Michael Jackson is Also King of Facebook Fan Pages

The impact of Michael Jackson’s death has already broken several Internet(website and application) usage metrics, and now, the King of Pop’s fan page on Facebook has nearly 6.7 million fans (compared to only 80,000 before his passing) making it the most popular on the entire site, surpassing Diesel and President Obama.  The fan page is potential the most highly-targeted and effective channel for the singer’s heirs and record label to communicate any (possible commercial) messages to fans.

Read the full story here: Michael Jackson’s Facebook Fan Page Surges to #1

Case Study: Skittle’s Internet Marketing Campaign

I can’t remember the last time I had Skittles, the rainbow-colored sweet and sour candy.  I had all but forgotten about it until I saw mention of it on Twitter.  And then I saw it on YouTube, then Wikipedia and then Facebook.  Then I heard about it on Twitter again.  Finally, it was picked up on the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the rest was history.

Skittles made waves in the online marketing community early last month when it decided to relaunch their website.  What was special about the website was that it was in fact a collage of different websites.  It had an “about us” section that was pulled from Wikipedia, videos from YouTube, a “chatter” section that pulled posts (tweets) from Twitter, among other user-created content from various Web 2.0 properties.  By leveraging on these social media properties all at once, the Internet community was suddenly hit from multiple channels about Skittles.  What quickly ensued was a sharp spike in buzz around the brand.

Within 48 hours, everyone from blog owners to internet marketers were discussing Skittles.  So were spammers and pranksters.  The internet marketing campaign soon started a negative downward spiral.  Users exploited the twitter-skittles “hack” and started to post comments ranging from the purely unrelated to profanities about the candy.  Skittles eventually took down the Twitter portion of the site.  Even then, the Skittles campaign had already achieved text-book case-study status.

Skittles is a generally well-known brand.  If a lesser-known brand were to pull off the same tactic, it may not have suffered/enjoyed the same results.  What Skittles managed to do, was to gain critical mass for its campaign within an extremely short period of time, a feat that is crucial to internet marketing.

Internet marketers have been taking both sides of the campaign.  Some think that Skittles’ courageous adoption of the web 2.0 properties paid off big-time, while others scoffed at giving too much freedom to consumers, a freedom which was eventually abused.

Personally, I feel that the outcome from the Skittles campaign was positive.  Prior to the campaign, there was little mention of the brand or even candy in general on the Internet.  Then suddenly, literally everyone was talking about  it.  Skittles could have spent half a million dollars on new tvcs yet not come close to this level of buzz around its brands.  Indeed, there were some nasty comments left on its website, but I am sure a majority of visitors to the site realized that this was the work of immature pranksters, something bound to happen in today’s social web environment.  These visitors would normally not have even thought of dropping by the site.

The lesson we take away from this campaign:  we see the potential of using web 2.0 as a marketing channel but at the same time realize that it is a raw and untamed force.  Study social media marketing and master it, because if you don’t, someone else will.

When Facebook Surpasses Google

Talk about the dominant web property 2 years ago and you would probably have thought of Google first.  As seen from the graph above, Facebook is slowly but surely catching up on the search giant.  There has been talk of Facebook surpassing Google and “killing it” in the process.  While I think that Google and Facebook offer  very different products, Google’s share of the search market may indeed be diminished by social-based, real-time search solutions.

It may be a good time to start thinking about how marketing on the Internet will be a totally different ballgame.  Facebook doesn’t even have to surpass Google in terms of usage, it can come close enough to convince marketers to take it seriously as an online communications channel.  I see a future where savvy internet marketers will employ real-time search marketing to go head-to-head with well-budgeted online advertisers.

Social Network Marketing & Why Your Business Depends On It

If you have a website or a business online, chances are you already know that Social Networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and Moli are fantastic tactics in order to market and promote your business(es). If you are new to the Internet you might need a few tips, however, on how something like this works and most importantly why something like this works. That’s where this article comes into play! One of the most important things you need to remember about marketing is that just because you’re spending a truck load of money, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to make a truck load of money. In some cases quality websites that have free membership options like Facebook and Myspace can really allow you to create a great selling point without spending too much money. The main part of a business is your advertising margins versus profit margins. And you never want to spend more money advertising than you are making back. This may be basic profit and loss but it’s how a lot of businesses get lost on the road to going out of business or worse; bankruptcy. It’s a good idea to strategize your marketing plan beforehand.

Of course you can try little things out here and there like PPC for example but, I really wouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket! It’s a good idea to also spread your “money” out to a few different tactical campaigns but also make sure you are keeping track of where your money is going and if you are flipping or flopping as far as profits go. With Social Network marketing you have two different options. You can use something like Myspace PPC (which most people haven’t had luck at) or you can use the free option. Places such as FaceBook and Myspace have some really awesome facets of their websites which will give you the business person more of a global outreach than ever imagined. Besides your actual profile you also have comments, PMs, groups, classifieds, bulletins, chat rooms and so much more. Even on something like FaceBook you can actually “develop” an application and integrate your business idea into it.

For example, a few weeks ago this guy I met was an affiliate of a poker website so he decided to try the application idea which allowed him to incorporate his business and business idea into the application. This got people interested and “hooked” into what he was marketing, which in turn made people want to go to the website and find out more! This is what you want! The “reach” that I was speaking about before has to do with all the people that belong to these websites and the Internet Marketing options available to you. These people come from all walks of life, all ages, all ethnic groups, and they all are on these sites for different reasons. But just like you, their reason also has to do with “networking” with other members. If you have even a hundred “friends” on a site like Myspace I can absolutely guarantee that each one does something different, is looking for something different, and are from different places across the world. This is what I love about Internet marketing, even though we are in a financial bind right now with our country, a lot of other countries aren’t having any effects whatsoever.

This allows for you the business person to reach out to these countries and these people which could very well result in a lot of money making opportunities! Even if you gave the Social Networking option a try for a few months, I have no doubt that you would see a leap in profits. In a world such as this any profit is a good profit. But a profit that is efficiently maintained through use of Social Network marketing could just be the golden opportunity you have always been looking for! This is something easy to do that anyone can accomplish. Mistakes are meant to be made as long as you learn from them then it was all worth it. Try asking some of your marketing buddies about the ads or “scripts” you are posting this also gives you a good idea of where you are going wrong or right and don’t be afraid to be critiqued. I don’t know about you but, I would rather have personal friends critique me and make more money than for them to spare my feelings and live mediocre! Live the life you were meant to live, try out Social Network marketing the next time you need to try a new marketing option.