Aside from being the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez on Saturday turned into an affiliate marketer, maybe even a super affiliate by giving United States President Barack Obama a copy of Eduardo Galeano’s book ‘The Open Veins of Latin America”.  As footage of the encounter appeared on the web, and traditional media sources like TV and radio the book shot up Amazon.com’s paperback sales chart from number 54,295 all thw way to sixth place within 24 hours.

I hope Mr. Chavez had his tracking pixels set up correctly on his confirmation page….

A few years back, the Internet was positioned as the newest communication channel around. The very ability to instantly create published public content was only surpassed by being able to edit and update that content as well. In just recent years, Internet communication has moved from dynamic text to what I like to call “living on line”. This is the transparency that people now have connecting their actual lives to their virtual lives; in short melting the two together. What’s the spark of this new media paradigm: social networking.

Social networking is the ablity to dynamically connect. Whether your “tweeting, writing on a virtual wall, inviting or accepting friends, or simply posting to a blog :), exposing more and more of your life’s daily thoughts, events and travel is where the web is progressing to.  In a great article by Danah Boyd of Vator News titled Social media is here to stay… Now what? “For users, Web 2.0 was all about reorganizing web-based practices around Friends. For many users, direct communication tools like email and IM were used to communicate with one’s closest and dearest while online communities were tools for connecting with strangers around shared interests. Web2.0 reworked all of that by allowing users to connect in new ways. While many of the tools may have been designed to help people find others, what Web2.0 showed was that people really wanted a way to connect with those that they already knew in new ways.“

So let’s break down the social media food chain into three groups and briefly define the usability and goal of each:

1) The User-these are the people who make up the foundation of the social media. Without user uptake, this would simply be another “great idea”. What users want to accomplish when using social networks such as MySapce, Facebook, Mebo and others is the ability to connect with friends, family and new acquaintances in a vast and “FREE” way. In short, users see social networks as a way to expand their network while cutting traditional communication related expenses.

2) The Advertiser-this group is both an enabler and a hunter. By advertising on and supporting social networks, marketers help keep the network availableo t users. But as with all things, “freedom” comes with a price. Now don’t get me wrong, my background is in helping advertisers generate more return from their online campaigns, but one of the elements I always stress to my clients is soft sale. Social media is a great way to interact with your current and prospective customers, but with this powerful connection to people, comes the challenge to add value and utilize the info sale and trust relationship in order to gain success.

3) The Techies-by far the most challenging and rewarding group. This group usually remains agnostic to the various revenue models wrapped around social media, and more concerned about the development of new applications and services that will engage, entice and gain acceptance.

The important takeaways:

1) Give: Those users and advertisers who use social media to take and never give providing no value will quickly find themselves non existent
2) Enage-When utilizing social media, no matter what group you’re in, always strive to develop content, applications, or services that spark interactivity.
3) Have fun-it’s got SOCIAL built in to the name…

Many thanks to Entreprenuer.com for quoting me in their  article, Rev up the Search Engines. It’s no surprise that search engines have emerged as the goto media point online. Search and find seems to be the major focal point on every business owners plate. So in a nutshell, why are search engines so popular and vital to your business?

To most web users, the Internet starts with a search engine. With more than 1 trillion webpages online, how can you help your site to be found? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the techniques used to present your site to Google, Yahoo, MSN and other top engines. Now with tons of informational resources, so called experts and training seminars, what is a small bsuiness owner to do?

Without going into a deep technical discussion, there are three very vital steps to keep in mind when developing, publishing and syndicating content online:

1) Keywords: More than just phrases, keyword research is a the foundational discovery step. Knowing what you want to say is often easy; determining who and how people are searching for it is the challenge. Sites like Keyword Discovery and SpyFu are great free resources to utilize. Remember when implementing your keyword and key phrase strategy, it’s not the quantity it’s the quality.

2) On Page Elements-The factors that you use to build your web pages. Items like site wide navigation (how easy is it for a web visitor to discover and find things on your site). Far too many times I see very deep page staructures meaning too many clicks to discovery. A good startegy to stick by is what I  call “3 Clicks to Gold”. Pull up Google, type in a search term, {Click}, from the results page find the item you’re looking for {click}; land on that specific website’s page matching your item {click} and take action (buy, subscribe, call, etc}.

3) Off Page Elements-Extremely important in getting found and improving placement in search engine results pages. Off page factors in short are all the other sites referencing or linking to yours. Now remeber, just as in keywords, it’s not quantity its the  quality. Too many irrelevant links and Google will even penalize you as a link farm (someone who buys tons of links).  A strong off page startegy includes creating social profiles with links back to your site, blog commenting, article submission and even product reviews.

