According to a post today on the Lujure blog, and at Hubz, Facebook will announce they are dropping some older ad formats and adding some new premium features as of February 29th. The ads will be larger, have more engagement options such as comments and likes directly on the ad, and include video or photos. Basically anything you post on a page can be marketed as an ad.  A complete slide show of the Facebook presentation is available here.  According to Facebook’s presentation, people are four times more likely to make a purchase when they see their friends interacting with a brand. So Facebook is set to release upgraded premium ads that are heavily weighted to interaction with the comments box, like option and perhaps even the share button under the ads.

Facebook is set to launch six new premium ad options on February 29, 2012.

The new suite of premium ads includes an option to create an ad out of a “Post Like Story,” which is nothing new.  But Facebook says brands will now be able to choose to run ads that appear to be posts to their wall, but will only appear as ads and not as wall posts.

Why is this interesting and potentially useful to a brand? Say you’re launching a new product, having a sale or desire to hammer home your biggest brand promise and you want to target only people who are not yet your fans because those folks are already aware of your offer.  In the past, your brand would have had to post the special offer to your page wall several days in a row so that the Post Like story would continue to run that offer.  Basically, you’d have to spam your own wall to keep the offer as the ad image and message.  This new options will allow brands to create a Page Post Story that never runs on their page and is only served up to non-Fans or whomever the brand chooses at set up.

The upgraded ad units are called photo, video, questions, status, events, links, which are all types of posts a brand currently can make to their page. Currently these new ad options may only be offered to premium advertisers who already have, or will have, a Facebook advertising account rep.  But rumors persist that these options will be offered to everyone soon.

Along with the expected announcement that Facebook fan pages will migrate to the Timeline design, and these new ad options, administrators and brand managers are scrambling to prepare their clients for change.

So what do you think? Will your brand or business try the new ads when they’re available?

Most new businesses fail in the first five years. Let’s beat the odds together.

I usually write about more complex tools and strategies, but in speaking to new entrepreneurs or small business owners this past year, the questions I most often get are:

• How can I add social media to my marketing without adding additional employees?
• How can I do everything you suggest and still have time to work on my products?

Lack of time and money are the #1 and #2 saboteurs of start-ups.  So to everyone who has not yet jumped into the social fray to promote their business or service, here’s my simple beginner’s guide to using social media for business.

I believe most businesses can benefit from a simple, straightforward social media strategy that includes:

• A Facebook profile for the “face” of the business; the owner or spokesperson
• A Facebook fan page for the business itself
• A Twitter Account
• A YouTube Account
• A Blog

With these five social media basics, even the most cash strapped and time deprived entrepreneur can begin to create digital footprints that lead back to their business.

Setting up the accounts is easy and entrepreneurs should not become distracted by the bells and whistles and they wish list that comes with fully tricked out Facebook pages or beautifully designed Twitter accounts.  When you’re swamped, stick to the basics and don’t let “ideal” stop you from starting with “good enough.”

Here’s a simple beginners guide to a social media marketing strategy map anyone can use.

• Blog 2-3 times per week and keep posts to 250-300 words. Make them keyword rich (words you would enter into Google Search to find YOU). Make sure each post gives one interesting or useful piece of information to the reader about your area of expertise.

• The same day you blog, post a link to that blog on your Facebook Fan Page, adding an invitation to join you on the blog for more posts on your subject matter.

• Allow this post to auto-post to your Twitter account by linking your Twitter account to your Facebook fan page through this Facebook app link: http://Facebook.com/Twitter.

• The next day press the share button under your Fan Page post and share it to your personal profile.  Your friends are your closest supporters.  Ask them to share your post with their friends, leave you comments and let you know if you can help them with your area of expertise.

• Two days later, turn your blog post into a simple, how-to video by reading it into your web cam. Put the “script” up on your screen so you can look directly at the camera.  Speak as though you’re explaining the concepts in your blog to just one person.  Post the video to YouTube and tag the video with your keywords.

This is an over simplified map, designed to get you thinking about sharing content throughout social media.  There are many, many subtle and more complicated nuances and strategies to increase your visibility, but this is a start.  If you’re a new business owner or entrepreneur who has not yet begun to use social media in your business marketing, begin here and add new strategies as you get comfortable.

I’d love to see your first efforts and answer your questions.  Feel free to post your links below and I’ll take a look at your new social media platforms.  Here’s to a year of action and success, to us all.

