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

Thomaston, ME – January 2, 2012 — Dream Local Digital, LTD, a Maine-based digital marketing agency announces the acquisition of  Mindboom Media and Mobile Marketing of Maine, two Bangor-based companies serving small-medium businesses with social media, lead generation, and local search marketing services for small businesses. The merged company will operate as Dream Local Digital with combined resources, and an expanded product line to serve its nationwide client base of small to medium sized businesses and non-profits.

This announcement marks a major milestone in the build out of the three innovative technology startups with a shared focus on helping small business owners navigate the fast growing trends and opportunities from social, local, video and mobile marketing while also saving them time.

“We are immensely excited about the opportunity this brings to Dream Local and also to our clients,” said Dream Local Digital Founder and Client Success Officer Shannon Kinney, “this represents a wider variety of options to serve the marketing needs of our clients and adds considerable power to their ability to grow their businesses via online marketing”. Kinney also added: “we are also bringing in a team with deep experience in local, social, video and mobile marketing – in particular Mobile Marketing of Maine Co-Founder Tobin Slaven – who will serve as our Creative Director keeping us on the cutting edge of offerings for our clients”.

Slaven shared that “this makes tremendous sense for both our existing and new clients, as we will be able to offer a wider array of services, and better meet the growing demand from locally owned businesses who want to get more business from the web.”

The merger brings together the two innovative agencies, with key strengths including:

• A broader and more unified platform of services for small businesses seeking to make the most of online marketing
• 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
• An expanded base of clients and larger revenue streams, enabling greater investment in infrastructure and innovation
• A certified Hubspot reseller offering lead generation and inbound marketing services

About Mindboom Media/Mobile Marketing of Maine:
Mindboom Media/Mobile Marketing of Maine: is an inbound marketing and HubSpot Partner agency located in Bangor, Maine. It’s self-stated 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. They will continue to operate at 47 Main Street Bangor, Maine.

About Dream Local Digital:
Dream Local Digital, LTD: 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

Tobin Slaven, Creative Director, Dream Local Digital
207-358-4867
moc/lacolmaerd//nibot
www.dreamlocal.com
www.facebook.com/dreamlocal

In the online marketing world, it’s called search engine optimization (SEO). It really boils down to placing signposts in the content of your site and in some of the background code that keeps your site running. The signposts — keywords — tell search engines what your site is about, and when a prospective customer searches using one of your keywords or keyword phrases, the search engine serves up a link to your site.

Here are some easy steps to lead you through the process:

Step 1: What are your keywords? If you were searching for your business online, what would you type into a search engine? Better yet, what would your customers type? If you’re having trouble coming up with some, ask friends or a few customers how they would search for you. You don’t need a lot to start, and once you’ve listed a few keywords, you’re on to the next step.

Step 2: Use keywords in your page titles. Page titles are part of your site’s background code, and each page of your site should have one. Search engines rely heavily on title information to determine the rest of the content on the page.

Step 3: Use keywords in your web page URLs. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your business’ domain name (xyz.com) has to contain keywords. But it does mean that your directory structure or the file name of the page itself should contain keywords. For example, the XYZ Shoe Store might have URLs such as xyz.com/womensshoes, xyz.com/sandals or xyz.com/runningshoes.

Step 4: Use keywords in meta data. Although not ranked as highly anymore, the meta data sections of your background code (Page Description and Keywords) were specifically created to help search engines. The description should contain the keywords relevant to that particular page, and it should be readable by a person and make sense. A complete sentence or two are recommended. The keywords section is just a list of keywords relevant to the content on that page. Keep the list short and relevant.

Step 5: Make sure your content contains keywords. In the shoe store example, the “running shoes” page should contain that phrase two or three times. This confirms for the search engine the information it finds in the page title, the URL and the meta data. Make sure to write naturally. Don’t force the insertion of keywords if they don’t make sense in the flow of the text.

Step 6: Use keywords in your H1 text. H1 text is usually the headline for the page or the article. Search engines generally give greater weight to the words in H1 text, so make sure to put your keywords there.

If you’re just starting to optimize your website to improve search rankings, keep things simple. Work with only a few keywords to start. As you add content to the site, determine the relevant keywords for each new page, then make sure each page is optimized with those keywords in the page title, URL, the meta data, the content and your headline.

As with any online marketing effort, monitor your results. Check your search rank before you make any changes, and then check again every few days after you’ve optimized your site. If you’re starting from scratch, it should take just a few days to see improvement.

Presented to:  Businesses throughout Oxford County  

Date:   Thursday, December 8th 

Two sessions: 9:00 – 11:30 am or 1:00 – 3:30 pm 

Cost:   $25 or $15 for members of any Oxford County Chamber or Business 

            Association 

Location:    The Bethel Inn Resort, Bethel, ME 

RSVP:    to Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, 207-824-2282. Space is limited!   

Please pre-register to guarantee a space by Friday, December 1st 

Workshop Goals:  

This workshop is designed for businesses that are already “dabbling” in Social media and online marketing and are wanting to learn more specific strategies to take them to the “next step!” Shannon Kinney from Dream Local (who was here earlier this summer doing beginner social media training) will be helping attendees with their individual needs. Shannon will use best practices and examples from local businesses specifically,and include as many attendees / members as are appropriate.

