Author: Chris Talbert

Monitoring the media is crucial for understanding the impact that your company (or client) has on the public. While there are many PR softwares available to help monitor the media, Designsensory uses Cision to track what the public is saying about our clients.

So what exactly is a media monitoring service?

Media monitoring services have many uses. They provide businesses with media content that is relevant to them.

This resource allows us to browse articles about our clients, find information about media outlets, build media contact lists and more.

What do we monitor?

The term “media” comes in many forms. Print media includes newspapers and magazines; broadcast media refers to television and radio; and digital media includes news sites, blogs and social media.

Powerful monitoring tracks this media coverage. As PR professionals, we want to know when our clients’ names show up! Cision helps us keep track of each news article, post or blog in which they’re mentioned.

We also want to know that we’re distributing news content to the right places. Cision provides access to journalist profiles that include contact information, professional social media accounts, past stories, etc. This helps us to filter between the types of content that each journalist (or outlet) focuses on—so we can avoid sending a press release about the zoo to a court reporter.

Why is this important?

When we use Cision, we can see how our clients are referenced on the aforementioned media platforms. What is the tone? Are the posts and articles positive? Are they negative? What worked and what didn’t? Is it accurate? What should we change to ensure that our client is getting their desired point across? What demographic are our clients reaching? Are we sending our news releases to the right people?

The list goes on and on. It’s important that we at DS are advocating, staying informed and keeping up with the Joneses. So, with that in mind, consider a platform that works for your specific needs, and let us know how we can help! Press on.

Not too long ago, we used to carry around bulky cameras, video cameras, audio recorders, calculators and photo albums. Now, we’ve got the iPhone, a device that’s adept enough that we can leave all of that gear at home, letting us travel lighter. If we needed to solve the double-integral of a function, we would still have to get the result on a graphing calculator, but for most day-to-day tasks, the iPhone is sufficient. Luckily, the design team has been using a program named Sketch that does the same thing: it streamlines building for web without the extra weight.

So, what is Sketch?

If you’re an Adobe fan, it’s the master pages of InDesign, the artboards of Illustrator and the pixel-perfection of Photoshop. More simply, it’s a program that’s reshaping the digital design community, allowing designers to create, iterate and prototype at breakneck speeds without having to start at square one after every iteration. It takes the high points of the Adobe products and combines them into a web-centric platform—without lugging along some of the more complex features. (And when you do need those, they’ll be right around the corner, embracing you with open arms).

What does it have to offer?

1. Have your cake and eat it too! Different “pages” mean that you can have different layers of different artboards, so you can keep old versions and still overwrite copies. This allows us to create wireframes, keep them and skin the design, while keeping everything neatly bundled in a single Sketch file.
2. Never miss a beat with symbols. Say you’re making a footer for every webpage you design—you copy-paste it on every page, and you realize you made a typo. In Photoshop, this could take several minutes to fix every instance of the typo. In Sketch, instead of fixing where it says “Fcaebook” on every footer (and kicking yourself for not proof-reading more carefully), you only fix it once, and it’ll auto-update in every footer since they’re all copies of the same symbol. If that sounds too good to be true, ride alongside us in the Sketch bandwagon.
3. Take your font for a test-drive. Another key feature is type styles, where you can create categories of type, like a H1 Header, and those H1s can auto-update as well. If you’re trying to find the right font for your site, this is an easy way to test-drive the styles without having to overhaul everything and meticulously change every text box. Again, these change every text box set in the type style—so every P2 can be a size 18, left-aligned Lato, if that floats your boat. If not, keep updating fonts for the entire document in as little as two clicks.
4. Drag, drop, and design! Moving from wireframes to skinning a design is as simple as replacing images in image masks and updating type styles. There’s no major overhaul, and we can reference wireframes as we move from one step in the process to the next; since the wireframes are also in Sketch, it’s often as simple as re-skinning the wireframes and customizing the look and feel of the site.

Will Sketch be our multi-tool of choice forever? Probably not. The market of competitive products is heating up quickly, and as creatives, our eyes are always on the horizon for the latest and greatest. For now, however, this is our Sketchy best friend, and we look forward to the memories we have yet to make.

For good reason, tourism is a hustling and bustling industry. It’s the livelihood of any destination—because without it, economically speaking, most would be without the capital necessary to function. It makes sense, then, that everyone, from countries to states to local CVBs, has taken a turn toward more interactive content. A key driver being video development. Here are four reasons why using video for tourism promotion is probably your best friend.

1. The TA-DA Factor.
What is different about your destination? Video is your chance to show off the visual intricacies that are all too often lackluster in a photo or written description. Raging waterfall that cascades 500 feet? Great. Small country store downtown that sells historical memorabilia? Fantastic. Your moment is all about you. Check out one of fourteen videos we produced for the State’s county marketing program. *Glitter bomb*

2. All the “Feels.”
Creating memories is truly what this is about. With thousands of places begging for attention, you want to make something that connects your destination with the emotional sensitivities of the traveller. Beyond the visuals of your destination, what is going to give them an experience they dream about for the rest of their lives? Show them “the happy” in three ways: love, sweat and tears. That means dinner, activities and unforgettable moments.

