How to Monetize Social Media

As someone who provides Social Media Marketing solutions, both on behalf of employing organizations and clients, I am often asked... "OK, I am onboard, but how do you make money from all of this?"

I am a disciple of Inbound Marketing.  I believe in this day and age this is a philosophy that works.  It's simple in theory; create great content, promote that content via social media, attract qualified leads and convert those leads into customers.  Many Marketers out there work in conjunction with sales.  I personally have been in positions where the Marketers job ends at garnering qualified leads and passing those leads off to sales to close.  But Marketers are often tested by sales... what am I supposed to do with this information.  Marketers are often frustrated by sales when they don't jump on such qualified lead data... this is an age old quandry between the two departments and why I contend there must be a happy marriage between the two departments... but that is a story for another day.

Today's story... How Marketers can help themselves by helping sales monetize their social media efforts.

Companies are not only getting the word out about their brands using social media such as Facebook and Twitter but are also making money.

Many businesses have not found sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube useful in making money. Building genuine online relationships that are also good for the bottom line is not so easy. There is a lot of trial and error. But while monetizing social media is difficult it is not impossible. There are companies that are getting the word out about their brands using social media and are turning a profit.

Take The New York Jets. The NFL team launched their Ultimate Fan social game in September 2010, which was the first revenue generating Facebook app to be backed by a pro sports team. The application lets football fans do online what they would normally do at home and in stadiums—root for their favorite teams and players, predict game scores, and hold a virtual tailgate party with other fans from across the globe. Ultimate Fan has since lured four major sponsors integrating their brands: MetLife, Motorola, SNY and HotelPlanner.com.

The Jets also communicate regularly on Twitter. They even advertised a Twitter-based contest to win tickets to their 2011 AFC playoff championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Jets are able to engage with their fans and make them feel like they are part of the team. They are leveraging social medial to capitalize on their fans' passion for the team and their willingness to share that fervor.

Like many companies, your social media efforts have started small and grew organically. To capitalize on those efforts to generate sales and revenues you need to have a team of people dedicated to your social media presence. You also will need a deep understanding of your audience, a creative vision, and a way to measure results in order to execute a successful strategy.

Here are some ways your social media can be monetized…

How to Monetize Social Media: Build Brand Awareness

The first step is to use traditional media or word-of-mouth advertising to drive awareness and traffic to your Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube pages. Unless you already have a recognizable brand like Nike or Apple, your brand needs to develop social media magnetism before you can look to make any money. You also need to create circular momentum across many platforms when designing your social media campaign. By providing multiple channels for users to talk with you, you let customers choose the channel that they are most comfortable with, by doing this you increase the likelihood that they'll connect with your brand in any number of ways.

How to Monetize Social Media: Engage Your Audience

Social media is about having a dialogue. When you have a dialogue with a customer or prospect, the communication is much more fulfilling and much more profitable. The PETCO brand has developed a strong presence in social media. The pet store chain has a YouTube channel, its Facebook page generates a lot of discussions among pet owners, and there's lots of activity on its PETCO Scoop Blog, which has received hundreds of “Likes” and Comments. PETCO's customers are true pet lovers and treat their pets as part of the family. The company tries to keep conversation going by aiming Facebook and Twitter posts so that there's an explicit question to answer, or at least a specific piece of information to which people can react. You have to know your community and know how to take part within that community and through that create great content or conversation that will raise awareness and increase sales.

How to Monetize Social Media: Offer Special Promotions

Dell Computers exemplifies a company that is selling products using social media. Its Twitter page, @DellOutlet, offers discounts exclusively to followers. Dell might tweet 15 percent off any Dell Outlet laptop or desktop with a special coupon code entered at checkout so they'll know which tweet you are seeing. @DellOutlet also points you to a specific web page. There is some interaction in terms of chats with tweeters. @DellOutlet has garnered more than 1.6 million followers and generated more than $2 million in incremental revenues for Dell. Traditionally, Dell would have spent a lot of money running print ads. Today, they can write a 140-character promotion to reach customers.

