1. Pepsi Chooses Social Media Over Super Bowl (Media Bullseyse) – If you’re only going to read one article about social media this week, make it this one. Just as the title suggests, Pepsi is redirecting its Super Bowl fund to a Super Social Media campaign. In other words, “It’s been decided that they would rather be talked about in a positive light by millions than have their ad seen by millions of people, even it is the Super Bowl”. Cool move, Pepsi Co.

2. Why Social Media is Still a Red-headed Stepchild (Web Worker Daily) – So true, it’s almost painful to read. Highlights reasons why there is so much resistance from PR and marketing departments regarding social media.

3. How to Say Stupid Things About Social Media (The Guardian) – “Why do people care what I ate for breakfast?”, is a common comment we’ll hear from Twitter skeptics. This article explains why…and they don’t care what you ate for breakfast, so there.

4. 91% of Companies Used Social Media in 2009 (Simply Zesty) – Nice analysis of stats released by the Center of Marketing Research at UMass.

5. 3 Helpful Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2010 (Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide) – Jeremy liked this one so much, he wrote a full analysis of it here, that is equally important to read.

6. Breaking Up in a Digital Fish Bowl (NY Times) – This one doesn’t have anything to do with social media and business, but it is a fascinating read about dating (and breaking up) in the age of Facebook. So happy I’m married. So happy.

This year blogs will redefine themselves for brands. They will be the fast-publishing and ‘voice of the brand’ option for many brands who now have experience in social media via Twitter and Facebook and have a new confidence in expressing themselves socially. It is likely that many brand web sites will merge with their blog. Rather than the awkward examples of this to date where the blog no longer looks or behaves like a blog (more like just another page within the Web 1.0 Web site), we will see Web sites that bear many of the attributes of blogs and Web 2.0 (spontaneous, shareable, subscribable, etc…).

Blogs are not passe. Quite the opposite. They will become a valuable “get more” destination that corporate Twitter handles and Facebook “walls” can point people to.

A few thoughts…

1. We’re seeing, and have been seeing, the need for brands to merge their “web site” with their blog. I say “web site” in quotes because, truthfully, your web site these days should basically be a blog. That is, it needs to have social media and blogging built in with the attributes listed above, “spontaneous, shareable, subscribable.” I would add to that list a clean design with a low user learning curve (standardized navigation, buttons, etc.) and an editorial calendar to keep regular content flowing, which is then supplemented by the spontaneous postings.

2. There is a myth out there that making your web site a little more Web 2.0 (meaning a blog and social media features as a back bone) means that your site will be ugly, basic, square, and text-based. While it certainly can be and that would be perfectly fine as long as the content and messaging are good, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, many company sites can be redone with a CMS (content management system) and blogging built in, yet still look basically the same. In other words, just because your site is blog doesn’t mean it has to be stripped down, basic, or ugly.

3. I agree with the assertion that blogs can be valuable as a “get more info” tool via Facebook and Twitter. There is no harm in promoting your brand, product, etc. via the popular social media channels and then saying, “for more info, visit this page on my site.” With that being said, there are some philosophical and theoretical questions to be asked in regard to driving traffic to your FB page for more info, or to your site for more info, but that’s another discussion altogether.

4. One important use for company blogs, which is not directly mentioned in the article, is that blogs provide a central place for your info, promotions, communications, etc. It’s truly where you own your message and brand. Granted, once that message is out there in the social media ball pit, you will lose a bit of control, but your blog is a safe harbor in a violent sea.

The company blog is also important as a central place for postings because those postings, via an RSS feed, can be sent out to Facebook, Twitter, et al. without you having to do a thing, thus saving a good amount of time. This is particularly important for many of the small businesses with whom we work, who do not usually have dedicated social media and/or PR teams.

Source: 3 Helpful Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2010

Dear Facebook,

You screwed us today. Please send us $1 million of your $1 billion to make up for it.

Best,

Lunabean Media

Since that’s not going to happen, let’s just learn from this mistake, shall we?

Today was the day we were supposed to launch Lunabean Media on Facebook. I know, I know, it’s pretty late in the game to be doing so, but we are masters of perfecting our clients’ web efforts while ignoring our own.

Anyhoo, I began the day by contacting my 300 friends to let them know about the new Lunabean Media page on Facebook. I used the handy “Suggest to Friends” feature to do just this. When ten minutes went by and nary a friend had fanned, I knew something was wrong. I hopped on over to my home page and…ARE YOU KIDDING ME FACEBOOK DECIDED TO REDESIGN THE HOME PAGE NOW!?!?!?

I went into panic mode. My invites had been lost in the overhaul…or some had been. Others were received, but the Facebook generated link to my page didn’t work. And the worst part about it? That was my one shot. All 300 of my friends are now locked out of an invite, because Facebook thinks I already invited them.

So, here I am, on the eve of my launch, with 16 Facebook fans. Time to crack a beer, watch last night’s DVRed “Grey’s”, and get on with my life. It looks like I’m just going to have to get my fans the old fashioned way…kick ass content that people will be excited to read. BooYA! So, to the 16 of you, get ready, because I’m about to blow your mind.

Oh, and to my clients, those of you who pay for my expertise, I have two tips for you today:

1. Don’t kick off a social media campaign the same day Facebook launches a redesign.
2. Don’t invite your entire list at once. Instead, break it up into groups of 20 or so. This way, if you fail, your entire list won’t be shot to hell.

Did I mention I got in a car accident today, too? Yeah, and, get this, it was MY FAULT. Not a good day. At all.

Top 10 Reasons to Use Facebook for Business

Here’s a sampling.

1. Meet your peers.Facebook is not just for college kids anymore. Members are typically older and more mature than on other sites, and there are more affluent and more educated white collar users.
2. Find business contacts.With more than 100 million active users, and predicted to be 500
   million by 2011, not only are your friends on Facebook, so are your
   prospects, your customers, your JV partners… and, of course, your
   competitors. You need to be on too. Related post: What’s Your Friending Policy?
3. Instant gate opener.Facebook members are open to connecting. You can easily begin a
   dialog with highly successful–even famous–people who were previously
   otherwise unreachable.

More…