The Importance of Social Media Marketing for a Los Angeles Franchise

In a massive, bustling city like Los Angeles, you must be willing to go above and beyond typical marketing techniques to get your franchise to stand out.  Social media has slowly gone from a beneficial to necessary practice over the course of the last few years in the marketing world.  Los Angeles social media marketing is bigger than it’s ever been before, and now I will tell you why using a social media agency to get your brand online will benefit your LA franchise in the future.

1) Publicity

To be even slightly successful against your competition, publicity is entirely necessary.  Good publicity can increase knowledge of your brand and ultimately sales.  With new businesses and brands appearing daily, getting publicity is becoming harder and harder for a business, especially small ones.  A social media agency can focus on increasing consumer knowledge on your brand and earning you as much publicity as possible.

2) Brand Loyalty

Social media can be seen as much more than just a good way to get publicity for your franchise.  With social media you can achieve a following of specific and dedicated customers to your brand.  Engaging with followers on your pages and keeping them up to date on the product allows for your brand to become a part of your followers lives.  You are no longer just a product in a store, but an experience.  According to a report from Texas Tech University, brands which engage on social media channels enjoy higher loyalty overall from their customers.  Loyalty is a necessary step to increase sales.

3) Better SEO

Los Angeles social media marketing can lead to increased website traffic as well if done correctly.  A franchise marketing agency can work towards getting your business to show up higher in relevant search results.  Sites like Google calculate search result rankings through a variety of different ways, with social media now playing a very large role.  With a strong presence on social media, your brand will begin appearing higher on search results, benefiting the business and generating new customers.

4) Better Customer Experience

Lastly, the presence of your brand on social media can and will lead to an overall increased customer experience.  Customers love being able to interact with and talk to your brand, and by doing this on social media, they will not only become more pleased, but will unknowingly be spreading the word about your product.  A social media agency like Bright Age can successfully turn the conversation about your brand online into profit.

 

In the cutthroat marketplace found in big cities today, Los Angeles social media marketing is a necessary way to grow your brand and stand out from the pack.  With all the advertising clutter found on billboards or online advertisements, establishing a social media presence can work to massively benefit your franchise.

Instagram Marketing Improves with Addition of Business Profiles

Instagram took the social media world by storm back in 2010 and has continued to grow rapidly over the last six years. Instagram is an app that allows users to post and share pictures with their followers. However, Instagram is introducing new business profiles and is becoming much more than just a social media app used for pleasure. Instagram marketing will improve with business profiles because business profiles on Instagram will allow businesses to create accounts to market themselves and reach larger audiences.

Screenshots were shared on Later.com’s blog of this new business marketing tool. The most visible difference for these business profiles is a “contact” button to the left of the “follow” button. Businesses can choose how they would like to be contacted when a user taps the contact button. Instagram gives the option to email, get directions, call, or text. This button was created because businesses were expressing concerns to Instagram that comments from users wanting to get in contact with them were getting lost. The contact button will allow messages from potential customers or clients to go straight to the business.

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In addition to business profiles on Instagram, Instagram will offer tools for tracking analytics for businesses which is going to be called “Insights.” Insights will focus mostly on post analytics and follower demographics. Post analytics deals with your Instagram content and how it is performing. Post analytics can allow you to track website clicks, impressions, and reach. By having access to this, businesses are able to see what posts worked for their audience.  Follower demographics refers the details of you audience which includes age, gender, and location. Being able to see the demographics of you followers will help the business tailor posts and items to the specific needs and wants of their customers. This information put together can drastically change the business of Instagram marketing.

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With Insights, businesses will be able to improve their marketing strategies. Follower activity will help businesses decide when and what to post. Follower activity tells businesses the most popular times to post and takes into account when their followers are using Instagram. Insights can also aid in telling businesses what posts resonated better with their audience. For example, insights will tell you if your post helped you gain or lose any followers.

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This new improvement with business profiles on Instagram will be very beneficial for anyone wanting to market their brand. Instagram has over 400 million users today and this number will continue to grow, especially after this update launches. Instagram is slowly starting to make the switch and users are already starting to see the positive changes Instagram is offering.

