Think beyond Facebook

For a lot of organizations, the leap into social media begins (and often ends) with this sentence: “We need a Facebook page!” If you hear that said by a colleague—and especially if you say it yourself—take a step back and carefully consider your options. While Facebook’s 300 million members might make you think you have to be there, it’s by no means your only choice. And it may be a waste of time.

Your main consideration should be your audience. Are they on Facebook? If so, can your content compete with all the other content they engage with on Facebook? For some organizations, the answer is yes. But as Facebook grows larger, it will be a good fit for fewer and fewer organizations. While Facebook can be a great business development tool, its members use the site primarily for personal use, so you need to be pretty compelling to get noticed. Just because you build it, there’s no guarantee they will come.

Even if your company says no to Facebook, however, you don’t need to say no to social media as a whole. You could start a blog. You could launch a YouTube channel. You could put a discussion board on your website. And maybe best of all, you could use a tool such as Ning to start your own social network. There’s no one tool that’s right for everyone and no shortage of options. Saying no to Facebook may make it a little harder to get started, but thinking beyond the most popular social media site may be exactly the right way to begin.

--Anthony J.

Credit if you read it

One of the greatest challenges to buying advertising online is the lack of “ratings”; the data that tells agencies and their clients how effective an ad buy might be.

Search ads—those that pop up alongside your Google search for, say, coffee shops and tell you to get your fix at Café Joe’s in your neighborhood—are more popular, because they are measured by click-throughs. Though that might not be an entirely accurate measurement—some will see the ad but not click, and others will click on it by accident—it at least offers some hard number with which to gauge. And media buyers are really awesome with numbers.

But Facebook just announced today it will be polling users about display ads and sending the data to Nielsen for analysis. Display ads are typically banner ads, across the top or middle of the page, or ads down the side of the page, in the rail. Facebook will begin testing new formats for display ads and asking users whether they noticed the content.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg credited the company's revenue growth, which is expected to rise more than 70 percent this year, to Facebook’s increasing number of users and the introduction of new ad products. Considering Facebook is expected to generate more than $500 million in revenue in 2009, this could be a big deal.

It will be exciting to see whether this makes Facebook ads more useful and valid in traditional media buys. And just out of curiosity, my own poll: Did you see and link to this blog from Asher’s Facebook page?

--Julianne W.

But do they make me look fat?

The Gap announced recently that it’s abandoning TV for its latest product launch. Instead, its Born to Fit line of denim will be marketed online, primarily through Facebook. All other media—print, outdoor, cinema and blog ads—will drive consumers to the Facebook page.

The Gap? No TV? Isn’t that like a mall without Coke?

Actually, maybe even that analogy is a sign of the times. TV viewership is declining and growing more fragmented as entertainment and viewing choices multiply. Malls vie for traffic with online retailers, lifestyle shopping plazas and freestanding independent stores. Coke is facing challenges from energy drinks and specialty waters (and is producing a few itself).

And The Gap? If I had a penny for every time I heard someone say “The Gap just doesn’t have anything anymore,” I could buy a truckload of khakis. Is its steady decrease in same-store sales over the past two years a result of poor advertising or a poor merchandising mix?

It will be equally hard to determine whether any bump in sales with this campaign is the result of Facebook or simply a great product. Born to Fit promises a range of style choices, increasing the odds of finding a great-fitting pair of jeans. And I’d buy a pair of great-fitting jeans from the back of a truck parked down the street.

But the Facebook page already had more than 335,000 fans just a week after its launch. Many were wishing The Gap a happy 40th birthday. (And yet its distressed jeans don’t look a day over 39.)

Do you shop The Gap? Do you watch TV? Do you go to the mall? Do you Facebook? Most importantly, where do you go for great-fitting jeans?

--Julianne W.

Is Streamy Dreamy?

I want to sit at the helm of a master control panel. Within that panel I want to find my cell phone voicemail and text messages, my landline messages, messages from my three personal email accounts, my work email, my work voicemail, my work Blackberry voicemail, my RSS feeds, my Twitter account, my personal Facebook page, the Facebook pages and Twitter accounts I maintain for others, my Flickr account, my Shutterfly account, my Walgreens photo account, my iTunes, my blog and my personal website. One massive mass-communication dashboard from which I can receive information and to which I can turn it back out.

