By Anne Carlantone

The other day, I was really stressed at work. That’s not unusual for anyone, but the source of the stress was much different than it would have been years ago. The source of the stress was not my boss, my client or even a reporter – it was a less-than-happy Facebook fan (or “liker,” as we say now) of one of my clients’ brand pages! I felt an urgent need to help set things right for this person, not only because it’s in my client’s best interest to do so, but because this person is very active on the page and, in a way, I feel like I know her.

As professional communicators, identifying our audience is half the battle. We spend a lot of time discussing our “targets” and analyzing who our clients’ consumers are. We spend time on focus group research, segmentation studies, etc., and those things are still important. But I don’t think anything has ever “connected” us on a personal level like social media has.

For instance – when a client’s product is placed in a magazine article, we know that a huge number of people are seeing it, but we can never really be sure what the reactions from the readers are. On the other hand, if it’s featured on a blog, there is generally a long list of personal comments to give us an idea on how the product is being received and a reaction to how it’s being presented. As we grow in the management of Facebook pages for our brands, I am constantly amazed at the valuable information we get from the people who “like” our brands…in a matter of minutes. None of this is scientific by any means, but it’s real-time, and well, “real!”

And in turn, as professionals, we feel even more accountable and invested in our clients’ products. If a product isn’t working out for someone, or if there is a problem with product availability in a particular market, they let us know, and we genuinely want to connect them with the information they need. We’re not just discussing our targets…we’re truly interacting with them.

By John Whitcomb

I recently was told by my doctor that I needed to make better lifestyle decisions or else I was putting my health at risk. I went home after this wake up call and did a search on Google for free online tools and came across this website called Sparkpeople.

Sparkpeople is a social network that is dedicated to bringing individuals together who want to make better lifestyle decisions regarding their nutrition and fitness. In many ways, it is very similar to Facebook or MySpace, but is one of millions of the smaller social networks that are designed for a specific purpose or demographic.

The point of Sparkpeople is to connect with others to help you lose weight, exercise more, or just make better lifestyle decisions. The network lets you set up a profile that other users can see and then you share your progress toward your individual goals. In addition, you can also join teams, such as SparkTeam NY or New Parents etc., that allow you to connect with people not only with the same general purpose but also who have a similar lifestyle to yours. The team also has its goals, which are achieved as a compilation of individual team members achieving their own goals.

The network also features trackers for both nutrition, fitness and body metrics This whole tracking method takes the traditional food or exercise journal to an interactive level and lets you quickly see and compare how you are doing and thereby, stay motivated. The basic idea of finding a buddy or a support group, or keeping track of your progress have always been great motivators. This technology just allows you to take it to the next level.

I don’t know if everyone’s noticed, but this week, instead of becoming a fan of something on Facebook, you now simply say that you “like” it to become part of the page community. It seems like a little bit of a puzzling, “tomato, tomahto” change, but I have to say that…I LIKE it!

Why? Because psychologically, the word “fan” implies a little too much adoration for my taste; a little too much zealotry, perhaps. It makes me feel like a screaming 10-year-old at a Justin Bieber concert. But simply liking something is much cooler. It implies all the approval without the emotional commitment.

The “like” option is a way to put in your two cents with a touch of the button. It’s instant validation and positive reinforcement for the “likee,” and it provides the feeling of being heard for the “liker.” When you click that little thumbs-up icon, you’re like a professional critic giving your approval…you’re like Chuck Norris…you’re like The Fonz! And the absence of a “dislike” button is a gentle reminder that if you don’t have something nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all.

And while I could be imagining it, I feel like our clients’ brand pages have experienced a little jump in numbers since people are “liking” them rather than “becoming fans.” I’m curious to know…are people liking more than they were fanning?

What do you think? Do you like it?

According to board member and social media guru Marc Andreessen, Facebook revenues will exceed $500 million this year, and “billions in the next few years”.   There are a few monetization tools that Facebook is using to generate these revenues: major brand sponsorships, self-service advertising, Facebook currency and application ad revenue.   Whether or not this justifies a $10 billion valuation remains to be seen, but the fact remains: Facebook is grabbing the attention of advertisers, worldwide.

So what does this mean for marketers and the PR world in general?  For one thing,  sites like Facebook and other social communities are making it much easier for advertisers to spend on smaller and smaller budgets (most with daily budgets as low as $5).  For example, Youtube video promotion has gotten simpler than ever.  This trend is creating a democratization of advertising, and allowing smaller companies and brands to enter organic communities to deliver targeted, specific messaging.

Second, and in my opinion, this is more important than point one (hence the bold and italics), Social actions can’t simply be purchased; they need to be a part of a larger communications strategy.  Purchasing social media advertising is not like buying AdWords, or driving site clicks with 90% bounce rates to your site in the hope of getting a few acquisitions in any other digital media, and it’s not the same as buying a CPM campaign by looking at ComScore sites and building banner ads.

Building your community requires patience, transparency and a commitment to talk to your audience.  It’s not as simple as purchasing media, but it can reap rewards.  If your site traffic is driven exclusively by clicks purchased in Google, how well does your product information, or any product affinity, stick?  If, however, you can create a space where people are discussing your brand, and associating it with a personality, message, content and purpose, your audience will be far more likely to take your message with them all the way to the cash register.  Please don’t take my word for it, listen to Procter & Gamble.

Effectively communicating in social media requires answering these questions:

• What do you hope to achieve?
• What is your message?
• Where is it going and why?
• What content is driving this message?
• How are you servicing  this content?

I    I’m looking forward to seeing the exponential growth of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites — and I’m looking forward to seeing creative brands capture this space.