The Science and Results of Real-Time Content Optimization

I’ve been writing Convince & Convert for more than three years, and I continue to be grateful and delighted that you choose to spend time here, when faced with a tsunami of blog options. I continue to find it fascinating, however, that even though this blog is probably considered successful within its very small niche, […]

Audience Segmentation Lessons from Google Plus

Let me get this confession out of the way first: I’m kind of a Google fangirl. So I was pretty excited when the search giant announced Google+, their foray into social networking. I’m pretty fed up with Facebook and its constant changes (that don’t really improve my user experience) so I signed up for an […]

Holy Twit – Increased Tweet Volume Drives Results

One of my favorite Twitter add-ons is Buffer, an easy-to-use service that allows you to quickly queue up many tweets at one time, with those missives and bon mots then automatically parceled out one at a time on a schedule you determine.(Buffer also works for Facebook) For people like me that do a lot of […]

The Power of Consumer Choice Drives Social Media Importance

I love the strategy of Seth Godin’s Domino Project, which is reinventing the publishing business by making hard cover books easier to find, remember, and digest (the average Domino book contains fewer than 100 pages). The most recent Domino book to be published was by Godin himself, and unfortunately I didn’t find it particularly good. […]

Social Media Success is About the Wizard, Not the Wand

Thoughtful research genius Tom Webster wrote an interesting post a couple weeks ago about where the location-based business could head, moving beyond the momentary check-in toward more nuanced and relevant customer interactions, using location data as the raw materials. His example was his local watering hole, where he figures by the time he’s checked in […]

Blogger Outreach Changes the PR Timeline Forever

PR behemoth Ketchum (the PR agency of record for ConAgra) caught it’s foot in a bear trap of its own manufacture recently, when it thunk up and perpetrated a bait and switch blogger outreach program. Evidently, Ketchum invited a group of bloggers to a restaurant in NYC, where they would enjoy a “delicious four-course meal”, […]

The Real Reason Your Customers Don’t Like You on Facebook

In addition to the controversial redesign of the news feed, and announcements from the f8 conference about the new Timeline profile and app-fueled Graph Rank, was another very interesting Facebook-related development last week. My friends (and client) ExactTarget released part 10 of their social media research series. This one is called “The Meaning of Like” […]

Treadmill Desk and Multi-tasking

Here’s video proof of my new treadmill desk. I like it a lot. I have significantly more energy in the afternoons, and while I’m not logging a ton of miles (too much travel inhibits usage), I figure 2.5 miles/day (approximately) whenever I’m home is a net positive. I can type (I wrote this blog post […]

To Build Blog Subscribers, Get Narrow-Minded

I had an interesting conversation about blog visitors and blog subscribers with my friend Doug Karr a few weeks ago at the Blog Indiana conference. Doug’s blog covers a wide swath of digital marketing topics, whereas Convince & Convert is of course mostly in the social media lane with occasional dalliances in email, conversion optimization, […]

The 4 Types of Content Metrics That Matter

In a post last week, I talked about turning your content marketing upside down and focusing first on what behaviors you want your content consumers to perform. Once you’ve done that and created content that you think will drive the desired actions, you can start measuring the efficacy of your content program. Content cannot be […]

Caring, Consistency, and the New Relationship Marketing

Jay: Hey, everybody. It’s Jay Baer from Convince & Convert. I’m joined today by a very special guest, my pal Mari Smith, live from San Diego. Jay: You are always awesome. You are always awesome. I want to see you all bummed out and sad sometime because no one has ever seen it. It’d be […]

Why You Need to Turn Your Content Marketing Upside Down

All companies now find themselves in two industries: the business they are actually in, and the publishing business. The death of the information intermediary is upon us, and companies need to tell their own story with speed and aplomb. But let’s not go overboard. Yes, you’re in the publishing business, but only as a means […]

Why Critics of Klout Are Missing the Big Picture

Other than signing book deals, the favorite sport of the social media punditry these days seems to be bashing Klout. The pugilists are plentiful, and appear to be trying to win a merit badge for dismissiveness. The most recent example was from B2B social media thinker Paul Gillin who wrote a post unveiling the flaws […]

The New New New Rules of Marketing and PR

Video production, editing, titling by my friends at Candidio. If you need your raw video footage tidied up good, fast, reasonably priced, they are the guys. —– Jay: Hey everybody, it’s Jay Baer from Convince & Convert, joined today by a very special guest, Mr. David Meerman Scott, author of the bestseller The New Rules […]

New Research Finds the Curation vs Creation Sweet Spot

Whether you’re on a first date, meeting new people at a dinner party, or making it rain on Twitter, it’s just not a good idea to go on and on about yourself. It’s just awkward. Conventional social media marketing wisdom suggests that brands should avoid being overly self-promotional. Thus, brands seek to “be a part […]

Social Media, Pretend Friends, and the Lie of False Intimacy

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. It’s not an illusion. We really are doing more with […]