Mark Zuckerberg -- Facebook Timeline for brand pages

Rumors online are tough to filter.  But if this one is correct, we should see a new layout called Facebook Timeline on February 29th.  This update to Facebook could mean big things for businesses and marketers.  Most marketers are already falling over themselves to parse the “social media paradigm”.

The social media giant will hold a Facebook Timeline Council at the end of February.  There is expected to be talk about the features of the long awaited Facebook Timeline for Brand pages.  Timeline is a new kind of user experience that has already been beta tested for the past six months.  According to articles on Mashable these changes will be a game changer for users and marketers.

Facebook Timeline – a shift in Marketing Strategy

There’s a lot more to engaging users in this new format than stockpiling a list of people who “like” your business.  Over the past few months Facebook has been implementing a series of changes that are pushing for users to have more relevant and curated content hitting the top of their news feeds.  For marketers this means that there is an overwhelming need to be much more creative with interaction.  Gone are the days when any ridiculous post would be seen by your audience, in order to reach your target market it’s going to take strategy.

The most customizable feature of Facebook Timeline will be the cover photo which is already undergoing experimentation. Some graphic designers have built design templates that can jazz up cover photos making them stand out. Businesses have the opportunity to jump on board and focus on delivering striking brand recognition.  The emotional appeal of Timeline comes in the form of a chronological slide that has the ability to transport the user through time and storyboard the history of a page.

Michael Jordan Media has the expertise to provide Social Media Consulting and Marketing Management that will result in measurable gains for your Social Media Portfolio.  Contact us today to learn how MJM can assist you with your marketing goals.

To determine the best use of Internet advertising dollars for max ROI.  We will evaluate Facebook Ads and Google AdWords campaigns as they relate to best practices for overall internet marketing strategies.

General Info

Campaign Comparison

Summary

The key difference between these two ad campaigns:  Facebook Ads target people based on who they are and Google Adwords targets people based on what they are looking for right now. The problem with trying to reach larger audiences with AdWords is that the more general the search term, the more expensive the clicks. It’s likely that a low Click Through Rate will cause score issues, increasing cost and preventing ads from showing up.   Facebook on the other hand allows highly targeted advertising using like/interest and connection filters. If you get your targets interests right and leverage their connections properly, you can reach a much larger audience on Facebook than you can with AdWords.

Recommendation

The specific ROI for either campaign is largely indeterminate. However, because Facebook advertising guarantees impressions and creates user connections it is overall a better longer-term strategy for any business. Of course, your site’s most pressing need is optimization for search engines based on specific keywords that will increase organic search rank. If this is all in order and you have a clear brand identity and focused target audience, launch a test Facebook ad campaign.  Here’s why…

Facebook:
Creates user connections
Allows more targeted advertising
Has better metrics for tracking demographics
Is Cheaper — $250 can create a Facebook Ad seen by over 3 Million specifically targeted people, this same reach could cost between $1000 – $1500 with Google.

The look and feel of your web site is important, so we create eye catching pages that are well branded and cross browser compatible. We’ve incorporated some new standards for creating sites that render well on mobile devices. It’s called responsive design and it basically means that when a user hits a page from an ipad or a smartphone the page will alter dynamically to fit the size of the browser window. There are many advantages to responsive design. The first is that it allows your client base to access information on your site from anywhere without having to wrestle with the layout.

Top browsers in the market these days are #1 Firefox, #2 Chrome, #3 Internet Explorer, #4 Safari, and so on and so forth. Of course we keep up on browsing trends because it is important that your new website has strong cross browser functionality.  All site pages are fully indexed by top search engines and content is optimized to boost your site rank.  We design collaboratively with clients to build websites with striking features that stand out. You’re looking for a fresh look, we’ve got one in mind.

“How do I make social media videos for Youtube?  You know, videos that go viral and create a following so I can promote my business.”

The good news is that you don’t need to be Steven Spielberg to create a Youtube following.   Just follow these steps:

1. Know your audience — Decide ahead of time what type of video seekers you want to attract and tailor your content to their interests.
2. KISS — Keep is short stupid.  Thankfully Youtube implemented a 10 minute 2Gb max upload for videos.  Remember that you are dealing with short attention spans, so if you don’t want users to click away keep your social media videos short and fast paced.
3. Make it fun — Nobody will hang on boring videos, even on Youtube.  We want interesting shots, good music, natural sound, funny stories, or dumb clips.

Michael Jordan Media can develop social media videos around your business that will promote your brand and increase site traffic.

Tap into the social media revolution with Social Media Marketing and Optimization.

As people spend more time interacting with social media, you have the opportunity to reach prospects where they live — online. Whether leveraging blogs, bookmarks, RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or any of the numerous social networking vehicles, distributing content in the forms of articles, videos, images or podcasts can help you create and establish ties with vast like-minded communities.

Michael Jordan Media helps you employ the best strategies and practices to engage target demographics across various social media landscapes, and maintain brand continuity. We understand that Social Media can seem vast and over whelming, that’s because it is, which is why we’ve implemented our Social Media Management Plan for businesses that are to busy to “Tweet”. Call us at 585-209-0656 to learn more about how our Social Media Management Plan can help you stay sane.