PETCO is yet another example. The company provided a promo code to their customers for $40 in free shipping. The person who shared their code with the most people won a $500 PETCO gift card. About 40% of the sales that resulted from this promotional push came from new consumers. The desire to save a few bucks drove loyal PETCO customers to connect with the larger pet owner community and spread the word about the store via social media.

How to Monetize Social Media: Use Media Advertising

Many companies have used display advertising (banners) and contextual advertising such as Google AdWords. Many bloggers use Google Adsense to make money. There are plugins to help; you make money from clicks. There are also ad networks that you can join that pool several advertisers. You get a code and banner ads rotate from their network. This is an item that you will want to include in your advertising rate sheet. Major advertisers who buy display ads are finally beginning to figure out how to reach audiences through social networks, and have begun to shift significant dollars into Facebook.

Instead of a typical banner ad, consider offering a microsite, which would be equivalent to a paid supplement. For example, you could devote one page (a link on your website) specifically to an advertiser's products and services. Or you can become an affiliate. With affiliate marketing you get paid to refer people to another business.

Consider combining rich media advertising with display advertising. Video advertising and promotional material can be quickly and easily streamed to your social community. Another consideration is charging for sponsorship on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. Of course, attention needs to be paid between balancing the delivery of the rich media advertising against the comfort level of your customer base.

How to Monetize Social Media: Brand Within Applications

The best way to use apps is to create something that is functional such as a calculator, entertaining such as a game, or provides some sort of social connection such as an app just for your community. Your app can be fee based or you can give it away to build a relationship with customers. A number of well-known company brands use mobile apps to interact with their loyal customers, including Target, Coca-Cola, Nike and Gucci.

The fashion designer touts a luxury lifestyle application that is a quintessential example of branded mobile marketing. Through "Gucci Connect" users were able use their mobile devices, such as iPhone or iPad, for virtual access of a Milan fashion show, watch live runway and behind the scenes video coupled with live chat between virtual guests through Facebook and Twitter. Exclusive also to iPhone app subscribers are interactive games. The "Gucci Live" section features a music channel. Subscribers stay "in the know" with a calendar of upcoming brand events and feature articles. The Gucci "Little Black Book" provides recommendations to the hottest restaurants, nightclubs, and hotels in various cities throughout the world.

How to Monetize Social Media: Set Up Shop on Facebook

Facebook fan pages are another way to generate sales and enthusiasm especially if you have loyal fans that follow your updates. You can list your products on your Facebook page for fans to easily share with their own friends and essentially allow your product offerings to go viral.

Businesses are increasingly selling their goods on Facebook. There are various e-commerce solutions available. One is 8thBridge which is helping companies like 1-800-Flowers and HuateLook sell from Facebook. A special deal 8thBridge ran for the designer brands retailer HauteLook along with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg generated more than $100,000 in sales in one day, 40 percent of which came from new customers. Users were given a $10 coupon for every new member that they brought in. Using 8thBridge, 1-800-Flowers is drawing people into buying flowers and other gifts for friends and family while they are already thinking about them on Facebook.

Payvment is another storefront option that provides online stores for companies to sell on Facebook. It has a network of more than 60,000 merchants using its self-serve technology. Payvment generally serves smaller clients while 8thBridge caters to small- and medium-sized businesses. According to a study released by Forrester Research, Facebook is more suitable for small retailers, niche products, or steeply discounted items. Most of the benefit that big retailers get from Facebook is branding their company but not actual purchases, Forrester further reports. Moreover, some products are inherently social such as books, DVDs, and event tickets, which have been successful because they are easy to buy and sell online.

