Facebook helps local businesses market online

By Keith Edwards kedwards@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA — U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, who has a Facebook page with nearly 4,700 “likes,” invited representatives of the social networking giant to the city Tuesday to help teach Maine business owners how to turn virtual likes and fans into customers.

ONLINE FORUM: U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, right, confers Tuesday with Laura Kibort, left, during an Augusta forum held by Facebook to assist small business to utilize the social networking site. Kibort is the event manager of the Royal Oak Room in Lewiston.

Staff photo by Andy Molloy

TECH SUPPORT: Facebook employee Kirsten Bury, left, helps Sandy Gnidziejko, center, and Ellen Heath arrange a page for their Biddeford business, Little River Antiques and Collecting, during a Tuesday forum by the internet social networking business in Augusta.

Staff photo by Andy Molloy

Snowe, R-Maine, said that the state’s businesses can tap into new markets, and build loyalty with existing customers, by doing more business online, including through social media such as Facebook.

“Over half of Maine’s population is on Facebook — think about that,” Snowe told a few hundred businesspeople gathered at the Augusta Civic Center.

Snowe said by using social media as a marketing tool, Maine businesses have the potential of “literally reaching into millions and millions of people’s living rooms.”

Maxine Schlein and Kirsten Bury, members of the Facebook Global Marketing Solutions Team, showed Snowe and attendees how to claim a spot for their businesses on Facebook, and how to both attract potential customers by getting them to click the like button on their page, and retain customers once they become “fans” of a business page.

Their lessons included how to send advertisements to not only people who self-identified themselves on Facebook, as fans of a business, but also the Facebook friends of those fans. And how to have those ads include information showing the business is already liked by their friends. She said people are four times more likely to buy a product if they see an ad for it associated with a friend’s name.

“Fred is my friend, and I trust Fred, so I’m more likely to check out what he enjoys,” Schlein said, noting there are 800 million people on Facebook. “Because we care about our friends and what they enjoy.”

Patrick Wright, director of the local business promotion organization Gardiner Main Street, asked Facebook officials how much is too much when it comes to posting on Facebook.

“As a user, I’ve experienced Facebook fatigue,” Wright said. “Where a friend or business I like posts so much I end up dropping their newsfeed. Has any study been done, or do you have words of wisdom regarding post frequency and the types of posts that have the biggest impact on customers?”

Bury said she was not aware of any information on the upper limit of posting frequency, but agreed too many uninteresting posts could overwhelm some users.

“I want to see things that are interesting, but I don’t want to be bombarded,” she said. She added that customers respond best to interesting posts that include photographs or videos.

Schlein said businesses can decide how much they want to spend individually on advertising on Facebook, but recommended at least $5 a day.

Sara Dostie, who has both a website and Facebook page for her Winthrop business, Healing Hands Holistic Wellness LLC, through which she offers both massage therapy and guided recreational trips, said she hoped to use information from the session to better target her social media marketing to people more likely to be interested in her business.

Deb Fahy, executive director of the nonprofit Harlow Gallery in Hallowell, said the gallery has been on Facebook since 2008, and said it has been a great marketing tool.

After the presentation Snowe chatted with several businesswomen as they waited to ask Schlein or Bury individual questions, asking them if they found the session helpful.

She received likes all around.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

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NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

SES New York 2012 announced today that Avinash Kaushik, Digital
Marketing Evangelist for Google and Author of Web Analytics 2.0, will
present the keynote address at the conference to be held at the Hilton
New York on March 19-23, 2012. At SES
New York Kaushik, whose keynote is entitled “Business Optimization
in a Digital Age,” will present his latest insights on designing
multi-channel digital marketing programs to achieve maximum economic
value.

The largest search and social media event of its kind, SES New York
attracts 3,500 to 4,000 online marketers. Incisive Media is offering a
pre-agenda savings of up to $800 for those who register
by January 20, 2012.

“We promise our attendees they will hear from the most innovative
experts – the most creative minds in the industry – and who could
personify this better than Avinash Kaushik,” said Matt McGowan, Managing
Director of Americas at Incisive Media. “Even though the surge of social
media has caused search marketing to become much more complicated, he’s
promised to convince us that the right integrated digital marketing
strategy can pay off with big returns on investments.”

