Facebook,Social Media And The Real World.

To the doubters and the protesters I say quit resisting social media marketing.

I hear too often:

“Is social networking important for a business? Is it something  I really have to do?”

“Do people really pay attention ?”

To you I answer this “YES” !

Social Media is has woven itself directly into the fabric of our culture.

Check this out . Starting Sept 5th 2010  Target will begin selling gift cards that can be used on Facebook!

Facebook Launches Places

You can now immediately let your friends know where you are and what you are doing with Facebook Places.

Facebook just launched Facebook Places, their new location based check-in app.  This will allow you to “check-in” at any location and broadcast your whereabouts directly to your Facebook friends.

It uses a combination of the Bing mapping service on Facebook.com and Google maps on the iPhone to show check-in locations.

Is Social Media Marketing Dangerous?

I hear this once in a while. Odd but true . In fact I am convinced that the only danger there is in Social Media Marketing is to NOT be involved in using it!

There are many theories about your brain getting fried because of the Social networking. Or Losing your sanity because you are obsessively connected to your devices… Phones, Laptops and tablets.

I don’t think it’s true outside the foolishness of texting while driving.

Slide Into Google Me

TechCrunch broke the news last night of another Google purchase of a little company called Slide.  Slide just so happens to be a manufacturer of social apps for sites like Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, MySpace and even Orkut, based in San Francisco.  With Slide providing popular social applications like Rock Riot and Super Poke, to name a few, it is easy to see why Google would see them as such an asset.

How To Build a Successful Facebook Page

I just read a fantastic post that gives you everything you need to know to create and enhance your Facebook page.

Learn how to build a Facebook landing page, how to use “like”, which Facebook applications to use and how to use them, how to promote your page, how to get traffic, and even how to get tracking to see how it is performing.

If you don’t want to read through the incredibly detailed list, here are three resources you should start with:

Social Media Regulations for Office Candidates

We all use social media for personal and business use. And since Obama’s utilization of social media in his campaign last year, many if not ALL candidates for offices at any level have been using social networking sites to promote their campaigns, their viewpoints, and to create an air of “transparency”.

As long as politics have existed, propaganda has existed, and very aggressive attempts to undermine one politician or another has also existed. That is not new. But the media used to disseminate slander has now changed.

The Social Network: Facebook Goes Hollywood

It was just a matter of time before social networks became the subject of Hollywood film makers. But let’s admit it, Facebook and Hollywood are in the same business: communications. And so here comes the new movie: The Social Network.

In October of 2010, everyone will get to see what drove Facebook to not only the largest social network in the world, but what has become a paradigm shift is how we associate and discover new information and friends.

Online Marketing, The iPhone Billion Dollar Success!

Yes it sounds unbelievable but it is true…

There is one company that is going for broke with their marketing. They sold $1.1 BILLION DOLLARS in 3 days …just this week-end!

They are selling items that cost hundreds of dollars each and for the most part their products require that you sign up for  1 to 2 years of additional (costly) monthly services.

Word of Finger

I recently read in Wired magazine about this term, “Word-of-Finger”.  They defined it as:

adj. Marketing communicated via the keystrokes of social media.  It attracts advertisers because, unlike traditional word of mouth, it can be monitored through Twitter and Facebook.

I love this phrase.  It communicates perfectly exactly what you should be doing in your business’ marketing efforts.  You want people to review your business on Yelp and Google Maps, you want people following you on Twitter and you want fans on your Facebook page.  The more people that are “typing” about you, the better it is for your business.

Brand Marketing; How Best Buy Utilizes Social Media Marketing

Best Buy http://www.bestbuy.com/is a major brand whose brand marketing most definitely includes social media marketing.

Brad Smith, Director, Interactive Marketing & Emerging Media from Best Buy opened things up talking about a “new marketing reality”. Customers are out there, but they’re bombarded with messages. Customers are not listening to us (marketers & advertisers) anymore. Social media is all about communicating.  Customers are listening to each other instead and tuning out marketing messages.