So sayeth the majority of the 2,260 adults who responded to the latest Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project study.

“The tone of life on social networking sites” takes a look at people’s perceptions about their interactions on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

85% of adults said that their experiences were mostly kind. 68% went so far as to say that they had an experience that made them feel good and 61% felt closer to another person thanks to social media. And how about this? 39% said they frequently saw acts of generosity by others. Frequently!

By comparison, only 13% of adults said someone was mean to them. The same number reported ending a friendship thanks to a social media faux pas and 11% ended up with family problems.

The worst of the bunch, a mere 3%, said they got into a physical fight due to an experience on social media. Incredibly, 3% was also the percentage of people who got in trouble at work due to a posting.

Teens had higher instances of negativity with 25% saying social media led to a face-to-face argument and 22% saw the end of a friendship.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Watch Your Language

To go along with their more negative bent, teens also reported higher instances of foul language and offensive images. 34% of Millennials used the word “frequently” while only 17% of GenXers noted offensive content.

Logic would say that older people find more things offensive, thus would have the higher reported percentage, but the opposite is true. That tells me that the Millennials are simply hanging around with more people who present this type of content.

What’s interesting is that the survey shows teens are more likely to get involved when things turn ugly. 61% of teens said they would defend a person who was being attacked and / or tell the offender to stop. 45% of adults said they’d ignore the behavior.

Teens also took the higher number when it came to thinking twice about posting. 55% said they decided not to post something that might have made them look bad. Only 45% of adults made the same decision.

This could mean that teens are more concerned about how they appear to others. Or it could mean that Millennials are simply smarter about social media usage having grown up with Facebook as a part of their life.

So just how big is this impact? Compete calls it enormous

It is now safe to say that Google+ is becoming an enormous success, with nearly half of the unique visitors of Twitter (40,411,065 unique visitors in December). With a steep upward trend and knowledge of the power behind a Google product, expect continued growth from the unequaled search engine’s social platform known for ingenuity, creativity, and revolutionary product offerings.

Compete uses the following numbers as the support for this claim.

Now comes the question as to whether visitors are what defines success or, especially in the case of a social network, is that the key performance indicator (KPI) that you use to claim success? I say that it can certainly be one element but it is not enough to make the claim that Compete does.

Social is about interaction and that is something that is much more difficult to put in a measurable fashion. We like numbers like visitors because it is something we can all agree on and can get our hands on much easier. The trouble is that it falls far short of being a true measure of success in the social media world.

So do you think that this metric is enough to say that Google+ is an enormous success? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments!

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Take a look at this chart from eMarketer. The results clearly show that consumers expect to get something in return for their click. But when the CMO Council asked marketers what they thought, they said that consumers clicked out of loyalty or love for their product.

It is true that clicking the like button does imply a certain fondness for a brand, but love will only get you so far. Once the bloom is off the rose, consumers want to be rewarded for their loyalty.

You could go to Jared, or you could offer coupons, discounts, and freebies, They’re the best way to get me to like your Facebook page.

The second most popular choice is an interesting one. At first, I was surprised that 60% of people wanted to interact with others. That’s because my initial concept of a branded Facebook page is one devoted to a product, restaurant or store. Then I thought of the official pages for TV shows, movies, bands, charity organizations, sports teams. . . all of these are the perfects places for sharing thoughts, photos and links.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Now drop down four spaces to “Find service and support.” Half of the respondents chose this answer and it’s a big one. More and more, I see consumers using Facebook pages to register a complaint. I did it myself, a couple of days ago. And you know what? The company didn’t reply. Even after I left a follow up comment and three other people left complaints, the company still hasn’t replied. That’s a company that won’t be getting anymore of my money and all they had to do to keep me was answer.

Facebook pages are an excellent way of encouraging commerce with coupons, perks and games. But you have to monitor your pages. You have to respond to the comments, good and bad (especially the bad) and you have to keep the conversation going.

If you plan to build a page and forget it, then don’t build it in the first place. What’s happening when you’re not there could do you more harm than good.

