townsend.bunksite.com

Tag: search influence

A Series of Influencing Events: Search Influence Pros Take to the Road

Search Influence’s reach is expanding around the country!

Whether you’re on the East coast or the West coast, there’s an Influencer coming near you this spring! CEO Will Scott and Director of Account Management Paula Keller will be representing Search Influence and imparting their local search wisdom in Williamsburg, Seattle, Portland, San Jose, and Nashville in 2016.

Read more below to find out which conference most speaks to your marketing strategy needs!

Seattle: MozCon Local – February 18 & 19, 2016

Diving deep into the world of local marketing and SEO, MozCon is hosting a local-focused conference, MozCon Local, at their world headquarters in Seattle. Gauged at the intermediate to advanced crowd, MozCon Local isn’t your average search conference. Moz has gathered a well-rounded crew of experts to provide you the opportunity to participate in live Q&A, meet and network with fellow industry players, and consult with expert publishers and analysts.

Moz has teamed up with LocalU to bring you workshops on Thursday and a full-day conference of hand-selected speakers on Friday.

Local Search Processes – Expert Panel/Q&A – 12:55 p.m.

Paula Keller, Director of Account Management at Search Influence, joins industry experts Darren Shaw of Whitespark, Mike Ramsey of Nifty Marketing, and Aaron Weiche of GetFiveStars for a panel discussion and Q&A on best practices and best processes to use in marketing your local business online. It’s a powerful info session you won’t want to miss!

Fake It Til You Make It: Brand Building for Local Businesses – Seminar – 2:05 p.m.

Paula will provide real-world examples and success stories about local businesses establishing brands that both customers and Google will recognize and reward! Learn what you can do to keep up in this changing world of ranking factors. As Paula strategizes with businesses on improving their search, social, and online ads results, she lends credible knowledge to the subject matter and will share tactics on how she manages her team’s 800+ local business clients.

Local Targeting of Paid Advertising – Workshop – 2:50 p.m.

Now it’s time to break out and ask your questions directly. If you run or want to run an AdWords campaign for your local business, you have or will very soon realize that Google puts a lot of options in front of you—but you may not be sure how to best leverage them. Paula will be ready to answer your AdWords strategy questions and share her tips for local targeting from choosing the right ad extensions to when to use increased mobile bidding.

Register now for MozCon Local!

San Jose: SMX West, Local Search Advantage Workshop – February 29, 2016

Heading to SMX West in San Jose this year? You will want to arrive one day early and attend the Local Search Advantage Workshop. Will Scott will be on-hand at this action-packed event to offer practical advice and best practices for digital marketers, brands and business owners of all sizes looking to be found by online buyers. Sessions range from local presence management and mobile SEO to localizing social media, reputation management and multi-platform attribution.

Register now to attend the workshop or get an all-access pass and stay for SMX West in San Jose.

Williamsburg: LocalU Advanced – March 5, 2016

Meet with all of the experts in the local search game! No matter the size or type company you work for, your search marketing questions will be answered at LocalU Advanced in Williamsburg, VA. Order your tickets for info-packed presentations featuring all of the most up-to-date information about what’s working and what’s not in local SEO. Join experts like David Mihm, Mary Bowling, Mike Blumenthal, Search Influence’s own Will Scott, and more for an informative and fun day!

Search Fundamentals: Inspired Local Linkbuilding Tactics – 9 a.m.

Will Scott joins Mary Bowling of Ignitor Digital, Mike Ramsey of Nifty Marketing, and Mike Blumenthal of GetFiveStars to discuss the power of locally relevant links that build value for your business. If you’re looking to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the power of link building in today’s algorithmic world, look no further!

Deep Dive: Competing And Winning in A Pay-to-Play World – 11:30 a.m.

After the joint session, Will’s going solo! “It’s been said time and again that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Learn what it means to join the pay-to-play world of social media marketing and come away with some key strategies for utilizing paid platforms to generate leads for your local business. Leave your preconceived notions about content marketing, social engagement, and lead delivery at the door, and get on the right track so you can stay afloat in the ever-changing world of online marketing.

