Are Super Bowl ads worth the price? After two decades of advertising during the big game, Pepsi no longer things so.

Pepsi, which has spent an estimated $254.2 million in Super Bowl ads over the past 20 years, startled the industry a few weeks ago by announcing the cola for the next generation won’t participate in America’s national football marketing extravaganza. Instead, the soft drink company will pour millions of dollars into an online project meant to build connections over time by reaching consumers through blogging, Facebook and Twitter. It plans to distribute more than $20 million in community grants, voted on by Web users.

Pepsi’s doing the right thing. 

While Super Bowl ads can be a great way to launch a new product, service, or get your company’s name out there, they’re also very risky. Unless you have the commercial that everyone’s talking about after the game and can clearly explain your product combined with a great call to action in 30 seconds or less, there’s no guarantee you’ll see a positive ROI from your ad spend. Conversions, after all, are the name of the game.

Pepsi already has name and product recognition-something Super Bowl ads can help promote. What they need is more people drinking their products and telling their friends and neighbors how good those products are.

By funneling their money into online marketing efforts, not only will Pepsi be able to connect with its customers and better determine the ROI from their ad spend.

It remains to be seen how successful Pepsi finds its online marketing efforts. But given how online adverting is becoming more targeted and companies are finding ways to funnel people into their sales pipeline, Pepsi made the right decision.

As I wrote my last business social media tip, the ultimate factor that determines the success of your social media efforts is its ability to turn buzz into new or repeat customers.

Here are three things you can do to ensure your social media maximizes its potential to fill your sales pipeline and increase your bottom line.

1. Have a purpose

Before you enter the social media fray, decide what you want your Twitter, Facebook, or other accounts to do. Is it simply to let others know what’s going in with your organization such as a sale, press release or new product announcement? Or do you want it to talk about what’s going on within your industry or market as well as company related items? Who is the audience you’re trying to reach?

Just like the best blogs has a purpose and audience, so do the best social media efforts. If you don’t know what you want your social media efforts to accomplish, don’t be surprised when you don’t see results.

2. Content is king

Whether you’re offering linking to another site or your own be sure to give your audience something worth their time. Nothing’s more frustrating for prospects to be enticed by a good tweet or headline only do discover that the link they click on doesn’t offer them anything of value.

Before posting a blog entry, a tweet, or something you send to your Facebook fans, be sure you’re giving of them something they’ll value. Keeping your social media efforts focused on the needs of your audience not only increases your value in the eyes of customers but also encourages them to pass it along to their lists and followers.

3. Don’t forget the call to action

Since the ultimate goal of social media should be to increase your customers and revenue, don’t forget to give them a call to action either on your web pages you direct them to or on your some of posts. If you want people to know they can take advantage of a special, be sure to tell them what you want them to do and where to click to buy or to go to get more information.

As mentioned in my January Conversion Tip, 2009 was the year social media became the must do thing for businesses and marketers. Sites like Twitter and Facebook became mainstream. Businesses and marketers jumped on board hoping to ride the social media wave into profitable heights.

If done right, social media sites can be a boon for your business. They’re a great way to connect with your target audience and current customers, as well as good way to know what people think about your product or service and how many of them are repeating and spreading your message.

But marketing is more than broadcasting a message to your target audience; it’s about getting them to heed your call to action. You want them to enter your sales pipeline and become customers or for those who already have already purchased your product and service to become repeat customers.

What good are 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 Facebook fans or Twitter followers if they aren’t entering your sales pipeline or enticing others to do the same? Like all marketing efforts, social media success is measured by how well they turn prospects into clients or existing customers into repeat business. It’s a nice compliment when someone (re)tweets something of you wrote or posts it on their Facebook page. But it’s even better when that person buys your product or service and then uses social media to tell their friends, family, and businesses colleges how much better you’ve made their lives and they need to have the same thing too.

So what’s the best way to get increased conversions and customers from your social media efforts? I’ll discuss that in my next post. (Hint: It involves using existing online marketing best practices.)

We’ve long become accustomed to people loudly talking on the cell phones, firing off emails during a meeting, or twittering minute details of their lives, but sometimes it seems that behavior that was once considered rude is not only becoming acceptable but in many cases supersedes more personal communication.

In The Wall Street Journal Rachel Mardsen writes:

Too many people seem to be grasping for ways to connect with others while rarely actually connecting in a way that has true value or significance. What so many people end up with is something that looks like a connection from the outside as they text each other a million times a day, or sign notes with “much love.” Sadly, that’s the new standard of personal value in this technological era.

Last year there was a big push for business to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with prospects and existing customers. And, if done right, these sites can be great tools to connect with those interested in your product or service. But often when businesses use social media sites, they often mistake this form of communication for the personal touch that it often takes to get someone to enter the sales pipeline or become a customer.

To increase conversions this year, resolve to be more personal in your marketing efforts. Whether it’s picking up the phone, taking someone to lunch, or sending a personalized (not mass mailed) email, be sure your marketing and sales efforts includes efforts that let your prospects and customers know that their more than a Twitter follower or Facebook fans.

That added personal touch can go a long way to filling your sales pipeline and getting many more loyal customers.