4 years ago I moved to NY with big dreams…to make a name for myself.   You know what they say about NY – if you could make it there, you could do it anywhere!  So I moved out of LA with 2 suitcases and set off for the concrete jungle.  I started working for Atlantic Records in the New Media department and found myself surrounded by some of the most creative and forward thinking individuals ever.  I worked on many different projects all with trying to solve one major question — How can we monetize the music industry?

I fell into the video department, or rather the live streaming section of the New Media world at Atlantic Records and was put in charge of the live streams for James Blunt’s new single ’1973′ (James Blunt if you are reading this, it was a pleasure working with you – I remain a huge fan and can’t wait until your new album this November).  I also produced the Live From The Red Carpet for Diddy’s new fragrance – Unforgivable Woman, which was streamed successfully on Myspace to hundreds of thousands of live viewers.  This was pretty revolutionary, an especially an honor for me to work with such a brilliant Entrepreneur.  (Diddy – if you are listening, hire me again – perhaps for the White Party)

In fact, looking back, it was my time spent at Atlantic Records where I really learned the true meaning of innovation!

While everything was extremely exciting, Facebook Fan Pages were not yet available and twitter was just starting to take its course.  Now, lets fast forward 4 years later.  This morning I woke up to be excited to see that the team at Atlantic Records has done something brilliant!  About a month ago, Cee Lo Green came out with a song called, “Fuck You.” which was a viral success.  Now let me point out that the video was just the lyrics in a Keraoke fashion popping on the screen Whether the nature of the song, (everybody likes to drop the F Bomb here and there) combined with the smooth beats, the song was an instant hit.  In true Social Media fashion, it caught on, and people were sharing it everywhere!  Currently it has over 4 million views on the Official You Tube page.

Well today they took it one step further.  They released the brand new video with true Social Media expertise.  In order to watch it you must become a fan on his Official Facebook Fan Page before you can watch it.  So, in a time where more and more people are consuming music and video content for free, in this instance they are making their money by the value of a Facebook Fan.

So, what is the value of a Facebook Fan go for these days?  According to recent studies each fan is worth $3.60.  Right now the Cee Lo Fan Page has about 18,000 fans, which brings the value of his page to approximately $64,000.  The value is calculated by the fact that a fan is more likely to spend money on your product than a non fan. If this video goes viral like the first release the fan page will be worth millions.  I expect this to happen.

Another brilliant aspect of the fan page is that you can sign up for the newsletter right on the video player, further increasing the value of this campaign.  In the end Cee Lo will have more fans than he ever did as well more signups to the newsletter.  Both of which can successfully be used to sell his albums, merchandise, and concerts.

Overall I would say that Cee Lo Green and the Atlantic Records team get my vote for the Social Media Excellence Award!

Lessons Learned And How You Can Apply This To Your Fan Page Or Business

1.  Content is King – but don’t give it away for Free.  There should always be a cost of some sort.  Whether this is signing up for your newsletter in order to give away that free Ebook or making someone become a Fan on your Fan Page in order to give them that discount at your store.

2.  Virality Rules – The object of the Social Media game is sharing!  Make your content shareable, easy to access and most importantly unique.  If you have something funny, touching, or just downright ridiculous you will go far!

3.  Creativity Conquers – Innovation is a blessing.  Try something new and think out of the box.

4.  Fail Harder – You never know if something is going to be a huge success unless you try!  So go ahead and be prepared to fail.  At least you will know what doesn’t work.

PS.  If you like funky soul piano rock music, you should definitely become a fan of my brother, Andy Frasco.  He is an up and coming rockstar in the making!  Go Andy!!

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Facebook launched a new section called “Questions” recently.  I am not sure exactly when they launched it but today it showed up in my feed.

As a Social Media Professional, the questions I get most is almost always about Facebook and their business.  More specifically,  “How do I Market My Business on Facebook?”  Well, Facebook Questions could be your answer to effectively marketing yourself as an expert in different topics that could drive traffic to your website and business to you and your company.

