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What is a Social Media Advertising Agency?

Put simply, a social media advertising agency is an agency that offers comprehensive services throughout a variety of marketing channels and mediums — with a primary focus on social media, its algorithms, and its trending content.

After all, while social media is just one cog in the proverbial marketing machine, it’s coming to be, well, the primary one.

Thus, here at Mad Men Marketing, we’re currently in the midst of our transition to a full-service social media advertising agency. Here’s why:

The Rise of Social Media…

According to Statista, “in 2021, over 4.26 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost six billion in 2027.”

In other words, simply being active on social media is one of the world’s most popular activities.

And if we were to shave it down to the United States, specifically, the University of Maine has found that “72.3% of the total US population actively use social media, totaling a number of 240 million people.”

Consequently, it’s easy to see how and why the advertising landscape as a whole is changing.

After all, marketers want to be where their audience is — and these efforts have absolutely proven fruitful. For example, on Instagram alone, “92% of users say that they’ve acted in the moment after seeing a product on Instagram,” as reported by Hootsuite.

And as the community tides turn in favor of social media, so too will the marketing industry as a whole.

… And the Fall of Traditional Marketing

While television commercials, radio spots, and other physical forms of traditional content are all well and good — and still necessary, depending on the context — they are no longer the bread and butter of the marketing world.

This is because, not only do brands lack real-time interactions with their direct audience and prospective consumers, but traditional marketing is just plain inefficient in terms of making edits and adjustments as necessary.

Additionally, “traditional marketing can also be pricier,” Hubspot explains. “For instance, it can cost between $2,000-$160,000 to run a print ad. Further, you never know who you’ll reach with that investment because results are difficult to measure.”

Not to mention a reported “70% of consumers want to learn about products through content as opposed to traditional ad methods.”

So… why not do exactly that? Talk about a single statistic that puts it all in perspective.

Upward and Onward with Mad Men Marketing

Here at Mad Men Marketing, we’re not just going to help you make memes and optimize your direct engagement with your audience. Rather, as your cutting-edge social media advertising agency, we’re going to help you stay ahead of the game and on top of industry strategies!

Specifically, we…

• Produce a variety of visual content for social platforms. Whether you’re looking to produce a short and witty Instagram Reel or an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at your company for Facebook, we can do it all and more.
• Design eye-catching content that will enhance your brand identity. Our graphic designers won’t just create aesthetically pleasing carousels and banners for your business accounts, but they can also generate infographics, create your new logo, and more.
• Craft compelling copy, both long- and short-form in nature. Need a brief but convincing social media caption? No problem. Or perhaps a longer, more in-depth LinkedIn article? We’ve got you there, too.

And that’s only where it starts.

After all, here at Mad Men Marketing, we are rooted in the belief that brands should interact with their customers, not interrupt them. And social media is precisely where a majority of that magic happens today.

So, are you ready to interact? If so, contact Mad Men Marketing today by calling (904) 355-1766!

7 tips on taking better photos for social media

There are several different components that make up a successful social media page, but one of the most important is quality imagery. As a marketing agency, social media can be one of the best places to engage our audience. That’s why we understand the importance of a great photo.

We don’t need expensive cameras to take quality photos. Our cell phones can take such high-quality photos, and most people can’t tell if they are taken with a phone or professional photography equipment. The camera can’t do all the work, though.

There are a few key tips to keep in mind while you’re trying to capture that Kodak moment.

#1 — Light it Right

Lighting is one of the most important tools you can utilize when taking photos. An easy tip to remember is to ensure your subject isn’t backlit, and that the light is shining down on it directly or coming at it from an upper-diagonal angle. If the light hits it from the back, you’ll be left with a dark, indiscernible green smoothie bowl, which is social media blasphemy.

You can combat this in a few ways:

• The first way is to make sure your light source is coming from behind you (facing the subject).
• You can also take the photo in HDR mode.
• The third option is to fix it in post-production.

#2 — Shoot in HDR Mode

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. In HDR mode, the camera will typically take two, three, or more photos at different exposures in quick succession, and then blend them together into one image with detail in both highlights and shadow.

Smartphone cameras that have the HDR feature usually offer the option to switch the HDR setting to On, Off, or to set it to Auto-HDR. Having HDR set to “On” tells your phone to capture a high dynamic range image every time a photo is taken.

#3 — Understand Depth of Field

Creating depth of field with your phone camera is a really cool way to up your Instagram photo game. When you’re shooting, always take into consideration the foreground, middle ground, and background in relation to the subject of the photo.

