Here’s an easy test: Do you want to be found by your target consumer? If the answer is yes, then yes — your business should be on YouTube.

Here are some stats to back this assertion up:

• YouTube is the 3^rd-most-visited website in the world. In the world. A quick search on compete.com shows that in September 2011, YouTube had 141,721,097 unique visitors in the United States alone. That’s almost 50 percent of the entire population of the U.S. And with a broad demographic of 18–54 years, YouTube is not just something “the kids” are using.

• YouTube is the second-largest search engine. It ranks just behind Google. If you are concerned about having good organic results for your website on Google, you should be concerned about having a consistent presence on YouTube.

• More video content is currently uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the three major U.S. networks have created in the past 60 years. That’s a lot of content — something for everyone, including your audience. Find those channels and tell your story there.

• More than half of the videos on YouTube have been rated or received comments. Considering how many videos there are on YouTube, half is quite a lot.  Do you want to get the conversation started with your consumers? YouTube is a great place to start.

Still need more proof that your company should be on YouTube?  One word: Blendtec.

Blendtec is a company that manufactures food blenders in the U.S. You may have seen some of their “Will It Blend” videos on YouTube; if not, here’s one for your viewing enjoyment:

Several of these videos are on YouTube, each with millions of views. “So what?” you may be thinking. “Millions of views? What does that mean, and who really cares?”  According to a case study performed in January 2009 by SocialLens, Blendtec saw an increase in their retail sales of 700 percent — a 700 percent increase in sales as a result of one YouTube video campaign.

Perhaps not every brand video on YouTube will result in a 700 percent increase in sales, but if your consumers cannot find, like, share and interact with you, they’ll find, like, share and interact with your competition.

The marketing world has changed dramatically in recent years.  All of us can point to the invention of television, or the introduction of the Internet, as world-changing events.  But, here are some important inventions we sometimes forget to be thankful for…

The Invention that changed what we see:   The camera. 

IBM invented the very first smart phone, called SIMON, which incorporated voice and data services into one package. It is also a mixture of mobile phone and PDA and even a fax machine. Compared to the smart phone in present like iPhone, HTC MAX 4G, and SAMSUNG Galaxy it is really low-end and very expensive. Source: www.cellphones.org

We all know a picture is worth 1,000 words.  What would we do if we couldn’t show our products?

Question:  Do you know when the first advertisement with a photograph was made?

The Invention that changed how we sort data: The bar code.

These boring sets of black and white lines are everywhere.  First, they changed the way we shopped, and kept track of inventory.  Now, they are becoming a new way to communicate via a QR code.  Did you know JC Penney’s is providing a coded gift card so you can “tag” your gift with your own recorded voice, to be played back by the recipient using a QR scanner?

Question: Who dreamed up the original concept leading to the bar code?  And, when?

The Invention that changed the way we share and connect: Social Networking
More than three billion minutes are spent by computer users EVERY DAY on Facebook and Twitter — changing the way we interact and who we interact with.Millions of people now communicate tiny details of their lives by poking, twittering and posting. We chat with old friends – or meet complete strangers – worldwide.

Question: Who first discussed the strengths of networking, socially?

The Invention that ties all the other technologies together:  The Mobile Smart Phone.

This one combines the camera, data access and social connectivity we all want.  The mobile smart phone is a productivity game changer, with ever expanding opportunities to connect people with brands – through text messages, apps, mobile Internet browsing, QR code scanning, and more.

Question:  When was the first smart phone introduced?

Click here for answers!

This year, we are celebrating 30 years in business. To commemorate this achievement, we hosted a 30^th anniversary event that included a presentation by author and business blogger Drew McLellan entitled “Storytelling and Social Media.” In this five-part series, we will recap the highlights from his presentation. This is Part 5 of 5.

When you’re ready to tell your marketing story via social media, remember to tailor your message to the audience and to its expectations of the format.

For example, when readers go to a blog, they want to be informed or entertained — not sold.  When checking out a Facebook post, readers expect a quick, insightful “aha” moment — not a lengthy, rambling tale.

Watch this one-minute video excerpt to see the five social media storytelling tips that Drew McLellan presented at a recent seminar hosted by Armstrong|Shank.

This year, we are celebrating 30 years in business. To commemorate this achievement, we hosted a 30^th anniversary event that included a presentation by author and business blogger Drew McLellan entitled “Storytelling and Social Media.” In this five-part series, we will recap the highlights from his presentation. This is Part 4 of 5.