Register now for LocalU Advanced!

Portland: SearchFest – March 10, 2016

Join the marketing experts at SearchFest, hosted by SEMpdx, at the Sentinel Hotel in Portland to experience multiple learning tracks, including workshops and panel sessions designed to provide direct insight into the most up-to-date strategies and advancements in SEO, SEM, and social marketing. You’ll find some of the biggest names in almost every niche of online marketing at SearchFest.

Lifting Your Local Brand Above the Internet Cesspool – 11 a.m.

Paula Keller shares the stage with Cori Shirk of Seer Interactive to educate us on how a local business can “act” like a big brand and how a big brand can “act” like a truly local business. No matter the size of your business, make sure you’re expressing your brand properly so you can attract the most qualified audience and enhance your ROI.

Beacons & Retargeting – 2:45 p.m.

Take a dive deep into the technology of the “Minority Report” society we live in. Will Scott will discuss the intricacies of retargeting the right audiences, and using actual beacons of technology to deliver your message. Don’t miss this one!

Register now for SearchFest in Portland!

Nashville: Hospitality Marketing Symposium – April 5, 2016

The HMS is a conference focused on Internet marketing and technology and purposely crafted to benefit innkeepers, owners, marketing staff, and vendors in the hospitality industry. Will Scott will lead a session on social media marketing trends, and will provide practical tips and tricks to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Register now to reserve your seat for the HMS in Nashville.

We can’t wait to see you on the road! However, if you can’t meet us in any of these locations, you may want to make plans to attend one of our new Search Influence University webinars, the first of which is on February 25. Click here to see a list of our upcoming topics.

December 29, 2015
Spirit of Giving: Good for Your Business, Better for Your Community
When you work with great people, not only do you produce great work and have fun doing it, but together as a team you can do great things outside of the office. This year, my colleagues came through for two families in need, and I’m so proud to tell you this story.

If you follow our blog, you may remember our employee-driven holiday charity drive last year benefitting the Covenant House of New Orleans. To shake things up this year, we chose to “adopt” two families in need through The Salvation Army of Greater New Orleans. In our two families were a total of nine “angels,” children ranging in ages from 12 months to 12 years. Without the support from The Salvation Army, these families would likely not have experienced a holiday like yours or mine. Santa may have only been able to deliver essentials like shoes, coats, and food.

Source: giphy.com

Once again, we focused the drive to a one-week period, which really kept the momentum going in the office. We dubbed it “Operation: Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag!” and kicked things off by setting up our office tree and setting a goal fundraising amount. My co-lead Gabrielle and I weren’t afraid to grovel a bit on behalf of our adopted kids! We stopped by each department’s morning meetings to tell the team about our families.

Slowly but surely throughout the week, the donations racked up. On Friday, we were close to our goal but worried we’d be short of providing the gifts and clothes we hoped to purchase for the families. Back to groveling it was. We passed our donation boxes around the office, willingly accepting loose change. Shout out to our Production team, who donated the entire contents of their “rude jar” to our cause! The “rude jar” is comparable to a swear jar, where team members have to make a contribution each time they are rude or demonstrate negativity. They’d been collecting all month and planned on using the funds for a happy hour but chose to support our adopted families instead.

In less than an hour, by passing the donation box and collecting loose change, we raised an additional $100 and came darn near close to our overall goal.

All that was left to do was to go shopping and deliver our gifts to The Salvation Army. Three of us headed to Target, where we were able to purchase three toys and some clothing for each child, gift wrap, and a $100 Visa gift card for each family. It was so rewarding to see everything come together and to think of the joy these gifts would bring to the kids! Major thanks to Gabrielle Benedetto and Amanda Ball for helping to bargain hunt and find all the perfect gifts!

Why Workplace Charity Is Good for Business

Many studies have shown workplace charitable giving and community involvement can have a tangible impact on employee morale and retention. Making sure the work and the company contribute to a greater purpose is important, especially in companies like ours that are filled with a majority of Millennial employees.

Ensuring employees have something good to focus on (and helping make sure the focus is there) can actually relieve stress and enable employees to detach from their work at the end of a day or week.