Guest Blogger, Bob Martin

A few weeks ago, the Eastern Pennsylvania Business Journal published an article from an experienced marketing and communications professional, offering a contrarian view of the rush to incorporate social media into business communications. The gist of the argument seemed to be that incorporating these new techniques and channels into your business’s marketing efforts offers no obvious, tangible benefits over those delivered by a traditional mix of marketing communications activities and media.

I respectfully disagree – and not just because of the increasing power of younger, more social media-oriented individuals in the customer and consumer pools. As someone who’s worked in media and business communications for more than two decades, I see a compelling philosophical reason for embracing the new social media in our efforts to reach and serve our customers.

Since the beginning of mass media, business communicators have struggled to overcome the technical limitations of traditional communication channels, as we work to make our message connect more effectively with target audiences. Today’s new social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs and the like – are game-changing advancements precisely because they’re breaking through those limitations, and creating a new, more effective business communications paradigm in the process.

Encouraging give and take during discussion, alternating the roles of messenger and receiver within the communication, adjusting your message on the fly based on the other party’s reactions – by enabling these actions, social media presents smart business communicators with something we’ve always wanted: a way to have an honest-to-goodness conversation with our audience.

Admittedly, this new conversation paradigm can be disorienting to traditional business communicators, because it adds a third dimension to our messaging – not brand to customer or customer to brand, but customer to customer ABOUT the brand, in which the communicator has to relinquish some measure of control over the message. For example, consumer products companies are realizing that relationships with influential bloggers can be excellent avenues to introduce new products, or emphasize features of existing ones, or just communicate their brand promise. But it comes at a cost: the power of the blogger can be directly related to their perceived independence from your influence, and you need that perception of independence to maximize the potential benefit of your relationship, so you accept the possibility of loss of some control over the message to the blogger and their audience.

Forward-thinking companies who can accept the social media conversation paradigm can use it to constantly adjust and update marketing strategies as they are executed. A social media audience is different than the total target audience, of course – but they’re different in ways that add to their value as “thought leaders”: they enter the conversation as generally knowledgeable about your company and its products, they are comfortable with the new conversation paradigm, and they relish the feeling that their opinion matters to what happens to “their brand” and so take that perceived responsibility very seriously.

To that point, a current ad campaign supporting the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating systems centers on PC users who offered feedback to Microsoft that ended up reflected in the new product – prompting each to claim that “Windows 7 was my idea.” The theme carries over to the product’s Facebook presence, which encourages groups of users to suggest, complain about or tout features of the product that others may find useful. It’s easy to see how these discussions could lead to adjustments in marketing strategy emphasis on particular features – which would in turn reinforce the umbrella theme of “Windows 7 is my idea.”

A final word of caution: by facilitating the continuation of a conversation, feedback through social media fundamentally changes the nature of any business communication effort. Establishing a presence in social media amounts to a commitment to your audience to continue that conversation. Fulfilling that commitment will cost time and money, but failing to live up to it will cost precious standing with key audiences that you won’t easily regain. Before embarking on a strategy that includes these new communications capabilities, make sure you’re prepared with the right resources and mindset to commit to a real conversation.

1. MEDIA: Traditional media, radio and television, features, op-eds, reviews, mentions, third party endorsements
2. ONLINE: Virtual and social media: video, audio, blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Slideshare, guest posts, internet radio, internet tv
3. LIVE EVENTS: appearances, workshops, keynotes
4. ADVERTISING: Targeted use of Adsense words, Facebook ads, paid press release placement, and other modestly priced visibility opportunities
5. STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS: product or business partners that imply endorsement and provide real or in kind value to campaigns
6. SEO: Search Engine Optimization is the glue the brings all of your brand outreach and marketing programs together to give you search engine ranking that helps people find you and buy your product. Without SEO, all of your various activities exists only by themselves and do not take advantage of their combined power to create massive brand awareness. SEO is the missing ingredient in many campaigns.

By identifying a succinct set of key message points and exploiting them over all of the platforms outlined in the MVP program, your brand will reach the consciousness of your intended end user, client or consumer faster, less expensively and in a more targeted fashion than if you were to employ any combination of these outreach strategies alone. I look forward to helping you create powerful brand awareness for your business, book or ideas this year.

In most houses that publicity machine has been downsized while the number of books needing publicity and promotion has stayed the same. What’s left is a hard-working group of thoughtful people who truly love books; who would spend all the time in the world to get the word out if it was humanly possible; and who need an author’s cooperation, participation and good-cheer now more than ever before. Remember that these overworked people want your book to succeed.

