Recommended Sites

It’s fair to say that in the world of social media, Facebook dominated for April. With its upcoming IPO and huge acquisition of Instagram, Facebook ran the social media scene the past few weeks. While these two stories have definitely been front and center, there are some other social medial happenings that occurred over the past few weeks. In case you missed any of the big news, here’s a recap of the social media happenings for April.

Facebook

Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 billion (via Mashable) Thanks to the social media giant’s purchase, Instagram use has exploded the past month with the application now having more than 50 million users and it averaging roughly 5 million new users per week. Considering the app started the year with only 15 million users, the acquisition, coupled with the fact the app is now available on Android, is going to mean big things for Instagram-mers.

Facebook IPO set at $28 to $35 a share (via Wall Street Journal) These IPO share prices for Facebook put the company’s valuation at between $85 billion and $95 billion. The company is expected to debut on the stock marketing at the end of next week (May 18).

Facebook hits 900 million users (via Techvibes) 900 million people log on to Facebook each month, and more than half of them (500 million) are active users on the mobile platform. Estimates have Facebook hitting 1 billion users by the end of the year.

Facebook offering Analytics tool for ads (via Mashable) Facebook is planning on introducing a new feature that will allow marketers to see how fans of their Pages are responding to ads. The new feature, Action Management, will allow marketers to go deeper into user-engagement data.

Twitter

Judge rules tweets can be used in court (via Mashable) A New York judge ruled that prosecutors don’t need a warrant to subpoena a Twitter account. Just another reminder to all those social media addicts out there to think before you tweet.

Twitter updating Discover tab (via Mashable) The Discover tab, which displays trending topics, people to follow, and recommended stories, now has an updated recommendation algorithm to display more meaningful content. The new version should be available to users within the next few weeks.

Google+

Google+ gets a new look (via TechCrunch) Google+ unveiled a new look last month that makes Google+ profiles look a little like Facebook profiles with large cover images and small profile pictures. It also offers a new navigational structure, as well as an Explore feature that takes users to popular topics on the social network.

Tumblr

Wouldn't that be nice? While it's easy to calculate what you're putting in to it (your time, training, overhead, etc), it's often hard to put a dollar value on what you're getting out. There are many metrics that are nice to look at, like the number of fans, followers, and connections. However, while they may help your ego, there is no correlation with these numbers and actual dollars.

The next step is to look at those things that are more important, like the engagement level of your network. For example, 10 fans who actively comment on and share your social media posts with their networks are more valuable than 100 fans who aren't involved. When looking at your Facebook analytics, don't fixate on the reach of a given post as much as the virality. That's the indication of how much it's being shared rather than how many times is is scrolled past in someone's timeline.

Google Analytics now provides some more social tracking and reporting, including the social source graph. This shows which networks visitors to your site are coming from, and what they do when they get there. While this again doesn't show true ROI, it can show you what campaigns aren't working. For example, here is a capture of our social source graph. You can see a post we did that we advertised on StumbleUpon. The traffic spike was great, but you can see the vast majority of the visitors left our site right after reading it (indicated in red). A few people stayed, which would've been great if the article was picked up on StumbleUpon organically. However, while we were originally encouraged by the traffic, we now can see that it wasn't quality traffic.



To get one step closer to ROI, you can try Oliver Blanchard's FRY method. This looks at your customers' buying frequency (F), your reach in terms of quantity of customers (R), and how frequently customers buy (F). Charting those numbers on top of the other key performance indicators like social engagement can get you really, really close to ROI. However there is still the issue of correlation not equaling causation. Frustrating, I know.

All that said, there are two rock solid ways to calculate real live social media ROI (besides marketing yourself only through social media). The first is to move the transaction to the social network. Take a look at the clothing brand Express on Facebook. Through a custom app, they've moved the shopping experience inside Facebook. Sure, you can still buy on their site, but by having this second storefront, they are able to truly judge what sales came from where. This can go beyond sales to companies like mine that look at lead forms as a conversion. Get the form in, earn the business, and you've got bona fide ROI.

