Lunchtime Links: Maybe Facebook Marketing is Really Worth it

Lots of marketers go back and forth when it comes to Facebook. Is it worth it? Is it a waste of time?

In a guest post for SocialFish  (opens in a new tab), Marketing Mojo Account Director Amanda Sides makes the case that it is valuable—if done properly. But one thing you don’t want to do is just hop on there without a plan.

“Before you get started,” she writes, “be sure to nail down your overall goals you want to achieve from this initiative. Do you want to send people to your Facebook page to promote more likes? Or do you want to direct people to your website to perform a certain conversion action? This will help guide your strategy, as you never want to lose sight of your ultimate end goals.”

Read more of Sides’ post  (opens in a new tab) to get a few ideas on the strategy that goes into marketing on Facebook—including retargeting, measuring, and a notable success story.

Getty Images Get Embeddable

You want to use a news photo on your website, but you don’t have the budget to buy the rights. Sound like a situation you’ve run into? If so, you may want to keep an eye on Getty Images’ new embeddable images setup  (opens in a new tab), which allows you to use the photo service’s high-quality art for free—in the form of a YouTube-style embeddable image. Here’s a sample (from Ben Affleck’s recent trip to Congress  (opens in a new tab)):
Embed from Getty Images  (opens in a new tab)

Other Good Reads Today

You may have heard about LinkedIn’s publishing platform, but is it worthwhile? CMSWire takes a closer look  (opens in a new tab).

Here’s the checklist that nonprofit marketing expert Kivi Leroux Miller says she uses when analyzing an e-newsletter  (opens in a new tab).

Speaking of sending email, perhaps you’re doing it too much  (opens in a new tab), writes chamber of commerce consultant Frank J. Kenny.

Also speaking of email, TechCrunch reports that a new service called ReBump  (opens in a new tab) drew an icy reception recently for its concept—which involves repeatedly emailing someone until they respond.

(Getty Images News/Thinkstock)