There are skeptics out there who are not willing to take a risk and engage in the world of social media. Some are afraid of change while others simply do not feel that they know enough about it. Then, there are some that know that their competition hasn’t engaged the customers through social media means. All of these are given as reasons for staying away. EXCUSES! But, what these individuals, businesses, brands, and organizations fail to realize is that social media and related Web 2.0 and beyond technologies are great opportunities that can aid their efforts in many different ways. What works for one company, brand, or organization won’t necessarily work for the rest – it is not a universal solution, for, instead, social media and related technologies and marketing efforts should be shaped and tailored to fit the needs and goals of company, brand, or organization. There is no copy and paste; alternatively, proper planning and preparation are needed to reach optimal success. Those rules (the need for planning and preparation) haven’t changed, for only the environment and landscape have changed. Just like football evolved from predominantly a running game to that of a passing game, marketing has evolved from television and newspapers to online media marketing. However, as in the past, the need to preplan and coordinate is just as great if not more so now than ever in the history of marketing. With new options and opportunities comes some added complexity in the marketing mix. But, determination, persistence, and planning will go a long way.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Who are your customers?
2. Where do your customers frequent online? (Facebook? Twitter? Blogs?)
3. What do you want to communicate to your customers?
4. Are you willing to listen to your customers?

For decades, more and more people have surrounded televisions around the nation and even the world to watch the Super Bowl. In its 44th annual installment on Sunday, more and more companies are looking at ways to do one of two things. One: those shelling out nearly three million dollars per 30-second advertising spot are wanting to maximize their visibility as best as they can. A great example of this is GoDaddy.com and its extended commercials (and conclusions) that are online following the airing of the Super Bowl ad. Two: some large companies are simply forgoing the costly route of producing and broadcasting their advertising messages within the normal Super Bowl channels. An example of this is Pepsi and their sudden departure from Super Bowl commercial placement. After 23 straight Super Bowl appearances, they are throwing all of their Super Bowl marketing budget behind social media! They are wanting to make a bigger difference and appeal in the world, and social media is allowing them greater success through their new Refresh Project.

While we do not know which team on the field is going to walk off with the Lombardi Trophy, one thing is for sure – the real winner will be social media. This illustrates how marketing is going through a paradigm shift of sorts. Mass media channels are simply not the only way to go if you seek national or global brand recognition. We have a new set of tools at our disposal, and some are tinkering with these new tools. Of course, there are a few companies and executives out there that are oblivious to this change that is rapidly fermenting; it is time to jump aboard the Social Media train.

As a superuser on the newly-popular location-focused social media Foursquare, I am finding myself running into new questions of protocol. Here are three that I find myself struggling with the most thus far:

• What do you do when you go to several businesses located at the same address? I find myself curious how to check-in when I pump gas at a local Shell gas station and then pick up some food for the family at the McDonalds inside. To me, they are two different businesses; I mean – they both have unique phone numbers. As such, I should check-in to both individually, right? What about if you are walking inside the mall on a Sunday and go store to store?

• When should I check-in? For the purpose of mere convenience and professionalize, I tend to check-in from my vehicle upon arrival and before entering the location. So, there are times when I arrived at the business too early, thinking that they were opened (only to find out after checking in that the business doesn’t open for another hour or two). I know this might not seem like a big deal, but I certainly do not want others to view me as a Foursquare spammer of sorts, looking simply to increase my check-in count, etc.

• Twitter Profiles? Do they want them or not? Foursquare allows you to enter them on the regular website, but they do not allow you to add the venue’s Twitter account using the mobile site. Of course, most people just want to hurry and add the missing venue and get going on their journey, but why not offer it as an option like they do on the regular site?

So, I am confident that 2010 will big year for Foursquare! Hence, I am sure that these questions will probably answer themselves soon, but I am hoping to find resolution to these fun-spirited Foursquare cultural curiosities.

As some of you may have noticed, I enjoy reading, especially the great business and technology books of yesterday and today. Consequently, I frequent Barnes & Noble (BN) and even Borders as much as my schedule permits. A while back, I was introduced to this great Godiva hot chocolate – did I mention that I love hot chocolate and simply do not drink coffee – that was offered at Barnes & Noble. Well, after getting hooked on this stuff, the company removed it from their café menu. As I moved down to Georgia, I began to inquire about the product more and more, and nobody at the local levels had first-hand knowledge about the back story regarding the removal of this delicious beverage, for they were left to acknowledge that it was gone and recommended that I purchase the Godiva cocoa powder to fulfill my cravings.

