Think back to that long ago and far away time when social media marketing simply meant doing a couple of Facebook posts a week or tweeting every now and again. If that was a long time ago for you, then congratulations! Your social media marketing has evolved. If, however, “thinking back” to those prehistoric times means recalling your feeble marketing efforts from earlier today… well, you might have a problem. See, the one thing we’ve learned about social media is that it’s ever-changing, and in order for marketing to be effective, we have to keep up with the trends. The question is this: How do we keep social media marketing fresh in order to avoid getting stuck in the past?

Think of 2013 as a whole new chapter for social media marketing. How big brands like Banana Republic, Virgin Airways and Diesel do Facebook and Twitter today vs. how they did it back in 2010 is truly night and day. For one thing, the old “blasting of the trumpet” approach to social media is over. Brands are now using the platforms to get feedback on product images, to chat about current events and to inspire followers to be more creative. Facebook marketing, for example, has moved from sales to informational. Last-minute schedule changes for airlines, restaurants posting the evening’s delectable dinner specials and non-profits uploading photos to illustrate how donations can help are but a few ways the channel has shifted for small businesses. The numbers didn’t lie; Facebook doesn’t translate into direct sales. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a powerful place for your following to keep up on the latest news from your brand.

For a new chapter in Twitter marketing, turn up the social factor. As a platform, Twitter has made it easier than ever to talk to folks with your exact interests, so take advantage of it and schmooze your heart out. Even mega companies are slowing down and using Twitter to playfully banter back and forth with followers — and you should do the same. Mentioning new followers, re-tweeting articles from a friend’s feed and tweeting fun or provocative discussion questions are a good way to get the conversation going. Naturally, you and your brand are on Twitter to pimp your brand’s awesomeness, but don’t forget to have fun.

Should your social media marketing sequel want to move into the trendy visual arena, choose wisely. While Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr have each respectively been the “next big things” in social media, nothing lasts forever. Carefully shop and browse visual social media platforms before committing and come armed with a solid campaign plan before you start posting. It’s easy to get swept away with how great your images look on these channels, but if you’re not committed to posting regularly and with a purpose, they should be avoided.

Every so often, a tale of social media marketing gone wrong comes along that is just so ridiculous, we simply have to talk about it. And the twisted tale of Boners BBQ and its Yelp-fueled social media meltdown certainly falls into that category.

At the beginning of the month, Yelp reviewer Stephanie S. and her husband visited Atlanta’s Boners BBQ and ate what she described as a mediocre meal in her review. But the response she received from the owner of Boners was anything but mediocre. On the restaurant’s Facebook page as well as in a tweet, owner Andrew Capron fired off the following response: “NOT WANTED! (Stephanie S.) left a waitress 0.00 dollars on a $40.00 tab after she received a Scoutmob discount. If you see this women (sic) in your restaurant tell her to go outside and play hide and go f— yourself! Yelp that b—-.”

Whoa. Naturally, the web exploded with responses to Capron’s super negative reaction to what is described as only a “so-so” review. Stephanie S. told the Huffington Post that she did leave a tip “and my review was not scathing by any means. The response from Boners BBQ has just been astonishing to me, especially since it came from the owner of the business.”

Meanwhile, outraged Atlanta diners and Yelpers have come to Stephanie’s aid and verbally trashed the restaurant on its Yelp page. By Wednesday, Boners’ bad behavior was the subject of many a national news story and the company was forced to put out the raging fire. Capron once again took to social media to apologize. Capron posted “Dear, Stephanie S.- We are truly sorry, it was a boneheaded move on our part. But more importantly- it was rude to you and an inappropriate use of social media.” Capron goes on to say it was wrong to “abuse” her opinion and even offers to refund her money or give her a free meal.

The little Atlanta barbecue joint found out the hard way that playing with social media fire will get you burned. We’re guessing this “boneheaded” mistake is one that Boners won’t repeat anytime soon.

