Photo by RiaPereira

The success of your blog comes down to one key component – the writing. So how do you ensure that you are consistently writing good, quality content and finding sources of inspiration? Believe it or not, your blogging can improve from applying copywriting techniques to your blog posts, according to an article from Write to Done.

Joe Sugarman, a well-known copywriter, entrepreneur and author, said, “The best copywriters in the world are those who are curious about life… They hunger for experience and knowledge and find other people interesting. They are very good listeners.”

Sugarman’s description isn’t far off from the description of a skilled blogger – agreed?

Take a look at some copywriting tips that can be easily applied to your blog:

• Your headline should make the reader want to read the first sentence.
• The first sentence must quickly get the attention of your reader and make them want to read the second sentence.
• If you bury your first sentence in a long paragraph, readers will move on. Try letting your first sentence stand alone in your first paragraph.
• Once you have a reader’s attention, try to “harmonize” with them and begin a journey. The journey can be learning something new, finding a new way to think, or a new way to do something.
• End your blog post by asking the reader to take action: leave a comment, subscribe, buy something, read your other posts, or try something new.

The next time you begin a blog, try using these tips as a reference. You may be surprised with the results! Leave us a comment and let us know if it works for you or if you have used other techniques to improve your blog writing.

And Facebook IPO (initial public offering) Week begins! No, it’s not the same craziness like Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, but it is a big moment in time for social media’s and Facebook’s history. We’re sure it’s also a big time for Facebook’s PR department (when is anything about Facebook not big for the PR team).

According to Mashable’s Joann Pann, Facebook “is set to become the most valuable U.S. tech company after going IPO. Google went public in 2004 with a valuation of $23 million.” Its worth? It may be more than $100 billion.

Here’s a few interesting facts about the IPO:

• Facebook has to undergo an IPO due to SCC requirements.
• The IPO could also be in part to wanting to reward Facebook employees.
• It could also be to raise more capital.
• Investors are worried about the mobile side of Facebook.
• The IPO release date is expected Thursday or Friday.

Watch the video above to find out all that you need to know during Facebook’s IPO week. What are your thoughts on Facebook’s IPO? Drop me a line in the comments below!

As of today, I’ve officially been working full time at Agency Entourage for six months. This time last year, May 22, 2011 to be exact, I started as an intern and eventually worked my way through the ranks.

After interning for a summer and later becoming a full time staff member, I’ve had the chance to work with the Agency Entourage team in different capacities. I’ve also had the opportunity to learn about each of the services we offer as a social media marketing agency as both an outsider and an Interactive Producer.

If there is one thing I have learned in the past year, it’s that Agency Entourage is a marketing agency unlike any other. From the office environment, to the office decor, to the office events, Agency Entourage definitely sets the bar pretty high.

Here are a few of our company’s highlights:

Company culture: At Agency Entourage, our creativity is allowed to soar. We succeed as a company because everyone on the team is able to do things the way they want to do them, and no one’s personal style is hindered. For us, it’s all about working together to excel for every campaign. Employees are encouraged with a relaxed atmosphere that lends itself to creative success. With couches, comfy chairs and music freely flowing, everyone is able to move around and work wherever they feel most comfortable. Let’s be honest, desks get a little old after a while. Oh and did I mention the pot luck lunches? Be it a holiday, a persons birthday or even the Super Bowl, we celebrate it with a potluck!

Continuing Education: As a whole, Agency Entourage takes great strides to continuously keep the company at the top of our game 24/7. Each staff member has a “specialty” that he or she is responsible for staying on top of. They are also responsible for educating the rest of the office on important highlights, changes or pertinent information regarding their specialty. Also, each Wednesday we come together as a team for a continuing education lunch dedicated to relevant topics and trends in the industry and with our clients. Each lunch features a presentation and lunch from a local Dallas, Texas hot-spot.

Location: Located deep in the heart of Dallas, Texas, we are a part of it all. Whether it’s an industry event, our clients, or the best lunch-time dining around, our office is conveniently located to it all. We get to watch the Christmas parade from our office windows, we were within walking distance of the Dallas Mavericks Championship Parade and, if you need a little lunch time retail therapy, Neiman Marcus is right across the street!

