand presence across the social media web.
- Collaborative strategic marketing plan development.
- Resource, budget, channel strategy, marketing plan deliverables.
- Content. Technology and editorial plan development.
Social Engagement
and Campaigns
- Experienced “Social Media Marketing Engagement Leads” team.
- Social media outreach, content syndication, and marketing campaign social graph promotion.
- Personal, direct, conversational marketing to complement your existing media buying.
- Identification and outreach to key strategic communities.
Visible Technologies Rides the Wave (Report)
Friday, January 23rd, 2009We here at Spring Creek Group would like to extend a hearty “Congratulations!” to our friends and partners over at Visible Technologies on their rating as a “Strong Performer” in Forrester Research’s latest (and just released) Wave Report breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of various “Listening Platform” vendors.
The fact that this was the first year that Forrester Research decided to classify this particular category of vendor as “Listening Platforms” rather than its previous title, “Brand Monitoring,” speaks volumes to the fact that the market is really beginning to embrace just how important it is to use social media to not only monitor what’s being said, but also to directly engage with customers and become valued members of those conversations.
Although we’ve known about the goodness that is Visible Technologies long before we even officially partnered with them, it’s always a good feeling to know that other folks are starting to take notice as well.
Visible Technology’s press release on the subject can be found right here.
To get your hands on your very own copy of the Forrester Research Wave Report, you can download it here.
Spring Creek Group out on the Town: We went to SMCSeattle’s 2009 kick-off event
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009The Social Media Club Seattle’s first event of the year went off without a hitch last night, and we think it’s safe to say that a good time was had by all. For at least one evening, we all were able to trade in our emails, tweets and Facebook messages for some face-to-face conversation, in-person interaction, and even some laughs over a few cocktails. Turn-out was huge, the food was delicious, and the overall experience was great.
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Our thanks go out to the gang at Visible Technologies for providing the venue and the snacks, and everyone at SMCSeattle whose organizational expertise made the night run so smoothly. For more pictures of the event, head on over to the SMCSeattle homepage here, or take a peek at local artist and photographer extraordinaire Tamara Weikel’s Flickr account here.
More About Our Press Release With Visible Technologies
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009You may have read today’s press release from Visible Technologies (if not, you can either scroll down to our previous post or just read on here and we’ll summarize) that publicly announced their partnership with Spring Creek Group. Visible has long been recognized as a company on the forefront of social media monitoring and engagement solutions and our experiences working with them so far have been invaluable.
We’ve been utilizing TruCast since the early days of its development, and our clients have been tremendously pleased with the results that it provides. As Visible has been extremely open with accepting and adopting a lot of our feedback on the software, we’ve been able to train our team to utilize TruCast according to the wants of a wide range of clients, each with their own particular goals in mind.
TruCast is great for measuring a particular brand’s perception online and providing companies with quick, nearly instant insight into not only what is being said about their product, but where the majority of those conversations are taking place on the Web.
As marketing directors have rightly begun to request ways to quantify returns on a social media spend, we’ve worked with a number of large and small clients, and have engaged a number of different analytic and measurement tools depending on the goal of each client. There’s a growing set of valuable analytic and measurement tools developing in the social media space, and we’re working with many of those tools as they fit the different aspects of the social media cycle.
Although we still do use a wide variety of these tools on a daily basis, the insight provided by our partnership with Visible Technologies helps us train our staff accordingly as TruCast continues to develop. Every member of the Spring Creek team – Engagement Leads, Marketing Managers, Analysts, Program Managers and Principals— is involved in tailoring the application of TruCast to the specific needs of each of our clients. And that’s why we’re excited about this news.