How to Monetize Social Media: Use as a Retention Tool

Companies don't always need to use social media as a sales tool or to acquire news customers, they can use it as a customer retention tool. If someone likes or follows your business, it's because they're interested in hearing from you on some regular basis. It's important that you have a routine schedule for your blogs, tweets, and postings. Keeping your fans and followers up to date on what's new and happening with your business or industry will keep them engaged with you and keep your brand top-of-mind. 

What have you done to monetize your social media marketing efforts? 

PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
http://www.phantompower.co/  

THIRD THURSDAY

If you’re reading this I can assure you that you are one of the coolest people you know.  THIRD THURSDAY, a promotion sponsored by PHANTOM POWER, is open to all Fans of PHANTOM POWER on Facebook and Followers of PHANTOM POWER on Twitter.

It’s called POINTS FOR PERKS and this is how you play… Each THIRD THURSDAY, PHANTOM POWER will offer up some extra pocket change, event tickets, music and sports memorabilia and more.  On the  THIRD THURSDAY of each month a prize will be posted via PHANTOM POWER’s social network’s and you’ll have 36 hours to cash in your points to collect!*

STEP 1
“Like” PHANTOM POWER on Facebook and/or
“Follow” PHANTOM POWER on Twitter.

STEP 2
Each time you “Share” or “Retweet” a message from PHANTOM POWER earn 1 point.
TIP! “Like” and “Follow” … The more shares and retweets, the more points.

STEP 3
Cash in your POINTS FOR PERKS! 

*POINTS FOR PERKS giveaways are in limited quantity. 
Winner(s) will be chosen at random and will be notified by the last day of each month.

**Points expire at 11:59PM each THIRD THURDAY of the month. 
Participants can start earning points again the very next day!

PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
www.phantompower.co 

About PHANTOM POWER
PHANTOM POWER is a full-service marketing, interactive and public relations agency specializing in the arts, entertainment and small business solutions. We offer a full range of services traditionally performed by large advertising agencies or in-house marketing departments — all in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.

PHANTOM POWER distinguishes itself through its ability to consistently produce marketing campaigns that are inventive in form, sound in concept and return big business results at small business rates.  Certified in the Client Needs Analysis process, PHANTOM POWER's Marketing by Design approach ensures customized service and personal attention to your needs.  It is the foundation for designing an integrated marketing plan unique to your goals and objectives.

Established in 1999, PHANTOM POWER's roots are in music marketing and promotion.  Since that time we have grown to successfully deliver marketing campaigns for over 100 clients; from entrepreneur through Fortune 500 brands.  We are based in Highlands, NJ - where the Jersey Shore begins.
 

Greetings from Occupy Wall Street

by Guest Blogger Linda Pricci

Once you visit Occupy Wall Street you can no longer pretend it isn’t there. I entered the encampment as a tourist—literally, as I was on my way to see the reflecting pools at Ground Zero—but quickly realized that a movement like this demanded respect. I decided to walk around this tent city located in a small New York sidewalk park about the size of a building plot—usually all concrete with the exception of sporadic trees and flower pots—to find that it’s now all tarps, drum circles, mattresses, folding tables reflecting any and all issues, and oh yeah, bodies.

I did what I normally do, which is to form an immediate opinion of the crowd in reaction to what I saw: homeless bohemians lying around in various states of inebriation. I thought, “Well, if you have to be homeless, why not make a party of it”. The whole thing felt convenient for some—a place to rest your head within a community of like-minded individuals. I understood why they were angry (mostly) and I got their anger, but I could not get over the whole “what’s the point” of the whole thing. I’ll admit I was intimidated because part of me felt like a fraud, with my good job, nice apartment, and new car. These people were not like me. I was on the outside of the barricade looking in.

As I walked around, I found myself acclimating to the spirit of the thing, allowing the energy to penetrate my walls. I stopped looking at people with pre-conceived notions and started to really want to know why they thought they were there. So I figured the only way to know what they were thinking was to ask.