“What most people don’t realize is that positive experiences—even small ones—provide you with valuable resources that can be used to reduce stress, including physical symptoms such as headaches or muscle tension. They make it easier for you to detach yourself from work at the end of the day,” says Joyce E. Bono and Theresa M. Glomb for the Harvard Business Review.

Source: giphy.com

If you’ve ever been challenged by low morale in your office, you know it can be damaging and difficult to keep your team engaged in the work. Charitable giving can be a great, positive thing your employees can remember in times of stress or low morale.

Starting a Charity Drive in Your Office

If you’re wondering how you can get your company involved this holiday season or beyond, here are a few tips for how to engage your company in a charitable giving drive. You may even see an increase in employee engagement, morale, and retention as a result!
- Choose your cause. Find a cause that means something to your company’s mission or your employees. Consider your company mission or the time of year you want to implement your initiative.
- Identify an organization in need. Research non-profit organizations focused on your cause of choice. Depending on the size of your organization, you may even opt to have employees nominate or vote on the organization to benefit from your company’s support.
- Make it 100% voluntary. It’s important to make the effort voluntary and make it possible for employees to donate anonymously if they choose. You don’t want to create undue pressure or stress.
- Set a goal and make it known. Setting a goal helps employees understand how much their contribution means in the big picture and increases motivation to participate.
- Keep employees updated on progress. At our company, we talk about metrics and goals quite a lot. Keeping everyone aware of our collective progress toward the goal helped to increase participation. Our team stepped up in the last hour when we had some more ground to cover.
- Drum up some friendly competition. One idea is to get the various departments in your company engaged in a friendly competition to see who can raise the most money or accumulate the most volunteer hours. One great idea I saw recently was called “penny wars” where each group had a jug to fill with loose change to donate to charity.
- Keep it going beyond the holidays. Charitable giving doesn’t have to focus on the holiday season, although about 34% of all charitable giving is done in the last three months of the year. Some companies offer ongoing charity opportunities for employees, and the most successful make it easy for their employees to participate.
How YOU Can Help Outside of Work
- Support the Salvation Army red kettles and bell ringers this season. As you shop for gifts, you might encounter some bell ringers outside of popular retailers. Instead of just passing by, drop in your spare change or a few bucks. Every little bit helps.
- Skip Secret Santa. This time of year, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and constant retail advertisements for stuff on stuff on stuff. Try to remember the reason for the season! Many families or groups of friends will participate in gift exchanges or “Secret Santa” games. Consider skipping it this year and collecting the money everyone would have spent on their gift to donate it. My family chose to do so this year, and as a result, we’ll be helping to fund the New Orleans Mission’s annual Christmas dinner.
- Donate Online. Consider making it a holiday tradition to donate to an organization that supports your cause. There are so many organizations doing good, so choose one that means something to you or your community.
To support the Salvation Army of Greater New Orleans, visit the website to find out how you can help. A donation of just $65 will support a hungry family in the area with a basket of food and gifts. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays from me to you!
December 21, 2015
This Is How We Do It! Search Influence Works Hard and Plays Hard

When I was hired at Search Influence, I knew I could look forward to an exciting company culture. Having watched movies such as The Internship and The Social Network, I was excited to be a part of a tech company with a cool culture and quirky traditions. I envisioned seeing my co-workers sitting on bouncy balls at their desks, cool art on vibrantly colored walls, and a super friendly team-environment—and that’s exactly what I got!

My first week, I learned more about SEO than I thought was possible, and it was awesome! Before I knew it, it was 5pm on Friday. I was getting ready to leave when I heard it: “This is how we do it. It’s Friday night, and I feel alright!” began roaring across the entire office.

If you stick around after Montell, the Account Management department keeps the after-party going with tunes from DJ Bene. Every Friday afternoon, Gabrielle Benedetto, a four-year veteran of the AM team, transforms into DJ Bene. Everyone at Search Influence knows Gabrielle for her charismatic personality and witty comments, which makes her not only an invaluable member of our team, but also an excellent DJ! Being a new member of the team, I wanted to find out how it all started, so I interviewed the DJ herself, and here is what she had to say:

How did you think of the idea of “DJ Bene’s 5 @ 5?” How long has this tradition been going on?