Let’s say you’re taking a picture of a subject some distance away from you and you want the subject in focus and the background blurry — simply tap your subject and wait for a yellow square to appear. Shooting in portrait mode on your phone is a great way to effectively highlight the depth of field, too.

#4 — Learn the Rule of Thirds

Rule of thirds, also known as the golden grid rule, is a technique where a composition is aligned to a three-by-three grid.

By dividing a composition into three grids, we section it into nine imaginary rectangles with four intersections. The focus subject is aligned at one of the intersecting points or close to them. This creates an asymmetry in the composition.

In Settings, tap Camera, and then enable the Grid option. That’s all you have to do to turn the feature on! Your next step is to apply the concept: remember to put important things along the lines.

#5 — Have Fun With Camera Angles

Playing with unique angles can help your photos stand out and offer you a variety of options to choose from when it comes time to post. Angles can create the illusion of depth and height, making your images more interesting to look at, thereby generating more views.

TIP: Try lowering the angle to create a new perspective instead of shooting straight down.

#6 — Use Negative Space Appropriately

Negative space is the area surrounding the main subject in a photograph that is left unoccupied. Basically, it’s the space around the subject that helps define the positive space (or main focus).

Leaving a large amount of negative space in the photo can emphasize scale and simplicity, but make sure you are using it correctly.

TIP: If you’re trying to highlight the subject in the photo, make sure you’re taking the photo close up and filling the frame with the subject. This will reduce the surrounding negative space.

#7 — Tasteful Phone Editing

We could break down each category of editing you can utilize on your phone, but for simplicity’s sake, we want to highlight the three tools that can really elevate your photo:

1. Brightness: It’s always a safe bet to bump up the brightness a bit unless your photo is already over-exposed. Indoor lighting rarely provides you with adequate illumination for a decent photo.
2. Contrast: Adjusting the contrast ever so slightly helps to make the darks darker and the lights lighter. This can help your image appear less “flat.”
3. Saturation: Delicately increasing the saturation will help to bring out some of those vivid colors that poor lightning may have counterbalanced. Make sure to not overdo this one or you will end up with some radioactive colors.

With over 4.6 billion people around the world using social media, online engagement is higher than ever. That is why it is so important to have content that is not only engaging but aesthetically pleasing. Take each one of these tips into consideration the next time you are taking a photo with the intention to post and you’ll look like a pro in no time.

And the Mad Men Marketing production crews are always ready to step in and help elevate your content for you! So, are you ready to interact? If so, reach out to our team today by calling 904-355-1766!

Top 3 Reasons You Need Social Media for Your Business

We would be lying if we said we weren’t aware that some businesses are more reluctant than others to fully embrace the novel outlet that is social media.

But, in the digital age, one thing is for sure — by ignoring and/or underutilizing social media, you are only leaving money on the table. After all, social media has proven to be an effective and affordable means of enhancing your advertising methods, so why would you sit out on such a lucrative online opportunity?

And if you’re not convinced, allow us to explain the top three reasons you should be putting your online presence first:

#1 — To Strengthen Your Brand Identity

Today, social media is almost synonymous with some businesses’ brand identities. In particular, social media provides an outlet through which a company can visually express itself outside of its primary website — the likes of which potential customers may or may not be on.

What’s more, the visual aspect of your brand identity is crucial come time to move your audience to action. In fact, “customers are 6x more likely to purchase a product if the page includes pictures from social media,” as reported by Social Media Today.

Otherwise, social media is where you can truly create and convey your brand voice and tone.

Think of Wendy’s, for example. This fast-food chain is well-known for its social media antics on Twitter, specifically, where it garners attention through its sly sense of humor and relatability. Thanks to these posts, the fun, casual identity of the brand is further highlighted and, well, expected.

Thus, when done right, you can absolutely find the same level of continued success on these platforms.

#2 — To Reach Your Audience

Another reason social media is crucial in the success of your business? Because it’s likely to be where your audience is.

“Over the last two decades, [social media] has become one of the primary marketing channels,” as explained by Hubspot. “With over 53% of the world’s population on social media, it’s critical that your business has an effective social media strategy that helps you reach your intended audience.”

Not only can you reach your audience by using paid ads and boosted posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the like, but you can easily target your ideal demographic(s) directly. So, by using these built-in social advertising tools, you may further enhance the likelihood that your presence will prove memorable t the right people.

Additionally, when you foster a following built on trust and engagement online, you’re more likely to reap the benefits of user-generated content (UGC), which is essentially free promotional content that your customers make for you when they are pleased with your services or products.

And word of mouth on social media today can truly make a monumental difference, especially when a reported total of “66% of Facebook users visit a local business page at least once a week” as of this year.