How to Utilize Social Media to Increase SEO

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool.  While the general population might be using it to keep up with Tim from your high school geometry class, as marketers the potential is entirely different.  If done correctly, the power of social media can be harnessed as a world class advertising tool, driving more traffic to your website, and ultimately leading to increased business revenue through search engine marketing.

Currently, there are two main ways to market your business via search engine, and while both share similarities, in only one does social media play an important role.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search engine marketing is a direct way to get your business placed at the top of the results in a standard search engine.  A search engine marketing agency can help with choosing the right keywords to invest advertising dollars in when focused on appearing in the paid search results on major search engines.  This is a beneficial way to advertise if your focus is catching the attention of a specific audience, and a search engine marketing agency can help you do precisely this.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization also handles the focus of achieving a noticeable spot in search engine results, but goes about this process in a more “natural” way.  A search engine optimization agency can help you receive website traffic from the free, organic, and natural results on search engines.  Achieving this naturally placed advertisement can be done through a variety of ways, including both on page and off page factors.  Similar to the world of advertising, the means of increasing SEO are continuously changing, but social media remains an ever growing influence.

Utilizing Social Media

As SEO continues to become more and more complicated in the ever growing clutter of the internet, a search engine optimization agency, like us here at Bright Age, can focus on getting you the most bang for your buck.  Social media plays an influential role in the factors that search engines use to determine where your website will naturally display in the results.

Establishing a presence on social media is first necessary to assist in growing SEO.  Not only is a general presence needed, but a powerful one at that.  Having 5 followers and 2 posts will not do much good in the long run if you are focused on increasing SEO.  More followers mean more presence and also increased credibility.  Follow other accounts and engage with online users, for this will not only make your business seem more relatable, but will also get the name of your business better spread across the internet.  The more tweets, likes, and shares from others the better.

Engaging with users isn’t enough, though.  Keeping up with trends and utilizing them in your posts will maintain your business’s relevance and, at the same time, draw you more attention from other users.  A good search engine optimization agency will be using both trends and hashtags in posts that they share over social media.

Lastly, social media was created to allow connections.  While businesses might not have that same focus of connecting with Tim from geometry class, they are interested in connecting with customers.  Take advantage of this aspect of social media by getting them involved in the conversations.  Ask your customers and other online users questions, make them feel involved in your product, and also wanted.  By using your online voice and attracting others, you will be building yourself a reputation at the same time as your relevance to other search engines will become known.  Social media is an excellent way to not only get your business’s name out there, but plays a large role today in the ability to increase SEO.  With a search engine optimization agency, the natural incorporation of your business into search results on the internet should come hand in hand.

Snapchat Marketing Improves With New Custom Geofilters

Major Snapchat marketing update! Anyone can now create a customized geofilter on Snapchat for any occasion. Whether it is for a wedding, company event, birthday party, campus event, or for advertisement, Snapchat has you covered.

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is a social media app that allows you to send pictures to your followers that only last one to 10 seconds and then they disappear forever. Sixty percent of Snapchat users are between the ages of 13 and 34. There are 100 million daily users on Snapchat including many celebrities such as Kylie Jenner and DJ Khaled. Celebrities use Snapchat to keep their fans updated on what they are doing quickly and easily.

What is a Geofilter?

Snapchat introduced a tool a little over a year ago called a geofilter. A geofilter is an overlay on photos. Geofiliters are unique because specific overlays are only available to you when you are in a certain locations. For example, if you are in Beverly Hills, there is a Beverly Hills geotag that you can put on your Snapchat photos but when you leave Beverly Hills, that geotag is no longer available to you.

Snapchat users adore geofilters because they can let their followers know where they are and when. Snapchat started out with sponsored geofilters and community geofilters but are now introducing a social media marketing update of custom geofilters on Snapchat to create another revenue stream.

The initial cost to create a custom geofilter on Snapchat is $5. The $5 covers 20,000 square feet per hour. However, the price will escalate depending on the duration the geofilter is available, size, and area the geofilter covers.

