Robert Monteux

“I wanted to help businesses better understand how to leverage content and social media marketing to bring customers into their stores”, Monteux shared.  It was precisely this passion that made him an excellent fit for the Dream Local Digital team. “We take our client’s success very seriously,” said Dream Local Digital Founder and Client Success Officer Shannon Kinney, “and each Marketing Strategist really considers themselves part of the marketing teams of our clients. We need as many creative ideas as possible to grow their businesses, and Robert brings with him immense creativity and an understanding of this space”.

Robert is now actively working with clients, and can be reached at robert@dreamlocal.com.

Dream Local Digital is hiring additional members of the Marketing Strategist team and is also accepting applications for its internship program, and has a few slots available for the summer season. If you would like to learn more about the fast-paced industry of social media and online marketing, please send your resume to info@dreamlocal.com

About Dream Local Digital:

Dream Local Digital, LTD: www.dreamlocal.com is a digital marketing agency serving small-medium sized business and non-profit clients nationwide providing social media and online marketing services. Since their inception in 2009, the goal has been to help these businesses succeed in their Social Media marketing efforts and help save them time while they run their business. The company has been recognized by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce with their Innovation in Business Award, and has offices in Thomaston and Bangor Maine, and nationwide through partnerships with media companies and advertising agencies.

We have three types of positions available, these are non-paid or spot paid depending on position, but all come with full training, contacts, and references to help you build your skills and experience. We have interns of ALL AGES, if you’re not a student, don’t be shy!

·        Strategy/Social Media/Marketing: Interested in helping develop social media and marketing strategies and tactics for our clients. These positions are hands-on and also involve client interaction (marketing skills, experience and understanding of social media,internet research skills, strong word/excel/ppt skills, business sense, good communication skills)

·        SEO: Any applicant passionate about learning about search engine optimization, Google AdWords management, etc. Need basic – intermediate understanding of the subject

·        Writing: Any applicant interested in PR, marketing writing, journalism, blogging. Interest in social media (with some experience with it) required.

What we look for in an intern: strong research and/or developing skills, good sense of marketing, passionate about learning and/or our clients and making them successful, solid computer skills, go getter and self-sufficient. Good at all office products and very internet savvy. Interest in and experience with social media at any level a strong plus.

Location: Office is in Thomaston, some work can be done remotely and with flexible schedules once the intern has been trained.

To learn more about our company: visit  Facebook.com/dreamlocal

To apply: send your resume, interest level, availability (one day a week is fine, but the more the better in terms of experience), and position(s) interested in to info@dreamlocal.com

Kenosha, WI and Thomaston, ME — Dream Local Digital announces a partnership with the Kenosha News, to offer expanded marketing services to its advertising clients, with social, digital and mobile media marketing, lead generation and local search services. The agency will operate under the KN Digital brand.

The announcement marks a milestone in the strategy of the Kenosha News to bring strong solutions to their advertisers, who increasingly look for recommendation, guidance and support in how to leverage digital marketing to their advantage.

Dream Local Digital, based in Thomaston, Maine, is lead by Shannon Kinney, who has worked in media both print and online nationally for more than two decades. She also was a leading member of the team that developed the autos site, cars.com, and spent several years in Silicon Valley, working on more than 60 online media properties for newspapers throughout the United States and Canada. Dream Local has served more than 2,000 businesses nationwide through workshops, strategy development and execution of online marketing strategies.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Dream Local Digital to serve more small businesses throughout the U.S. by partnering with a long-stranding and respected local brand, The Kenosha News.” Kinney said. “We are able to strengthen the strategy and services of the newspaper while offering affordable and effective online marketing solutions to advertisers that also saves them time.”

Tobin Slaven, Creative Director of Dream Local Digital added, “Our Company’s mission is to save Main Street – one small business at a time, with practical information about how social media and mobile technology is giving small businesses an unfair advantage over their national brand and big box store competition. Working together with our media partners like The Kenosha News allows us to bring this vision to the small businesses more effectively – we share the vision and can now make it a reality for more businesses”.

The KN Digital agency will offer a variety of marketing solutions in print, online, and mobile including:

- Social media and online marketing plan development to assist clients in learning how to use online marketing to grow their business

- Social media channel development – we build customized Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Pinterest, Google+  pages and more

- Social Media Marketing Channel Management and blog management – we manage the pages and posts for our clients to save them time

- Video and mobile marketing

- Lead generation marketing

- Email marketing

- Media planning

About The Kenosha News:

The Kenosha News is a 118 year old, locally-owned newspaper that serves Kenosha County Wisconsin through a daily newspaper and web site (KenoshaNews.com). They are owned by United Communications Corporation has holdings from Minnesota to New England, including several television stations, smaller newspapers and shoppers, as well as the 48,000-circulation Bulletin.

