Screen Cast Demo. Understanding Facebook’s The Like Button

I want people to understand what the Like button is before they make a choice to not participate through Privacy Settings. With this innovation The way the like button will work is as a recommendation tool. The Like Button can be placed with any website or content, essentially turning everything with an URL into a social object. For example if you go to cnn.com, NY.Times or Jim’s Pancakes.com, you click “Like” on a piece of content it recommends that content only to your friends.

(www.jimspancakes is our first demonstration we do not store any information.)

You only can see which friends have liked an item or website that are your friends on Facebook. This information isn’t being shared with the world but only with people you have a direct connection with on Facebook, that you have selected to be a friend with. A well managed friends list is the best tool for managing your privacy.

Because now you won’t have to search for content but content will be recommended to you through your friends. This can be a video, picture, blog post, or a website. If 3 or 10 or 50 of your friends have liked an item it may be something that is of interest of you. You are not getting these recommendations from people that you don’t know, but people you have an established relationship with. You can also turn off recommendations from a person at any time, or them all together. Give it a try it has a lot of benefits.

The Like Button gives local businesses a great word of mouth campaign, that is all track-able through Facebook Insights. Insights in a nut shell, is an advanced version of Google Analytics, that is easier to understand, but in addition to tracking where people are coming from it tracks your social consumption. Where are your articles or websites being shared, where are comments being left, and creates a measuring tool for the effect of social media. This can be applied to any website, or blog bringing the functions of Facebook to the entire web. Using the like button is designed to make the internet a better place and if you have any specific questions feel free to contact me anytime.

Tommy Guns

Each year, the Reynolds School of Journalism at UNR hosts J-Week, a week-long event that brings prominent journalism professionals to campus. This year, I attended a lecture by Dr. Stuart Brown, author of the book “Play”.

“Play” highlights the importance of having a playful attitude, even in the serious atmosphere of the work world. It was evident from his presentation that he lived by this theory, I was laughing the whole time.

However, when I left, I thought to myself, “What the hell did that have to do with journalism?” The next day, I went to my internship at BrandCraft and it all made sense.

We do a lot of great work at BrandCraft and our clients’ success is always at the forefront of our minds. However, this is not your typical business. From my interview until now, I have learned that the team at BrandCraft also believe that play is important.

After all, some hilarious jokes at the office could potentially turn into creative marketing ideas. Rather than being so stressed and stoic when it comes to work, why not make your job a place to have fun? One of the unique aspects of BrandCraft, that not only makes them successful but also an enjoyable place to work, is their playful attitude!

Stuart Brown would be so proud.

As an advertising platform, Facebook is horrible. The last thing you want to do in social media is shout “Check out my sale! Check out my sale!”. Call to action sales approaches will do nothing but get you ignored, or worse, it could actually damage your reputation due to your blatent disregard for F-etiquette (Facebook-etiquette. I just made it up. Probably a bad idea).

As a marketing and public relations platform, Facebook is probably the best tool your could possibly hope to have. Social media allows you to build networks of people who are genuinely interested in your product or service. Yes, the build up is typically slow, but once you decide to utilize your network you’d be amazed at the response. At BrandCraft, we’d rather talk to 100 interested people and get 50 responses than send out 10,000 messages blindly and receive 10 responses…most of which aren’t qualified or really interested anyway.

Social Media allows you to build your brand and show what makes you better than the next guy. People often forget, social media is social. Facebook users are on there to communicate and socialize, not to wade through a bunch of sales spam. When using Facebook for your business, always remember to use the same voice and tone that you would when recommending something to a friend…this is about as close to word of mouth as we can get.

“Those utha guys don’t know nutthin”

If the answer is supported by facts, data and common sense, you’re on the right track. If you get answers like “I haven’t heard good things about them” or “their rates are so low they’re going to go out of business soon” you may have a blindly biased rep on your hands. A good advertising salesperson is going to have your best interest in mind and they should suggest the best product possible, even if it won’t make them the most money in the end. I’ve purchased much more through the years from reps that have earned my trust by selling me advertising that my clients needed, not the stuff that was most profitable.

