We applaud Dr Larry for reaching out to many different professionals to speak to his class, since things are changing so rapidly in online marketing. We are sure that the class will gain significant insights into marketing tactics by hearing directly from the source.  For reference materials, the class also uses  Life After the 30 Second Spot by Joseph Jaffe as well as listening to the JaffeJuice podcast.

Facebook was a major segment of the conversation particularly as the students discussed the migration away from My Space for various reasons, most notably the intrusive nature of the advertising on My Space.

The main point that we tried to make during the conversation is that there are different types of influencers who have impact on consumers, depending upon the social network being discussed .. from anonymous influencers on Amazon to friendly influencers on Facebook, with follower/following influencers in between.  Marketers need to understand how all types of influencers can have an impact on consumers and the most successful will initiate brand conversations on every social network, according to the type of relationships that are established there.

We should also point out that the class had a definite understanding of online privacy concerns and in particular how it could impact their job search should inappropriate things end up where they can be found.

A suggestion for Dr. Larry’s class is to invite a legal expert in to discuss privacy in the digital age. The class could be geared towards the responsibilities of a marketer who might be developing apps or Facebook games to promote a brand, that simultaneously gathers market research and personal information. How is a marketer obligated to handle this information without causing harm to the user?

Meanwhile, Facebook announced and then retracted their changes to the Terms of Service. The flap seems to be a big stink about something that was percieved as reality in the general public anyway .. anything that is put online is generally no longer in your control.  It does however, point out a general mistrust of Facebook’s overall intentions, particularly among power users who have seen services like Beacon get launched and then withdrawn due to privacy concerns.

Facebook has to consider how their reputation is percieved, most notably among influential bloggers who criticize the company.  From the initial complaints recently settled by the founders of ConnectU who claim the concept was stolen from them .. all the way through to Beacon and now TOS fiascoes, Facebook has been battered many times over. While another behemoth online, Google continues to advance apps that could directly impact a person’s privacy while setting up a major marketing windfall without too much complaint.

What do you think, should privacy become a central part of the curriculum for a marketing class?

On a day when at the stroke of noon eastern time, the web site Whitehouse.gov was revealed to proclaim “WhiteHouse.gov will be a central part of President Obama’s pledge to make his the most transparent and accountable administration in American history”.  It is a day when the Whitehouse web site includes a blog with the first post Change Has Come to Whitehouse.gov

During the Overflow podcast recorded on this morning of great change in the country, we talk about how social media tools are different for every person, place or thing. Despite some who are trying to apply do or don’t principles to using social media, decreeing a certain protocol must be followed to be true social media, we believe that each situation dictates how to use the tools that we have.

Social media is self governing in a truly democratic kind of way, which will allow everyone to have their own voice in how they wish to use the tools. Those with their own ideas should be allowed to put them forth … and should not be warped to the expectations of the few with the loudest voices.  If someone uses social media tools  in a way that is acceptable to you, follow and dialogue with that person, if not then find someone who meets your expectations.

From a business perspective make sure that as client and consultant, measurement factors are determined prior to implementation of social media strategies, with an eye towards the objectives to be achieved. It may be number of followers, community members, posts on a forum … more than simply a conversion to sales.  As long as the expectations are clear from the outset, tactics that achieve results are to be rewarded.

To tie it back to the swearing in of our 44th President, allow the tools to help provide you with  a voice and a say in the process. How much you use them to influence your community depends upon how much you participate.   There is no right way or wrong way as long as you act, just make sure you do on to others……..

In an attempt to demonstrate our thinking regarding the use of social media tools, we thought that it would be clever to take a look at a specific organization and bring to light our recommendations. The idea seemed to fall into the category of killing two birds with one stone … record a weekly podcast for our listeners and then re-purposing that podcast as a new business pitch. We would send a link for Overflow to that potential client that we targeted, outlining our rationale.

Upon second thought, we decided that it wasn’t fair to the subscribers and listeners of Overflow to subject you to that type of blatant pitch. Your time is too valuable and we are humbled that you choose to spend some time each week with us, and we would have felt extremely guilty if we had proceeded with our idea.

So here is our first Overflow of 2009:

We have come to appreciate Facebook as a potential network for brands to gain exposure to a potential of 150 million users and counting. Facebook seemed to be a hangout for college socialites planning the next keg party in the early days so we were not heavy supporters, however we have come around to believe that it can be a destination to build a secondary brand community complimenting the original web site/ blog.

There are still elements in Facebook that aren’t all to clear from a real business standpoint – throwing sheep, sending flair, sending drinks .. although Cameron postulates that the branding of such “features” could help promote a product.

The older demographic is starting to adopt Facebook as a great way to regain contact with long lost high school and college friends, while the growth of the younger adopters has flattened out, simply because they have saturated the space. It really is starting to hit the mainstream.

Our experience with clients advertising on Facebook has not yielded any results in terms of click throughs or conversions on the banner ads throughout the site, so there is still an entire business model to be executed for the company. However, brands who are able to interject their message directly into the news feed of users we believe will witness significant results.

That’s why Facebook Connect as an application should be immediately deployed by brands. Having consumer interactions with a brand’s blog appear directly in the news feed of Facebook users is a sure fire way to expose a message (important!!) in an actual consumer’s voice to their social group. From there it becomes exponential message reinforcement and growth as others within that friends list interact with the brand.

Also keep in mind the opportunity to post video and photography as a way to create brand awareness.

A secondary conversation to the Facebook social network is the use of LinkedIn as a complimentary way to expand your social graph. A great feature to use if you are looking to demonstrate knowledge or expertise in a category is to participate in LinkedIn Answer to gain credibility.

Have you found Facebook to be beneficial for your brand marketing efforts? Let us know in the comments.

To friend us on Facebook you can connect with Joe and Cameron

To connect on LinkedIn you can find Joe’s profile or Cameron’s profile.