Big news, everybody! The Super Bowl is this Sunday! Grab your caps and get ready to watch those dudes get that ball to those big yellow forks, while those guys in jail costumes blow their whistles and do sporadic robot dance moves!

Yeah, ok. So I’m not a huge sports gal. I’d like to be. Honestly. There’s something so effortlessly cool about that girl who knows all the sports lingo, drinks beers, somehow pulls off those hideously baggy jerseys, and knows Tom Brady as something other than Gisele Bundchen’s hottie hubbie.

But that’s not me so let’s move forward.

To me, the Super Bowl is a great excuse for me to meet up with friends, eat an excess of dips and wings, and (fingers crossed!) see an unforgettably awful and/or scandalous half-time show. But the real draw is, of course, the ads.

Oh, the ads.

The  biggest advertising event of the year is undeniably the Super Bowl. It’s enough to make us marketers drool. Those huge budgets thrown to the few seconds of air time is astonishing. Of course, at this cost, the pressure to deliver an ad that is remembered by millions the next day at their water coolers makes for great ads.

Who could forget the famous Budweiser frogs? Old Spice’s “Man Your Man Could Smell Like?” The eTrade baby?

They’re classics. But more impressive, they made that impression in mere fractions of the time that  beloved movies or television series had.

This year, word on the playground is that a number of the ads will be more nostalgic in nature. Specifically, car companies, Honda, Volkswagen, and Acura will be utilizing “old pop culture” icons like Ferris Bueller, Star Wars, and Seinfeld in their commercials.

Of course, there will be the overtly sexual ads (because who didn’t love those super awkward moments watching the Super Bowl with your family as a kid.) As usual, Go Daddy is set to play one such ad. H&M is reportedly also putting a provocative commercial out, starring David Beckham in his undies.

But, hey, who’s really going to complain about that?

Recently, Clan Milk has made news by announcing that on January 26th, founder, Sam “Milkfat” Braithwaite, will be attempting to set the Guinness World Record for longest marathon stream of all time. Playing Heroes of Newarth, Milkfat seeks to break the current record of 52 consecutive hours by a full day. In other words, he will attempt a full 76 hours of playing time.

(Yes, you read that right.)

Although many might say such a feat is impossible, or at the very least, insane, Milkfat is taking on this endeavor for a worthy cause. After graduating high school, Milfkat spent four months in Kenya with his father, volunteering in a program similar to Doctors Without Borders. Accordingly, the proceeds of this lofty challenge will be donated to the charity. Clan Milk wishes to impress upon the public that the gaming community is not a plague on society as some may believe, but rather a community of good people with good intentions trying to make a difference.

Of course, there are some rules Guinness World Book of Records has put in place. Milkfat is granted 10 minutes break for every hour played. Beyond breaks, he must not deviate from the game for more than 7 seconds. If a technical difficulty were to arise, Milkfat must resume as soon as it is fixed, and submit a written, undersigned document to confirm that there was actually a problem. Finally, a drug test will be administered before and after the tournament.

(And you thought the Olympics were hardcore.)

Milkfat will be playing in front of an audience of family, friends, and members of the gaming community in Howie’s Game Shack in Mission Viejo, California. His efforts will be broadcasted across Kaleidoscope Malls, streamed live on Clanmilk.com, and documented on Honcast.
For now, Milkfat is getting his shut eye, exercising, and eating his fruits and veggies. He says when it’s over, he’s sure he’ll treasure his Guinness placard above all else.

Heck, I sure would.

But are they going about it the right way?

The staunch ads have drawn fire from critics saying that the ads only further ostracise overweight and obese children. Parents and health experts worry that such ads will only increase the low self-esteem and bullying, common to these children. Others just find the ads to be upsetting, overly-harsh, and lacking any positive message to inspire action.

But Georgia is making no apologies. Said Linda Matzigkeit, a senior vice president at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “We felt like we needed a very arresting, abrupt campaign that said: “Hey, Georgia! Wake up. This is a problem.””

In fact, Georgia is the second “fattest state” in the country, behind Mississippi and an estimated 1 million children in the state are considered overweight.