Three Step Process

Creating a custom geofilter on Snapchat is quick and easily done in three steps:

  1. Review snapchat guidelines, design, and upload your artwork on Snapchat
  2. Select an area and pick a time for your geofilter
  3. Buy and submit your geofilter–it will be reviewed within one business day

Guidelines

When dealing with creating an on-demand geofilter, there are a few guidelines:

  • Give yourself a few days for approval in case you have to resubmit
  • You cannot include URLs, handles, or email addresses
  • The filter cannot run for more than 30 days
  • You cannot go over five million square feet

Why is this update exciting?

In the past, Snapchat users had to apply to get a geotag for their community but now anyone can get a geotag! This is a great Snapchat marking tool for their business but it can also be a great marketing tool for you too. Businesses can advertise themselves through the use of these custom on-demand geotags. Millions of people use Snapchat a day so a geotag can reach a very large audience and have an effect on all of its users.

Snapchat has held a huge presence in the social media word and now even more so with this social media marketing update.  At this time last year, no brands would have thought to advertise on Snapchat but after this renovation, Snapchat marketing will become a huge tool for advertisers.

 

Author: Alyssa Perel

Alyssa is currently pursuing a degree in Media Studies with a minor in Marketing at San Diego State University. Her interest in social media and marketing has grown vastly over the years and she enjoys discovering new things about this field every day. You can connect with Alyssa via Facebook and Instagram @aperel.

The New Facebook Tagging Feature We Love

The New Facebook Tagging Feature We Love

Marketers and Facebook advertising agencies have been utilizing Facebook and other social media platforms to launch advertisements and promote campaigns for years. Any text, video, links, 360 videos, and Live videos that specifically mentions or features a third party product, brand, or sponsor is considered Branded Content. Recently, Facebook updated its advertising policies that allows verified Pages to share branded content on its newsfeed. Verified Pages are pages are considered to be pages which are verified by Facebook for authenticity, such as big brands, celebrities, and influencers. In addition to allowing verified Pages to share branded content on its personal newsfeeds, Facebook enabled verified Pages the ability to tag the company or brand affiliated with the promoted content.

Facebook said that this new tagging tool will “introduce more transparency and allow them to better understand how their marketing initiatives are performing”. In order to tag a brand, users should locate the “handshake” icon in Page composer or the Sponsor field in Ads Manager. Then, users can type the sponsor or brand and tag them in the post. For example, in the picture below Lady Gaga tagged Intel in its video post. The video content specifically promotes the partnership with Intel and Lady Gaga, as the computer company’s technology helps elevate Gaga’s performance at the Grammy’s.
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(Photo link: https://www.facebook.com/ladygaga/videos/vb.10376464573/10154099796834574/?type=2&theater)

Our Facebook advertising agency believes that this new content tagging feature encourages companies and brands to produce more high quality content for their customers. Additionally, this allows brands to leverage brand content more strategically, as tagged brands can follow Facebook sponsored content more closely to ensure that campaigns are successful with its target market. How does this work? Once a third-party company or brand is tagged in a verified page’s sponsored post, marketers will have access to the data and analytics of the post. However, to ensure authenticity and prevent spamming for marketers, Facebook reviews each brand tag in content posted by verified Pages.

Facebook Sponsored Content that is not allowed:

  • Sponsored cover photos and profile pictures
  • Pre-roll ads and watermarks on videos

 

Our Facebook advertising agency understands that social media platforms, particularly Facebook, are constantly evolving. In order to fulfill brand promotion strategies, it is essential to understand and implement new innovative marketing tools released monthly. To collaborate with Bright Age and develop your next successful Facebook sponsored content campaign, request an appointment here!

 

Author: Summer Malone

Summer is a social media marketing enthusiast with a passion for marketing analytics online, trending hashtags, and flux capacitors. Summer often feels sad for the TRex who is unable to connect to the internet. You can connect with Summer via Twitter @SummerMaloneMKT.

How Social Media Is Changing the Marketing Industry

In years past, meaning the 90’s and before, Marketing has been split up distinctly into 3 main sectors:  advertising, marketing and public relations. However, with the integration of the internet and social media in businesses, these types of marketing have merged together. The world of product and service promotion has become smarter, faster, and cheaper adjacent with the experience of utilizing a social media marketing agency. Many online tools are available to try and help entrepreneurs and small businesses gain that competitive edge. But then again, how advantageous is it to base your marketing off of a do it yourself YouTube video everyone has access to? In a society where DIY sometimes seems like the cheapest way to get fairly solid results, leaving the success and growth of your business up to automated sites is about as smart as leaving your toddler stranded at Coachella.

