Integration can be tricky, but stepping out of your comfort zone and embracing the larger world around you can mean the difference between winning a client and walking away empty-handed. ...
Selected by reddoorinteractive
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Search Engine Watch
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Integrating Search, Part 2
5 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pm -
Do Follow
4 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pmPros and cons of building links through blog comments. ... -
The Worldwide Web Just Went Global
3 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pmAll countries soon will be able to apply for Internet extensions reflecting their name and using their own characters. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on search engines, domains, and trademark specialists. ... -
Getting Started with a New SEO Project
2 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pmBeginning search engine optimization efforts during the initial stages of a Web site project can save you time, effort, and money. ... -
Search as a Branding Channel
2 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pmDon't miss out on the opportunity to expose your brand to millions of targeted, potential buyers this holiday season. ...
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ReadWriteWeb
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Straw Man Argument About Enterprise 2.0 Doesn't Fly
6 Nov 2009 | 2:05 pmDennis Howlett got the attention of the Enterprise 2.0 community today, with his continued skepticism about "social" technologies and their place in the business world. Here's a quote from his post entitled Enterprise 2.0 - the non-debate: "Why am I not surprised? I've argued for years that the notion of anything that has 'social' attached to its moniker is about as welcome as breaking wind in a spacesuit." Sponsor While Howlett makes a few good points in his post, we think that he's making a straw man argument - that the Enterprise 2.0 community is somehow involved in a big lie. The reality… -
Clicker: A One-Stop Shop For Online Video (1000 Invites)
6 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pmFinding specific online videos from TV networks and independent producers can often be a daunting challenge. Some TV shows are on Hulu, some can only be found as paid downloads on iTunes or Amazon and some are only available for streaming on the network's and producer's own sites. Clicker wants to change this by making it easier to find shows from TV networks, music videos, and web videos from across the Internet. Clicker is currently in private beta and only available in the US. The company gave us 1000 invites for our readers. Read on to find out how you can get yours. Sponsor Clicker… -
Layar Tells CNN: Augmented Reality Will Be Second Only to Voice On Phones
6 Nov 2009 | 12:17 pmWhen you've got a global audience, maybe it's good to make sweeping, ambitious statements. Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald, co-founder of Augmented Reality browser company Layar, was interviewed by CNN today and took the opportunity to claim that AR on phones is going to be so big in the future that only voice will be more popular. Maybe. Many people in the Augmented Reality world are rolling their eyes at Layar's incredible media exposure. They worry that relatively simple implementations of this technology paradigm will create such a bubble of hype that software developed over decades will suffer… -
Remixing Via iPhone: 5 Tools for the Pocket DJ
6 Nov 2009 | 11:00 amIn 1906 John Philip Sousa criticized the gramophone saying, "These talking machines will ruin the artistic development of music in this country." Nevertheless, because Sousa did not forsee user-generated culture proliferating alongside "mechanical music" he could not have been further from the truth. Not only have machine technologies aided in musical development, but there are a variety of mediums to choose from. While audio engineers may scoff at the idea of making music on the iPhone, there's no denying that a number of options exist for the pocket DJ. Below are a few tools to get you… -
Seesmic Web Gets Lists and Geolocation
6 Nov 2009 | 8:49 amSeesmic just announced the launch of Twitter lists in its browser-based Seesmic Web Twitter client. Earlier this week, Seesmic released the first desktop Twitter client with support for lists. Despite Seesmic's best efforts, Brizzly managed to become the first company to release a web client with support for lists earlier today. Seesmic Web offers another first for web-based Twitter clients, however: support for Twitter's geolocation API. Sponsor Lists With Auto-Updates In Seesmic's web interface, users can now simply hover their cursor over profile pictures and a menu will appear. This menu,…
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Mashable!
