Your ZOG Digital weekly link-digest, all the must-reads from the past week.

Via Mashable:
“Facebook Opens at $42, Valued at $116.6 Billion”
“How Long Can Facebook Reign As Social Media Champ?”

Via PR Daily:
Infographic: 5 Digital Tools to Boost Your Brand in 2012 [click the picture to view the full infographic]

(more…)

By Kim Giroux
VP of Paid Media

RETARGETING – WHAT IS IT?

Retargeting is a form of online advertising, in which a user that has visited your website can be shown targeted ads from your display media campaigns. This is different than traditional online targeting in that you are limiting your audience to users that have already shown interest in your brand.

(more…)

By Jessica Frampton
Associate Designer

I’m sure you’ve heard the story before. Once upon a time, there was a lonely business that desperately wanted a website. It searched high and low until the business was set up with a designer through a mutual friend. The business didn’t know what to expect when faced with this matchmaker scenario and tried its best to present its needs so the designer would fully understand its history, philosophy, and hopes for the future. So enraptured with the possibility of an internet union, the business shares every last detail of itself –perhaps too much – so the site will encompass it all. After some lengthy courting (and lots of unreturned calls and emails), the perfect website that the business had been dreaming about for months was FINALLY READY to have the veil lifted. In the haste of the excitement of reaching this milestone, the approvals and blessings from committees (and family members), the ironing out last-minute details, and sending out the invitations to witness the spectacle, the business collapses in a heap of exhaustion, edits, and – most likely – lots of booze.

Come the next morning, the business opens its hazy eyes to what it thought was the website of its dreams and soon realizes it ends up looking more like the bride of Frankenstein. Dun… Dun… DUNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!

(more…)

My Interview with Jeff Herzog, Founder & CEO of ZOG Digital and iCrossing, By Heather Smith

ZOG Digital founder and CEO, Jeff Herzog, is so passionate about digital marketing, he’s created not one, but two companies dedicated to helping businesses accelerate and optimize their online presence. The first, iCrossing, is a company he started in 1998, now with 18 global offices and was purchased by Hearst Media in 2010 for $325 million. The second, ZOG Digital, is a search and social marketing company, whose client roster already include Prince Sports, Fiesta Bowl, Bvlgari, and Allstate.

Herzog is an award-winning innovator, entrepreneur, and expert in the digital marketing field. He gave me a look back on his professional experiences and how ZOG Digital fits in with the ever-evolving digital marketing industry.

Heather: Jeff, lets start off hearing your vision for ZOG Digital.

Our focus is search and social – which is how people think and how people connect. Today, we are pioneering social media optimization (SMO) and performance-driven social campaigns (tracked through our proprietary analytics suite), akin to what we did with search marketing over a decade ago. Our leadership has incredible experience working for more than 50 Fortune 500 clients and our solutions solve most business challenges. Our strategies are derived from insight using big data primarily from Google, Facebook, and Twitter, and our creative and paid media teams round out a powerhouse offering.

The vision for ZOG Digital also extends to our internal team and what happens in our offices everyday. Our company culture is based on simplicity and execution excellence, and teammates are encouraged to make the most of themselves as individuals. I want to work with partners who want to do more than just a great job at the office – I also want them to do a great job at life.

Heather: That’s quite interesting, but let’s take a look back – what initially got you interested in digital marketing?

Jeff: As a kid, I always loved technology and imagined how it would shape the future. I loved the movie War Games and was quick to use Internet service provider CompuServe, when the “Internet” appeared across screens in left-to-right characters. But it wasn’t until I discovered search engines in the mid-‘90s that I thought of the marketing tie-in. Then I quickly realized that search results would have the ability to shape the perception of all things we know.

Heather: How did iCrossing get started?

Jeff: After many years living in NYC and working on Wall Street, I moved out west, and immediately wanted to build my own Internet company. I brainstormed a new type of business, one that complemented search engines, helping other businesses gain vital visibility on what was to become the most valuable real estate of our generation – the first page of Google.

In 1998, two years before Google was Google, I employed people with passion for digital marketing and those who wanted to create something “big.” One interesting set of facts is that the iCrossing brand started with the names “Access It All,” “Shop It All,” “Internet Crossing,” and “International Crossing.”

Heather: I’m sure you experienced challenges, how did you overcome them?