I approached Paul with a rather silly “hi” wave and a “How long have you been here?” I immediately made my intentions clear (that this was a fact finding mission) because I figured the only way not to feel like a fraud was not to act like one. Paul explained that he has been homeless ever since he was discharged from the Iraq War, but with his baby face I almost couldn’t believe it. Since being sent home, the government no longer had any obligation to pay him the money he was promised as a veteran and now had to live on the streets. I felt comfortable enough to ask Paul why he was discharged, and he told me that 4 months before his tour was over he turned in all his ammo, refused to take part in storming civilian homes, and began to help the Iraqi people. This was treason.

I then opened up about my fears—the ones I felt I was too “privileged” to admit—and was met with something totally unexpected: empathy. I had just looked a homeless stranger in the eyes and confessed my fear that at any moment the life I have built for myself could crumble. I have no savings and work paycheck to paycheck. My parents will not be around forever and it feels like no matter how hard I work at my mid-level, modestly paying job, I will likely never own my own home. At 33-years-old, I now realize I never had a chance at the “American dream” of my parents’ youth. The moment I lose it all, I am no different than any of these people living on the street.

Paul explained that we (a phrase he used throughout) cannot sit idly by and watch as 1% of our country holds 100% of the cards. We have occupied Wall Street because we deserve to live in a house and know that the bank won’t use some small print in a contract to price us out of our homes; because we deserve to be educated and should not have to begin our lives saddled with student debt; because we should feel that working hard means that we can afford the basic essentials—and even some luxuries—without the fear of losing our life savings in a flash; because there is plenty of work, plenty of housing, and plenty of resources for us all to coexist; and because there are plenty of us to form a worldwide community to ensure each other’s survival. Sounds like utopian, hippy bullshit, doesn’t it? Well, that’s the real injustice.

What Paul made me realize is that people need to fundamentally shift their way of thinking. We can’t Occupy Wall Street fighting for a way to get everything we want. We need to change what we want. When people become comfortable with less, they will want less. When people want less, they will stop acquiring at the expense of others. The media likes to think that there is no real cause at Occupy Wall Street, but the truth is there are many. And no matter how disparate they may seem, they all can be traced to one deadly sin: Greed.

While talking to Paul, I pointed to a large building and said, “I feel like this building represents this fight. It’s huge and overwhelming and I know no matter how hard I try I will never be able to scale it. I will never be able to go through it. I will always have to reside to the fact that I must go around it”. And that’s when Paul looked up and said “Yes, but if you stand on all of our shoulders, we’ll get over it together”.

Occupy Wall Street
as reflected in the Freedom Tower

Even if the fight at Occupy Wall Street does not directly affect you, it does not mean it is not your fight. These injustices, previously left unchecked, have become acceptable to the point of slowly consuming us all. Like Paul said, he is willing to fight for the people who live in their comfortable homes and are unable or unwilling to engage. “I fight for them as much as I fight for myself because they are victims too. Even if they don’t know it.”

I entered Occupy Wall Street thinking, “What can one person do, really,” but what I learned is it’s not about one person changing the world. It’s about one person helping to change the voice of the silent majority. And as for the rich minority, I’ve learned that we’re not likely to change their way of thinking. We need to teach the masses to speak out and believe that change can happen, so that someday it’s one of our own on the ballot. This is evolution, not war.

View a complete Occupy Wall Street Photo Summary by Linda Pricci

Is the Secret to Twitter Success Link Sharing?

When it comes to using Facebook to promote your business or blog, it seems pretty straightforward as to how exactly to use it. Sure, there are always things we can learn to help boost our Facebook fan numbers and interaction with them, but as far as structure goes, it’s pretty simple.

But what about Twitter? What’s the secret to Twitter success? According to this article, it’s link sharing. The article is rather long, but basically what it’s saying is that we have the same basic tool – 140 characters – but it’s exactly how you use those that counts.

A few interesting studies have been published lately that
all seem to point to the same conclusion –
the secret to Twitter success is driving links.