About Dream Local Digital:

Dream Local Digital, LTD: www.dreamlocal.com is a digital marketing agency serving small-medium sized business and non-profit clients nationwide providing social media and online marketing services. Since their inception in 2009, the goal has been to help these businesses succeed in their Social Media marketing efforts and help save them time while they run their business. In 2011, Dream Local Digital merged with Mindboom Media and Mobile Marketing of Maine also located in Bangor. The company has been recognized by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce with their Innovation in Business Award.

For more information:

Shannon Kinney, GM and Client Success Officer, Dream Local Digital shannon@dreamlocal.com, 207-354-7073, www.dreamlocal.com

Great question, Stacey. The new Facebook Timeline design offers a fantastic opportunity to give your business page strong branding and a visual experience. To find the right photo you’re looking for three main qualities:

• Layout: The image should be horizontal / panoramic in nature to use the space well
• Compelling: The image should be strong and speak to a viewer quickly
• Represent your brand: What does this image say about your brand? About the experience your business represents?

What does Facebook think? They definitely designed the page for photographs. Some pages, like Dream Local’s, utilize the space for branding because there is no photograph that can illustrate our brand or speak for it. Facebook has also issued aguideline indicating that you should leave your phone number and contact information out of the image, and rather use the “info” tab for that. Personally, I think that’s a lofty goal. Small businesses need the opportunity to market themselves, and in many cases having the phone number quickly accessible is also what a consumer would prefer. So we would recommend including your phone number or web site address subtly if that is important to your business.

Dream Local Digital Recommendations: For our clients, we will be custom designing cover photos based on their business goals. In some cases, we will use a photograph – for many businesses an image can speak volumes about their brand, product, or work. For others, we’ll combine a designed image and a photograph. In all we will include key messaging, a tagline or contact information. The idea is to understand that this is a strong visual treatment and use it well to attract your fans to learn more about your business, while offering some flavor as well!

A final thought: Don’t be afraid of change. Use this space and change it up until you find what works best for you and your business.

Need help migrating your business page to Timeline? We can help.

Have a question? If you have any more questions you would like to see addressed here, send them to info@dreamlocal.com

Now that business pages are switching to timeline it is important to know what you need to do in order to have a good looking, great functioning business page.

Here Are 7 Things You Must Know:

Landing Pages

With the migration of Timeline for business pages, you will no longer be able to use customized default-landing pages for users that aren’t yet fans. This means that users will be automatically directed to your wall. This may change the way you promote your business page.

Page Customization

For those of you that have custom tabs on your existing business pages, those tabs will move from the left hand side to under the cover photo.  The custom tab opens into a white space with no advertising but that may change as Timeline progresses.

Cover Photo

At the very top of your business page timeline is the Cover photo area. This image is the first and largest image that will appear on your business page and is a great opportunity for branding, promotions or call-to-action statements. Make sure you take advantage of the cover photo area and not just leave it blank. Think of the cover photo as the billboard for your business page.

Profile Picture

Along with the addition of the Cover Photo, Facebook changed the dimensions of the profile picture to be smaller and perfectly square. Timeline will automatically change your current business page profile picture but if the image isn’t square some cropping will occur. Make sure you either alter your current profile picture or create a new profile picture so it will show they way you want it to. After all, first impressions are everything.

Upload Company History
Timeline’s most crucial feature is the ability to add moments from the past, starting at the business creation. Filling in and adding pictures, videos and stories from your business’s past will give users a better representation of your business. Truth and transparency are key factors in social media, adding in business history to your business page timeline will make a big difference.

Post Pinning
Facebook added a new feature along with Timeline that allows businesses to “Pin” a post to the top of the timeline. The pin feature is great for special announcements, promotions or call to actions. The pinned post will stay at the top of a timeline until removed by a page administrator or after seven days.

Stay Cool
It may seem like a serious overhaul but the change from the current design to the new timeline style will allow for more customization, better connectivity and some branding opportunities not previously possible. It may mean dedicating time to getting use to the new setup but in the end it is a positive change for businesses utilizing Facebook.

