Nick Cifuentes

Facebook will soon be allowing you to promote your Business (Fan) Page by using text messaging to allow users to Fan your Facebook Page - all by asking people to text the name of your page (www.facebook.com/xxxxxxxxxxxx) to 32665 (which spells ‘FBOOK’ on your phone) to become fans.

At this time, the feature is still in a beta mode, and has not yet been enabled for every Page admin yet. And another hitch in the process for Fans to successfully ‘join’ your Page, is that users need to have setup their mobile phone to receive texts from Facebook, which can be done on the settings page in your account.

Mobile Fan-ing

Even though this is not public at the moment, and is still in a beta mode, the possibilities could be endless for brands to better connect to future fans. Imagine being at a rally, concert event, a boardroom, a ballpark, and you ask people to take their phones out and send a simple message through texting via a mobile device.

Exactly.

Take that scenario inside your marketing department for a moment, and you include a prompt in brochures, commercials, websites, print ads, etc. Opening up this ‘quick’ engagement possibility for users could create a massive influx in growing your Fan count on your Page.

Going one step further, once a user is engaged with a brand through the mobile platform, users will receive a brand’s status updates via text message to their phone. After receiving the update through the phone, you can then respond and comment directly through text messaging. This process is entirely conducted by phone, without touching a computer. As this feature’s publicity grows, you can imagine what level of engagement you are able to produce!

Even though this has not gone live for everyone just yet, it will have a huge impact on the Facebook community once it does. We’ll keep you up-to-date as information becomes readily available.

Inauguration & Facebook Connect.

As today marked the first day of what many people hope is a shift in direction for the United States, CNN also embraced the day with live video coverage tied into the Facebook Connect platform.

Inauguration Day, the day Sen. Barack Obama became the first African-American President of the United States.  The day the 44^th President of the United States expressed that although we are in a midst of crisis, and the challenges we face are real, they will be met. More importantly, President Obama expressed this thought through not only television and radio, but also through streaming online video on thousands of websites across the Internet. One of those websites who met this challenge and decided to integrate the most widely used social network with this online video component, was CNN.

On CNN.com, video was integrated with the Facebook Connect platform to create a streaming conversation piece that utilized the Facebook message status capabilities along with live streaming video. This combination turned into a very successful technique that allowed users to connect with their friends during the Inauguration, and chat directly with them through the status update & comment capabilities.

This is a great example of allowing social media to connect with important, live events in today’s society. This is the kind of connection that we need to enhance in today’s web 2.0 world. Tired we are of the naysayers who express that social media is for those who have too much time or use it too frivolously. This allowed people to interact on a personal level with each other while watching a highly publicized event. Going one step further, it allowed users from across the world to access the event and make their points through conversation.

With just this example, a simple CNN.com live webcast - we see the powerful message not only in the direct message itself, but through the community we interact with daily. Your friends, friends of friends, everyone involved in the Facebook community, were able to see each other’s comments and create interaction on the platform - using a large, public event and tying it to Facebook.

Quick numbers just in courtesy of the CNN.com broadcast, during the speech, there were over 1 million people who updated their status messages, more than 85,000 updates just a minute before President Obama began to speak to the crowd. Numbers alone…wow! To say that is impressive is an understatement. The crew at Facebook said that this was the largest number of user status updates ever, in such a short period of time.

Web 2.0 - Time for “Change”.

It was not only a powerful speech, but a powerful move in a web 2.0 world. We all know that social media has had a very strong impact on this past year’s election, and something we should recognize is the fact that social media is being embraced by the current administration. Barack Obama utilizes Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and many more social networks to help connect with the users on a personal level, and realizes how important these social community networks have become in relation to his message.

Not only will President Obama’s message be relayed through these channels, but it will also help build grass-roots support for his agenda.

In a major move just done this morning, the official WhiteHouse.gov website was switched over from the old interface to the brand new ‘Obama’ look about an hour before his Inauguration. The new website looks very familiar when compared to his campaign websites. The most important aspect to recognize here, beyond the design, is the interactive features he offers on the platform. Tremendous calls-to-action that create a significant gateway to features such as his blog, videos, slideshows and much more!

