Posted: November 18th, 2010 | Author: Lori | Filed under: Facebook Marketing, social media marketing, social media strategy | Tags: facebook, Lori Lorusso, social media tool | No Comments »
As I sit on my couch with my laptop comfortably resting on my lap I am happy to be watching one of my favorite television shows: Grey’s Anatomy I realize that while I may be a fan of The Food Network and Bethenny Frankel I am not nor do I want to be a fan of Grey’s Anatomy. Is that possible? Is it possible to be a fan of something without being a Facebook Fan?
It kind of makes me think about the tree falling in the woods and if no one is around does it make a sound. Now I am not sitting in my living room alone. My faithful companion Spades (minus the puppy Molly) is chilling with me watching the fictional doctors’ repair dismembered patients but does it count? Am I really a fan if I don’t login to my Facebook Account and search for Grey’s Anatomy and hit the like button? I say yes!
While I like getting updated on recipes that I will never make and where to buy Skinny Girl Margaritas that I will never purchase (I’m a Patron type of girl) I do not want to deal with overzealous fans and spoilers! I want to sit on my couch every Thursday and enjoy the show for what it is… an hour (minus the commercials) of escapism into the world or Seattle Grace! I don’t need to stay up to date on all of the fanfare I just need to watch the show.
Does this make me any less of an advocate than the over 9 million fans on the Fan Page I say no! I will still discuss the show with my girlfriends and anxiously anticipate the next episode. What does it all mean? It means do not get wrapped up in the number of Fans your business has (or doesn’t have) enjoy their patronage but don’t forget about all of the other Fan not Fans outside of the interweb (and Facebook).
Facebook is just one location for a community to gather. Don’t forget about the water cooler community and the cocktail hour community and all of the other subcultures that exist that like to discuss things amongst themselves and not with the 9 million “official fans.” Facebook is just one part of an overall marketing strategy and while it needs to be embraced it is not the end all be all for advocacy.
Stay tuned for next week’s episode… I know I will!
Posted: November 16th, 2010 | Author: Lori | Filed under: online marketing tool, social media marketing, social media strategy | Tags: bit.ly, marketing strategy, social media tool | No Comments »
There are tons of tools out on the interweb that are built to help your social media marketing campaign run smoothly. One of the tools out on the free market is Bit.ly. I know it might seem like Bit.ly is old news and passe but let’s take a fresh look at what this tool can do! I promise it will be worth your while.
The little link shortener that could
Bit.ly has a new look and the ablility to “Shorten, share and track your links” is an instrumental part to any online marketing campaign. If you’ll notice I didn’t specify a social media marketing campaign I think too often the tools created in the age of social media are overlooked in terms of integrated marketing campaigns. When you think strategy you need to look at the big picture both on and off the web.
When you login you’ll notice the newest feature of Bit.ly: Bundle. I haven’t been able to figure out how to Bundle any of my links yet but this feature seems very helpful if you were having an event and wanted to give people pertinent information like a link to the event website, a link to the registration page, and a link to the sponsors. In one shortened link you can give users all of the information they need. Hopefully Bit.ly will come out with a tutorial explaining how to use this new feature.
One of the best features of Bit.ly is the ability to customize your shortened link. This lets you give a specific url that can keep your online branding in sync. For instance I like the show Chelsea Lately on e!. So if I were to write a blog post about the show I might want to customize the link to look like this:
Now that I have customized and shortened my link I can share it on the internet and Track the hits. Just log into your account and scroll down the page till you see the link you want to track. Click the info button and Bit.ly gives you the link metrics:
Bit.ly has many benefits for a marketing campaign. Before you launch a promotion be sure to verify that the tools you use can benefit your project. Make sure they have metrics that you can use to track engagement. Bit.ly is a tool that can keep your branding with custom links and up to the minute tracking information. The next time you run a campaign give it a try and see if it is the right tool for you.
As I sit on my couch with my laptop comfortably resting on my lap I am happy to be watching one of my favorite television shows: Grey’s Anatomy I realize that while I may be a fan of The Food Network and Bethenny Frankel I am not nor do I want to be a fan of Grey’s Anatomy. Is that possible? Is it possible to be a fan of something without being a Facebook Fan?
