Today I am beginning a new segment on my blog, an interview with a social media marketing expert. My blog focuses on using social media to promote books (particularly self-published books), and I believe authors can really learn a lot about successful social networking by following the experts.
Paul Ten Haken, President & Chief Online Strategist at ClickRain, was kind enough to let me begin this segment with him.
KS: Tell me about your company – how it was created and what you do.
PTH: Click Rain was founded in 2008 as an online marketing firm. Sioux Falls has a very talented web development community, but the online marketing, search, social aspect was really lacking. That gap in the marketplace was the primary driver for the start of Click Rain. Since the start of the company, we’ve found ourselves engaging in nearly every aspect of digital media and development for our clients. That could involve things like web development and search engine marketing or more emerging strategies like mobile app development or QR code integration.
KS: Who do you feel can benefit from a social media marketing strategy?
PTH: Quite often, businesses that have a tangible product to sell seem to have a bit more success with social marketing – specifically, B2C companies. However, all businesses can benefit on some level from a social marketing strategy – the extent of that benefit will depend on the product/service being offered, who is being targeted, and the social savvy of the marketing strategy.
KS: How long have you been blogging and what is the primary focus of your blog?
PTH: I personally have been blogging since around 2005, and our company blog has been active since day one. The focus of our corporate blog is to share occasional industry insights as well as to provide an inside look at what’s happening at Click Rain with our clients, employees, and services. Our blog feeds our Facebook fan page, my personal Facebook page, gets pushed via Twitter, featured in our enewsletter, etc. So in essence, the blog content oftentimes is the foundation for the online communication efforts of Click Rain.
KS: What is your favorite social networking site? Why?
PTH: Personally, I am a big fan of Foursquare. Partially because it’s so new and has yet to be polluted by advertisers, partially because of the game-like aspect of it, but also because of the possibilities with location based marketing. Location based marketing is going to be big.
To find out more about Paul Ten Haken and ClickRain, visit:
Twitter: @paultenhaken @ClickRain
Website Address: www.clickrain.com
Blog Address: rainblog.clickrain.com