In a recent discussion with ISA leaders regarding how to lessen the number of emails it sends members, the topic of Facebook fan pages came up.  The context of this discussion was focused on how ISA could be at least as effective at marketing its publications while reducing the number of emails it sends.  I was asked to explain specifically how a fan page compares with email marketing, and I came up with seven advantages:

1) “Opting In” vs. “Not Opting Out”
People must take an affirmative action to “become a fan,” which says a lot more than “I choose not to opt out.”  From a marketer’s perspective, these become your top shelf, number one, gold plated prospects.  And you treat them that way.

2)  Marketing Upside
When someone becomes a fan, all of their friends see it. This has tremendous marketing “up side.”  When someone doesn’t opt out of emails, nobody knows and there is zero additional up side.

3) Build a Community
Fans can interact with one another on the fan page, providing book reviews, answering questions, talking about their favorites, etc.  This is the very essence of Web 2.0.

4) Analytics
Facebook provides detailed statistics with regard to interactions that occur on fan pages.  This makes is very easy to quantify the value of the page over time.  Typical email marketing solutions provide counts of the number of times a message is read or a link is clicked.  However, Facebook has additional metrics that can measure interactivity and “buzz.”

5) Reach
Fan pages are open to everyone on Facebook (that’s 325 million users) – not just your email database.

6) Demographics
The fastest growing age demographic on Facebook is 35 to 45 year olds.  This is a critical demographic for many organizations.

7) Cost
Fan pages are FREE.  Enough said.

Let me know if I missed something.

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Injury Timeout

Sorry, no High Five this week as I have been down and out with the flu all week.  Should be back in the saddle this week, so tune back in.

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Weekly High Five lists the most interesting, compelling, and/or useful links of each week.

This week’s High Five is all about cyber security.  There are a couple of stories about protecting yourself, and two very important stories about protecting critical infrastructure.

#5: EU Wants Consent for Every Web Cookie

This is a story about the nanny state run amok.  Cookies are little chunks of text that web sites leave on your computer so that they can remember who you are when you return to their site, and store some information about your preferences and habits while on their site.  Limiting their use will lead to a greatly reduced user experience, not mention tremendous expense to all web site providers who will need to rework their architecture.

Link: TechRadar.com

#4:Stop Paying for Windows Security; Microsoft’s Security Tools Are Good Enough

Lifehacker makes the case the the free suite of security tools from Microsoft have reached the point where they are at least as good as the paid versions like Norton Antivirus.  The reality is understanding how to avoid scams and dangerous web sites is at least as important security software.

Link: Lifehacker

#3: Banned Xbox 360s Flooding Craigslist, Ebay

If you’re looking for used bargains this Christmas season, be particularly wary of purchasing used Xbox 360 consoles.  Microsoft recently began “actively banning consoles from Xbox LIVE that have been modified to play pirated games.”  These castrated units are now finding their way to the classified ads.

Link: PC World

#2: Cyber War: Sabotaging the System

60 Minutes broadcast an important story about vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure and the threats posed by hackers and nation states.  While parts of the story are a bit sensationalized (I know, shocking) if not downright misleading.  However, we still need an awakening with regard to cyber security and the crucial role every user plays in keeping our systems safe.

Link: CBS News

#1: Control system cyber events, 60 Minutes, disclosure, and FUD

The previously mentioned 60 Minutes story touched off a firestorm of discussion on a cyber security mailing list I subscribe to.  This article is a response by Joe Weiss, who is one of the world’s foremost experts in cyber security of process control systems and has even testified before Congress.

Link: ControlGlobal

Feel free to provide your thoughts and/or contributions…

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LinkedIn is now offering the ability to link its status updates to Twitter.  In typical LinkedIn style, it is opt-in and the default setting in only to display Tweets that contain a “#in” has tag.  This is a good thing for a couple of reasons.  First, a big reason why LinkedIn enjoys the success that it does is due to the great job they’ve done at filtering out the noise and keeping the site’s content largely professional in nature.  The second reason is that they are doing it for the right reason (i.e. offering convenience to their users) and not the wrong reason (i.e. trying to be something they’re not).

How It Works

You will notice a new check box and Twitter icon underneath the Network Updates box on your LinkedIn page now.  When you click on this box, LinkedIn will connect to your Twitter account and allow you to specify how you want to use the feature.

Options for connecting LinkedIn with Twitter (click for full size image)

From this screen, you can choose whether to display your Twitter profile to everyone or just your connections.  The second option determines which of your Tweets are shown in LinkedIn.  Conveniently, they’ve built in an option that allows you to filter out all updates except those deliberately intended to be shown on LinkedIn.  If this option is selected, only updates containing #in will be displayed.  This is important for keeping LinkedIn clean, but is offering people like me a long-awaited option to make status updates a little more convenient.

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Weekly High Five lists the most interesting, compelling, and/or useful links of each week.

This week’s High Five is all about technology as a the unstoppable force in shaping market trends.  The markets include computers, communication, entertainment, publication, and social networking.

#5: Windows 7 sales exceed Vista sales by 234%

Windows Vista is a Microsoft product failure arguably only eclipsed by Windows Me.  The cleansing process has begun with the release of Windows 7, a clear improvement.  I successfully upgraded a laptop this week and the process was smooth and error-free.

Link: The Windows Blog

#4: Skype, Founders Settlement in the Works

Skype is a fantastic VOIP (voice over IP) service that was purchased by eBay.  The complicated case centered around eBay’s plan to spin off Skype and threatened the service itself.  As of the this writing, it is widely being reported that the settlement has been reached and we Skype fans can breath much easier.

Link: GigaOm

#3: Creative’s next big thing is a Zii MediaBook

As someone who is an avid reader and intrigued by e-readers but put off by their price, competition is a great thing.  Amazon’s Kindle is under attack from Barnes & Noble and now Creative.

Let the content wars begin!

Link: EpiZENter

#2: Best Buy Prepares for the Post-DVD Era

This is a company that just “gets it.” They are not afraid of change. In fact, it seems to me they are addicted to it.

Link: The New York Times

#1: The chat room/forum problem (& an apology to @Technosailor)

Robert Scoble is one of the pioneers of blogging as a corporate communication platform and is as about as authoritative as you can get in that area.  This article is a very interesting retelling of the history of forums and chat rooms, with lessons learned and how they apply to the current landscape of social networks.  One of the most interesting aspects of this article is watching how his own opinions about services like Twitter and FriendFeed have changed and why he thinks Twitter will not devolve the way chat rooms and forums did.

Link: Scobleizer

Feel free to provide your thoughts and/or contributions…

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