Does the migration to Timeline seem daunting? Feel free to contact us at Dream Local with any questions. Visit our Facebook page or send us an email.

For more information on Facebook Timeline, here are some great articles:

Facebook Brand Timelines: Big Changes You Need to Know

20 Facebook Brand Page Cover Photos to Inspire Your Brand

How can businesses and organizations use Pinterest? If your business lends itself to a visual presentation, and your message is something you want shared virally, Pinterest can be a terrific tool. For artists, jewelers, photogaphers, people in the fashion industry, home decorating and many more it’s a powerful and easy to use way to showcase your work. Users that like it will “pin it” and therefore show it to all of their friends, many of whom may also “pin it” and your message is spread. For experts in their field, it is a good way to illustrate your knowledge, gain credibility and exposure. For those of us in the information business, infographics are a very effective way to communicate on Pinterest, and you can see several on social media on my page at www.pinterest.com/shannonkin. It’s not right for everyone yet, but there is tremendous potential here. If you need an invite to Pinterest, you can request one on their site, or message us at facebook.com/dreamlocal and we will get you one!

Have a question for Shannon or suggestion of what you’d like to see in the next post? Send it to info@dreamlocal.com

The implications for small- and medium-sized businesses aren’t obvious, but we’ll get back to that in a minute.

A full list of available apps (I still want to write “applications” instead of “apps”), is on Facebook along with a couple of helpful videos that explain what these apps do. I recommend watching the videos because even I have a hard time wrapping my brain around these things.

If you’re a regular Facebook user, you’ve probably already seen a few of the original apps built for Facebook’s Open Graph platform. The Spotify app tells your friends what songs your listening to, and the Washington Post Social Reader app tells your friends what you’ve been reading in the Post.

The new apps include entertainment and games (Rotten Tomatoes, Words with Friends, Bubble Island), travel (Trip Advisor, Gogobot, Where I’ve Been), shopping (Livingsocial, eBay, Fab.com, Pinterest), food (Foodspotting, Urbanspoon) and many others (Ticketmaster, Autotrader, Foursquare).

Based on what I’ve read and watched today, here are a few examples of how these things will work. A fitness app will track your daily run route and distance and automatically update your Facebook timeline. The Ticketmaster app will not only let people know when you’ve bought concert tickets, it will also review your likes and what you listen to on Spotify (for example) and recommend nearby performances of your favorite musicians. (Here’s a review of the Ticketmaster app on TechCrunch.) The Autotrader app posts a photo or photos of the next car you’re planning to buy.

So what does this all mean for businesses on Facebook? It might not mean anything, depending on your business. But if you run a restaurant, you might want to encourage customers to take pictures of your food using Foodspotting and the new Foodspotting app. Foodspotting is a location-based mobile app that encourages users to take photos of food they’re enjoying or that they’d like to enjoy (how much is that triple chocolate cream-filled cupcake in the window?). So when you’re in Boston and looking for some good food, you can search through Foodspotting to find delicious-looking food and the restaurants that serve it.

With the new Foodspotting app on Facebook, photos of food will start moving through the tickers, news feeds and timelines of potential customers who use Facebook. If you’re a restaurateur, wouldn’t you want photos of your food turning up in those Facebook feeds?

That’s just one quickly conceived example of an online marketing opportunity created by the new timeline apps. There are sure to be others. We’ll keep thinking about it, and if you’ve got some ideas, share them!

The five to follow are start-ups nominated each week by readers of the newsletter. Mass High Tech specializes in covering New England’s incubation of next generation technologies and the people and companies behind the innovation economy.

Dream Local Digital, based in Thomaston, Maine, was founded in 2009 to help small and medium-sized businesses with social media and online marketing. The company recently merged with Mindboom Media and Mobile Marketing of Maine, a Bangor marketing firm.

“We are thrilled to be considered one of the five start-ups to follow by Mass High Tech,” said Shannon Kinney, General Manager, Client Success Officer and Co-Founder of Dream Local Digital. “It’s gratifying to be on a list with some other exciting start-ups.”

Earlier this month, the Bangor Daily News announced a partnership with Dream Local Digital to provide expanded marketing services to its advertising clients, including social, digital and mobile media marketing, lead generation and local search services.

“Dream Local Digital was a natural choice for us because it’s a Maine company that understands Maine businesses, but has also had impressive success with clients nationally,” said Todd Benoit, director of news and new media at the Bangor Daily News.