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POLL: TweetDeck Trounces Seesmic Desktop in Reader Vote
6 Nov 2009 | 8:41 pmWe’ve had a number of close calls here during our Web Faceoff series, but this wasn’t one of them. This week we pitted TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop against each other in a bar room brawl for favorite Twitter client. Now, the results are in. Whereas last week’s Windows 7 versus OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard battle was a close one, with Windows 7 going the distance to outlast the current Mac OS, this week’s showdown had a big winner. …and TweetDeck was it, with a full 71% of the vote (3294 votes) as compared to Seesmic Desktop’s 23% (1055 votes). Six percent or 260… -
iPhone Coming to Verizon in 2010 [RUMOR]
6 Nov 2009 | 5:21 pmMany signs point to the Apple and AT&T agreement that makes the latter the exclusive carrier of the iPhone within the US coming to an end within the next year. For starters, non-exclusivity has been profitable for Apple in other parts of the world. Moreover, even AT&T’s CEO acknowledges the deal won’t last forever. And while Verizon might be all about showing off what Droid does right now, a new report suggests it could become the first carrier other than AT&T to offer iPhone on American soil, starting in the second half of 2010. According to a report obtained by Apple… -
DocVerse Puts Google Docs-Like Collaboration Inside Microsoft Office
6 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pmThis post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: DocVerse Quick Pitch: DocVerse brings the collaboration functionality of products like Google Docs to the 600 million users of Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Genius Idea: Collaboration is a key to success in any business, especially when you have a scattered team that needs to work on documents constantly. There are already a lot of options,… -
FishVille Launches on Facebook; It’s Like Underwater FarmVille
6 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pmWe were sort of surprised to discover how many of you proclaim your love for FarmVille, the social farming sim game from Zynga. We reported that the company had trademarked the name FishVille last month, and speculated that an aquatic derivative of the wildly popular social game might be in the works. And indeed it was, with FishVille launching in beta today. It’s a bit of a late contender to the aquarium games space, with Happy Aquarium, Fish World and My Fishbowl all getting a head start. Nevertheless, Zynga has enough clout in the social games space to make FishVille a quick winner… -
5 Must-Have iPhone Apps for Wine Lovers
6 Nov 2009 | 3:23 pmMegan Berry is an evangelist for Mobclix, the industry’s largest mobile ad exchange, working on social media and marketing. She also blogs at The Huffington Post and the Mobclix blog. You can follow her on Twitter as @meganberry, or through the @Mobclix handle. Unsure about mixing your iPhone with wine? Well, if you’re a true vinophile, the iPhone is an amazing device to keep you more connected to your wine. The following list of top wine apps on the iPhone will convince you that mixing the two is worth the risk of spilling some pinot noir on your phone. Like wine itself, these…
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SmartBrief on Social Media
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How remote employees can build community
5 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmEmployees who work remotely can use social networks, both online and off, to ensure they are getting enough human contact to -More- -
Employers are split on traits of texting generation
5 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmThe generation that grew up on text messaging, chatting and holding multiple conversations at once is growing up, and some be -More- Are You Managing Keywords to CTR Alone?5 Tips to Make You More Effective with Your Ad Dollars This complimentary guide and webinar cover: - How to manage large keyword lists - How to make profitable decisions using deep-funnel metrics - How to close the revenue gap with micro-conversions Download Now -
Air America turns to social sites to engage listeners
5 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmTalk radio can use social media to increase its fan base and stay relevant in a Web-focused world, Air America Media's Jen Ne -More- -
The big re-tweet
5 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmLike sharing great articles, ideas and resources on Twitter? -More- -
Honk brings social media to car buying
5 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmHonk is inviting users to bring along their friends when they go car shopping on its site. -More-
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Search Engine Land
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Business Owners: Are You Sabotaging Your Own Local Listings?