This infographic from Get Satisfaction shows the top reasons why people follow brands. For Twitter, it shows the third reason is interesting or entertaining content – so link sharing.

The article sums up Twitter success as seeing what works best for you. Do you get better results when you do one link a day, link to a video, say something before the link that grabs your followers’ attention?

What do you use Twitter for the most? Getting information, entertainment, interacting with your followers and do you think link sharing is the key to Twitter success?

PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
http://www.phantompower.co/

Why Musicians Should Consider Google Plus For Online Music Marketing

Marketing music online isn’t an easy job these days. There are many places to be and a gazillion tools to use. With all the learning and managing required your head can start spinning pretty quickly and your precious time can evaporate quicker than Windex on sun-drenched windshield. But I think Google Plus might just help us with that.

At first thought Google+ looked like another take it or leave it ploy by Google to grab some attention away from the Facebooks and Twitters of the world. But after reading Chris Brogan’s Google Plus 50 post, I have changed my mind.

He goes through and points out how Google+ – along with some of the new features like Circles (more on that below) – will bring all of their stand alone tools like Picasa, Gchat, Gmail, etc together for a one stop social party. Which got even more weight a day later when Google announces is will rebrand Picasa and Blogger.

Add that to fact 400,000+ Android phones are being activate per day it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Google might have something here that is useful for music promotion.

Here is the part of the Chris’s post that really perked my interest:

“How long before we see our first Hangout live music “jam?” That’s one record button away from being supercool. And one “name your price” Google Checkout tweak away from being instant micro content for sale.”

How cool would that be? Monetized (or not) push button live shows – with all the promotion tools included – at your finger tips. Almost makes sites like Ustream and StageIt sound complicated.

Circles

CDBaby also recognized the potential of the Google+ Circles feature in a post.

They bring up a great point:

Basically, you can put your friends into different categories and communicate with each of them separately. For most users, circles would probably include “family,” “close friends,” “acquaintances,” “work associates,” etc. But for musicians, this function could have some added benefits if account holders are allowed to create circles for in-town fans, fellow musicians, booking contacts, studio owners, journalists and bloggers, etc.

That will be pretty slick. How many times do you want to share links, vids or chit chat with other artists about music marketing on various social networks but don’t because you don’t want to share that conversation with your fans and vice-versa?

Being able to segment conversations means you may not have to have two Twitter accounts or multiple fanpages to log in and out of.

The Tip of The Iceberg

And really that is the tip of the iceberg. I can’t get in to try out Google+ at the moment to really poke and prod but you can bet I will be in there playing around the minute I get a chance. Stay tuned In the meantime, go check out Google+ for yourself. And I strongly encourage you to go and read Chris Brogan’s Google Plus 50 post and check out the conversation going on in the comments because he goes into way more depth than I have time or first hand knowledge to here.

Oh and as a side note, Google getting bigger and better is kind of freaky. Hell, between my email, my reader, my phone, etc, the conspiracy theorist in me knows they have a crap load of my information. But [fingers crossed] hopefully it is much ado about nothing and I can reap some time saving and fan finding benefits of pretty innovative thinking on their part.

What about you?  Do you know something I don’t? Will you use Google Plus?

PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
http://www.phantompower.co/

6 Reasons Businesses Need to Blog

A business blog is central to a successful inbound marketing strategy that will help you get found and generate more inbound leads online. Why? Here are 6 reasons your business needs to blog:

1. Build thought leadership by showing your expertise and becoming a go-to resource for prospects and media.

2. Get SEO value for each blog article. More content = more opportunities to get found online.

3. Engage in a dialogue with customers and prospects through blog comments. Host conversations and respond to issues or questions.

4. Attract social media followers. Businesses that blog enjoy more social media reach because they have content to share.

5. Generate more leads online. A HubSpot study found that businesses that blog generate more than 67% more leads online compared to businesses that don't blog.

6. Humanize your brand by giving your company a voice of the people behind your brand.

What benefits is your business seeing by blogging?


PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
http://www.phantompower.co/

Facebook to Roll Out Major Changes

The Only Constant is Change

Facebook is driven by a single, unique goal. Its priority isn’t to gain more users (it already has 750 million of those), nor does it feel compelled to find stupid ways to increase pageviews. Its primary goal right now isn’t to increase revenue, either — that will come later.

No, Facebook’s goal is to become the social layer that supports, powers and connects every single piece of the web, no matter who or what it is or where it lives. On Thursday at its f8 conference in San Francisco, the world’s largest social network will take a giant leap toward accomplishing that goal.

I have seen what Facebook is launching on Thursday, and it’s going to change the world of social media. And while I won’t talk about the mind-boggling things Facebook will be launching, I will say this: The Facebook you know and (don’t) love will be forever transformed. The news that will come out of Facebook during the next few weeks will be the biggest things to come out of the company since the launch of the Facebook Platform.

For Facebook, it all boils down to one problem: emotion. Facebook has hundreds of millions of users and spectacular levels of engagement, but it is a platform that has lost its emotional resonance over the years. More and more people visit Facebook out of necessity rather than desire. It’s a platform people prefer to hate, but won’t leave simply because all their friends are there.

It’s a relationship gone stale. After years of dating, the magic between Facebook and its users has dissipated. It’s a natural evolution in any relationship, but now there is another suitor vying for Facebook’s users. And a lot of people think this suitor is easy on the eyes.

Watch Zuckerberg's Announcement at F8 2011

That’s why Facebook launched three recent changes: revamped Friend Lists, a real-time news ticker, and the subscribe button. Friend Lists lets you share content with just your closest friends (with whom you have the strongest emotional connection), and the ticker lets you have real-time conversations with your friends as soon as they do anything. Subscribe lets you fill your News Feed with people you admire and respect, fostering a different type of emotional connection.

But these changes are just the beginning. The changes Facebook will roll out on Thursday are designed to enhance the emotional connection its users have to each other through Facebook. These changes will make Facebook a place where nearly everything in your life is enhanced by your social graph. These changes will make it so you know your friends better than you ever thought you could.

On Thursday, developers will be elated, users will be shellshocked and the competition will look ancient. On Thursday, Facebook will be reborn. Prepare yourselves for the evolution of social networking.

PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Designhttp://www.phantompower.co/

Preparing for Hurricane Irene

An earthquake rattled the entire eastern seaboard for just a few moments this week. It gave no warning, absolutely no indication it would ever happen, and then in a matter of seconds, it disappeared. By late afternoon, everybody was back into the Manhattan groove – and whatever passes for it in Washington, Philadelphia and so on.

But the quake was only the lead paragraph on what will be a week-long weather story about another, more slowly approaching bit of tumult: Hurricane Irene.

Before the storm:

• Listen to a NOAA Weather Radio for critical information from the National Weather Service.
• Check your disaster supplies and replace or restock as needed.
  

  
• Bring in anything that can be picked up by the wind (bicycles, lawn furniture).
• Close windows, doors and hurricane shutters. If you do not have hurricane shutters, close and board up all windows and doors with plywood.
• Turn the refrigerator and freezer to the coldest setting and keep them closed as much as possible so that food will last longer if the power goes out.
• Turn off propane tanks and unplug small appliances.
• Fill your car’s gas tank.
• Talk with members of your household and create an evacuation plan. Planning and practicing your evacuation plan minimizes confusion and fear during the event.
• Learn about your community’s hurricane response plan. Plan routes to local shelters, register family members with special medical needs as required and make plans for your pets to be cared for.
• Evacuate if advised by authorities. Be careful to avoid flooded roads and washed out bridges.
• Because standard homeowners insurance doesn’t cover flooding, it’s important to have protection from the floods associated with hurricanes, tropical storms, heavy rains and other conditions that impact the U.S. For more information on flood insurance, please visit the National Flood Insurance Program Web site at http://www.floodsmart.gov/.