#3 — To Enhance Your Overall Marketing Strategy

Did you know that, according to Sprout Social, “social media recently overtook paid search as an advertising channel, growing 25% [year-over-year] and exceeding $137 billion (just edging out search’s $135 billion)”?

In other words, there are so many more cogs in the marketing machine than mere billboards and Google ads. And social media only continues to grow in importance among them all.

Of course, you shouldn’t rely on one strategy alone to launch your business into the successful hands of new leads, which is why your strategy needs to be well-rounded. Social media plays into that strategy by bolstering your audience base and using it as a launching point through which you can…

• Use hyperlinks to increase your website traffic
• Encourage your audience to visit your pages on other platforms
• Cohesively tie in the themes of your ongoing  traditional marketing campaigns
• Repurpose television commercials and other graphic elements
• Sell your items online directly through the platforms themselves
• And more

That all being said, we understand that, depending on your experience with and ultimate goals for social media, getting online may come with a steep learning curve. Otherwise, you may simply lack the time to pursue yet another marketing avenue.

But that’s where Mad Men Marketing comes in.

In fact, our social media team comes equipped with the knowledge, skills, and overall expertise to keep up with the ever-changing tide of algorithms and digital trends. From generating effective paid social media ads to strategizing your organic social media plans for the future, we’ve got you covered!

So, are you ready to interact with your customers, rather than interrupt them?

Then it’s time to reach out to Mad Men Marketing! Get started today by calling our team at 904-355-1766. We look forward to delivering results that help you sustainably grow your business.

The History of Memes and Why We Use Them in Social Marketing

Leeroy Jenkins. Numa Numa. The “I can haz cheezburger?” cat.

Oh, how memes have changed in such a short amount of time. But even as memes are largely associated with the internet, can we really say that they’re actually… new? After all, where did memes even come from? And when?

And, more importantly, how do they factor into your marketing strategy?

The Origin of the Word “Meme”

To find the original origins of our modern memes, we’re going to have to turn around and take a look at Greece. In fact, we’ll be glancing all the way back to Plato and Aristotle, who first coined and defined the term “mimesis” as a concept by which art is imitated, re-represented, or essentially copied.

Generally speaking, this theoretical principle is used primarily in the field of humanities. But not only is mimesis used as a way of describing the anthropological transfer of visual art concepts, it has since branched out and also become prominent in the study of literary criticism.

But how, then, did this seemingly-academic Greecian concept evolve into internet memes as we know them today?

Simple — from mimesis we have the word “mimeme,” or simply, “something which is imitated.”

Then, in 1976, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene, a book from which we can trace back the initial establishment of the word “meme.”

In an effort to describe the proliferation of ideas and trends in a manner similar to that of genetics, Dawkins shortened the term “mimeme” to “meme” so that it would sound closer to the word “gene.”

Thus, he defines a meme as a unit of cultural transmission or imitation.

“Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches,” Dawkins explains. “Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.”

The 21st Century Meme

With Richard Dawkins, the term we know so well today was officially coined. But the next question, then, is how did it diffuse and become all but synonymous with global virality?

Well, the advent of the internet not only expedited the process by which memes are spread from one individual to another, but the use of memes on social media platforms fundamentally changed the very definition of what a meme is.

“[Internet memes] often take the form of pictures, videos, or other media containing cultural information that, rather than mutating randomly, have been deliberately altered by individuals,” according to Britannica. “Their deliberate alteration, however, violates Dawkins’s original conception of memes.”

Despite this deviation, however, Dawkins himself has affirmed that, while the modern definition of the word “meme” is no longer an exact match to his original 1976 definition, it is still similar enough in that his original premise still concluded that a meme is “anything that goes viral.”

In fact, the final chapter of The Selfish Gene features a passage in which Dawkins uses the metaphor of a virus in order to describe the way a meme functions and is transmitted.

Enter: Marketing with Memes

Okay, so we just recounted historical origins and semantic variations regarding the word “meme.”

But what does this all mean for your company?

“Memes work for brands because they’re designed specifically for social platforms and provide value through entertainment,” Forbes states. “Memes aren’t overly promotional — they make people laugh with a casual reference to your brand.” 

In other words, entertainment breeds engagement.

And not only are today’s memes inherently designed to be entertaining but, as memes exist based on the basic premise of imitation and recreation for cultural purposes, they can remain in circulation for long periods of time, thereby enhancing your brand awareness and generating earned media when one’s audience is engaged correctly.