It’s all happening at the Social Commerce Summit and since we can’t all be there, Business Insider is boiling down the important points in a series of articles on their website. It’s still a lot to take in, so I’m narrowing it down even more.

Here’s my pick for the top 5 pieces of marketing advice culled from lists put together by Business Insider.

5. Like it or not — Google+

Jason John, Gilt Groupe marketing exec says:

Search is extremely important to us. Google will have its way and we will have to focus on Google+. We launched our presence on Google+ yesterday.

Like it or not, Google has added Plus pages to search results. Yes, it’s one-sided and it benefits them, but it can also benefit you. All you have to do is start posting to Google+. It’s that easy, folks. And hey, you don’t like Facebook anyway, so why not favor the opposition for awhile?

4. Games for good.

Lincoln Brown, co-founder of SoJo Studios:

We have around 450,000 players — around 2.5 percent of them pay for goods in the game. We give around 50 percent of our profits — but no less than 20 percent of our revenue — to social good. It turns social games from a guilty pleasure into something gamers feel good about playing.

Giving back, locally or globally, is a good thing for any company. It not only lifts your brand reputation but it’s good karma points for judgement day. If you have ties to a community, give a donation to a school or local charity. If you’re strictly on the web, donate to a variety of global charities, or find a single needy source that your customers can get behind. You may think you can’t afford to donate, but I’m telling you, you can’t afford not to.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

3. The light at the end of the tunnel.

Dave Thomas, director of community and social strategy for Radian6:

Ideally, you already understand what your business and your goals are. If you establish those goals in advance before you start any campaign, that’ll give you a leg up. Tie them to your existing goals.

This sounds simplistic, but I talk to business owners every day who don’t have a clear goal in mind. Sure, they want to be more profitable and more well-known, but what does that mean exactly? How do you plan to get there?

Define your goals and be specific. Then look at everything you’re doing and ask the question, how does this relate to my goal? If it doesn’t lead you where you want to go, dump it and move on.

2. A picture’s worth a thousand words. . . a video, two million.

Katia Beachamp, co-founder of Birchbox:

Facebook has been incredibly powerful, but YouTube was eye-opening. Birchbox creates its own content — people were creating videos and showing what a Birchbox was. It’s an authentic conversation about product.

YouTube is one of the most underused marketing tools around right now. It’s alive with users, it’s full of energy and it’s free. Show off your wares. Show people how to do something better. Show people what your website is all about. Don’t be intimated. We’re not looking for Oscar material. And don’t worry about people laughing at you, some of the most maligned videos are the most successful (Rebecca Black).

1. Power to the people.

Chris Bolte, VP of Demand Generation:

We allow anyone to submit a product and a video of the product, and the users vote on that. We engage small businesses to get products into our pipeline and give our consumers a vote in what we should be carrying. It’s really been on fire lately.

If there’s one thing that cements customer loyalty, it’s listening to what your customers have to say. Granted, you can’t act on every request, but when you can, make sure they know it. Allow them to vote on new colors, styles and options. Ask them to come up with a great marketing idea, then reward the best. Involve your customers in your business and they’ll be loyal to the end.

There you have it, 5 pieces of free and good advice that anyone can use.

Want more? Check out Business Insiders’ Social Commerce Summit coverage.

And though it may seem like blogging is on the way out, LiveJournal is looking to pump up the volume with the concept of super communities.

LiveJournal General Manager Anjelika Petrochenko talked with me about the future of the service and how it could become the next big thing for any one marketing content.

CB: Can you talk a little about blogging’s place in social media. It seemed like it was headed out but now is experiencing a resurgence.

AP: Blogging is and always has been a popular part of LiveJournal. While most of the newer social networks allow people to simply declare what they have done, what they are doing or what they know, LiveJournal’s provides a platform that allows for real thought and deeply involved conversation. Additionally, blogs are often the foundation of communities, which are built around common shared interests. Currently, LiveJournal U.S. has almost 50,000 active communities.

CB: What’s the advantage of creating a blog at LiveJournal over any other site or a standalone blog?