Conclusion.

In the end, we have to examine the priority when confronting not only politics, but social media as well - to stand alone or stand together? When I see the new administration and analyze how they have reached where they are now - they did this with efforts that can be contributed greatly to social media and its external reach.  And when we look at a president who can connect with us in these channels and not just speak to us, BUT WITH US - no matter what party affiliation you are - you have to respect that!

God Speed.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

When approaching the subject of social bookmarks, (aka website chicklets), think about your strategy. I know it might seem easy enough to just place a ’share this’ or ‘add this’ widget to your website, but you need to consider the ‘little’ things about these valuable marketing assets.

I am not going to dive into the definition of what these devices are (as you should be aware) - you have seen these on hundreds of thousands of websites. These social bookmarks, also referred to as website chicklets, offer the ability to share content easily through social content network websites, such as Facebook, Digg, Delicious, Google, Windows Live, Yahoo Buzz, Stumbleupon, Twitter, Fark, Magnolia and many others.

These sites might seem silly at first, but if you are a fellow blogger or social media enthusiasts; you know how valuable this social media strategy is for you. These websites allow access to an audience of hundreds of millions of people who converse inside these channels daily. I don’t know if I need to go into numbers, but why not…let’s do it.

During the time frame of December 2007 through December 2008, the following are the number of unique visitors to each respective social community network website: (Remember these are unique visitors to the website - NOT overall traffic for the year)

• Google Bookmarks: 140 million people
• Yahoo! Buzz: 134 million people
• Windows Live: 88 million people
• Facebook: 60 million people
• Digg: 33.5 million people
• Twitter: 4.4 million people
• Stumbleupon: 4.2 million people
• Delicious: 1.8 million people
• Fark: 451,000 people
• Mag.nolia.com: 90,000 people
  (**numbers courtesy of Quantcast)

I think you see my point - these networks are growing on an exponential level. To think of the daily traffic numbers these websites receive every single day - it could make you shiver. Google Bookmarks alone probably sees close to 100 million visitors a day, if not more. And the numbers given above are just unique visitors to the website. Do you know how many more hundreds of millions of people come back daily to take part in what these websites offer?

These social networking channels are key components in driving not only traffic, but linkage to your website. Placing your website into these networks allows you to drive thousands of unique visitors based upon submission of your content through the social bookmark channels.

Sites.

Blogs, News sites, content networks, article banks, products of any kind online, almost anything with original content tied to it is attached to a social bookmarking tool. Some of the best and worst examples come with news websites.

The New York Times are one of those examples of great placement and overall use of website chicklet attachment. Placing this option on EVERY story on the website, as the NYT does - allows them to gain great traction on linkage and enhance their overall presence on the social network community websites.

An example of a misguided attempt at using website chicklets would be on Boston.com. I look at their placement and say OK, that is fine - but their call-outs are poorly designed, as this example blends in too much with the story overall. It is best to create a completely separate call-out-box, such as the NY Post and Philly.com does in their examples. Otherwise, look at the New York Times (above) and see how they separate it off strategically to the right side of the story - not in line with the copy. This is wonderful placement!

You need to think, when a reader is about to take hold of a story, they look at the picture and title initially, and then start reading down, looking for their CONTENT first, not a social bookmark chicklet they can pass to their friends. They have not even read the first couple paragraphs of the story yet. You have to allow the reader to get comfortable with the material before having them pass the story along to their chosen social network or email it to a friend option. In the Boston.com example, you don’t see any particular call-outs; you only see a ’share this’ application that does little for a user who is unfamiliar with the chicklet. In the NYT example, you see separate icons (calls-to-action) for Linked In, Facebook, Digg, and then you see a button to press for more options - much more effective!  Do you see my point?

Conclusion.

