The Chicken and the Egg Social Media Conundrum
There are many ways social media differs from traditional marketing. It’s approachable and human. It’s a two-way dialog, rather than unilateral declarations. It treats the customer as a teammate, rather than a target. But there’s another big difference. In social media, the audience comes after the message, not before. Remember that when you buy a […]
US Speedskating Finds Fans In Social Media
Did you know the United States Speedskating team has won 75 Olympic medals, making it the most successful U.S. winter Olympics sport? But the global economic bear doesn’t take medal count into consideration, and last year the speedskating team was without a title sponsor when Dutch bank DSB went bankrupt. (Why a U.S. bank didn’t […]
Should a Blog be Your Social Media Hub?
The divine corporate blogging expert Debbie Weil recently asked this question on her blog, as part of a Kindle version refresh of her excellent book “The Corporate Blogging Book.” Debbie asked me to think about whether a blog should be the social media hub – your epicenter, the place where you’re trying to bring your […]
Trey Pennington – The Twitter 20 Interview About Social Media and Humanity
Dr. Trey Pennington has a full plate. He has an active consulting practice, a forthcoming book called “Spitball Marketing”, a blog, an online radio show (the must-listen “Social Media Professor“), and a Facebook page. He’s also founded several Social Media Clubs world-wide, and is active in a bunch of local and South Carolina organizations. (He’s […]
New Twitter Killer Bans the Spam
If you use Twitter to “get rich quick”, “gains thousands of new followers”, or to learn “teeth whitening secrets” you might want to stop reading. If you’re as sick of Twitter spam as I am, you’re about to get very, very excited. The Awesome Power of a Single Tweet On September 11, 2009 I lamented […]
Trident Integrates Social Media with Print Ads
I promised you a couple weeks ago that in 2010 I would focus on social media integration and real business. Well, I’m starting a little early. Trident has released a new gum called Trident layers, which appears to be some sort of neapolitan ice cream-type multi-flavor concoction. (Personally, I’m okay with my gum tasting like […]
Dan Zarrella – The Twitter 20 Interview About Viral Marketing
In an era where much of the information and resources about social media is of the squishy “care about your customer and converse with them” variety, Dan Zarrella is an incredibly important counter-balance. Social media is online. That makes it measurable. And trackable. And testable. Through his excellent blog, his work at Hubspot, and now […]
A Twitter Spy Without the Russian Accent
Brands looking to generate social media ROI are moving inexorably toward one of two poles: either the social CRM approach whereby the customer service benefits of social media are emphasized; or the social media marketing approach, where the focus is squarely on selling stuff. If your focus is on selling via social media, it’s imperative […]
CrowdCampaign Makes Crowd Sourcing Simple
The denizens of Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the social Web are a sharp group, generally speaking. You can learn a lot about yourself, your brand, and your products and services by listening to the desires of your fans and your community. I crowd sourced my facial hair, and kept my beard. Del Monte […]
Diane Hessan – The Twitter 20 Interview About Brand Communities
Diane Hessan knows the wisdom of crowds first-hand. As the CEO of Communispace, a fast-growing major player in the brand community creation and management industry, she’s helped drive consumer insight and product innovation for dozens of Fortune 100 companies. Co-author of the book Customer Centered Growth, Diane was recently named Entrepreneur of the Year by […]
What Do Twitter Lists Say About Your Personal Brand?
Taking a long overdue page from the Seesmic and Tweetdeck playbook, Twitter.com recently launched Twitter lists, enabling you to segment the people you follow on Twitter into groups. This is particularly useful in organizing people by industry, geography, or even the type of content they typically tweet. But what’s more interesting is that Twitter Lists […]
Dave Fleet – The Twitter 20 Interview About PR and Social Media
If you’re in public relations or social media (preferably both), and you aren’t following the thinking of Dave Fleet, you’re resource-deficient. A Brit living in Toronto and working as an Account Director at social PR powerhouse agency Thornley Fallis, Dave takes a lucid, common-sense approach to the upheaval that social media has brought to the […]
Make Dough From What You Know – A Review of Crush It!
Are you living, or just earning a living? So asks wine critic, social media star and business consultant Gary Vaynerchuk in his new book, Crush It! (for more ideas from Gary, see this live interview on Twitter I conducted with him last week). The premise of Crush It! is that technology has disrupted the historical […]
Gary Vaynerchuk – The Twitter 20 Interview About Wine, Social Media, and Crushing It
Gary Vaynerchuk wants to take over the world, one person at a time. From a youth spent watching professional wrestling and selling baseball cards, he’s converted his enthusiasm and savvy into a phenomenon. Using a daily Web video show (Wine Library TV) to communicate directly to consumers, Gary geometrically increased the size of his family’s wine […]
Win Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It!
I’m giving away 15 copies of Crush It! the forthcoming new book from Gary Vaynerchuk. Will one of them go to you? I’m interviewing Gary live on Twitter on Thursday, October 8 at 11am eastern. It’s part of my Twitter 20 series of interviews of social media luminaries. Previous interviews of Jason Falls, Scott Monty, […]
Imitation and Obsolescence – Facebook Guns for Twitter
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. Revenge is a dish best served via status updates. When you look in the rearview mirror, you […]