As you’re probably well-aware, Facebook recently launched their new application platform at the f8 Keynote. This platform allows third party developers to create “applications” or widgets within the social graph that Facebook has built and query user data that can then be incorporated into said application. This is an amazing opportunity for businesses to gain access to a wealth of information about their consumers. And Facebook doesn’t stop at merely creating and pulling data from their social graph. Facebook is allowing and encouraging people to build applications, in which, users can complete monetary transactions directly within the Facebook platform. The idea is that if a user never has to leave to visit a third party website, then the conversion rate for people who actually purchase a product will be greater. What’s more, is that Facebook allows you to run advertising on your application’s canvas page and you keep any and all revenue generated by that ad. For the complete keynote speech by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, click here.

So, what does this mean? It means that the days of building a customer base for your product from scratch are over. By utilizing the power of the social graph that Facebook has created, you can essentially launch your product via a Facebook application and experience exponential growth and brand awareness almost instantaneously. This platform opens Facebook up to the entire internet and means the possibilities are endless.

I recently signed on as a marketing consultant for Less Networks and we are currently designing a Facebook application that will take Less Network’s existing social network and incorporate it into the Facebook platform. Once complete, with the ease of sharing information on Facebook, we expect to see large growth in the brand awareness and use of Less Networks’ services. But, we’re just scratching the surface. In theory, you could fully integrate your website within Facebook’s platform and create a completely new business model around converting Facebook members into customers. As long as you are offering something of value in your applications, your brand awareness will grow exponentially for a fraction of what it might cost to drive traffic to your company’s website.

Here are a few applications that I’d like to see on Facebook:

• Location-Based Happy Hour Search Engine. This application pulls your location from your profile and displays the best Happy Hour specials in your area from its database. It then allows you to select and share with your friends, which happy hour you’ll be attending. This could be a great tool for someone to build ad revenue from restaurants and bars within your database.
• Anywhere, USA. This application is sponsored by a car company or dealership. Two candidates are given a car/truck/van. The application would create a starting point at Anywhere, USA (Location 1). Facebook users would then be able to pick from a long list of places around the country within a 12-hour drive time from Location 1. Our two candidates will then drive to the most popular location each day and chronicle the adventure as they travel in their sponsored car. For six months, users would be able to control where the two candidates drive to in America and get to see pictures, blogs, audio and video from the road. Of course, this would all tie in to the fact that they were traveling in the sponsors’ vehicle.
• I’m a Screenwriter. This application allows Facebook users to contribute to an ever-changing motion picture screenplay. Users help develop characters and character arcs with the help of several moderators and then help write each scene. Setup similar to a Wiki, the script is sculpted and written by Facebook users over the course of a year. Users are able to post quotes on their profile, along with other elements from the script, but anyone is invited to contribute to the script. Upon completion 365 days later, the script will go into production with credit to 1 Million-plus Facebook writers. The same formula could be applied to creating a commercial campaign, written by the Facebook community.

So, like I said, the possibilities are endless. What kind of Facebook application would you develop to promote your company?

Popularity: 26% [?]

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The title of this blog post is probably the most well-known up-sell of all time. McDonald’s has sold billions of hamburgers, making them billions of dollars. But, a simple question like, “Do you want fries with that?” which takes no more than five seconds, has easily made them billions more than hamburgers alone.

Up-selling is one of the easiest ways to increase revenue, because you’re taking someone who has already agreed to buy your product and offering them just a little bit more. This weekend I was buying a new golf bag (a treat for consistently breaking 90). I had no intention of buying anything else, but when I got to the counter with my bag, the clerk asked me if I needed any golf balls or tees to go with the bag. A logical question, seeing as I had mentioned that I was on my way to the course. So, I decided that yes, I did need some golf balls and tees. With a simple question, the clerk had turned my $150 purchase into a $180 purchase. A seventeen percent increase in revenue! The key was that he wasn’t pushy. Had I said no, I don’t think he would have tried to convince me otherwise. But, I did need golf balls and tees and because he reminded me of that, I spent an extra $30 in his store.

At Suited Productions, my media production and marketing company, it is standard operating procedure to offer additional services to our clients. Many people come to us for video production, but end up buying video production and a marketing strategy for their video. Rarely, does someone just want a video once we pitch our marketing campaign for that video. It’s a simple up-sell that takes almost no time at all, but it raises our bottom line significantly and adds value to a product that our client was going to buy anyway.

How can you start up-selling in your business? How much more revenue could you bring in by simply asking, “Would you like _______ with that?”

Popularity: 14% [?]