Whether you are a website that offers products or content of ANY kind - consider using these social bookmarks to help grow your traffic. These websites offer the ability for people to easily ’share’ your content, as well as create a number of outbound links for your website. You might have a blog, or other types of content, a viral product, videos, pictures, etc…whatever it might be - you can attach these chicklets to your overall marketing strategy and allow users to push your content into these social community content websites.

Try it - and just see what happens!

Fin.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Wake Up.

This post has nothing to do with social media, online marketing or any kind of branding of the sort. This has to do with life, and I think sits well for an end of the year reflection and 2009 outlook we should all consider.

I think we all have taken this approach - a place where we ‘play it safe’. We think standing by our guards and doing the everyday over and over and over again is going to bring us our just rewards. It might…but in the longterm - is that going to make you happy? I know we need to understand the difference between what is the right thing to do, and what is the smart thing to do - that’s normal. But, think if you were to walk on the other side of the line for a moment - where chances are taken and risks are made - would that work for you?

Is making sure your 2009 budget is where it needs to be going to make you ultimately happy - or are you going to regret not allowing yourself to take those few chances, and speak up - and help push things further beyond a stable budget - all because you were afraid to say yes.

I am not trying to be Tony Robbins here, nor am I suggesting you sacrifice precious revenue on chance. But I am suggesting you think about your life and choices for a moment. How often have you regretted not doing something because you were afraid? Speaking up at a meeting or to your boss - jumping in on a business opportunity that might help your overall goal - even though you were unsure.

My point is not to ramble, but I think denying ourselves a chance at taking part in the conversation - even though we might be a bit timid at first, or might feel out of our element, it’s crucial to realize what you are missing out on, and more importantly, what you are withholding from yourself. There is chance for growth around every corner - even in a chaotic world as today’s is. Your business, your life, your every second is worth something - don’t scold those assets you have by not enjoying and saying ‘I want to do that’ instead of being too afraid. You have no idea the amount of opportunity you could be missing out on by not attending a function or going to a lunch, or just saying I will do it, even if you aren’t sure or maybe thinking this isn’t for you.

Stop Being Afraid.

I know I probably sound like I am rambling a bit - but I am just personally disgusted with those who don’t want to take control of their lives, instead of their lives controlling them. Spontaneity I believe is one of our greatest fears - the ability to take a chance every now and then, without having to ‘think’ so much about it. To go out your ’safety’ zone and experience life, instead of always trying to be the ‘comfortable’ self we seem to be OK with on a regular basis. Go out of bounds every once and awhile, speak at the panel you always been too nervous about, take those lessons you’ve always laughed at or been to nervous to try, open up that new location you are not sure is going to work, climb a mountain, fly a plane, get a tattoo, etc, etc…you see my point - loud and clear!

Stop running away from life, and take hold of what you are, and what you really want to be. Stand up and speak, and stop holding back - you are only hurting yourself. Whether this relates to your work environment, personal life, relationships, friends, family or whatever you believe this could be applied to, stop holding back. Be the person you’ve always wanted to be, stand up and speak your mind, take a chance and go for it!

I am so tired of the people who just do what they do without enthusiasm, or any kind of desire to be better. You are too comfortable - if that makes sense. You are too tied to the everyday and comfortable with that. Stop treading your feet and take chances, open up and take part in life - you will be amazed by what you could discover and what might come of that.

Everything you do is calculated, from the moment you get up to the time you go to sleep. I can’t understand how people can be so comfortable with that.

I say this too often to people I know, and now I want to say this to you: you have one shot in this life, one time to make the most of what you do everyday worth it. Stop holding back and quit being afraid to take chances. I promise, you won’t regret it!

fin.

Doing my normal everyday thing, that’s what I like to call it, I came across the Obama ’08 iPhone Application – just released today.

I expected this. I think we all did. Just look at how this election has boiled down with only 33 days left until we vote for our next “great” leader.