Why Big Agencies May Not Be the Best Option

Big agencies are big for a reason; their success is told in history books and retold in modern TV shows like MadMen. But these days of famous advertising giants may be over and the upper hand might belong to smaller, specialized marketing companies.

Why Is This?

Unlike the skyscraper advertising agencies employed by large companies, smaller and newer agencies are specialized in exactly what will boost your sales cheap and fast: internet marketing. Digital Advertising agencies have the ability to create your online content quickly and implement it with actual conversions even quicker. Furthermore, these agencies are there to help you walk through the process, cater to your specific needs, and teach you about their forward-thinking strategies if you don’t happen to be a tech specialist. Big agencies can help optimize your social media accounts and find your niche market online, for a pretty hefty price tag. But smaller agencies are there to maintain every detail, including taking on your brand persona personally and communicating directly with your consumers online. In other words, smaller firms specialize in consumer communication. They realize that with each client’s unique identity as a business, there is a unique language that comes with it. They specialize in communicating with all types of clients, and with that we are quick learners at learning how to communicate with different types.

While traditional media and advertising are still very much alive, there are new methods beyond the dreaded 30-second video or banner ad that many agencies aren’t aware of. Cutting edge methods that narrow your target demographic more precisely do a better job of generating trust, and converting that trust into sales, quicker than it takes complete the purchase of a 15-second commercial spot, and at a fraction of the cost, too. Want more information on the de-segregation of product and service promotion? Contact us for a specialized digital marketing plan designed just for your company.

Author: Hannah Prater

Hannah-profile-bright-age-marketing-agencyHannah is currently studying Advertising and Multimedia design at Pepperdine University, with an undying fascination for the creative side of advertising. Her experience with social media has only multiplied since she downloaded Instagram the very month it came out in 2010. In response to Beyonce’s famed question “Who run the world?”, Hannah also rejoins “Girls” but only secondary to “Facebook”. You can connect with Hannah on Twitter @hanprater.

The New and Improved Snapchat 2.0

The New and Improved Snapchat 2.0

Our mobile marketing agency believes that Snapchat’s most recent update has changed the playing field of social media. The new social media marketing update now offers users more ways to interact with their friends including, stickers and photos, video and audio calls, and loads friends’ stories automatically.

Stickers and Photos

Snapchat’s new social media marketing goal is to create a more open channel for customers to communicate with friends. Snapchat’s 2.0 adds features that allow users to not only snap pictures and videos, but enables customers to send stickers and personal photos. With over 200 stickers to choose from, users can communicate more effectively and personably than what regular emoji’s offer. Also, users can send friends images from his or her photo album.

Pros:
  • Over 200 stickers to help customize messages.
  •  Send photos to friends without having to switch to text messages or another photo sharing platform.
Cons:
  • One click sends- be careful not to tap a sticker you may not wish to send.
  • Once the sticker is tapped, that sticker is sent to that friend.

 

Video and Voice Calls

Face timing? Just use Snapchat! With Snapchat 2.0 snap chatters can now video call friends. This video calling feature calls friends by using Wi-Fi or 4G/LTE. When a user receives a call through snap, they have three options, to ignore, to join or to watch. According to our mobile marketing agency, the ‘join’ option makes the phone call a two-way video, while the ‘watch’ option gives the receiver the ability to accept the call without enabling video.

Pros:
  • Creating your own GIFs is personable and fun.
  • Don’t have to two-way video chat to accept a video call.
Cons:
  • Drains data usage and/or Wi-Fi needed.
  • Ends calls immediately from a swipe.

 

Auto-Advance Stories

Before the new update, Snapchat stories were watched specifically in the order one wished. If a user wished to see a specific story, the user would tap a that story, the video would play accordingly, and then return to the main stories menu. Now, once a story ends, the next story plays seamlessly. This new social media marketing strategy makes it faster to check up with all of your friends and engage more frequently. However, our mobile marketing agency has found that since videos play one after another, many users are getting confused with which friend they are watching.

