Social Media Marketing

That’s right folks. You too can have 1 Million followers if you are:

1. A T.V / Movie star
2. Have an in with a traditional mass media company with great distribution
3. And have a Twitter account of course!

The story I am referencing above is in regards to Ashton Kutcher’s (@aplusk on Twitter) recent publicity stunt of generating 1 Million followers on Twitter and beating CNN in the race to boot.

How did he do it and why should you care? For an explanation of how he did it, see this article on Advertising Age, complete with images of Kutcher’s billboard promo. (whoops did I give it away?)

Now for the answer to the question: “Why should you care?”

For one this is a great example of how online marketing and offline marketing can be merged with excellent results.

Now, the value to Kutcher of having a million fans, and the resulting publicity at this stage may be hard to measure (sure beats stories about DUI’s, divorce or drug abuse!), but for the average person or company, it’s a great reminder that relying on one source of marketing is never a sound strategy and often online and offline can work together to give you extra bang for your buck.

Another thing this story reminded me of was: to be original. Or at any rate, the ploy was a great example of taking an old concept (billboard advertising) and mixing it with something new (Twitter) to create buzz and increase one’s reach in the marketplace.

Those are my thoughts on this story. I’m now heading out with some spray paint to post @adamkillam on everything in sight I can get my hands on. I figure if I work hard over the weekend I should be able to ad at least another 200-300 followers!

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The 1st Vancouver Twestival is taking place tomorrow (Feb 12th) at 6:00 PM. I was one of the lucky fast movers who got a ticket and NOW I CAN’T GO! Seems a course I booked myself in for a couple of months back decided to start this week on the 12th and attending the first session is mandatory.

In light of these recent developments, I would like to give my ticket away – with a small catch.

What’s the catch you say?

What I would like in return for the ticket is some help with my website. Yes, I work in Internet marketing and yes I am web savvy but the plain truth is that I have neglected this site for some time now. It seems I am always doing work for my clients (god love them) and  never enough on my own site (can you relate?).  

I am currently working to overhaul the content of the site and all sections are being worked on. Visitor feedback is incredibly valuable in my eyes which is where this mini contest comes into play.

Here’s how you can help, AND WIN BIG!

1. Post a mini review of this site with 3 helpful tips/suggestions/comments. 
2. Add your post to the comments section of this article 
3. By 8:00 PM I will choose a winner and announce it on this site and on Twitter.
4. Be sure to include a link back to your site and your email address or @ so I can get in touch

Let the races begin!

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Interested in tracking your results on Twitter? Want a quick and easy way to test headlines, copy and determine what your followers are most interested in?

Here are 7 easy steps:

1. Create a free account at www.budurl.com
2. Find a newsworthy story/blog post and shrink the story’s URL using Budurl
3. Paste the shortened link into Twitter and write a catchy intro
4. Post the story
5. Monitor clicks via your bud account
6. Rinse and repeat to test various copy/stories
7. Divide total number of clicks by total number of followers to determine what percentage of followers respond to each link/post

Bonus tip: use the notes section of Bud to better track the URLs and stories you’re following

Bonus tip #2: in the notes section, paste in the exact wording you used when posting to Twitter to keep track of Twitter copy that your followers respond to

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I was speaking with a PR firm client last week who mentioned “Frugal is the new cool” and decided it was time to tone down the look of the site. I keep an eye out for trends (as one must do in social media and web marketing) and given the current state of the economy I’m taking his message to heart. 

I wore a less flashy watch to a meeting today and will be tweaking the site in the coming week or so to see if I can simplify it a bit (yes, it’s already quite simple and I can do better!).

With all the talk lately of recession, marketing in tough economic times etc etc, it makes sense for marketers to be a little less flashy and focus their messages more on the bottom line and how they can make and save their clients money.

For me, that means the site needs to be less about adding widgets and more about focusing on good, solid, valuable content that my clients will find applicable to their businesses.

On that note today’s tip is:  go back to basics.

Practical applications:

• Update and simplify your web site’s theme / design 
• Don’t be afraid to use or go back to plain text emails or simplified HTML
• If blogging or using Twitter, focus on practical tips and less theory (marketers are the most guilty of breaking this one)

I think going frugal is a trend we’re going to see catch on and stick for the next couple of years. As more ideas on this topic come to mind, I’ll post them here.

What steps are you taking to “go frugal”  in 2009″ 

Post thoughts to comments.

Update: Read about the New Frugal Google

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