The Pages that truly win the hearts and minds of fans are those that actively get initial attention and hold it there. They do this by having interactive content that is relevant AND they engage in conversation with the fans. Think about the reasons you seek a Page out on your own.

Perhaps you:

• Truly are in “Like” with the company
• May have been invited by a friend
• May seek out the Page to take advantage of an offer or discount (especially at holiday time!)
• May have seen it pop up in your stream due to a friend’s involvement

So you rack up another page for your Info tab collection on your personal profile that will perhaps gather dust, unless it is a Page that courts you and entices you to become engaged. Here are a few National Brand Pages that go the extra mile to provide great content and engagement:

Dunkin Donuts:
The landing page for a non-fan is the Promotions Tab and looks like this:

The top box is a link to a music mix created by Dunkin Donut Fans and the second box highlights a recent contest winner as well as showcases an upcoming new donut flavor. The Wall shows incredibly well-engaged fans who submit content and a wonderful use of the company logo space to highlight the fan of the week. This page has 1.8 million people who Like Dunkin Donuts. Custom tabs include: Dunkin Perks, Coolatta, Maurice, News/Promos.

Sharpie:

A brand ubiquitously known for its original black permanent marker, Sharpie went on to flourish in a rainbow of colors and inspire creativity around the world. The landing page for the non-fan is the Coupon Tab with the latest offer: “Celebrate your right to highlight by saving $1.”

The Page has over 1.1 million Fans and posts great content including contest info and links to the official Sharpie Blog. The logo image is bright and colorful and the left side of the Page includes albums filled with colorful creations submitted by fans. Custom tabs include Sharpie (promotion), Coupon, Sharpie Squad, My Sharpie, Go Green.

I had fun creating my own customized Sharpie pens on the linked page that I can order on-line.

Here are some Cincinnati Facebook Pages that have a lot of engagement, creativity and customization going on:

Girlfriendology, run by Cincinnatian Debba Haupert.

MommySnacks.net, run by Cincinnatian Andrea Deckert

What’s your favorite Facebook Page?

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin~ 2010 All Rights Reserved

Steering Committee Announcement

Image Via AP Photos

My former company, Cincinnati based Procter & Gamble, has taken social media to new heights with their Old Spice Guy campaign. They have an eye-catching interactive web-site that highlights some creatively unique commercials as they move to re-brand a revered 70+ year old product. One set of ads features the Old Spice Guy, shirtless, wrapped in a towel and standing just outside of the shower area of a bathroom delivering personalized messages from fans and followers of the Old Spice Facebook Page, Twitter Account and Old Spice Blog.

Here is the latest commercial to go viral in which Old Spice Guy proposes on behalf of a fan to his girl friend who apparently later said “yes!” Read more about this event via Mashable and see the fan’s original tweet here.

The Old Spice Website landing page does a great job to capture the reader’s attention and keep them hooked with some on-line interaction and various calls to action. They have separate tabs and main page sections for the following:

• Products
• Videos
• Racing
• Downloads
• Where to Buy
• Blog
• Swag
• Clear calls to action to follow on Twitter and Like on Facebook Watch on YouTube
• Contest to win Nascar Racer Tony Stewart’s Towel

The ability to have the Brand Voice (Old Spice Guy) interact directly with customers via personalized messages gleaned from social media sites is brilliant and leads to an increase in viral sharing on those same sites.

The message is clear that Old Spice is NOT your grandfather’s brand anymore. Would love to know your thoughts.

SummitUp was the latest Social Media Conference in the Southern Ohio area. It followed closely on the heels of the Cincinnati Digital Hub non-Conference on 9/24-9/25. SummitUp was an absolutely stunning event! The line-up of Key-note speakers and break-out session presenters included some big names in the media world as well as some of the reigning local twitterati. Take a look at the Key-Note line-up:

Kevin Dugan
Director of Marketing at Empower MediaMarketing, Founder of Cincinnati Social Media
Topic: “What’s Your Story? Storytelling’s Link to Social Media Marketing Success

Artie Issac
Public Speaker | SpeakerSite co-founder | Young Isaac co-founder | marketer, teacher, speaker, writer
Topic: “Social Media as a Vehicle for Cretivity”

Bob Garfield
Columnist, Critic, Essayist, Pundit, International Lecturer & Broadcast Personality
Topic: “No, Tuesday’s No Good. Let Me Get Back to You After the Apocalypse”

Lewis Howes
Author of the LinkedIn Book “LinkedWorking” | Founder of Sports Executives Association | Sports Social Media Consultant
Topic: LinkedIn

Chris Brogan
President, New Marketing Labs- a Social Marketing Agency
Topic: The Importance of Trust in the Digital Age

Check out the complete list of Breakout Session Presenters and their topics here.

The speakers were engaging and offered up some great tips and new strategies. I especially liked Brian LeCount’s break-out session on the power of Blogs and SEO. He made such a good case for making Blogs a central part of your strategy, that after seeing the data, it became a moment of “why hadn’t I thought of this before???” Another practical application “aha” was Lewis Howes’ emphasis on increasing search with your LinkedIn profile. I happened to make all of the recommended changes as he presented them live and saw my profile move up in the search rankings for my “key words” right in front of my eyes!

Kevin Dugan kept the images of cave animals dancing in my head for days, while Artie Isaac inspired me to ‘un-plug and to breathe deeply’. Love his advice to take 30 minutes out of every day to think & create. Bob Garfield captured my attention with his focus on the changing tides of traditional media and gave frank answers to the audience question of the future of careers in radio and other media.

Lewis Howes (two sport collegiate All American) kept me fascinated with his re-enactment of his award-winning pole-vault jump. I literally pictured him flying over the bar and landing safely onto the mat! Beautiful segue into Success with LinkedIn, giving tips that are not widely known. Chris Brogan, as the finale, was a wonderful close to the day. He is so down-to-earth and one of the most authentically transparent “gurus” out there. Loved everything that he had to say about social media, especially the admonition that as companies, we need to “grow bigger ears” to be in tune with what our customers are saying. It is the customers who are controlling the brand message.

Biggest personal take away for me was hearing Chris Brogan emphasize the importance of giving back and rallying groups of people together to affect change. I believe this whole-heartedly! Social media is about creating conversations and building relationships based on trust. Imagine the difference you can make when operating in an authentic and transparent manner. Chris detailed his idea of donating the cost of 2 lattes to help send a young woman in need to college. The message went viral and the money was raised in 22 minutes!  I have the greatest respect for Chris’s work and the difference that he is making in the world.

Chris signing a copy of his new book "Trust Agents"