2. Ask about the different lengths of contacts available.

“Sorry, we only have a 30-year contract available”

Many advertising reps have a target length of contract in mind before they meet you, well before they understand your needs and the nature of your services. Be sure you find out all the different terms available before signing a monthly or yearly deal because that was all the rep offered. Most broadcast advertising reps (TV, Radio and newspaper) will try first for the annual contract, and then go down from there as budget allows. Rarely will they mention that you can buy a week of advertising for your grand opening or special event. We’ve purchased as little as 1 radio spot before, yes, it’s possible. Don’t let them tell you that you need to spend more than you feel comfortable with. Granted, advertising is based on frequency (the number of times someone is exposed to the ad) so annual contracts are sometimes a better choice for the long term; but this doesn’t mean that it’s right for your particular marketing situation.

3. Ask about the availability of excess inventory.

“Well, let me see if i can squeeze in your ad”

Many forms of advertising have excess inventory available for purchase at greatly reduced prices. Have you ever noticed the newspaper ads that remind you to renew your subscription, visit their website or say “your ad could be here!” This is excess inventory. Those spots didn’t sell, so they filled them up at the last minute with some self-promotion. Radio does this too, but in a less noticeable way. When radio advertising inventory is low, we all get to hear more songs and fewer ads.

The point is, if your rep is good and wants to earn your business, they should offer purchasing this inventory for reduced prices. We commonly buy full-page ads on standby for 25% of the price from the rate card. Same with radio – if it suits your target audience, buy spots during non-peak hours for as little at $1 per commercial (when I used to sell radio, we called this “Dollar-a-holler”).

4. Ask about production and creative.

“No, you can’t have it. It’s mine. FOREVER! hahahaha”

Is production (filming, editing, voice over) of your TV commercial included in the buy? If so, do you retain the rights to it? What happens if they create a great commercial for you and you decide to move your advertising to another channel? Same goes for radio – is one of the stations’ DJs the voice of your radio spot? What happens if you tried to use it on another station? Newspaper – if they design your ad (or God forbid, your logo) can you have the original art to use elsewhere? Time after time we see clients frustrated to learn that they don’t retain the rights to their advertising collateral. Or, they are shocked to learn how much the advertiser wants to release the rights. I had a client tell me how she wanted to move her radio advertising to another station, but in order to keep using the same commercial she would have to pay a royalty of $75 EVERY TIME the ad ran on the other station. That’s ridiculous considering the airtime was only about $10 per spot!

When you use an advertising agency like BrandCraft, we handle the production for you and you retain all rights to the files. You can do with them as you wish, no strings attached.

5. Ask about long-term options and rate considerations.

“Well, I don’t know, we have a lot of people who want this”

When you find an advertising medium that really works, you’re going to want to stick with it for a long time. Many of the most successful campaigns have lasted 5,10 even 20 years on the same station with the same jingle…year after year. This is great if you have this kind of success, but watch out for ad reps that will want to take advantage of your situation. If you are advertising in the long term you won’t be subject to rate hikes as frequently as short-term advertisers. When your contract comes up for renewal though, some reps will try and make up for your low rate by putting artificial pressure on you to pay more. “We have someone else who wants your airtime and they are willing to pay more” or “my boss says that we’re giving this to you too low and we have to raise our rates”.  Call their bluff. If the company is trying to get more money from you by using theses tactics, run away as fast as you can. The reality is that long-term, stable advertisers are rare and highly sought after. A long-term advertiser is part of the stations base revenue and they would be stupid to try and alter that.

If you plan on advertising with a particular medium for more than one month, be sure that your contract has a provision that limits the amount of rate increase over a long period of time. I’m not saying that you should be able to lock in a rate for 10 years, but be sure you are protected from any increase over 10% with each contract renewal.

6. What are you bringing to the table, above and beyond the ad space?

When purchasing advertising space or airtime, see what your rep can offer in addition to what’s offered on the rate card. For example, if you are buying radio airtime, can the station also make your business a spot to buy tickets for their upcoming concert? If you purchase newspaper space, will the publisher also give you free newspapers daily to offer to your customers? There are hundreds of these “value-added” offers out there, you usually just have to ask, or use the right negotiator (cough..BrandCraft…cough) to get it done for you. Value added services allowed us to take a relatively small budget from the California DOT and double it. They spent the same amount of money, but received double the exposure. Value is out there, sometimes you have to get creative to find it.

When purchasing advertising space or airtime, see what your rep can offer in addition to what’s offered on the rate card. For example, if you are buying radio airtime, can the station also make your business a spot to buy tickets for their upcoming concert? If you purchase newspaper space, will the publisher also give you free newspapers daily to offer to your customers? There are hundreds of these “value-added” offers out there, you usually just have to ask, or use the right negotiator (cough..BrandCraft…cough) to get it done for you. Value added services allowed us to take a relatively small budget from the California DOT and double it. They spent the same amount of money, but received double the exposure. Value is out there, sometimes you have to get creative to find it.

