The playbook of advertising is constantly evolving and in many ways is turning inside out. Facebook has augmented the social web experience in ways we never imagined a decade ago. The amount of content available for immediate sharing is overwhelming. In time, marketers learned that social sites would provide the widest audiences possible, so they started an outbound marketing strategy by flooding YouTube and Facebook with ads. Sounds like a good idea, right?  After all, that is where most people spend their time online. Not necessarily. These channels are a…

Building an online presence via Google+ is now possible for more than just individuals. The social-networking site launched “Google+ Pages” today as a means of providing profiles for businesses, brands, places, teams and other non-entities. Page holders enjoy most of the same features that are included in personal profiles but are allowed additional features like “direct connect,” where users can type a “+” symbol into Google before a business name and be instantly directed to that business’ Google+ page. Google+, which moved out of its beta testing phase in late…

As many of you know, Madison+Main is committed to working towards a world free of Multiple Sclerosis. And as a big supporter of the Central Virginia Chapter of the MS Society, we have volunteered our time and services to help promote their fundraising events. This past spring, several of the Madison+Mainiacs took part in the MS Walk, and our very own Art Director, Jeff Smack, participated in the MS Ride, a two-day, 150-mile bike ride from Richmond to Williamsburg and back. Jeff not only surpassed his fundraising goal of $1,000,…

According to a recent survey in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, only half of the 150 charities surveyed were generating any revenue from social media. Bucking the trend was the National MS Society, which raised an impressive $4.3 Million in 2010, directly through social media. We all know that social media is vital in today’s marketing world, but how do you achieve similar results for your business or non-profit? During the last few years large corporations jumped on the social media bandwagon, but more small businesses and non-profits are recognizing the…

Twitter produces thousands of tweets per second, but did you know that this real-time, social media platform can actually spread news faster than the speed of seismic waves? That’s exactly what happened on Tuesday, August 23, 2011. Around 1:50pm, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that originated in Mineral, VA shook the ground, causing glass to rattle, buildings to shake and people all along the East Coast to freak out. And what was the first thing people did during the 30-second rumbling? They tweeted. Posts of the earthquake that hit Richmond, as…

Amidst much fanfare, Spotify launched its services in the United States on Thursday July 14th, offering a massive library of streaming music and, some might say, yet another nail in the coffin for record store employees with lush knowledge of obscure music. Though Spotify offers little more than Grooveshark – a similar music platform which launched in 2007 – its U.S. launch has been heralded by music and tech blogs as a victory over the music industry, which has often butted heads with the Internet’s rapidly evolving digital landscape (remember…

Google+ is the biggest party of the year and everyone’s going. If you haven’t received an invitation to join Google’s newly launched social networking site, then ask us for one because this is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. For the Facebook loyalists and those who are still unsure about Google+, we’d like you to consider all of the great benefits that this new online community has to offer. From a clean, minimalist and easy-to-navigate design to the ability to manage content through the use of “Circles,” Google+ offers…

Science Fiction or Science Prediction? Many posit that Star Trek played a seminal role in giving us the flip phone and numerous other modern tech developments. It appears that another example of Star Trek-nology may be coming to fruition. While 3D printers do not replicate objects on the molecular level they do create impressively congruent models. These are not simply solid mockups either, if the object uses simple mechanics the prototype will actually function, like the adjustable wrench featured in the video. Pretty amazing.

Dot coms are a thing of the past, at least according to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). The international authority over top-level domain names (TLDs) has approved a resolution to expand the list of generic TLDs which will allow companies and organizations to create domains for their brands. What exactly does this mean? Well, for one, domain addresses will no longer be required to end in .com, .org or .net. For instance, a company could use its actual brand name as the end of the URL, such…

Madison+Main launched our first iphone app a few months back for our friends at RimFinancing.com We’ve been having some fun with it so we have to share.

The premise is simple. Flip through the library of available rims by style. There are options for a variety of vehicles: Street, Off Road, Tuners, Donks, Hot Rods etc. Once you’ve picked your rim du jour you use your camera to shoot your car. Then you fit the rims and just like that you’re trying out some new looks. Once you’ve shot a pic you can save it to your phone, email it to a friend or post it to Facebook or Twitter all within the app.

Next Page »