Social media marketing is finally entering a new phase of a brand’s marketing cycle. This is a place that we should have started at a long time ago but instead skipped the step in the hope of an easy buck.

You certainly have the outlier brands who are leading the way with innovative campaigns and thoughtful strategy but the majority of businesses and brands are not in that world. Hell, most aren’t in the same ballpark. Many aren’t even playing the same sport. If they were, it wouldn’t be innovative and news worthy for a business to use social tools the way they were intended. But that’s often what gets coverage.

That being said, I am confident that the majority of brands are now reaching this second piece of the cycle, the Enlightenment Phase. Brands today both big and small are realizing that Facebook pages don’t magically increase sales by themselves. Twitter interactions don’t automatically create customer loyalty. That because Pinterest is popular it does not automatically triple website traffic.

Basically businesses are just now realizing that social media is not the holly grail that half-assed marketers and snake-oil selling Social Media Consultants have been promising for the last several years. This realization and next phase is getting those who dabbled in social media and quit, as well as brands who are just not getting measurable results to finally understand that social media marketing is just like the rest of their business development activities…hard work that deserves smart thinking and disciplined execution.

The previous phase of the social media marketing evolution was the Discovery Phase. A period where brands first jumped in, created profiles in network after network, engaged with anyone who would respond back, and created content content content whether their audience wanted it or not.  Yes there are still some businesses out there who have yet to at least create some sort of social presence but it’s fair to say that the majority of brands you’re going to work with are at the tail end of this Discovery Phase.

Basically we’re at the point now where social media marketers will begin to separate themselves into the real deal and those who really don’t understand real marketing. No longer is setting up profiles and asking for a check enough. Results and strategy are now going to be at the forefront of the conversation. Clients and brands are no longer mesmerized by fancy terminology. They’ve seen what their competitors are doing at the last industry trade-show and they want to start moving marketing metrics. Not follower counts but real metrics.

Buckle up social media marketing pro. If you haven’t been sharpening your brand strategy sword and focusing on how real business development works you’re in for a rough ride. For the rest of us, our day of reckoning is here. The discussions and talks that digital marketing has deserved for so long is making it’s way into the CMO’s discussions. So while we’re now just getting into the next stage of the social media marketing life-cycle, we’re finally at the point where we should have been all along. And it’s about time.

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We live in uncertain times. Unemployment is high and even if you are lucky enough to have a job the future can still be unstable. This shaky job environment has led many of us to try and add stability in our current job, build experience for a resume, or secure a new client by offering to work for free. It’s popular advice you’ll hear from others. It’s also a tactic I’ve done myself.

It’s also extremely ineffective.

I know the mentality well, as I said, I’ve done free work for people in the past. The hope is that the work provided will develop into something down the road.  Many of us see opportunities for new a startup we know just doesn’t have the budget to hire. Maybe you want a career change so in order to gain experience you’re open to doing free work.  But I’ll say it again and this time I’ll even make the font bigger.

Stop working for people, for projects, for companies for free.

This is a non-negotiable rule. Under no circumstances are you to work for free. To fully understand why, lets evaluate what free means. Right now you’re making the mistake of assuming the term “free” means “no cost”. It doesn’t, free means for nothing, and 9 times out of 10 that’s exactly what you’ll get for the work. Nothing.

Your Talents Are Worth Something

You can sometimes make the case of doing good work without a monetary cost. The problem is that since you are working  for free, you’re not receiving anything in return. This is where you need to change your paradigm and mindset. Start demanding something in return for your work and start demanding it before you start.

This “something” is up to you but whatever you agree upon make sure it’s worth real value to you. In some cases this may be money but many times a written recommendation, a good review, or an important introduction can be worth more than money. Figure out something that benefits you for the work you’re doing and get an agreement that this debt will be paid to you. This needs to be a real commitment, not some “oh I’m sure they’ll do me a favor down the road”.

Both parties need to understand exactly what the other is responsible for and when it’s due. This also demands an upfront discussion and agreement with the party you’re about to do work for.

Say No More Than You Say Yes

Too many times I see the same people busting their ass for project after project with nothing to show for it in six months after they’re finished. This is madness you need not participate in. Not everyone or every opportunity will be able to offer value in return. This is perfectly fine and you need to hold out for one that will. By saying no to poor opportunities you keep yourself open to a project that’s a better fit.

The more times you offer your smarts, your talents, and your skills for nothing the more you diminish the value of both your work and yourself. You deserve better and are worth more. Quit working for free and in the end you’ll gain both more respect and better outcomes. Let me know if there are any tips or situations where you’ve worked for free.