Pros:
  •  No need to click all of friends’ stories individually to load.
Cons:
  • Drains data usage and/or Wi-Fi needed.
  •  Confusion from one friend’s story to another- The quick change from one friend’s story to another can be confusing. One second a friend is baking cookies, and the next second someone is jamming out at a rock concert. If you do not take notice the snap chatters name in the top left corner at the beginning of his or her story, you may not figure out which friend’s story you are actually watching.

Snapchat 2.0 proves that social media platforms are constantly evolving and improving. Since social media is frequently changing, it is important to remain informed in order to adjust marketing strategies. Bright Age Digital Creative Agency is always up to date with the changes in the social media industry and strives to help businesses target their customers in the most effective way possible.

Author: Summer Malone

Summer is a social media marketing enthusiast with a passion for marketing analytics online, trending hashtags, and flux capacitors. Summer often feels sad for the TRex who is unable to connect to the internet. You can connect with Summer via Twitter @SummerMaloneMKT.

Why Restaurants Should Use Social Media Advertising

Reasons Why Restaurants Should Use Social Media Advertising

Continue reading for the reasons why most social media agencies believe that social media advertising is crucial for restaurants.

Directly Target Your Audience

Ever look up the best restaurants in your area? Order food online while at the office? Observe delicious photos or hashtags from foodies around the world? There are thousands of users surfing the web every day and social media advertising targets those who are looking for their next meal. With social media advertising technologies such as Facebook Custom Audiences or Lookalike audiences, businesses are able to retarget current customers, or create advertising audiences based on those who visit their website. By teaming up with a social media agency, restaurants can witness higher engagement with their target audience.

Turn Customers into Spokespeople

Now more than ever, people rush to social media platforms to share or communicate experiences throughout the day. Interacting with customers who share photos of your food or service nurtures the consumer-business relationship. Also, the more shares your advertisement receives, the longer life that ad has. Social media agencies believe that the extension of ad life allows for more outreach to friends of friends, aka potential customers. Additionally, the more buzz and mentions your company receives on social media platforms aids the Search Engine Optimization on Google, furthering increasing awareness and engagement among old and new clientele.

Boost News and Deals

Opening a new location? Offering a deal to those who Like your Facebook page? Social Media advertising is perfect for telling customers about the latest and greatest promotions. By creating a sense of urgency about certain upcoming events on social media, more consumers will visit your website or comment with questions on your social media platforms. All of this is great for strengthening your brand online and in-store. Additionally, you will be able to compare a variety of posts to see which Call To Action engages more customers. Is offering a deal causing positive chatter? Are customers excited about new menu items? All of these questions can be answered after reviewing a post’s analytics, which is usually performed by social media agencies.

Budget- Friendly

One of the best reasons why restaurants should use social media advertising is the pricing. With a variety of social media platforms, most ads are set up with a particular budget in mind, for example, spending $20/day. The pricing for social media advertisements tend to lean much cheaper and gain many more interactions than search engine advertisements. The main goal of social media advertising is not to only promote restaurant buzz, but to talk and develop deeper relationships with customers. To learn more about restaurant advertising on social media, contact us today!

Author: Summer Malone

Summer is a social media marketing enthusiast with a passion for marketing analytics online, trending hashtags, and flux capacitors. Summer often feels sad for the TRex who is unable to connect to the internet. You can connect with Summer via Twitter @SummerMaloneMKT.

3 Tips That Will Transform Your Email Marketing

Below are some super tips for email marketing from our social media marketing agency in Los Angeles. Learn how to increase email marketing open rates and bring awareness of your content to potential consumers!

Capture the Audience

In order to motivate subscribers to click and engage with emails, know your audience and compose the subject line accordingly. The subject line should include certain keywords that create a sense of urgency that will ultimately increase read rate. However, be careful not to include clickbait words like “the secret of” or “shocking”. Remember that analysis is necessary and an ongoing process in email marketing, so pick one variable at a time with a specific sample size and test, test, test!

In regards to content, our social media marketing agency in Los Angeles suggests sticking to your brand. For example, luxury brands should focus on quality and prestige, instead of humorous messages or quirky references. While it is not bad to bring humor or a variety of emotions to emails, your company should remain consistent with its brand and mission statement in all posts and content, including email blasts. Also, test links for smooth readability before official deployment to subscribers, this includes mobile, tablet, desktop, and webmail. By verifying emails with HTML and avoiding Base64 coding, more people will be able to view emails more effectively and decrease landing in spam boxes.

