This awesome mashup YouTube video, Don Draper Presents Facebook Timeline (which, for the record, was originally posted to Viddler.com and ported over to YouTube – our embedded version is the Viddler video) has gone viral with over 79K views and counting (it will be higher by the time you check it out!).

Produced and conceived by a Eric Leist from Boston marketing Agency A&G – the video pokes fun at the sentimentality of the new Facebook Timeline and the Mad Men series!!

What do you think?  Think AMC is right to let it go?  Did you enjoy the video? Oh, and yeah…what do YOU think of the new Facebook Timeline?

I did this.

And I believe it will make me more like Seth Godin!

**(tongue firmly in cheek )**

First I thought I’d try to find Seth’s barber.  Then I realized I probably wouldn’t be able to afford him anyway…you know, that really polished look that Seth has.  That HAS to cost good money!

So I introduced my scalp to Mr. Gillette, and now…look!  Voila!  I’m so much more like Seth Godin.

DON’T tell me you don’t know who Seth Godin is…

Purple Cow…  All Marketers Tell Stories (are liars!)…  Poke the Box…  Domino Project…

If you haven’t acquainted yourself with Seth’s work, you must do that now. (see – I’m even starting to sound like him!)

Small business, large business, restaurants, discotheques (I don’t know why that came to mind), you-name-it…you’re all going to benefit from the ideas that Seth Godin has been spreading for years.

Mr. Godin is SO good at what he does, that there are many in the marketing world that attempt to emulate him!  They try to copy his style of writing headlines, his sort of clippy way of talking, his smart looks and even smarter intellect.  And…yes…now…even his hairstyle!

John circa 1977

If you want to be more like Seth Godin, I whole-heartedly recommend the haircut route.  It’s easy, and fun!  Just think of all the conversations you’ll start (especially if you’d had a full head of hair just the day before!).  I did it…(although I haven’t had a full head of hair since I was 19) and…

It’s made me more like Seth Godin!

OK!

Facebook finally made some changes that are GREAT for your small business!

The major change made this morning is the Top News / Recent News display in the Newsfeed.

NOW, when a user logs on and displays the newsfeed, a combination of Top/Recent news displays on the page.

The top five or so posts will be gathered from accounts which Facebook (through various algorithms) decides are “Top” stories for you. A small blue triangle appears in the upper left corner of these posts.

The remainder of the news feed displays all “Recent” posts!

This is great for your small business fan page, which sometimes just doesn’t make it into users Top News.

Now businesses can optimize posting to fan pages based on time, day of week, etc., and be sure that they are getting into to news feeds of their fans!

Great news for fan page administrators – and your business!

So get to work!

What in the world does Social Media have in common with Sailing?

Plenty – plenty I tell ya!

After racing a sailboat for the past 6 years, I’ve found that you do not get better unless you set goals!

For sure – you can’t have any measurable success with Social Media unless you set goals!

The two keys to winning a sailboat race are good strategy and tactics – ever changing to meet the instant conditions on the race course!

Gosh – it’s the same with Social Media!

Setting measurable goals, then implementing the proper strategy and tactics will get you to the finish line first – in Sailing, and in implementing a great Social Media marketing plan. 

(Oh…by the way…that’s me in the white sailboat heading for the windward mark first!)

Everyone loves a good story…I’m no exception!

It was three years ago, the family and I spending our Christmas/New Years holiday with family in New Hampshire.

And you know how when you’re staying somewhere other than home, sometimes you just don’t know how to fill all the time up?  Well it was one of those times, probably the day before New Years Eve – not much going on.

So I was futtzing around with my laptop, wondering what all the hoopla was about this new Facebook website…not that it was all that new (it was to me!)…and not that it was a website either (it turned out to be something more!).  I swore I wouldn’t let my children on at first – and once they were on (ha!  lost that one!)…I decided I would never sign up myself – I was just too old.

…so after I set up my profile, I wondered if my own children would friend me!  They did (more than likely under threat, although I don’t recall any specific threat), and that’s when all the fun started!

No, I really don’t believe I’m a narcissist,  as many who don’t understand social media would call people like me.  But I really did (and still do) believe that I had some things going on in my life that I thought others would be interested in, and perhaps even “like”.

And they did!

And sometimes they shared those things with people I’d never met in my life…and sometimes those people shared these things with their friends.  There are times, even to this day, that I get comments on my posts by complete strangers. Some of them have become my “friends” !   Some of these new friends have enriched our lives,  just by sharing things they feel are important.

IMAGINE WHAT THIS CAN DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS!

Complete strangers commenting on your shared content!  Leads generated by the sheer genius of your bloggers!  Direct conversations and engagement with your customers…

This is marketing today…this is how to build a better customer/client/fan base…this is what I do.