Facebook ads were never that really hard to create in the first place, but now they’ve taken most of the brain work out of it for you.  Now, when you go to create a facebook ad and input your destination URL (the place where the user will go when the click on the ad) it will auto suggest an ad title, 135 characters of copy, and a corresponding image.  It pulls this information from the meta description, page title and available images on the corresponding page.

The only problem I see with this is that if a user is going this route to create their ads, they’ve probably not put much time into naming their pages or doing any SEO work behind the scenes in terms of adding meta descriptions, ALT tags, etc.

Also, don’t forget to add your call-to-action!

Have you tried this?  Did  you even make it this far in the article?  If so, click the like button below.

via Marketing Pilgrim

Instantly Create Facebook Ads Without Burning Those Brain Cells is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

via Alex Toulemondes’s blog for web entrepreneurs

The Difference Between Marketing, PR, Advertising and Branding is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

At times we get so wrapped up and focused in ourselves that we forget the real questions that your customers want you to answer.  When selling any new product, service or big idea make sure you answer the following 3 questions from the customer’s point of view.

• What’s in it for me (the customer)?
• Why should I care?
• Why should I believe you?

3 Questions Your Customers Want You To Answer is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Last December, I made predictions for 2009 on what I thought would happen in the world of online marketing and social media. Some were totally off, some were pretty good and a few of my other predictions were totally lame.  Here are the highlights;

My 2009 predictions

1. Twitter finds a way to make money. I thought they would start some sort of subscription based model based on exclusive content and features.
Results - Well, we have some time before the end of 2009 and even though the rumors about Twitter’s supposed business model change with the winds, it doesn’t look like this particular subscription model is going to come to fruition.  I will say that I am disappointed that Twitter is basically the same service they were last year minus the lists and retweets, but hey, that functionality was already in place by outside applications.  In the end – FAIL

2.  Google makes a large TV network acquisition.
Results – Google has been busy this year, but this type of acquisition was not one of them.  FAIL.

3.  Social networks become a thing of the past.  I thought that Facebook and Google Friend Connect would help free content from behind the walled gardens.
Results – More and more sites are integration social tools that tap into these larger network and with the addition of Google Profiles and Social Search, the web itself is becoming more social. I still think Facebook can open up a bit, but in my humble opinion I think I got one right – WIN.

7.  Low quality web video will hit the road and HD content will be the new cool.
Results – This is probably a push, but I’m going to give myself some credit.  Is web video still grainy, hard to hear and of poor quality? To that I would say yes, but to counterpoint, its much better than we’ve seen in the past.  Earlier this month YouTube announced that they’re bringing 1080p resolution to the web and with the addition of the iPhone 3GS and Flip HD cameras show that things are looking up for HD.  Final call – WIN.

10. More smart phones will hit the market and Google will look to control the mobile advertising market.
Results – It took almost 11 months, but I’m fairly confident that the addition of AdMob has sealed this prediction.  The mobile advertising arena in 2010 is going to be exciting to watch as Google looks to bring more effective tools for creating, serving and analyzing mobile ad formats.  I’m a WINNER on this.

13.  Second Life use would take a downward spiral.
Results – Linden Labs, the folks behind Second Life claim that user hours and transactions were very healthy in 2009 – something that Nielson had some doubts about.  Traffic to SecondLife.com is down this year, but the virtual world is still alive and kicking. Me=FAIL.

Looking Back On My 2009 Predictions is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

The Future of Marketing and Advertising is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

5 Ways Sentiment Analysis is Ramping Up in 2009 via ReadWrite Web

Sentiment Analysis aims to determine the attitude of a speaker or a writer with respect to a particular topic. The attitude may be their judgment or evaluation their affective state (that is to say, the emotional state of the author when writing) or the intended emotional communication (that is to say, the emotional effect the author wishes to have on the reader). From Wikipedia

5 Ways Sentiment Analysis is Ramping Up in 2009 is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Razorfish recently released their social influence marketing report. Download it, read it, give it to your boss.