If you are familiar with LinkedIn question section, then you are already one step ahead.  Facebook Questions work pretty much the same way.

While this is limited – Facebook says that this is intitally rolling out to 3-5 million users, they have plans for a broader roll out down the line.

Not only is this new service a great way to brand yourself and reach a large audience, it is also a great way to reach a relevant audience.  (The most important aspect of Social Media Marketing)  These questions and answers can be tagged with category keywords, too, which will eventually be used to fill up an aggregate “questions” tab on relevant Community Pages on Facebook, meaning more relevant people seeing your answers.

Why is this important?

• There are officially over 500 million users on facebook.  That is a lot of potential traffic.

• Facebook is the number 1 “Social Network” referring source of traffic ALL sites on the web!  According to ReadWriteWeb, Facebook sends nearly 7 out of 10 visits to websites that come from a Social Network.  (Twitter brings 25% and LinkedIN 4%.)
• Eventually when this becomes a mature product questions and answers will be found on google and other search engines increasing visibility and traffic if used correctly.

Cautions
Everything in Questions is PUBLIC and will be shared with everyone!  This refers to both questions and answers.  So if you are a Facebook privacy hater this is probably not for you.

Techcrunch says, “Facebook obviously isn’t going to ask your question to everyone else on Facebook; instead, its system is going to try to analyze a user’s interests to determine who would be best able to answer your question. The service will also show the question to some of your friends, so ideally you’ll receive answers from a healthy mix of friends and experts.”

Who can benefit and use this?

• Anyone with a product or service to sell!

If someone asks a question about the best type of camera to buy, online retailers can answer and give a link to buy.

If someone asks the best place in NY to get a massage, spa owners/marketers could offer a discount and link.

The list goes on and on!

How to Get Started
If you are not on the “chosen” list of 3-5 million users request access here.
To test other facebook apps go here.

Start answering question and asking questions and start building your name!

For all you in the travel industry you can get your start now! I have asked a question which may pertain to you.

After we spend time in Costa Rica, where should our next destination be?
SEE QUESTION HERE!!

Like I say with everything…Get in Early! By doing this you will be positioning yourself as an expert before it gets too crowded.

READ MORE:
Mashable
CNET
Facebook Blog

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You will hear me say this time and time again…when it comes to Social Media, the key is getting out there and being social.  You will also hear me say accept opportunities as they come knocking, which is what I have jut done.  Nils Andres, Founder, Brand Science Institute, has just invited me to moderate a panel at the annual Marketing 2.0 Conference in Paris!

As you could imagine, not only am I honored to be recognized among Social Media and Marketing Industry experts, but it also means I am going to be back in Europe!  Please let me know if you are going to be there as I would love to meet you.

ABOUT M2C
The main goal of the M2C is to exchange and learn from the latest knowledge, and best practices in how to handle the dramatic changes in media, marketing and consumer behavior in your day-to-day business.

Speakers Include
Steve Hayden, Ogilvy
Dave Knox, P&G
Randi Zuckerberg, Facebook
Karin Timpone, Disney
Kevin Yen, YouTube
Julie Sun, MTV
Bonin Bough, PepsiCo
Joshua Benton, Nieman Lab @ Harvard
Oke Müller, TBWA/CHIAT DAY
Kevin Anderson, The Guardian
Masuaki Akamatsu, International Academy of Arts an Sciences
Bonnie Kiesling, Innocentive (Eli Lilly)
Travis Falstad, Electronic Arts
Angel Djambazov, Jones Soda
Sanj Matharu, Vodafone
Bruce Rogers, Forbes
Alex Hunter, Virgin America
Brian Morrissey, AdWeek
David Witt, General Mills
Matthias Lüfkens, World Economic Forum
Guillaume du Gardier, Ferrero France
Angela Natividad, MarketingVOX.com
Michael Seibel, Justin.tv
Emmanuel Vivier, Vanksen

Now that is a list of heavy hitters!  From Malibu to Paris…Here I come!

-Oh, and if you want to sponsor my flight let me know.

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