AP: LiveJournal is a social network. Although LiveJournal gives its users a blogging platform, it also offers a place for its members to  friend others, share ideas, create content, express themselves, chat with those with similar interests, promote beliefs, post ideas, comment on issues, etc. Consequently, the advantage of joining LiveJournal is that you are actually joining an entire social network made up of 30 million members, which encourages users to create their own community around specific interests.

One important differentiators to mention is that LiveJournal does not require members to reveal their identities. Anonymity is allowed and often encouraged. We have observed that the ability to be anonymous allows people to discuss things they might not normally discuss in real life and on sites that require users to reveal their identities. This is why we think LiveJournal communities, which are built around personal topics like politics, LGBT and similar subjects are thriving. There is no such thing as TMI on LiveJournal.

CB: Mobile is a big trend. What is LiveJournal doing to capture this audience?

AP: Mobile is a big area of growth for LiveJournal in the 2012. LiveJournal already has a companion app for iPhone and Android phones that allows posting and other features, but we know there’s so much more we can and should do – and we are doing it, with more to come in 2012.

CB: I recently wrote a piece on the LiveJournal stores that are popular in Asia. Why do you suppose that took off there and not here. Is that an option here in the US, sort of Etsy for LiveJournal?

AP: It is a testament to LiveJournal’s versatility that it can accommodate almost any trend. “Blogshops” are a growing popular trend in Asia, especially in Singapore, where LiveJournal organically took hold for this trend. It is often a matter of filling a natural niche – in the U.S. there are many e-commerce options, including sites like eBay and Etsy. We should be clear that the blogshops on LiveJournal Singapore are selling their wares, but LiveJournal is not an e-commerce platform. Blogshops are, of course, more than welcome to start in the U.S., but here there are other options.

CB: What types of communities fit best at LiveJournal?

AP: On LiveJournal, there is a community for almost any subject. However, we have found that the “best fits” are communities that are lively, active and interesting. The most popular communities on LiveJournal tend to be more focused on areas of entertainment and personal advice such as parenting, but a quick search of communities related to your own interests reveals many choices.

CB: I’m a TV fan and use LiveJournal a lot, but I don’t think of it as a place for media. What kinds of things are you doing to help these “super communities” become more significant.

AP: LiveJournal is a treasure trove of 13 years worth of user-generated content. Most of it is extremely compelling and insightful, and could have greater impact if it has a wider audience. Thus far, LiveJournal has done a good job of helping curate and facilitate the discovery of great communities. But, many LiveJournal communities are analogous to media sites – they are active, interesting, informational, have strong membership and want to grow. These are the sites that we have been identifying as “super communities” and we have developed a new program that allows them to be more easily discovered and to grow even more.

ONTD is the best example of what a LiveJournal super community is and can become. As LiveJournal’s largest community, ONTD (Oh No They Didn’t) is a place where members share celebrity gossip.  It is treated almost like a media site, though the “editorial staff” remains LiveJournal users who create the content posted in the community. Other communities that are being invited to be a part of the initiative are not new communities; rather, they are existing communities that LiveJournal has reached out to, offering a custom design, special features and widgets, and promotional/marketing help. Essentially, these are voices that want to be heard by more people and we are facilitating this.

Have you ever considered using LiveJournal for business? We’d like to hear about it.

The first part is available right now (it’s free) and right off the bat you’ll find this little gem.

Comparing social media to high school isn’t an original concept, but I do like the way they’ve phrased it. It’s funny. It’s all true and it explains why social media is such a fickle beast.

Here’s another gem:

40% of social networkers log on
to a social site before they get
dressed in the morning.

No wonder General Mills is so set on making cereal boxes digitally interactive.

The report goes on to explain the history of social media, which is fun and fascinating. You should read it if you have a few minutes to spare, but I’m going to jump down to the next part, the forces that shape the web.

First off, we see that social media development works in a loop. Sometimes apps create behaviors and sometimes behaviors create apps. Facebookers write their location in the posts, so Facebook makes location a post option. Twitter takes microblogging to the next level, now everybody Tweets.

