The Ocean Agency

It is pretty clear that social media works for big brands. Just to name a few, we all admire the utilization of SM by Southwest, Jet Blue, Comcast, and Dell among a myriad of others.

But what about smaller companies? What about small and medium sized businesses that don’t have the brand awareness of a large corporation? Does it work for them?

I spend a lot of time convincing businesses that social media marketing is real and here to stay. But I’m pretty sure you all wouldn’t appreciate a sales pitch in a blog post, so instead I’m going to give 21 examples of small to medium sized Chicago businesses that are using social media effectively. In no particular order:

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The Internet has brought us so much good: instant communication across the globe, a new way to do business, a new way to converse and a plethora of new ways to procrastinate. I mean, before the advent of the Internet, was anyone able to spend hours looking at cats? Or hipsters? Or people at Wal-Mart? (Now I feel like anyone who reads this thinks I spend hours looking at cats, hipsters and people at Wal-Mart … and, umm … well, what do you do that’s so interesting?)

It has also given us the ability to have our questions answered by total strangers, anywhere, at any time. Any question. Taking a quick glance at Wiki Answers gives us a few ideas of how far we’ve progressed with the most magnificent tool of the this past century.

Here are some of the best unanswered questions.

The offhanded elegance of this question is what strikes me the most.

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Foursquare is a location based social networking tool, with a competitive edge. Foursquare has generally been billed as the next “hot” social media platform, and partly based on this widespread hype early adopters have flocked to the service.

Foursquare takes aspects of many popular social networks and ads a very powerful force: Competition. Users compete by “checking in” at different locations to become the mayor of certain locations. So, if you go to your favorite bar or restuarant 5 times a week, and check in every time, you unlock badges and can essentially rule a spot.

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A post from our new intern, Travis Andrews, who just recently moved from New Orleans, Louisiana and is now quickly learning the world of interactive marketing. These are his reflections on the first week of the job:

It’s been a special few days: I moved from New Orleans to
Chicago. I started interning here. I watched the first episode of Mad
Men.

I’m still trying to figure out what was most exciting.

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Social Media is a fascinating thing. With a computer at your fingertips, you have the opportunity to be a praised poet, filmmaker, journalist, musician, designer, lobbyist, thinker; a creator of any kind. Essentially, technology offers us the chance to try on any identity. Your creative monster gets the go ahead to rise from within and speak out to an endless anonymous audience. It can call out in any voice, at any time, in any medium. Your thoughts are heard, processed, communicated, and practiced by fellow creators and media magicians, and a new understanding of community is formed. The world is simultaneously a bigger and smaller place.

And so, in honor of being whatever you want to be, let us celebrate the holiday of disguise with some festive videos. Be warned though, some creative monsters are scarier than others.

Happy Halloween!

We are big nerds readers here at the Ocean Agency. Yes, there is a recent blog post about how much Jacqueline loves her Kindle (proof of nerdiness). So to further our reputation as voracious readers and content lovers, here is some of the content that inspires us everyday.

You probably read some of these blogs already, and there may be some others that you haven’t heard of. They all get the Ocean Agency seal of approval however. We realize that there are thousands of great and worthy blogs out there to be on this list, these are just the ones that we pay special attention to. This is by no means a complete list, but we think it’s a pretty good one.

(one of our designers, Nick, reading away)

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Today I had the pleasure of attending the second Social Media Breakfast in Chicago. The Social Media breakfast is a great event organized by Scott Bishop, Craig Bagdon, and Mike Pilarz.  The event is a great chance to network with others who are immersed in social media, and a great place to learn from peers.

Personally, I am fascinated by social media measurement. Now, that may be the nerdiest thing I’ve ever written on paper, but it’s true. Social Media measurement is essential to ensure that our campaigns are meeting their objectives and that our clients are happy. Measurement allows us to troubleshoot, tweak, and drastically improve campaigns.

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Today is Blog Action Day , the largest “social change” event on the web. The focus of blog action day 2009 is on climate change, one of the most pressing issues in our world today. We all are pretty generally aware of how dire  the situation is.

On the positive side? We now have more tools than ever to connect and organize people around a cause. So without further ado, here are ways to use social media to organize people around a cause, global warming or otherwise.

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When we get new clients who aim to improve their business through interactive design, search engine optimization, and interactive marketing– one of the first things we recommend is that they build a blog.

A blog that acts as the interactive hub of your brand is extremely important. As a company, a blog allows you to connect directly with  potential clients, brand yourself effectively, and, on the technical side, increases you search engine rankings and visibility. A blog is usually the centerpiece of any interactive marketing strategy, where all of your engaging content emanates from.

Pic: “B-L-O-G” ( The Ocean Agency does not support gang signs or activity. Promise. )

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In Honor Of National Punctuation Day:

There are many who would argue that social media interaction has a language all of its own, exemplified by the way it turns verbs into adjectives (Fail, Win) and creates some sort of new hot abbreviation everyday.

Brands and businesses who use social media  aim to be open, transparent, and helpful. They need to be enthusiastic about their products and services, and genuine in their appreciation for their customers. You know what really comes in handy when trying to come off as positive, upbeat, and friendly? An exclamation point!

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