Online Marketing Blog
![[IMAGE] Twitter Icon](http://kennethlim.net/img/social_twitter_box_blue_64.png "Follow me on Twitter")
![[IMAGE] LinkedIn Icon](http://kennethlim.net/img/social_linkedin_box_blue_64.png "Connect to me on LinkedIn")
![[IMAGE] Facebook Icon](http://kennethlim.net/img/social_facebook_box_blue_64.png "Become friends on Facebook")
![[IMAGE] RSS Icon](http://kennethlim.net/img/social_rss_box_orange_64.png "Subscribe via RSS")
The economy is hurting. We get it.
As business owners and marketers, we’re looking for ways to create a solid cash flow.
Everybody likes a good deal so it’s worth taking a closer look at something like Groupon, right?
But if all you can come up with is a sorry-ass excuse for a daily deal, then the economy isn’t ruining your business.
You are ruining your business.
Don Corleone wouldn’t approve if that happened, so let’s look at how you can make an offer that nobody can refuse.
Social media has humanized interaction and has enabled people to easily obtain and exchange experiences.
Technology has humanized the user experience by making it easier for people to communicate and share information.
Meanwhile, many businesses have used technology to go in the opposite direction, to dehumanize.
Look at customer service, which has sadly become a (near) robotic experience at many companies. Look at email marketing where companies send emails from an email address like “please-do-not-reply@we-hate-getting-email-from-you-com”.
Put aside all the usual stuff about social media offering great opportunities to promote your products, overturn negative experiences and build long-term relationships.
First and foremost, social media is a call for humanization in how you communicate. Social media has humanized interaction, technology has humanized the experience, but only you can humanize your business.
If there’s one thing that Facebook has many people mesmerized about, it’s their user count. Between December 2004 and January 2011, Facebook grew from one million users to 600 million users. If you’d like to continue to be mesmerized as if you’re staring at a unicorn, today’s count is over 656 million.
I don’t question the count, I question the messaging. It’s always been made to sound as if those 600-whatever million people are unique users. They’re absolutely not all unique and I’ll explain why.
As Facebook continues to grow, there’s an increasing number of brands advertising on Facebook. The number of Facebook advertisers in 2010 quadrupled compared to 2009, advertising revenue doubled in 2010, ad prices were raised by 40% this year, and Facebook is expected to serve over 80 billion ads per month. The key question is obviously: should you advertise on Facebook?
Let’s take a closer look at Facebook advertisements, how well they perform, what you should be doing and what you definitely shouldn’t be doing.
Dutch airline Transavia held an online contest to determine their new slogan. The campaign was wildly successful with over 100,000 submissions. Some of the entries were even printed onto billboard ads.
A panel of judges determined the top entries and the eventual winner. This is where the campaign fell flat. The entries that were chosen as best entries sucked. They lacked edginess and creativity (some slogans had already been used by other airlines). The winning slogan was “That makes you happy”. That’s not just bad, it’s pathetic.