This two-way street is an important concept. Look at how your customers are using your tools and social pages then tweak where needed. The study talks about two large chains that have Facebook pages just for their most popular products. Doesn’t matter if you sell all types of clothing and accessories, if a large portion of your customers are coming for the shoes, make a page for the shoes.

All of this is meant to get customers to engage and have a good feeling about a brand. Now how about this fact:

60% – 65% of social networkers are more likely to buy your product if you answer their Twitter questions.

Funny how far you can get with a small amount of recognition.

Other important factors, simplicity and personalization. Social networkers want relevant content and they want to be able to act on that content in one or two steps.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Think of the social web as a huge, high school lunchroom. People come in and they want to sit where they feel the most comfortable. Some will choose the cool table, others hang with the jocks and for many, the geek table is the place to be.

Which table are you? And more importantly, is that the table your customers would want to sit at? You don’t have to be the most popular, you just have to be the best fit for your crowd.

You can read the full report for free when you click this link: Untangling the Social Web Part 1

Of everything I have read, one quote summarizes it all from Wall Street Journal article. It comes from Veronica Stecker the media manager for Omaha, NE based retailer Gordmans. Simply put in just 44 words (or 255 characters including spaces according to Word’s word count function).

We still don’t have a huge correlation between Facebook fans and return on investment in an actual sales in store. Until that metric becomes a lot more solid, I don’t think our company or other brands are going to be full-fledged into Facebook advertising.

Agree? Disagree? Have an opinion? How will this observation impact Facebook as it tries to own the world?

Have a great weekend.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

One reason is social media. I decided to follow a few athletes just to see what they might say. I usually don’t do this for two reasons:

1. I like the games. The rest of the “stuff” that goes with it I can live without.
2. I don’t want to know too much about the players

Seems odd, right? Wouldn’t the players thoughts and insights be great and add value to the game? Well, that can happen but based on this tweet, which I have decided to keep anonymous rather than pick on one person, my theory of knowing too much played out in a way I wish it hadn’t. Of course, there are hints as to the possible ID of the player so if you want to sleuth it you can.

Every giant fan know’s that we are here to get a job done and we are going to play are hearts out this week. Damn I just can’t wait to play.

This shows great passion and desire which is great. That’s fun. That’s good. The pitfall for this player and many others, I suspect, is the revelation that whatever time they spent in college may not have been too close to the classroom. A person’s proficiency with the English language can be important for any athlete for one main reason: the ability to get endorsements which is additional income.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Additional income for professional athletes you ask? Are you nuts?! They already make enough! That’s a popular perception but one that, like so many other popular perceptions, is wrong in most cases. The truth of the matter is that most of these players are not making multi-million dollar salaries. Also, most of these players have a very short window of opportunity to capitalize on being in the NFL since the average career is somewhere between 3-4 years. Finally, there are a lot of people dipping into these players’ salaries; agents, hangers-on, family etc. You name it. Why else would 70% of the players in the league be bankrupt just three short years after leaving the game?

So what you ask? For these athletes and for marketers who want to attach their brands to them, this kind of thing is critical. It may not be to everyone who follows these guys but it could restrict opportunities for the athletes in the rest of the world. These social media “interactions” are like tryouts for the athletes with advertisers. It’s like an advertising NFL Combine. Marketers can see who may have the chops and who may not. So unless someone is coaching these athletes or “handling” them they may be doing themselves a larger disservice than service through social media.

What are your thoughts? Do you care about any of this? As a marketer would you tie your brand to a player who may not be able to represent your brand to your standards?

Oh, and no matter what any of the players say or do it doesn’t change my mind one bit. GO GIANTS!

That quote shouldn’t take you by surprise. It’s the circle of life. A new crop of young, working, educated men and women who have discretionary income. In other words, the people you need to keep your business alive.

One hitch, a study by Bazaarvoice says that Millennials don’t make purchase decisions like their mothers did, not even like their big sisters did! Since Millennials are growing up in the social media age, they rely on the opinions of others more than any other group before them.