Client Relations: Agency Entourage is the single most proactive partner that each of our client’s employ. We are not only proactive from the standpoint of executing great work, but we are even more proactive from the standpoint of educating the client and keeping them in the know on all industry best practices. Over the last year we have published a retrospective infographic from our previous seven years attendance of SXSW, we’ve published three white papers detailing the “7 Habits of a Highly Effective Social Marketing, Blogging and Email Marketing Campaign,” and we have hosted clients and prospective clients monthly at our office for “breakfast-n-learns” to discuss emerging marketing trends and new technologies.

I can honestly say that without a doubt, Agency Entourage is one of the most proactive and innovative social media marketing agencies in Dallas, Texas.

If you need help growing your online brand, or if you’re interested in becoming part of our Agency Entourage team, we’d love to hear from you.

It’s hard to go anywhere without seeing someone on their phone texting, tweeting, taking a picture or looking up directions. So many people completely reply on their mobile device to get through the day and to stay connected.

Recently, Meghan Peters, Mashable’s community manager, Brett Martin, co-founder and CEO of Sonar and Steve Jang, co-founder, chief product designers and CEO of SoundTracking and Bart Stein, Stamped founder, had an on-stage discussion at Mashable Connect about mobile social networking. They came to the conclusion that mobile social networks are the communities of the future and here’s why:

Photo by TGKW

It’s Easy to Share

Social network platforms have become the best way to express yourself. Whether it’s our interests or photos, we love the idea of being able to share it all.

“As long as there is a captive audience that is responsive to this stream of personal media captured and shared on the fly, then I think we’ll continue to see people flock to these mobile communities,” Jang said.

Thanks to mobile devices, we no longer share our vacations or life events days afterward but yet right at the very moment that it’s happening. We’re becoming used to knowing what’s going on with friends, family and even celebrities at the moment something is happening, which allows us to experience with them and feel connected.

According to comScore reports, thirty-eight million Americans use mobile devices for social networking, usually on a daily basis. And that number will continue to rise because of our desire to produce and engage with personal media.

Relationships Grow and Improve

The connections we make through social networks may develop new relationships or strengthen those existing. And while some worry all the tweeting, photographing and checking in may lessen the value of face-to-face connections, Jang said the benefits of social networking still come out on top. With our mobile devices in hand, we can stay in touch with a much larger group of friends and family and see, read and listen to a vivid snapshot of their lives.

Then there’s the matter of sharing common interests – the core of any community. Mobile apps allow users to connect around certain hobbies and activities so whether you are looking for a restaurant or a relationship, apps can help. The goal of a successful app is to help an existing community build on what it has already been doing. Mobile applications add dimensions to relationships that we never had before and that make it easier than ever to make and maintain real life relationships, Stein and Martin said.

Read more of their discussion from Mashable Connect here.

As for the future of mobile social networking – it’s in our hands! Mobile networking and sharing will continue with upgraded devices and improved apps. As we see it changing every day,  we’d like for you to share with us – how do you feel about how mobile devices are impacting our communities and daily lives? If you’re looking for more ways for you or your business to connect with a community, see how Agency Entourage might be able to help.

I went into a meeting the other day overly joyed at the fact that a client of mine has (finally) decided to utilize a blog for their website. If every client of mine blogged, I’d be the happiest camper in the campsite. I can’t even begin to explain how important it is to be out there and part of the blogosphere. And not just blogging for the sake of blogging either, but strategically blogging and using the countless number of helpful tools available to bloggers everywhere.

Below are only seven of the reasons why your PR company and your clients need to be blogging on a regular basis:

1. Blogging helps to tie all aspects of a your digital presence together. It ties together everything you’re doing socially and even aids with SEO, keywords, etc. Even The Dude from The Big Lebowski thinks so – see why.

2. With daily blogging, you’re able to showcase your expertise. This means the killer content you’re producing can help you get noticed and perceived as an industry leader. It can also help to show the personality of the company or client, whatever it may be.

3. “It’s nearly impossible to be effective with, on, and around social media without blogging. This is a vital way to stay engaged with your audience and to maintain and build a social presence. Pros blog. Period.” Bam! Becky Gaylord says it all in her PR Daily post.

4. Blogging daily with fresh, original content helps you get a better ranking on Google, which means more opportunities to pop up in people’s searches. That’s not only great for the blog, but for the website, too.

5. Blogging can help you make connections. Most industries, if not all, are blogging these days. Just by searching, you can discover blogs or thought leaders for almost any topic. Once you find said blog or thought leader, you’ll want to connect via a few different options. You can add the blog to your blogroll, guest blog or blog comment, just to name a few. Doing this further helps to expand your reach as a blogger, your blog’s reach, and it can attract people back to your blog.

