Mint Social helping clients wanting to leverage social media

By Amanda Monteagudo of The Arizona Republic -

A Scottsdale-based company that helps its clients incorporate social media into their businesses is making a name for itself in the booming industry.

Mint Social in December earned a spot on the list of the Best Social Media Optimization Companies for the fifth straight month.

The award is given by topseos.com, billed as an independent authority on search vendors that identifies and ranks the best Internet
marketing agencies and tools.

It rates the top 10 companies in social-media optimization, based on customer feedback, knowledge of social-media trends, ability to understand a business brand, consultation time offered, methodology and reach. Mint Social is ranked No. 9. The company consists of the founder, five employees and about 40 contractors.

As Internet technology evolves, companies continue to integrate online marketing into their marketing strategies. Mint Social takes online marketing a step further and focuses on using social media to advance a company's online presence.

"By setting up a big footprint of hundreds of different channels to distribute and market the content and promote a business through, you essentially create an 'Associated Press' for the business, which becomes an extremely powerful and effective way to get a company's message out through their own network," said Matthew O'Brien, founder of Mint Social. Read more:

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What is Social Media Marketing and Online Branding Today? Read More Details From... http://bit.ly/97BdvE

What is Social Media Marketing and Online Branding Today?

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube are no more a hang-out place for the teenagers but have also become a meeting place of potential buyers. To be frank, online branding was considered to be an utter waste few years back but now the situations have entirely changed. Social media marketing has earned its place as one of the fastest-growing, most competitive marketing fields in the history of marketing. People are going online in record numbers, finding and socializing in groups that cater to their interests; often, these interests neatly intersect with marketing and branding opportunities. The best social media tools combine simplicity with an extensive reach, allowing messages to target thousands of people in seconds, and serving as an outstanding tool for brand promotion.

Smart companies have realized the art of social media marketing. They use the power of social media and online branding to connect with and inform their customers and potential customers. Social Media Marketing is a smart way to open the lines of communication between a company and their prospects. There are many ways to engage in social media and one of the most important things that you should do is to claim your name or company name on as many social services as possible. You do not want to find out later that someone else has already claimed the user name of you or your company. If you need to see if your chosen user name is available try name check websites which checks dozens of social media networking and bookmarking sites all at once to see if its available.

Online branding goes deeper than Internet marketing, online branding it takes into account your social media, reputation management, online PR, online advertising, search marketing, SEO and more.