To celebrate the official announcement of our joyful and prosperous union, Visible Technologies and Spring Creek Group will be co-sponsoring the Seattle Social Media Club’s first event of the year, on January 20th at 6 p.m. For more information, check out http://socialmediaclubseattle.eventbrite.com/
Visible Technologies and Spring Creek Group Partner to Deliver Robust Social Media Management and Engagement Solutions to Fortune 100 Clients
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009By BusinessWire
SEATTLE, BUSINESS WIRE –
Visible Technologies:
- Visible Technologies, an industry-leading provider of social media monitoring and engagement solutions, today announced a partnership with Spring Creek Group, an innovative online marketing agency. Spring Creek will offer its customers Visible Technologies’ social media analysis and engagement software platform, TruCast.
- The strategic alliance allows Spring Creek to extend the capabilities of its social media management (SMM) services by enabling clients to more accurately measure their online brand awareness and the effectiveness of their social media marketing programs.
- By deploying proven SMM methodologies and leveraging robust technology tools like TruCast, Spring Creek gives clients such as Microsoft the ability to track relevant brand conversations online, gain actionable marketing intelligence and engage with the social media communities that matter most to their brand.
- Spring Creek Group is an innovative online marketing agency that helps companies of all sizes improve brand awareness and increase site traffic through social media-based online marketing methods. Spring Creek helps brands connect with their customers via innovative social media marketing programs such as branded online communities, blogs and social networks that result in higher brand awareness, increased sales and deeper customer loyalty.
- Visible Technologies provides brands, including Microsoft, Panasonic and Hormel, the ability to bolster brand reputation, build revenue and measure the success of social media engagement. The company’s TruCast2.0 social media monitoring and engagement platform launched in May 2008.
QUOTES
- ‘Engaging with social media is not an option for marketers today ‘ it’s an imperative. Consumers are using social media like blogs, consumer-generated reviews and social networks to compare our products and determine what other people are saying about them. Working with Spring Creek Group and using Visible Technologies’ TruCast platform, we’re able to create social media marketing programs that actively engage customers in a dialogue with one another, and then track and measure the effectiveness of these programs to drive sales and build brand value.’ – Marty Collins, Microsoft Group Marketing Manager, Windows Interactive and Digital Marketing
- ‘Over the past 18 months we have been building our relationship with Spring Creek Group, working in concert with them to help industry-leading clients like Microsoft achieve their marketing objectives through effective social media monitoring, measurement and engagement.We look forward to replicating this success with current and future clients.’ ‘ Blake Cahill, senior vice president of marketing, Visible Technologies
- ‘Our partnership with Visible Technologies has proven to be a huge success helping companies like Microsoft launch, measure and optimize social marketing programs to achieve real business results. The TruCast software platform strengthens our established social media management methodology by allowing brands to easily monitor and track millions of simultaneous online conversations, articles and posts.’ ‘ Clay McDaniel, co-founder and principal of Spring Creek Group
SUPPORTING RESOURCES
- Listen to Marty Collins, Microsoft Group Marketing Manager, comment on TruCast
- Spring Creek Group
- Spring Creek Group Blog
- Visible Technologies
- TruCast
- VisInsightsBlog
About Visible Technologies
Visible Technologies helps companies listen and learn what consumers are saying about them online, and it enables brands to participate in the right conversations with the right influencers at the right time. With this real-time business insight and response, companies build relationships with customers, bolster their brands and grow revenue. Its innovative TruCast platform is the industry’s first complete solution for social media analysis and participation. Visible Technologies also helps brands and individuals manage and protect their online reputations with the powerful TruView’ search engine solution. For more information, go to http://www.visibletechnologies.com, or follow the blog at http://www.visinsights.com.
About Spring Creek Group
Spring Creek Group is an innovative online marketing agency that helps companies of all sizes improve brand awareness, increase sales, and drive site traffic through social media-based online marketing. Spring Creek Group is made up of experienced, skilled, and results-oriented online marketers with a passion for using the most innovative marketing tactics ‘ including branded communities, interactive content, and next-generation social networking’ to drive measurable business results. Members of Spring Creek Group draw on deep e-commerce and online marketing experience at companies such as RealNetworks, Microsoft, Amazon, Judy’s Book.com, Salton, and Disney Internet Group. The company’s clients include both local growing companies and nationally established industry leaders like Microsoft, Corbis and Paramount Farms. For more information, visit www.springcreekgroup.com www.springcreekgroup.com.