The application features a “unique” look at the Obama campaign – you can see first your contact list is separated by states and you are able to call them to tell them to vote for Obama, or organize a fun political retreat easier. Like your going to do that!  Just kidding. And it also does the normal things you might expect, such as receiving updates, news, finding local events using the GPS features, watching multimedia clips and Sen. Obama’s view on the all the issues, which you can look up in a very easy manner under the issues tab.

This just expands on the face of social media, and how each candidate has approached this upcoming election. For example, each candidate built a website that is very ‘social media’ friendly, with both taking a Web 2.0 approach.  At the same time, on the Obama website, you can follow him on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Twitter, Eventful, LinkedIn, BlackPlanet, Faithbase, Eons, Glee, MiGente, MyBatanga, and AsianAve.

McCain’s website has a similar look and feel, but a little too obvious, like there trying too hard to be something there not – if you know what I mean.  He put something together called the McCain Community; you can go and personalize news feeds, a blog, etc…but offers little reach to communities outside of his own – besides his links to a MySpace, Facebook and YouTube channel to follow him on.

And it makes perfect sense – Obama is ‘for change’ (guy says that), and is the choice of many young voters; who through social media, have been involved in this pre-election nonsense that began more than two years ago when candidates were preparing to make their run.

But with candidates taking advantage of Facebook and MySpace, using the all-famous, but not very successful CNN YouTube debates; this all has culminated to an end point where you would expect the voter turnout to be massive – with such a younger population involved.

Will that be the case?

Probably not – I feel like we heard that same message four years ago – but again, these social media applications and tools were not what they are today – so of course it is possible.  But naturally, you have to aim high, and expect low.

To close this wonderfully short posting – the Obama iPhone Application – even if you don’t like him – take a look @ it – another priceless application. I am just curious what McCain will counter with?

Fin.

Porn. It is and always will be a key element of the Internet – with it accounting for almost 10 percent of all Web searches, according to Hitwise.  

But at one point many, many years ago (exactly 10) – a massive 20 percent of all Internet Web searches accounted for porn. However, thanks to sites like Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites, porn on the Internet is not as popular as it used to be – simply put.  

Hitwise researchers said that surfing for porn had dropped to about 10 percent of searches from 20 percent a decade ago – the sites that grab all the searches now are the social networking sites.  

The research said that visits to porn sites have decreased, and social networking traffic as increased. 

Now, I don’t entirely believe this – to think people are so busy with MySpace that they don’t have time to look at porn.  I believe that web growth ‘overall’ has lended mostly to this result, and other changes in the way people utitlize the Internet - that is the true difference.

Point is, the Internet is bigger then ever, and much more people are using it than ever before.  And more kids then ever are involved online – so it makes sense that fewer users are looking at porn.

Another point – you can look at Facebook at work, more than you can look at porn. And if your working – chances are your using the web at work, more than you were 10 years ago – before social media websites existed.

Enough said.

With the back-to-school season in full swing, a number of retailers have lined up social media tactics to attract new shoppers.

Targeting teens and young adults – social media has emerged as a key component in drawing new targeted users through social networking sites, such as facebook, to deliver their marketing campaigns.

With an already shaky economy scaring buyers away from the stores, shoppers need to realize that retailers will only use these types of marketing efforts more often as consumers continue to pinch pennies.

To promote a new clothing line, J.C. Penny created an online game called “DorkDodge” in which a girl has to navigate through a number of unwanted boyfriends to find her dream date.  The retailer also launched an integrated marketing campaign that gave the teens the opportunity to ‘get that look’, using a clothing theme from the movie “The Breakfast Club.”

And retailers like Victoria’s Secret and Apple are using their valued partnerships with universities and college-aged consumers as a key demographic.  Victoria’s Secret partnered with 33 universities to launch Pink’s Collegiate Collection, a series of shirts, accessories and sports gear cross-branded with colors, names and mascots from participating universities.  And as part of Apples’s back-to-school promotion, students and faculty of an accredited university receive a free iPod with the purchase of a computer.

And it should be said, that retailers will find a stronger influence with social media and Web 2.0 experiences by allowing most of the benefits coming from branding and awareness building, rather than direct sales.