As I begin this column, Starbucks has 5,658,146 Facebook friends on its fan page. In July 2009 the company passed Coca-Cola to become the most popular corporate brand on the social network site. Since then it has added about two million more fans.

Most social media experts rate Starbucks at or near the top in terms of companies who have embraced and benefited by social media. That might not be surprising to you. Big company, big resources. They can do all kinds of snazzy stuff on their fan page, right?

Right. Except that’s not what Starbucks is doing. The company’s fan page on Facebook isn’t anywhere near the most sophisticated, application-heavy fan page out there. Budweiser’s has a feature that lets fans watch three Bud commercials and pick the one they’d like to see aired during the Super Bowl. Coke Zero’s features a “Facial Profiler” application that takes your photo and matches it with another person who resembles you. Both are fun, interactive and far beyond the budget of the average medium sized or small business wanting to generate fans for its page.

Not so with Starbucks. With the exception of some company videos, there’s little that even a mom and pop business can’t replicate. The company’s wall is dominated by fan posts. (Take note that not all of them are favorable and that Starbucks isn’t freaking out about that.) The company encourages fans to post videos and photos. Those posts run the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous. But a Facebook fan page is communal property and Starbucks does a good job of letting the fans take ownership.

The company also does a great job with status updates. Every few days Starbucks posts an update. It might be a video, interesting information about employees, reviews of new music and books they sell at the stores or an offer. Last summer Starbucks promoted their ice cream by giving away coupons for free pints to Facebook fans. You don’t have to give away 800 pints an hour like Starbucks did to make this work. And it doesn’t have to be free ice cream – it can be coupon savings, information, a free consultation, etc. You’ll draw fans to the page and keep them coming back if from time to time you offer them something special for being part of your community.

In the time it took me to write this column, Starbucks added 1,196 fans. No smoke. No mirrors. Just good, smart engagement with the public.

Steve Coss is a Creative Director at TMA+Peritus: A Strategic Interaction Agency. Find them online at www.tmaperitus.com or offline in their offices in Wausau and Madison.

When Seth Godin, the ever popular marketing advisor and blogger said, “The only marketing left is content marketing,” he almost single-handedly stopped marketing in its tracks.  I’m glad he did.  For those of you who haven’t been around content marketing, we’ll define it as a strategy by which you create and distribute compelling, relevant and valuable content to very specific target audiences with the purpose of driving a profitable action.

So what’s different about that?  In the past, it was all about the delivery platform — Web site, TV spot, brochure system and the like — and content followed as a bi-product of the platform.  Now, content takes the lead and becomes the single most important attribute in your marketing plan.  Here’s why — in a report published by the Custom Publishing Council, 80% of business decision makers said they prefer their information through articles rather than advertisements, 70% stated that content marketing makes them feel closer to the content provider, and 60% said they make product purchasing decisions based on content marketing.

But there’s another reason to jump on board.  Content marketing will save you money, and it will probably be more effective than what you’re doing now.  As the folks at content distributor Junta42 say, “Think of this — what if your customer looked forward to receiving your marketing?”  And to that I add, “Think of this —how about not having to pay the traditional advertising costs?”

So, how does this work?  At TMA+Peritus our approach to content marketing, which is a branded product that we call Simpatico™, begins with a content and audience audit for our clients.  In your organization, you will need to understand your audiences and what type of information they need and want, and then determine what existing content is usable, what can be repurposed, and what needs to be created as you work toward the first goal of an overall Content Strategy.

The next phase is Content Creation, and trust me, there’s more in your archives than you think.  This could be white papers, case studies, videos, articles, photos, news releases, research, trade show materials and more.

Then you will need to determine your Content Delivery Platform, or how are you going to get your content into the hands of your audiences.  Will it be through your primary Web site, microsites, Facebook, twitter, Linkedin, private networks, sharing tools or perhaps all of the above?  In any event, you will need to develop new channels or optimize existing channels for distribution.

The fourth phase is Content Promotion — think of this in terms of digital and traditional marketing — and consider your content as your newest and greatest product.  Promote it through news releases, industry articles, digital ads, on your Web site, though email campaigns, during speeches, at trade shows and within your electronic newsletter.  Finally, there’s Content Engagement and Measurement. You’ll need to keep distributing content frequently, and based on how you measure your success, you’ll need to refine your messaging based on different analytics, content consumption ratios and comments.  Remember, you can’t manage it, if you can’t measure it.

A friend of mine used to say, “He who controls the data, controls the transaction.”  True enough, but times have changed.  “She who controls the content, controls the transaction.”

Tom Marks is the President & Managing Partner of TMA+Peritus: A Strategic Interaction Agency. Find them online at www.tmaperitus.com, offline in their offices in Wausau and Madison, or follow them on Twitter@ twitter.com/tmaperitus

Domino’s wants you to know their pizza sucks. It’s not just ordinary or overpriced. It’s pretty darn lousy. And it’s been that way for a long, long time. But they’ve seen the error in their ways. And they want you to love them for admitting it.

