Part 2 of a 3-Part Rant Brands are shouting from the rooftops about how many Facebook fans they have – and the number of “likes” does help you spread your message through the news feeds of your fans (more on that tomorrow). But let’s recognize it takes literally one click of one finger to “like” [...]
How Size Matters in the Social Media ROI Debate
Guest post by Simon Gornick, a content consultant specializing in short form slogans, and owner of The Tagline Machine. ROI in social media is a luxury. And the only brands that can accept that are likely to be big ones with multi-platform marketing budgets. The larger the brand, the more likely they are to use [...]
Is Our Addiction to ROI Killing Social Media?
Guest post by Matt Ridings, founder of MSR Consulting, a Digital Relationship Marketing Agency in St. Louis. He’s @techguerilla on Twitter. I had an interesting phone call with a prospective client. I didn’t know him, and hadn’t worked with his (large) company. He was looking for a social media vendor, and was referred to me [...]
Do You Have the Guts to Expect Social Media Failure
The fastest way to get your company to be on the social media sidelines is to get your company involved in social media. There’s a huge gap between the perception of social media as an instant, free, can’t miss marketing opportunity and the reality of social media as a long-term, time-intensive customer loyalty and brand [...]
Social Listening and Analysis for the DIY Inclined
If you are conducting any level of online reputation management or campaign tracking using social media data sources, you have to get beyond the obvious. The point of tracking software isn’t to determine how many tweets were sent mentioning a company, it’s to figure out what those tweets say, and what the business ramifications are. [...]
The 3 Amigos: Email, Blogging, Social Sharing
For a while now, there’s been too much talk about social media vs. email vs. search. All of these tactics can work together seamlessly to create a robust, optimized content marketing engine that pays real dividends in increased website traffic, and conversions. A collaboration between RESMARK Systems (a provider of hospitality software), Western River Expeditions [...]
Social Media is the Servant of Strategy, Not the Master
Guest post by Mike Cassidy, a non-profit Senior Executive Director specializing in membership development, engagement and retention. His ramblings can be found at www.membershipjedi.com This post is a compilation of ideas born out of Jay’s post “Why You’re the Key to Social Media Success” in which he succinctly describes one of the biggest obstacles facing [...]
Is Your Twitter Addiction Paying Off
Twitter can suck you in to a vortex of counter-productivity like one bite of that KFC Double Down sandwich. I love the Twitter culture and community, and I spend quite a bit of time using Twitter. It also continues to be a reliable conduit for new visitors here at Convince & Convert. Maybe you found [...]
It’s Time for Real-Time
When I was a kid, I set a few goals: Having a laundry chute (I’m easily amused) Having a pool table Owning my own company Learning to play guitar Writing a book The first three I got handled pretty easily. Turns out, I’m totally non-musical, so that guitar thing is going to be tough. But, [...]
Are You Suffering From Premature Calculation?
Originally, he was called Machaca. Two problems arose. First, very few people (even here in Arizona) knew what Machaca meant, so we were constantly having to explain it. Second, he just didn’t “seem” like a Machaca. So, in a flash of four year-old inspiration, my son switched our dog’s name to “Cheeto”, and it fit [...]