“SES New York is always a high point in my conference year, and I’m
preparing to add to the excitement with my keynote on balancing the many
digital marketing channels across the four most important business
drivers,” said Kaushik. “Metrics play a significant role in
multi-channel digital strategies and I will, as usual, be discussing how
to leverage key metrics for optimal campaign results. I’m really looking
forward to meeting old friends and meeting new colleagues at the show.”

About SES New York

The five-day SES New York conference includes informative presentations
and panels, intensive training workshops and a large exhibit hall. Each
day is choreographed to leave plenty of time for networking
opportunities with industry peers. Its real-time case studies provide
attendees with best-practice knowledge that can be immediately applied
to their marketing programs, and its classroom-style learning offers a
high degree of interactivity.

The SES New York agenda, programmed by the SES
Advisory Board, is designed to help online professionals do their
jobs better. This year, specific consideration has been given to Demand
Gen, SEO, PPC, RTB, mobile, local, as well as both earned and paid
social media.

Until
end of day January 20, 2012, Incisive Media is offering a pre-agenda
registration savings of up to $800.

About Avinash Kaushik

Avinash Kaushik is the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google and the
co-founder of Market Motive Inc. Through his blog, Occam’s
Razor, and his best-selling books, Web Analytics: An Hour A Day
and Web Analytics 2.0, Kaushik has become recognized as an
authoritative voice on how marketers, executive teams and industry
leaders can leverage data to fundamentally reinvent their digital
existence. Kaushik puts a common sense framework around the often
frenetic world of web analytics and combines that with the philosophy
that investing in talented analysts is the key to long-term success. He
passionately advocates customer centricity and leveraging bleeding-edge
competitive intelligence techniques.

Kaushik brings practical insights to companies like Unilever, Dell, Time
Warner, Vanguard, Porsche, and IBM. He has delivered keynotes at a
variety of global conferences, including SES Conference Expo, Monaco
Media Forum, iCitizen, JMP Innovators’ Summit, The Art of Marketing and
Web 2.0.

Kaushik has lectured at major universities such as Stanford University,
University of Virginia, University of California – Los Angeles and
University of Utah. Avinash received the 2009 Statistical Advocate of
the Year award from the American Statistical Association, and the 2011
Most Influential Industry Contributor award from the Web Analytics
Association.

About Incisive Media

Incisive Media’s SES
Conference Expo is a leading global conference and training
series focused on search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources
include ClickZ,
which provides digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice,
opinion, and research and Search
Engine Watch, which covers news and information about search and
analysis of the search engine industry, and offers tools for improving
search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news
and information in print, online, and in person. The company’s principal
markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real
estate, marketing services, and risk management. Incisive Media’s
market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment
Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and SES
Conference and Expo. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

For more news and event updates visit the SES
press room.

For whenever the company gets itself into a spot of bother, it turns, like cigarette companies of old, to traditional advertising.

After a touchingly devilish week in which Google attempted to force-feed Google+ to the socially overstuffed masses and overstepped the boundaries of commercial enthusiasm in Kenya, the company wants to make everyone feel safer online.

One of the ads.

So, as the Los Angeles Times reveals it, Google is spending tens of millions of dollars on its new BFF: ads.

Yes, moldy-worldy ads, even more traditional than the TV spots that try to encourage the whole world to participate in Google+.

For these are print ads–the sort of things Don Draper so loved to create in between large dollops of alcohol and afternoon sex.

The campaign was created in the U.K. and is part of an initiative called “The Good To Know” campaign.

The ads remind people to make their passwords a little more clever than “pass.” They encourage us to use two-step verification. They remind us to log out of our browsers. They even offer some tips on how to keep children away from some of daddy’s Web sites.

The L.A. Times quotes Google’s director of privacy, Alma Whitten, as declaring: “Given who we are, we have a strong incentive to make the Internet a place that people feel safe to do interesting things.”

Yes, the incentive is truly muscular, as well as interesting.

Naturally, the more cynical might suggest that such a campaign helps Google politically in its quest not to be seen as a haughty, patronizing monopoly which is attempting to ensure that all mankind participates in its social network.

I merely remain titillated that a company that was once so against traditional advertising is now so smitten by its seductive qualities.

I fancy that the time is not long coming when Google will tug heartily at the core of old Procter and Gamble advertising and create a campaign that tells–with the help of a side-by-side demonstration–why Facebook is bad for your mental health.