Now, about that name. Boners? Complete with the tagline “Put a Little South in Your Mouth”? Really?

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It’s always amazing to see a brand from the past leap out of obscurity and embrace digital branding, social media marketing and viral marketing to a stage a full-fledged comeback. The most recent brand to do that is Cheer. Remember Cheer? Yeah, us neither. But parent company Proctor & Gamble has been unstoppable when it comes to embracing new media and Cheer is its latest online marketing triumph.

The interactive YouTube video first exploded last year when several European brands took the medium to new heights. Cheer took a cue from foreign advertisers and partnered up with indie band Strange Talk. Cheer hid colorful outlines all over the band’s video for its song “Climbing Walls” and encouraged viewers to click. Lucky clickers won prizes from Cheer. Released on August 15th, the video was such a hit that Cheer ran out of prizes and Strange Talk racked up nearly 375,000 views. Not bad for a band nobody had heard of and a brand everybody had forgotten about.

A branding comeback can’t solely rely on video success, so Cheer has also taken to social media. Facebook is a hit with, well, everyone, and stay-at-home moms are no exception, so it makes sense that P&G relies heavily on the channel to speak directly to the buyers of its products. But Cheer is targeting an even younger audience in with its “Dig it. Get it” campaign. Obviously looking for “likes”, Cheer is hoping hip laundry lads and lasses will like the brand and enter Facebook photo contests which promise tickets to SXSW and other hip goodies. The brand wants its Facebook friends to submit colorful photos of themselves looking their most clean and shiny. The winning pics will be used in a Cheer campaign. And as if that wasn’t enough, P&G gave Cheer a chic graphic makeover with a new logo.

Business Insider ran an interesting piece last week about the “15 Most Detrimental Social Media Mistakes You’re Making.” The problem of social media marketers getting too personal was one that popped up several times on the list, which was compiled from tips submitted by some of the industry’s biggest social media hotshots. This issue is one that pollutes blogs, tweets and Facebook pages of companies big and small. We’ve seen brands go down in flames thanks to big-mouthed CEOs or Twitter-happy celebrity spokespeople. So, the question is: How do we infuse ourselves into our online marketing strategies while managing to keep it professional?

Consider the case of Bernardo Hees before you fire off that mouthy and opinionated blog. Hees is the CEO at Burger King – or at least for the next 20 minutes, anyway. The outspoken Hees caught hell this week when he dogged British women and the English cuisine while giving a lecture at the University of Chicago.

“The food is terrible and the women are not very attractive (in England). Here in Chicago the food is good, and you are known for good-looking women,” was quoted by the Chicago Maroon.

Putting aside the irony of someone from Burger King criticizing anybody’s food, Hees’ statement was caught fire and ticked off British customers. An off-the-cuff comment can be apologized for later (which Hees did later via spokesperson) but controversial statements often are caught on tape or captured on social media… Just ask John Galliano.

Yet this all seems very blurry. Social media, which is supposed to be, uhm, social, should be chatty and conversational, right? We should use to best parts of our personality to sell our brand. The key here is editing. Our thoughts about religions, politics or how ugly we think an entire group of people are should be kept mercifully to ourselves. Instead of talking about how amazing our thoughts are, we should use blogs and social media to interact with our clients. The dead end blathering about how great we are and what products we have isn’t only narcissistic – it’s beyond boring to read.

The devastating earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor breach that happened last week in Japan is the kind of make-it-or-break-it moments for humanity, one which either restores one’s faith in the human race or utterly disappoints. Since the quake happened during the inaugural weekend of South by Southwest Interactive, a spotlight has been pointed to social media and how it reacts during a crisis. Aside from a few tasteless yet expected Tweets, social media users and marketers from around the globe – including those attending SXSWi – have risen to the occasion.