During the storm supplies needed:

• Water—at least a 3 day supply; one gallon per person per day
• Food—at least a 3 day supply of non perishable, easy to¬ prepare food.
• Flashlight
• Battery powered or hand crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)
• Extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Medications (7 day supply) and medical items (hearing aids with extra batteries, glasses, contact lenses, syringes, cane)
• Multi purpose tool
• Sanitation and personal hygiene items
• Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies)
• Cell phone with chargers
• Family and emergency contact information
• Extra cash
• Emergency blanket
• Map(s) of the area
• Baby supplies (bottles, formula, baby food, diapers)
• Pet supplies (collar, leash, ID, food, carrier, bowl)
• Tools/supplies for securing your home
• Extra set of car keys and house keys
• Extra clothing, hat and sturdy shoes
• Rain gear
• Insect repellent and sunscreen
• Camera for photos of damage

After the storm:

• Continue listening to a NOAA Weather Radio or the local news for the latest updates.
• Stay alert for extended rainfall and subsequent flooding even after the hurricane or tropical storm has ended.
• If you evacuated, return home only when officials say it is safe.
• Drive only if necessary and avoid flooded roads and washed out bridges.
• Keep away from loose or dangling power lines and report them immediately to the power company.
• Stay out of any building that has water around it.
• Inspect your home for damage. Take pictures of damage, both of the building and its contents, for insurance purposes.
• Use flashlights in the dark. Do NOT use candles.
• Avoid drinking or preparing food with tap water until you are sure it’s not contaminated.
• Check refrigerated food for spoilage. If in doubt, throw it out.
• Wear protective clothing and be cautious when cleaning up to avoid injury.
• Watch animals closely and keep them under your direct control.
• Use the telephone only for emergency calls.

Tips for recover:

As you rebuild

• Secure double entry doors at the top and the bottom.
• Strengthen existing garage doors to improve the wind resistance, particularly double- wide garage doors.
• Protect windows with permanent storm shutters or one-half inch marine plywood that is pre-cut to fit your doors and windows.
• Clear loose and clogged rain gutters and downspouts to prevent flooding and unnecessary pressure on the awnings.
• Select trees that are not as subject to uprooting to replace damaged ones. A gardening or landscaping professional can give you excellent advice.
• Identify a place to store lawn furniture, toys, gardening tools and trash cans that is away from stairs and exits to prevent them from being moved by high winds and becoming missiles.

Ask a professional to

• Ensure roof sheathing is properly installed.
• Ensure end gables are securely fastened to the rest of the roof.
• Fasten the roof to the walls with hurricane straps.
• Elevate your home if it is near the coast and subject to flooding from storm surge.

A resource for hurricane readiness is http://www.ready.nj.gov/ or call 2-1-1. In the event of an emergency after business hours, dial (866) 413-9850 to reach a representative of Wentworth. Please note, an emergency is a situation involving imminent danger to property or individuals and which requires immediate attention.

How to Measure and Grow your Social Media Reach

Social Reach is the total number of individuals across all social platforms you engage who actively follow (fans, followers, subscribers) your company. For example, a company with 10,000 Facebook fans, 5,000 Twitter followers and 1,000 YouTube subscribers has a total Social Reach of 16,000.

A company’s Social Reach drives the level of benefit for all social media efforts. Most companies are engaged on multiple social channels, but how many social channels are enough? There are no hard and fast rules, but the experts agree that companies should participate in as many social channels as possible - as long as their target customers can be found there and sufficient resources can be dedicated to ensure high-quality execution in all chosen channels.

Jason Falls, principal at Social Media Explorer, explains, “Companies need to prioritize social media channels by how extensively these channels are being used by a company’s target audience. Every company needs to grow their reach - this is the foundation on which to share content over time.”

