Establishing Brand Presence with Facebook

I recently gave a presentation at the 3rd Grand Rapids Social Media Lunch. I wrote a recap of the presentation for the GRSML blog.

Given the direction Public Profiles have been heading through the past few updates, it is safe to say that Facebook Groups are dead. The lack of updates in functionality leads me to believe that Groups will either no longer be supported or may be relegated to “maintenance mode”—a concept akin to life-support in the online world.

Check out the complete post here. Check out the accompanying slideshow here.

are you a one trick social media pony?

I am going to pose a question to all the social-media-marketers and social-media-experts: if social-media dried up, and all the sites went belly-up today, would you be able to get a job tomorrow? I have a feeling that many of the self-titled social media experts out there would not be able to continue in a marketing career beyond our current social boom.

There are two categories I like to assign social- media folks to. There are marketing professionals who utilize the tools social media provides, and there are one trick ponies, who don't exist outside the world of social media.

The folks in the second category may be able to get you on the front page of Reddit or Digg. They may have a huge IM army and multiple accounts and be able to leverage the various SM sites. However, do they understand marketing beyond online exposure? Could The Expert write a press release and effectively distribute it? Could The Expert write an effective, multi-faceted marketing strategy including outlets other than SM?

Here is what I am getting at: I firmly believe social media to be an effective and extremely relevant tool for marketers in today's economy. Entry barriers are relatively low, and it is relatively cost effective versus more traditional advertising. With the closing of established news outlets across the country, I believe social media will only continue to grow and evolve for the foreseeable future.

Given the pace social media is evolving, its hard to say exactly how long into the future. I would like to remind readers at this point about the dotcom bust of the early millennium. Remember all those startups with no business model that were not profitible but somehow were still trading at $60 a share? It seemed to good to last, but the money and investors poured in. It certainly proved to be too good to be sustainable.

How is the social media boom any different than the millennial dotcom boom?

Twitter, currently the fastest growing social service, has yet to unveil a concrete business model or make any money other than a few bucks for advertising in Japan. What makes us so sure that these companies will find a way to become sustainable and profitable? In the end, I don't think anyone can be certain about the longevity of social media.

If Digg dried up tomorrow, what would you do?

Would you be out of a job, or would you be agile enough to adapt to the changes? Are you a multi-faceted marketing expert, or do you just have a lot of solid accounts on social media sites?

Social media is evolving and growing at a staggering pace. Will The Expert--the one-trick-pony--be able to evolve and grow with it?

microsoft's new ad campaign doesn't mention microsoft: brilliant.

Recently, Microsoft launched a new ad campaign aimed at promoting the value of a PC versus an Apple. Surprisingly, the ads actually make sense. In case you haven't noticed, Microsoft as of late has been steadily turning out one advertising fop-ah faux-pas after another.

Whether its the Mojave Experiment, a girl singing about Microsoft Songsmith (while on a thinly veiled Macbook) or the utterly bizarre Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld ad series, Microsoft's ads have been missing their target and only provided Apple enthusiasts with a good laugh.

Microsoft's latest ads represent a radical departure and an entire shift in focus for the company. The latest ads are not emphasising the "superiority" of Vista (or trying to convince consumers that "really--Vista isn't that bad!"), or even advertising Microsoft products. What customers are being sold instead is the value of the PC platform.

In the advertisement below, Lauren, a college student on a budget of $1,000 is sent into an Apple store to pick out a laptop. She wants a 17" screen, and finds that the only Apple that meets her requirements is the Macbook Pro, to the tune of $2,499. She leaves.





Frustrated, she observes that she is "not cool enough to be a Mac person", which is a jab Apple's elitist image. Lauren then shops a consumer electronics store, and of course falls in love with a 17" Hewlett Packard which she purchases and accessorizes for well under $1,000, leaving the store content and happy.

Windows, Microsoft or Vista is never mentioned through the course of the advertisement, which may seem a bit odd considering the the advertisement is in fact a Microsoft advertisement. I would wager it a brilliant move on Microsoft's part.The reality is that after series of questionable OS's plagued with security flaws and lampooned by critics, Windows is no longer a selling point.

After a resounding failure with Windows ME, a rough start with Windows XP (which I would argue only came into favor AFTER the release of Vista), and a total misfire with Windows Vista, Microsoft has come to the realization that they can no longer sell the operating system. Instead, Microsoft is selling the value of the machines that come preloaded with their software. Microsoft couldn't care less if you purchase a Dell, a Lenovo or an HP.

What it boils down to is Microsoft selling strengths instead of trying to patch up weaknesses. They are doing exactly what McDonald's did for Starbucks, and attacking a perceived image. In this case, instead of the elitist image of Starbucks, they are attacking the elitist image associated with Apple computers.


Will this campaign save Microsoft and Windows? Its hard to say. Honestly, with a 90% market share, they don't really need saving. What they do need is a shift in consumer perception of their product.

What the campaign will do, if nothing else, is cement the image of Apples as overpriced into consumer minds, which honestly may be more valuable to Microsoft at this point than actually selling copies of Vista. Perception is powerful, and leveraged properly can completely shift consumer thinking.

I've always been told its better to play to your strengths rather than trying to fix your weaknesses. I guess someone must have mentioned that to Microsoft too.

grand rapids social marketing lunch 2.26.09 @ founder’s brewery

Yes folks, that’s right. This Thursday (2.26.09) at Founder’s Brewery, we’ll be having our first Grand Rapids Social Marketing lunch. From the GRSML blog:

How will these meet ups work? Like I said earlier, this is a conversation. There will be a topic that will frame the meeting. We’ll have a moderator to keep the conversation on track and to get the ball rolling (depending on the topic you could be the moderator). The moderator will have knowledge of what we’re talking about that week and should be able to answer questions. From there let all questions, comments, experiences flow forth.

We’ve been tweeting this for a couple of days now, but in case you haven’t heard, our first meeting is scheduled for this coming Thursday, February 26th, from 12:00 to 1:30 at Founders. Please drop in and say hello, meet some interesting people and share your thoughts. It should be a blast.

More details & information here.

I hope to see you there!