Who is at the heart of the problem, according to those leading the campaign? Their parents.

According to a study conducted within the state, 50 percent of parents did not know childhood obesity was a problem and 75 percent of parents did not identify their obese child as even being overweight. Accordingly, the campaign is intended not to blame the children, but to get their parents’ attention. Even if it means making them uncomfortable.

So what do you think of the new campaign? Spot-on or off target? Helpful or hurtful?

Check out the ads here.

(Or for January, anyway.)

The New Year brings a seemingly endless number of advertisements, PSAs, and articles, which tell us what our resolutions ought to be and how we should go about keeping them. I recently read an article on what my resolutions should be as a twenty-something. It didn’t include “get a job” so phew! Bullet dodged.

These resolutions mean business, too. All those people swearing to beat the bulge mean big bucks for the fitness industry. In fact, last year, the resolution-ers spent over $60 billion dollars in such things as gym memberships, fitness equipment, and diet meals. Memberships to fitness clubs and the like are estimated to more than double at the start of each New Year and the industry relies on these eager, early-year sign-ups for their revenues. While this fitness flock means crowded space initially, most gyms see a decrease in attendance by mid-February.

Similarly, companies aimed at helping people quit smoking see a huge boost in numbers at the start of each year. Advertisements for nicotine patches, lozenges, and gums bombard us in every media outlet. (I’ve never been a smoker but some of those commercials are so intense I’m still convinced I need to quit.) Unfortunately, it is estimated that while 17 million Americans vow to quit smoking each year, only 1.3 million succeed long-term.

Which brings us to the age-old question: do New Year’s resolutions really work? Or are they merely a naïve optimism we hold at the beginning of the holidays, drunk off of holiday spirit and egged on by businesses with something to gain? Don’t we know deep down that if we really wanted to change, we wouldn’t need to wait for some ceremonious occasion?

Maybe. But I’d like to take a lighter approach. So what if many of us don’t fulfill our resolutions? (I just had a clementine with my burrito so I’d say my “eat more produce” goal of ’08 is going fabulously.)  Is it not better to set goals for ourselves than it is to be defeated before we have begun? Maybe we need a new year to remind us that we only have so many more to live to their fullest. A New Year can be a fresh start. Yes, it’s a simple change in the calendar, but it can also be a change in lifestyle if we truly grant it that ability. 2012 will be exactly what we make it to be.

And for those of you reading this and guiltily staring at your cheese puff-stained fingers, fret not.  “#ibrokemyresolutionwhen” is now trending on Twitter.

But we know this. These models make up the itsy bitsy 1% that I’d speculate deep down most women envy more than those Wall Street fat cats. The problem is that now even this fractal of women is not perfect enough for the fashion industry.

Enter H&M.

H&M is a clothing retailer that targets a younger demographic through providing in-style clothes at affordable prices. (Blah blah blah…they’re a trendy chain that even the barista and I can afford.) What have put this relatively nondescript retailer in the public eye recently are the company’s new “models.”

H&M has taken Photoshop in fashion to a whole new and despicable low by chopping off the heads of their models and superimposing them on dolls wearing the store’s merchandise. That is to say, the images of the women used on the website are actually chop suey Frankensteins of part-doll, part-human portions.

Awesome.

As if little girls everywhere didn’t have low enough self-esteem. As if seeing the images of beautiful women with hips as high as your (slight) double-chin wasn’t already enough to make women kick their body image deep down into the pits of awful, somewhere near pleated pants, “From Justin to Kelly” and raisins.

Now the championed ideal of beauty is no longer something that very few of us are, but rather, something that none of us are. According to H&M, there are no women perfect enough to wear their clothing. Which is sort of an odd implication for a clothing retailer to make.

I thought clothing was made for us pear-shaped, puckered, imperfect women. More to the point, I thought we were the ones who bought them.

Show us a real woman whose clothes celebrate her curves; clothes that highlight the body that can carry a baby and climb the corporate ladder. Show our children and our society the real women that take your clothes off their hangers and make them fashion.

