Meteor Solutions at DMA-Seattle's MarketMix Conference!

I will be moderating a panel on Social Media Measurement and ROI on March 10, 2010 at the MarketMix conference in Seattle. If you are in the area and planning to attend, please stop me and say hello!

Is Facebook the New Google?

I read this post on Steve Rubel's blog with great interest this morning. The post is about Compete's announcement that Facebook is driving more traffic than Google to many sites across different verticals. More specifically, Rubel suggests that this has major implications for marketers and how we think about and approach the development and implementation of strategies to reach our target audience online. We couldn't agree more with that part of the post.

In fact, we're so convinced that social is changing the way people discover and access information, that we're building a company and a technology platform to provide advertisers and publishers with the tools and data they need to precisely measure and activate their content and campaigns for maximum social impact. Gone are the days when we had to visit a portal or a search engine to find information that's relevant to us. Today, it finds us. A bit of a cliche at this point but true nonetheless.

So what does this new world mean for marketers? Well, we believe it means that the most effective (and increasingly only) way to reach one's audience is through content that's useful enough to be passed along. Sounds simple but it isn't when you consider the fact that for most major brands and marketers, the 30 second TV spot is still the fall back plan for reaching one's audience at scale. Who can blame them? While the data clearly supports the notion that TV is losing the attention of larger and larger numbers of one's audience to Internet and mobile, the ability to reach a large audience with a single message in a format that has proven to generate awareness and recall appears to be best left to TV at the moment. (I'm ignoring the obvious benefits of search engine marketing and AdWords for direct response advertisers in this case).

In contrast to what Rubel writes, we do not believe however that what all of this means is that marketers should create a presence within Facebook per se. Rather, it means we should integrate Facebook (and Twitter) into the experiences we create for our target audience. In our experience, the data doesn't support sending large amounts of traffic TO a Facebook fan page for example if one's goal is to drive and engage a large audience at scale. What is a better idea, it appears, is to drive large amounts of traffic to a site/page you control and enable Facebook Connect, the Twitter API, etc. on it. This way, the marketer can control and customize the experience to a much greater degree than a Facebook fanpage or YouTube Brand Channel allows while at the same time reaping the benefits of a deep integration with the social sites.

Given how rapidly things change these days, no doubt promotional and creative strategies are going to evolve as well. Nonetheless, marketers can no longer afford to ignore the impact that social and sharing are having on the ways in which they can reach their target customers.

How to Know If You're An Influencer...

Eilene Zimmerman posted a very succinct article recently about our products and technology platform. Please read it if you get the chance!

Meteor Solutions on SmartMoney's Small Business Site

Diana Ransom published an article today entitled "In Focus: Measuring Social Media" that featured an interview with me. I really enjoyed speaking with Diana and think the article does a good job of articulating the problem we're solving and the unique way in which our technology accomplishes this.

I do want to make one small correction to the piece though and that is I am not the "owner" of Meteor Solutions but rather I am one of a bunch of investors and shareholders in the business. We would not be here without them!

How Social Improves Search Engine Optimization

Ever wonder what the relationship is between search and social? Does all of that sharing actually move the needle? Wonder no more! Today, MediaPost published a story by yours truly that hopefully addresses some of the key questions and opportunities facing marketers as they make investments in social and search. What do you think?

How To: Manage Successful Social Media Promotions

A couple of days ago, this articled titled "HOW TO: Manage Successful Social Media Promotions" was posted on Mashable. We're excited to see the conversation it sparked and the questions it raised. The interest in social media and its potential to drive value for marketers and publishers continues to grow. Join the conversation at Mashable if you've got something to add!

Earned Media for Small Business

We see increasing evidence that earned media is a potential treasure trove for small businesses. It's inexpensive, extremely targeted, and potentially quite effective.

Last week we published a few thoughts on how small businesses can take advantage of earned media online. You can find the post on the Business Week website here.