Andrew Patterson, manager of new media at MLB Advanced Media, says that “the decision on number of social media channels for a company is contextual. What is important is how consistent you are with engaging in a social media channel. You can’t be there one day and gone the next. If you have the resources to be consistent across multiple channels, then by all means do it. But if you spread yourself too thin, you will end up disappointing your fans and followers and jeopardizing your social marketing initiative.”

Social Platforms of Choice

Facebook, Twitter, and the use of landing pages and company blogs are the leading platform choices for brands of all sizes, with a growing number of companies reporting planned integration of YouTube, SlideShare, Flickr and Foursquare in 2011.

Best-in-class companies use three to four social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) vs. the average company, which is using less than two social media platforms. Best-in-class companies also have multiple channels within each social media platform as shown in the next two graphs.

Measuring Social Reach

To measure your company’s Social Reach, you need to measure the number of total social profiles you have accumulated across all of your social media platforms.

Use that initial Social Reach to measure your Social Reach Velocity – your Social Reach Velocity is your ability to grow your Social Reach with social marketing over time.

How are you measuring your social efforts?  What platforms prove most effective for you?  Have you ever considered Social Velocity?


PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
www.phantompower.co

Why Musicians Should Consider Google+ For Online Music Marketing

Marketing music online isn’t an easy job these days. There are many places to be and a gazillion tools to use. With all the learning and managing required your head can start spinning pretty quickly and your precious time can evaporate quicker than Windex on sun-drenched windshield. But I think Google+ might just help us with that.

Brogan Knows
At first thought Google+ looked like another take it or leave it ploy by Google to grab some attention away from the Facebooks and Twitters of the world. But after reading Chris Brogan’s Google+ 50 post, I have changed my mind.

He goes through and points out how Google+ – along with some of the new features like Circles (more on that below) – will bring all of their stand alone tools like Picasa, Gchat, Gmail, etc together for a one stop social party. Which got even more weight a day later when Google announces is will rebrand Picasa and Blogger.

Add that to fact 400,000+ Android phones are being activate per day it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Google might have something here that is useful for music promotion.

Here is the part of the Chris’s post that really perked my interest...

“How long before we see our first Hangout live music “jam?” That’s one record button away from being supercool. And one “name your price” Google Checkout tweak away from being instant micro content for sale.”

How cool would that be? Monetized (or not) push button live shows – with all the promotion tools included – at your finger tips. Almost makes sites like Ustream and StageIt sound complicated.

Circles
CDBaby also recognized the potential of the Google+ Circles feature in a post . They bring up a great point:

Basically, you can put your friends into different categories and communicate with each of them separately. For most users, circles would probably include “family,” “close friends,” “acquaintances,” “work associates,” etc. But for musicians, this function could have some added benefits if account holders are allowed to create circles for in-town fans, fellow musicians, booking contacts, studio owners, journalists and bloggers, etc

That will be pretty slick. How many times do you want to share links, vids or chit chat with other artists about music marketing on various social networks but don’t because you don’t want to share that conversation with your fans and vice-versa?

Being able to segment conversations means you may not have to have two Twitter accounts or multiple fanpages to log in and out of.

The Tip of The Iceberg
And really that is the tip of the iceberg. I can’t get in to try out Google+ at the moment to really poke and prod but you can bet I will be in there playing around the minute I get a chance. Stay tuned

In the meantime, go check out Google Plus for yourself. And I strongly encourage you to go and read Chris Brogan’s Google+ 50 post and check out the conversation going on in the comments because he goes into way more depth than I have time or first hand knowledge to here.

Oh and as a side note, Google getting bigger and better is kind of freaky. Hell, between my email, my reader, my phone, etc, the conspiracy theorist in me knows they have a crap load of my information. But [fingers crossed] hopefully it is much ado about nothing and I can reap some time saving and fan finding benefits of pretty innovative thinking on their part.

What about you?  Do you know something I don’t? Will you use Google Plus?

PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
http://www.phantompower.co/