A Hammer Isn’t a House – Don’t Confuse Tools with Metrics
Last week I spoke about The NOW Revolution at a dinner for 50 or so social media and email marketers, all employed by major corporations based in NYC. It was a great time. Steaks were eaten. Wine drank. Books signed. Interesting conversation participated in. What struck me most, however, was a chat I had with […]
Spy on Your Facebook Competitors with HyperAlerts
The great thing about companies widely publishing APIs in this age of collaboration is that crafty third-parties can develop tools and features that the developers of the “mother ship” forgot. Browse through Laura Fitton’s amazing One Forty (the app store Twitter neglected to build) and you’ll find thousands of Twitter add-ons. But now that Twitter […]
7 Ways to Thank Someone for a Retweet
If you’re an active Twitter user, you’ve likely seen a “Thanks for the RT!” post at some point. You’ve possibly even posted them yourself. So is a “retweet thank you” polite Twitter etiquette, or is it an overindulgence of bragging that folks like your content? The argument can potentially go either way for both personal […]
6 Newfangled Social Media Tools Worth Discovering
I’m not really sure how all of these guys are going to make a living, but there sure as hell is no shortage of innovation in social media. The torrent of new digital tools and gadgets makes Sharper Image, SkyMall, and Hammacher Schlemmer look like an Amish electronics store. Just in OneForty alone (the unofficial […]
6 Lessons Learned From the Demise of MySpace
Once the undisputed king of social media (at least in the U.S.), MySpace last week declared what amounts to a post-modern armistice, announcing that they will integrate status updates with Facebook (and Twitter). MySpace used to be Janet, and now it’s LaToya – at best. While the erosion of the MySpace user base has been […]
3 Reasons Email is the Coolest Vampire Today
Guest post by Jeff Rohrs, who heads up the Marketing Research & Education Team at ExactTarget. A driving force behind the company’s SUBSCRIBERS RULE! philosophy, Jeff is also co-author of the ExactTarget/CoTweet SUBSCRIBERS, FANS & FOLLOWERS Research Series. He lives in Cleveland and has not, to his knowledge, ever been bitten by a vampire—although he […]
Social Media Monitoring Tools – How to Pick The Right One
Guest post by Katie Van Domelen, the social media manager at Off Madison Ave in Tempe, Arizona. She specializes in social media strategies that lead to actionable plans to achieve real world objectives. I’ve spent a lot of time working with various social media monitoring tools and I’ve whittled my list of favorites down to […]
Why You Should Use a Content Rationale Report
Little is the new big. On today’s Web, buying decisions are influenced less by the grand, sweeping programs that take old marketing and put a fresh coat of social paint on them. On today’s Web, buying decisions are influenced more by specific, hyper-relevant pieces of content that your brand creates to get in front of […]
4 Detective Tricks to Find Your Customers in Social Media
For many companies, the conversation has shifted from “why” or “should” we do social media, to “where” and “how” social media should be done. A major component of answering those questions effectively is understanding in which social outposts your customers are concentrated. Because there really is no benefit in beating your customers to the punch. […]
The More Things Change, The More Things Change
Social media hates the status quo the way Kobe hates Shaq. The way Donovan McNabb hates T.O. The way Lindsey Lohan hates non-alcoholic beverages. Just when you think you have some modicum of a handle on this industry, new developments come along and shake up your head like a snow globe. The good news is […]
14 Things I Think I Think About Social Media
This is a video interview that my friend Mike Stelzner of Social Media Examiner did with me a few weeks ago. Other than the extraordinarily unflattering camera angle, it turned out pretty well (especially the super cool SME opening animation) 14 key points are below: Jay Baer Interview from Michael A. Stelzner on Vimeo. What […]
Ignore Foursquare at Your Peril – An Analysis of Potential
Are you too dismissive of Foursquare (as well as Gowalla and the other geo-location apps)? I’m starting to hear a lot of smart people scoff at these services, primarily along these lines “Why do I care where someone is eating for lunch?” The last time I heard that line of reasoning en mass was when […]
Does Your Facebook Page Have a Pulse?
Is your Facebook fan page dead or alive? 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. It’s terrific that more and more companies are using […]
A Social Media Scoreboard That Works
Clearly, there’s no shortage of data and possible social media success metrics. Advanced social media analytics and ROI calculations often require tying together disparate systems, and looking for causation (or at least correlation) between social media success and business outcome. At the most granular, day-to-day level, this necessitates visiting your various outposts and your social […]
7 Reasons Not to Put All Your Eggs in the Twitter Basket
Are you too Twitter-obsessed in your social media approach? Twitter’s role as a conduit for the Zeitgeist is unrivaled, and it has almost single-handedly ushered in the era of real-time search, and social CRM. But, it’s the online equivalent of HBO – important more because of who uses it and the media’s infatuation with it, […]
Turn the Tables on Social Media with NutshellMail
Keeping tabs on your social media connections these days is like bar hopping, without the cocktails or pool tables with stained felt. You run over to check your Twitter account. Then you dash to Facebook to see what’s going on there. Then Linkedin. Maybe your blog. All the while you’re feeling like you’re playing catch-up, […]