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While the rest of the country is still struggling in an economic recession and suffering renewed job losses as a result of the close of the 2010 Census and its layoffs, Austin seems almost recession-proof. If you need any indicator of hiring stats in Austin, check out the “New Austin Jobs” Twitter feed, job board listings, or read the local news.

In fact, Broad Street Interactive is part of the surge in new technology and media jobs - we’re hiring for digital ad sales. Check out the job description (or apply) here!

An article in AdAge this week about how AT&T plans to lift its image via social media “customer care” inspired us to share our own experiences with brands that use social media-as-customer-service (and do it right). As a business or brand venturing into social media, one of the most common mistakes one can make is set up the Twitter, Facebook, etc. accounts, post a few times, garner a few followers or fans, then maintain “radio silence.” The brands that we would qualify as “social media pros” use the medium not only for promotion and marketing, but also for customer service and brand loyalty.

One recent example: A friend spent a weekend at a Westin (Starwood) Hotel in Washington, DC, and returned from his trip with some unwanted “visitors” - dust mites that not only caused an awful rash that sent him to the doctor for treatment, but he also had to disinfect his clothing, bedding, luggage, and most of his home. When he called the hotel’s customer service department, they “opened a ticket” and finally responded to him (after several phone calls) that the room in which he stayed was indeed infested with dust mites. The offered compensation? Starwood Hotel points. When my friend hung up the phone, he Tweeted to his 1,000+ followers about his experience and his dissatisfaction with the resolution. In turn, several of his followers re-Tweeted his comment and shared it on Facebook. Within about 30 minutes, he was contacted by a staffer at Starwood responsible for customer care via its Twitter page (www.twitter.com/starwoodbuzz), an email exchange followed, and he was reimbursed for his entire stay as a result. He shared that information via his social media channels as well. Our grade? “C-” for initial phone customer service contact, but an “A” for follow-up effort via Twitter and Starwood’s customer care social media staff.

A few weeks ago after lunch, I Tweeted that I was dismayed to discover Central Market didn’t carry Sparkling Lime IZZE (my favorite IZZE flavor). Literally, within about four minutes, www.twitter.com/izzetasteagents were following me on Twitter and two weeks later, my favorite supermarket/lunch haven now carries my favorite IZZE beverage. Grade? “A++” for immediacy, responsiveness, and brand loyalty incentive. Clearly, the “taste agents” are on top of their game and since one-third of Twitter users talk brands, companies have to know what’s being said about their brand (and respond!).

Other top contenders for social media customer care:

Wachovia - www.twitter.com/wachovia, ranks “A” for customer responsiveness on Twitter, but also uses the social media channel to disseminate customer information.

Zappos - www.twitter.com/zappos, online shoe retailer (admitting to a little bias with my own love of shoes), but more than 1 and a half million followers can’t be wrong, can they?

Sephora - www.twitter.com/sephora, ranks an “A” or higher for sheer consistency and number of Tweets, lack of re-Tweeting, and sharing links relevant to its customer base.

Starbucks - www.twitter.com/starbucks, (I know, I know…we’re trying to “drink local” too). Interestingly, the coffee conglomerate has fewer followers on Twitter than Zappos and many other companies (less than 1 million), but we give them a “B+” for customer engagement via contests and other “follower only” promotions.

Whole Foods - www.twitter.com/wholefoods, Tweeting from its global HQ right here in Austin, TX. More than 1.7 million followers reading Tweets about healthy eating and in-store promotions (how else would I  have heard organic cherries were on mega-sale last weekend?), but this primary account is used to respond to Twitter users, followers or not, Tweeting about their Whole Foods experience. “A++” for responsiveness (to both negative and positive comments)!

There are many that rank high on the social media customer care index - www.twitter.com/coach, www.twitter.com/harleydavidson, www.twitter.com/gap, www.twitter.com/burberry, www.twitter.com/jetblue, www.twitter.com/HRBlock, and www.twitter.com/RedCross, among others. The reason?

They know “the four Rs” of customer service via social media: reviewing, responding, recording, and redirecting.

They also understand customer engagement, the immediacy of the social media environment, and the power of social media networks. We’ll be keeping an eye on AT&T’s new customer care initiative (considering the sheer number of mentions they have on social networks - more than 10,000 - in a 24-hour period) just to see if and how high they’re going to set the bar for large companies and “social care teams.”

If your company or brand is ready to dip a toe in the waters of social media, we’re here to help with anything from consulting to managing social media campaigns, monitoring, tracking, and responding. Contact us with any questions!