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In the battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the tech world seems to be gaining ground. In a major protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PIPA), a number of high-profile sites are planning a total shutdown for January 18. Among them: Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing, Twitpic, Mozilla, The Cheezeburger Network, Major League Gaming, and others.

Wikipedia, the sixth-most-visited website in the world, has been one of the most vocal challengers of the controversial legislation. The  company announced over the weekend that beginning at midnight on January 18, the English version of its site would go dark for 24 hours.

“While we regret having to prevent the world from having access to Wikipedia for even a second, we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world,” Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said in statement. Later, Wales tweeted “It is a decision of the Wikipedia community.”

Several smaller sites and companies have also pledged to shut down on the same day, including Good.is, Tuscows, Red 5, Mojang, and Free Press. To officially join the strike, visit SOPAStrike.com. And if you’re concerned about the SEO implications of shutting down, check this out.

Opponents of the bill believe the legislation will harm the free and open nature of the Web and usher in a new set of tools for censorship of international sites that operate within the United States.

“This could obliterate an entire industry—a job creating industry,” Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, a user-generated news site, told Inc.com. “Congress doesn’t understand how significant the Internet infrastructure really is. This bill wouldn’t even solve the issue of online piracy.” For one of the most authoritative explications of reasons to hate the bills, check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s “How PIPA and SOPA Violate White House Principles Supporting Free Speech and Innovation.”

Other sites reject the idea of a blackout, even if they support the anti-SOPA movement. Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, for instance, announced Twitter would have nothing to do with the blackout.

“That’s just silly,” Twitter CEO Dick Costolo tweeted to Radar reporter Alex Howard and NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen. “Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish.”

Over the weekend, Wales and other anti-SOPA advocates picked up a serious ally: President Obama, who hinted at a potential veto of the Acts.

“Any provision covering Internet intermediaries such as online advertising networks, payment processors, or search engines must be transparent and designed to prevent overly broad private rights of action that could encourage unjustified litigation that could discourage start-up businesses and innovative firms from growing,” wrote three White House staffers, including Aneesh Chopra, the Chief Technology Officer of the United States, in a statement.

On Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith announced that there will be changes made to SOPA, which will delay the bill from being heard on January 24.

Does that mean SOPA is dead? Not exactly.

“The fight is still far from over,” notes Trevor Timm of the EFF. “Even though The New York Times reported that the White House statement “all but kill[s] current versions of the legislation,” the Senate is still poised to bring PIPA to the floor next week, and we can expect SOPA proponents in the House to try to revive the legislation—unless they get the message that these initiatives must stop, now.

Read more:

Eric Markowitz

Eric Markowitz reports on start-ups, entrepreneurs, and issues that affect small businesses. Previously, he worked at Vanity Fair. He lives in New York City.

With a strong history of dedication to the promotion of a global understanding of web analytics, the WAA creates an informed and involved web analytics community through the connection and empowerment of its members. The organization has more than 1,500 members worldwide, representing 40 countries and a broad spectrum of expertise.

Founded in 2008, Tealium helps enterprise organizations improve online marketing performance and save valuable IT resources by providing a simple, easy to use solution for managing the increasing number of web page tags that most digital marketing vendors require customers to embed in their web sites. Tealium leverages an industry unique methodology that delivers unprecedented scale and high performance on a global basis. Tealium offers an intuitive, drag and drop user interface designed for marketers who want to take control of their online campaigns and protect user privacy without further taxing IT departments.

“Tag management is rapidly becoming an established best practice in our industry,” said Peter Sanborn, president of the WAA. “On behalf of the WAA Board and members, we welcome Tealium to the association.”

WAA is the leader, spokesperson, and guardian of the web analytics profession and is owned and run by members for the benefit of members. Members of the WAA receive access to web analytics best practices, current and relevant industry information, local and global networking opportunities, key resources, valuable research, standards, discounts to industry events and publications and participation with social media groups. WAA members are also given the opportunity to get involved with relevant industry legislation and they may choose to participate in the strengthening of the trade through certification programs.

“The WAA is at the forefront of the web analytics profession and we are proud to join their ranks,” said Ali Behnam, co-founder at Tealium. “We look forward to working with the association and its many members on moving the industry forward, and serving as a resource for enterprise tag management.”

On Jan. 18, Tealium will be exhibiting at the Web Analytics Symposium in Los Angeles. The event will be held at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica. Visit the WAA for more information.

