Off Madison Ave Uses Arsenal of Social Media Tools to Engage Audiences and Enhance Client Awareness

PHOENIX (Sept. 17, 2007) – Off Madison Ave, a collaborative marketing communications firm, is deploying a full portfolio of online social media tools. The firm is producing measurable results from these applications for clients and its own operations by posting blogs, uploading videos and photos, creating company profiles and bookmarking industry news sites.

The perception that each social media site will result in people coming directly to a company’s Web page and making a sale is somewhat misleading. Rather, it is a comprehensive process of remaining visible and active on these various sites to systematically augment the reputation of a company and keep it at the fingertips of people searching for its products and services.

“We have all witnessed the prevalence of social media programs in the last couple of years, and their potential to spread messages and reach new audiences is immense – the impact on relationship building and brand recognition is undeniable,” said David Anderson, president and managing partner of Off Madison Ave. “After researching, testing and assessing the results of different programs for the agency’s use, we have begun to roll them out where most compatible and beneficial for our clients’ marketing needs, products and services.”

While social media has actually been around for several years and is demonstrated in various formats, it is now being employed in a way it was meant to be used – as a two-way communications tool. Off Madison Ave has been doing that over the past year, establishing a presence with several notable social media sites, each with the goal of hearing from others and engaging in dialogue rather than making others hear them.

“It is essential in our industry to keep pace with all new media, particularly with what we’ve seen in the Web 2.0 era,” said Jason Baer, senior director of interactive services at Off Madison Ave. “Social media applications were created for the benefit of broadening awareness and reputation, so we continue to execute these programs as a valuable complement to clients’ traditional marketing strategies.”

An outline of Off Madison Ave’s social media applications follows:

1. Blogs: The firm maintains two blogs, one for Off Madison Ave (www.offmadisonave.com/blog.php), geared more toward traditional advertising and public relations services, and the other for Mighty Interactive (www.mightyinteractive.com/blog.php), which focuses primarily on Internet-oriented stories and issues. Posting blogs has allowed the agency to network with other industry blogs, increasing additional traffic and conversions, resulting in a 60 percent increase in Web site visits from the same time last year.

Blog Fact: There are 94 million blogs indexed by Technorati.

2. MySpace: While many businesses use MySpace as an extension of their commercial Web site, Off Madison Ave uses its pages (www.myspace.com/offmadisonave, www.myspace.com/mightyinteractive) to recruit college students for internships and recent graduates interested in employment. The site features photos of the agency, events and career opportunities and has received nearly 500 views in the just a few months.

MySpace Fact: MySpace is the sixth-most visited destination on the Web according to Alexa.com.

3. LinkedIn: Considered the “MySpace” of the business world, the agency maintains a profile (www.linkedin.com/in/offmadisonave) that outlines its history, successes and clients, serving as a transparent platform for prospective employees, clients and vendors to make connections with the agency and ascertain the types of services it provides.

LindkedIn Fact: There were 13 million registered users on LinkedIn through August 2007 according to its figures.

4. Flickr: As the leading free online photo-sharing Web site, Flickr provides new opportunities for businesses to use images to enhance their brand recognition and create description tags to optimize search engine capabilities, thus harnessing increased traffic to their Web site. Off Madison Ave has posted photos of their clients’ products and activities that have received several hundred views in a few months.

5. YouTube: As the most widely used online video service, YouTube presents new opportunities for interviews, commercials and demonstrations to be posted for enhancing a client’s exposure and branding efforts. The agency’s compilation of commercial reels have been viewed more than 2,000 times in six months, and a local television interview with Off Madison Ave co-founder Roger Hurni was viewed nearly 600 times.

YouTube Fact: YouTube is the fourth-most visited Web site according to Alexa.com.

6. Del.icio.us: While maintaining online bookmarks has become a common practice, Off Madison Ave created a collection of useful sites (del.icio.us/offmadisonave) for anyone interested in advertising, public relations or online news, trends and issues, even if the information doesn’t come directly from the firm.

Del.icio.us Fact:  Del.icio.us has more than two million registered users, according to its figures,  thus increasing the possibility of people finding your company through networks of people who bookmark sites regularly.

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About Off Madison Ave
Off Madison Ave, a collaborative marketing communications firm located in Phoenix, redefines what it means to be an agency, not just on paper, but through delivering integrated, results-focused strategies. As a full-service agency, Off Madison Ave develops comprehensive communications strategies that raise clients’ brand awareness and revenue. Named one of the “Best Places to Work” in 2006 by the Business Journal of Phoenix, Off Madison Ave specializes in marketing and business consulting in the areas of new media, strategic planning, interactive, public relations, advertising, research and media.

In 2005, Off Madison Ave acquired Internet marketing firm Mighty Interactive to provide its clients with industry-leading interactive marketing services. The agency continues to earn the ranking of No. 1 public relations and Internet marketing firm in the Valley, and one of the top two advertising firms, by Arizona
Business Magazine.  Off Madison Ave is an active partner of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, the world’s largest consortium of independently owned public relations counseling firms (www.worldcomgroup.com). A sampling of current clients include: Nike, DMB Associates, Inc., APS/Pinnacle West Corporation, Cruise America, Farnam Pet Products, Fairytale Brownies and many more. Visit www.offmadisonave.com for more information.