In other words, is the emperor wearing clothes? We’ve seen this in the world of technology many times in the past few years, most recently with the release of the iPad (and buzz about the upcoming “iAd” mobile advertising platform). And we had a flurry of client calls in the weeks after the release of the iPad, most asking how they can get in on advertising in the “new mobile market.” As an agency, the most important thing we must consider with regards to placing media is ROI for the client. Although the numbers (and the hype) for mobile advertising have been all over the media, hype doesn’t necessarily mean ROI. The media calls mobile the “golden interactive loop,” but just how “golden” is it?

We saw it coming with the release of the iPad—Apple taking “dead aim at Google’s search advertising” with its iAd mobile advertising platform (MediaPost.com). The good news for agencies like ours is that it brings another competitor to the marketplace, expands the reach of our geotargeted, hyper-local mobile advertising. Yes, it has taken some time for publishers to get on the mobile advertising bandwagon, particularly with the dramatic increase in and technological improvements to mobile devices (such as the iPhone, Android, and other “smart” phones) over the past few years. Our agency has worked with some of the “early adapters” for some time now—Pandora, Yelp, and Google Mobile, among others—and with moderate success for our clients. They work wonderfully for national clients, but many in-app mobile platforms still lack geo-targeting capability and strong reporting functions.

We don’t see mobile digital advertising as a replacement for traditional online display ads (did we actually just use the word “traditional” to describe online advertising?!?), but it certainly is another option to offer for campaigns with specific demographic targets. For example, if we have a campaign that has a primary goal of reaching 18-34 year-old males with a precise number of impressions in mind, and a secondary goal of a high click-through and conversion rate (say, signing up on a web site), mobile advertising is something we would consider including in that proposal—from Pandora music to text ads—as long as the target demographic is right for the campaign. Ideally, what we’d like to see is more geo-targeting capabilities on these platforms, along with transparent reporting functions.

At Apple’s Worldwide Developers conference in early June, Steve Jobs announced that the company has signed mobile ad campaigns for several large brands, including AT&T, Best Buy and Chanel, among others. TechCrunch also reports that in just eight weeks, Apple has garnered more than $60 million in iAd commitments for 2010 – or half of all mobile advertising spend forecasted for the second half of the year (according to Apple). The iAd platform will allow users to interact with ads from within an app – without disrupting their primary mode of engagement, whether that be playing a game or watching a video. The platform debuts on July 1.

Read more about Apple’s iAd mobile platform here and, as always, contact us directly if you have a product or service you’re ready to take to the (digital) streets!

Broad Street Interactive’s full transparency and premium placement are two examples of why not.

We’re always hesitant to describe what we do at Broad Street Interactive as an “ad network” for many of the reasons cited in this article. Broad Street Interactive is a different animal and it shows in the results we get for our clients. We’ve been ahead of the ad network game since the company was founded, focusing on partnerships and results rather than simply providing impressions or clicks for our clients. We offer hyper-local targeting, marketing, and reports for our clients that analyze each campaign’s results down to the last impression so that we can share information with our clients, such as which ad size was the most successful, which targeted market garnered the most impressions or clicks, and fully transparent reporting.

There are all kinds of ad networks—and Broad Street Interactive strives to be the best of the best by using our relationships with publishers and web sites to leverage the best results for our clients’ goals.

Spending on digital media for local advertising will grow about 19 percent through 2014 and will be 25 percent of total local advertising, while money spent on traditional ads will continue to decline, according to new research from BIA/Kelsey. This “steady shift toward digital media” will see online/interactive media expenditure, at about $15 billion last year, reach nearly $37 billion four years from now, the study said.

What this means for our traditional media outlets dependent on print advertising revenue: Those who already have an online presence should ensure their sites are (a) advertising/code friendly, (b) inventory ready, and (c) maintaining or increasing user traffic/impressions. Traditional media outlets can make up for a loss in print advertising revenues with online revenue, but they must be able to accept ad codes and have the inventory and traffic (and an online media kit). It’s a new world out there and with an increasing number of people getting their news and information online, advertisers are heading straight for the web.

At Broad Street Interactive, we are strong advocates for local online publishers. We represent a network of over 2,000 local news content publishers and bring them together with advertisers trying to reach the important local audience. We are certainly “bullish” on the growth of online advertising budgets in the local space. If your brand is trying to reach the local audience, nationwide contact us for a proposal. We will show you how local can work for your brand.