Dream Local Digital also has an office in Jacksonville, Fla. Kinney has presented seminars and information about online marketing to thousands of business managers around the country.

About Dream Local Digital:

Dream Local Digital, LTD, www.dreamlocal.com, is a digital marketing agency serving small-medium sized business and non-profit clients national providing social media and online marketing services. Since its inception in 2009, the goal has been to help these businesses succeed in their social media marketing efforts and help their managers save time while they run their businesses. Dream Local Digital recently merged with Mindbook Media and Mobile Marketing of Maine, Bangor. The company has been recognized by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce with its Innovation in Business Award. The firm has offices in Thomaston and Bangor, Maine, and Jacksonville, Fla.

For more information:
Shannon Kinney, GM and Client Success Officer
Dream Local Digital
shannon@dreamlocal.com
207-354-7073
www.dreamlocal.com
www.facebook.com/dreamlocal

Link to Mass High Tech article:

http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2012/01/16/daily8-Startup-Watch-Five-you-should-follow.html

BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor Daily News today announced a partnership with Dream Local Digital, LTD, a Maine-based digital marketing agency, to offer expanded marketing services to its advertising clients, with social, digital and mobile media marketing, lead generation and local search services. The agency will operate under the BDN Maine brand.

The announcement marks a milestone in the strategy of the BDN to bring strong solutions to their advertisers, who increasingly look for recommendations and guidance in how to leverage digital marketing to their advantage.

“We want to provide more effective, more comprehensive services to our clients, and we know they are looking increasingly to digital answers to market their businesses,” said Todd Benoit, director of news and new media at the BDN.

“Dream Local Digital was a natural choice for us because it’s a Maine company that understands Maine businesses, but has also had impressive success with clients nationally,” he said. “What impressed me most was that it offered straightforward results to what can be a confusing digital world.”

Dream Local Digital, based in Thomaston, Maine, is lead by Shannon Kinney, a Maine native who has worked in media for more than two decades. She also was a leading member of the team that developed the autos site, cars.com, and spent several years in Silicon Valley, working on more than 60 online media properties for newspapers throughout the United States and Canada. Dream Local has served more than 1,000 businesses nationwide through workshops, strategy development and execution of online marketing strategies.

“This is much more than a mere partnership between two companies,” Kinney said. “It’s about joining forces to serve all of the small and medium businesses in Maine with affordable and effective online marketing solutions while also saving them time. I’m thrilled about BDN Maine’s desire to be a resource statewide, and our ability to offer marketing solutions ranging from social media marketing to digital advertising, blogs, mobile, video and print is a powerful combination for the small businesses in Maine.”

Tobin Slaven, creative director of Dream Local Digital added, “Our company’s mission is to save main street – one small business at a time, with practical information about how social media and mobile technology is giving small businesses an unfair advantage over their national brand and big box store competition. Working together with the Bangor Daily News allows us to bring this vision to the small businesses in Maine more effectively – we share the vision and can now make it a reality for more businesses”.

The agency will be based in Bangor at the offices of the newspaper on 491 Main Street and will offer:

• A broad platform of services for small businesses seeking to make the most of online marketing
• A solutions-based approach to help businesses achieve their marketing goals via online and traditional marketing – we help build the plan for you based on your marketing needs
• A world-class service and support organization for small business owners and managers so they can focus on doing what they do best, which is serving their customers

Major services include the following:

• Social media and online marketing plan development to assist clients in learning how to use online marketing to grow their business
• Social media channel development – we build customized Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Foursquare pages and more
• Social Media Marketing Channel Management and blog management – we manage the pages and posts for our clients to save them time
• Video and mobile marketing
• Lead generation marketing
• Email marketing
• Media planning

About The Bangor Daily News:
The Bangor Daily News is a 122 year old, family-owned business that serves Maine through a daily newspaper, web site (bangordailynews.com), weekly and custom publications as well as phone and tablet apps. The BDN has the largest news team in Maine, with reporters at its home office in Bangor and in Augusta, Bar Harbor, Bath, Belfast, Ellsworth, Houlton, Lincoln, Portland, Machias, Newport and Rockland.

About Dream Local Digital:
Dream Local Digital, LTD: www.dreamlocal.comis a digital marketing agency serving small-medium sized business and non-profit clients nationwide providing social media and online marketing services. Since their inception in 2009, the goal has been to help these businesses succeed in their Social Media marketing efforts and help save them time while they run their business. Dream Local Digital recently merged with Mindboom Media and Mobile Marketing of Maine also located in Bangor. The company has been recognized by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce with their Innovation in Business Award, and has offices in Thomaston and Bangor, Maine, and Jacksonville, FL.