Despite what my friend Sam says, I’m not aiming to be Big Brother. I just keep forgetting to check my landline voice mail. (Call my cell instead.)

Until the day someone builds my hub, I’m looking for a simple way to tie a YouTube account, a Twitter account, a Facebook account, a blog and a Digg account. I want to be able to post status accounts in one place and send them to Twitter and Facebook. I want to be able to post blog links to Twitter, Facebook and Digg. I want to be able to post YouTube video links to Twitter and Facebook. I want to be able to post YouTube comments to Twitter and Facebook. I want to be efficient in my social information distribution. Is that too much to ask?

I’ve been looking at Streamy. Now that FriendFeed has been absorbed by Facebook, it seems an even more viable alternative. I don’t really need the news side of Streamy, which sounds as if it could be a big side of Streamy. But I haven’t heard of anything more effective for social communication interrelation and distribution.

Have you? What do you use? What do you think?

--Julianne W.

The difference between social networking, social media, and Web 2.0

This may seem like fairly useless information, but it may help those of you who are confused about the difference between social networking, social media and Web 2.0. Plus, I like making charts. So here goes...

Social networking is the act of connecting with others online. It can happen via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc.., but it simply describes the act of engaging in a dialogue in a web-based forum. And the places where those conversations happen are often called...

Social media sites, which simply facilitate the act of social networking. However, social media sites have capabilities that go well beyond social networking. For example, YouTube is primarily a video sharing site, but the comments section is a form of social networking. And just as social networking is a subset of social media, social media is a subset of...

Web 2.0, which represents a new approach to web design and content that encourages interaction. As Mark Cuban (http://blogmaverick.com/2008/03/29/if-the-news-is-important-it-will-find-me/) might say, Web 2.0 is lean forward, not lean back. And lean forward means participating not just via social networking or through social media sites, but by a wide variety of user-generated content.

If you want to hear more about the ways in which social networking and social media are changing the web, join me at one of these events next week. If it makes it any more enticing, I promise more fancy charts. I hope to see you there!

“Social Networking for Real Estate Professionals”
Fort Wayne Area Association of REALTORS®
Wednesday, Aug. 12, noon – 1 p.m.
3403 E. Dupont Road, Fort Wayne
For more information, call (260) 426-4700.

“Can You Hear Me Now? How Social Networking Is Transforming Communication—and Your Business”
Advertising Federation of Fort Wayne
Thursday, Aug. 13, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Club Soda (upstairs), 232 E. Superior Street, Fort Wayne
Click here to register online or call (260) 469-3907.


--Anthony J.

Would you like verification with those fries?

I thought I spied a clever-sneaky new form of advertising on Facebook yesterday. I was wrong, but the possibility is something to “keep in mind.”

To upload a link to a Facebook account I manage, I had to type in a pair of words for verification. The pair? Coca-Cola. It made me wonder … was Coke paying to have its brand circulate among the random verification words? Were others?

(It also made me want a Coke. I found a Diet Pepsi instead. I did fail the taste test years ago.)
I couldn’t find anything on Google about such an advertising plan. So I went straight to the source and asked Facebook, which has proved quite a helpful entity every time I’ve had a question. Their answer:

“Thanks for your inquiry. We do not sell verification words as advertising. However, we will keep your suggestion in mind as we continue to improve advertising on the site. Let me know if you have any further questions.”

Nice people over there at Facebook. The bigger point, however, is the potential for brand integration into every process. Are you looking for a way to put your brand in front of more people? Find out where those people already are and craft alliances.

If you’re a member of your target audience, it’s an easy thing to look at your habits and surroundings with an eye for brand appearances. If you’re not, spend some time with someone who is. Learn where they already go, then be there.

I like Facebook. I use it all the time. I like soda. I drink it all the time, often in front of the computer while I’m using Facebook. It would be a natural pair. (Whether Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi.) I’d like to keep Facebook free by typing “Coke” or “Pepsi” or “Aveda” while I’m verifying my account, vs. “muddle red” or whatever the program comes up with. Thanks for your time in replying, Facebook. I’ll be curious to see what pops up next.

