Latest Posts

ROI, value, brand equity: Media budgets that count for 2013

Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal

Every businessperson would invest in advertising and media if they could know the return in advance of the spend. In the case of businesses with established brand equity, the effort and expense to bring reasonable returns will most likely be more predictable and less costly than a new brand introduction. However, market conditions and message delivery systems are constantly changing, and even established businesses feel out of control when faced with the question of “where to spend” their media budgets. (more…)

How much ‘Klout’ do you have?

You’ve probably heard the buzz about Klout, but what does it all mean? Klout measures your online “social influence” based on your ability to drive interaction action across the social web. Your Klout score falls on a scale between 1-100 and rates your ability to engage and influence your friends and followers in a variety of social interactions. If you have a Twitter account, then you have a Klout score. Do you know yours?
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Hey SocialBro, can you help me with my Twitter Marketing?

This week we are going to cover a useful tool called SocialBro. SocialBro is a dashboard that analyzes your Twitter friends and followers and gives many insights and in depth reports. It also allows you to search, sort, and manage your account in bulk, but with the all important human touch.

It has so many tools, though, it’s hard to know where to start. There are a couple key features that we think are very useful.
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‘Want’ more out of Facebook?

Social media has given consumers a voice, revolutionizing the way we influence our friends and share our opinions about products and services. With the implementation of a new “want” button, Facebook is taking a step toward social commerce. This feature will bridge the gap between a consumer’s desire for a product and the physical act of making a purchase.
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Starmark hosts annual Halloween Gourds and Ghouls Contest

Pinterest: Cash in on the new frontier of visual excitement

Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal

While other social media platforms are addictive, perhaps Pinterest has the most potential to lead the pack. Certainly, its massive growth in less than two years – to over 60 million users pinning their favorite things to their personal virtual boards – is an amazing feat. This meteoric rise makes Pinterest the No. 3 social network, after Facebook and Twitter. (more…)

Gain Control Of Status Updates About Your Brand

Convince your fans to post the perfect social status update about your brand!
You’ve crafted the perfect social media status update about your brand, and you want to get thousands of users to post that message. You want it to be authentic, you want it to be sincere, but, you also want control.

Typically, you could do a contest or promotion, targeted paid media program, or aggressive daily engagement program. They all work – especially in combination.

But you don’t want to run another tired promotion, pay more in media, or spend more time on engagement. You need a program you can setup and let run, where users get rewarded in real time, and just sit back and hone the message.

But here is the kicker: you want to give real physical rewards to people who tweet or post your social media marketing message. Not have them entered into a promotion or contest, not give them a virtual perk or badge; but provide users with actual physical social media rewards.

Sometimes when the technology does not exist, you have to invent it.
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Hosting Your Own AMA on Reddit

Reddit is a community-driven social news website where registered users, or “redditors,” gauge what’s “hot” and what’s not. Redditors vote up or down on each story or discussion, determining its rank and position on the site’s “hot” page.

One of the most popular sections of the site is the IAmA (read I am a) Reddit, in which users prompt others to AMA (ask me anything). This feature gained momentum from celebrity AMA hosts like Steve Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Bear Grylls and most recently, President Barack Obama.

But AMAs are not just for luminaries, anyone can host one. The most compelling discussions surround individuals who have unique experiences that pique curiosity.

So why should your brand leverage Reddit?
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Pinterest Analytics Tools: What’s YOUR ‘Pinfluence’?

So, you’ve launched your business’s Pinterest page. You’ve set up your boards, followed like-minded pinners, liked and repinned relevant pins… and are pin, pin, pinning away!

Now what?
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Communication Arts’ Webpick of the Day: Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale

Starmark is proud to announce that the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale Nova Southeastern University is featured as the Communication Arts’ Webpick of the Day. Commarts.com is the online counterpart to Communication Arts magazine, the premier publication for visual communication professionals and the largest creative magazine in the world. (more…)

Greater Fort Lauderdale & Starmark Break Records for Most Flagler Award Wins

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (GFLCVB) swept the 2012 Flagler Awards, taking home seven first place awards including the highest honor, Best of Show. Receiving the most wins in the Flagler Award history, the GFLCVB and Starmark also walked away from the 45th annual Governor’s Conference with six Henry Awards, a Silver Award and two Bronze Awards for creative work by Starmark. (more…)

Protect Content! Know Your ‘Copy’rights

As soon as any piece of original content is created, whether in print or online, it is protected by copyright. This applies to both published and unpublished works. If you write a blog post and include your own photographs, you legally own that content. It is automatically copyrighted.

The fair use doctrine implements an exception to using copyrighted material without it being infringement. This exception applies if the purpose of your work is for commentary or criticism. For example, if you are reviewing a product and would like to include a photo of it, you should be able to get one from the manufacturer’s website without violating copyright.
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