CNN interviewed Tak Miyata, the executive director of Mixi in Japan, who was attending SXSWi. Mixi, like the name suggests, is a mixture of the best features of other social media sites. Mixi focuses on community entertainment, meaning meeting and networking with people who have similar interests. So when it came time to help out Japan, Mixi relied heavily on its community. The extremely active social network proved its power when more than $1.5 million was raised a mere two days after the disaster. Mixi offered an easy pledge option for its members on the login page.

SXSW4Japan.org is exactly what the name implies. The community of tech and social media professionals (along with the American Red Cross) hopped into action right at the festival, responding to the quake with lightning speed. Being called “real time fundraising,” SXSW4Japan is utilizing the thousands of people currently visiting Austin, Texas for the festival and their love of social media. In just a matter of days, the campaign has raised $48,759 and climbing. Through text and online donations, Twitter hashtags like #sxswcares and #sxsw4japan, plus instructions on how to start your own DIY fundraising pages, the instant fundraising machine looks at smashing its $50,000 donation goal in a matter of days.

While we all like to make fun of the ridiculousness of social media, there’s no doubt of how effective it can be when it uses its powers for good.

CBS’s Amazing Race is one of the rare reality shows that you can admit to loving without hanging your head in shame. What’s not to love about teams racing around the globe in hopes of winning big bucks? Now the network, along with longtime sponsor Travelocity, is giving average Joes the opportunity to play the Amazing Race from the comfort of their home computers… and the result is a cool online game that incorporates social media and technology without the bickering teammates.

CBS and Travelocity launched the Amazing Race Around the Worldwide Web on February 22 to coincide with the premiere of the newest season of the show. The contest serves as a type of Internet scavenger hunt where players are asked to complete tasks not unlike those seen on the show. Like the Amazing Race did in its first season, armchair travellers beginning their game in San Francisco completing tasks like finding Ghirardelli Square and the Golden Gate Bridge. Players earn points and can play against Facebook friends or add friends to their team. Trivia questions about travel and the Amazing Race are thrown down during the game to challenge reality TV superfans. This version of the race doesn’t promise a big cash payoff like the live-action version, but it does have a sweet prize of its own fans of the show are sure to love: Travelocity is giving away free hotel stays for a year to a lucky person who reaches the 40^th level of the game.

Popular culture, specifically television, is currently experiencing a shot in the arm thanks to the interactive elements of social media. Sites like Get Glue play off the addictive qualities of television and the chatty nature of social media; by adding a gaming element to the brand interaction, CBS and the like are roping in the Farmville set as well. We’re always down for a good promotional game and have seen small companies playing along with their customers online lately, too. So, dear readers, we’ll turn it over to you: Have you held games/contests for your clients on social media? If so, what were the results? Tell us all about in comments section. Game on!

Minimalism, according to that great oracle Wikipedia, describes a movement in art “where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.” When it comes to writing, Beckett, Carver and Hemingway were masters at saying what they needed to say without a lot of extra words and fuss. This is an inspiring idea when it comes to blogging.

Having recently moved into a new apartment, I have been struck with sudden real-life minimalism. I have large blank walls and a lack of chairs. The American consumerist inside of me is itching to fill up the space with all kinds of conveyor belt-produced tchotchke which is undoubtedly destined for the landfill. Yet on the other hand, living sparsely has its benefits. I know where everything is. I never have to embark on a spelunking expedition just to find my phone bill or a pair of tennis shoes. There’s never a burning to desire to take inventory of an over-stuffed junk drawer, nor do I hear exhausted sighs from piles of donation bags that hope someday they will finally be taken to the local Goodwill. Everything is exactly what it appears to be. There’s beauty in the cleanliness and simplicity.

I’ve seen this simplicity reflected in the some of the blogs I read daily. Many modern bloggers have stripped down the bells and whistles of their blogging sites, choosing only to focus on their content. This is a revolutionary concept for a word hoarder like myself, but given my new Malevich-like lifestyle, it is something that intrigues me.