The key, then, is defining what the “correct” usage of memes involves. After all, in order to stay trendy, social media managers and marketers need to:

• Be cognizant of the high rate of meme turnover when strategizing social calendars
• Keep up with breaking news and use emerging memes in a timely manner
• Mind their audience in terms of their interests and demographics
• Be relatable rather than blatantly sales-oriented, particularly for Gen Z and younger Millennials
• And more

Now, is that a lot to take into consideration? Absolutely.

But don’t worry,  you don’t have to struggle to stay afloat in the flood of memes and internet trends. Rather, you can pass that responsibility on to the professionals you trust.

Namely, you can pass it to Mad Men Marketing!

Here at Mad Men Marketing, we are rooted in the belief that brands should interact with their customers, not interrupt them. And what better way to integrate that mindset into your strategy with memes? That’s why our team features social media aficionados and research experts who can help you stay on top of the ever-changing landscape of social strategy and trending memes.

So, if you’re ready to learn more, contact Mad Men Marketing today by calling (904) 355-1766!

Marketing Methods And The Merit Of Earned Media

Let’s be honest: you want to see your business’s name on the news, but you don’t want to have to pay to get there. After all, intentional ads are all well and good, but journalistic attention is far more likely to bring in the leads you can actually convert, right?

We understand. While owned media and paid media certainly offer their own benefits and have their own place within a multifaceted marketing strategy, there’s another ultimate form of media that brands are constantly chasing after… and possibly without even knowing its name.

Specifically, we’re referring to earned media.

The Ins-and-Outs of Earned Media

Simply put, “earned media” is any kind of publicity you and/or your brand receives without having to create or pay for it on your own. In other words, that five-star Yelp review? That public praise you were tagged in on Facebook? A passing recommendation of your business from one friend to another by word of mouth?

Those are all examples of earned media.

What’s more, earned media is becoming increasingly commonplace given the continual broadening of the internet, social media platforms, and the overarching globalization of today’s market.

And for you, that means more opportunities to convert customers. In fact, not only do 83% of online audiences trust their peers’ digital recommendations more than that of advertisers’, but “25-40% of all traffic and lead generation comes from earned media,” as reported by Newswire.

How Earned Media Is Earned

“Great,” you may be thinking. “Earned media sounds fantastic but how do I, well, earn it?”

Allow us to present you with a few key methods:

1. Develop Exciting Content — When you have cohesive, catchy, and reliable content to share with your audience, chances are they’ll want to share it to their own stories and with their own friends.Specifically, “shareable content tends to be either really useful or really funny, and in the form of a list, infographic, or video,” as suggested by Hubspot. Whether you’re taking a public stand on an issue, unveiling a new innovative product, or simply rebranding for the coming year, you’ll always have the opportunity to develop increasingly exciting content.
2. Engage Your Audience — While content provides you with a polished brand presence from the outside, developing your leads from the inside via engagement is what will garner trust.By responding to and interacting with your audience on your website and social media platforms, you can further build a positive brand reputation that is worthy of more attention. In some cases, this may also include capturing the attention of influencers. Beware, however, as the trick is figuring out how to gain the influencer’s endorsement without handing over a significant sum of money.
3. Attend Live Events — By attending events that are relevant to your brand and industry, you can provide yourself with the opportunity to more literally and physically interact with potential leads.Try posting photos and videos to your Instagram story in real-time, tagging on-site advocates and attendees, spotlighting your company culture, and generally putting a face to your overall brand name. The more personalized you can make your brand, the more likely your audience is to trust you, gravitate toward you, and pull their network along with them.

Of course, these three methods aren’t necessarily the end-all-be-all for any one business. But they’re three distinct ways of building your brand’s voice and angling it in a way that individuals are more likely to take note of you.

Earning Made Easy

Developing a strategy for earned media is as helpful as it is challenging. After all, when you’ve effectively earned public attention without spending so much as a dime, you know your overall business is generating both effective products/services and an authentic presence.

The obstacle, though, is determining how to get there.

“When asked to identify the top three biggest challenges in implementing an earned media strategy,” Cision explained, “60 percent of marketing/communications professionals chose identifying and connecting with key influencers, 52 percent chose measuring financial impact of programs/prove ROI and 42 percent chose creating compelling content.”

But don’t worry — before you begin sweating over the small details, we want to remind you that you never have to develop, implement, or coordinate such a strategy on your own.

Not when you have Mad Men Marketing on your side, at least.

Our team understands that your focus should be trained solely on your existing responsibilities as a leader and entrepreneur. Thus, our services are specifically designed to offer you more than mere media management; namely, we provide creative digital campaigns, social media strategies, research-driven results, and more!

So,  are you ready to interact? If so, reach out to Mad Men Marketing today by calling 904-355-1766.