The second way is through another nifty Google Analytics tool, the Social Value report. This report uses the conversion tracking you've setup already (can be a shopping cart page, a lead form, etc), and tells you how people got there. It even breaks down those conversions by people who came directly from a social media site versus those who visited you socially, and then bounced around for awhile before closing the deal. This is great information to watch!

What are some other metrics you like to keep an eye on in the social space?

Sons of Anarchy has tapped Harold Perrineau to join the Season 5 cast in the critical role of Damon Pope.

The Lost vet will play the ex-drug kingpin whose daughter was murdered by Tig in the Season 4 finale, creating what series creator Kurt Sutter recently called a “clusterf***” for Jax and SAMCRO.

The super PAC backing Mitt Romney's presidential run retained its place as the number one super PAC, in terms of financing, as it pulled in an additional $3.85 million in April, according to a report filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Contributions continued to flow into the group from the financial industry, with at least $1.77 million coming from individuals working in the sector. Romney's campaign has traded on his connections in the finance world to pull in millions from the employees of big banks, hedge funds and private equity companies. The same is true of the super PAC run by his supporters.

Restore Our Future has raised at least $28.6 million from the finance, insurance and real estate sectors through the end of April, according to a review of the group's May filing and numbers provided by the Center for Responsive Politics.

DETROIT — Three young men were arraigned Sunday in the assault and carjacking of popular Detroit pastor and gospel singing icon Marvin Winans.

The office of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy identified the suspects as Detroit residents Montoya Givens and Christopher Moorehead, both 20, and Brian K. Young, 18, of Macomb County's Clinton Township. They are charged with carjacking, unarmed robbery and conspiracy, said Maria Miller, Worthy's spokeswoman.

A mother has been banned from Facebook after posting images of her newborn son, reports KCTV 5 News.

Parents Heather and Patrick Walker of Memphis, Tennessee welcomed their son Grayson James Walker on February 15, 2012, notes the Daily Mail.

The infant lived only eight hours after suffering from anencephaly, a rare birth defect where a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull.

Summer is officially here and that means it's time for some fun in the sun and good music! If you're looking for the hottest concerts and musical acts featuring Latino stars, we've got the scoop for you!

From J.Lo and Enrique Iglesias' summer tour, to Los Tigres del Norte and Demi Lovato, this summer is jam-packed with performances you wont want to miss! Check out this summer's hottest concert tours and events:

Landy Chase and Kevin Knebl begin their book “The Social Media Sales Revolution:  The New Rules for Finding Customers, Building Relationships, and Closing More Sales Through Online Networking" with a story about a successful sales person who increasingly found it difficult to achieve the same high level of sales with the strategies he was using.   In the past the phone was the primary tool for sales development.  The number of ‘cold calls’ determined the number of sales you achieved.  In their book, the sales person at his sales peak could make  twenty-five calls per week to get his results; as the years past and the technology evolved he had to increase the numbers of sales calls to get the same results until it became impossible to continue.  He had to rethink his strategy, adapt his skills and competencies to leverage the new technologies to maximize his productivity with minimal stress.

read more

The folks over at Campalyst put together a nice infographic highlighting the top brands on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and Pinterest that breaks it out not only by the social network being used, but by the industry they represent too.

read more

MEMBERSHIP PROFILES 

One way to connect with the Social Media Club community is to complete your profile online to let other members know a little more about you. Upload a photo, add your social network accounts and make sure you choose your Primary Chapter (what we lovingly call your 'home base') so your local leadership team can easily keep in contact with you.  

Visit socialmediaclub.org and select the 'Log In' button on the top right of the page. Once logged in, please complete your profile to take advantage of the following benefits, 

read more

The majority of us may never fall victim to cyberbullying but it's still a very real issue facing young adults and parents across the globe. In fact, there are increased reports of adults being targeted by bullies for publishing critical blogs challenging the status quo, with some going as far as to send death threats to the blogger.  So, cyberbullying is not limited to an age group but research shows that more than 20% of teenage girls have been victim to cyberbullying.

read more

Just days away from the much anticipated Facebook IPO, General Motors reported they were pulling their $10 million dollar Facebook ad spend after seeing little to no results. Of the nearly $40 million per year GM spends on Facebook advertising, approximately $10 million of that is paid ads.