Jeff: Like all businesses, we faced significant challenges. The key to overcoming them is sticking to a solid plan, being experts in your field, and by maintaining a relentless pursuit of your goals, no matter how tough the situation. It’s when the times get tough I believe “I swing my hardest.”

Heather: Why did you grow iCrossing beyond Search Engine Optimization?

Jeff: Marketing success cannot be defined by a first-page ranking alone. When potential customers visit your site, you need to engage them to convert. Having other agencies do this work wouldn’t produce the same result, so, quite simply, we needed to build out our offering.

To accomplish this, I wrote and executed a “manifesto” outlining my vision for the space and how our company through acquisitions would best position itself. Piece by piece, year after year through 2008, we worked to accomplish these goals. By the end of my decade run as CEO of iCrossing, we broke through $100 million in annual revenue and had a solid brand in the space – investors were ready for an exit and the company was ultimately sold to Hearst Media in 2010.

Heather: So what made you decide to build another business in the digital marketing world with ZOG Digital?

Jeff: Digital marketing has always been my passion. Given how fast the industry moves, the new opportunities with social media, and the amount of dollars that remain in traditional marketing versus digital, I must say I still consider the industry in an early stage. I love all things digital – whether it’s my phone, online shopping, searching or social networking. Bottom line, I’m a passionate entrepreneur – the spirit of building a business just doesn’t go away.

Heather: What are the biggest key factors to building a successful business?

Jeff: Get the right people on your team – people who are passionate about your company and how they will make it successful. Establish a compelling environment of challenges with clearly defined individuals, team members, and company goals. After goals are met – celebrate – and then raise “the bar.” Promote the same thing for personal and professional growth.

Heather: Thanks Jeff for your time today.

Jeff: Namaste.

By Thomas Stern
Senior Vice President

With Facebook’s recent IPO announcement, it seems like a good time to address Facebook advertising and how to leverage the second most-visited site on the web. Like Google’s IPO, Facebook’s comes at a time when the company is flush with cash. Also like Google, Facebook has built their revenue empire on one simple solution: highly targeted advertising. This post will help marketers understand the main principals of Facebook advertising and how to benefit from the network’s model and tremendous reach.

(more…)

By Jason Squardo
Senior Vice President of Search

Search engine optimization can seem like an overwhelming challenge no matter how much experience you have. And when a brand opts to enlist a digital agency such as ZOG Digital for help with SEO, being involved in the SEO process may seem like an afterthought to the company. Rather, it’s important for brand representatives to invest time into SEO through the client/agency SEO relationship because a symbiotic approach to SEO will garner your business more leads and a better return on investment.
(more…)

By Jeff Hollowell
Director of Technology

If you searched for products on Google this past holiday season, you may have seen paid ads mixed in with the organic search results you were hoping for.

(more…)

By Nicki Escudero
Social Media Manager

Last December, Twitter announced a new feature that piqued brands’ interest: enhanced profile pages. Only 21 select brands committed to spending $2 million in ads, such as Coca-Cola and Best Buy, got access to the enhanced pages at the launch. Starting on February 1, enhanced profiles will be rolled out to all active advertisers on Twitter.

(more…)

By Nicki Escudero
Social Media Manager

From fashion designers to CEO’s, creating visual inspiration boards is nothing new in the creative world. Now social media fans don’t need pushpins or cork sheets to create their own brainstorming boards—2011’s social media darling Pinterest, less than 2 years old and now with 11 million visits per week, allows users to “pin” images that speak to them on their own virtual boards that friends may follow, plus like, Repin and comment on items. Already the site has a 0.39 percent market share, almost as much as Google+’s 0.41 percent market share, and experts predict it could become as powerful as social bookmarking site StumbleUpon.

(more…)

By Nicki Escudero
Social Media Manager

Where’s My Water?
Platform: Apple and Android
Cost: $0.99
Purchase here: http://bit.ly/zrjSTq and here: http://bit.ly/xBIBah

Fans of old-school computer game The Incredible Machine rejoice: there’s a 2012 app that will take you right back to the days where physics was fun. In Where’s My Water?, a Disney app that’s princess-free, users must help shower-loving alligator Swampy get clean by using the principles of energy and force to get pure water into his showerhead.

(more…)