About Tealium
Tealium is the leading provider of enterprise tag management solutions, serving some of the most demanding clients worldwide. Tealium can be implemented in days instead of weeks or months, reducing tagging costs for organizations. Through the Tealium Tag Management Console, marketing and business users can manage their tag implementations in a simple drag-and-drop interface, without further taxing IT resources. Tealium’s solutions lets customers save on IT costs, while improving their analytics, their digital marketing deployments and the performance of their web site. For more information about Tealium and its solutions, visit: http://www.tealium.com/ or follow the company on Twitter.

London, UK (PRWEB) January 17, 2012

Many British companies struggle to be found online, with increasing competition in organic search and higher click prices in the paid search results. Adding to the problem, countless of enterprises don’t know the most basic rules to be found in top of search engine result pages.

SEO Specialist has identified four of the most important factors that many small and medium seized businesses overlook and put it together on a dedicated website, HowToBeFound.co.uk.

What can be learnt from the online marketing campaign site?

How to be found opens up with a guide how to choose appropriate domain names, discussing different strategies around domain names and search engine visibility.

Many business take shortcuts with regards to domain names, hoping it will save them money. Perhaps a company go for an .info or .net domain extension instead of the more recognised .co.uk or .com domain extensions. Other negative domain factors include adding hyphens, ltd or any other extra word in the end of a domain name. This usually makes the domain name look longer and becomes way harder to remember.

The problem is that this intended ‘money savers’ make the business look less credible and reputable, while drawing less attention in search engines and becoming less memorable. This might lead to lower click through rate from search engines and a general feeling that the website is not very professional.

The other helpful parts of the promotional website include website optimisation tips, how to make your web content better and more unique and finally how to tackle increasing competition in the field of paid search.

How to be found on London cabs

Two attention drawing full livery taxis will drive around central London for 12 months, starting the 17th of January. Both the doors, bonnet, roof and tip-up seats inside the taxis will feature SEO Specialist’s logo and advert message; Is your website easy to find online?

The design on the taxi draws the attention into the logo and the website URL by using a circular pattern. Taxi advertising company Transport Media have sourced the drivers and printed the design to a high quality on the taxis. SEO Specialist’s web design team created the taxi design concept and campaign website.

The ‘how to be found website’ goes live the 23rd of January and aims to be informative for anyone who is finding it a struggle getting their websites found in commonly known search engines such as Bing, Google and Yahoo.

About SEO Specialist:

SEO Specialist http://www.seospecialist.co.uk is a London based SEO company, established in 2011. For those new to website optimisation, the comprehensive SEO school can be helpful. SEO solutions offered include multilingual search engine optimisation, pay on results SEO, pay per click solutions, link building services, SEO copywriting and other a wide range of other SEO services. SEO Specialist focus on performance based services and search marketing consulting, giving risk free investment opportunities for website owners.

###

Markus Jalmerot
SEO Specialist Limited
+44 790 8881045
Email Information

SAN FRANCISCO, January 17, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Kenshoo (
http://www.kenshoo.com ), a global leader in digital marketing software, today released its full Kenshoo 2011 U.S. Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report. The report presents aggregate holiday search engine marketing data and analysis culled from an aggregation of more than 28 billion total search advertising impressions, 350 million clicks and eight million online sales transactions.

“The 2011 holiday shopping season in the U.S. was a true battle for retailers with search advertising competition reaching new heights and budgets up 31 percent over last year,” said Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer at Kenshoo. “Thankfully, Kenshoo customers were prepared, capitalizing on increased consumer shopping activity during key dates and taking advantage of the growing role of mobile devices as shopping tools. Overall return on ad spend was $5.57 for U.S. retailers managing search campaigns through Kenshoo during the holiday season. In other words, for every dollar spent on paid search, advertisers got $5.57 back in online sales revenue.”

More than 14 percent of all clicks for the period measured by Kenshoo happened on a mobile device. Tablets, which represented more than eight percent of all clicks, produced $149.84 per conversion and a 2.72 percent conversion rate. Mobile phones converted online far less (.87 percent) but drove more than six percent of total clicks. Among consumers who did use smartphones to make purchases, Apple iOS users represented a more desirable audience; they spent 13 percent more on purchases and delivered a conversion rate that was almost 20 percent better than Android users.