For more information:

Todd Benoit, Director of News and New Media, Bangor Daily News
207-990-8299
moc/swenyliadrognab//tionebt
www.bangordailynews.com
www.facebook.com/dreamlocal

Shannon Kinney, GM and Client Success Officer, Dream Local Digital
207-354-7073
moc/lacolmaerd//nonnahs
www.dreamlocal.com
www.facebook.com/bangordailynews

Jeremy Cote has been promoted from Intern to Online Marketing Strategist. Jeremy began at Dream Local Digital as an intern in February of 2011 and was promoted to an Online Marketing Strategist in November due to his hard work and commitment. Jeremy is originally from Connecticut but moved to Maine to pursue a degree in Marketing and will graduate with a Masters degree from Husson College in May of 2012. Jeremy’s creativity and insight make him a great asset to the Dream Local team. He is based in our Bangor Offices.

Laurie Trifoso has been promoted from Intern to Client Services Manager and Sales. Laurie is a New York native but has lived in Maine since 2006. She studied marketing at the University of Maryland. After three years, she was drawn to Maine where she is finishing her degree and will graduate with a BS in Business Administration with a marketing concentration this May. Her plan is to start her MBA soon after. Her focus on customer service is what makes her a good fit at Dream Local Digital. She has vast experience dealing with customers at different levels. Her work ethic, personality and skills will be an asset to all current and future Dream Local Digital clients. She is based in our Bangor offices.

Bethany Snow joins the team as an Online Marketing Strategist. Bethany is a proud Maine native and is excited about the opportunity to support local businesses. After graduating Scarborough High School in 2002 she enlisted in the U.S. Army and served for five years at bases from California to Korea. In 2010 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Mount Holyoke College and began working with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. These diverse experiences allow for a fresh perspective and an enthusiasm for working with people and businesses. She’s based in Portland.

Jeff Howland joins the team as an Online Marketing Strategist. Jeff is a Maine native, who has lived in the midcoast area on-and-off for over 12 years, living now in Camden with his wife and two young children. Since graduating from the University of Maine with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering Technology, he has held positions within the industrial sector, as a software engineer, and the financial and marketing sectors, in a broad range of technology management and client support roles. Currently, Jeff is on the Board of Directors at the Camden Conference, where he serves as chairman of the Technology Committee, and he is also on the Board of Directors at the Literacy Volunteers of Midcoast Maine, where he serves as Treasurer. Growing with the Internet over the last two decades, Jeff’s innate interest in its technical facets, combined with the socio-cultural dimensions the Web now permeates, have opened a path to his true passion, helping people. With a logical and scientific approach, balanced by a creative, aesthetic feel, and keen insight into what works, Jeff works closely with our clients and team to develop and implement online marketing strategies and is based in our headquarters in Thomaston.

Luke Thomas joins the team as an Online Marketing Strategist.  Luke Thomas is a current student at UMaine who loves online marketing. He enjoys learning as much as possible about social media, website design, social media, and technology. Over the past few years he’s worked with large brands like Angry Birds, Rockstar Energy Drink, Qdoba, and CollegeFest. When Luke’s not working, he enjoys reading, blogging, playing soccer, and spending time with his family.Luke brings a wealth of experience and ideas to the team, and will be based in our Bangor offices.

Jennifer Payson has recently left the team, she has moved to New Hampshire and returned to a previous employer, Vigilant Wine Cellars in Dover, NH. They design and manufacture top of the line and customer wine cellars, among many other fine wooded cabinetry, store shelving etc.

We wish Jennifer well in her new endeavors and welcome all of the new team members to the team!

About Dream Local Digital:

Dream Local Digital, LTD: www.dreamlocal.com is a digital marketing agency serving small-medium sized business and non-profit clients nationwide providing social media and online marketing services. Since their inception in 2009, the goal has been to help these businesses succeed in their Social Media marketing efforts and help save them time while they run their business. The company has been recognized by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce with their Innovation in Business Award, and has offices in Thomaston and Bangor Maine and Jacksonville, FL.

For more information:

Shannon Kinney, GM and Client Success Officer, Dream Local Digital
207-354-7073
moc/lacolmaerd//nonnahs
www.dreamlocal.com
www.facebook.com/dreamlocal