But, I am one of those loyal customers that still seeks alternative resolutions. I was wondering who was empowered to bring it back, either locally or, for that matter, nationally. The café mentioned that I should call the corporate numbers and inquire. I must admit that my first interaction with the customer service representatives over the phone were perplexing as they did not have the answers that I was looking for. The nice gentleman recommended that I speak with the local store, something that I already did. I even asked if there was a customer care representative that was on Twitter – maybe they could help. I recalled seeing BN Studio on Twitter, but I did not know if they were charged with resolving BN bookstore issues. Being the social media enthusiast that I am, I started to send public tweets to them, and soon on December 2, 2009) I received the breakthrough that I needed. They provided me with the corporate number. By contacting that number, I was transferred to the corporate café department managers. I enjoyed a great, transparent conversation with Dennis, one of BN’s great managers! (more…)

I wander around on Twitter and find myself excited to see great linked content, especially in the marketing and social media arenas. However, sometimes there are errors of situations that could be improved. Sometimes, the original tweets can be almost as long as the 140 character limit allowed, so that means that you have little choice but to chop the tweet up in order to fit all of the important information in for my followers and for those who might search the related hashtags. In my case, I consider that RT Optimization, and I believe it to be good. I am not there to nitpick every aspect of the tweet, but I am normally adamant about relaying the great tweet and do not give up because of a small hurdle. I still give credit to the originator or previous Retweeter (depending upon the information that I have at my disposal), but my goal is to ensure that my followers receive a valuable tweet that is understandable and useful. As a perfectionist, I try to make sure that I consider the basics when I tweet, allowing for RT Optimization by those wanting to forward my message on to their followers, but I, like everyone else, is not perfect. So, I am game for anyone wanting to slightly alter the tweet if I did not follow the basics or simply ran out of room so long as the overall message doesn’t change.

What are the trends out there for fake Retweets? How many people are putting words (or tweets) in others’ mouths? Also, are these people being caught? Certainly, this is a topic for future consideration. In the meantime, what are your thoughts about the art of the Retweet? What rules do you follow?

Technology is changing more and more in this fast-paced business and consumer world. Businesses are scrambling to keep up with these changes. The traditional means of conducting business is no longer acceptable or viable. Take the communication channels of yesterday versus those of today.

Traditional: We do not send postal mail like we used to. As a result, while the United States Postal Service (USPS) gets more efficient and embraces technology to allow customers to send mail with ease, the cost of shipping each package has increased because the traffic and sheer volume of postal mail has decreased. In fact, to reduce the bottom line and operating expenses, the USPS has considered cutting their Saturday services.

New Age: Email still remains a valid means of communication, but this is even changing as social media is taking over. As Brandon Eley and Shayne Tilley point out in their book, Online Marketing Inside Out, that many of today’s youth don’t check their emails that often and instead rely on their favorite social media channels to act as their communication tools.

Change is ongoing and inevitable. As the great social media guru, Paul Gillin, reminds us in his enlightening book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, to simply EMBRACE this CHANGE! By embracing the changes within business and marketing… and communication, we put ourselves into the conversation and into the game. If we do not, we will end up struggling to stay significant and lose any hopes of maintaining pace with the industry leaders. So, are you willing to embrace the changes today? Do you want to keep pace with the competition?

Technology enables us all to search on nearly every topic that we can think of, and it enables us to find information at the touch of the mouse. With the continued advancement of technology and movement into a well-established Web 2.0 where social media is growing a force that must be acknowledged, companies and brands alike need to remember the importance of transparency. Companies need to listen to their customers more than ever before, and they have to remain accountable for their actions, both good AND bad. When the companies make mistakes, as they all will, transparency can be the difference between customer forgiveness and understanding and losing critical market share and revenue.

If companies are going to find a competitive advantage, they must remain humble and transparent. Now, in the past, the larger, bigger companies had extra super powers that enabled them to claim themselves as exceptions to the rules, but today, in an age of advancing technology and two-way communication within the improving Internet, all companies have to follow the same rules.  C?ter?s paribus all companies begin on the same level and playing field within the virtual world that we now identify as Web 2.0! With today’s consumers able to reach a vast array of companies in a quest to fill their every need and want, today’s companies need to monitor their brands, put out fires, and ensure that they remain transparent to their niche target market; otherwise, customers will pick one of the other ten million suppliers!