Tweeting from the Tractor – 7 Secrets to Successful Social Media Farming
Farming may very well be the second-oldest profession. This will not come as a surprise, but I’ve never farmed personally. However, my family is from Nebraska (Go Big Red) and both sets of grandparents owned farms. So, I’ve spent more than my share of time in a corn field (terrible Wi-Fi). And while farming has […]
Social Media – Marketing Without a Shelf Life
In marketing, social media is the gift that keeps on giving. The trouble with traditional communication is that it’s ephemeral. Your print ad, TV spot, outdoor ad or press mention can have tremendous marketing value, but only while you’re paying to make it so. It’s like trying to communicate with rainbows – momentarily fantastic, but […]
7 Ways to Use Social Media to Build Stunning Brands
Social media is perhaps the most misleading name for a marketing-related concept ever, given that it’s grown to represent a philosophy of consumer empowerment and brand/customer partnership – far beyond it’s humble roots of user-generated content. As a result, social media has different meanings and connotations to different people, many of whom utilize social media […]
Shannon Paul – The Twitter 20 Interview on Social Media and PR
Shannon Paul burst onto the social media scene like a runaway freight train. Her blog is a must-read, and she’s transformed the social media stylings of the Detroit Red Wings, and most recently the innovative financial services company Peak6. Shannon’s insights on attaining internal alignment around social media, and the new role of public relations […]
Is Social Media Too Fast?
One of the greatest challenges of effective social media outreach is the need to be always on. Speed kills in social media, and that’s a difficult transformation for marketers (and especially agencies). If a consumer tweets something negative about your company, addressing it quickly before it festers and is retweeted everywhere is the best practice. […]
If Ford Can Embrace Chaos – What’s Your Excuse?
Much excitement today as Ford officially unleashes the Fiesta Movement project. To market the Fiesta’s introduction to North America, Ford selected 100 “Agents” from 4,000 applicants. The winners receive use of a Fiesta for six months, provided they create and post comments about their impressions of the vehicle, and participate in “Missions” Ford has cooked […]
Taking Consumer Reviews Viral with Facebook
The rating of movies is integral to Netflix and its ballyhooed recommendation engine. The more movies you rate, the more accurate Netflix recommendations become. Rating Ben & Jerrys ice cream flavors might not be as mission-critical to that brand as movie rating are to Neflix, but both companies are leveraging Facebook to ratings a group […]
Lee Odden – The Twitter 20 Interview on SEO and Social Media
Lee Odden is the CEO of TopRank Marketing a first-class search, social, email and online PR consultancy based in sunny Minneapolis. A conference legend, Lee speaks somewhere in America about digital marketing on a seemingly daily basis. He is widely recognized as a leader in the convergence of historically separate tactics like search, PR, and […]
Should Facebook Dominate Your Social Media Strategy?
Join me and 21 other speakers for Facebook Success Summit 2010, a Webinar series with everything you need to know about Facebook for business. Sessions start October 5. Go to http://bit.ly/facebooksuccess to save 50% for a limited time. Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, and Kyle Lacy popularized the idea that companies in social media need a […]
Who Wins the Struggle for Social Media Control
(post originally written for MarketingProfs Daily Fix) How do we know social media is for real? Because the various marketing disciplines are locked in a critically important tug-of-war that will decide who owns it. This fight will be a central component of boardroom discussions, conference keynotes, and merger activity in 2009. While it’s true that […]
Friend or Faux – 6 Ways to Activate Customers
Two questions. How many Facebook fans does your company have? What do you want your Facebook fans to do on behalf of your company? Way too many people can answer the first question, but not the second. And that’s the biggest weakness of company-based social media at present. The Friend Bubble Doing something (buying Google […]
The Inefficiencies of the Reputation Economy
Nothing gets bloggers more excited than a discussion about blog rankings. Many conversations I had at South by Southwest touched on this subject. Jason Falls asked Guy Kawasaki to move his Social Media Explorer up the list on http://alltop.com (a great resource to find first-class blogs, by the way). Mack Collier told me that his […]
Beth Harte – The Twitter 20 Interview About Marketing and Social Media
Beth Harte has been dispensing solid, effective marketing advice to companies and students for more than a decade. Now, her killer blog (The Harte of Marketing) and her wisdom-filled Tweets have increased her reach and influence geometrically. That’s a positive development, as her students at Immaculata University and the folks in Philadelphia shouldn’t have her […]
The Double Life of a Live Tweet
As you may know if you follow me, I tend to tweet a lot. This is especially true at conferences, where I engage in Live Tweeting (sending summary tweets of main points the speaker is making while the presentation is ongoing). Some followers have told me that they appreciate my live tweeting, and that I’m […]
Disrobing Your Brand One Peanut at a Time
Consumers want to know that there are real people behind your logo. And while the speed and convenience of digital tools make them a natural choice for that type of communication, online isn’t the only available conduit for achieving humanization. I’m sitting on a Southwest Airlines flight, returning from Austin and the exhilarating and exhausting […]
Yoda Was Wrong – Trying Counts
Are you too caught up in getting social media “right?” Yoda said “Do or Do Not. There is No Try.” When it comes to social media at least, the little green guy is full of it. If you accept the fundamental premise that social media’s power lies in its ability to change the nature of […]