Maybe I’m missing something, but frankly, I just don’t get it.

And maybe that’s my deal. Maybe I just love Christmas too much to understand. I love decking the halls; hanging my stocking with care (I’m going to say the cut-off age for that is 30 so I’m good;) gawking at Christmas lights; and getting just a tad too competitive at the office holiday party gingerbread-house-building contest. But mostly, I love gift giving.

Sure, there are the financial constraints (but who needs food, really?); the 150 degree stores at the malls; the fact that there is never enough tape to finish wrapping that last gift. But these are par for the course, people!

The look of joy on your loved ones faces when they open that something special is well worth the Ramen dinners, heat rash, and frantic drawer-scrounging! If there is any time to give, this is it! Not because we have to but because we want to. Six days later when New Year’s rolls around, we make resolutions for ourselves. In fact, we spend the whole year focus on ourselves: our goals; our problems. The holidays are about showing a little appreciation to those who make the year something more than a run on a gerbil wheel.

So, yeah, I don’t understand why to show this appreciation we flock to the web to ask some stranger to figure out what our loved ones would love the most.

Is it laziness? Stress? Or is it because we want to please them so badly, we are searching for some definite way to do so? In the spirit of the season, I will go with the latter. But I want to assert that the answer is not on these sites. At the risk of being super corny (though tis the season!) I will state that the meaningfulness of the gift is in the consideration that went into it.

How would some site know that your sister needs a new coat after she left her old one at a fraternity? How would it it know that your mom needs another crystal cat miniature to add to her 42 piece collection? How would it know that your best friend needs a Spanish dictionary to impress his new foreign neighbor?

It wouldn’t.

Only you would. Understanding the desires and needs of your loved ones is the entire point of gift giving. Scanning blogs and web pages for “what’s hot this holiday season” doesn’t do that. So take a moment to actually think about the people you’re giving to this season, then be it something you buy (or make), give and be merry!

But battle it out on Black Friday? Heck no.

Firstly, there’s the waking up at the crack o’ dawn. No way has the taste of turkey even left your tongue by 4 am. And can someone please explain the midnight store openings this year? You’ve just spent hours battling it out with your sanity at family dinner and then you’re going to have to claw down a lady for a waffle maker at 12 am? Ick! (Then again, maybe the repressed rage from your Aunt Clara asking you why you aren’t going to medical school like your cousin doubles as fuel for department store fights.)

Which brings me to my main reason for not attending: the store showdowns. Even if I could drag myself to the mall at that unearthly hour (presumably with a large dose of Red Bull and regret) my 100 pound body and spaghetti arms could not handle the fight.You have to shove and push and claw and grab and be willing to strike down your grandma to snag that last Barbie cellphone. People get trampled and killed every year and one memorable gal this particular Black Friday pepper sprayed her fellow shoppers to get an on-sale  Xbox 360. These people are serious!

“Heading off to Black Friday sales, honey!…Oh, silly me! Almost forgot my pepper spray!”

Sheesh! Considering the fact that the most aggressive I get is trying to shove my size 6 feet into an on-sale size 5, Black Friday is not for me. So what does a girl with more Skittles than cash do for Christmas shopping?

Hello, Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday refers to the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend when Americans take to their computers on office time (76 million shop from work!) to scour the web for deals. And as online shopping increases annually, so too has sales on Cyber Monday. Online providers like Amazon and eBay benefit enormously from those taking a break from solitaire to shop and sales this year are expected to exceed $1 billion.

Sites have become increasingly focused on providing great deals on Cyber Monday and some expect the sales made online will exceed those in-store. Shoppers young and old are increasing their online purchases and the convenience can not be beat. Plus, online shoppers have the bonus of no extra hospital bills at the end of their purchasing-a benefit not all Black Friday shoppers enjoy.

Overall, it’s safe to say that I will be doing a great deal of online shopping this holiday season. And hey, with the money I save, maybe I’ll even buy something for old Aunt Clara and her doctor son. Like a vacation to a far off land for next Thanksgiving.

What can I say? I’m a giver.