GB: I have a motto to live by: “There is nothing in life a martini, music, and little bit of lipstick can’t fix.” During the summer of 2015, our team experienced a higher-than-average workload. Let me just brag about our account management team for a minute. They are amazing and some of the hardest-working people I know, and I’m honored and proud to call them my co-workers. Our average account manager handles up to 40 accounts, supports in training new employees, and is constantly looking for opportunities to improve our internal processes and system, all with a smile and phenomenal attitude. I should change my motto to “There is nothing in life a martini, music, little bit of lipstick, and an SI account manager can’t fix.” #yolo

Back to that heavy workload. I knew our team had a higher-than-normal stress level, but naturally they didn’t complain. In an effort to boost morale and end the week on a high note, I so proudly launched DJ Bene’s 5 @ 5 Challenge.

DJ Bene (d/j ben-ie): A personality that arrives at 935 Gravier at 5:04 after “This is How We Do It”

I can’t take credit for the roar of Montell Jordan. “This is How We Do It” has been playing at 5 o’clock longer than I have been at SI. But after Montell drops the mic, DJ Bene picks it up.

What is the purpose of The Challenge?

GB: The idea behind DJ Bene is simple and much like any other DJ request. Give me a good reason to play your favorite song. I, however, am so much nicer than those DJs at bars that would always tell me and my friends to stop spilling drinks and back away from the DJ booth. #rude

With over 35 account managers, everyone wanted to hear their favorite song after a busy workweek. But I wasn’t so much concerned with “What song do you want me to play?” but “What amazing thing did you do this week that deserves your song to be played?” I created a spreadsheet for everyone to drop in their request and give a reason why their song should be played. I would only pick five songs, so the reason better be good!

Just like that, I started spinning the tunes with a mini speaker connected to my laptop. Congratulating team members on promotions, acknowledging members for going above and beyond, and welcoming new people to the team are just some of the requests we started to get. Some songs are themed to complement the reason (for example, “I’m So Proud of You” by Drake was requested to congratulate employees on a promotion) and others are just to hear their favorite band (i.e. anything 1D). And just like that, DJ Bene was born.

GB: The challenge has been a hit so far! Any Friday that I’m out of town and can’t DJ, the speaker is passed around to fellow team member to keep the beat.

DJ Bene’s 5 @ 5 Challenge has been a really enjoyable part of working at Search Influence. I love being a part of a company that not only works hard, but also plays hard!

Image Credits:

Montell GIF

December 17, 2015
You’ve Gotta Be Kitten Me: Uber Delivers Cute Cats to the Search Influence Office

Apparently, looking at photos of cute animals while at work not only makes you happier, but it also increases your productivity. Like most companies, Search Influence encourages employees to be productive. So on National Cat Day (October 29), when we learned Uber was delivering kittens for just $30, we HAD to do it—for productivity reasons, of course. The money was donated to The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

#Uberkittens

My Productivity Status: Went from high to medium as I became more excited about kittens and less about doing work.

The kittens arrived at the office. Naturally, they were the cutest things to walk through the office doors (sorry, fellow employees). Four kittens took over the City Park conference room: Leonardo, Sadie, Rocket, and Luna jumped, climbed, cuddled, and scratched employees as we took turns hanging out with them.

My Productivity Status: Went from medium to low as I began Googling the Louisiana SPCA to learn more, too excited at the thought of a new kitten.

Meet Ralph

The following Saturday, Halloween, I went to the SPCA just to take a look. Five minutes later, I fell in love with every animal in the building. I decided I could only have one. Since it was Halloween, I decided to take home a two-month-old black kitten who I named Ralph. Ralph is playful, sleepy, soft, and cuddly.

From now on, I’m going to stick to looking at cute photos of Ralph at work to increase my productivity levels: clearly, having animals roam around the office can be a bit distracting for me.

Thank you to Uber, the SPCA, and Search Influence for giving me the best kitten!

