Build Thought Leadership Through Social Networking
Remember, social media is about people, not logos. That’s why the most powerful form of social capital is personal, not corporate. That was the theme of my day-long workshop for the Association of Management Consulting Firms last week in New York. My friend and client Elizabeth Sosnow of BlissPR co-presented with me. Titled “You’re a […]
Let’s Stop Swooning Over Social Media
Are you overdoing it on social media? Just a little? I’m a proponent of social media. In fact, I’m a proponent that gets paid to convince others that social media is valuable. But, like in the early days of Web design, SEO, PPC, email, and banners before it, there’s too much swooning and not enough […]
Delegation Equals Death in Social Media
Are you just a social media cheerleader? Almost every time I work with a public relations firm or corporation on social media, I hear a version of this statement: “Us old dogs don’t really understand all this new social media stuff, but we’ve got this brilliant young guy right out of school, and he’s getting […]
Observations on Day 365
This week makes it one year since I started writing this blog, and I wanted to take a moment to say a sincere thanks to every one of you that occupies even a minute of their increasingly precious time by reading Convince & Convert. The volume of high quality, free, online content (especially about marketing) […]
4 Ways to Increase Share of Voice
The concept of “listening to the conversation” which is at the core of most social media programs, and is the foundation for many companies that sell listening tools, is really just a pseudonym for tracking content your customers create based on their satisfaction, or dissatisfaction. It’s often described as “share of voice” – the percentage […]
Why Twitter Needs Its Bottom Spanked
I see Twitter being in real danger of becoming MySpace and SecondLife. Do you? If Twitter doesn’t get it’s act together and improve customer experience for the masses of new users signing on, it’s going to end up as an irrelevant, niche community for a self-referential subculture. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that […]
Advice for Facebook Marketing – ebook Showdown
Is your company appropriately serious about Facebook? Facebook’s sweeping changes to the “Pages” function last March has made the popular social network much more viable as an interactive, satellite online presence for brands. Some companies are even using Facebook as the core of their social media strategy, and Vitamin Water and others are tagging their […]
19 Top Takeaways from B2B Forum
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the MarketingProfs B2B Marketing Forum in Boston. As usual for MarketingProfs‘ events, it was a superlative, intimate mixture of excellent speakers and smart, eager attendees. For me, the highlights were the presentation by Sandy Carter of IBM on their use of social media, […]
Twitterati Says Email Isn’t Dead Yet – 6 Findings
Every conference I’ve been at, and at least 10 blog posts I’ve read this year have proclaimed the death of email. Social network messaging, and its 1:1 relevancy and real-time immediacy will inexorably make email the Edsel of digital communication, goes the theory. It’s not true. Firstly, this isn’t a zero sum game. The notion […]
CC Chapman – The Twitter 20 Interview on Telling Stories and Humanizing Brands
CC Chapman is a lot of desirable things. A legendary podcaster that embraced that medium from its very earliest days. A grizzled blogger, with entries dating back to 2001. A co-founder of the buzzlicious non-traditional marketing agency The Advance Guard. A devoted father that doesn’t let the digital tsunami swamp his boat. Between conference speaking […]
Why Social Media Helps the Rich Get Richer
Do you accept the premise that “social media” has expanded well beyond its consumer-generated content roots to encompass a much larger trend of customer-centrism and candor? Do you believe that the core of a successful social media strategy is making your company more like a person and less like a machine? Do you believe that […]
Why Can’t PR Do Digital?
Why aren’t PR firms offering digital marketing services to their clients? On Sunday, David Anderson from Off Madison Ave and I presented this roundtable at the PRSA Counselor’s Academy conference in Palm Desert. The title is: Revenue.com: Launching Digital Marketing Services to Grow Retainers. Note we only had ~30 minutes, so this isn’t as comprehensive […]