According to legend, Raymond Carver was pushed into minimalism after an editor at Esquire advised him to use five words instead of fifteen. As bloggers, perhaps we should consider a similar challenge. What if we just gave readers great words, interesting starting blocks for intelligent conversations and cool content? It’s possible our readers would be turned off by the lack of shiny things blinking all over our blog. But maybe without the verbal excess, our company’s true vision and personality would actually have a moment to shine.

While many of items seen on the runway at this year’s fashion week will eventually end up on the eBay when a broke stylista needs to pay her cell phone bill, one designer is hoping his dresses on eBay will teach him more about his clientele.

Designer Derek Lam is in the process of diversifying his brand by creating a line with a lower price point, and to get an idea what his new buyers want, he’s decided to crowdsource on eBay. In collaboration with eBay, Lam has released a preview of his new collection on eBay and shoppers can vote on their favorite looks. The five dresses that gather the most consumer votes will be available on eBay for a limited time.

This kind of “let’s hear from the people” attitude is very un-fashion industry, which is full of people who fancy themselves the types who create taste without the input from consumers. But it makes sense. What Lam has tapped into about crowdsourcing is something small businesses have been doing online for a while. Whether it’s helping pick out new flavors for gelato or asking consumers what they think of a company’s new website, the little guy has found hundreds of ways to get feedback and help from the masses. The best thing is that crowdsourcing can be conducted on our Twitter and Facebook accounts. This doesn’t mean you won’t open yourselves up to a lot of crazytown opinions that are far from helpful. On the contrary, crowdsourcing is inviting all opinions and thoughts, even the nutty ones. Sifting through these is an eye-opening experience. I recently helped launch a survey for a theater company wherein we asked the group’s Facebook friends to contribute their ideas and thoughts about programming the upcoming season. The results were fascinating and even odd at times. Overall, we learned something we already knew: People want to be heard and people like contributing to businesses and organizations that they believe in.

Crowdsourcing helps brands see what’s going on in the minds of their audiences. So, in the spirit of that, we wanna know what you think. Tell us some of your crowdsourcing thoughts, nightmares or successes in the comments section below.

Since its launch late last year, we’ve been hearing rumblings that the Smurfs Village app for smartphones and tablets was swindling customers out of big-time cash. The Smurfs? These guys? Really? We found it hard to believe until this piece came out last week in Forbes. Turns out Smurfs Village, which is free to play and download, charges actual currency inside the game for precious “Smurfberries.” From $5 bucks to $100 bucks, Smurfberries can end up costing parents a bundle. Now the happy little blue creatures and their iPhone app have consumers and marketers both questioning the values and motives of smartphone apps.

Smurfs Village, which operates much like Farmville, encourages players to help the Smurfs decorate their village and mushroom houses. In order to get certain things, players need Smurfberries, which can be earned with more game play or bought with real-life money for players who don’t want to wait. Smurfs Village maker Capcom claims the warnings about in-app purchases are clearly marked. But parents like Madison’s beg to differ. Madison is an 8-year-old girl from Rockville, Maryland, who racked up more than $1,400 in Smurf purchases. Ouch.

We could go back and forth about if kids should be allowed to play with smartphones (uhm, no) or if in-app purchases are a good idea (hell, no) but we won’t. Instead, what’s interesting about this little “Smurf-up” is how it really puts the microscope on our intentions with smartphone apps. Are we developing smartphone apps as extensions of our mobile marketing plans or do we want the apps to be money making products that contribute to our brand’s vision? Capcom is suspected saying something is free but then charging for extras once you’re inside the game. But this isn’t really that different from brands with free apps that are helping themselves to user info for demographic and advertising purposes. Yet these little app games with users are not bound to last: Apple has wound up in court due to claims that the company has sold user information to app developers and advertisers.

Apple itself reportedly is fuming at Capcom and other companies for in-app purchases. The Smurfs, who have a new movie coming out, should tread lightly with Mac because Steve Jobs is certainly a more formidable enemy than that silly old Gargamel.