Commentary

OrangeSoda Slurps Up Sweeter SMB Local Features

Glass-of-OrangeSoda

Quenching the thirst of small and mid-size businesses that want to get in on the search, social and mobile ads game, local online marketing firm OrangeSoda released features to its CitrusBlast platform, specially tailored to marketers that are looking to increase their company's exposure through a variety of Google, Bing and Yahoo search-related products.

Search engine mapping features directly connect to OrangeSoda's lead generation site customized for each client. All phone calls and activity from the SMB's Web site are tracked on the platform to give company owners a better view of the business. Analytics guide campaign optimization to push more leads. CitrusBlast then creates a full profile for each SMB on Yelp and Foursquare.

Jay Bean, OrangeSoda CEO and co-founder, believes that once SMBs decide to step up their social online presence they can experience a 200% increase in return on investment within the first six months. The San Diego Union Tribune has rolled out its version of CitrusBlast through local sales teams in the San Diego market.

BIA/Kelsey estimates total U.S. social advertising revenue will grow at a 31.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion in 2015. The firm estimates that revenue from non-display ad formats such as Twitter's Promoted product line, such as Tweets and Trends, should grow at a 65% CAGR, from zero in 2010 to $600 million in 2015.

The new version, customized for SMBs, supports social ads and features through Yelp and Foursquare, and basically aims to decrease the time it takes for potential customers to visit the company's landing page.

It offers a review aggregator, allowing site visitors to the landing page to leave reviews of the company. When Google bots crawl the page, it will aggregate and pull reviews into Google Places.

Companies also can list a deal on their own Web site and visitors can either print that coupon or text it to their cell phone for redemption. And the latest CitrusBlast version also offers a feature allowing companies to put the Google +1 button and the Facebook Like button on each MyPage, the landing optimization page OrangeSoda creates for each client.

OrangeSoda released the CitrusBlast platform in February.

Next story loading loading..