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On April 3, Apple released the newest member of its uber-popular family into the world, and technophiles were so jazzed that they snapped up over 600,000 iPads in five short days. But Apple-hungry consumers weren’t the only ones who were excited about the iPad—most* of the web’s biggest social players were pretty darned enthused as well, and they weren’t afraid to show it:

Google: To take full advantage of the large iPad screen, Google reformatted Gmail. The two-column display is basically an enhanced version of the single column Gmail for Mobile app that was created for the iPhone and Android. (Some Gmail users even argue that Gmail for the iPad is an enhanced version of traditional Gmail and are going to great lengths to make it their desktop default.)
Flickr: The photo and video sharing site gleefully announced on its blog that it would be making its videos iPad-compatible by introducing HTML5 playback. (Until very recently, nearly all websites embedded videos using Flash, but since the iPad doesn’t support Flash, sites are switching their vids over to HTML5 to keep up.)  
WordPress: WordPress also trumpeted its foray into iPad territory on its blog (a move that was actually quite apropos and vaguely existential). The blogging website has released a new version of its iPhone app that’s compatible with the iPad and comes equipped with all sorts of fun features like the ability to geotag blog updates.
YouTube: I found nary a peep about the iPad on the YouTube blog, but Apple was very vocal on the video giant’s behalf. The iPad comes with a built-in YouTube app, which, like big brother Gmail, is formatted to suit the iPad screen.
Facebook: Facebook has been making apps for Apple products since the beginning of time, so everyone was waiting to see what it had in store for the iPad. As it turns out, what it had in store was nothing. More accurately, a Facebook app was in the works for the iPad, but its life was cut short when its programmer took issue with the App Store screening process and quit the project. Some Tom, Dick, or Steve did create a Facebook app called Facebook Ultimate, but it developed a horrible reputation among iPad users (and infringed on the Facebook copyright to boot) and Apple has since removed it from the App Store. There is a bit of hope for the disgruntled Facebook user, and it comes in the form of http://touch.facebook.com/, which is a stripped down version of regular old Facebook that fits better on the iPad screen.
    
*Twitter is conspicuously absent from this list, and with good reason—the micro-blogging phenom didn’t go to any lengths to adapt itself to the iPad. Happily for tweet-o-holics, however, the App Store has been flooded with third-party Twitter apps (the ones from TweetDeck and Twitterific are said to be particularly excellent) that pick up the slack. 

If you’re one of the lucky few techies who’s already gotten his hands on an iPad, go ahead and tweet, blog, email, or update your Facebook status about how you’re tweeting, blogging, emailing, or updating your Facebook status with your all-powerful fingertips. Those of us old-fashioned mice-and-keyboard folks will be mighty jealous indeed.

One of the biggest arguments for encouraging businesses to invest in social media marketing is that they’ll be able to monitor what customers are saying about their brand, guide the conversations, address issues that arise, and generally be more in-tune with how their brand is perceived. Regardless of whether or not you currently use social media to market your business, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve been touched by a company’s social media monitoring efforts. Well, provided you were one of the over 100 million people who tuned in to the Super Bowl on Sunday to watch the ads as well as the game, that is.

The ad in question wafted onto the TV screen during the third quarter, it lasted a warm and fuzzy minute, and then it faded to black. The ad was from Google, but it wasn’t hawking Google Chrome or Google Android or Google ISP or any of the other new products and services that keep cropping up in the Google-verse. Nope, the ad featured the most basic Google service of all—its search engine:



The ad (called “Parisian Love”) was certainly a hit—a number of outlets have reported that it was one of the most talked-about ads of Super Bowl XLIV —but it also left many people scratching their heads. Google never advertises on TV, why would they spend $6 million to start now? Does Google feel threatened by Bing? Who hasn’t heard of Google search? (To be fair, though, everyone’s heard of Budweiser too, yet we still see their Clydesdales prance through every single Super Bowl.) 

"Parisian Love" wasn’t actually intended to attract the Super Bowl audience to the search engine that made Google famous and still brings in nearly all of its revenue. In fact, the ad wasn’t originally intended to air during the Super Bowl at all. It was created by Google’s creative team and posted to Google’s YouTube channel almost three months ago as one in a series of promotional “Search Stories” videos. The purpose of these videos is not to promote a Google service, but rather to contribute to Google’s “don’t be evil” image. 

According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt , “Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it's had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience,” said Schmidt. In other words, Google’s monitoring efforts directly influenced their Super Bowl presence. Google could have chosen to remain off-air, they could have put that $6 million toward something else, but when you already know your ad’s a winner (a luxury most other Super Bowl advertisers don’t have. Ahem, Taco Bell.) heck, what’s $6 mil?

And judging by "Parisian Love"’s reported popularity, I think I can safely speak for much of the Super Bowl audience when I say that when that familiar search bar popped up on our TV screens, we put down our buffalo wings and our tasty beverages, we watched, we smiled, and when the “Search On” tag line popped up we sighed, “Well gee wiz, Google! That was an unexpected treat! I wonder if I have any new e-mail.” If you’re already sure that your ad is going to illicit nearly 100 million responses like that, well, what’s $6 mil indeed!     

In 1998, a small start-up company introduced the tech world to a new search engine marketing model that became the exceedingly popular Pay-per-Click (PPC) Internet advertising system. Hundreds of search engines offer PPC marketing services today, but because Google is such a dominate player in the search engine world, its AdWords PPC tool is the one that gets our dollars. Campaigning the AdWords way may seem intimidating to the novice marketer, so we’ve paired a few common questions with cut-and-dry answers to show you just how straightforward and important PPC is.