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I was lucky enough to be able to go down to SXSW this year in Austin, TX. It was a whirlwind of energy, excitement, learnings, and connections. My coworker, Scott Rowe, and I discuss some of the key takeaways and learnings from this years conference.

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So the NYT reported this week that a handful of agencies are on a new “reality” show on AMC called, The Pitch. I happen to work at one of those agencies and will be on our episode as I was part of the pitch team.

The premise of the show is simple; two agencies face off head-to-head against each other pitching a campaign for a major brand. If the client likes it, they can then agree to move forward with the campaign and you have a new client. The whole thing from client reveal to presentation lasts 7-10 days. It’s a speedy and hyper-focused version of a regular client pitch. There are no gimmicks…just filming the pitch process and the natural chaos and drama that comes with it.

Press has begun to flow so here are my initial thoughts about the show and some of the criticism that naturally comes with it.

I’ll be honest, not everyone at my agency was on board but when I was asked about whether or not I would want to participate my reaction was simple…F*ck Yes.

This Is A Cut Throat Competitive Business

A key aspect to success in advertising is to possess an uber competitive streak. I am competitive. When I dedicate energy to something I want to win. Even more than I enjoying winning, I hate losing. How much bigger of a competitive opportunity can you get than on national television? Bring it I say.

If You’re Not Confident In This Business, Find A New One

I sell ideas. If you’re not confident that your ideas are right for the client then you shouldn’t be selling them.  If you’re not confident in your capabilities then you shouldn’t be wasting your employer’s time. The platform in which you showcase those ideas is irrelevant. Boardroom, TV, or boardroom on TV. I am confident in my ability as a digital marketer and look forward to showcasing those skills any chance I can get. This one just happen to be on TV.

The Real Secret Is That There Isn’t One

Ad people really need to get over themselves. We make advertisements, we don’t cure cancer.  One of the major push backs I have heard or read about why people would NEVER be on the show is that they would never want to reveal the “secret sauce” of advertising. (that’s a quote, they actually said secret sauce). Well allow me to reveal the secret sauce, there isn’t any. Our business is to create ideas that solve our client’s objectives. That’s it. Some of us are good at this. Most of us are not.

It’s Business, Not Personal

To keep the lights at any business you need to continue to bring in new clients. When given an opportunity to possibly have a brand-new client within a 7-to-10 day window and also expose the agency into new markets it became a good marketing opportunity for us.

I can respect those who had a chance at this opportunity and turned it down. But they should respect those who decided to take the leap. I’ll have plenty to say as this circus goes on but this it’s 1 a.m. and my thoughts are running.

See ya on the flat screen.

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March 1st has finally arrived, and so has Google’s new privacy policy. Ever since it was announced, the privacy policy has caused a firestorm of debate over whether Google was becoming too all-knowing of a company. The uproar was so intense that the European Union even signaled that it would start an investigation over whether the new privacy policy is even legal. The uproar has been intense, but has it really big justified?

Google’s new privacy policy, as most likely know, takes the privacy policies for over 60 different Google products and shrinks them down to one universal policy. Google’s stance is that the policy makes it easy for users to understand their data. For those who pay close attention to privacy, needing to know only one policy is a lot easier than needing to know dozens. The new policy takes a lot of the mystery regarding what individual Google products know about a user out of the equation. From March 1st and beyond, it’s all in one simple document.

The backlash surrounding the policy stems from how Google products can now interact and share information with one another. Under the terms of the old policy, a service like Google Docs couldn’t peer into a user’s Google Maps account. They were two separate products, even though a universal Google ID could be used to access either service. Now that the policies on each Google product have been condensed, different Google products can talk to each other. The company already had an alarmingly thorough knowledge of its users, and now all of that knowledge will be combined. Pundits have argued that this gives Google too much information.

On the other side of the spectrum, though, is the benefits that will stem from this new policy. One example given by the New York Daily News is that now, if a user misspells the name of a friend in Google Docs, Docs can alert them to this by crosschecking that person’s Gmail history. Other benefits include being able to alert users to calendar appointments if, say, they have a calendar event scheduled in LA but Google’s Android GPS says the person is still in Indianapolis.

There are a lot of benefits and a lot of drawbacks to the new privacy policy. Much of the uproar can be seen as unjust, since Google isn’t learning anything new about users; they’re just condensing knowledge they already had. Those who are truly concerned about privacy can either subscribe to a service like LifeLock to protect their information or stop using Google services. Either way, the new policy is here to stay.

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This week, some of the biggest sites on the net are standing in solidarity to protest against SOPA, an online piracy bill making its way through the house. On January 18, Reddit, the Cheezburger network, Scribd, and many others will be turning off their websites and going black for a day of protest. For a summary of exactly what SOPA is, watch this short video on the subject explaining how SOPA breaks the internet.