Why Not Start the New Year off in a Fun and Productive Way?
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009Now that the holiday season is over and you’re fresh out of excuses to go to any more corporate-sponsored parties, we’ve got just the thing for you: another corporate-sponsored party.
Seattle’s very own Social Media Club is hosting its first event of 2009 on January 20th at 6:00 p.m., and Spring Creek Group, as well as our friends over at Visible Technologies, will be helping to sponsor this get-together.
Visible Technologies is providing the location and snacks, and we’ll provide the cocktails, so stop by and chat with industry professionals, brainstorm with other social media experts, or just have a few drinks and get to know some other folks in the field.
If you register online before the event, you and a guest can both get in for just $15. You can find out more information and purchase tickets here: http://socialmediaclubseattle.eventbrite.com/
PR Week interview with Visible Technologies
Thursday, June 5th, 2008Visible Technologies is one of our key technology partners, and one of the ways Spring Creek Group is able to differentiate ourselves from other Social Media agencies in Seattle and beyond.
Our friend, Visible VP of Marketing Blake Cahill, was recently interviewed by PRWeek for this article. There are definitely some good pieces of insight from Blake as to how companies can leverage social media into their existing campaigns.
Beware SEO Consulting Snakeoil… You Can Probably Get All the Info You Need On Your Own
Thursday, January 31st, 2008We try to be as transparent as possible at Spring Creek Group about what we’re good at, what we’re great at, and what we believe is better off handled either internally by our clients’ own marketing and development teams OR handled externally by other, more qualified and deeply experienced expert agencies or consultancies. One of the areas about which we are asked most often – and it appears the marketplace is most perilous for decision-making – is SEO. And to be clear, the end game isn’t SEO for its own purposes, but good and improving natural search engine results for a client’s website against the potential available list of search terms and phrases most relevant and aligned with their business / value proposition. When we can, we offer a set of “core principles” regarding website architecture, page code and construction, and linking and content propagation strategies (including SEO / SMO PR and Communications publishing and editorial principles). And I believe we charge fairly — which is to say “not excessively” – for providing this information to our clients, when they request it and it’s pertinent to their marketing goals. However, we are VERY CAREFUL not to over-sell, over-promise, or over-promote our agency’s capabilities in the realm of SEO simply because we believe two things:
1) Most SEO “best practices” can be researched, learned, understood, internalized, and taken action upon BEST by the program managers and development managers + teams who are chiefly responsible for the UI / UX and actual website code development for a given domain;
and,
2) Genuinely best practice SEO guidance and principles are available from a pretty short list of deeply knowledgeable, right-on-top-of-the-topic-as-it-develops-given-the-ever-changing-nature-of-the-search-engines-algorithms SEO firms and websites out there. To site a few of the best ones we’re aware of, there’s SEOMoz, SEOBook, ethical-yet-clever reputation management and search engine result improvement services such as Visible Technologies’ TruView service, and some of the resources available via links from the Wikipedia page on SEO (including SEMPO).
And let’s not even get into the whole realm of “paid links” practices and firms… which we regularly and firmly denounce, because linking should be a result of company advocates and compelling content doing their thing whenever there is content or information on your site that deserves a mention and link elsewhere on the Web. We DO help clients provide tools to increase the likelihood and velocity of “voluntary linking and sharing” of our clients’ sites, via integration of content syndication tools like RSS feeds and integration of Bookmarking, Sharing, and Permalink/Email “one-click” tools such as the very simple and comprehensive ones that AddThis supplies… for free!
