Facebook Community Pages…. A Good thing?
Facebook just announced a Community pages last week. You maybe asking what the heck is a community page? Well, I’m glad you asked. It is an attempt to keep Fan pages in the hands of the rightful owner, such as Coca-Cola, Best Buy and other big brands. Where as, community pages are for, a lack of better words, fans can create their own page. These will be unofficial and will be where places like “Get Betty White on SNL” will reside.
It’s still kind of cloudy but from what I have read, community pages will be more like wiki pages. Where the page run by the community. Which for certain pages would be a good idea. It is allowing for more interaction and participation in Facebook by users.
There is one thing that kind of troubles me. Its when a fan page reaches a certain level, they convert it over to a community page. I haven’t seen anything to tell the magic number that this happens. How will this affect the strategy of brands marketing on Facebook? Is a brand going to be able to control their message they want to share on Facebook?
The one thing that drives me crazy about Facebook is they constantly change things. I think they really need to focus on the business experience and how they are using Facebook. I like how they have focused on the user experience, but now that Facebook is a major player in social media they need to invest time in creating a better experience for businesses./Fan Pages (or should I call them Like Pages?)
I am looking forward to hearing more about these pages. I hope they have a good idea for doing it, or it could come back to cause problems later. If you know any more information about them let me know.
ME0004- Erik Qualman
ME0004 – Marketing Elements with Erik Qualman
I am joined by Erik Qulaman the author of Socialnomics. We have a discussion about why social media has taken off. Then we talked about some of the current and future trends happening. You can find Erik on Twitter as @equalman or his blog http://www.socialnomics.com
I enjoyed having Erik on the blog and hope to have him back on very soon.
http://marketingelementsblog.com
tim(at)marketingelementsblog(dot)com
Happy iPad Day
Apple’s iPad is here! One of the biggest tech toys of the year. It was available for pick up at 9 AM today and I”m sure the frenzy will be going on for a few more weeks. Just how will this change the world of media? I think we’ll see many uses for books, newspapers and magazines. Over the next few weeks and months we will see how it impacts other readers such as the Amazon Kindle.
Music Make the People Come together
Well, so Madonna says, but there have been some really interesting things happening in the world of music. I’m not going to go into detail about how I think record labels are going the way of the dinosaur. This post would be way too long. Lets just say that the music industry will continue to change and the record labels missed the boat.
We all know that iTunes has become the biggest retailer for music. I feel they have done this because they made music a commodity, rather then a product. For the first time in history, songs have become disposable. By this I mean that you no longer have to worry about throwing away a physical object. No CD’s, vinyl, cassettes or tapes. You are not destroying the environment by deleting and MP3 (or in iTunes an ACC file). To me it’s brilliant on Apple’s part. If you delete a song and then determine years later you want that song again, you have to rebuy the song. But, this also causes issues when your data gets corrupted and you loose all your files. You can get the songs from iTunes, but from what I hear, it’s not a fun process to go through.
Does this mean the CD is dead? Well, if the record companies are trying hard to make sure this doesn’t happen. Earlier this month Mashable reported that Universal Music Group will be selling all their new CD’s between $6 – $10. Which I must admit, will make me think twice about downloading from iTunes. I am one of those who likes to have the CD. I like the lyrics, liner notes and such. Yes I’m sort of a dichotomy in I love technology and want CD’s. If your information does get corrupted, you have the ability to restore the songs when your iTunes crashes. Because, it’s not a matter of if, but when iTunes will crash. I have had my iTunes Crash more then once and it’s never fun! I say back up or have the CD’s ready!
I think this pricing is catching on to other record labels. I was in Target today and saw that Christine Aguilera’s Greatest Hits was available for $4.99. This is a full album with about 12 songs on it. There is only one other star that has done something similar, that star is Garth Brooks. He has been known to sell his albums at a reduced price. His three disk greatest hits collection (that included two audio disks and one dvd) retailed for about $12.
My question for the mass market is… Will this new pricing model actually get people to buy CDs? Or will people still download? My opinion is that for those who want CD’s this will spur purchase over iTunes, but for most of the market it will remain unchanged.
A Few Blogging Tips
I have a few posts I”mw working on..and by working on I mean they are in my head and not in the computer yet! But I wanted to share a few blogging tips that I have found over the last few years blogging.
- Set up a Time – Blogging takes time and don’t ever expect to write a post after a long day. Have a set time of the week to write. I don’t always do this and I sometimes will write one out of the blue but if you write a post every day or a few times a week. This is a good idea to make it part of your routine. This has worked well for me in the past.
- WordPress. I know there are a lot of blogging services out there WordPress, Blogger or Typepad. But I think WordPress gives you way more control over your blog in looks and feels. I have used Blogger and TypePad. But, for me WordPress is great for the beginner or advanced blogger. WordPress let’s you get in start exploring and you can expand as you get more comfortable. No other blog platform does this as well as WordPress. This blog is a WordPress Blog.
