Are you too dismissive of Foursquare (as well as Gowalla and the other geo-location apps)? I’m starting to hear a lot of smart people scoff at these services, primarily along these lines “Why do I care where someone is eating for lunch?” The last time I heard that line of reasoning en mass was when [...]
6 Critical Services Agencies Must Provide to Stay Relevant in Social Media
Is there a future for agencies in a social media world? Yesterday, I gave a presentation in Tempe, AZ to Agencyside, a conference of advertising and PR agency owners. I emphasized that to remain relevant, agencies must differentiate themselves by providing advanced social media services, not just the basics. An Enormous Opportunity The huge (and [...]
4 Reasons the Social Business Evolution Starts Now
Is today the day we start thinking about social media as part of an integrated program? My friends at ExactTarget announced a moment ago that they have acquired CoTweet, the leader in enterprise Twitter management, and will be building a social products lab to add tie-ins for Facebook, YouTube, and other elements of the social [...]
Do You Know Your Customers Enough to be a Social Media Hit?
Guest post from Susan Baier, a 20-year marketing strategy veteran with an MBA in Entrepreneurship. Her company Audience Audit provides strategic marketing support and audience segmentation research that helps organizations understand their customers better. Being relevant to customers isn’t about just using their first name in an email. True relevance grows from a deep understanding [...]
6 Required Competencies for Social Organizations
Now, marketing is the center of American business. Why? because through social media, customers are praising and criticizing companies in public in a way that requires marketing to triage and respond. Three years ago, if Kevin Smith would have been kicked off a Southwest flight for being too fat, he would have yelled at the gate [...]
Is Your Social Strategy Proactive or Reactive?
Is your social media program about asking, or answering? Like Sonny divorcing Cher (or was it the other way around?) there’s a schism coming in social media between companies using it for marketing, and companies using it for customer service and CRM. Thus, one of the first questions I recommend you ask about your social [...]
Take Off the Social Media Blindfold
Among the many exceptionally interesting data snacks in the recent MarketingProfs’ State of Social Media report is one showing that businesses of all sizes and types are primarily using Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, and blogging. And while it’s on one hand a positive that we’re stating to see some norms and best practices emerge within [...]
Social Media Plus Sucking Equals Success
Sometimes being wrong feels so right. Truth and candor are in short supply these days. Perhaps it’s always been this way, but it sure seems like there’s an awful lot of politicians, celebrities, and athletes that have been unmasked as liars and losers. Soon we’ll have someone taking steroids while cavorting with hookers and debating [...]
Is Social Media Monitoring Ready for Prime-Time?
Microsoft announced recently that they are launching their own social media listening software tool (currently in closed beta), called Looking Glass, which will according to Microsoft “make social media actionable for business.” Pricing for LookingGlass has not been established. Impacts of Big Boys on Social Media Monitoring Microsoft’s entrance into the social media monitoring software [...]
Social Media Makes Everything Marketing
It’s truly fantastic that so many companies are starting to monitor the social media conversations around their brands and their industry at large. But what’s not fantastic is the reflexive apoplexy when some of those conversations inexorably are less than complementary. I have seen corporate marketers (and even PR firm folks who should know better) [...]