How does one get to be the author whose publicist tells others: “this author was great to work with,” “the author knew the right people and really helped me get the book into important hands” and I would walk through hot coals for my author?”

It’s essential that authors view themselves as a partner in the publishing process and that includes the marketing and publicity portions of the book publishing cycle. To that end, I’ve enlisted veteran book publicist John G. Ekizian to join me in creating this list of The Top Ten Things Book Publicists Want Authors to Know.

Before you turn over the responsibility for communicating your book’s message to the world, remember.

1. You are a brand.

2. Your book is your first product.

3. Your reputation is on the line and if your first product doesn’t succeed, launching new products or books will be much harder.

4. Therefore, you must be a full partner in promoting your book, finding and alerting potential readers and in general, creating conversations about YOU.

Here’s what can you do?

1. Mobilize your friends, family and fans. They really do want to help—but you have to tell them how they can be most helpful. Start with your immediate fan base, however small. Give them early copies of your book or galleys—or even a PDF of your manuscript. Ask them to read it and give you their feedback. Ask them to write a short review and to post it on Amazon.com, BN.com and Borders.com. Tell them not to gush, but to relate why the book moved or informed them. Ask them if you can post their review to your website. Ask them to give their opinion on your Facebook Fan Page, on Twitter and on LinkedIn. Start close to home and create buzz that can build.

2. Influence the influencers: Create a list of the top 25 people in your area of expertise or who write in the same field or genre as you do. Find, read and subscribe to their blogs. Comment whenever they write something that interests you. Become visible, let them know you’re a fan, offer them new content from you whenever appropriate, such as being a guest blogger. You should also consider finding and following them on Twitter and Facebook. Again, interact with them. Pass their blogs, tweets and posts on to others. In other words, hang out on line with people you admire and who you would love to have read your work. After establishing an online relationship, you may have an opportunity to offer them an early galley or ask them to give you a quote. But first you need to be a part of their community and genuinely engaged with them.

3. Find your natural audience: The biggest marketing mistake most people make in book promotion is to assume that everyone will be interested in their book. Books that sell usually begin selling to people who are really interested in the topic. Want to sell a cookbook? Go after the person who has a shelf full of them. Who really cares about your topic? Think about it this way. You were attracted enough to this topic to write a book. Where would you go to learn about you? Would you find the kind of information in your book on CNN? Then that’s your natural audience and you and your publicist should target CNN. Are you writing about romance and mystery? Then maybe CNN may not for you. Every author we’ve ever worked with believes their book is right for Oprah. Not all books are right for Oprah. Watch the shows, see what kinds of guests they book and then make sure your publicist knows which shows most often present the subject matter most similar to your book.

4. Facebook Fan Page: Please create a Facebook Fan Page for yourself. Every author needs one. Name it for yourself, the author. You might call it John G. Ekizian | Author, Speaker. Use your name, then the upward slash and a two to three word qualifier. Those keywords will be useful in identifying you to potential friends and fans and will be Google searchable. Then create a tab with the name of your book. You can add video interviews or author chats that you create yourself. You can use the Events application to invite fans to your personal appearances. You can post news and information about reviews as they come in. This is a wonderfully rich and free tool. Please don’t overlook it.

5. Advertising versus publicizing: Every author wishes that their publisher would place full page ads in the New York Times Book Review for their book. Realistically the more that $75,000 (conservatively) that these types of ads cost isn’t a good investment for your publisher in terms of return on investment. In other words, they’re not recoup $75,000 in books sales from that ad. Publicity is a better investment of marketing dollars because a television appearance, a national publication, a radio tour or other major media can reach far more people than a one-time advertisement in one publication.

6. Webinars and teleseminars: These are the new virtual author tour and can help you reach hundreds and perhaps thousands of potential readers without ever leaving home. A webinar allows participants to view your computer screen and hear you talk as you show either a slide presentation or demonstrate something online. Many webinar hosts also allow for the audience to see you at times during the presentation. Teleseminars are via phone and are audio only but listeners can ask questions via a type-in pod. Both can be very interactive and allow people who might otherwise have not been able to “meet” you, come and hear you talk about your book.

7. Your 30 second pitch: When your publicist meets with national television producers and editors at major publications, he or she has 30 seconds to sell you and your book as a potential story or segment. Help your publicist hone your message down to a short, potent sound byte. Does your book “save lives through new research that proves sound waves are harming children,” or does your book show us “a brand new way to lose weight while you sleep.” These are silly but you get the idea. Think in headlines.

