Todd Defren – The Twitter 20 Interview About Social Media and PR 2.0
Todd Defren is one of America’s leading thinkers and influencers around the new era of public relations. Deftly blending social media, search marketing, and relationship building, Todd’s team at SHIFT Communications is breaking the mold for what a PR firm can and should do. In addition to his work at SHIFT, Todd’s blog at PR […]
The Wisdom of Social Media X-Rays
Are you actually helping your company via social media? Much of contemporary social media effort and brand reputation management is focused on uncovering the positive. Number of friends. Number of followers. Blog posts. Blog comments. Share of voice. Net promoter score. Brands (and their agencies) are creating reports and smiling when those reports show how […]
Don’t Put the Social Media Cart Before the Horse
Are you eschewing the basics to focus on social media? At two recent conferences where I spoke (Online Marketing Summit and Email Evolutions) there were several discussions about the confluence of email and social media. Thinking about email and social media concurrently is healthy – and appropriate. Both are best used as customer retention and […]
Marketing Sideways to Win at Social Media
Are you ready to kill features and benefits? You need to find the one thing about your brand that’s inherently interesting. The one thing isn’t something obvious. Instead, it’s an unusual aspect of your operations or corporate culture that often requires some anthropological thinking to uncover. Once you find the one thing and build social […]
Mobile Marketing Your Time is Now
Are you ready to launch a mobile campaign? I’ve been a big proponent of mobile and SMS for a while, but we’re finally getting to the point where the number of mobile users and consumer acceptance is high enough to make entirely viable for most brands. Consider: More text messages are sent than mobile phone […]
Free Social Media Webinar and New Blog
Notice something different? Greetings. Happy President’s Day. Although not rivaling the birthdays (observed) of some of America’s great leaders, it’s a big day here at Convince & Convert mobile global headquarters (which today brings me to Las Vegas for my son’s hockey tournament). New Convince & Convert Blog Launches Today marks the official launch of […]
We’re Not All Social Media Spielbergs
Are we expecting too much of people in social media, even the raving fans? Jim Beam has a history of great social media programs, and their most recent is “The Remake” video contest. The premise is that you create your own video that spoofs Beam’s hilarious “Girlfriend” TV commercials. First prize is $25,000 and a […]
Cross-Pollinate Search and Email
Email marketing and search marketing have often been looked at as being at opposite ends of the digital marketing spectrum. Email used as a loyalty and retention tool, with search used as an acquisition tactic. But that thinking prevents the results from those marketing efforts informing and improving one another, and the opportunities in that […]
Revolutionizing Blog Analytics
Do you know how visitors use your blog? I have previously reviewed Crazy Egg, whose heat maps and link tracking are exceptional (and easy to use). But a few weeks ago I signed up for a trial of Israeli company ClickTale, and I am absolutely blown away by what it can do. ClickTale records every […]
Social Media Adds Viral Frosting to the Email Cake
Are you enabling your email subscribers to spread your message via social media? Call it Forward to a Friend 2.0. Call it the inevitable marriage of two sides of the customer relationship coin. Call it the next big thing in email marketing. The hand-wringing in the email community about the impact of social media is […]
The Death of Newspapers: Poisoned or Suicide?
The evidence of newspapers’ decline as a primary source of information in America is everywhere. My local paper narrowed to a tabloid size yesterday, following USA Today, Arizona Republic, and many, many other papers. Essentially all newspapers have laid off significant portions of their staff. Some (like East Valley Tribune in suburban Phoenix) are printing […]
Linkedin – 22 Ways to Dominate
Linkedin is in a resurgence. Since adding applications and mimicking some other Facebook-style functionality, the Grandaddy of social networks is becoming more relevant. Its important to recognize that Linkedin has different demographics than Facebook, Myspace and other social networks. Linkedin is older (68% are 35+), wealthier (66% make $60/year+), and better educated (72% are college […]