Where will my ad appear?
Sponsored ads appear both above and to the right of organic results on search engine results pages:
The top spots receive the most customer attention and are, therefore, the most coveted. Reaching the top spot used to mean spending top dollar, but Google’s now rewarding advertisers for writing relevant content, by factoring in the ad’s Click-Through Rate (CTR). If you bid $1.00 for a keyword and boast a CTR of 12%, you’ll be positioned higher than the guy who bids $3.00 and has the CTR of 0.1%.
 
How will it look?
Ads have three components—a 25-character headline, two rows of text (each row may contain about 35 characters), and one row for a destination URL:

You’ll need to fill that limited space with relevant keywords and clear, common, and specific language. You want to make sure that your ad copy targets the correct audience rather than a ragtag bunch of crazy characters who won’t buy your product. You’re paying for clicks, after all.

How much does it cost?
The beauty of the PPC campaign is that it costs however much you want it to. You tell Google how much you are willing to spend per day and on each keyword (called a “bid”). When someone searches for one of your keywords, Google takes into account the day, the time, and the searcher’s location and then compares the bids to determine which ad will be displayed. Google will show your ad as often as possible until you meet your daily budget. Hundreds of users may see your ad in a day, but you only pay the price you set if someone clicks. 

How do I decide who will see it?
With keywords and geo-tagging. Once you’ve identified your target audience, you can use a keyword research tool (like the AdWords keyword tool or Wordtracker) to generate keyword ideas and to get an idea of how popular certain keywords are. Remember that more popular keywords are usually more expensive and less effective; choosing more specific keywords will not only save you money, but may also increase the number of clicks your ad receives. Google also allows you to target your ad to specific regions, cities, and countries, lessening the chance that your ad will fall on deaf ears.

How do I know if it’s working?
An ad’s success is measured in its Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Conversion Rate. CTR is the number of times an ad is clicked on divided by the number of times an ad is viewed. For example, an ad that appears 1000 times and receives only 1 click would have a (pretty dismal) CTR of 0.1%. An ad’s Conversion Rate is based on how many people are taking action on your website (buying a product or requesting more information) once they get there via the ad. If you’re spending $.10 per click and one out of every five clicks turns into a $50 sale, that’s a pretty easy way to earn $49.50.      

How much work is involved?
The set up is fairly simple, but your efforts should not end there. In order for your campaign to be successful, you’ll need to monitor it closely. The game can change quickly, and you’ll want to keep track of the keywords that are converted into profits so you don’t continue to spend money on those that are ineffective. Google offers a couple of free tracking tools—Conversion Tracking and Campaign Summary—that can help you keep up with your campaign.

When PPC campaigns are managed successfully, they can result in heaps of revenue and brand exposure. If you’re not already investing time and funds in a PPC campaign, now is a fine time to start.

So, you’ve joined some social media sites and you’ve cobbled together a pretty nice collection of followers. Now the question is, “What the heck are you gonna do with them?” You can’t spam them with self-promotion because they’ll leave. You can’t ignore them because you won’t see any return on your initial social media investments. What you can do—nay, what you should do, is talk to them. After all, the ability to interact with customers, to personalize your company, and to seem like an approachable expert forms the basis of social media’s appeal.

Not sure what to talk about? Not to fear--we’ve come up with six examples of ways you can engage with your social media audience. (For consistency’s sake, we’re assuming that “you” are a fictional florist called Brenda’s Blooms in our examples.)

• Call fans to action with your status updates. EX: When the weather’s nice, post an update to Twitter, Facebook, or your blog encouraging your followers to take pictures of flowers they find during the day and post them to your wall. You could also set up a Flickr Group where your followers could post flower pictures as often as they like. Be sure to comment on as many entries as possible and ask your followers to share the project with their friends so more people can contribute to your virtual bouquet.

• Ask fans questions and solicit their opinions. EX: Ask people which blooms they associate with the season. Come up with a few new arrangements for Valentine’s Day/Mother’s Day/birthdays and ask your followers to vote on their favorite design. Find out what everyone’s favorite scent is.

• Continue a conversation that someone else has started. EX: If one of your fans compliments the centerpieces that you designed for her friend’s wedding, thank her, mention an enjoyable exchange that you had with the bride, keep the conversation going by asking a question if you can (“Mrs. Bride said she was having trouble deciding on a honeymoon destination. Did she opt for Bermuda or Niagara Falls?”)

• Update about something unrelated to your business. EX: If you couldn’t live without your Keurig coffee pot, go ahead and tweet about it. Seriously! A few of your followers might feel the same way and suddenly you’ve made a connection on a whole different level. The general rule is that up to 20% of your updates can be more personal than professional.

• Start conversations with others in your industry. EX: Comment on well-known blogs and related YouTube videos, and then share them with your followers if you think they’d find the information useful. If you’re following Francine’s Flowers on Twitter and you like one of her tweets, respond with an @FrancinesFlowers tweet of your own.
   
• Seek out conversations using a social listening service like Technorati or Radian6. EX: Is “Brenda’s Blooms” or “boutonniere” a trending topic on Twitter or in the blogosphere? If so, you might want to add your two cents. Just make sure what you say is valuable (if girls are all a-Twitter about whether or not they should buy boutonnieres for their prom dates, your tweet could read, “Boutonnieres look very sharp when coordinated w/ tuxes and suits & are inexpensive when made with just 1 rose.”)
   

Remember that your followers are logged in to the networks because they want to interact, and they chose to follow you because they want to connect. Oblige them before they start collecting dust!