What is interesting about YouTube videos is that their sequels are revered, while every time I hear a movie sequel is being released, I wince a little. Maybe it’s because movie sequels are notoriously terrible (“Grease 2,” anybody?) but why should they be? Can’t they follow YouTube’s suit and step up their game so we don’t have to feel like we’ve been shook down after seeing the sub-par sequels like “Lion King 2.” (Hello, incest, by the way.) YouTube stars start with a winning video and make their fame through follow-ups. For example, Pop-singer, Greyson Chance became an overnight sensation in 2010 when his YouTube video went viral. Businesses have also taken advantage publicity these viral videos garner: the Old Spice and Will it Blend? videos being, perhaps, most notable in helping to develop a brand.

Marcel’s second video indicates that the little mollusk is following suit.  Blogs are championing the second video’s success and a children’s book about the tiny star has been published. There is even speculation about a television series being produced. (Fingers crossed!) One thing is for sure, Marcel the Shell is becoming a brand we can expect to see much more of in the future. For such a little shell, he’s created pretty big shoes to fill.

What Social Media SEO Is and Isn’t…

To start, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that “effective social advertising is less about attaching marketing messages to content and more about being the content.” In other words, social media participants are not looking for another space filled with advertisements they don’t trust and marketing campaigns with the same underlying messages from companies trying to get their own message out there. Social media participants want interaction. They want to read about topics that interest them. They want a space to let their guard down and freely discuss these topics with others.

“Rather than looking at social media sharing sites as just another place to dump their existing content, online marketers should consider understanding what is important to social communities through content, link and tag analysis (a keyword based listening exercise) and create content that meets those needs. The content created can add to the SEO efforts for search based discovery as well as through the social web.”

How It Works…

As previously established, social media is force online. People login to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and read blogs just has habitually has having a cup of coffee every morning. It’s become a part of who we are, how we establish our identity, and how we interact in the world (online and offline).

Here’s how social media SEO works: Common themes and topics arise online in social media spaces, either through marketing efforts or through the common interest of many. Some of the “conversations and buzz can influence queries on keywords used in search the same way advertising and the result of public relations through media coverage can drive search traffic.” What other ways can you make SEO work for your social media outlets? Increase you linkability. Make sharing and bookmarking easy. Participate by reposting other’s content. Create new content. These are all ways to increase your SEO results through social media.

Making It Happen…

In order to execute a powerful SEO plan, there are a few things you can do. Lee Odden of TopRank proposes that we use the following model as a general guide: Listen, Content, Socialize, Measure. Listening and being in-tune with the rest of your target community will make or break your social media SEO campaign. Know who your audience is, what social media sites they’re frequenting, what keywords are common, and what they’re most interested in. Taking a more selfless approach is key (i.e. Posting content that’s on point with what you audience cares about instead of constantly bombarding them with your own message).

This brings us to content and socializing. You can create your own content with whatever keywords and terms you want to include, but you can also share content. Sharing goes a long way in the social media world. You can comment on other blogs, and post a link back to your own. “If content can be searched it can be optimized and a well planned digital asset optimization effort that works in sync with social networking and promotions can efficiently get content to those that want it and also facilitate better search visibility. That is the essence of Social SEO.”

Measuring the Results…

Finally, it is extremely important to measure the results of your SEO in social media. Once you have your plan drawn up and the actions underway, be sure to measure the results of the time you’re investing. Odden writes, “Leveraging monitoring and analytics to inform future content creation, keyword optimization and social promotion is essential for staying ahead of the competition and being effective at meeting customer needs.”

“11 Free Tools for Social Media Optimization” is an awesome guide for some free tools to help you measure your SEO efforts in social media. They’ve broken down each one, from howsociable.com, semrush.com, to analytics.postrank.com, describing how they work and what they measure.

Let’s Chat…

Q1: How much time to you dedicate to social media (professionally or personally)?
Q2: What efforts toward social media SEO have you made, if any?
Q3: In the future, do you think social media will continue to grow as exponentially as it has over the past five years? Is social media here to stay, or is it just another craze?
Q4: What other great tips do you have for creating a more holistic SEO plan by including social media?