December 1, 2015
Search Influence Is Grateful for Its Newest Influencer

Join us in welcoming this month’s newest Influencer to the Search Influence team!

Kari Llorens – Account Coordinator

Kari is originally from Kansas City, Missouri and played competitive volleyball for 10 years, including one year at Loyola. She loves to explore New Orleans and finds herself walking around Magazine St. or Uptown in her free time and trying out all the restaurants that the city has to offer. She also loves animals and just rescued a Terrier named Kandy in September.

Welcome to Search Influence, Kari! We’re excited to have you here.

November 30, 2015
Fully CHARGED: Search Influence Announces Seven Core Values

Ten years. This January marks the tenth anniversary of Search Influence’s founding: quite the milestone accomplishment, when I look back on our humble beginnings around Angie and my dining room table.

In ten years, our company has evolved as it’s grown from the two of us to three to nearly 90 employees today. The ever-evolving Internet and the competitive marketing landscape constantly challenge us to adapt, evolve, and innovate for our customers. We’ve had our fair share of challenges, while forging ahead as recognized trailblazers both in New Orleans and nationally.

Amidst all the change and challenges to improve, one thing I am especially proud of is our company’s ability to remain true to our identity. As we continue to grow and set new goals for our 11th year in business and beyond, we’ve found it more and more important to put that identity into words: words to define what our customers can expect from working with us, skills our hiring managers seek in new Influencers, and values that our employees embody every day they come to work.

We’ve admired companies like HubSpot, WordStream, and Zappos, who transparently publish their values and culture, so we sought to do the same. Over the course of a few months, we made it a focus to define our identity and develop our core values.

Today, I’m proud to present the newly defined and adopted Search Influence core values:

The Journey to Define Our Values

Now that you’ve seen them, I’ll explain how we got there. It was important to us to get the perspectives of employees from across the company. With the help of our leadership team, we gathered a group of 20 employees from all departments, from almost every position, and with varying amounts of time with the company.

Ahead of our first gathering, we asked each employee to think about a story that embodied what they believe makes Search Influence special. Boy, did they deliver.

In our first meeting, there were a lot of laughs and even a few tears as everyone told their stories. Some of our more tenured employees reflected on the past and talked about the formative years of Search Influence. Here are a few of the highlights:

“When you work at a big company, you are also really replaceable and not made to feel that what you have to say matters. At former jobs, I remember times where I would see things that could be improved and ideas wouldn’t go anywhere. When I came to SI, it wasn’t like that. If an employee says ‘Hey, I have an idea about this one thing,’ someone typically says, let’s run with it. People listen.”

-Rebekah Durel, Account Manager

“Empowered is a good word for how I feel here. I started out in Production working on technical tasks but kept asking about Development stuff. I had no experience in this at all, but when I asked, people taught me. I thought ‘Oh my god, these people are actually going to train me on this just because I am interested. So cool.’ I had a total career change in about four to five months. That makes me feel really good about coming here every day because I know I have some investment in this, and they have some investment in me. Most companies won’t do that.”

-David Fransen, Web Developer

“Our company puts so many resources into training that we can take a college grad and turn them into SEO expert in a matter of months. And it’s always improving. This year, we spent a lot of time making sure our trainers had the right resources to be effective at teaching new employees. After Will and I presented at Google in New York last year, someone asked me what company I was with before Search Influence. My response was ‘College. We just kick ass at training.’”

-Gabrielle Benedetto, Partner Relationship Manager

“Over four years ago, I was about one month in at SI when I took over the QA department. We had a less than adequate transition, and I basically had to learn everything on my own. I started relying on the Development team and Account Management team to make this role more efficient. I was hovering over Developers’ screens and AMs’ screens about the same amount of time I was at my desk. I was in constant contact with the Dev team, and we were constantly working on how to improve our production. I like telling potential employees in interviews that we are all a big team at SI. For myself and my team, each department collaborating together is crucial to our success. We don’t ever feel like we can’t get something done.”

-Jeff Ramos, Internet Marketing Team Lead

Hearing all of the stories was quite the humbling experience. Rather than just starting with a brainstorming of value words, we had real examples and stories, springing from which were clear threads and connections that made the next steps almost easy.