What’s really interesting is that millennials are way more likely to depend on the kindness of strangers than their forefathers. 51% said they were influenced by comments on the web made by people they don’t know. Only 34% of baby boomers put their trust in strangers. They preferred to hear from friends and family (66%). As for millennials, only 49% said they were influenced by people they actually know.

This means that consumer comments and reviews are extremely important to your business. But 73% of millennials surveyed said that consumers care more about customer opinions than companies do. They felt that companies don’t offer enough ways to share and that companies don’t take feedback seriously.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Time to take a look at your own business pages. Are there easy ways to leave comments and reviews? Are reviews public? The good ones and the bad ones? What happens when someone leaves a bad comment? Does anyone follow up to solve the problem?

The bottom line is that whether they’re buying a car or lunch, Millennials want to assurances from others that they’re making the right decision. It’s up to you to give them the information and tools to find their own way.

NOTE: Thank you to Ian Greenleigh of Bazaarvoice for gently pointing out a typo in the title. It’s official, we’re not perfect .

What is most interesting is a list of 35 business concerns or threats that Facebook states could throw a monkey wrench into their money printing operation. They include mobile as a weak spot in the business and Zynga being responsible for 12% of the revenue of Facebook. But here is the one that I see as simply a preemptive strike against Congress looking at Facebook as the Google of the social world. It reads like this.

“We face significant competition in almost every aspect of our business, including from companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Twitter, which offer a variety of Internet products, services, content, and online advertising offerings, as well as from mobile companies and smaller Internet companies that offer products and services that may compete with specific Facebook features. We also face competition from traditional and online media businesses for advertising budgets.”

Well struck!

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

If people are being honest Facebook’s dominance in the social space is going to be difficult for anyone to challenge. We are watching Google, who has tons of money, struggle to put a dent in Facebook’s position. Twitter isn’t truly a competitor because they address two different aspects of the social fabric online. And a startup coming in an putting a real dent in their position (which will only get stronger with the cash raised in the IPO)? I don’t see it. Google is struggling because it has a very bad track record in social and it must overcome its image of being a search engine that is overextending itself rather than improving its ecosystem. Other small players like Path are nice but we are seeing very real limits as to how far the average consumer is willing to go to manage multiple social network presences.

In other words, with Facebook’s position in the market they are going to need to “pull a MySpace” in order to stumble enough to open the door for a competitor. I just don’t see that happening. Of course, it can happen since any business can be viewed as being 90 days from extinction but it is not likely. If, however, you want to think that the whiners that call Facebook “MyFace” etc and say it is crap are a fringe element that would probably see a free gift of a solid gold bar as insignificant since it wasn’t two solid gold bars. In other words, they are idiots and don’t represent the vast majority of Facebook users.

So Facebook really needs to protect itself from government intervention. It actually sites that as a potential problem for them. So how better to keep politicians who maybe didn’t get a piece of the IPO out of your way? Throw up roadblocks like the claim that there is real competition to Facebook then crank up the lobbying effort. Reuters reports

Preparing to join the ranks of publicly traded companies, Facebook Inc is also beefing up its presence in the U.S. capital with a first report of money pouring into its newly created political fundraising arm.

A latecomer to Washington, the social networking site is joining scores of powerful technology companies such as Microsoft Corp and Google Inc that have political action committees (PACs) used to raise funds for donations to political campaigns or causes.

Hey if Stephen Colbert can put together a SuperPac and raise over $1 million imagine what Facebook can buy do in Washington, DC.

Let the real games begin!

In the real world, it doesn’t work that way. You already knew that, but did you know how much it doesn’t work that way?

AdAge recently published the results of a study by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and here’s what they found.

1.3% of brand fans on Facebook are actively engaging with the brands they like. (Meaning I fudged the 99% in the headline slightly, but it’s more about the point than the number.) The study tracked the top 200 brands for six weeks, counting all of those actions that go into the “People Talking About This” number. That means shares, likes, comments, posts and tags.

Take that number, divided by the number of brand fans, and you get the 1.3%. Then the study takes it down even further by removing new likes and it drops to .45%.