Increase Subscriptions

By growing subscribers, you are able to raise awareness of your products or services. In order to successfully increase subscribers, consider adding an easy sign-up form on your business Facebook page. This will allow users to subscribe immediately, rather than having to personally visit your website. Most importantly our social media marketing agency in Los Angeles urges businesses to promote articles or deals on social media platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram. With more engagement, potential consumers are more likely to explore the company’s home page and opt in for emails. Finally, consider capturing email addresses from those who immediately visit your website by utilizing popup subscription forms.

Grow Inbox and Reduce Spam

If emails are unable to reach a majority of inboxes, the inbox display rate for other subscribers decreases, and the chance of appearing in a spam box increases. Not to mention, the chance of being blocked by Internet providers increases. In order to reduce the chance of entering as spam into emails accounts, monitor current subscribers and remove faulty emails, like heather@gmal.com, or phony accounts, like email@email.com. There are some data quality tools that will validate emails for you, such as Experian, Bulk Email Checker, or Kickbox. Another way to increase the number of valid email subscriptions is to offer easy options for users to update email address preferences. Want more advice on email marketing strategies? Contact us for a specialized email marketing plan designed just for your company.

 

Author: Summer Malone

Summer is a social media marketing enthusiast with a passion for marketing analytics online, trending hashtags, and flux capacitors. Summer often feels sad for the TRex who is unable to connect to the internet. You can connect with Summer via Twitter @SummerMaloneMKT.

A Social Media Marketing Agency’s Strategy to Organic SEO

A Social Media Marketing Agency in Los Angeles’ Strategy to Organic SEO

 

First Page Importance

Why is ranking as one of the first three websites on Google essential? According to DigitalTrends, of the global search engine pie is occupied by Google and billions of searches are being processed per day. The most preferable spots a company wants to show up on Google is one the top three organic links or at least appearing on the first page. Click-through rates increase the higher a company lands on Google, which is why landing in the top three is essential. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is essential for businesses to raise awareness of their products, services, and brand image. By partnering up with a social media marketing agency in Los Angeles, SEO techniques are strategized and implemented, magnifying a business to its fullest potential.

 

Organic SEO tips and tricks

While companies can pay to appear first on Google’s paid advertisement spots, appearing on the first search page organically is the best way to generate traffic to its websites. The first approach to organic SEO is to take advantage of popular search keywords or phrases. By implementing these keywords into company websites, title tags, and meta description tags, Google recognizes the correlation between searches and website content, boosting a company’s website ranking. Another technique our social media marketing agency in Los Angeles practices are backlinking important companies, such as Google, to raise credibility of articles. Additionally, companies should check content and website links and ensure that everything clickable sends users to correct pages. This procedure will help Google crawlers navigate through a business’ website faster, allowing more traffic to hit the website, while decreasing bounce rates.

 

Be Truthful

Give your audience the content they are looking for. As a social media marketing agency, we know that fooling the search engine by misleading users to see a company’s content, even if it is irrelevant to them is bad news bears. This method is also known as “cloaking”, is frowned upon in the industry and will result in a ban from Google. Another no-no social media agencies in Los Angeles must recognize is the overuse of keywords, also known as “keyword stuffing”. Repetitively using phrases or keywords on a page actually decreases page rank, and could resulting in banning as well. One rule of thumb suggests using the keyword every 100 words or so.

 

Get Social

The best way to appear on the first page of Google organically is to incorporate social media platforms. Does your business have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn? How about a YouTube channel? By integrating social media platforms, there is more content available to users about your company. Not to mention, online engagement among consumers boosts search results, as individuals are interested or fascinated with what they are talking about. Contact our social media marketing agency in Los Angeles and let us strategize your organic SEO plan today!

 

Author: Summer Malone

Summer is a social media marketing enthusiast with a passion for marketing analytics online, trending hashtags, and flux capacitors. Summer often feels sad for the TRex who is unable to connect to the internet. You can connect with Summer via Twitter @SummerMaloneMKT.