Well, the following post came across our RSS Reader today and we thought it merited linking to — and extending commentary upon — because the whole topic of SEO is genuinely a growing problem for marketers and their good-hearted efforts to improve their customer acquisition funnel and brand awareness.
We did some research a few months back, and the marketplace research and analysis reports seem to suggest that SEO consulting services represents between $1billion and $1.5billion annually in Web marketing services revenues. And it’s growing as rapidly or more rapidly than Web media/advertising fees (usually structured as 15% – 20% of total media buying budget spend, when serviced externally by an agency partner).
The short story – from our perspective, as well as the author of this post‘s – is that sound SEO practices DO NOT come down to spending exorbitant fees on SEO consultants and “black hat” SEO firms. Instead, they come from doing two things well:
1) Learning and staying knowledgeable internally with a website development and/or product management / product marketing stakeholder about the highest-priority core principles of search engine natural results performance effectiveness,
and,
2) Allocating the focus and resources regularly over a long period of time towards this marketing opportunity, alongside the focus and resources allocated to the other key customer acquisition and brand awareness channels on the Web such as SEM, display and rich media opportunities, Web-optimized PR practices, and social media marketing opportunities.
The author of this post – and countless others like it – is absolutely correct: $350-and-hour SEO consultants not only often aren’t worth it on an ROI-basis for your marketing spend, but often they don’t know any more about the leading edge thinking and theories regarding SEO best practices than what your talented internal team members could learn at little or no cost (beyond the “cost” of their resource time and attention dedicated to the topic, of course).
We believe we have some knowledge, information, and experience to offer our clients in this realm, just as we do from both a strategic and a tactical standpoint when it comes to performance-marketing advertising campaign management, social media marketing and management strategies and programs, and web analytics methodologies and technology solutions. We’re in the business of helping our clients grow their online brand awareness and penetration, and helping turn that into increased flow of potential and returning customers into their website conversion funnel. But we strive to do so using completely ethical and “value-fair” services which neither under NOR over-charge our clients for the actual value of this knowledge, experience, and services to those clients created by our partnership with them in pursuit of their marketing and business growth goals. We deserve to be held totally accountable to this standard. And so does the rest of the SEO industry.
There is real, non-zero value to this knowledge… and most importantly translating it into actionable, impactful strategies and tactics/development for B2C and B2B Web-enabled businesses of all kinds. And it’s true that this value increases as the desire, ability, and inclination to gather and act on this knowledge by any given company internally declines. But much like any other marketing investments — comprised of both actual dollars spent + value of resource time internally and externally spent on the channel — these SEO investments should be evaluated by the same metrics and standards applied to all other Web marketing activities: “What is my return on spend?” The math is pretty simple here, much like it is for total SEM, display, rich media, promotional, PR, social media, or other marketing spend:
Total Expected Profits from Channel / Total Expected Cost for Channel
If your SEO investments are too low today, look at your overall marketing budget + resources mix and determine if you can improve your profitable return by investing more here. But if you are over-spending, be sure it’s not because your cost of acquiring SEO knowledge isn’t wildly out of whack in relation to your current and expected future return in real revenue and profit growth from increasing your natural search results “ranking” and domain presence.
And one last point on this topic: The reality is that most businesses have, at best, any luck of hitting the first page of search results for maybe 10 or 20 search terms. Beyond that, if you want to be there, unless you are in the upper 1% of site content optimizers and link-generators, your most cost effective expenditure between SEO and SEM investments to get on to the first page of search results for a given search term or phrase is likely to be cagey, analytics-driven search engine advertising.
Happy SEO researching — and auditing of your SEO investments/expenditures on behalf of your business. Don’t under-spend, but certainly don’t over-spend here either. Snakeoil wasn’t medicine… it was just something that made you think you would get better. [And often the principle ingredient was alcohol, to divert your attention later from the fact that you had been duped into buying something you didn't need and that wouldn't work the way the salesmen said it would.]