Aside from mobile phone and tablet usage, the Kenshoo 2011 U.S. Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report identified seven key insights:

U.S. consumers used the Internet more often for holiday purchases and they’re spending more

Heavy retail competition drove costs up but return on ad spend remained strong

Thanksgiving cemented its position as a major online shopping day

U.S. retailers saw fewer opportunities for advertising exposure but higher response rates when exposure occurred

U.S. consumers trusted search ads more; retailers ran more savvy paid search campaigns

Last-minute shoppers still purchased online the week before Christmas

Deal-seeking and gift card redemption drove higher post-Christmas revenue

The Kenshoo 2011 U.S. Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report provides data, charts, graphs and insights supporting these trends along with implications for advertisers and 2012 predictions for search, social and online marketing in general.

The research provided in this report is based on the Kenshoo U.S. Retail Index™, a cross-section of Kenshoo retail advertisers covering verticals like apparel, electronics, entertainment, home improvement, gifts, luxury goods and toys. The data set includes paid search advertising in the U.S. across channels like Google, Yahoo, and Bing from November 1, 2011 through January 2, 2012 and compared to that same period one year prior. The mobile and tablet data represents a subset of retailers in the index and a shorter window of analysis for the month of December 2011 only.

Kenshoo also published two additional reports: the Kenshoo 2011 U.K. Online Retail Christmas Shopping Season Report, covering search advertising trends in the United Kingdom, and the Kenshoo 2011 Global Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report, covering worldwide search advertising trends. Please visit
http://www.Kenshoo.com/HolidayReport to download these reports in their entirety and get the latest updates.

About Kenshoo

Kenshoo is a digital marketing software company that engineers technology solutions for search marketing, social media and online advertising. Brands, agencies and marketing providers use Kenshoo Enterprise, Kenshoo Local and Kenshoo Social to direct more than $15 billion in annual customer sales revenue. The Kenshoo Universal Platform delivers automation, intelligence, integration and scale to make better marketing investments. Kenshoo powers 6 of the top 10 global hotel groups, 7 of the top 10 retailers, 7 of the top 10 telecoms, 9 of the top 10 ad agency networks, and 23 of the Fortune 50 companies. With campaigns running in more than 100 countries, Kenshoo customers include Accor, Annalect, Barnes Noble, CareerBuilder, Facebook, Havas Digital, Hitwise, iREP, John Lewis, KAYAK, LendingTree, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Tesco, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Kenshoo has ten international offices and is backed by Sequoia Capital and Arts Alliance. Please visit
http://www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

Kenshoo is a trademark of Kenshoo Ltd. Other company and brand names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Kenshoo

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
The Online Trust Alliance (OTA) today announced the 2012 Privacy and Data Protection Town Hall, to be hosted on Tuesday, January 24 from 7:30-10 a.m. at the Mid-America Club. The event will feature speakers from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Federal Trade Commission and a panel of business and internet security including executives from comScore and TRUSTe. Speakers will address the challenges businesses are facing as it applies to their business practices, data security and privacy practices. The OTA 2012 Data Protection Breach Readiness Guide will be reviewed as a tool to provide prescriptive advice and guidelines to aid businesses to proactively develop a plan to minimize data collection, enhance data protection and to create a customer-centric incident response plan.

When: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 7:30 – 10 a.m.

Where: Mid-America Club, 200 East Randolph Drive, 80th Floor Aon Center, Chicago, ILPre Register: $15 by January 20 at:
http://privacy-townhall.eventbrite.com/ Onsite registration $30

Speakers:

Chris Babel, CEO of TRUSTe

Steven Baker, Regional Director, Federal Trade Commission

Gian Fulgoni, Chairman of comScore, Inc.

John Roberson, Executive Director, Small Business Development Resource Center Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

Craig Spiezle, Executive Director President, Online Trust Alliance

Why Attend:

Understand the trends, challenges and opportunities of data collection privacy.

Learn the importance of privacy best practices and the fundamentals of “privacy by design”.

Review the OTA’s 2012 Data Protection Breach Readiness Guide, to aid businesses in preventing, defending and responding to data incidents.

Enhance consumer trust and confidence in your business and brand reputation.

The 2012 Privacy and Data Protection Town Hall is underwritten with support from comScore, TRUSTe, OTA and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, in support of Data Privacy Day. Data Privacy Day is an international initiative to promote awareness about how information is collected, stored, used, and shared, and education about privacy practices that will enable individuals and business to protect their data. Attendees will receive a copy of OTA’s 2012 Data Protection Breach Readiness Guide.

