We’re happy to announce the addition of Laura Farnham to our work family. She has joined us as an account executive, working directly with clients like Huntington Learning Center and Mr. Beams, as well as helping on other key accounts. She’ll also be an important part our new business ventures. Laura brings agency, marketing, and graphic design experience, as well as event planning, media buying, and sales skills.

Laura graduated from West Virginia University where she majored in Journalism. She calls herself an “army brat,” and has lived in 7 different states, as well as Germany. Now she lives in Annapolis, where she is obsessed with things like sushi, WVU football, Bravo TV shows, and Pinterest. Bonus fun fact: Laura is almost half Native American – Tuscarora nation of the Iroquios tribe.

Welcome, Laura. We’re excited to work with you in the coming year.

Today was a very special day at The Cyphers Agency – Ugly Sweater Day! We all showed up to work ready to out-sweater each other, and boy, was the competition fierce! Here’s just a few of the standouts:

Designer Lucas rocks a form-fitting style.

Dave Cyphers vogues in his favorite Bill Cosby piece.

Account Executive Julianna shows off a vintage gem, circa 1987.

Thanks to Account Executive/Social Director/Queen of all that is fun in the Universe Anna for organizing such a fun day! We all take our jobs seriously, but sometimes you just need to laugh at yourself and your co-workers. Need proof?

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome, welcome, welcome! Danielle Ali has officially joined our ranks as a Social Media Coordinator here at The Cyphers Agency. She first joined us as an intern in August, sharing her experiences with you as she learned the ins and outs of the biz. She has made incredible progress over the past three months. So much, in fact, that we just couldn’t let her go!

As Social Media Coordinator, Danielle will be responsible for spreading the word about our clients. She will continue contributing to the the Push-n-Pull department and will help enhance our general marketing efforts. We are continually impressed with her passion for the industry, eagerness to learn, creative thinking, and fun attitude and personality.

Read the rest of this entry »

Case in point – I’ve considered myself a “social media enthusiast” for a few years now. I’m an avid user of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I’m especially addicted to Twitter and have been pretty confident in my ability to leverage this tool to get results. After all, it helped me get my foot in the door here! Of course, it’s one thing to network personally on the web, and quite another to use social media to shape conversations for our client’s brands.

On the Other Side of the Screen

The social web has made it easier than ever for regular people to interact with the services and businesses that they care about. Being on the other side of the computer screen, so to speak, has been a rewarding experience but its also been challenging. It can be a big responsibility to answer tough questions from customers on behalf of our clients. Your company’s social media identity isn’t just for piping up in conversations about your product – its a customer service outlet that is increasingly important as our society becomes more and more digitally minded.

Creating a Social Media Voice

In the last month, I’ve definitely developed a deeper understanding of the importance of creating a social media voice. While I may be the one typing a response to a question on Facebook, I am representing our client’s brand, and so I have to be careful that the tone, words and phrasing I use are in tune with the message our client wants to convey. Is this client’s tone less corporate and their message more light-hearted, like The National Chicken Council? Or is this a client that requires a more trustworthy, authoritative tone? Looking back on how much I’ve grown in my ability to project our clients’ voices online, I realize now that I certainly was not the “social media expert” I thought I was!

Find the In-Between & Build Relationships

Still, its a balance. The strength of social media is authentic interaction. We all know that a tweet that seems too carefully crafted can feel less than genuine, squashing any potential to build a meaningful relationship. One of the best parts of my job is that I get to have real, candid conservations with people, despite our geographic limitations.

At The Cyphers Agency, we’re always working to perfect the social media voices of our clients. How do you determine the tone your brand uses when interacting with customers online? How have you honed your social media voice? Need help? Just ask.

Hello there – I’m Danielle Destrade Ali, and I’m the newest addition to The Cyphers Agency. Jocelyn introduced me earlier this week, and shared how I will be contributing to Push-n-Pull, the Word of Mouth division of the agency. As a social media devotee, working in this department is a great fit for me! For the next few months, I’ll be blogging about my experience as the newbie around here.

The Cyphers Agency is my first job at an advertising agency, and while I have experience in online marketing for various organizations, I had no idea what to expect at an agency. Would the workplace be like a modern day Mad Men? I hoped not – I’m not really in favor of smoking indoors. While I didn’t know what I was walking into, I did know that I would be working with people who had a lot more advertising experience than myself. I was more than a little nervous about being able to measure up to all the talent here.

My first day, I sat in on a brainstorming meeting, and expected to just observe and learn. I was a bit surprised when my colleagues were interested in my opinion! I quickly discovered that The Cyphers Agency has a friendly culture where the members of our team are constantly collaborating. Even the open layout of the office lends itself to teamwork. This lack of pretentiousness really allows everyone to share their great ideas freely. I’ve been invited to contribute my own suggestions from the very beginning, and I’ve helped come up with awesome plans for our clients. I love being a part of a team where everyone works together and supports each other, and its been exciting to get validation from my super talented co-workers.

Of course, I am still just getting my feet wet. While I’ve already had opportunities to contribute creatively, I know I will continue to grow and gain more responsibility. I’m excited to continue working, especially with our campaign for The National Chicken Council, which is an excellent example of how social media marketing can be fun, useful and effective all at once!

Keep checking back to read more about what I’m working on and learning about.