As an Internet and social media marketer, I have noticed that many new and prospective clients tend to fall into one of two camps. The first camp belongs to those who perceive social media marketing as an unknown land filled with reputation sinking quick sand, customer eating alligators, and perhaps even a few secret stealing boogeymen. The second camp is filled with the entrepreneurs who see social media marketing as the land of opportunity, filled with pots of gold, word of mouth fairies, and magical calculators that take all of the guess work out of marketing. My objective for each new client is to guide them to a much more comfortable spot, set up somewhere midway between these two polar opposite points of view.

Social Media marketing is not out to get you, nor is it there for the sole purpose of helping you sell more widgets. My advice to my clients (and anyone else who cares for my unsolicited opinion) is, in order to understand the pitfalls and benefits of social media, you should try to get comfortable with it from end user approach. I am happy to create effective social media marketing plans for clients but I am even happier when my clients take a personal interest in their online presence. So why not author a personal blog? Write about your hobbies or your alternate ego who happens to be a comedic genius. While you are at it, visit other blogs and make sure to leave comments. Set up a Twitter account, join LinkedIn. How many friends do you think you catch up with on Facebook?

Much like pretty much everything in life, utilizing and enjoying social media is one of the best ways to get comfortable with it and stay on top of current trends and issues.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been on a Burger King kick with my blog entries. I have decided to keep the theme going for just one more week. I promise, after this one, I will stop for a while!

Before I give the whole Burger King thing a rest, I want to point your attention to a couple of funky Burger King collaborations. These campaigns are not incredibly new and I know it seems like I am discussing at least one of these about a year too late but, I think it is fun to revisit these sites. Also, I think that, in doing so, we are acknowledging the fact that a well thought out, effective viral marketing campaign does not die. It is not like a print ad that will likely lose its value potential when the issue is tossed away.

The first is micro site is a Burger King / the Simpsons collaboration that was created a while ago to help promote the Simpsons movie that came out in 2007. Again, I know it seems like I am writing about old news here (and I am) but people are still discovering and visiting this site, talking about it, and “Simpsonizing” themselves long after the movie left the box office and came out on DVD. This site is attention grabbing, easy to navigate, and a little addictive. Once you do become bored of Simpsonizing yourself, your significant other, your bff, or whoever, you can choose to purchase some personalized Simpsons gear or send your image off to a friend.

The second very cool BK collaboration is with Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy. Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, featured by Burger King, is a series of shorts that, after watching, you can then dub over the cartoon, feature it on YouTube and watch and vote on other people’s creations. The creator of video with the most votes wins the coveted prize of buying Set MacFarlane a whopper.

Both of these sites are entertaining, a little addictive and, like most effective social marketing plans, have taken on a life of their own, thanks to the hard work of a loyal and growing fan base.

Last week I touched on the fact the Burger King has fully embraced the concept of online and social media marketing Today, I would like to discuss a couple of their online campaigns in more depth: the Subservient Chicken and Meat Haiku.

The BK Subservient Chicken campaign, a huge hit with the masses, is a completely online and user driven campaign. In my opinion, this campaign was a brilliant idea. It hit the BK target market perfectly, attracting all the right people in all the right demographics. The Subservient Chicken is still around, btw, so even though it might be old news now, I am finally getting around to sending the link to my little brother, who will likely get a kick out of asking the chicken to smell its own armpits.

With the success and subsequent waning interest in the Subservient Chicken, Burger King has introduced a few more social marketing campaigns, including its most recent, Meat Haiku.

I am sure that the marketing exec’s at BK are hoping that Meat Haiku will bring in the same amount success and popularity as did the Subservient Chicken but I am not convinced that that is going to happen.

My pessimism stems first from the fact that BK’s prime target market is young and male; In other words, my above mentioned brother. While I can see my brother spending some extraordinary amount of time ordering around a hapless chicken man, I cannot see my brother staying interested in poetry, even humorous, ridiculous poetry, for that long. Another concern is that it lacks the instant gratification of the Subservient Chicken. Ask the chicken to hop on one foot and he immediately does so. Ask him to act like he is on fire and he will start rolling around on the ground, flapping his wings as soon as you click “enter” . With Meat Haiku, however, you have to submit your poem, enter some personal info, and then wait for your haiku to be approved – or not. I am not sure my poem was approved. I might go back and check to see but then again, I might not.