If people don’t have a strong feeling about you, they’ll never connect with your product.

Push yourself to tell great stories — or risk being forgotten.

Find out how author and business blogger Drew McLellan describes the “mushy middle” of advertising.

This 52-second video from Armstrong|Shank’s  “Storytelling and Social Media” seminar emphasizes the point.

Part 1: How much copy is too much?

Part 2: Listen and engage

Part 3: Telling your audience a story

This year, we are celebrating 30 years in business. To commemorate this achievement, we hosted a 30^th anniversary event that included a presentation by author and business blogger Drew McLellan entitled “Storytelling and Social Media.” In this five-part series, we will recap the highlights from his presentation. This is Part 3 of 5.

We know that telling your audience a story brings your message to life. And we understand that people remember stories far longer than they recall facts.

But how do you incorporate storytelling into advertising?

Most businesses begin by talking about their product and its features or benefits.  Unfortunately, this approach isn’t as effective as it could be.

In this wonderful example, author and business blogger Drew McLellan illustrates the magic that can happen when you begin by looking at the product from the customer’s point of view.

Watch the three-minute video from our “Storytelling and Social Media” seminar.

Part 1: How much copy is too much?

Part 2: Listen and Engage

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is a pretty serious institution. Talk of the walking dead would seem like a topic they’d like to avoid. But earlier this year they posted a blog titled Preparedness 101: The Zombie Apocalypse.

The article asks and then answers the question of how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. It’s humorous, zany, and more than a little out of character for a serious group like the CDC. But, strangely enough, preparing for the zombie apocalypse is remarkably similar to preparing for any other major disaster like hurricanes, floods, tornados and extended power outages.

The article was a hit. In fact, it attracted more than 3.6 billion impressions (yes, that’s a b). Not bad for an estimated $89 to produce the article. (Insert joke about the irony of the CDC going viral.)

But I can imagine, sitting here at my desk imagining things, that during the process of producing that article someone at the CDC held up a red flag. I can hear it now. “Are we sure that this is the image we want to project to the public? I’m not comfortable with it. What if someone thinks we are serious? Our credibility could be at stake here!”

I’m glad they remembered that it’s okay to show you have a sense of humor now and then — even if you are in a serious business.

Image is important to any business, and you certainly don’t want to undermine it just because some crazy marketing guy has an idea. But we shouldn’t sell short our audience’s ability to play along when we take a bit of a leap. And sometimes, crazy ideas really work.

The CDC has since added a permanent Zombie Preparedness page to their website. And a lot of people who never before thought about preparing for a natural disaster now have an emergency kit on hand.

The title of this post is actually the title of a seminar that we conducted for the Wichita Area Builders Association. We discussed how to get the most out of personal profiles, business pages and all of the other opportunities for interaction on LinkedIn. As I did the research for this seminar, I fell back in love with LinkedIn. It is a really a remarkable social network and is continuing to introduce new features.

For part of the research, I surveyed individuals in my own social networks about their use of LinkedIn — what they find valuable, what frustrates them and what they want to learn more about. I had a great response.

The chart above ranks the features of LinkedIn that people  find valuable. It is not surprising that the personal profiles were seen as most valuable. The profiles are robust, living resumes. They offer people a way to take some control of their online personal brand. They can drive positive SEO performance. Most important, personal profiles act as the gateway to building a network of connections and unleashing the platform’s business development power.

Company profiles, or pages, were seen as the fourth most valuable feature. Company pages offer many ways to enhance an organization’s presence and participation. Beyond populating basic company info and creating connections to employees with profiles, businesses can tap into integration and sharing features. Adding blog and Twitter feeds provides another channel for that content and helps keep the company profile fresh. Fully utilizing the ability to provide information about products and services strengthens the selling power of the business page. Each product and service can have a description, features list, associated image, video, list of points of contact and a link to more information. Products and services can also be recommended, similar to people recommending other people on LinkedIn.

One thing that surprises me is that advertising ranked last. With 32% of the company’s $161 million dollars in revenue coming from marketing solutions, there are obviously some people finding value in the tools. The targeting capabilities alone make me a fan. For example, targeting by title allows a company to home in on consumers who are more likely to possess decision-making power. That is not an easy thing to find in other advertising media.