One of my favorite things to do in Austin, on any given day, is to eat lunch at Whole Foods Market and then walk over to Bookpeople and spend the rest of the day browsing magazines and books. Bookpeople has a sort of Austin charm, in that they have really embraced the whole “Keep Austin Weird” mantra. I’ll sometimes spend as much as six hours inside Bookpeople, scouring through their multi-story haven of books. So, it’s no wonder that I’ve been known to make several trips a day to their restroom facilities. Gross! Why am I telling you this?

For almost six months now, Bookpeople has had a sign over the urinals telling people, “Do not flush urinals more than once!” And every week for six months, they have had to replace the sign with a new one, because by the end of the week it is riddled with graffiti and various prepubescent one liners. For months, I took offense to this sign because it was telling me what to do, as if I had no say in the matter. I even considered writing on the sign. I would have gone for something along the lines of, “While urinating, Chuck Norris is easily capable of welding titanium.”

No one likes to be told to do something. I can remember growing up as a kid and doing the opposite of what I was told to do, simply because I wanted to have my own free will. Why is it that we think telling someone what to do is the best way to communicate what we’d like to see done? I’m guilty of this all too often, but have seen a much different side of people when I ask for their help, rather than tell them what they should do for me.

So, I went to the Bookpeople management and suggested that they merely put the word, “Please” in their next toilet message. Well, I’m happy to say that sign has been up for almost three weeks now and guess what? There’s not a marking on it and I would imagine that people are only flushing the toilet once. If nothing else, less people are flushing the toilet a hundred times, just to spite that damn sign!

The next time you want someone to do something for you, whether it be an employee, boss, parent, child, co-worker, friend, wife, girlfriend, etc. Why don’t you try asking them as a favor, rather than telling them as a command. I’d be willing to bet that the responses you receive will be to your liking and I’d love to hear your stories. Sure, it may seem like common sense, but this is something we all too often forget. Have someone difficult in your life? Kill them with kindness and then report back here.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Click this link to watch the trailer for Sigur Ros new documentary, Heima. As usual, it is beautifully shot. An HD version of the trailer can be found here.

Sigur Ros has released a limited edition book that combines the Hlemmur documentary on DVD, as well as the Sigur Rós scored soundtrack on CD, plus original pencil drawings by the band.

It comes as a hessian covered hardback measuring 20 x 17cm, with a cute inset plate and the word ‘hlemmur’ subtlety embossed into the front cover. Each copy is individually stamped and numbered 1 - 3,000, and contains 48 pages of beautifully reproduced pencil drawings by members of Sigur Rós. There is no text, save for track-listings and minimal spine information. A CD of the full musical score comes in a pouch on the inside front cover, while the DVD of the documentary is likewise housed in the inside back cover.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Clark Duke (Greek, Superbad) and Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad) have taken over my brain for the past six to eleven days, or so, since I first watched their new series. Clark and Michael is a CBS Internet television series created by and starring Clark Duke and Michael Cera. The first episode was directed by Clark Duke as his film school thesis and after charming his way up to the executive suite at CBS, he a Cera got the greenlight to shoot ten ten-ish minute episodes. The series takes the form of a mockumentary following Duke and Cera’s ambitions to write and sell a pilot for a television series. Hilarity ensues.

The humor in this series is SO deadpan and under the radar, that I actually find each episode to be more entertaining each subsequent time I watch it (20+). There are so many subtleties, that multiple views of every single episode is recommended. Drawing from some of the humor Arrested Development became famous for (or never became famous for?), Clark and Michael are constantly falling into awkward silence paired with the slightest glances into the camera. Comedic gold, anyone?

Via Wikipedia:
Duke and Cera play fictionalized versions of themselves, Cera describing the characters as “more idiotic and more deluded”. The series is a low-budget affair, filmed on handheld cameras by friends of the duo. The cameras are acknowledged by Clark, Michael and others, who will sometimes address them or those operating them; in one scene, an upset Michael shouts a cameraman out of the bathroom, after which Clark angrily points out to the crew that their contract states “no bathroom stuff”. Boom mics are often visible, and the crew have also intervened in fights between Clark and Michael.

While I love Michael Cera, I think Clark Duke has some of the greatest one liners in the series and when he reveals his secret show, D.A. Dad, to the camera crew, I almost shot purple soda out my nose! So, in the words of Clark Duke, “If you only watch one show on the internet today that was written/directed/produced/edited/scored by Clark Duke and Michael Cera, please let that show be Clark and Michael. Invite us into your homes. Offer us a glass of water and let us talk to your kids for a while.”

For an added bonus, watch this video to see what life is like for Clark and Michael after the show.

Popularity: 31% [?]