- Firefox Browser – One thing I don’t think many people know is you an resize your pictures better in Firefox. By this I mean you can grab the corner of the picture and drag it to the size you need. You don’t have to rely on the built in “thumbnail, small, medium, large” buttons. Its easy and WordPress will tell you the size as you drag the picture. This has really come in handy when you need a picture sized just right to fit in the layout you want.
- Plug-In’s - WordPress has ton’s of really great plug in’s. They add additional functionality to your blog. I say get in and explore some great ones and use them. But don’t go overboard on the plug in’s. They will slow your blog down and you could loose readers. Who wants to wait for a blog to load so you can read it? Here are some of my favorite plug in’s
- All in one SEO – simple to use SEO, especially if you don’t know a lot about SEO
- Disqus Commeting Plug In – Lets people use Facebook, TWitter to log in and leave a comment
- DandyID – lets you show where people can find you on the web
- Dean’s Permalink Migration – Ok this one is a little geeky, but if you want to change the permalinks to your site. Maybe you did like I did and didn’t set it up right or you want to change it. This plug in lets you create 403 links and redirects people to the new page.
- Google Analytics for WordPress – If you have Google Analytics, this is the easiest way to put it on your blog. No, getting the code, then finding where to put it. Just paste in your GA number and you’re done.
These are a few tips for blogging. If you have any let me know. Especially if you have plug in’s you use and love. There are thousands of them!
Marketing Elements Ep. 3 – Bert Dumars
On this episode we get to talk to Bert Dumars, Vice President E-Business & Interactive Marketing, Newell Rubbermaid. Bert has been a big supporter of Social Media in the Atlanta area and beyond. We talk about how he first started using social media and how he has now become an advocate for the medium. Then we talk about how they use social media at Newell Rubbermaid.
Thanks for listening!
Contact:
tim(at)timgoleman(dot)com
@timgoleman
blog.timgoleman.com
Facebook Over Takes Google
One big thing that has happened in the world of technology is that Facebook has become the most visited site on the internet. This has previously been held by Google. As you can see by this graph, Facebook has been gaining ground for months. Now that Facebook has dethroned Google, what is next?
- On a personal note, I really hate Facebook’s Search. In the last few days they have gotten better, but for me its something I use just to find things in Facebook. Granted they have improved the auto results this week, but for web searches I still go to Google. My home page is still Google.
- Is Facebook going to go into the Search area? Are they going to really take the lead in social search? They are using Bing for the web results, but are they going to actually tie in to Bing and develop a truly social search? They have a tremendous opportunity, but will they use it?
- Can Facebook take on Google in the Search arena? Google has dominated the area of search for years. Yahoo has hung on but has started using the information from Bing, and Bing hasn’t been major competition for Google. Google has been so ingrained in people it has become a verb in our vocabulary. If Facebook gets into search will it convince people to use it and deliver as good or better results then Google?
Just some things I am pondering… I’d love to hear your thoughts about this, leave a comment or email me!
The Future of Television… In My Opinion
From Autowitch on Flickr
TV is changing. This is not just a speculation, it’s a reality. The reason I know this I have several friends who don’t have Cable. They watch everything they want online. This is just the tip of the iceberg. As the years go on, TV will completely change.
TV Will be, when we want to watch it
- It will be available on our Mobile, Laptop, iPad, TV
- It will be on demand, no longer are the TV schedules
TV Production will no longer be for Hollywood producers
- Anyone with a flip/video cam can start producing content
- There will be smaller producers with hit shows
- It will be similar to podcasting now.
Advertising
- There will be fewer commercials in the program. It will be similar to a Hulu model.
- Product placement will be bigger then a traditional commercial
Paid content comes into play
- Premium content like HBO and show time will go into a paid content model.
- Available to you when you want to watch, maybe one time or view unlimited
- Commercials will not be a part of paid content; don’t think consumers will go along with it.
Social Media
- Social media will allow for greater feed back from the audience
- Content will be pushed out as it’s done and you can get instant feedback from the viewers/subscribers.
Questions to ask:
- What will make a hit show?
- How will it be distributed? Streaming, downloads, iTunes?
- Live events? Stream such as sports and awards shows.
- Will TV and computer merge into one?
These are just my thoughts on it. I think some of these will take time to come to fruition, but I really think TV will be on our terms now. The best thing I heard, and I think it was on This Week in Media, that new/social media are there to cut out the middle men. That means it will cut out the record companies, production studios and distribution networks.
We will see how this plays about but expect change in TV, its now a not if it will happen but now when!
Marketing Elements #2 – Chris Jordan Atlanta Insurance Live!
I am joined by Chris Jordan from Atlanta Insurance Live. he talks about how he’s using new media in a traditional business. He has really used it effectively and they are a lot of fun to watch. You can visit his site at http://www.atlantainsurancelive.com/
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