read more

This week, Financial Times is hiring a senior web designer, and High 5 Games is looking for a social media analyst. McGraw-Hill needs a social media manager, and M+R Strategic Services is seeking a social media strategist. Get all the details on these jobs and more below, and find additional just-posted gigs on mediabistro.com.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It was a big week for social media. On today’s Morning Media Menu (MP3 link), GalleyCat editor Jason Boog shared his thoughts on Facebook’s long-awaited IPO, speculating on how today’s results will affect the larger social media ecosystem.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, Facebook has gone public, and it’s underwhelming most observers by hovering around $40, around 5% above its IPO price of $38.  That’s all well and good for Zuckerberg, who now can say the company is definitely a $100B market cap business for now.  But for shareholders, is it a good time to get in?  Or should people go for another, more clever way to get into social networking: LinkedIn?

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Facebook hit the stock market this morning at $42.05 a share, sparking debate all across the Internet on how the rest of the day will go. On StockTwits, a social network for the investing community, more than half of today’s conversations are devoted to that very subject. Some of these people might even know what they’re talking about.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

LinkedIn currently connects 161 million professionals around the world. Are you one of them? This latest installment in the Complete Idiot’s Guide series by Susan Gunelius offers a comprehensive tutorial for companies, recruiters, and job seekers who want to use LinkedIn for both professional networking and B2B marketing.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Episode #306 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Jonathan Salem Baskin is becoming a marketing book juggernaut. In fact, there are few global branding strategist who are like Baskin. He's had a career that any Marketer would be jealous of. Having spent close to three decades in the branding and advertising world, Jonathan's resume is a who's who of the top brands in the world. Along with that, he is a prolific writer and thinker. We first connected in 2008 when his book, Branding Only Works On Cattle, came out because we share the same editor and publisher (Grand Central Publishing - Hachette Book Group). He then went on to write the book, Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs and then Histories Of Social Media. He's back with another book titled, Tell The Truth - Honesty is Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool (which he co-authored along with Sue Unerman - Chief Strategy Officer of MediaCom, a WPP agency). Along with that, Jonathan is a Blogger over at Dim Bulb and a bi-weekly columnist for Advertising Age. His opinions on Marketing, Social Media and the new world of branding will get you thinking and it's a pleasure to have him back on the show. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #306.

Tags: advertising advertising age advertising podcast blog blogging branding branding strategist bright lights and dim bulbs david usher digital marketing dm bulb facebook grand central publishing hachette book group histories of social media itunes jonathan salem baskin marketer marketing marketing book marketing podcast mediacom online social network podcast podcasting social media sue unerman tell the truth twitter wpp

93Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

• How to Spot the Future - Wired. "On their 20th anniversary, Wired is spending a bunch of time with people who've shaped the face of technology. In this piece, they look at the seven lenses through which they try to guess the future. Several of them were set out by Wired's first editor at large, the extraordinary Kevin Kelly (whose Next five thousand days of the Internet is brilliant, and makes us realize how nascent this world in which we surf really is). They still hold true today, and author Thomas Goetz gives them a great update." (Alistair for Hugh).
• The frequent fliers who flew too much - Los Angeles Times. "Oh, how times change. American Airlines once offered an unlimited, lifetime first class seat for a paltry half-million or so. Turns out that's not a great bargain when a fervent few decide they prefer life in the air to life on the ground. Faced with bankruptcy--and realizing this deal costs the company a million or more a year--American decided to try and shut them down. A fascinating look at what happens when promotions have unintended consequences." (Alistair for Mitch).
• World's Subways Converging on Ideal Form - Wired. "You would think that the subway systems in the world would end up with different geometries, since they exist in very different cities, with different geographies, different planning approaches, different cultures. But it turns out that subway systems tend organically towards certain characteristics: 50% of stations are outside of the core; the distance from a city's center to its farthest subway terminus station is twice the diameter of the subway system's core. These patterns and ratios appear again and again, suggesting that organization of urban systems follows set patterns, rather than set planning." (Hugh for Alistair).
• How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet - Gizmodo. "Perhaps a bit over the top in its anti-Yahoo slant, but this is a brilliant piece of anthropological history of the social web, and decline of one of the very first 'social networks.' When I first rediscovered the Web in 2004, it was WordPress, Wikipedia, Flickr and Delicious that revealed to me a new future... Both Flickr and Delicious were bought by Yahoo!, and both, it could be argued, became irrelevant soon after." (Hugh for Mitch).
• Come the Revolution - The New York Times. "Several years ago, I read a feature in Fast Company magazine on the future of education. It made me stop and say to myself, 'it's true! Why can't you buy your education like iTunes?' Why not be able to take a marketing class at Stanford, a strategy course from Harvard and then a physics class from MIT all from the comforts of your computer?' It seems to not only be logical, but a great new business model for education. Well, it turns out that others are starting to catch up. In this wonderful op-ed piece, Thomas L. Friedman is starting to feel it too. These new 'revolutions' are still nascent, but they are profound and powerful. Welcome to the iTunes-ization of every business." (Mitch for Alistair).
• In Defense of the New York Public Library - The New York Review Of Books. "When I moved homes several years ago, the bane of the entire process was the packing, moving and unpacking of my book collection. As someone who reads about a book a week and a passionate believer in paying for all of that content, you can imagine the haul. When I first discovered e-readers and reading apps (thank you Amazon Kindle!), it - literally - changed my life. I carry a library worth of books with me in the palm of my hand at all times. I read more books than I ever have. Do I miss the feel and smell of books? Nope. I don't. Do I love wandering through book stores and libraries? Absolutely. Is there a massive paradox and enigma in those statements. There sure is. What is the role of the library? Should it be just about books? Is that really a reason for people to go to them? Who knows?" (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags: alistair croll amazon american airlines bitcurrent complete web monitoring delicious fast company flickr gigaom gizmodo harvard university hugh mcguire human 20 iambik itunes kevin kelly kindle librivox link exchange linkbait los angeles times managing bandwidth media hacks mit new york public library. pressbooks stanford university story the book oven the new york review of books the new york times thomas goetz thomas l friedman wikipedia wired wordpress yahoo year one labs

Observing creative types is an amazing way to think more creatively.

Next week, I'll be spending the majority of my days attending a global conference called, C2 MTL (our agency, Twist Image, also handled some of the social media marketing). Along with hosting a very special lunch event with musician, David Usher, I'll also be sharing the stage with Arianna Huffington. Beyond those more formal activities, I'll be sitting in the crowd soaking in the content as the conference focuses on the collision between creativity and commerce. It should be quite the event (and it's probably not too late if you want to attend). There must be something in the air, because there's an amazing new presentation by Clay Shirky (Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus) from the PSFK Conference NYC. Shirky (a professor from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University) walks through five fascinating student projects that will truly get you thinking about the level of creativity that you bring to work each and every day...

Tags: arianna huffington c2mtl clay shirky cognitive surplus commerce conference content creative type creativity david usher here comes everybody interactive telecommunications program new york university psfk conference social media marketing tisch school of arts

What are the tools that can help you give an unforgettable presentation?

After several years of speaking in public, I've had to develop my own system to ensure that each and every presentation goes off without a hitch. And yes, there are some great tools and tips to ensure that this happens. This blog post is not about your content. I'm going to assume that the content rocks and that you know what you're going to talk about.

The Public Speaker's Master Toolkit:

• The Rider. If you want to ensure that you have a great event, you have to ensure that all of your audio and visual requirements are met (long before you show up at the venue). I send along with all speaking contracts a rider of my audio and visual needs:
• Projector and screen for laptop.
• 3.5mm (1/8") plug for audio to run out of the laptop.
• Lapel wireless microphone for voice.
• Depending on venue - confidence monitor for Keynote slides.
• Speaker does not require an Internet connection.
• Laptop must be located on the stage and near the Speaker.
• Speaker's computer must be within 20 feet of the most distant point where the speaker will be presenting.
• All podiums must be moved to either side of the stage. Speaker does not use a podium during presentation.
• Podiums cannot remain in the middle of the stage during Speaker's presentation.
• Speaker will be using his own wireless remote presenter and will advance his own slides.
• Speaker will be using his own, personal, laptop with the presentation pre-loaded on it.
• Speaker's computer is an Apple MacBook Air running Keynote software.
• Speaker has both VGA and DVI dongle adapters for projector.
• Speaker will not provide a digital version of the presentation in advance.
• AC power must be within 6 feet of speaker's computer.
• If your event is using iMag, you must have two screens (one which always displays the speaker's slides to the audience without interruption).
• Computer stays in the speaker's possession at all times. It will not be given the night prior for setup and it will not be surrendered on the day of the event. It stays in the speaker's possession.
• Speaker is more than willing to work with your team on a tech/sound check, preferably thirty minutes before the speaker presents.

