A full-suite of proprietary tools, service offerings in every discipline of internet marketing, and management by some of the most critically acclaimed pundits coordinating and executing web marketing strategy gives you the first internet marketing conglomerate on the planet. Three companies have merged to support client campaigns in social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), online public relations and reputation management, pay-per-click advertising, conversion rate and landing page optimization, content and application development. BlueGlass Interactive was conceptualized about a month and a half ago, according to its Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Winfield.
I've gotten through much smaller deals like buying websites or partnering with websites where it took almost a year just to get a contract," Chris said. "We were able to get all this stuff done in a month and half or so."
Chris states upon conceiving the idea with Dave Snyder, SVP of Search, they spoke for three hours thereafter planning the merger. As his former company, 10e20 specialized in supporting social media marketing campaigns, Chris wanted to partner with a company administering search engine optimization projects. Chris would refer clients to Search and Social, the company which would optimize clients' websites for more search engine exposure. Chris's role will drive the company's overall marketing strategy through business development and training.
"I'm a marketer at heart, so my main thing is constantly getting the word out," Chris said. "Knowing what's going to be next and knowing where we need to be positioned."
Chris has had success holding a similar role with 10e20, the social media marketing boutique agency he founded. Last year's revenue, according to Chris, was twice the amount of the previous year. Chris states that it was 10e20's ability to help make their clients' money that kept the firm thriving.
"If you're spending x and y is higher than that, I want to spend more money," said Chris. "Whoever I'm dealing with at a company, I am going to get you promoted, or I'm going to get you promoted."
Chris was able to cite one example in working with one of the largest publishers on the planet which was looking for more exposure and engagement on social media platforms. They started with 10e20 on a conservative $10,000 a month contract about 3 years ago. 10e20 was able to generate 10 times a return on their investment. Now they are spending about $50,000 a month and are seeing the same return on investment. Further, they have recently engaged on a SEO program through the BlueGlass search division, formerly staffed by Search and Social, and the client is already seeing a 75% lift in organic traffic.
There will be a full-suite of analytic and data-mining tools released to support social research and analytic processes. Jordan Kasteler, SVP of content, said that there will be real-time monitoring of content, which will allow clients to see when content is being promoted on popular sections of social platforms. Additionally, users will be able to see which social media users are promoting the content, so clients know who their brand ambassadors are. This will allow clients to know with whom they could develop tighter relationships when promoting content.
"We have tools that crawl the web looking for different kinds of links; mentions of your own content that aren't necessarily citing your own content," Jordan said. "Tools will scour and find mentions and send us back the content information, so we could try to get more links on content that isn't cited."
BlueGlass is also developing analytics software that will track search marketing campaigns, conversions, and social media. Jordan explained that the system will track visitors from their first entry into the site. A user will be able to see if a user returned and how they first found the site. Reports will also be loaded on geo-location parameters and other demographic data.
"There's going to be a big heavy push on targeting people by demographic profiles and pinpointing where visitors are located," Jordan said. "The geo-local search will figure out and pinpoint who is talking about what and where and segment that market so the client can focus on geo-targeted people."
Jordan's role as SVP of content will require the development of content that will be most likely be favorable to social networks. He has developed mashup articles, infographics, quizzes, games, and widgets for clients. Jordan cited an internal project he launched when he first founded Search and Social called the Social Media Addiction Quiz. He promoted the quiz on Twitter, Facebook, and Stumbleupon.
"At the very end of the quiz people were given a widget with their score that showed them how addicted to social media they really were," Jordan explained. "Thousands of people placed this widget on their social profile, their website their blog; each widget contained a link pointing back to searchandsocial.com."
The content Jordan develops will be passed to the Viral Marketing division. Brent Csutoras, SVP of Viral Marketing, said that the consolidation of all three agencies happened naturally because they were already referring clients to each other, since each company focussed on distinct internet marketing engagements.
"This is the first time that when I look at each thing we offer, I can confidently say to friends and family and everybody else that 'This person gets it better than or at least as good as the top people in the industry;' I could hand over engagements to other divisions and never have to think twice about 'Is it being done right? Or are they getting the best service?' It makes it easy."
Brent will handle promotion of content on the news aggregation sites, such as Digg, Reddit, and Stumbleupon. His role will also entail ensuring that clients are building their web properties to cater to the future of the web. He insists that brands should think of long-term development to participate in the social web.
"There is a different audience, and they want to see things in a different way then people traditionally consumed it 10 years ago," Brent argued. "And we have to evolve with that; this is part of your new business model."
Brent manages a team of six people. Each member of this team operates influential power profiles on news aggregation websites. The efficiency in working with a team of people with that degree of reach and authority, Brent argues, is that a submission's success doesn't rely on one person's sphere of influence. The team can handle task volume of roughly 60 to 75 clients. BlueGlass will be allocating resources into development of social analysis and research tools to make the Viral Marketing team more productive and offset the need for more staffing.
"We took a site that was doing about 1.5 million views a month mostly from search," Brent explained. "We took them to 3.5 million, literally in about 45 days and we got them up to 4.5 to 5 million regular views after the four-month run."
Supporting the viral promotion of content will be the Online PR division. Loren Baker SVP of Online PR will be directing and overseeing all of BlueGlass's blog outreach and online public relations. Guest blogging initiatives will ensure that leading bloggers cover BlueGlass clients and BlueGlass.
"The bulk of our blogger outreach program is designed around two tactics: one is developing relationships with the bloggers while contributing social content to them on behalf of our client base," Loren explained. "In the same way that a traditional PR firm may develop a relationship between a publication and a client, we develop a relationship between the blogger and the client."
Secondly, BlueGlass assists bloggers by providing complimentary SEO and development consultation. Loren will also secure writing accounts for clients, so they could regularly guest post on partnering blogs. BlueGlass Online PR Manager, Thao Tran, wrote that they will also promote the blogger's content on news aggregation channels like Digg, Tip'd, Stumbleupon, etc.
"I will be sending out press releases, utilizing HARO, establishing relationships with bloggers so we can get guest posts on their website faster and more efficiently," Thao wrote. "I was able to get one of my clients over 2,000 retweets in two days."
BlueGlass works with over 100 blogs that cover their client's industries. Loren argues that their success has primarily relied on their ability to help out bloggers, who in turn will more openly help BlueGlass clients when beckoned.
Neal Rodriguez interviews the brightest minds in cyberspace and covers how he has used social media marketing to his and his client's benefit on nealrodriguez.com. Subscribe to Neal's feed to stay abreast with his updates.