6. You can completely start a new conversation. With every blog post, comes the chance to start a discussion and get a conversation going. Who knows? You could be one of the first people to post something relevant, newsworthy or truly unique and your blog get picked up and then spread like wildfire. (Here’s an example of that. It’s an off-topic blog post, but it received a lot of attention because it was something unique and worth reading.)

7. Blogs are so easy to share. Add social buttons to each post, throw a great post in your monthly email newsletter, share images on Pinterest via blog posts that link back, and so much more. There are so many ways to share blog posts online, it’s insane.

Do you need help developing a blog or coming up with killer content? Learn about Agency Entourage’s capabilities, an award winning, Dallas-based digital marketing agency, and see how we can help you get to bloggin’!

Do you personally blog or blog for your company and/or clients? What do you think is the most beneficial thing about a blog?

Photo by Dev.Arka

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not very good at creating “strong” passwords and I even tend to use the same password for multiple accounts. Basically, I am a hacker’s dream.

Working at Agency Entourage has helped me become a little more conscious about protecting my online presence, but I’m still not out of the woods.

You know what they say, “The first step to getting help is admitting you have a problem.” I know I have an online security problem, I’ve recognized the error in my ways and I’m going to start making more of an effort to protect myself online. Oh and I’m going to stop using my initials in my passwords, too!

If you have trouble protecting your online presence, maybe you’ll find these tips as interesting and helpful as I did. Thanks to an article I read in the Chicago Tribune, “7 Ways to Protect Your Social Media Accounts,” I feel much more equipped for protecting myself and my social accounts against online hackers.

Here are my 5 favorite tips for protecting your social media identity:

1. Create or update accounts with complex passwords.

This one is for my co-worker that lectures me on a weekly basis about the importance of creating complex passwords. Let’s just say that he’s none too thrilled about the go to info that I use to create my social profile passwords.

In reality, it is best to use a string of upper and lower case letters mixed with symbols and numbers. Good luck remembering them though! I suggest finding a secure way to save and remember your log-in information.

2. Keep your browsers current.

Updates really are important. I never put much thought into this before, but now that I’m thinking about it, it makes sense. Hackers are on top of their game 24/7 so you need to be, too. If your Internet browser becomes outdated, your security features will get outdated too. I’m just guessing, but the words security and outdated should probably never be used together in the same sentence!

3. Think before you access viral content.

Just think, “Is this YouTube video really worth the potential virus threat?” Of course not all videos come with the potential for security harm but if you have to question it, don’t click on it! Check the validity of all viral content before you click on the provided links. A few seconds of time spent verifying something initially is far better than the time it would take to get rid of a virus, spam threat or worse, a hacker, later.

4. Watch out for Twitter direct message spam.

I promise you that no matter how many messages you get telling you that “Someone is saying really bad things about you…” it’s not true. Don’t panic, don’t start trying to figure out what people are saying and most importantly, don’t click on the link. Chances are, the poor soul that sent the message to you did click on that exact same link and now their account is plagued with spam. Save yourself and save your social media accounts…don’t fall for spam!

5. Beware of Facebook “Like” scams.

The chances of anything that says, “‘Like’ this post to claim your free pair of Ray Bans” being legit is, unfortunately, slim to none. I’m not saying that liking it is going to cause harm to your Facebook account but I’m not saying it won’t either. It’s always better to be safe than sorry so, once again, just don’t click on it! If you’re not 100% sure about the legitimacy of a Facebook post that is asking for some sort of interaction, just resist the temptation to respond and find another, safe, account to interact with!

Unfortunately not everyone in the social media world has good intentions. The best thing you can do is to protect yourself and all of the information that you put online and, of course, always think before you click.

As a social media marketing agency, we have a large online presence here at Agency Entourage and because of that, we do everything we can to protect all of our company’s online information. What strides are you taking to protect your social media identity?

Facebook Offers are here! If executed strategically, Facebook Offers are an effective way to drive new people to your business and engage your customers.  When your fans choose to take advantage of your offer, their Facebook friends see that interaction which in turn expose your page to a brand new network of potential customers. Best of all, Facebook Offers are completely free for page  admins to create.