Why is this so complicated?

It seems like a lot and very detail oriented, but here's the thing: they're paying me to give a great presentation and this is what it takes - from my experience - for me to deliver that. It also takes away a lot of the stress and anxiety that comes along with speaking when you know that things are set-up in a way that you're comfortable with. I hate being in a venue where I can't see the slides that audience is seeing (hence the confidence monitor), I like being in control of my laptop in case I have to skip a section or want to tinker with something at the last moment, and I hate showing up to an event and the entire stage is just a podium (I like to walk, engage and connect with the audience). In other instances, the AV team wants to control the cue remote (which is always slower than when I do it) or they have a video camera capturing the presenter on screen, and can't move between the slides and the presenter fast enough, so you wind up not speaking to an important point, but everyone is just staring at you mug on a screen.

• The computer.
• I run a MacBook Air with both Keynote and PowerPoint on it. I always have versions of my presentation on both software platforms in case one crashes.
• Caffeine is a great little app that sits in the menu bar and when it's clicked, your computer will never go to sleep, screen saver or anything (just make sure to turn it off once you're done). Caffeine makes it "always on."
• I love the presenter's view in both Keynote and PowerPoint, but you have to ensure that the output resolution to the projector can handle it, so test it by lowering (or raising) your screen resolution.
• Apple also allows you to have the display information from your screen as an icon in the menu bar. This makes it very easy to toggle through different resolutions. Look for it in your display preferences.
• e.ggtimer is a great little tool if you take breaks in your presentation. You can set the timer and show it on the screen, so that everyone in the audience knows when to be expected back in their seats.
• The hardware.
• Logitech Professional Presenter R800 is the best remote presenter out there. It not only has a hundred foot range, but it has a built-in timer that counts down and gives off a silent vibration when you have five minutes left and another one when you're done with your presentation. In case you're wondering, I've tried all of the remote presenters out there... this is the one.
• Dongles. Make sure to have both VGA and DVI dongles on you. Don't trust the venue and I've seen variances where new Macs don't work with older dongles, etc... Have your own, so you never have to worry.
• USB stick. Always have your presentations backed up on a USB stick and - when possible - ensure that the AV team has a copy too and can switch to their computer should you have a crash.
• USB hub. If you're plugging in multiple remotes and dongles, etc... it's always good to have a thin and small USB hub (just in case).
• Rocket stick. I don't trust hotel and conference center Internet connections (wired or wireless), and when I do need to present something online, I much prefer to be doing so with my own access point. Mobile Internet is great to have in case you are relying on their connectivity and it goes down (which it does).
• Extra power supply. Most laptops suck a lot of power and fast - especially when they're plugged into a projector> Always bring your own power supply and plug your computer in. Do not trust the battery.
• Extra goodies.
• Podium Timer app. This is a paid app, but it allows you to set-up your own timer (with messages too) that you can either use on your iPhone so you can tell where you're at, or you can daisy chain it to the HD version which is a more robust iPad timer.
• Breathing Zone app. Whether you get nervous before speaking or not, this app is a great tool to get your breathing and heart rate into the right zone. If that doesn't work for you, try this technique: Take A Breather.
• HT Professional Recorder. This iPhone app is an amazing audio recorder. If you want to improve as a speaker, use this app to record all of your presentations, you can go back and listen to how you did.
• Download videos. Don't rely on a solid internet connection to show online videos. Here's a simple way to download online videos (just be sure to embed them within your presentation and give credit where credit is due). If you add the word "sing" in front of "youtube" in the URL for a video that you like, you get redirected to a site where you can download the audio of that video.