--Julianne W.

What’s Happening Now?

Did you know that 6,000 people are researching restaurants from their cell phones in cabs? And that 29 of them just left their phones in those cabs?

Did you know that 23 million people are talking on their cell phones? And that 308,000 of them just hung up?

According to Sprint, that’s what’s happening now.

Yep, it’s one clever campaign. Has it conveyed that Sprint is introducing America’s first 4G Network? Not necessarily, but their ads sure are entertaining. And they’re relevant to today’s society, because everything is instant—primarily thanks to cell phones. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, or text messaging, people are in touch with each other and the world around them on a minute-to-minute basis.

It’s amazing how quickly cell phones went from being an extravagance to a necessity. I bought my first cell phone about eight years ago as a safety precaution for a long road trip. It has now been at least six years since I’ve had a landline. From business emails to monitoring Cubs scores, the cell phone is my lifeline to the world. Maybe I’ll need that 4G Network, after all!


--Kara W.

15-year-old speaks, whole markets collapse

Twitter is for the geriatric set, says a 15-year-old in the U.K. after a thorough and scientific analysis of teen media usage that involved texting a bunch of friends and writing up the results in a day.
No one buys music, either, and phones are rather useless unless you want to talk to girls.

This one boy’s perspective, written at the end of a two-week internship and just before he headed to scout camp, has been republished and probably even re-Tweeted by a few senior citizens around the world as the holy grail of youth media and marketing.

It’s doubtful young Matthew meant to speak for the world, but the world thinks he has. I anticipate an imminent plunge in Twitter popularity.

As unscientific as the teen’s report might be, he’s not far off from some real reports. Twitter’s appeal is shaky by many accounts. The music industry has bemoaned the decline in CD sales for years. And lawyers for the movie industry already were busy with pirating cases.

What would be really interesting is a scientific and broad look at young-teen media consumption. It would be even more fascinating if it crossed international borders, considering media does, too. Most fascinating? Trying to determine how to reach a statistically large pool of those young people who don’t read newspapers, don’t use the phone for calls, don’t consume mass media. Matthew did mention Facebook…

--Julianne W.

The first to get the scoop

Starbucks announced a campaign yesterday in which Facebook users can give their friends a free pint of one of Starbucks’ new coffee ice creams.

By logging on, you can send one friend a coupon to be redeemed for one free pint. But there is one catch: You must be one of the first 800 to click at the top of each hour.

Limiting and pacing the free-for-all may save Starbucks’ long-running campaign (through July 19) from the plight suffered by KFC when its grilled chicken giveaway was too successful: Demand exceeded supply, angry people bearing coupons stormed the stores, and the campaign was yanked amid clucking about poor planning.

I have yet to scoop the competition in the Starbucks hourly giveaway, however. Apparently my mind only wanders mid-hour.

And I will choose carefully with whom I share a pint. If I send you one, please keep in mind that I’d really like one back. The Caramel Macciato looks tempting…

--Julianne W.

Why we love Facebook

This week I’ll be travelling back to Boston, where I grew up. I moved away after college, so I’ve been in Indiana for 15 years. That’s a long time, but Boston’s my home, and it’s where I can still find most of my family and many of my best friends.

There’s also another place I can find them: Facebook. Thanks to the recent graying of social media, I’ve reconnected with a lot of my high school and college friends, and as a result:

• I’ve rekindled friendships with people I’d lost touch with, sharing old stories and catching up on the past 20 years
• A few acquaintances have grown into friends, as their interests and mine have become more alike than they were 20 years ago.
• Conversations with all of these people have become much more efficient. Now, instead of asking people what they’ve been up to, a glance at their status, photos or info page allows me to ask more specific questions and ultimately have more substantive conversations.

I hope to see many of my friends on my trip back home—and thanks at least in part to Facebook, it looks like that’s going to happen. Is it possible that we would have reconnected without social media? Yes, but because we’re connected online, I’m guessing the conversations will be a little better—and that those conversations will continue long after my plane brings me back to Fort Wayne.

