Every day, more and more businesses and brands are using Twitter to help build their brands and to forge stronger relationships with their target audience.  Or at least, more and more businesses try to do that.  Unfortunately, most come up a little (or a lot) short in this area.  One of the biggest reasons for their Twitter failure is due to the fact that the updates that they are pushing across Twitter are boring as oatmeal.

Twitter represents on of the most dynamic and powerful communication tools ever available to the masses.  This platform allows users, from around the world, to send and receive updates from almost any Internet connected device.  Those updates (usually) are received in real time.  The ability of Twitter to move ideas and conversations around the world in nanoseconds is, when you think about it, truly amazing.  So, this being the case, why are so many brands and “social media experts” using Twitter for nothing more than broadcasting links and re-tweeting others?

Twitter really can help you strengthen both your business and your brand.  It can be used to connect, intelligently, with other people, brands, and organizations from around the world.  Twitter can be used to add value to your target audience.  It can be used, with incredible effectiveness, as one of the most powerful customer relationship tools ever made available.  However, in order for any of this to happen, you need to put some time, thought, and effort into your tweets.

-Dan Cheek
LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com
Twitter.com/laserburnmedia
(570)795-9467

As most of you have probably heard or read by now, Apple has announced that the latest version of iTunes, iTunes 10, will feature a built in social network.  Known as Ping, this social network will be built around music.  Users will be able to follow others, including bands and artists, see who is buying what, and post updates and reviews of music and the artists who make it.  All very exciting.

However, many questions still loom large, the biggest one being how popular and widely used Ping will become.  Everyone knows that iTunes is insanely popular and if even a small portion of the iTunes user base becomes active on Ping, it would instantly become a leading player in the social media arena.  And since Ping can also be accessed and updated on the go (via the iPhone and iPod Touch), a huge number of people will have access to Ping at their fingertips at all times.  If you are a marketer, you are already twitching with excitement.

The potential value of Ping to the music industry is huge, obviously.  With record labels and artists still struggling to figure out a workable business model, using Ping as a marketing tool is a no-brainer.  But many other groups are going to be taking a hard look at Ping and its potential as a social marketing platform, as well.  The iTunes user community is huge, diverse, and growing.  You can bet that every online marketer, and the brands that they support, are already devising marketing strategies around Ping and its potential.

Once Ping is released to the general public (which will probably be happening, literally, any minute now), you can bet that it will be exploding with activity.  Within hours, millions of profiles will be created as the iTunes nation begins to take Ping for a test ride.  And, just as certainly, the marketing industry will be working overtime trying to develop winning marketing strategies for this new platform.  The next few days are going to be exciting for music geeks and social marketing geeks alike.  As I consider myself a member of both camps, I can’t wait.

-Dan Cheek
LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com
Twitter.com/LaserBurnMedia
(570)795-9467

A few days ago, we set up a MySpace profile.  Many of you may consider this a questionable decision, especially considering how far MySpace has fallen behind other social platforms like Facebook and Twitter.  This wasn’t a decision that we rushed into.  For a while, we were actually content to ignore MySpace and focus our social media efforts elsewhere.  However, after further consideration, we decided that there were enough reasons to move into the MySpace platform.

The biggest reason that Laser Burn Media is now on MySpace is that many small businesses still use MySpace as their only online presence.  In an effort better identify and build relationships with these organizations, we decided to operate on the same social platform that they do.  This is consistent with the advice that we provide to our clients, be where your target audience is.  MySpace provides us an opportunity to connect directly a larger segment of our target market.

Second, having a profile on MySpace will help increase our footprint on the web.  Unlike Facebook, MySpace is indexed by search engines like Google and Yahoo.  By maintaining a MySpace profile that accurately reflects our brand image, we think we can increase our brand awareness, perform a bit better in search engine queries, and perhaps gain a foothold on a platform that many of our competitors are ignoring.  Or so the theory goes, anyway.

Finally, having a MySpace profile gives us something else to play with.  Since being well versed in all aspects of social media, including MySpace, is part of our job description, we think it makes sense to have a MySpace profile.  This gives us an opportunity to try new strategies, become intimately familiar with the platform, and stay in touch with the culture of the MySpace community.  We think that by maintaining a MySpace profile, we’ll learn a lot more about the platform, the people who use it, and how they use it, than we otherwise would have.

We realize that MySpace is, rightly or wrongly, falling further and further out of favor with both businesses and marketers.  However, Laser Burn Media has made the decision to engage the MySpace community by maintaining a profile there.  We hope it will provide us access to a larger segment of our target market, allow us to build a bigger online footprint for our brand, and to learn more about the platform and those that use it.  That’s our reasoning for setting up a MySpace profile.  Why are your thoughts?

-Dan Cheek
LaserBurnMedia.com
Twitter.com/LaserBurnMedia
(570)795-9467

 While Foursquare has been talked about in corporate boardrooms as the next big thing in social media — it has some 2.5 million users — it has also spawned a more trivial pursuit: a petty and vicious battle over virtual pieces of turf.

Yes, I realize this is probably an unfair comparison.  However, I think it’s one worth making.  Why?  Because for many small businesses, with limited marketing budgets, this is a choice they have to make.  Traditional media vs social media.

First, let’s take a look at the billboard.  Here’s what it has going for it…

• It’s big.  Lots of people will probably see it.
• For a business targeting drivers (gas stations, restaurants, etc.), it can be pretty effective.
• Did I mention that it’s big?

Now let’s look at the limitations of the billboard…

• There’s no way to tell how many people, exactly, actually saw it.  Even if you counted cars and passengers in those cars, how many people actually saw it and/or paid attention to it?
• It’s static.  It doesn’t move, it doesn’t interact, and if you have to quickly change the message…good luck.
• It can be damaged by the weather.
• It’s competing with thousands of other billboards for attention.  How many billboards do you see everyday, just on your drive to work?

Okay, now let’s look at the Facebook Ads.  Here are the advantages…

• They can be highly targeted to an exact demographic.
• Facebook provides the ability to measure, exactly, how many people saw the ads and how many people actually clicked on them
• The ads can be quickly changed, allowing a marketer to test the effectiveness of different ads, or to quickly respond to changing conditions, competitor ads, etc.
• The budget for a Facebook advertising campaign is highly flexible.

And now let’s consider the downside…

• They’re not very big.
• It’s possible that your target market isn’t on Facebook.

So, all things considered, there are probably more advantages to using a Facebook advertising campaign vs using a billboard.  Obviously, this isn’t true for every business.  Sometimes, yes, a business may be better off going with a billboard.  However, given the advantages/disadvantages to each, it certainly should give pause to any business considering spending on advertising.  This is especially true if the marketing budget is small, because as I mentioned, a Facebook advertising campaign can be much more adaptive and budget-flexible.

Just something to consider.  All for now.

-Dan Cheek
LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com
Twitter.com/LaserBurnMedia
(570)795-9467