Did I miss anything? What would you add to this list of master tools?

Tags: apple breathing zone app caffeine eggtimer ht professional recorder ipad iphone iphone app keynote lapel wireless microphone logitech macbook air podium timer app powerpoint presentation presentation skills presenters view public speaker public speaking public speaking master toolkit remote presenter speaking usb hub usb stick

Should you pull all of your advertising dollars out of Facebook?

On the eve of Facebook's historical initial public offering, automotive manufacturer, GM, made a big public stink about pulling ten million dollars of media spend out of Facebook because they felt that Facebook advertising doesn't work (more on that here: Advertising Age - GM Cuts Facebook Ad Spending, But Ford Steps on the Gas). The subtext to this move is not about one brand leaving Facebook advertising, but a sentiment that Facebook advertising doesn't work.

It's all very silly, isn't it?

This morning at the Canadian Marketing Association's Annual Summit 2012, Jordan Banks (head of Facebook in Canada) started off his presentation by saying that Facebook has accomplished only one percent of what it has set out to do, and that because of its massive user base close (900 million connected consumers strong), it will do some things right and some things wrong moving forward. His point being, that advertising on Facebook works when done in tandem with other activities, and even the advertising platform as we currently see it to date could very well morph, change and adapt.

Media is just media.

I don't know the innards of GM and their media planning or strategy, but this decision does require some context. While Facebook loves to trot out the nine hundred million users, it's important to note that the average user only has about one hundred and twenty connections. So, while Facebook cumulatively is massive, it's really millions of very little connections that are primarily there to share personal and social information. Is that type of user ready to engage with a small little banner box in the same fashion that they would on a news site or a blog page? It's doubtful. The role of the advertiser is to make that little box of advertising as compelling to the user as the social content that they're really there for. In short: that's a tall and hard order to deliver.

Where else to put your money.

If GM realized that they are severely under-indexed on search engines or that they have a massive opportunity with email marketing, and that those strategies are both proven and can earn them more with an acquisition model than Facebook advertising, than this news announcement was nothing more than some kind of political press release to question Facebook's viability. If GM has the perfect media mix and they're struggling to find advertising return on investment with their Facebook ads, it would be interesting to know how often they tested, iterated and played with the format before deciding that it was simply not an effective ad platform them.

Facebook is not (just) an advertising platform. 

If the media game is to simply blast a message in front of someone who is on their Facebook page, all is lost. There are probably much better places to advertise. If the game is to create a better marketing story and to leverage the power of Facebook (human beings who have self-identified themselves and are connecting in a sincere way with people they either know or want to know better), then the opportunity is not only massive, but it is still very nascent.

Your Facebook marketing is probably at 1%.

If Facebook feels like they've only accomplished one percent of their goal in helping the world to connect, rest assured: your marketing is at about the same percentage level. What does this mean? It is still early days. Facebook is about to get a major cash injection, and while they say that it's business as usual, we'll see if being public changes their need to adopt faster and more efficiently to a mobile world, and one where the public will demand cash profitability driven by our collective investments in the company. The most exciting brands on Facebook are doing much more than advertising. They are marketing in the channel and leveraging the social graph to connect outside. They're driving content, contests, apps, connectivity and more within Facebook's walled garden and pushing consumers over to microsites, websites and other media channels. These brands are connecting through valuable content that people will not only care about, but share within their own, personal, networks... and that's a powerful place to be. If a brand thinks that Facebook is just about advertising, they are (without question) not understanding Facebook (and the potential of it). At all. And, these same brands are completely missing the point. If all they want is a page to splatter an ad across and those Facebook pages don't do the trick, then by all means, they're making the strategic decision to not advertise on Facebook.

Ask yourself this: is your brand looking for a place to advertise or a place to connect, share and grow?

Tags: advertising advertising dollars advertising platform banner advertising blog brand canadian marketing association cma cma annual summit email marketing facebook facebook advertising facebook app facebook canada facebook ipo facebook marketing gm jordan banks media media channel media mix media planning media strategy mobile online advertising online media presentation search engine marketing social content social media