8. Op-Eds: Writing original opinion page articles can be a very effective way to increase an author’s visibility and by association help promote your book. The piece cannot be about your book but must be an opinion about some current affairs topic in which you might be considered a thought leader. For example, if you’ve written a book on World War II, you might write an opinion page article on the lessons learned or overlooked from World War II as we escalate troops in Afghanistan. You’re by-line would include Author of, the title your book. You may not mention your book in the article but positioning yourself as an expert will help you publicist book more media for you. You are sharing your ideas and information because you’re an expert. This part of a visibility strategy.

9. Create Your A List: Pick 10 media targets that you feel are right for your book and learn everything you can about them. Watch the shows, read the magazines and newspapers. Write down the name of the reporter or host who most often seems to be reporting on topics that are similar to your book topic. Share this list with your publicist who rarely has time to watch this much TV. He or she can really use your research skills. This is an excellent way for you to partner with your publicist.

10. Radio: Please don’t forget radio. Both broadcast and internet radio are great ways to reach people who might like your book. Blog Talk Radio and other internet radio platforms are reaching large numbers of people, are archived and accessible on demand and live forever on the internet. Please do not turn down internet radio interview opportunities because you don’t think they are worthy of your time. In fact, while your publicist is working hard on connecting with traditional media, why not reach out via Twitter and Facebook and put together your own Blog Talk Radio tour. Just start talking about your book, offering yourself for interviews, searching and following anyone with a Blog Talk Radio show and engaging with them on your topic.

BONUS TIP: All placements are not equal. You need to get your idea across or the placement is pointless. Working with a talented publicist can help you hone your marketing message into several succinct sound bytes that will be picked up and repeated both online and off to increase your outreach and brand visibility.

Publicity creates conversations about YOU. Be a full partner in making that happen to give your book the best possible opportunity to reach an enthusiastic reading audience.

Simply put, Viola had five basic rules. In order to create a warm and intimate relationship with the audience, the actor must help the audience visualize:

1. Who you are, clearly, simply and honestly.
2. Where you are, in the physical and emotional world.
3. What you are as in what do you do and what do you offer or what do you need?
4. Yes, And. This is the most important rule. The actor listens to his or her parter (or client) and really truly hears what they say. Then opens his or her mouth and says “Yes, and…”, and adds value or information that helps the relationship move forward.
5. Don’t deny. Rule #4 is so important that it is repeated in new language in rule #5. Don’t deny what you just heard. If the partner/actor says “The sky is blue,” and you say “no, it’s not,” the scene is over. There is no option left but a disagreement, which adds no value to the relationship. So a better choice would be this exchange. “The sky is blue.” “Wow, that’s so interesting that you see the sky as blue. I’m seeing more green and yellow but I love that you see blue. Tell me more about how you see it. Maybe I should stand closer to you and get a better view.”

Now the scene or the relationship has a basis for moving forward.

Social media interactions are like improvisational theater. We don’t know who we’re going to meet on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube or LinkedIn. We don’t know, for certain, what they think or what they offer. But we can listen, establish a clear message about who we are, where we are and make our intentions about what we do very clear. We can build relationships based on listening and on the “Yes, and” rule and by doing so we can attract friends, fans and followers who are interested in our message and in a lively discourse and at some point after trust is firmly developed and demonstrated, perhaps in a business relationship.

Just as you would create a business plan and map out your marketing strategy, take some time to figure out your brand DNA. Who are you? Where are you? What value do you offer? Then say yes, and add even more depth to your message and finally, never deny that listening to your friends, fans and followers can lead you to a richer, deeper, more profitable R.O.I or return on time spent engaging in social media activities.

How are you using improvisational techniques to build you business? I’d love to hear from you.

As someone who is currently engaged in training with Mari Smith, http://www.marismith.com (someone who also cares deeply about ethical behavior online) and who will be part of the first class of certified social media professionals, I’m very interested in hearing about your concerns, issues and ideas for perhaps a “Golden Rules” of using social media for publicity and marketing. Let’s post our ideas here and start the conversation. If you post, please include your full Facebook, Twitter or Website URL including the http:// so that others can friend, follow and connect with you in just one click. You’re welcome to list all of your preferred connection options in that way. Let’s start a movement.

Take your Social Media Image Seriously

Your Facebook® profile and your Facebook® Fan Page are two key social media touch-points for connecting with potential clients. Creating your on-line funnels in a variety of social mediums helps people find you and clearly understand the service you provide. Now, the yellow pages will do the same thing but social mediums let customers engage with you first and then decide, based on your attitude, the comments they read from your friends and followers and the value you provide in your various postings, whether or not they want to take the next step and become your customer. They can literally shadow you while deciding. That’s why it’s so critical for you to take your social media image seriously.

