Business

The Rise Of The Profersonal In Social Media

In the past year, social media was the vehicle that drove several high-profile careers off a cliff. Pro athlete Larry Johnson tweeted a homophobic slur that resulted in a fan petition calling for his removal from the Kansas City Chiefs. He was later suspended. Gilbert Gottfried lost his gig as the voice of the Aflac [...]

7 Tips for Content Marketing Webinar Success

According to CMI’s newly released 2012 B2B content marketing study, marketers give webinars the second highest effectiveness rating as a content marketing tactic. Why, then, do only 46 percent of marketers use them? They are, after all, another great way to showcase your quality content and position yourself as a thought leader in your marketplace. [...]

5 Content Marketing Resolutions (That You Might Actually Keep)

The resolution bandwagon is full of false hope and empty promises at the beginning of every year. You’ve got the classic “I will lose X number of pounds before bathing suit season” and “I will save more money this year (and stop buying so many video games.)” Sure, those resolutions are good hearted but many [...]

Magazine ‘App’-titude

When CNN announced plans earlier last week to acquire Zite, an upstart creator of magazine apps for Apple’s iPad, it wasn’t exactly Earth-shattering news. The East Coast was still sweeping up after Irene. In the wake of a disaster that almost was, the acquisition caused nary a ripple in the blogosphere. Understandable. The announcement didn’t [...]

Why It’s OK For You to Hate This Blog Post

We spend a lot of time wooing people to like us. “Follow us on Twitter!” “Like us on Facebook!” “Get our email updates!” “Share us with your friends!” “Please hang out with us Friday night!” (OK, so that’s from my personal life, but you get the drift.) And it makes sense that we do, kind [...]

3 Steps to Delivering Customer Service Happiness

I recently purchased some sandals from Zappos that didn’t work out. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but they needed to go back. I hate returns, particularly when it comes to an online purchase. “I have to print a label?” “Go to the UPS store?” “Carve out time for this when the whole point of ordering online [...]

Free Your Content, and the Rest Will Follow

A social media presence is a good start, but a presence alone is a lot like having a storefront on a quiet street and waiting for people to come in your door. Sure, they may find out about you eventually – if you’ve invested in advertising, have great word of mouth, dominate search engine rankings, [...]

4 Must-Haves for Must-Have Brands

When money’s tight, people look at their budget and separate things into two columns: must-have and might-have. And lately, branded goods haven’t been making it into the latter column as much as they used to, as a recent Harris Poll has found that 62% of people are making the choice to go “generic” instead of [...]

Gurus, Ninjas, Experts, and Labels

Labels are a great way to identify things. They save us a lot of time when we’re trying to identify who made a shirt, what is contained in a bottle, or what street we should turn on next. But when it comes to people, it gets a lot more complicated.

How to Monitor Social Media Conversations

There’s a lot of social media static out there. And sifting through it is not an enviable task.

The Truth About Branding (And Nothing But The Truth)

AMC’s hit television drama Mad Men is famous for its depiction of the hard-drinking, hard-working Madison Avenue ad man—the Don Drapers and Roger Sterlings of the world who churned out corporate slogans over pre-noon cocktails and pulls on their Lucky Strikes. The daughter of an ad man who grew up in the late sixties and [...]

Social Media Friends … with Benefits

Marketers are courting people on social media and the relationship has evolved past the early days when it was all about making friends. Much to the delight of CFOs everywhere, social media has entered the era of “friends with benefits.” Tangible ones, even. According to survey results released by Social Media Examiner, marketers have reported [...]

5 Things Brands Want from Facebook Fans Besides Money

ROI doesn’t always come in the form of cold, hard cash. Though your CFO might get nauseous at the notion of outcomes she can’t put in the bank, there’s a ton of value to be derived from Facebook fans that doesn’t make the cash register ca-ching. At least not directly.

10 Rules for Real Life Social Networking

You probably already have Tammy Portnoy’s business card. In fact, she was likely at the event you went to last month. She was the one in the cowboy hat with the crowd of people around her. She’s been called a networking demon, and it’s true. As a PR specialist at Buffalo Communications, a golf-lifestyle PR [...]

6 Social Media Marketing Roadblocks and How to Plow Through Them

The race is on. Social media provides a track for organizations to connect with their audience like never before. But the road is not always smooth. A recent survey by HiveFire highlighted 6 of the most common roadblocks that hinder progress for organizations when it comes to implementing their social media marketing initiatives:

Content, In Style

When you think of Burberry, what comes to mind? Stodgy British trench coats? Hardly. In the last four years, the 150-year-old brand has transformed itself into a digital fashion empire, with CEO Angela Ahrendts as the driving force behind the evolution. The result is a record year for the brand, with total revenue up 21% [...]

Wasn’t Print Supposed to be Dead by Now?

For the past several years, print magazines have been the punching bag of the blogosphere and digital revolution. Naysayers dubbed it “dead tree media” and essentially had a poll running to see who could predict when it would take its final breath – being on its death bed and all. But it turns out they [...]

A Screenshot to Take to the Board Room

Most brands don’t have the luxury of being able to ignore their customers and still be wildly successful, let alone the desire. Which is why it’s a surprise to see some companies still playing the “if we ignore it, maybe it’ll go away” card when it comes to social media monitoring. So, to those of [...]