The Number One Least Asked Question in Social Media…Why?
| The number one least asked question in social media is also the most important… Asking “why” in all aspects of business and life in general is unexploited. Day in and day out I help businesses understand the opportunity that lies within new media, not because of Twitter or Facebook. I do so because opportunity is [...] |  |
Cisco’s Foray into Brand Journalism
| This guest post is by John Earhardt, Director of Social Media Communications at Cisco on the important of brand journalism. You can follow him on Twitter @urnhart. Why My Mom Invented Social Media As Brian Solis stated in a recent blog entry, “social media has never been about the technology as much as it has [...] |  |
Report: The Rise of the Social Advertising
| To download the full Pivot report, please click here… We are entering the beginning of the end of the destination web as we have known it. Consumers increasingly spend time in social networks and less in their email inboxes and visiting traditional websites. As such, brands continue to race to social media sites in the [...] |  |
A Social Democracy: The White House learns to listen
| We are now entering an era of sociopolitical influence, a framework for governments that influences and is influenced by its constituencies through real life interaction and now, new media. Some may say that this isn’t anything new. Certain governments over the years embraced the aspects of digital community in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Many [...] |  |
The Pivot Conference: Your Questions Answered, Part 2
| As the host and editorial director for this year’s Pivot Conference, I asked early registrants what was on their mind. I received a fair amount of questions and wanted to share the answers with you here in case you’re thinking about similar topics. Here’s part 2 of 3. You can read part 1 here. What [...] |  |
This is a Time for Leaders to Lead not React
| If you’re reacting, someone else defines what you’re going to do, rather than defining what people need to do. Your businesses faces great change. This statement is true about customers, competitors, and everyone else affecting market behavior. The question is, what are you going to do about it? Customer engagement, and specifically customer engagement in [...] |  |
This is the time to go your own way
| I was recently asked to write the foreword for Social Media Geek-to-Geek by Rick & Kathy Schmidt Jamison. I was delighted to help and as always, I requested to publish the foreword here when the book was released. Now that the book is available on Amazon, I’m excited to share the foreword with you here… [...] |  |
The Hashtag Economy
| Hashtags are to the social web what emoticons were to Web 1.0 and TXTing. While both are forms of expression and sentiment, there is one subtle, but vital difference. Hashtags are not only part of online culture, they are defining a new era of communication on the Web and IRL (in real life). With over [...] |  |
Dispelling the Darkness with Brand Journalism
| Guest post by Kyle Monson, a former technology journalist and editor at PC Magazine, is Content Strategy Director at JWT. Follow him on Twitter @kmonson You probably already know this, but we marketers are the bad guys in the battle of good versus evil. One commonly employed metaphor—“The Dark Side”—is particularly apt: we hunt down [...] |
@ is the Universal Sign of Engagement
| For decades, companies were very good at pushing messages into markets and talking at people rather than with them. Now companies are embracing the idea of two-way interaction. Monitoring conversations is becoming standard procedure as small and enterprise businesses alike make substantial investments in tools such as Radian6, Sprial16 and Brandtology. And, not only are [...] |  |
The Twitter Paradox
| There’s an old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Twitter is a paradox that redefines that old saying to, “If it’s broke, don’t fix it, because it works.” For all intents and purposes, Twitter shouldn’t work, yet 200 million people (and bots) have created accounts in this thriving information egosystem. Now, news no [...] |  |
Rest In Peace Marketing: I Never Really Liked You Anyway
| This guest post is by Michael Stelzner, the founder of Social Media Examiner and author of the new book Launch. Social and selling just don’t mix. Have you ever been to a wedding sponsored by Nike? Does a future where restaurant tables display infomercials sound appealing? The last thing anyone wants in a social context [...] |  |
Is Your Business Antisocial?
| I ask with sincerity, is your business antisocial? Take a moment before you respond. I understand you may have Facebook and Twitter presences. Your business may broadcast on YouTube. Perhaps your executives are blogging. If you’re among the more sophisticated organizations, the team is probably subscribing to elaborate monitoring services to listen more effectively. And, [...] |  |
Social Media is not Going to Save Your Business
| To truly see opportunities within social media requires viewing the consumer landscape through a different lens… Social media is enjoying yet another gust beneath its wings. Google Plus is rekindling the love affair of social networking among the early adopters and mavens who friended their way to higher Klout scores and also social network fatigue. [...] |  |
Google will not run Circles around Facebook, but it gets a +1
| While there are already countless articles about Google+ and many more sharing up-to-the-minute statistics to emerge from the burgeoning network, I reserved my thoughts until now. I needed time to think about it. Part FriendFeed, part Google Buzz, part Facebook, part Google.com and all of its properties, Google Plus represents a fresh approach to social [...] |  |
Foursquare Now 10 Million Strong: Has Your Business Checked-in?
| Foursquare is an emerging mobile network that connects people and places through mobile phones. While it isn’t the only player in the space, Foursquare does appear to be the game to beat. The 800 pound gorilla is Facebook Places but other geo-location nicheworks are also growing including Loopt and Gowalla. Each equally bring together the [...] |  |
The Pivot Conference: Your Questions Answered, Part 1
| The Pivot Conference is designed for brands and their agencies and will take place October 17th and 18th in New York. This year’s theme focuses on an important shift in marketing as brands respond to “The Rise of the Social Consumer.” As the host and editorial director for the event, I asked early registrants what [...] |  |
Pivot: Your Questions Answered, Part 3
| As the host and editorial director for this year’s Pivot Conference, I asked the first wave of registrants what they’re looking to learn leading into the conference. The questions, I imagine, are shared and therefore I am sharing the answers to hopefully hel youp. Here’s part 3 of 3. Follow the links to read part [...] |  |
The Top 10 Marketing Sites for Social Media Marketing Trends
| Recently, the Pivot Conference team set out to learn more about the state of social advertising and the future ahead by conducting an industry survey of 230 brand managers, executives, and marketing professionals. We will release the full report during the week of July 25th. Not all of the insights we learned will make it [...] |  |