The Key Ingredients to your Social Media Strategy

Because your potential customer might be exploring numerous social media sites, you’ll want to be on at least Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and I highly recommend that you have a blog. If you already have your own website that becomes your home base. If you don’t, you’re blog can serve that purpose.

Now the number one rule of any great marketing campaign is to make sure that every consumer touch-point is integrated with every other one. All of your social media sites should link to each other, carry a similar look and message all while speaking to the consumer in the voice most appropriate for that medium. For example, you’ll communicate in short 120 character* bits on Twitter, longer more detailed thoughts will be incorporated into your blog and your Facebook profile and fan pages might be more personal and intimate. Yet an integrated marketing strategy means that the core values and the key message points will be the same, albeit communicated differently.

Helping Customers Find, Follow and Friend You

If you were the owner of a Deli, you wouldn’t hide the checkout counter. You’d make it very easy to find. Shoppers would never have to guess where to find you, talk with you and pay you. It’s the same with social media sites. Be user friendly. Make it easy for someone who finds and follows you on one site to find and friend you on another.

I recently installed a “Follow me on Twitter” button on my Facebook Profile and my Facebook Fan Pages. This is a nice visual addition to your profile or page and there are a lot of designers and programmers out there offering free buttons. I happen to love http://twitbuttons.com for it’s user-friendly interface. You simply enter your Twitter name in the URL box at the top of the page and all the HTML code in every Twitter Button box is changed, automatically, to customize the button for your twitter page.

So here are the instructions for adding a “Follow me on Twitter” button to your Facebook Page.

1. Log onto your Facebook Page and go to the applications link on the bottom left hand side of your screen.
2. Click “Browse applications and the find ” “Extended info” application. Add that to your profile. Then click the edit settings link to the right of the app in the list of apps you’ve downloaded. Where it says “Tab” click “add.”
3. Then go to http://twitbuttons.com and pick out your favorite button. Be sure to enter your twitter name in the black space above the buttons. This will automatically enter your correct twitter name link to the code under each twitter button image.
4. Copy the code of the button you like and go back to Facebook to the Applications list (link on bottom left of page).
5. Open the Extended info application by clicking directly on that link. A window will pop up for you to paste your code.
6. Paste the code and click the “Add to Profile” button on the upper right of that page.
7. Then click the Save changes button below the code and return to your page. You can change the look of your button at anytime by returning to these instructions and choosing a new button from the website I mentioned or another you may find. You can design your own if you’re skilled with HTML too.

Transparency is Currency in Social Media

I recommend adding your “Follow Me” button or link to all of your social media sites and using the custom options on your Twitter background to provide the URL’s for your Facebook, Linked In and Blog to your Twitter followers. You get the picture. The name of the game is to be visible. For some inspiring examples of people who are doing this well, check out these social media pros. Each one of these people are helping potential clients find them and utilizing a slightly different style. Take a look and make a plan to help yourself stand out in the crowd.

• Mari Smith: http://www.facebook.com/marismith?ref=ts#/marismith?v=app_11007063052&viewas=1048779085
• Dr. Mehmet Oz: http://www.facebook.com/droz?ref=ts#/droz?v=app_4949752878&viewas=1048779085
• Gary Vaynerchuk http://www.facebook.com/gary?ref=ts#/gary?v=wall&viewas=1048779085 (Check out his “Friend Me Up” Tab!)
• Karmen Reed at KickOff Topic: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kickoff-Topic-Marketing-Solutions-Through-Online-Visibility/56494299508#/pages/Kickoff-Topic-Marketing-Solutions-Through-Online-Visibility/56494299508?v=wall&viewas=1048779085
• The Social Latte: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tempe-AZ/The-Social-Latte-Specializing-In-Social-Media-For-Small-Businesses/80841554499?ref=ts#/pages/Tempe-AZ/The-Social-Latte-Specializing-In-Social-Media-For-Small-Businesses/80841554499?v=app_7146470109&viewas=1048779085
• Angela Albright: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Angela-Albright-Social-Media-Entrepreneur/87674098294?ref=ts#/pages/Angela-Albright-Social-Media-Entrepreneur/87674098294?v=wall&viewas=1048779085

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*Always try to keep your tweets to 120 characters so that people can Re-tweet your post. When they re-tweet, some of the character spaces are taken up with their Twitter name. At 120 characters you’ll be re-tweet-friendly.