Brad Kleinman from OMI shares Facebook Marketing tips with NIU Students

Brad Kleinman Director of Education from OMI (Online Marketing Institute/Online Marketing Connect) spoke to an overflowing room of over seventy students last night on the nuts and bolts Facebook marketing.

One of the things that I think is relevant to our class project in driving traffic to the Restaurant.com site is the concept that you can't 'set it and forget it' in Facebook (or any online marketing). In a three week project like this one, we need to check the progress of our campaigns every day. In terms of Facebook marketing, post and update frequently.

I also thought that Brad did a good job of articulating the benefits of a fan page versus a group in Facebook. In talking about the advantages of ability to customize, add in applications, have a vanity URL(if you have over 25 fans) and access Facebook Insights capability which will tell you page metrics, Brad really made the case for using the fan page.

Brad also talked about measuring both fan size and interactions and quality and quantity of posts to develop an intelligent understanding of how the fan page is benefiting your organization. Brad also suggested a variety of ways to keep your page fresh and update frequently. These suggestions included:

•Publish informative pieces of content such as interesting articles and videos

•Post and tag photos of customers, business associates, co-workers, and customers

•Upload and tag video clips of your organization in action or a program in session

•List an event for an open house or a social event for your prospects

•Write a note about upcoming programs or success of a recent event

•Ask a question through a poll or survey about how you can help

•Reward your fans with giveaways, sweepstakes, or coupons

•Keep your Facebook page up to date with RSS

There was a lot more in the talk so if you attended the event, check out the slides I just sent.

If you are just interested in learning more from Brad, contact him at: Brad@OnlineMarketingConnect.com

to posts from fans

Restaurant.com project in full swing at NIU

This semester in Marketing 470 we are doing something quite unique. The students are learning campaign management 'on the job' by acting as affiliates and driving traffic to the Restaurant.com (the company that sponsors my professorship) website. The students have picked two media channels, such as email, adwords, twitter, social media and blogs and have planned their campaigns and are now implementing. They will track the progress of their campaigns through landing pages and promotion codes that can be linked to their groups and get an idea of what it is like to run a campaign first hand.

This week I shared some of my project management tips with the class. Follow through, follow through, follow through is the main thing that my father always taught me and this principle really applies to project management. The students need to get information from personnel at R.com and are learning to follow up to make sure they meet their project goals. I emphasized that they need to complete the project in three weeks and although I put some 'slack time' in the schedule, another project management concept, they need to make sure they begin this week and then can measure the results of week one and make changes for week two, etc.

I also emphasized the importance of proofreading and checking the facts of every campaign. We had a guest speaker earlier in the semester that told us some 'war stories' about when things are not correct in marketing campaigns and the problems created by mistakes and how costly these mistakes can be. I encouraged each group to check their landing pages and make sure they look correct. Looks like the teams are up and running to a good start. Any other advice for our grads?

Okner Symposium highlights IM grad's success

I talked a few months ago about Will Johnson, who is an Internet Marketing Specialist at Uline, managing several major search campaigns. Dr Labrecque and I attended CADMEF's Okner Symposium at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater last Friday with our Internet and Marketing Technology classes and were delighted that Will was featured on the career panel for recent graduates.

Upon reflection, I think what distinguished Will in his job search was that he was focused and directed and that he explored all possibilities. Will did not just look online. He attended job fairs and networking events and contact targeted companies he thought would be a good fit.

Will delayed his graduation by a semester to take an internship at Zebra Technologies which led right to a job a Uline. Will knew that he wanted search as an initial career and at the end of his internship targeted companies that he thought would be a good fit. Will also remembered meeting Uline at a Meet the Firm night last year and, upon investigating further, saw there were some search jobs open. He was honest and said he had some experience at Zebra and then some experience from our Google Adwords Challenge last year but did not exaggerate. His focus, perseverance and integrity won out and Will is started on an excellent career. Not bad for someone who graduated two months ago. Congratulations, Will and stay in touch!