Here’s how to create your first Facebook offer:

1. Go to your Facebook page

2. From the sharing tool at the top of your Page’s timeline, click “Offer, Event +” and then choose Offer from the list.

3. Create a headline for your offer, ex. “Get a Free Appetizer with the Purchase of an Entree.”

4. Upload a photo for your offer. Remember the photo will be thumbnail size, so avoid images that are difficult to see.

5. Choose to limit the number of claims by clicking Unlimited and selecting a number from the drop down.

6. Set an expiration date by clicking today’s date and clicking a different day in the future.

7. Add any terms and conditions that apply to your offer.

8. Click Preview.

9. Review what your offer will look like, and if you’re ready to make it available, click Post

Many bloggers out there don’t actually blog for a living. What I mean is, blogging is not their full-time job. A lot of them are just like you, trying to keep up with a blog as well as life’s other responsibilities. So how do you make time for it all? Start out with these three simple steps with information from blogging resource, Blog Godown. You should soon begin to find it easier to fit blogging into your busy schedule:

Photo by Chris Petry

1. Determine your best blogging time. If you work eight or more hours a day, your free time is evenings, mornings and weekends. Due to this limitation, it’s essential that you make the most of your free time. If you find yourself to be more of an alert, morning person, set your alarm a little earlier than normal and try blogging before you begin your day. Or maybe your creative juices start flowing when the sun goes down. If so, get your blogging done before or after dinner. The key is consistency. Whatever contribution you can make, big or small, is important.

2. Put away distractions. It’s obvious that usually what stops us from being productive can actually be the Internet itself, as well as other tasks on our mind once we get off work. If you’re ready to take your blog to the next level, you’ll have to learn to put it at the top of your to-do list during some of your free time.

3. Savor your energy.Once you get on a roll with blogging, give yourself a stopping point so the next time you come back to the drawing board, you might still have some of the leftover energy from the post before. Also, resist the temptation to make a post longer than it needs to be. Online readers have short attention spans so blog accordingly.

For all the bloggers out there: what helps keep you blogging despite your busy schedule? Please share! We are always looking for new ways to stay focused and keep our blogging fresh and consistent.

Photo by Ivan Cash

(Yep, that’s an infographic about infographics – source.)

Once again, it’s pretty obvious we’re big fans of the “visual phenomenon” that is infographics around the Agency Entourage office. From the one we recently published about SXSW stats this year to the daily scan of inforgraphics up on visual.ly, you see them everywhere and throughout many industries, not just social media.

In the Public Relations realm, infographics are big, too. Big for industry related information as well as for helping clients create and distribute their own infographics by incorporating and attaching them to online/physical world media kits, press releases, social sites, and more.

Up in New York recently, the Publicity Club of New York held a discussion all about these beautiful things we call infographics (and I really wish I could have been there). Notable panelists at the event included Shazna Neesa, director interactive at The Associated Press/New York, Chris Spurlock, infographic design editor at The Huffington Post, Andy Bergmann, creative director at CNN Money and Pete Pachal, tech analyst at Mashable. I’m thankful for the recap Shawnee Cohn, a media relations specialist at Business Wire New York, provides highlighting valuable key points that our industry can take away:

• “Infographics help us cope with information overload.”
• Infographics are an effective (and visually pleasing way) to attract readers.
• “Infographics are “more clickable” than other multimedia, such as video, which may turn a reader off since it usually requires sound, as well as investing more time to watch.
• PR pros should “evaluate the usefulness of an infographic on a “story-to-story basis.’”
• You should never cram too much information on the infographic as it will defeat the purpose.
• Properly some of the best advice: “STICK TO THE FACTS.” Use accurate information and always list your sources.

You can read her full article on PR Daily here.

What are your thoughts on using infographics in PR? What type of infographics always catch your attention? Share in the comments below and let’s discuss.

It probably comes as no surprise that Pinterest continues to experience a rapid growth in users each and every day. Its revenue is on the rise, page views are at an all time high and current users are breaking the typical demographic mold. Yes, even men have started using the platform! Basically, Pinterest creators have figured out what they are doing and they have learned to do it very, very well.  Now if only I could create a social media platform that would become insanely popular…

It’s no secret that we love infographics here at Agency Entourage- just look at our “We <3 Infographics” Pinterest board dedicated to showcasing some of our favorites. We even went as far as to publish our own digital marketing trends report infographic for SXSW 2012.

In continuing with our infographic love, here is a pinteresting (haha) infographic from Mashable that breaks down Pinterest’s successes and improvements since it first started. I love that it also compares each section to Facebook and Twitter to show where the platform stands in comparison to the other major social site moguls.

Here you go- read it, love it, PIN IT!