--Anthony J.

Employers, recruiters send wrong message with social media tactics

It’s certainly an employer’s right to research prospective hires’ social media profiles before giving them the job. However, the city of Bozeman, Montana, took things a little too far when it asked applicants for their user names and passwords. That’s a little like asking applicants to provide not only a mailing address, but the keys to their house as well.

This isn’t the first time social media has been used to peer into candidates’ personal lives. One NFL franchise, for example, created a fake female Facebook profile and friended potential draft picks, hoping they’d connect with “her” so the franchise could get a closer look at their profiles. What’s worse? Honestly displaying yourself at your worst or lying to uncover the truth?

So how can responsible employers do their due diligence without being underhanded? Why not simply create a profile and ask applicants to connect? Candidates with the good sense to delete anything questionable would still be in the mix, and those who don’t would understandably be left out. If you think this gives applicants too much of a chance to hide the unflattering stuff, you might be right—but check your own profile before you throw the first stone. More importantly, in the social media world, as our personal and professional lives increasingly intersect, employers—not just job seekers—will have to adapt. Isn’t it better to give people an honest second chance than to begin a relationship with a lack of trust?

--Anthony J.

Youngest adults not twitterpated with Twitter

More evidence that social networking isn’t just for the kids: According to a new study by the Participatory Media Network and Pace University, only 22 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds use Twitter. This pales in comparison to this same group’s participation on sites such as Facebook and MySpace, where use is nearly universal.

So why aren’t more of the youngest adults twitterpated? There are several possibilities, but I think this reveals some of Twitter’s shortcomings—the fact that Twitter is more about self-promotion than the larger community, for example. And whereas Facebook gives users a bird’s-eye view of the latest news in their friends’ lives, Twitter provides just a glimpse at a time. Twitter is significantly more labor intensive, making it perhaps not worth the effort unless it’s important to have constant updates. Can you think of any friends whose news is so timely and immediate that you’ll miss something without a constant connection? Probably not many. Isn’t it easier to get an overview of what everyone is doing a couple of times a day?

I’ll admit that even though I’m on Twitter, I’m a skeptic. Some businesses--like NAKEDPizza, for example--have made great use of micro-blogging. But unless it’s a first-priority strategy, it’s hard to justify from a ROI standpoint (even if all you’re investing is time). I certainly may change my mind; after all, not too long ago, I didn’t see the need for a Twitter account . But for now, I think it’s worth listening to the 18- to 24-year-olds. Just don’t expect to hear a lot of tweets from them anytime soon.

--Anthony J.

Listen

As a marketer, the ultimate goal is to please your clients. To do so, you must provide a top-notch product, exceptional service and responsiveness to their needs. The most basic yet critical responsibility of a marketer, however, is to listen—to clients, as well as to clients’ customers. Now more than ever, there is a constant conversation. The social media scene, including Facebook, Twitter and blogs, makes feedback that much more accessible. Familiarity with the forums is the first step; the next important step is to listen to the discussions.

Curious about where to begin and how to listen? Marketing Profs’ Clay McDaniel has some insight.
As the old saying goes, one always learns more by listening than by talking.

--Kara W.

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new media?

You might think county government would be more traditional, more old-school in its communications. But Multnomah County gets the value of “new” media, and it is putting its money where its mouth is.

The Oregon county’s chairman is hiring a specialist to manage communications via Facebook, Twitter and other social media. To him, it’s obvious. "These technologies are not just fringe technologies. People are signing up for social networking by the millions. That's where our constituents are. That's where the people are who we serve,” says Ted Wheeler in a report on KATU News’ website.

He’s been challenged by a radio personality there who points out that Multnomah County got by all this time before without such a position—why do they need one now, he asks? But isn’t that a little like asking a person why he’d trade in a typewriter for a computer?

Wheeler is undeterred in his belief in the value of social media. In fact, he and his staff are so committed that they took a 12 percent cut in salary to pay the new hire. If an entity as stereotypically conservative as county government is Tweeting, who can really claim to be too stodgy for new media?

--Julianne W.