From Stories to Value Statements

A core group of us took the notes from all the stories and analyzed the themes and common words that flowed throughout. Taking all the descriptive words we thought best described us, we grouped them together into themes and reconvened the entire group to make sure everyone felt as though their stories were represented.

The feedback came with full force (we expected nothing less!), which sent us back to the drawing board once or twice, but there were a few values that everyone agreed on right off the bat: collaborative and agile were two.

Finally, we arrived at seven core values with some words to further describe each. The next step was to develop statements to further define each value.

The Company Kickoff

In our October company meeting, we rolled out the new values and gave out mousepads featuring our new statement and acronym: Search Influence employees are CHARGED. We had some members of our core group present their stories as we introduced each value to personify them and help the larger team believe in our process.

To keep the values top-of-mind and help our team continue to integrate them into their daily lives at Search Influence, we took an already thriving initiative, our Kudos board, and stepped it up a notch. Our ever-brilliant graphic design team developed kudos cards related to each value.

Now, when our employees recognize one another for their contributions, it all ties back to what matters most: that we are Collaborative, Hungry, Agile, Reliable, Genuine, Effective, and Dedicated.

What Search Influence’s Core Values Mean for You

As a customer, you can expect to get what you’re paying for: effective results and peace of mind from a group of good people.

As a partner, you can rest assured you’ve selected in Search Influence a dedicated partner who’s focused on agility and effective results to grow with you.

As an interviewee, you should embody these core values and do so genuinely.

As an employee, you can expect to come to work in a genuinely positive and collaborative environment where the dress code is casual but our work pace is not.

Are you CHARGED and think you have what it takes to be the next great Influencer? Apply to join our growing team today.

November 17, 2015
Why Were 80 Adults Running Around The Quarter With Selfie Sticks? Find Out!

What sets Search Influence apart from other companies is a deep appreciation for its employees. SI embraces the generosity and culture of the city around it, planning a little lagniappe during each quarter in the form of team building events.

These events are put on by different departments in the company. Events held in the past include crawfish boils, SI Field Day, inflatable obstacle course fun, and an afternoon at the ballpark to cheer on the Zephyrs. This quarter, SI held the first SI Scavenger Hunt in the French Quarter.

Preparing for the Hunt

For the scavenger hunt, the company was divided into nine color-coded teams, mixing the different departments. Each team came up with a team name and a team hashtag to use in addition to the event hashtag, appropriately named #ScavengeDat.

The rules of the hunt were simple: solve as many riddles as possible during the hunt, and post a team selfie to Instagram at each of the different stops.

Time to #ScavengeDat

The morning of the hunt, Friday, Sept. 25, started out with anticipation, as the office was filled with different team colors and props. By the afternoon, people were in and out of the bathrooms painting and glittering their faces (note: the hallway to the bathroom still looks like the floor at the end of a rave). When 2 p.m. hit, the teams were ready to begin.

The Results

After making their way through the city with selfie sticks and lists of riddles, the teams met back at the Roosevelt Hotel Bar for pizza, drinks, and of course the results of #ScavengeDat.

Once the photos were tallied, the navy team—Team Ship Faced—came out on top of the SI French Quarter Scavenger Hunt!

For more from #ScavengeDat, check out all of the fun on Instagram!

September 29, 2015
Celebrate Good Times: The Birthday Experience at SI

Here at Search Influence, we take our colleagues’ birthdays very seriously. With cards, delicious treats, and amazing desk decorations, you can definitely feel the love on your birthday at SI.

There are many ways we have celebrated colleagues’ birthdays, but one of my favorite times was when we all dressed in black t-shirts and jeans to celebrate our lead developer’s birthday. Another favorite was when we recently decorated our partner accounts team manager’s desk with balloons, confetti, and a banner. I mean, who doesn’t LOVE confetti? Finally, my all-time favorite is when a few of my colleagues (work besties) decorated my desk with the ultimate One Direction desk decorations, treats, and pictures.

