We cover a variety of Social Media strategies in SEO Training, you can also learn more about online marketing on our Google Analytics courses in Brighton, Sussex.

Well, there has been a lot of fuss about Abs Man, Hunky Guy Old Spice man, and I can understand why. It has caused such a stir that I wrote about it earlier today. But wait there's more to this viral campaign that meets the eye.

In just a few short weeks the campaign can claim

• Nearly 90,000 followers on Twitter, including a host of celebrities.
• 100 million views and 100,000 subscribers on YouTube
• 666,000 fans on Facebook

So it's a great success yes? Well yes if your goal is to increase brand awareness, to put yourselves on the Facebook Map or become king of the twittersphere. But what about sales? What if your goal is to increase sales? What about your ROI?  These questions arrived in our comment box soon after posting - thanks Nicholas Butler for making me think and have to write a follow up!

Today, news breaks that Old Spice sales have dropped 7% since the campaign started and critics are out in force talking about how viral marketing doesn't equate to sales.

So before you invest in a massive marketing campaign you or your agency should be asking what your end goals are. The fact is, the highest ROI campaigns may not use Twitter, Facebook or hunky guys. It is important to have clear goals in order before you start a campaign. If the Old Spice wanted a campaign to increase the online buzz increase brand awareness, gain thousands of fans, build a network of advocates and reach a new audience with its product, while being brilliantly entertaining, then the campaign was an overwhelming success. If the goal was to increase sales then the campaign failed.

It would be interesting to know if sales would increase if the product itself were sexy Food for thought.

OK - so your business is increasing its Social Media presence (well done!). You have been working on your Search Engine Optimisation, and you've created a Fan Page for your business on Facebook, but the URL for your Facebook fan page is ridiculously long and impossible for anyone to remember.

If only there was a way to get a nice, short, snappy URL.

Well guess what? THERE IS! Facebook calls this a vanity URL.

But - it's a bit of a fiddle. So - read through our simple step by step guide below...

Unsure what to do with the Facebook Timeline? Check out our Complete Guide to Facebook Timeline.

How to Change the URL for your Facebook Fan Page

The URLs that Facebook allocates Fan Pages by default are RUBBISH!

Ours was www.facebook.com/pages/Silicon-Beach-Training/150912562754 - mmmm catchy!

However - we've shortened it to www.facebook.com/SiliconBeach MUCH better!

Here's how...

10 years ago I was writing my dissertation on Women and the Internet.It was a revelation then how women were using this relatively new medium (new as in 'popular and accessible') to communicate, connect and network. Previously technological gadgets, including computers, were largely bought by men - toys for boys. The internet changed all that.

Last night I attended a talk by Miss Aniela, whose rapid rise to fame was due to her immersion in social media, firstly by using Flickr and more recently Facebook and Twitter. Those interested in building up their own online presence using social media may be interested in our training courses.

You can learn more about marketing your business or organisation via Facebook on our Social Media Training course. We also run regular creative courses including Photoshop Training & InDesign training in Brighton.

Now 10 years after the internet changed the way women interacted with computers another wave of change is upon us.  Social media networks have seen phenomenal growth in terms of numbers of users both for individuals and business. The biggest growth can be seen in the number of women using social networks on a regular basis. Women now outnumber men on the following networks:

• Facebook: 57 percent women users.
• Twitter: 57 percent women users.
• Flickr: 55 percent women users.

Source: Information is Beautiful

Why Do you Think That is?

Look at the statistics from the 2009 Women and Social Media Study By BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners

Women who blog were asked what motivated them to blog. These were the results:

• 76% for fun
• 73% Express myself
• 59% Connect with others like me
• 54% Personal record or diary
• 37% To give advice/educate
• 33 % Positive reactions and feedback from my audience
• 29% Establish or contribute to a community
• 25% To reach large audience
• 22% To persuade others/advocate
• 21% Promote my skills or my business
• 17% Earn money

I think although I have no data to back this up, that if you asked most businesses why they would consider using social media to promote their business you could practically reverse the above stats. It's not that it's a bad thing to want to be successful in business, to want to promote yourself or to make money or sell. It's just that in order to do these things using social media you need to do the other stuff first - listen, give, communicate - otherwise it won't work.

Is this the end of click-bait? Facebook has announced changes to the News Feed that should reduce the amount of click-bait headlines and improve user experience. What effect does this have on Facebook page owners?

Firstly, here's how Facebook is going to decide which posts are click-bait:

• Short clicks - a user clicks on a link and then quickly clicks back to Facebook. This indicates that the content did not match the headline. In reverse, the longer someone spends on a link, the more useful it will look to Facebook.
• Engagement - links that receive a lot of clicks but very few shares and likes will also be flagged as click-bait as it shows that the link was not valuable enough to earn a recommendation.