Social Influence Marketing (SIM) is about employing social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization.

Social Influence Marketing is about recognizing, accounting and tapping into the fact that as your potential consumer makes a purchasing decision, he or she is being influenced by different circles of people through conversations with them, both online and off. It is not enough to market to the consumer anymore; as a marketer you also have to market to each individual’s social influencers throughout the marketing funnel.

Razorfish Releases Social Influence Marketing Report is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Jingle Maker

Legendary (and fictional) record producer Tommy Silk helps you rock out your R.O.I and synthesize your sales by making a free commercial song with jingle lyrics written for your own type of business. Jingle lyrics are customized based on the business name and information you provide.  Commercials are based on Your Love, originally performed by The Outfield.  Jingle Maker is provided by Intuit, the makers of tax software QuickBooks.  I like how they’ve created a very creative and innovative campaign for a product that isn’t traditionally sexy.  In addition to the Jingle Maker microsite, they also have footprints on YouTube and Facebook

Mikes Hard Lemonade Victim Video

Need a day off, but you have to have an alibi?  Let Mike’s Hard Lemonade put together a personalized news clip that you can use to cover your tracks.  Upload a picture, give them some basic information and you’ve got yourself a custom video detailing your hard luck.  You can get sucked up in a street sweeper, stuck on a carnival ride or have your cat perform CPR on you.  To top it all off, they put the video in a customized web page that resembles a news website.  The videos are hard from believable, but worth many laughs.

Little Gordon Ramsay

Caterer.com has created 2 amazingly funny ads featuring a young Gordon Ramsay to promote their hospitality site. For my money (and attention), there’s nothing better than a kid with an English accent dropping f-bombs.  You have to see the videos to believe it. Video 1, Video 2.

Office Max – Power to the Penny

To promote their 1¢ back-to-school specials, Office Max put a hidden camera on an actor who went around to various establishments such as a deli, a used car lot and a jewelry store trying to pay with pennies.  As you can imagine, he wasn’t greeted with welcome arms after presenting a bag full (or truck load) of pennies on the counter. Office Max ends the spots with ‘We’ll take your pennies’.

The only down fall I found with this promotion is that the videos aren’t able to be viewed without going directly to the Office Max microsite, which is a major bummer to the viral aspect of this campaign.

Häagen-Dazs Help the Honey Bees

Maker of all things delicious, Häagen-Dazs, has created a public service announcement around the disappearance of the honey bee.  The ice cream gods go on to ask customers to plant a seed and support bee-keepers so the bees can continue to pollinate the delicious fruits that go into their ice cream.  Häagen-Dazs has also used more traditional forms of media to bring their cause to the forefront, including promoting their Bee-Boy dance crew that has been lighting up YouTube and the blogosphere.

I love the social aspect that Häagen-Dazs has employed with this campaign; its nice to see a company spend some of their own money to support and bring attention to causes they believe in.  I feel this only builds a stronger brand and increases the stickiness of their customer.  Check out the Bee-Boy dance crew video on this page in the feature video section.

Your Thoughts?

So, what have you learned from these?  What insight or tips have you taken away from these brilliant campaigns?  I’ve detailed my thoughts and tips below for making a creative and viral online marketing campaign below, but I want to hear what you think.  Leave your feedback in the comments or drop me a link to a campaign you find creative and witty.

Tips for making a creative and viral online marketing campaign.

• Make sure there is something in it for the user
• Make it easy and rewarding
• Think instant gratification
• Be sure the campaign doesn’t overshadow the product
• Insure users will connect the campaign to the product
• Make it desirable to pass on

Creative Online Marketing Campaigns is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Google Alerts Hack (via DuctTapeMarketing) – The premise of this is to use Google Alerts to see who is linking to your blog or picks up content you’ve recently published.  Think of it as a hybrid of Google Alerts e-mail alerts and blog pingbacks.  Very easy to implement – (1) Go to Google Alerts (2) in the search box input link:http://www.YourURL.com (replacing YourURL.com with the site you’d like to track) (3) Select the type and frequency. There you’ve got it, an easy way to build a strong community and readership to your site.

