How to Effectively Bottle Social Media and Product Integration

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In addition to family, football, and fancy side dishes you’ll never see for another year, Thanksgiving brings an annual dilemma to the oenophile. What wine to serve for Thanksgiving is a tricky question, as the holiday table replete with savory and sweet options is an Ellis Island of tastes, making for a tough wine pairing.

Our Dangerous Addiction to Social Media Case Studies

The Recalcitrant Social Media Cheerleader

The two most important words in social media should be “so what?” As Tom Webster eloquently put it in his recent Blogworld keynote, when research wears the cloak of content marketing, it’s a recipe for the incurious to pull a fast one on the masses, disguising pointless data as gospel. Tom was referring to data-dredging

How to Humanize a Sketchy Industry

Humanization Highway

Social media is about people, not logos. I saw a presentation at the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Forum in Austin a few ago from Eric Granof, CMO of ExpertBail, which seeks to become the country’s first branded network of bail bonds companies. Like video stores before Blockbuster, and ice cream parlors before Dairy Queen, Expert Bail

What I Learned About Humanity From a Steakhouse

Myril Arch Placement

Last week, in the post “Why Your Special Offer Isn’t” we talked about the importance of humanization. Faced with an invitation avalanche, consumers will respond to the stories that resonate with them on a personal level. And those stories don’t just have to live in social media. Myril Arch’s Story — Humanizing a T-Bone Recently,

Runza Combines Social Media and Email – Something to Chew On

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Remember, the goal isn’t to be good at social media. The goal is to be good at business because of social media. Here’s one of the best ways to live that creed. Proactively use your social outposts to drive behavior among your current and prospective customers that has a higher value than just a one

Wow Online Influencers With An In-Person Experience

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Guest post by Paula Hahn Managing Director at Marina Maher Communications (MMC). An expert in marketing to women, she heads the Media Connections practice, focused on managing brand dialogue via traditional and social media. Time is proving that no matter how much social media changes, the core rules of engagement remain the same. Transparency and

Online Community With Purpose and a Plan

HOME - Jane Nation

Lisa Beatty was at a cross-roads. This 40-something Florida Mom found herself undergoing several simultaneous life shifts, and realized that products and the communication about them didn’t resonate with her any longer. Companies didn’t seem to understand where she was, who she was, or what she wanted. So, Lisa Beatty build JaneNation.com, a new opinion,

Get Your Social Media Story Straight

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This is the best ad I’ve seen in months. The chronically bad Minnesota Timberwolves NBA franchise has this sign in the Twin Cities airport: Bravo. Talk about an ad that’s chock full of truth and authenticity. The team’s record for the last five years: 2009-10 (14-60) so far 2008-09 (24-58) 2007-08 (22-60) 2006-07 (32-50) 2005-06

Do You Know Your Customers Enough to be a Social Media Hit?

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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

Trident Integrates Social Media with Print Ads

Trident layers

I promised you a couple weeks ago that in 2010 I would focus on social media integration and real business. Well, I’m starting a little early. Trident has released a new gum called Trident layers, which appears to be some sort of neapolitan ice cream-type multi-flavor concoction. (Personally, I’m okay with my gum tasting like