Since the users of Facebook make it what it is, it seems like a natural fit. But, will the social aspect of social media win out at the end of the day, or will big money rule supreme? It will be interesting to see if Facebook will help revolutionize IPOs, or if it will be just another stock offering that does little for the little guy.

It would be hard to live up to last year’s Kid Vader spot, but it seems like VW has risen to the challenge… with a twist and a nod to last year’s spot in the process. And yes, it is an epic :60 spot, which means VW is paying a hefty price to run it in this year’s big game.

Bring on the ads (and the football)!

There’s not an easy answer, because like most things in this digital age, it’s the luck of the draw. What works for one business may not necessarily work for another. As a matter of fact, it can even backfire. We’ve talked here before about marketing in social media and the importance of developing relationships with your fan base instead of just gathering up random likes. Running up the numbers on Facebook won’t do you any good if your fan base isn’t interacting with you on a regular basis.

AdAge has a few wonderful examples of successful campaigns and how they worked for certain companies. The idea here is not to copy what has been done, but to find unique ways to connect to your own audience. At Mass Media Marketing, we are always striving to find new and exciting avenues to build quality likes over quantity. Give us a call and let us help you maneuver through the ever-changing landscape of marketing in social media.

Blogs serve many purposes for marketing. First of all, they build a rapport and trust with your audience/customers. Second, they give you an opportunity to get your message out the way you want it sent. And, possibly most importantly, it gives search engines more opportunities to find your website. After all, SEO is the name of the game, and anything you can do to improve your ranking is a benefit in the long run. A regularly updated blog will work wonders for your being found when people do a search.

Of course, knowing you should blog and actually doing it are two different things. That’s where we come in. Mass Media Marketing can not only help you create a blog, but we can also manage it for you. Contact us today and let us examine all the ways a blog can help your business grow.

The basic premise is that your landing page is put up for exactly five seconds and then a series of questions is asked of the viewer to see how much they remember. Obviously, the more they remember, the better your overall effectiveness.

You can also take part in the tests yourself and provide feedback for other websites. Pretty cool, and we’re sure we’ll be putting it to good use.

According to this blog post by Steve Rubel, it’s all about verbs. Actions are what count online, especially when we’re talking about Facebook or any other social media sites. Think about “liking” and “sharing” – it’s interaction, it’s reaction, it’s responding to others. If you think passively, then you’re not going to be successful on social media.

Helping you get active is what we do here at M3. We can give your social media a boost by getting your audience to interact with you and your posts. We’ll get you in on the action.

We’re not sure if such a stunt is more a nod to the popularity of the show or a desperate attempt to sell more magazines in a day and age when news-based print is falling by the wayside. There’s an irony in the fact that they want to use a backward-looking layout, because it only reminds people of how obsolete their medium truly is. News magazines are more than passe, they’re pretty much going the way of the dinosaur when news commentary is simply a click away, either on the 24 hour TV news cycle or the Internet.

It will be interesting to see if a one-time fun campaign like this will resurrect drooping ad sales for the magazine, or if it will only provide a short-term boost. It will also be interesting to see the ads, we must admit, as we’re curious to see how modern advertisers would do their take on throwback ads.

Seeing as how a large part of the Super Bowl mystique surrounds the ads, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Of course, this all harkens back to Apple’s “1984″ ad, the standard that all other Super Bowl ads are measured against. Conventional wisdom tells us it will be a challenge to make minute-long “storytelling” commercials keep viewer interest in a day and age where attention spans have dwindled down to almost nothing.

Does the football-viewing public really need a 60 second Volkswagen spot, or a 45 second ad about PepsiMax, the soft-drink manufacturer’s latest foray into the diet soda market? Maybe, maybe not, but big money is being spent in the hopes of another classic commercial breaking through the clutter.

This article from AdAge shows the juxtaposition between brands with high numbers of fans and those that have a higher interactive quotient with the people who like them. It’s how brands like Starbucks can score higher than McDonald’s even if their “like” numbers are lower. Being interactive and developing loyalty is more valuable than simply having raw numbers when it comes to social media. The key is to examine your number of likes and determine how many of them have substance. In other words, a smaller fan base can be better than a big one, especially if they are loyal and are interacting with you.

Navigating your way through the perils of social media can be a daunting task, and online marketing is changing at a rapid pace. Branding and marketing is more than just building a website or a Facebook page. The staff of Mass Media Marketing is dedicated to finding your audience and reaching them in the online world. Please give us a call today and let us help you make your online marketing more effective.

Marc Brownstein at AdAge is alarmed that so much money is being pulled from traditional media and shifted into the digital world without rhyme or reason. He’s afraid that brand image will be hurt by this trend. Just because the world is shifting online, it does not mean that everybody is going to get your message there. People still watch TV, read magazines, see billboards, and get snail mail. Those venues may be dying, but they’re not dead yet.

It’s important for your business to thoroughly examine all the options, and many of those options will depend on your target audience. Concentrate your dollars where your audience is – while that’s a simple sentiment, it’s not always easy to determine. At M3, we can help you break down your budget to make it as effective as possible. Don’t waste your money in places that are not doing you any good, and don’t spend all your money online just because everyone else is. Make your ad dollars work for you.