Bottom line: Do yourself a favor by investing some time in LinkedIn. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Concerns about Facebook privacy are in the news again. It seems that they have once again expanded the options for what parts of your Facebook account you want to expose and to whom you want them to be exposed. For most, having options is a good think but at issue is Facebook reverting to a default mode after each redesign that is optimized not for privacy rather for Facebook’s bottom line. The easy fix is for individuals to review these settings and set them to that which they are most comfortable OR take the approach that I spoke about recently on the “Lawyer On The Line” TV show and treat everything you post to Facebook like any other public venue where any conversation could easily be overheard by another party near by.

By the very nature of what Facebook does, privacy will continue to be a challenge. While many despise Facebook’s recent moves regarding privacy concerns, we all need to step back for a moment. We need to realize that Facebook is a business and part of their business model is taking the private information that we provide of our own free will and return behaviorally and contextually ads that are much more relevant than the banner ads served by other websites. In the end this is a win for BOTH advertiser and consumer.

I was fortunate enough to be involved in two social media gatherings this week. First was the Wichita American Marketing Association’s “Social Anxiety: Social Media Meets Corporate Policy” seminar which dealt with the impact that social media is having on corporate culture, corporate policy and corporate law. Second, was breakfast with the editor of the Wichita Business Journal, which brought together a group of local social media enthusiasts for discussion related to achieving business objectives with social media. Two sides of the social media coin explored in the span of three days – my head is still spinning.

While the topics varied significantly, there was a constant takeaway from each. Whether you are developing a policy for addressing the many issues of social media use in the workplace or trying to generate more sales through marketing via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, you need to begin by assessing your organization’s objectives.

For instance, a social media policy can be designed to promote responsible use of social media tools, restrict the use of these tools, or a bit of both. The policy should flow from the relationship social media has to your organization’s objectives. Is your objective to empower employees to build relationships with existing and potential customers? Or, is your organization trying to protect proprietary technologies? Each of these objectives can impact policy related to how social media is to be used.

From the marketing side, companies that want to measure the effectiveness of social media need to start with measurable objectives, not tactics. Before asking, “Do I need a fan page for my business?” you should ask, “What are my overall objectives and measurable indicators of success?”

If you have the objective of increasing revenue by 5%, a measurable indicator that could lead to this outcome may be the number of leads that you generate. The more leads you generate, the greater the opportunity to close more sales and reach the growth goal. With lead generation as a measurable indicator, you can develop a strategy that includes using social media as a source for new leads.

Bottom line: as in all business endeavors, success comes from a strategy built around core objectives.

Discussions on these topics are continuing online and at upcoming events like Free State Social. You can join in the conversation by connecting with the following people on Twitter, each of whom were involved with one or both of this week’s gatherings:

• @wichitabizjrnal
• @cox_jessica
• @dgrantkake
• @ryanecole
• @rentz1
• @louheldman
• @krisschindler
• @lathidesilva
• @foulstonsiefkin

It is understood that social media is changing the way that people communicate, both personally and professionally. From a business standpoint, it can be very difficult to determine the appropriate way to engage in social media for marketing purposes. I am always looking for research that goes beyond the raw data of users and reach to provide real insight. Studies like Prompt Communication’s survey of 300 Boston consumers on their uses of social media fits this bill.

Among the surveyed group, 96% said that they use Facebook regularly to keep in touch with friends. This trailed the telephone (99%) and beat out both texting (93%) and email (91%). Think about it. A social network has become a preferred form of communication between friends.

This certainly supports the trend of widespread social media adoption. But more importantly, it brings into focus the role social media is playing in consumer’s lives. Social networks are being used for very personal reasons.

As organization’s look to leverage social media as a marketing channel, it is important to keep in mind the very personal nature of sites like Facebook. People, by and large, are not there to be sold to or marketed to. They are there to connect with people.

Does that mean that Facebook is a bad place for brands? Not necessarily. Products, services and brands can be the shared interests that we as people connect through. People are connecting and organizing around shared interests in brands like Harley Davidson, TOMs Shoes and the television show Lost everyday.

The key to appropriately placing your marketing messages in this personal space is to be very relevant to the consumer. Vitaminwater used a Facebook fan page to give their customers a voice in product development. Their flavorcreator app enabled fans to help create a new flavor of the beverage, engaging their brand ambassadors in a fun way. Their wall area is not just a listing of posts about how great the drink is, but rather updates on events the brand is involved with—events that their target audience enjoys—like concerts and the ESPN X Games. It is less a forum of promotional broadcasts from the company, and more a shared space for their customers.

When you think about starting your organization’s Facebook fan page, make sure you consider your audience and think through how you can play a role in their online social lives, not just inundate them with sales messages. Be a facilitator of connections, not a barrier to connections.