$3,000,000 for 30 Seconds

Wanna buy a Superbowl ad?

* Word of warning - just because you have funny or memorable commercial idea does not always mean you will be successful because of it.

Millions of people will see your brand and many may remember your commercial, but not all of them want to buy a dog toy.

Here's one alternative. Here's another idea. And you should probably watch and think about this.

The world of ads is changing and not just because of a bad economy.

Art, Marketing, and Social Media

Twin Cities-based artist Phil Hansen isn't a household name yet, but don't be surprised if that soon changes. Without the big bucks in his pocket to hire fancy public relations firms or high-priced talent agents, Phil's decided to spread his own word through the use of social media.

His online influence has increased significantly since he began posting videos of his projects on Youtube and Facebook. Phil's latest series, which he's titled Art Happening, strives to be as topical and culturally relevant as possible in order to appeal to a wide range of demographics without diluting the work's fundamental essence.

It seems to be working. The Art Happening series has attracted the attention of CNN, Dr. Phil, and thousands of eager viewers and art lovers throughout the vast online community.

We spoke with Phil about his DIY approach to marketing his unique artwork, as well as the challenges, benefits, and drawbacks that come with putting your own creative vision out into the world for all to see...

Get the Most Amount of Exposure for Your Brand with the Least Amount of Money

Today's post is from our friend Jacob Morgan.

Jacob Morgan is a social media consultant and runs a team of Technical SEOs. Jacob has founded a start-up in the social media space and has worked with brands such as Adobe, Conde Nast, Sandisk and Salesforce on creating search strategies. He is an avid and passionate blogger on all things social media and marketing related. He also loves meeting and building relationships with people so say hello and let him know if he can help you. You can connect with Jacob on: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Exposure is something that every business wants. If you’re Intel or the mom and pop shop on the corner you want exposure. The difference between these two examples is that Intel can play around with a lot more money…a lot! However, if you’re a small business you can still get a lot of exposure (or if you’re a mid/large business) without spending thousands of dollars. I will preface this by saying, it does take time and effort, but it can be done. This is a high level post of three core principles that you need to follow to get the job done. Here is what you need to do:

Exist

Simple right? You have to make sure that you exist online. At the very least you need to make sure that you are showing up in search results for your brand/company name. If you need a few quick tips to do this then read my quick and easy SEO tips for creating a:

• Title tag
• Meta description
• URL structure

These 3 simple things should get you to rank for your brand/company name (provided it’s unique, and yes there is a lot more you can do for SEO). The whole point behind existing is to create a “hub” for your company, a main central site a.k.a your website.

Spread

Now that you have a central site where people can come to find information about your product and services it’s time to expand out across the social web. This means joining sites like twitter, delicious, facebook, linkedin etc. This means creating a blog (if it’s relevant) where you can post information and build trust/authority in your niche. Don’t just go out there and join every and any social network you can find. Make sure you search those networks for relevancy. Use tools such as twitter search or google alerts to identify possible communities that may exist (or perhaps people that you can just reach out to).

You also have to remember to take the same trust and authority that you are trying to build on your main site and apply it to your “spreading” sites. This means providing quality valuable content across all of your channels, no spam, no junk, and no B.S.

Here are a few ideas to help you spread:

• Offer to write guest posts for other people (blogger outreach)
• Find people on linkedin that might be able to help spread the word (PR, journalists, etc.)
• Attend offline events that are relevant to your industry
• Encourage your users to help spread the word for you
• Make your content easily shareable (do you have links on your homepage to your social media profiles?)

Aggregate

Now that you exist and you have spread across the web it’s time to bring everything together to home base. The key for all of your social media efforts isn’t to get more friends on facebook or followers on twitter, the key is to get yourself exposure. This means sharing yourself across your social media channels and driving all of that traffic and community to your site.

Here are a few ideas to aggregate:

• Cross-link your social media profiles and site. This means put a link to your website in your twitter profile, put a link to your twitter profile on your facebook page, create an email signature with your links
• If you write a blog post then tweet about it and put it up on facebook (etc.) get the word out
• Once people visit your site you should provide an easy way for them to become repeat visitors. Offer an RSS subscription service and an email subscription service.
• Create a newsletter that will offer users unique content that only you offer
• If your community grows create your own ning site (free)
• Give your users the opportunity to guest post on your site
• Hold promotions or contests on your site (that you let people know about through your other social media sites).

This is obviously a large topic with a lot of room for expansion and discussion, but do what you can to follow these three principles and you should notice a strong increase in your site exposure. Have any other tips you want to share? Was this valuable to you?

Thanks for reading!

10 Rules for Blogger Etiquette

Most of us read blogs (you are reading one right now!), but do we know proper etiquette as a reader? Here is a list of suggestions for proper behavior when reading and interacting with a blog.

1.) If its your first time commenting, introduce yourself. Bloggers love to meet their readers and develop relationships with them. Let the blogger know where you found their blog and a little about who you are (but don't over promote yourself).

2.) Do not (immediately) self promote. Don't do it. Nothing will tick off a blogger quicker than if you enter their blog space, give nothing back to the conversation, and then plaster the comments with an unwelcome ad touting your work. Add value to the conversation, build a relationship, and work to naturally earn the attention you are seeking.

3.) If you read often or found the topic helpful, leave a comment. Blogging consistently about relevant topics can be hard (we post on Daily Axioms at least once a day), and leaving a comment is where writers can find the energy to keep working hard.

4.) Put quality into your comment. While its nice to leave a "great post!" remark for a blogger, its even more helpful put some time and thought into your comment. Leaving additional links and resources that add to the conversation will show the blogger that you read their post, understood what they were talking about, and want to be in the dialogue of the conversation.

4.) Read the other comments before leaving your own. You wouldn't come into a room and jump into the conversation without listening for a little bit first. Your idea or comment might have already been said, so make sure to get the full picture of where the conversation is at before sticking your foot in your mouth.

5.) If you found the topic helpful, click an ad. I got this idea from Seth Godin, and it has really changed my thinking about online ads. Clicking the ad is an easy way to throw a coin in the tip jar and say thank you to a blogger. Its free for you, only takes half a second, and rewards good content when you find it.

6.) Share the blog or post in other places. Another way to show the blogger love is to Tweet a link to their post, bookmark it on Digg, or send it to a friend on Facebook who would find it helpful. Bloggers will see this as an act that builds relationship and trust.

7.) If you are leaning towards commenting anonymously, think twice about what you are writing. A lot of people think that if they post a comment anonymously, they can write whatever they want. I have read a lot of horrible personal attacks and unfounded remarks made by anonymous commenters. Its okay to disagree, but do it in a constructive and respectful way.

8.) Do not mass email/pitch bloggers. This should not be done with newspapers or television either, and bloggers will delete your email just as fast. Figure out who the author is, read their blogs posts, and then if you still think your product or service would interest them, find the most appropriate way to let them know about it. Pitching yourself on their most recent post probably isn't the best way.

9.) Point out spelling errors, but do so discreetly. No one is perfect and when a grammar mistake, spelling blunder, or broken link slips through the cracks, bloggers want to fix the error as soon as they can. Help them out by kindly letting them know. Once again, a better option than a comment is to Tweet, email or Facebook them through a DM or private message.

10.) Stop lurking and join in! Become part of the conversation (notice the reoccurring theme yet?) and let the blogger know you are out there. Bloggers are not unlike you and can be very approachable especially if you just apply the Golden Rule. Who knows what mutual benefit could be formed if you actually got to know them?

I know you all have other suggestions. What are some of your rules for reading blogs?

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