It’s no secret that President Obama is a tech friendly administrator. According to the the Washington Post, Obama’s team is running into some technical difficulties beyond their control. The article goes on to describe some email and text broadcast challenges Macon Phillips, White House director of New Media, has come across. Surprisingly enough, these challenges are very similiar to what many business owners experience in their own marketing campaigns.

In short, this administration has made remarkably strides in harnessing New Media to reach out and communicate with millions of Americans. Managing that communication is no simple task. Did you know the U.S. government operates at least 20,000 individual Web sites (and you thought managing your own domain portfolio was hard).

Here’s the take away:

1) Harness the web’s interactivity-WhiteHouse.gov has a blog and a YouTube channel…do you?

2) The Content Principles-In the first blog post on WhiteHouse.gov, Phillips listed the site’s top three priorities: “communication,” “participation” and, the buzzword of the online political sphere, “transparency.” Apply these same metrics when developing your customer communications.

3) Accountabality-Obama is being held accountable for everything he’s posting (and not posting) on his site. Remember web content, once released, is somewhat permanant. Don’t post or blog with material that you won’t stand behind later.

With the abundance of negative and depressing news about failing economy’s, business owners seem to be left with two choices: thrive or fail. Hopefully smart business owners will turn to New Media as a saving grace. New Media offers advertisers much more control than traditional forms ever did. Take for example, media buys-the method by which an advertiser purchases an advertising slot. In traditional media, radio, print, television, etc, there is a minimum buy in meaning the advertiser has to pay X just to have a spot. Often times the amount is dictated and driven by large advertisers making the spend very high. But with today’s recent economic conditions and emerging New Media channels, the playing field has been leveled. Here are three tips to look for when selecting your New Media ad spend:

1) Target Audience: Now more importantly than ever, know who your targeting. Look for online destinations and other online events that have a good chance to reach your target audience. Buying blanket banner ads may not be a good use of your ad budget, but taking some time to research and contact very niche websites where your target audience may frequent could prove to be extremely viable.

2) Maximize Advertising Face Time: As they say, the more time on the wall the better. Look for New Media opportunities that have a lasting effect. Pay per Click ads can be expensive and time out when your budget is gone, but event sponsorships, social media group sponsorships, forum moderators and other long lasting venues can last for years.

3) Communicate: If you didn’t before, start now. Social Media is today’s communication platform. Remember when launching a social media advertising campaign, don’t sell…inform. When developing ad creative or text copy, offer the prospective visitor a value driven reason to take action (click, call, complete a form, etc.) The key to mastering Social Media….be honest and creative.

When it comes to online advertising, most business owners have had one of two experiences, great or a awful.  Well as with every new medium there comes the good and bad. When it comes to online advertising, I like to call it online marketing, advertisers need to understand that New Media users want to be informed, empowered and have a relational sale process. Let’s start with some of the basics. Although everything on the web today arguably starts with a search of some sort, there are three very distinct ways to understand the basics on online advertising.

1) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)-In short think of this as a compliment from Google and other top search engines telling the world “this site is really who he says he is.” The important part to remember here is that the “back end” of your website, the technical coding, is what search engines read. They don’t see all the fancy images, colors, graphics etc. In SEO, telling the search engine what your site is all about and having the search engine validate that by naturally ranking you high is the holy grail. This form of advertising enforces the old “truth in advertising” clause. Advertiser upside-Gain top search engine rankings in a most trusted user section.

2) Pay per X-In this format the X can be substituted for just about any money action (click, call, lead, email, form, etc) that an Internet user does. This is a popular campaign metric for many advertisers since there isn’t a payout unless the user completes the specified action. Normally this becomes a way of generating high quality leads. Advertiser upside…pay for what you use.

3) Cost per Thousand (CPM)-The Internet’s billboard version of advertising. Pay one bulk rate and get your ad seen 1000 times. Similar to that billboard you see every day on your way to work, except more dynamic in nature. Advertiser upside-fixed cost and a great brand busiling opportunity.

3) Social Media Marketing (SMM)-Better known as the soft sale. This is where strategy comes into play. Time and time again, we have seen organizations use top social sites like MySpace and Facebook to build a profile and then “hard sell’ every visitor. In the social arena we call that “Mr. Annoying.” You know that guy at a party that everyone trys to avoid because he, well quite frankly he is obnoxious. Yup, that’s how communities of social networkers see a ’sales” profile. Remember when marketing in social networks, keep the same principal as in real social situations. Don’t walk up to a stranger at a party and give them the pitch; rather inform, discuss and build a relationship.

In this clip, American Express Open, a fantastic network that I work closely with, has  an informative video feturing Steve Strauss of USA Today discussing some more basics of online advertising.

Tried online advertising already? What was your expierence? Comment and let me know.