Just when you think there couldn’t possibly be any more celebrating to be done…you are wrong! Every month, a member of our team begins planning a birthday brigade to celebrate all employees’ birthdays for that month. The birthday brigade has celebrated at Happy’s Irish Pub, Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant, and The Rusty Nail. Employees who have birthdays in that month all decide together on where the team will branch out to party!

I can’t wait to see where the team will venture out to celebrate for September birthdays and what other birthday surprises will emerge in the office. Comment below with what special ways your office celebrates birthdays.

Image Credits:

Birthday Kid Celebrate Gif

Excited Birthday Kid Gif

August 31, 2015
Insta-Ads: Facebook Brings Instagram Ads to Life

Good news for advertisers! It appears that Instagram Ads are now open for advertisers through Facebook’s Power Editor.

While no official announcement has been made (and Instagram hasn’t even updated their site), I stumbled across these new features while poking around my Business Manager. What tipped me off was the ability to claim Instagram accounts under the Business Settings in Business Manager. From there, you can assign ad accounts to individual Instagram accounts. Interesting, right?

There is also a notification at the top of the page that states that “Instagram ads are gradually rolling out and might not be available to you right now. You can claim your Instagram account to have your setup ready. Read more here.”

How Do They Work?

After doing some digging and playing around with Power Editor, I was able to create an ad for Search Influence’s Instagram profile. However, the only ad objectives currently available on Instagram are “Clicks to Website” and “Mobile app installs.”

Earlier this month, Instagram launched its Ads API Partners program. According to AdWeek, “Instagram Ads API Partners will be able to perform tasks including scheduling and publishing content to the Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing network, monitoring audiences and sharing access to Instagram accounts across teams.”

What Does This Mean For You?

All of these updates come as very welcome news, as managing and advertising for businesses on Instagram was difficult in the past. Previously, Instagram advertising was only open to larger brands willing to spend $200,000 or more on brand awareness for a three-week campaign.

Do you plan on using Instagram advertising? How do you think it can benefit your business?

August 27, 2015
The Fantastic Four: New Faces Join The SI Team

This August, Search Influence welcomes its four newest Influencers to the team!

Andrew Shepherd – Junior Account Associate

Andy graduated from Tulane University in May of 2014 with a degree in political science and Spanish. After a year of serving as an AmeriCorps member in his hometown of Birmingham, AL, Andy is very excited to be back working in New Orleans at Search Influence. During his spare time, Andy enjoys cooking, running, and trying new restaurants and bars around the city.

Caroline Ainsworth – Junior Account Associate

Caroline is from Baton Rouge and recently graduated from LSU with a degree in public relations. During her time at LSU, she was an avid football fan and involved in her sorority, Chi Omega. She also worked in social media and blogging for the Old Governor’s Mansion, where she got to meet Fat Amy during the filming of Pitch Perfect 2! Her hobbies include traveling, pinning quotes, Mad Men marathons, watching Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and spending time with her great dane, Lucy. She just made New Orleans her permanent home, and she is so excited to be joining the Search Influence team!

Kayla Goforth – Junior Graphic Designer

Kayla grew up in Elon, North Carolina and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in May. She just moved to New Orleans with her huge fluffy cat (appropriately named Toulouse), and she loves the historic architecture and general sense of community already. She’s been dancing since she could walk and hopes to one day dance with one of the many talented local dance krewes in a Mardi Gras parade!

Stephanie Burnison – Junior Account Associate

Stephanie is originally from Southern California. She graduated from Loyola University New Orleans in May with a degree in marketing and a minor in legal studies. While at Loyola, she was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, where she served on the Executive Board for all four years culminating in serving as president. She is an animal fanatic and has a huge heart for rescuing any animal she can. Currently, she has three dogs (an ex-racing greyhound, poodle, and pit bull puppy) and a very fat cat. She is OBSESSED with making them famous via their own Instagram account @nolarescues. She’s a One Direction and Starbucks enthusiast and is related to the Kardashians.

Welcome, Andy, Caroline, Kayla, and Stephanie! We look forward to seeing all the great things you will accomplish!

August 26, 2015