Why D.I.S. is Crucial to your Content Marketing Strategy

Guest post from Russ Henneberry, who writes, speaks and executes on content marketing plans for small businesses. He writes a daily blog about how tiny businesses can make mighty profits using a personal computer, a little imagination and a few well placed dollars. The shift in marketing dollars from traditional advertising mediums to the emerging […]

Kurrently Revolutionizes Real-Time Search With Twitter + Facebook Results

Editor’s Note: Kurrently is no longer available, however, we recommend using Social Searcher which has much of the functionality that Kurrently used to have. Check it out at http://www.social-searcher.com. The future of real-time data didn’t come from Google. Or Microsoft. Or IBM. It came from a Canadian computer sciences student who uses his free time pretty […]

18 Social Media Quotes My Wife Is Sick of Hearing Me Say

17 social media quotes

Subscribe to our new Definitive newsletter: High grade digital marketing guidance, topically sorted, and curated to the max. You pick the categories, we deliver the content. The best content from around the web, on topics you care about and need to be an expert in. In my ongoing quest to have chicken served in every […]

Would You Try It With a Fox?

Guest post by Jennifer Maggiore, CEO of Maggiore Consulting, a multi-media lead generation firm and co-host of Locals Only: a Phoenix-based live Internet show. Find her at jennifermaggiore.com I love reading to my 3 year old son. One of our favorites is Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (another great book is I Had […]

4 Steps to Drive Sales with a Social FAQ

social media faq

One of the key benefits of social media that’s not talked about nearly enough is its ability to mitigate doubt and confusion among fence-sitters. Yes, your prospective customers are confused and uncertain. After all, why would they even be coming to your Web site unless they had questions about your product or service? To be […]

Are You Slow Enough to Succeed in Social Media?

Does this sound familiar? Within 12 months of its invention, 1,200 companies entered the radio “business” in some form or fashion. So said Malcolm Gladwell in a stirring speech given Monday to the AAA Annual Meeting in Scottsdale. In his own, story-filled way, he emphasized the point that we are in a period of unusual […]

Online Community With Purpose and a Plan

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, […]

Social Media’s Internal Impact – An Interview with Phil Simon

How does social media impact your internal organization? I’m delighted to have had the chance to interview technology consultant and author Phil Simon about how technology and social media adoption is changing companies. (Check out Phil’s blog too) Your new book The Next Wave of Technologies deals with how organizations can adopt and adapt to […]

The Science of Inequality – Finding Your Influential Customers

Does social media breed inequality? Because our behaviors on the social Web leave a noticeable fingerprint, smart companies can modify the way they engage and interact with us, based on our social graph, purchase history, etc. Would the VP of Customer Satisfaction of Southwest Airlines have called Kevin Smith at home (after he was kicked […]

Information as Theater – The Power of Humanized Description

I am typing this on a US Airways flight from St. Louis to Phoenix, coming back from SocialFresh. I’ll probably fly 150 segments this year, which is a lot, but nowhere near Chris Brogan territory. Today, I’ve fortunately been upgraded to first class, which happens infrequently because I travel enough to make it exhausting, but […]

Is Social Media Too Big For Its Britches?

AOT Revised

Maybe what we need is a little deconstruction. At Monday’s Social Fresh conference in St. Louis, I was delighted to join Sarah Evans, Jason Falls, Amber Naslund, and Zena Weist on the closing panel discussion. During the session, an audience question got me fired up (no surprise, as the Social Fresh attendees were a very […]

Nobody Said Social Media Was Easy

social media time management

Social media isn’t inexpensive, it’s different expensive. In the QA portion of recent speeches, I’ve frequently been asked “this is great, but doesn’t it seem like it will take a lot of time?” Yes. It. Will. Succeeding on the social Web requires daily participation. Whether it’s brand reputation management, PR and influencer outreach, customer service […]

Does Your Blog Have a Long Tail

blogging long tail

Most smart bloggers try to focus on a few, key search terms in their blog content. But the reality is, your blog is probably a lot more broad than you think. Last week, I co-published a white paper with Chris Baggott, the CEO of Compendium Blogware (I’m on their advisory board). The free “Blogging’s Long […]

Why Content Marketing Matters To Me And Should To You

Last week, Joe Pulizzi and his merry band of content strategists at Junta42 released new metrics, ranking the top content marketing blogs in the world. And guess what? The very blog that you’re reading came out #1. Thank you to everyone who reads Convince & Convert. Your feedback, comments, and support are what keep me […]

The Key to Social Media Success is Just 2 Letters

I’m sitting in a restaurant in Cincinnati recently, surrounded by televisions with the sound turned down. The bartender approaches, and asks if I’d like to hear the TV. I say “sure” expecting him to saunter over to a monitor, and turn up the volume. Instead, he reaches under the bar, and pulls out a Soundog […]

The Best Advice Has No Shelf Life

Who Influenced You? All of us have influences. People who have educated, inspired, engaged, supported us. Or maybe just kicked us in the ass when we needed it. Tell me in the comments who influenced you and why, and you could win a copy of the uber-classic book “How to Win Friends and Influence People.“ […]