In a twist for Washington, the bill is very much bipartisan and has support from both party’s. Below is a full list of current house members who support this bill. I’ve added their social profiles so you can directly connect with your representatives. Enough noise and their stance will change.

The US Senate has a similar bill called PIPA, and I’ll be updating their list with those names as well.

*UPDATE*

President Obama has come out against SOPA, which hopefully means that these bills will not be an issue. The only developing news from the time this was posted to Obama’s announcement was this post…which we can only conclude that the president reads this blog and we totally influenced his decision.  Well done everyone!

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I'm Super Excited To Start Using Goolge+

Google+ currently has 62 million users and change. But if those users are anything like me, they are relatively inactive. I’m pretty much connected to the same people I’m already connected with on Facebook , Twitter, and LinkedIn. I have no use for another social network that doesn’t do Facebook better than Facebook, Twitter better than Twitter, or LinkedIn better than LinkedIn.

I’ve recommended that most of my clients stay away from diving in outside of a few where the user base demographics make sense to be active. But for the majority of businesses, there is no need to spend more time on a network that won’t drive results.

The time has come to announce that Google+ is now relevant. (insert sigh)

• Is it from a new user base goal they’ve reached….nope.
• Oh, some awesome new feature they can offer marketers? Try again.
• Sweet analytics we can use to enhance strategy. Nada.

This week Google announced that Google+ will start to effect search results. This means that Google+ has now become relevant because Google is going to force you to start using it. As much as people (including me) will bitch about how this is total crap and not fair…it is the new reality.

You’ll see posts about how we should all go to Bing and boycott Google. These are the same hollow threats that people give about quitting Facebook when a new privacy violation is reported. No one is going to stop using Google based on this news.

So give Google+ a few moments of your time. Not cause it’s fun, or productive, or beneficial to marketers over other social networks…but because you have to.

This feels forced. If left alone and offering better features over time I would have come over to the Google+ boat anyway. But I’m defiant by nature. If you make me do something I’ll generally find a way not to like it regardless of features. Strong arm tactics don’t initiate fans who will spread their passion to others. Reminds me of the sobbing mob of “sad” women at Kim Jong Il’s funeral. It’s easy to display excitement or emotions or energy with a gun to your head.

So see ya on the inside.  Oh, and you can add me to your Google+ circle here.

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Like it or not, Facebook is going to be a permanent fixture in the social landscape for years to come. For many people, Facebook is social media. Businesses need to learn to adapt to that reality and leverage Facebook’s power to connect people to expand their reach. Most of the corporate heavyweights have already accepted that fact and administer Facebook pages for their brands. However, there are still plenty of holdouts who haven’t hopped on the bandwagon. There are a few very important reasons why they should do so immediately.

800 Million Users

Within the next year or two, Facebook will be able to boast a billion registered users worldwide. For those keeping score at home, that’s nearly one-seventh of the population of the globe. As such, there’s no more powerful way to raise awareness of a company’s brand and interact with current and potential future customers. By not fielding a basic Facebook company profile page, many businesses are missing out on untold millions in revenue that could have been attained through the use of social marketing. With Facebook’s website hosting so many profile pages, the advertising possibilities are virtually endless.

Catching A Rising Star

While Facebook’s income and profit numbers are already impressive, the fact of the matter is that they’re really just getting started. The true potential of Facebook as far as targeting consumer demographics through intelligent social interaction and advertising has yet to be realized. They haven’t yet expanded into social search, and their sharing and monetization systems are still massively underdeveloped when compared to their possible scope. If a company is under the impression that they’ve missed the boat on profiting through Facebook interaction, they’re sorely mistaken.

Social Interaction Breeds Trust

People tend to buy from companies they inherently respect and trust. While it’s not really possible to develop a personal, one-on-one relationship with a corporation, Facebook can go a long way in humanizing companies in the eyes of consumers. When the average consumer’s expectations are vastly exceeded by a company, they sometimes share that with their peers. In some cases, the result is an organic viral campaign that wasn’t even planned. Facebook and similar social sites are a cheap way to generate instant credibility under the right conditions.

Using Facebook The Right Way

A recent survey showed that 67% of businesses polled won’t be investing in social media in 2012, even though 88% acknowledged the potential value of such an investment. That’s a shame, as Facebook’s capacity for customer outreach and business to consumer interaction is just starting to be fully explored. Facebook doesn’t require a sign up fee or even website hosting costs to use, even though those fees are usually pretty low as you can see at thetop10bestwebhosting.com. All you really need is a unique approach to communicating with consumers through your Facebook page to stand apart from the crowd. Thinking outside the box is the key to getting the most out a Facebook page for any business.

