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CRAFT Wins 2013 Google Engage All-Star Competition

We are excited to announce that CRAFT | Media/Digital has been named a 2013 Google Engage All-Star.  Digital Advertising and Marketing Specialist, Andrew Burk, managed the online advertising campaigns during the length of the contest. This win represents CRAFT’s ability to achieve growth for our clients by both meeting and exceeding specific online advertising and marketing goals.

The Google Engage program helps to enhance companies that offer online planning and strategy, website design and development, digital engagement and search engine marketing. Once a year, Google gives 14,000 leading agencies worldwide the chance to compete to show the most growth for their clients using the search engine’s marketing platform, of which only 200 agencies are invited to attend. In order to be selected as a winner, CRAFT had to reach specific pay-per-click goals across all active marketing and advertising campaigns.

Partner Matthew Dybwad and Andrew Burk, will represent CRAFT at the summit in Google’s California headquarters August 12th. At the Engage event, the pair will receive insights about market trends, one-on-one consultations with Google managers, a tour of Googleplex and more.

Expect the two to share what they learn and their experience right here on CRAFT Framework and for live updates be sure to follow them on Twitter: @mdybwad and @AndrewABurk

Google+ Hangouts On Air: The Tool All Public Figures Should Understand

Since its launch, Google+ has struggled to compete with Twitter and Facebook as a social media platform. Nevertheless, the live Google+ hangout feature has incredible potential for growth, and many public figures are already taking notice.

For the uninitiated, the live Google+ hangout feature is a free live videoconference that can automatically be streamed, recorded and uploaded to a YouTube channel. All that is needed is a Gmail account synced to a YouTube channel and a Google+ account, making barriers to entry pretty low.

What makes Google+ hangouts so beneficial for public figures is the incredible control over the videoconference. For example, the host has the ability to invite select guests for the conference, mute or have normal dialogue with participants, and the audience can be as broad or narrow as desired.

Last week, I participated in a Google+ hangout with President Obama, hosted by YouTube and Google. While President Obama had a large team of people making sure nothing went wrong technically, it is overkill for most individuals’ needs.

In my hangout with President Obama, he took questions from five participants with one Google staffer moderating. The look of the event was very similar to a “talking head” show on cable news, only with more participants. President Obama did most of the talking, and the five participants asked the questions. Overall, the hangout went very smoothly and generated major news headlines.

What we should expect in the future is many politicians using Google+ hangouts on air with their constituents, artists having hangouts with their fans, candidates for public office holding hangouts with their supporters, and CEOs having hangouts with shareholders or board members. It even has a feature to play video as the conference is taking place. The video playing and screen sharing features make it ideal for presentations.

The possibilities for this relatively new platform are endless, but because Google+ hangouts can facilitate controlled access to individuals at a low cost, every public figure should know and understand its benefits.

Here is a post explaining how to begin a live Google+ hangout. I recommend testing a private hangout before going live, but the feel of the event is pretty natural and the camera will automatically switch to the person talking, reducing the amount of interruptions.

If you are interested, you can watch my hangout with President Obama below.

Lee Doren is the Research and Outreach Manager at CRAFT | Media/Digital.Lee specializes in public policy research and analysis. He also focuses on online issue advocacy, which includes reaching out to reporters and bloggers on behalf of clients. You can reach Lee via email at ldoren@craftdc.com or on Twitter @ldoren.