"Well, I don't know, we have a lot of people who want this"

When you find an advertising medium that really works, you’re going to want to stick with it for a long time. Many of the most successful campaigns have lasted 5,10 even 20 years on the same station with the same jingle…year after year. This is great if you have this kind of success, but watch out for ad reps that will want to take advantage of your situation. If you are advertising in the long term you won’t be subject to rate hikes as frequently as short-term advertisers. When your contract comes up for renewal though, some reps will try and make up for your low rate by putting artificial pressure on you to pay more. “We have someone else who wants your airtime and they are willing to pay more” or “my boss says that we’re giving this to you too low and we have to raise our rates”.  Call their bluff. If the company is trying to get more money from you by using theses tactics, run away as fast as you can. The reality is that long-term, stable advertisers are rare and highly sought after. A long-term advertiser is part of the stations base revenue and they would be stupid to try and alter that.

If you plan on advertising with a particular medium for more than one month, be sure that your contract has a provision that limits the amount of rate increase over a long period of time. I’m not saying that you should be able to lock in a rate for 10 years, but be sure you are protected from any increase over 10% with each contract renewal.

Next up – the final installment of the 6-part series- What are you bringing to the table, above and beyond the ad space?

"No, you can't have it. It's mine. FOREVER! hahahaha"

Is production (filming, editing, voice over) of your TV commercial included in the buy? If so, do you retain the rights to it? What happens if they create a great commercial for you and you decide to move your advertising to another channel? Same goes for radio – is one of the stations’ DJs the voice of your radio spot? What happens if you tried to use it on another station? Newspaper – if they design your ad (or God forbid, your logo) can you have the original art to use elsewhere? Time after time we see clients frustrated to learn that they don’t retain the rights to their advertising collateral. Or, they are shocked to learn how much the advertiser wants to release the rights. I had a client tell me how she wanted to move her radio advertising to another station, but in order to keep using the same commercial she would have to pay a royalty of $75 EVERY TIME the ad ran on the other station. That’s ridiculous considering the airtime was only about $10 per spot!

When you use an advertising agency like BrandCraft, we handle the production for you and you retain all rights to the files. You can do with them as you wish, no strings attached.

Next up – 5. Ask about long-term options and rate considerations.

"Well, let me see if i can squeeze in your ad"

Many forms of advertising have excess inventory available for purchase at greatly reduced prices. Have you ever noticed the newspaper ads that remind you to renew your subscription, visit their website or say “your ad could be here!” This is excess inventory. Those spots didn’t sell, so they filled them up at the last minute with some self-promotion. Radio does this too, but in a less noticeable way. When radio advertising inventory is low, we all get to hear more songs and fewer ads.

The point is, if your rep is good and wants to earn your business, they should offer purchasing this inventory for reduced prices. We commonly buy full-page ads on standby for 25% of the price from the rate card. Same with radio – if it suits your target audience, buy spots during non-peak hours for as little at $1 per commercial (when I used to sell radio, we called this “Dollar-a-holler”).

Next up- 4. Ask about production and creative

"Sorry, we only have a 30-year contract available"

Many advertising reps have a target length of contract in mind before they meet you, well before they understand your needs and the nature of your services. Be sure you find out all the different terms available before signing a monthly or yearly deal because that was all the rep offered. Most broadcast advertising reps (TV, Radio and newspaper) will try first for the annual contract, and then go down from there as budget allows. Rarely will they mention that you can buy a week of advertising for your grand opening or special event. We’ve purchased as little as 1 radio spot before, yes, it’s possible. Don’t let them tell you that you need to spend more than you feel comfortable with. Granted, advertising is based on frequency (the number of times someone is exposed to the ad) so annual contracts are sometimes a better choice for the long term; but this doesn’t mean that it’s right for your particular marketing situation.

Next up- 3. Ask about the availability of excess inventory

"Those utha guys don't know nutthin"

If the answer is supported by facts, data and common sense, you’re on the right track. If you get answers like “I haven’t heard good things about them” or “their rates are so low they’re going to go out of business soon” you may have a blindly biased rep on your hands. A good advertising salesperson is going to have your best interest in mind and they should suggest the best product possible, even if it won’t make them the most money in the end. I’ve purchased much more through the years from reps that have earned my trust by selling me advertising that my clients needed, not the stuff that was most profitable.

Next up- 2. Ask about the different lengths of contacts available