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Judging folks based on possessions is something we just do. No it’s not right but that’s just how it is. We are constantly bombarded by flashy reality television shows flaunting über fancy “cribs” and cars. We’re told through advertising that if we don’t have the latest iPhone, iPad and matching Mac Book Pro … well, then, you ain’t cool. As a culture, we’ve always been concerned with “the haves.”

But, over the last few years, as social media becomes a bigger part of our culture and lives, an interesting shift has occurred in how we are viewing status symbols. There’s a new dimension to what people are paying attention. On top of status being based on worldly possessions, we’re now judging people based on virtual followings. Kim Kardashian, for example, is rarely mentioned in the tabloid magazines without including that she has 11.5 million Twitter followers. She is looked at as more of a legitimate celebrity simply for having a massive online following.

This new status measurement is also used with digital marketers and brands. Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and Klout scores are used as a quick barometer for how competent individuals are and how well brands are doing. Marketers are the first to jump for excitement when they reach a high number of Facebook fans, as if they’ve achieved validation for success. Social media blogs write stories about what brands have the most fans and followers.

We seem to have replaced “keeping up with the Joneses” with “keeping up with the @kardashians.” And the culprit responsible is what we call vanity metrics.

There is a certain segment of social media metrics that we often use as a measurement of businesses’ success. These metrics are called vanity metrics, and marketers are hypnotized by them. Vanity metrics are numbers that most marketers focus on because they look great in press releases, but they don’t necessarily affect overall marketing or business goals.

The term vanity metrics was coined by Eric Ries and made popular by his book, The Lean Startup. They are defined as numbers that might make you feel good, but they don’t offer clear guidance for what your business should or should not do in the future. Their intense focus is a big reason why social media ROI is difficult for most brands to judge. Vanity metrics do not necessarily correlate with other measurable numbers that really do matter for your business. These growth metrics can often be signs of traction (which is why they should be monitored), but it is important to distinguish between these vanity metrics and real digital metrics, like conversation rates.

A brand with a huge online following can be less successful than a smaller following of passionate and raving customers. Follower counts alone do not help to evaluate whether or not your strategy is working. They are no indication that your competition is doing better or worse than you. These metrics should be watched, but you should not to be fooled by them.

Moral of the story is to not get swept up in the hype of who has more. Businesses would be wise to quit trying to keep up with the @kardashians and, instead, focus on keeping up with the strategy.

This article appeared in the latest issue of Bozell Thinking.

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Facebook Ads Effectiveness Can Break Or Bring The Bank

There are many reasons that people use Facebook. In fact, a survey of users found that the number one reason people use Facebook is to “See what my friends are up to”. Unfortunately no one said they use Facebook to be advertised to. That’s bad news for you because an ad with low effectiveness can drain your budget fast.

The good news is however, that compared to other online display ads the Facebook ad CTR is extremely high. But it’s still only around 2%. Many of my clients request Facebook advertising and as a social media marketer you need to know how to create ads that convert to clicks.

Here  are 20 tips for better Facebook Ads Effectiveness

1. Make sure that your image tells the story of your message (it needs to grab attention)
2. Be sure that you image is relevant.
3. Be aggressive in your text but not insulting
4. CPM can be less expensive per click than CPC but it’s a risk, so make sure you put a cap on your daily budget.
5. To test your Facebook ads effectiveness, check the conversion rates after two days. If it’s lower than 2%…try a new sample target.
6. Send your ad to a Facebook page, users do not want to be sent to a landing page outside of Facebook.
7. Use proper grammar with no ALL CAPS and shortened or appreviated words. Make things clear.
8. Don’t go with an initial target audience below 50,000 people. Any lower than that is to small of a sample group.
9. Use colors that are contrasting to all of the blue…such as green or red.
10. Add copy inside of your image to add to content that sticks out.
11. Lead your ad to a branded and customized landing page that has a similar look and feel to your ad
12. Use horizontal / landscape images to ensure you’re maximizing the space available (which is 110×80 pixels).
13. Have a strong call to action. Tell people what they need to do.
14. Bribes work. Tell your audience why or what they get for their click.
15. Shorter ad copy is better than clutter. Cut out what you can.
16. Ads with people, and especially close ups of faces and eyes tend to get a higher click through rate.
17. If appropriate to your audience, use a locally recognizable photo.
18. Multilayer your targeting as specific as you can be (get to know your audience)
19. If your campaign CPC drops off a cliff…wait a week or two and try a message to bring your campaign back to life.
20. You can usually get a away with offering a relatively close to the lowest suggested bid. Might as well save money where you can.

Hope that helps! I’ve got a campaign going right now and these are the techniques and approaches that we use help us boost our Facebook ads effectiveness. If you have any suggestions you use, drop them in the comments.

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