Now let’s discuss a couple of things Meat Haiku does right. To begin with, it actually explains what a haiku is and how to write one. Also, there is a purpose for creating an ode to BK in the form of a Haiku; there is a contest option that gives you the chance to win a BK gift card. The site offers you the opportunity to email a friend info about the page and offer them the chance view your poem and to win a BK gift card. And finally, there are not a lot of visual distractions on the site or buttons that might confuse the purpose of the site. Basically, you write your poem, you wait for it to be approved, you enter a contest, you tell a friend, and you view other poems. After all that is done, you may visit the main Burger King website or, more likely, you have made yourself so hungry by conjuring up images of big juicy burgers whilst creating your poems, you will jump in the car and head to your nearest Burger King.

Whether or not Meat Haiku reaches the same level of popularity as Subservient Chicken, there is no doubt in my mind that Burger King is charging full steam into the social media landscape, and in doing so, establishing as a leader in this platform.

Many companies are successfully introducing social media marketing into their overall campaign strategies. And why wouldn’t they? There is a ton of research and statistics out there that continually reinforce the same findings: online marketing helps drive offline campaigns. Finally, even within industries that you would not necessarily expect to find championing the way of social media, companies are discovering the merits (and profits) of initiating a strong online presence.

Although there are many companies within a diverse range of industries integrating online and social marketing into their traditional strategies, it is still not very common to find (please keep in mind that I did not say impossible to find, so no hate mail, please) many companies that are skipping the traditional marketing methods altogether.

Burger King is an obvious exception to the above statement. Burger King has presented a few completely user driven social media campaigns; that is, campaigns that do not utilize offline promotions. Subservient Chicken being most famous among these campaigns. There is also Pet Moustache , which is pretty cute, and CoqRoq (I think their site is no longer but check out their myspace page). Most recently, they have also launched Meat Haiku.

Burger King has received a lot of flak for these completely user driven campaigns, for both trying too hard (to fit in) and not trying hard enough (to capitalize on the success of some of their campaigns). Regardless of these criticisms, it is obvious that Burger King is embracing social media as a viable marketing tool. They are rushing headfirst into this relatively new marketing avenue and, as can only be expected, are making a few mistakes along the way. After all, it is not like they have a plethora of predecessors that they may utilize as models. It is my opinion that, while most of the criticisms towards the campaigns are warranted, Burger King is quickly becoming perceived as a leading company to watch in the world of social media marketing, and for good reason.

Next week, my post will be Subservient Chicken vs. Meat Haiku.

Many SEO Experts agree that Google Analytics is one of the most useful free tools available in our industry. It is free, easy to install and easy to use. There is so much information that, if installed and interpreted correctly, it would be near impossible not to improve several aspects of a website under evaluation.

It is not, however, always easy to interpret Google Analytics data. This is especially true for the average small business/website owner. Let’s consider the page views section.

Many people look towards the page views section of Analytics to gauge viewer engagement. It is commonly thought that, the higher the page views, the more actively engaged the viewers are with the site and the more likely the viewers are to contact/purchase/return. While this may be true for some sites, it is not necessarily true for all sites.

So, if a high page rank is not indicative of a higher level of user engagement, what exactly is it telling us? Well, a high page rank could be an indication that your website is not well laid out. This is especially true for ecommerce sites. In all likelihood, viewers are having a difficult time finding exactly what they are looking for and, as a result, are having to delve more deeply into your site than they would prefer.

A better indication of user engagement would be to 1. Take a look at bounce rates and 2. Implement well designed goal funnels then track your abandonment rates. If either of these two numbers is higher than you are comfortable with, it is time to decide how to alter your site so that you are achieving the right engagement / higher conversions.

Baby Boomers are among the fastest growing online population. If this particular demographic happens to fall into your target market and you are not yet pursuing them online, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Of course, if you are ignoring online marketing and engagement opportunities for the baby boomer demographic, you are not alone; too many companies letting the 50+ market slip through their fingers.

I believe that the main reason industries across the board are putting their foray into the online world on hold is that there are just too many perceived unknowns. There are so many questions surrounding the Baby Boomer generation in general, and their online activities in particular, that companies are afraid of screwing up and wasting their marketing dollars or irritating their favourite customer base.

The first step to an effective marketing strategy is realising that the 50 + market is definitely online. Much research and many statistics will back up this statement. This includes a presence on video and social media sites. In fact, there are even social media sites that cater solely to Baby Boomers.

Once you understand that Baby Boomers are pretty much everywhere online, you must then overcome some common misconceptions and stereotypes that are attached to the 50 + market. Click on the link below foe a very interesting video that touches upon the top 10 common misconceptions about the Baby Boomer generation.

Top Ten Baby Boomer Myths

Once you acknowledge your 50+ market’s online presence and online needs, you may then begin strategizing with your preferred Search Engine Marketing Company to invent a solid and profitable plan to capture and engage this customer base.