Google Insights for Search – Introduced this week, Google Insights provides deeper flexibility and functionality for advertisers and marketers to understand search behavior as well as adding new features like a world heat map to display search volume and regional interest.  Similar to Google Trends, Google Insights allows you to see search patterns over specific time ranges as well as top related and breakout/rising searches across multiple verticals.  This is a great tool for any business and could really give the likes of WordTracker, Hitwise and comScore a run for their money.

Google Advertising Frequency – Because of their acquisition of DoubleClick, Google will soon be able to provide advertisers on the content network the ability to cap the frequency at which a user sees your ad, better reach and improved reporting.  This should be fully implemented in the coming months.

Google Tools You Can Implement This Week To Make Your Business Better is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Radio Head is the first band that finally “gets it”. Forget that they’re only selling their new album through their online site and not piecemealing it through services such as iTunes and Amazon. Forget that they believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The most important lesson you can learn from this whole article is that they understand that the CD is no longer a money maker, but rather a marketing tool and a gateway to the consumer. They understand that if you make good music, people will support you.

Congrats Radio Head for being the first to break the mold! You’re gonna make tons of money from this.

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Radio Head understands the true value of the CD is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

I recently ran across an interesting article in Business 2.0 highlighting the work of South African winery Stormhoek who distinguished their product in a crowded market by using blogging, crowd surfing and viral marketing. I thought it would be good to compare Stormhoek (new-age) with the PR that your company (stone age) is probably doing.

In short, Stormhoek, hired Hugh MacLeod to promote their products through his site, GapingVoid.com. Stromhoek believed that MacLeod’s following of tech geeks would be the perfect match as they shared the same single-minded passions as wine enthusiasts do. MacLeod offered a free bottle of the wine to any blogger who asked so long as they were of legal drinking age and had been blogging for a minimum of 3 months. Bloggers were asked to write a post on the Stromhoek wine experience without any obligations. The post didn’t have to mention the name of the company or even reflect a positive review.

At the end of the 6 month experiment, nearly 100 bloggers posted related items or comments. MacLeod capitalized by using his online celebrity to organize “geek dinners” for the bloggers in Britain, Spain, France and in the United States. Stromhoek’s sales have jumped nearly six-fold over that time. They expect to push about a million cases annually within three years, up from their 50,000 cases a year worldwide now. The total cost of the campaign over the 2 years came out to about $40,000 which is remarkably cheap considering the amount of publicity and sales conversions the promotion added. To top off the success, Ad Age named the Stromhoek strategy one of the top 50 marketing campaigns in 2006. Not bad for a bunch of bloggers.

How does the promotion and strategy that Stromhoek pulled off differ from your company’s plans?

Stromhoek – Gave their small niche audience something to talk about. On a volunteer basis, their customers chose to read their advertisements and PR. They had the permission of each person they came in contact with to market their product to them.

Your Company – Force your story and splatter your advertisements across as many mediums and over as many people as you can afford. Yes, some of the crowd may already know about your product and yes, you may gain a few new supporters in the process, but the probability and conversion rate is very low. You don’t engage your customer or find out who they really are which in turn costs you more money down the line as well.

Stromhoek – Created a true grass-roots / word-of-mouth customer program. They were transparent and clear with their intentions. They asked permission from their customers. They didn’t interfere or do the song and dance to get attention.

Your Company – Fakes a grass-roots campaign. You have a lackadaisical MySpace or FaceBook page (so does everyone else), but your customers can see right through your futile attempts.

Stromhoek – Built a marketing strategy on-line and off. They correlated and had a similar function and feel to them.

Your Company – Lucky if you can get the group that develops the online collateral and marketing plan in the same room with the group that is responsible for the print pieces.

