Social Media Grows Up & Delivers R.O.I.

When it comes to advertising, I have always been a much bigger fan of programs that drive business results than those that win awards for creativity. I guess this is timely being that everyone gets so geared up about creative TV ads during the Super Bowl. Today's big trend in advertising and marketing is social media. It's so hot these days that Pepsi even made big news by ditching their normal Super Bowl ad spend in order to fund The Pepsi Refresh Project, their 2010 social media initiative.

I've been fortunate enough to work in the social media industry for many years at companies like BOSSdev and Powered. It's been enjoyable watching social media evolve from a little something that innovative clients would fund as a proof of concept into what is today an important component of most marketing plans.

One marketing professional I follow and admire who is very versed and steadfastly focused on the R.O.I. of social media is Olivier Blanchard aka The Brand Builder. Olivier has a nice style about his presentations. They are engaging, relevant and entertaining. But do not mistake his style, for lack of substance. He delivers plenty of substance and advice on how to track the business results of your social media efforts (hint: it's about more than tracking media). Here's a great presentation by Olivier on the basics of social media R.O.I.

Olivier Blanchard Basics Of Social Media Roi

View more presentations from Olivier Blanchard.

Facebook Supercharges Brands' Digital Marketing

Facebook is burgeoning. Over 300 million active users with 50% or more logging on each day. Hitwise recently clocked its traffic being in the neighborhood of a 60% share of US-based social activity. Last summer, Mashable reported that people share more content via Facebook than email (source: AddToAny).

Brands like VW and Bud Light are savvy to this. They are integrating and leveraging the power of Facebook into their marketing. Notice how they use custom tabs on their pages to present fully controlled messaging. Importantly, brands can leverage the data power of FBML within this controlled presence.

Try the VW "Analyze Me" tool and you might be shocked at what it immediately knows about you.

While these pages aren't replacing their brand.com sites, they are at the forefront in connecting with consumers online; and serve as an important touch point and traffic driver. If your brand targets consumers and isn't doing this kind of social media marketing, you should be considering it now.

I love this shift! This continuum in the evolution of communications is what makes my career invigorating. I love learning the lay of the land in emerging media; and then applying classic business and marketing principles to them.

I am fortunate enough to work with some amazing visionary clients and fantastic people at BOSSdev to create compelling Facebook solutions. I'm tipping my hat towards you, Mr. K. Alan Robbins.

Are you creating branded presences on Facebook for your company or your clients? Are you planning to do so? I would love to hear your stories and opinions.