By Molly Albrecht | February 16, 2011

Analytics? Bounce rate?

What language are they speaking?

I have to admit, I thought I might need a passport and a pocket dictionary on my first day at RSA. That day I attended several meetings with the search engine marketing team, and most of the words buzzing around me sounded like a foreign language.

I’m the first to admit, I’m a search engine marketing (SEM) newbie.

I applied for the interactive marketing specialist job at RSA because writing skill was included in the job description. That sounded ideal, since I love writing and studied journalism in college. Little did I know the job encompassed so much more, and I’d be grasping to understand parts of it.

I’ll let you in on a few of the secrets I’ve learned.

Luckily for me, I’ve discovered …Read more »

By Tarah Heupel | September 16, 2010

Alert: Shameless self-promotion ahead!

In addition to web development, video production, print design,  SEO, and all the other creative services we offer at RSA, we also have a stellar event management team that spends much of the summer running across the Midwest to spearhead the Wyoming State Fair, Central States Fair, and South Dakota State Fair.

This year our newest RSA team member, Scott Bruce, pitched in to help our event management team with the wide range of duties we handle at the South Dakota State Fair in Huron. After providing transportation, helping with a political campaign video shoot, and serving as all-around good-spirited gopher, Scott was handsomely rewarded with this photo opp:

Scott with the lovely Martina McBride

The well-heeled Martina McBride hit the main stage as Saturday night’s headliner, where she played to a packed crowd.  A lot of sweat and hard work went into all of this year’s fairs, but our event management team pulled through with flying colors. Now they’re sitting down for a well-deserved breather before getting started on next year’s events…great job guys!

By Tarah Heupel | June 28, 2010

We are excited to announce the winners of our first Good Ad, Bad Ad Facebook contest! Congrats to Jackie and Gina, who posted ads deemed the best and worst of the bunch by our esteemed panel of judges (our Search Engine Marketing department, clearly).

Good Ad: Jackie won the prize with the latest commercial in the “Search Overload” campaign from Bing:

We can relate – and now our office is jamming out to Freak Nasty’s “Da Dip.”

Bad Ad: Gina caught our attention with something very, very bad to win the Bad Ad prize:

Okay, it’s not exactly an ad, but close enough. Read more about this British Airways faux pas,  which appeared in an internal staff magazine with an article about mobile boarding. Whether it was a mistake or a prank gone awry, that’s one heck of a PR mess.

Congrats again to our winners, and thanks to everyone for playing. Be on the lookout for more contests in the future!

By Vincent Tyson | June 10, 2010

Toyota, apparently one of the most popular brands in America, and indeed one of the largest car makers in the world, seems to have a little PR problem. KOTA TV recently interviewed our CEO, Robert Sharp, asking him what his opinion on the whole debacle was. Robert has been quite open with all of us here about his view of the saga which has devastated the car maker’s finances, after having to recall millions of its cars and SUVs as well as its luxury brand Lexus which shares the parts bin with its bigger brother.

So what was Robert’s take? Well let’s start with honesty – it’s clear Toyota knew there was a problem early on, and with such a stronghold in the car market they should have reacted far sooner, leaving owners and potential customers in no doubt that their interests would be protected by this giant of manufacturing. Instead, it hesitated, confusing the media with mixed messages, many being perceived as dishonest, misleading and unprofessional. It seems that even those at the top of Toyota were not sure of how to react, and after several deaths, insurance industry investigations and lawsuit filings, they finally (kind of) admitted liability. …Read more »

By Tarah Heupel | March 23, 2010

Google, KS

For the month of March, Topeka doesn’t exist. The town of 120,000 is now officially named Google, KS. The big question, of course, is why?

Earlier this month Google announced a contest to bring Google Fiber (ultra-high-speed broadband Internet) to one or more trial communities around the country. A Topeka Facebook group urging locals to support the project spread like wildfire, and culminated with the mayor’s proclamation to change the city’s name.

Topeka’s stunt kicked off a marketing feeding frenzy …Read more »

By Kyle McCabe | August 20, 2009

Most of us who are active in social web spaces (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.) do it privately – that is to say, we’re engaging online with friends and family. But what if you’re doing it for a business? How should you present yourself?

It can be difficult to know where to draw the line between the personal and professional when dealing with brands, vendors, clients, customers, etc. After all, you are YOU, and though you may represent your organization, you’re still a person. And people engage with other people.

Look, I “tweet” personal stuff all the time. Granted, I’m not the principle of the organization, or even a high-level operative (so to speak). So although I do represent my company to a degree, I’m safe from being seen as “the company voice.” Not so, for others. Being seen as the representative of the organization can put you in a tight spot where the line between personal and professional gets a little blurry. …Read more »

By Kyle McCabe | May 14, 2009

We're not supposed to talk about how great we are. (photo by JSolomon)

Time to take a step back.

Time to take a good look at what we’re doing here at RSA. The economy is down – way down, and people are cutting advertising and marketing budgets, big time. Looks like 2009 is shaping up to be a “building year,” right?

Maybe not. The problem is, we’re still as busy as ever, and I guess that’s less of a problem and more a relief. Some might call it good luck; I call it hard work and a passion for what we do. And a passion for having food to eat, there’s also that.

And yet we have been building as well. Since late last year we’ve added new departments, new staff, and new teams. We’ve got a new website on deck, and are partnering with new clients weekly. …Read more »

By Coree | February 10, 2009

Politics and Social Media

Social media introduces a new paradigm of increased grassroots involvement in politics.  Everyday people are finding their voice and influencing the conversation in Washington D.C.

…Read more »

By Kyle McCabe | December 31, 2008

I’ve been asked by several people in the last couple months, “what is the point of Twitter?” Having read Jillian Anderson’s recent post on social media, you might be asking yourself the same question. After all, Twitter doesn’t seem very useful at first glance. But like many social media services, how you use it is more important than what its “point” might be. Yet in order to explain why Twitter can be useful to you, we need to clear up a few things. …Read more »

By Jillian Anderson | December 24, 2008

Many businesses are catching on, choosing to engage interactive social media sites and applications as marketing and PR tools. You are able to reap the benefits of networking for customer service value, staying up to date with industry conversation and public interest trends, and building RELATIONSHIPS with the PEOPLE gathered around these online watering holes. The key is to remain both Person and Business at the same time…but mostly person. …Read more »