A spokesperson for the study says this is not bad news. I wouldn’t say good or bad. I’d go with irrelevant. It’s common sense that the majority of people who like a brand are already loyal customers. So even if they don’t leave a comment, they’re still buying the brand. What Facebook does so elegantly, is it acts as a gentle reminder. I love my local Chick-fil-A, but I might not have lunch there today. Then I see a Facebook post about a special on the menu and that makes me change my plans.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

I didn’t leave a comment. I didn’t share the news, but I’m still going to give them my money.

This brings us back to yesterday’s discussion about how to measure ROI. If all you’re counting is brand interaction, then I come up as a “zero” for today. But if you’re counting dollars, then kaching – that Facebook post was a success.

It’s all about balance, folks. A fun, engaging Facebook fan page is nice, but if you’re not bringing in new customers, then you’re not really doing your job.

To get around this, most marketers make themselves feel better by saying that social media marketing is primarily about brand awareness. This is true and important. Having your name out there is better than not, but awareness alone doesn’t pay the bills. That awareness needs to convert into sales and that’s the problem. Not the “getting sales” part but the “measuring sales” part.

Wildfire just put together a new infographic on this very topic. You can see the whole graphic when you click here. I’d like to focus on one part.

Most marketers are still focusing in on the things they can count, likes, comments and fans. However, an increasing number of marketers are looking at revenue. I don’t have the stats to prove it (if you do, please feel free to link me) but it seems like it wasn’t that long ago that revenue wasn’t even a factor. It was all about collecting fans and creating awareness. Finally, we’re expecting to see a dollar return on dollars spent.

58% of those surveyed by Wildfire said that social media increased sales and partnerships. 41% said that social media helped them cut costs! Maybe because they fired their blogger and got interns to post to Facebook for free?

I don’t know that we’re ever going to find a way to accurately count the dollars derived from social media marketing. It’s not in the nature of the beast. Social media is all about sharing from person to person. It’s about giving info to your current customer with hopes they’ll use it to bring in a new customer. How do you quantify that? Does it matter?

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

If at the end of the month, your company made a profit, then keep doing what you’re doing. You may not know if those sales came from Twitter or Facebook but you made your numbers and that’s all that really counts.

Oh forget imagining, Facebook wants to make it so, with the Timeline Movie Maker. Opt in, click a few choices and you’ll have a mini movie showing the best years of your life set to music. As long as you documented those years on Facebook, of course.

AdAge thinks Facebook is using the movie maker to make Timeline “less fearsome.” Personally, I think it makes it even worse.

These functions are terrific if you have cool list of adventures on your Facebook. For the rest of us, not so much. Seriously, I don’t even want to look at mine. It’s like watching your life flash before your eyes and the most exciting thing on there is the trip you took to Disneyland ten years ago.

Now here’s me taking off my cynical cap for a moment. I suppose there are people who will enjoy watching their life condensed into a few minutes. Watch the kids growing up. Relive that crazy Christmas. Be reminded of that honor from school or work. And if you want to share those memories with friends, then why not?

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Look at it this way, the more data you make public, the easier it will be for marketers to target you with their ads on Facebook. (Did I forget to mention that I put my cynical hat back on?)

PCWorld even quotes Facebook as saying, “We think there will be lots of companies that come up with fun, innovative ways for people to extend the Timeline experience.”

From a marketing perspective, I think the new Timeline apps are brilliant. One click and it’s a custom made ad for the shoes you bought, the movie you watched or the restaurant you just tried. But collecting all of that information into a movie for others to see? I wonder if “You’re So Vain” is one of the movie song choices?

Seriously, you oughta be in pictures and I want to see your Timeline Movie Maker video when it’s done. Are you brave enough to leave a link in the comments below?

All kidding aside, thanks to AllThingsD for getting Mr. Costolo to avoid some questions (read: choose not to answer) just to make things interesting!

Any thoughts?