3. Modern Life.
Unless it’s your thing to look “vintage,” having a video—let me rephrase—having a well-crafted video shows the world that you are going to bring something modern to their traveling experience. I don’t mean modern as in the style. I mean you are in today’s state of mind. Again, people want experiences. They also want free wifi. So, maybe highlight some of those things in the video. We have our own comprehensive video showcasing our tourism clients here. Shameless plug.

4. Conversion, Conversion, Conversion.
Enough about your visitors, am I right? The real reason you want video is for conversions. From a marketing perspective, the chances of a video capturing the attention of your audience is much higher than, say, a static website or online brochure. Now don’t get me wrong, those things are important, but the bigger picture includes ALL of the things. They work together. A great example of integrated methodology would be breaking up your video into vignettes for social. A little snack for your audience.

And there you have it. There are many more reasons to create video as a tourism destination, but I think we’re already convinced. My last piece of advice is, if you’re going for video, do it right. Don’t have your intern shoot the footage on their phone [no shade]. You really do get what you pay for … roll on!

When it comes to advertising, it’s all about getting your message in front of the right people at the right time. Thanks to social media, display and search engine marketing platforms, it’s easier than ever to reach your target audience. Before launching a media campaign, take a look at these targeting tips.

Think strategically before tactically.
Before considering any targeting strategies, reflect on who your customers are, what their behavior looks like and where they spend their time. Identify an audience persona by researching your target audience’s interests, lifestyle, demographics and search habits.

Start with the basics.
Select relevant locations and languages before refining your audience. Exclude people that don’t fit into your ad goals. For instance, if you are running a Facebook ad with the goal of brand awareness, exclude people who have already liked your Facebook page.

Be specific, but not too specific.
The more specific you get, the more you reduce the number of potential customers. With this in mind, determine what your campaign goals are and find the right balance. Are you launching an awareness campaign? You would likely benefit from casting a wider net with a more generalized audience. Are you looking for conversions? Consider using a specific, hypertargeting strategy.

Experiment.
Utilize A/B testing on ad copy, landing pages, call-to-actions, targeting techniques and images to gain a better understanding of a campaign’s successes, failures and future optimization opportunities.

Track, track and track some more.
The worst thing you can do for a media campaign is leave it untouched for weeks (or even months) after the initial setup. Careful tracking will not only ensure that your campaign is delivering on pace, but it can also provide insight into your audience’s preferences. Monitor your campaign’s performance as early and as often as possible, and make proper optimizations every step of the way.

Record and analyze historical data.
Historical data is most helpful when it comes to launching a successful media campaign. Throughout a campaign, keep an accurate and detailed report of performance—when it’s time to launch another, you’ll be thankful you did.

Ready to get started? From research and planning to implementation and optimization, Designsensory can help. Contact us today!

With over two billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media network in existence. Facebook is a powerful tool for growing your business when used correctly. Here, we debunk five commonly believed myths that may be hurting your Facebook marketing efforts.

Myth #1: All you really need to do is fill out your profile.

There’s much more to a credible Facebook Page than just filling out your profile and keeping it updated. While that is all very important, a successful page begins with an engaged audience. Facebook recognizes and rewards responsiveness, interesting content and relevance. The most important rule of Facebook is to use it as a tool for communicating with your followers and fans.

Myth #2: The more your post, the higher your engagement rates will be.

Don’t be one of those pages spamming news feeds multiple times everyday. Posting too frequently will actually lower your engagement rates, cause people to unlike your page or even result in poor reviews. Be selective about what you choose to post, and make sure all of your content is compelling. Quality, not quantity!

Myth #3: SEO doesn’t matter on Facebook.

“Search engine optimization” tends to exclusively refer to Google or other traditional search engines. But with the amount of resources available on Facebook, coupled with the amount of time users are spending on the social network, Facebook’s search function has become an increasingly used feature. Your Facebook Page can be just as important as your website, so optimize it too! Make sure your Page contains keywords, create a relevant URL and write an optimized page description.

Confused about SEO? Check out our guides to on-page and off-page SEO.

Myth #4: Hashtags are just for Twitter.

While Twitter popularized the use of hashtags, Facebookers have hopped on the hashtag train as well. They’re great search features, and using them will help optimize your Facebook posts. But please only use them where it makes sense to do so—crowding your posts with an endless string of hashtags does not make for compelling content. Use hashtags when referring to events or to take part in (relevant) trending topics.

Myth #5: There’s a “right” time to post.

The best time to post differs between industries, page types, audience personas, etc. There is no hard and fast rule that can tell you when you should be publishing content. The best way to figure out when your target market is most active on social media is to experiment. Vary the times that you post, and use Facebook Insights to figure out when users are most engaged.

Need some help building a strong Facebook campaign? Our social media experts can help! Contact us.