Stromhoek – Let their customers be their guinea pigs. They tested outside of the lab and gave free samples. They took their customers advice and made changes as necessary.

Your Company – Test, test, test in the lab, but still end up being surprised when your product fails in the market. You know what your research tells you. Customers don’t know what they want.

Additional Resources:
Mixed Media courtesy of mgwinc

Seth Godin – Permission Marketing
Made to Stick – Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

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Marketing and Public Relations 2.0 is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

I’ve always been from the school of thought that you’re never to discuss religion or politics on a first date. Stay with me here, this isn’t a post on either, but simply used as a vehicle to get my point across.

More than ever our country is ready for a change. A large majority of people have been dissatisfied with the way our country has been run the past 7 years. The candidates we’ve elected in the past are no longer working. These people (customers) are ready for a dramatic change. When things get pushed to the brink as they are now and people decide they can no longer take it, they are more open for dramatic change. That’s why I truly believe that Hillary and Barack have such a great chance at winning the Democrat bid (and Presidential election) more than any other time in history.

It’s not about race or gender anymore (regardless of what people say…don’t get me started on this), but rather the person who is so far removed from your current situation and who is willing to represent your interests the best and can get the job done. Voting for these two Democratic front-runners is no longer a stretch. Voters are asking themselves how much worse can things get?

How does this relate to your business or industry? Are your customers fed up with you and looking for a dramatic change or are is your business that change they are seeking? If its the former, then chances are you’re already dead in the water, but if you are the latter, then I suggest doing whatever you can to get people on your side. Break down the barriers of entry. Make it easy for people to leave their current situation. Don’t make them stretch.

Try these four steps to allow for easy customer adoption to your product or service:

• Flatten and shorten the learning curve customers require to get instant gratification out of the box. Take for example the iPod. Most people can open the packaging and begin using the device without even looking at a manual.
• Include a manual that is well written, indexed and contains many pictures. Understand that people learn in different ways.
• Make not only converting to your product or service easy, but also switching from your product. Users that don’t have to take the leap of faith just to use your product will be more likely to adapt and bring friends along with them.
• Test your product on your Grandma.

Additional Resources:
Guy Kawasaki – The Art of the Start

Another Great Wave courtesy of Chinup

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Lowering Barriers of Entry is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Why some customers choose certain brands to become fanatical about and others to totally hate isn’t completely clear.

The one thing that is clear is the communication that these ‘popular’ brands have with their customers. So how do you create customer evangelists representing your brand that are willing to shout your message from the top of a mountain? How do you fill you house people knocking down the door rather than throwing eggs at your windows?

These are the customers that comment on nearly every article you post to your blog, are the first to sign up for beta testing and are constantly e-mailing you about your product. Evangelists believe in your product just as much as you do and would gladly spread your gospel, so your first priority is to get up the gumpshun and simply ask them to take on and represent your endeavor. Being as transparent as possible ensures that everyone is represented fairly and intentions are layed out prior to actions. The last thing you want to do is turn an evangelist into an opponent over a small misrepresentation.

Each person will have a little different style about them that may not always mesh with the standard manner your Communications department could like to be represented – THIS SHOULDN’T MATTER! In my opinion, the key is that they utimately believe in you and your cause or mission. Their background, popularity or influence can be ignored. Beggars can’t be choosers as the old adage states.

Building customer evangelists isn’t a one-stop shop, but rather a relationship that must be respected and nurished. Ensure that you nuture these relationships. Give them things that they will value. Respond to their desires by modifying your product or service from the feedback they give you. Showing that you actually value them and their hard work along with responding to their concerns will only add fuel to the evangelizing fire.

Additional Resources:
Brains on Fire – Cycle of a Fan
Church of the Customer Blog – Corporate Evangelism vs. Customer Evangelism
Jackie Huba 2003 keynote presentation on Creating Customer Evangelists

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Creating Customer Evangelists is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!