Youtube is the 4th most visited site on the internet and the average user watches up to 12.5 hours of video online per week. Some people may want to naively think that Social Media is a fad. As the above video demonstrates, social media is not a fad, but a revolution that has already begun. The biggest complaint businesses have for Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube is that there never seems to be an end in sight. When business is busy members don’t have time to manage their online profiles. How do I spend time working on my social media when I hardly have time to work on my business? Another complaint about social media is that it is overwhelming and a bit confusing for generations that did not grow up around technology. I tried to share an article the other day and a link told me I could Tweet, Email, Blog, Digg, Blurb, or Spit it. These sound more like grotesque bodily functions than internet sharing plug-ins.

Most businesses are not in the dark when it comes to social media, they already have a Facebook page or Twitter account. But having an account and knowing how to use it to increase sales are two very different things. Think of Facebook as a market place filled with people and hundreds of vendors, many of them selling the same goods. If a buyer comes to the market for the first time wondering which vendor to buy from how do you suppose they will decide? Statistics show that less than 12% of online users will click on a paid advertising link even if it is specifically targeted to them based on their browsing trends. Compare that to 78% of people who will browse to a site based on a recommendation from a member of their social network. The competition for exposure in the market place is fierce and even more so online.

The best way to increase sales is to build your social media community and then engage them with relevant content. New York and Company a retail clothing store has been doing this for years. They gather shoppers email addresses and send out coupons and promotions periodically. Facebook Fan Pages and Group pages borrow from this same concept by co-creating a community identity around a particular business and marketing to friends and fans by referral rather than paid advertising. This is called social media marketing and it has proven highly effective and the best part is it comes at no cost to businesses.

1. Facebook social ads. Facebook social ad is very much like the advertisements on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN.  There are two options, a pay-per-click or pay-for-views model.  Like I said before there are over 500 million members on Facebook so social ads allow you to target your audience with ads that are specifically for them, yet consistent with your brand.  When the social ads are created users can select specific demographics and geographic areas to market to and the ads are then placed based on information obtained in the facebook user profiles.  If you want increased site traffic, brand exposure, and better ROI social ads may be the ticket.

2. Profile page. When you create a profile page it is easy to include links to your websites.  This is also the place to include information about your business products and services.

3. Social groups.  Probably one of the most viral marketing tactics on Facebook is the Social Group page.  Your social group page will allow you to post links, business updates and events so that your group members stay current with your business.  Posted material will show up in the news feed of your group members.

4. Facebook page for your website.  A Facebook page for your website is quite similar to your profile page. On your Facebook page, you can post links, information and gather fans for your business.

Probably the best reason to get connected with the Facebook community is that it is completely free.  Creating an account is easy and at the very least you will increase your brand exposure.  Remember that traffic will not automatically flow to your site just because you are on Facebook.  Facebook is a tool and like any tool it needs to be used properly.  For more information about how Michael Jordan Media can help you develop and optimize your Facebook promotion and manage your social media contact us today.

Michael Jordan Media is all about helping you build your organic search rank and online communities using blogs and social media.  We optimize sites so clients can manage social media content and still meet online conversion goals.  We design and optimize.  You bring the fresh content.  We throw it to various social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Linkedin).  All Googlebot search rank identifiers are built on back-links (a link to your site from an outside source). Apart from SEO, the backlinks of a webpage may be of significant interest: they indicate who is paying attention to that page. When MJM does your SEO you’ll never have to ask, “why can’t people find me on Google?”

The best news is that all these strategies are measurable.  Using Google Analytics we can watch to see how your page rank is affected by proper SEO.  Through a series of minor adjustments we will be able to accurately predict the best link structure for your site.

A lot of people don’t think about it, but SEO is the best way to increase business. Quality SEO is essential because it has the direct effect of increasing your site’s exposure.  The difference can be compared to having a sign in your yard with a logo on it and having a gigantic billboard in time square.  If you increase exposure you increase the traffic flow to your site.

Our goal is to employ cutting edge web technologies to help businesses increase site traffic, but it’s not easy.  Everyone is competing for site exposure and a top rank on search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.  And the name of the game is quality content and powerful keywords. Michael Jordan Media has chosen to use video as a key component for driving traffic. Since the Youtube explosion, video has become a powerful tool for driving traffic to websites. When a video goes viral, the link to the video spreads and as it is passed back-links are created and your site referral goes up.  Michael Jordan Media is all about producing good video and web content. We use Social Media outlets to share this content and generate leads for our clients.  The ultimate goal is optimizing sites for search engines and padding your ROI.  At Michael Jordan Media, that’s how we do it.

• Websites need to be more than a glorified “Contact Us” form. At MJM we build sites with fresh uniform themes, clear navigation, optimization for Google, Yahoo, MSN, and pages that allow clients to manage and contribute content that is dynamic (blogs, photos, videos, etc.)
• We help clients engage their target audience using Social Media. We leverage social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Blogs to generate back links that increase site visibility. Clients can manage profiles and engage their target audience with news and content that is relevant to them.
• You might say, “We already have a Facebook and Twitter, but our following on each is small and the only wall posts are from the administrator”. Social media is about engaging the fans and friends in your network with relevant content. Managing all these separate accounts can be time consuming, so our sites have built-in feed burners which allow links and content posted in one place to flow to your social media.