You’ve seen the commercials. Domino’s filmed people in focus groups trashing the taste of their product and edited those scenes with scenes of proud Domino’s chefs vowing improvement. The spots culminate with a Publisher’s-Clearinghouse-style visit to the unsuspecting focus group members who are given the opportunity to chow down on the improved Domino’s pizza. Not surprisingly they’re happy to eat both the pizza and their words.

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Do you consider yourself a Creator, Critic, Joiner, Spectator or Conversationalist? In a recently published Ad Age article, Josh Bernoff provided a chart that defined each of these levels of social media participation. According to North American Technographics Empowerment Online Survey, seventy percent of U.S. adults online are categorized as Spectators — they read blogs or tweets, listen to podcasts, or watch video from other users at least once a month. Less than one in four adult online users are categorized as Creators — those who publish a blog or web pages, upload original videos, audio or music, or write and post articles or stories.

Why are 3 out of 4 online users passively absorbing the content that 1 in 4 is providing? Perhaps it’s because an overwhelming 3 out of 4 of us really don’t understand what social networking is all about.

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Robust web content management tools are a great way for you to take control of your company’s website, but there are limits and guidelines that should be followed to maintain the integrity of the design.

The ability to update your website is a feature that most of our clients want, and our content management system can allow you to update images, add pages, delete pages, and change web copy in a moments notice.  While experience in html, xhtml, css, javascript, and other programming languages isn’t necessary, it is important that the updates are handled by one or two people who have been properly trained.  The primary concern would be accidental page deletion, though regular website backups will allow you to retrieve the deleted page if that should ever happen.  Some questions that will need to be answered include: What happens to the navigation when a page is added?  What if I add a picture that’s the wrong size?  Can I change the font from black to lemon yellow?

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Make 2010 the year you “do some good.” Whether it’s donating to victims of the earthquake in Haiti or bowling for your local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters — social media platforms have leveled the playing ground, making it just as easy for a small entrepreneur or multimillion-dollar conglomerate to play a philanthropic role in the community.

Why should you expend energy on “giving?” Besides the obvious answer — because you can make a difference — there are some business advantages. Remember, “community” no longer defines a geographical region just outside your door. It represents a larger, virtual online community populated by your fans, customers and prospective customers. People talk about you in these virtual communities. And they share your links, events, white papers and postings.

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As if there weren’t enough lists to start the decade, let’s toss in one more.

One: It’s high time we took the “social” out of social media. Let’s face it — social media is as traditional nowadays as traditional media. Over 300 million Facebook users, 861,800,000 tweets in September 2009 alone, 156 billion text messages between June 2008 and May 2009, and lest I forget, $25 billion in digital ad revenue last year. I think social media, or I should say, this type of media, is here to stay.

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It’s one thing to have web developers create a website for your company, but what happens after they turn over the keys? Are you able to maintain the website content yourself, or do you have to pay the web developers when your site needs updates?

It’s true, some companies do not have the time to take care of their website content updates, and for that it’s essential for web developers to be retained to make whatever changes are necessary. But, what if you want to maintain your website yourself? Thankfully, there are now many stable and full-featured tools that we as developers can use to allow you to achieve a sense of website independence, even if you are not highly technologically proficient. The main tool in our bag of magic tricks that allows you to maintain your content is called a Web Content Management System, or WCMS.

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When it comes to social media, businesses usually make one of two mistakes. They rush into it faster than a doped-up sprinter without realizing the consequences of their actions, or they stick their toe in the water — ever so slightly — making it utterly impossible to see any results.

To avoid the predictable, which is no measurable results from your social media efforts, you must adopt a point of view, or POV.

Before you do that, it’s imperative that you subscribe to the philosophy that we spend so much time trying to be understood and not enough time understanding. If you have trouble agreeing with that belief, it’s almost a certainty that you’ll have trouble with social media.

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The recent passing of musician Vic Chesnutt prompted me to visit the itunes store to complete my collection of his work. As I browsed his albums, I began to think about how his album covers reflect his music. That led me to muse about how successful websites visually reflect the work and spirit of companies.

What kind of “music” does your company make?  Does it strike the bold chords of a Beethoven piano concerto? Or mirror the serenity of Handel’s Water Music? Is it a multi-layered, Hüsker Dü wall of sound? Does it dance to the mellow, lilting reggae beat of Bob Marley?  Perhaps it’s a bit of Frank Sinatra – confident, smooth and cool?  Maybe it’s even Elvis Presley in a glittering, sequined Vegas performance – replete with gyrating hips?

Your website should show the world who you are with more than just a tagline — the layout, photos, fonts and colors you choose should reflect who your company is — not simply what it is. In order for your website to do just that, it’s essential to reflect on your company and culture. Is your corporate culture loved more by the management or the people they lead? In what ways does your company give back to the community?  How do your goods or services make a difference in the lives of others? How do your future plans apply to the above questions?

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