The Top 10 Brands by Likers on Facebook

With 500 million members and counting, Facebook is the most dominant Social Media platform for Business.  With the ability to openly communicate with consumers, Brands are developing interactions like never before seen.  Even though these Brands have large number of participants does not guarantee social media strategy success.  If you do not engage in open conversation and provide engaging interactivity, like a boring TV show, they will tune you out.
 
1. Starbucks – 16 million
2. Coca-Cola – 15 million
3. Oreo – 12 million
4. Skittles – 11.5 million
5. Red Bull – 10.2 million
6. Victoria’s Secret – 8.4 million
7. Disney – 8.3 million
8. Converse All Star – 7.3 million
9. iTunes – 7 million
10. Windows Live Messenger – 6.8 million

The Speed of Business

What has increased the speed of business, the Internet? of course, Social Networks? of course, Global Competition? of course, the Economy? of course, and the list goes on but these are a few key factors that have attributed to the current speed business is moving.

"In this age, the race really is to the swift. You cannot afford to be an hour late or a dollar short," Laura DiDio, principal analyst at ITIC, tells Goldman.

 Will businesses that move slow and steady be left behind by the current business speed?  The opportunity to capitalize an opportunities will go to the one that can not only move quick, but move quickly with precision (or as close to it as possible).  Businesses that have multiple layers of political or bureaucratic approval processes will struggle to act on vast moving surges of businesses opportunities.

Event Tip: First Impressions at an Event

Event Tip:
At your event main reception or check in area, insure that the staff working are thoroughly informed about your event, organization and other pertinent information.  As your first point of contact, first impressions make a lasting impression about your company or organization and event.  

Don't leave your customers alone in Social Media

If you have not admitted yet or will never, it does not matter at this point, Social Media is mainstream and here to stay!  When asked "why social media" you can mention these stats:

• Time spent on social networking sites increased 277% in 2009.
• Web users are 51% more likely to buy from your brand if they follow you on Facebook
• And are 60% more likely to recommend your brand
• Twitter served 10 billion Tweets
• Web users spends 6 hours a month with social media (and growing)
• “If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more” ( Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki)
• 18% of all new content found online, is found through social media
• 70% of Internet users reported “trusting” consumer opinions posted in social media
• 86% of companies in the largest 100 of the Fortune 500 use social media
• Google cares about your social network

*stats from Social Media Explorer

So, why would you leave your customers alone to talk with your competitors when you should be the one they are talking with, purchasing your goods or services and willing to share with others.  The key to Social Media is to develop an interactive strategy that evokes conversations. You must now think of yourself as a publishing and production company utilizing content and images to convey and converse your brand story.

                                                  "Oh, I just have to post a pic or two"  

         "Whats the big deal, anybody can do that!"  

                           "We get it, just look at the number of our followers"

These are regular comments I receive regarding social media.  Sure, give me the Domino's pizza account, who could not get 100k fans.  But to keep them engaged, willing to share and make purchases is the ultimate test of social media strategy. 

Toilet Paper and Toothbrushes

The economy has affected every company, small and large thus eliciting people that need to implement marketing strategies that actually work.  What a concept!  We witness many attempts that completely miss the target market market boat.  It has become a fun and entertaining game for my wife and I to watch commercials that we evaluate as to their effectiveness with message, images and target market.  The best part of this fun marketing evaluation exercise is to really see how some company's total miss the mark.

Having spent well over a decade consulting with all types of businesses in almost every industry, one of the first questions I always ask is, "Who is your target market?".  Typical answers to this question follow in these categories, if a large company who has been around a while and has the money for research comes back with a data sheet like a CIA profile report - this is very scary because most of the time interpreting this data into marketing plans becomes a grid iron of debate amongst the agency's that serve the brand.  Next you have the company that says,  "we kinda know who it is and that has worked for 20 years".  Really?  Then you have the new start-up or entrepreneur that says the greatest answer of them all, "Everybody!". 

Sorry to burst the bubble but only .0000001 percent of businesses have a truly defined target market of everybody.* And of those .0000001 maybe 1 can say this and that would be mother earth.  If your brand sells Toilet paper or Toothbrushes in a non-third world country that the majority of the population uses these items then for that region you can claim "everybody" as your target market. 

Finding your target market is like fishing.

A good fisherman does their research before finding the right place to cast their lines.  This includes knowing when the fish are going to be at the place, where the best place is, what type of gear to use and how to use the gear efficiently. 

So before going out and spending money on advertising, think like a fisherman. 

*Completely made up data but might actually be close to accurate.