OTA will hold a complimentary webinar on Wednesday, January 25 at 9 a.m. PST, to review the guide and steps for all businesses to take to protect their data. This webinar is on Wednesday, January 25 at 9 AM PST. Information and registration can be found at
https://otalliance.org/dpd.html .

Supported in part by:

comScore is a global leader in measuring the digital world and the preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. Through a powerful combination of behavioral and survey insights, comScore enables clients to better understand, leverage and profit from the rapidly evolving worldwide web and mobile arena.

TRUSTe is the leading online privacy solutions provider and provides a broad suite of privacy services to help businesses build trust and increase engagement across all of their online channels – including websites, mobile applications, advertising, cloud services, business analytics and email marketing. Over 4,000 web properties rely on TRUSTe to ensure compliance with evolving and complex privacy requirements. TRUSTe’s mission, based on a “Truth in Privacy” framework, is built on a solid foundation of transparency, choice and accountability regarding the collection and use of personal information.

The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is a private, non-profit business assistance and economic development organization. We are dedicated to helping area businesses grow as well as promoting the economic development of the region. Our mission is to make Chicagoland the most business-friendly region in America and enhance our members’ success through aggressive programs in advocacy, member benefits, services, and actionable information.

The Online Trust Alliance (OTA). OTA’s mission is to develop and advocate best practices, training and public policy which mitigate emerging privacy, identity and security threats to online services, brands, government, organizations and consumers. OTA’s goal is to increase consumer protection, transparency and control of their data and online activities, thereby enhancing online trust and confidence and the long-term vitality and innovation of Internet based services.

https://otalliance.org

SOURCE The Online Trust Alliance (OTA)

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

KETTERING, Ohio, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Naked Lime Marketing today announced that it has been approved by General Motors (GM) to provide marketing, advertising, and web solutions to GM dealerships across the U.S. under GM’s matching funds advertising and marketing program. More than 90 percent of GM’s 4,300 dealerships participate in the program in which GM reimburses dealerships for a portion of eligible local advertising and marketing costs incurred from approved vendors.

GM has approved certain Naked Lime product offerings for reimbursement under GM’s iMR (In-Market Retail) Turnkey Program.

The approved Naked Lime Marketing portfolio of products and services for dealerships includes:

• Full-service advertising solutions, including advertising production and media services.
• A complete array of web services, including search engine optimization (SEO), social media, paid search, and online reputation management.
• CarLocate.com, an Internet marketing channel designed to offer dealerships another channel to market their new and used vehicle inventories to consumers.

These Naked Lime products and services are available to GM dealerships regardless of the dealership management system provider, website host, or other products and services the dealership may be using. 

“Everyone at Naked Lime Marketing is proud of the results we’ve delivered to our automotive customers and the recognition to be included in GM’s co-op marketing programs for their dealerships,” said Trey Hiers, the chief marketing officer at Naked Lime Marketing. “Our focus for dealerships is geared toward reaching and attracting customers, generating leads for new customers, and coordinating messages across different channels. That focus complements the intent of GM’s marketing programs, and we look forward to working with GM dealerships to deliver measurable results with our products and services.”

Naked Lime Marketing is a new brand that brings together a set of established web, advertising, and digital marketing solutions and services with proven track records in serving automotive retailers. 

Naked Lime Marketing covers every aspect of a dealership’s retail marketing, advertising, and web strategy, whether reaching consumers through traditional marketing and advertising channels or through newer digital channels that range from web and SEO to social media and reputation management. 

Hiers concluded:  “The products and services from Naked Lime can change dramatically how dealerships fulfill their marketing and advertising strategies and how consumers experience a dealership. We believe that’s a powerful combination that can lead to better business results for GM dealers.”

The Naked Lime brand launched officially during the 11^th Digital Dealer Conference Exposition in Las Vegas in October 2011.

Naked Lime Marketing will be in booth 2122 at the 2012 National Automobile Dealers Association show in Las Vegas.

About Naked Lime Marketing
Naked Lime’s Naked Truth: Deliver bold and innovative full-service marketing, advertising, and web solutions and services that help automotive dealers turn the heads of consumers and inspire consumer loyalty at every point in the retail process. Connect with Naked Lime Marketing on the Web: www.nakedlime.com, Facebook: www.facebook.com/nkdlime, or Twitter: www.twitter.com/nkdlime.