Workshop Outlines:  

Title: Advanced Social Media Marketing: Making It Work for Your Business 

Outline:

Social Media Marketing: what are the goals for my business?
How do I build my fan base?
How do I decide what social media platforms my business needs to be on?
Facebook – Twitter – LinkedIn – YouTube, others
How do I measure success? Core measurement tools
How do I manage it all while I run my business?

RSVP by December 1st to julia@bethelmaine.com.  $25 or $15 as a member of any of the Oxford County Chambers/Business Associations.  Space is limited, reserve soon!

Background on Google+

To give a little background, even though Google publicly states that “Google+ is not a Social Network”, it looks an awful lot like earlier versions of Facebook.  Google has a knack for offering good functionality and simplistic design (just look at the primary Google page) and there is some good functionality.  It’s very simple and easy to create “circles” of friends or followers, in fact they offer a nice “drag and drop” feature.  This makes it easier to share specific things with specific groups of people.  Facebook offers similar functionality but it’s not quite as user friendly…  ”Hangout” is another popular feature that makes it very easy to have an impromptu “video conference” with over 10 of your friends at the same time.  Seeing as Google has the relationship with YouTube (they own them), Google Docs, Google Maps, etc – it’s a safe bet that there will be much functionality.  Google+ was is Beta for months and just recently opened up for everyone to join.  You have to join Google first (like open up a free Gmail account) and then it’s easy to set up a Google+ page.  Latest numbers for Google+ boast over 40 million users.

Better SEO, Integration into Google Analytics, and SEM Opportunities

From a purely business standpoint, its really early but just above is an example of a larger brand’s Google+ Branded page.  There will be opportunities for increased rankings in search engines (SERPs) and since Google is, by far, the largest search engine (and YouTube is second) – it makes sense to consider having a business page as part of your Social footprint.  Google Analytics will easily integrate into your Google+ page and just like with YouTube, there will be opportunities for marketing (SEM, Pay Per Click).

Classic “Facebook” vs “Google” Debate  

Just like good natured “Ford” vs “Chevy” debates, this latest iteration from Google has already sparked debate about “which is best”.  Here at Dream Local our job is keep you up to date on all of the benefits of having various Social Media offerings to benefit your company.  Despite Google’s sheer size, the reality (as of right now) is that Facebook have over 800 million users and many, many more active users. Competition always translates into better offerings so in our view it’s good for your business that you have a new option – and as always, we’re here to help.  More to come!

“Over 70% of small businesses in the US now use Facebook to reach their customers but nearly half of them cite lack of time and resources as their top marketing challenge. We saw that as an opportunity and spent the last 18 months helping small businesses be successful with Social Media.”, says Shannon Kinney, founder and client success officer of Dream Local Digital, Inc. “We will work with our clients to understand their unique needs, craft a comprehensive marketing plan with them, and implement a complete Social Media strategy. From building out channels and custom pages on Facebook; to creating YouTube channels, to facilitating Twitter, Foursquare – whatever is needed to best reach their customer base.” Dream Local Digital not only will create or update all of a company’s Social Media assets, they will also manage it moving forward, updating pages, blogs and more.

“The Jacksonville office is a foundational step for Dream Local Digital as the beginning of our expansion throughout North America. This will be the first of many offices that will allow us to serve small businesses in their communities”, added Kinney. The Jacksonville office opened for business October 24th and will serve businesses throughout the Southeast.

Jacksonville native TJ Weyer, is GM Southeast for Dream Local Digital and is managing the Jacksonville location. TJ has an extensive background in media (traditional and online) and ran www.Jacksonville.com from ’03 to ’07 during a 13+ year tenure with Morris Communications (parent company of Florida Times Union). “I was intrigued by how well Dream Local Digital facilitated all aspects of Social Media for over 100 clients. When Shannon contacted me about expansion, I jumped at the chance to offer these services to smaller businesses here in Jacksonville. It’s an under served market that stands to benefit the most from Social Media”.

Additional offerings of Dream Local Digital, Inc include email marketing, blogging, and SEO services; but the lead for every client is Social Media. For more information on Dream Local Digital, Inc; please go to www.DreamLocal.com, Facebook.com/dreamlocal, or Twitter.com/dreamlocal. Information on the Jacksonville office can be found at www.DreamLocalJax.com.

Google Analytics offers code that allows you to measure the use of some of those buttons — Google+, Facebook’s send, like and unlike and Twitter’s official Tweet button. The new “Social” statistics are available only when viewing the “new version” of Google Analytics (click the link in the upper right).

Applying the social media buttons to content is a key way to spread your content. When somebody enjoys an article, that person can click one or several of the social media buttons to share with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other sites such as StumbleUpon and LinkedIn.

Compare your social media stats to your content, and you’ll be able to tell which types of articles are more likely to be shared. Over time, you should be able to create articles that are more social-media friendly.

Once the appropriate codes have been applied to your buttons, Google Analytics will tell you how many visitors to your site were “socially engaged” or “not socially engaged.” The socially engaged visitors clicked on one of the buttons. It will also tell you how often each button was clicked and on which pages those buttons were clicked.

Applying the codes requires access to the backend of your website. Google offers instructions, and this article from Social Media Examiner has easy-to-understand suggestions. If you’re using WordPress to power your site, there are several plug-ins that will attach the code automatically.

Following clicks on your social media buttons is just one part of measuring your social media strategy. You should also study the source reports in your analytics to see how many page views are coming from social media sites. The ultimate goal is to determine how many of those visitors end up in your business’ sales funnel and buy your products.