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

“Alright, you primitive screwheads, listen up!” For those familiar with the work of movie director Sam Raimi, “Army of Darkness” is, no doubt, a perennial favorite. For those as yet indoctrinated, I’d encourage you to check out the film. It’s one of my favorites! In addition to being funny and imaginative, the chief protagonist, Ash Williams, would make a great Internet marketer. Really! Here are some lessons Internet marketers can take from Ash’s example.

“Say hello to the twenty-first century!”

In Army of Darkness (1992), everyman Ash Williams finds himself stranded in the year 1,300 A.D. To return to his own time, he must battle the formidable “Army of the Dead,” with limited manpower and crude technology. Rather than resign himself to failure, Ash examines the materials at hand (excuse the pun), crafts a powerful mechanical arm, makes gunpowder, and even cobbles together an ad hoc tank to fortify his allies against the evil forces.

In a more modern context, what if no one’s sure what to say on Twitter, or how tweets should differ from Facebook posts? You may be in the metaphorical Dark Ages at your company, but surely there are resources at your disposal. Use what you have.

Consider repurposing White Papers, marketing collateral, keynote speeches by executives, and any existing advertising into content for your company blog or social media feeds.

If enthusiasm for the cause is lacking, you need to be the driving force, the leader, behind any new efforts – it may be a grassroots movement at first, but once word of mouth spreads about your efforts, you may find yourself flush with internal supporters, willing to contribute their talents.

“Just me, Baby. Just me.”

In an effort to rally the last 60 residents of the village to fight against overwhelming odds, Ash makes a motivational speech of sorts in which he assures the frightened townsfolk that he will stay and fight. “Are all men from the future loud-mouthed braggarts,” asks the leader, Lord Arthur. “Nope. Just me, Baby,” is Ash’s brash reply. Although Ash’s confidence may seem misplaced, he had the intelligence and resourcefulness to give the villagers a fighting chance.

Don’t be afraid to promote yourself. We’re taught that self promotion is rude or socially unacceptable, but the fact is that your target audience can’t know who you are or why you’re worthwhile unless you tell them. Don’t hesitate to draw attention (in a tasteful way) to your accomplishments, talents, and points of differentiation. So long as you can live up to your promises, there’s nothing wrong with tooting your own horn a bit.

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“Klaatu Barada Nikto”

As depicted in the movie, Ash rushed through learning the ceremonial words he had to recite when removing the Necronomicon from its resting place. When the time came to make the necessary declaration, he could not remember the entire phrase (“Klaatu Barada Nikto,” for science fiction fans out there), and mumbled the last bit. The results were disastrous. “Klaatu Barada N… Necktie… Neckturn… Nickel… It’s an ‘N’ word, it’s definitely an ‘N’ word!” Fudging words can come back to bite you.

Similarly, using a bad turn of phrase on your blog or social media feed can set off a chain reaction of negative sentiment that will take you months to clean up. Before publishing, carefully consider the words you’ve chosen: could they be misconstrued or taken out of context? Are they unintentionally insensitive in light of breaking news? Try doing publishing to a limited, internal audience (which is especially effective for large organizations). Anything incendiary should be brought to your attention in fairly short order.

“Now… Who’s with me?”

If you’re going to prevail in the battle for your audience’s attention, you’ve got to have a strategy. Adding to the noise online will only alienate the people you’re trying to reach. Without a strategy, you’ll be crushed.

In the movie, while the Army of the Dead approaches, Ash gets to work. In two days’ time, he trains the villagers, creates a battle plan, equips his fighters as well as possible, and turns them into a force to be reckoned with. Otherwise, the enemy would have come upon a disorganized, ineffective resistance, and crushed it.

Before sending a single tweet or making a single Facebook post, have your overall strategy in place. Understand what you’re trying to accomplish with each channel, and how you will use the different platforms in different ways to create value for your audience.

Equip your team: identify the people in your company with a passion for your mission – whether or not they’re in marketing or PR – and enlist the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable to serve as internal spokespeople for your brand.

Having laid out a strategic plan that uses the assets at your disposal to their best advantage, you can rest assured that you’ve given yourself the best possible chance of success. Groovy.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of Marketing Pilgrim.