6 Nov 2009 | 1:21 pmAs SEO rapidly becomes a core task for local business owners, there’s a new temptation to build advertising messages or tracking mechanisms into business listings on the web. Typically, this might mean adding a slogan or campaign tagline to a business name or changing an office address to appear local to more customers. Unfortunately, this [...] .... -
Google’s Home Page Promotes Motorola / Verizon Droid Phone
6 Nov 2009 | 11:21 amGoogle really wants you to buy a Motorola Droid, the hot new phone that just hit stores today. In fact, Google is so enamored that it’s advertising the Droid on its homepage: “The Droid is on sale now. Learn more.” Clicking the “learn more” link leads to this “mobile partners” page that touts the Google search [...] .... -
Search In Pictures: Halloween Edition
6 Nov 2009 | 10:08 amIn this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Random Halloween Pictures from the various search engines: This May Not Be Halloween Related: .... -
Twitter Finally Begins Adding Search Relevancy Features
6 Nov 2009 | 6:28 amThe Twitter Blog has a short blog post mentioning that they have added technology “to show higher quality results for trend queries by returning tweets that are more useful.” Clearly, this is Twitter’s first step in improving Twitter Search by adding relevancy and search quality factors to the search algorithm. Currently, Twitter Search [...] .... -
Google AdWords Makes Conversion Tracking “Easier”
6 Nov 2009 | 6:18 amThe Google AdWords blog announced they have made it easier for advertisers to add and track the conversions for their search ads. Google has added to the AdWords interface sections for (1) Conversions, (2) Webpages, and (3) Code. The Conversion page shows you the conversion actions you’re tracking. Web pages shows the web pages [...] ....
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Social Media Explorer
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Three Tips For Social Media Management
6 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amI sat across the lunch table talking to Craig Bruenderman and Sam Gracie of ResonantVibes.com yesterday, talking about their community of electronic mix music producers and fans, smiling at what I heard. These are young, tech-oriented entrepreneurs, immersed in all the code and programming most of us fear. They use social tools to build their business around. They’re digital natives. What did they say that made me smile? “How do you choose which social networks and channels to focus on?” I heard the same thing from a small business owner in LaGrange, Ky., last week. I heard… -
The Dangerous Waters Ahead
4 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amThe era of the social web has given us unprecedented access. We can see more about each other’s lives, know more about each other’s daily routines and find each other easier now than ever before. We have access to what would have been millions of dollars in software applications and platforms now, too. But they, in turn, have access to us. Our lives, not just our computer programs, have become open source. And we plod along, going with the flow and accepting the fact that the creepy guy from junior high is now commenting on our Facebook pictures. We’ve mostly grown wise to… -
What Social Media Monitoring Won’t Get You
2 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amCompanies, brands and their respective marketing and public relations managers are clamoring to know what people are saying about them on the web. I would offer that social media monitoring has been the single-largest technology-based industry boom in the last 10 years, though search engine optimization firms might win that title. Image via Wikipedia On a parallel path, Facebook has surged past everyone else to emerge as the go-to social network. Brands grabbed up profiles, then group pages, now brand pages. Some still have all three. (You probably ought to move to the brand page exclusively,… -
What The Wall Street Journal Has, Few Will Match
30 Oct 2009 | 3:00 amMediaweek magazine puts together a “Digital Hot List” each year of the websites or companies they see as having the potential to wow the web world. Their list never seems to be much of a surprise, especially when you consider Google, Facebook and Twitter are sort of default entries, but there’s always one or two on it that raise an eyebrow. This year it’s the Wall Street Journal’s website, WSJ.com, in at No. 8. Yep! The website property of a traditional media outlet is on Mediaweek’s Digital Hot List. And no, it’s not a joke. To further perplex the… -
Shave My Goatee For Male Cancer Research
28 Oct 2009 | 9:01 pmA funny thing happened on Twitter last night. David Armano and I got into a (light hearted and fun) discussion about the two of us being sexy bitches. (I know … silly, but bear with me here.) Somehow the notion of me shaving my goatee to raise money for a good cause came up. So, I’ve decided to support Movemeber, the male cancer awareness movement, by pledging to you that if we can raise $1,000.00 by Nov. 15, which I will donate to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, I will shave my goatee. Sure, it’s a small personal sacrifice (I’ve had my goat since roughly 1977), but…
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PR 2.0
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Rumors of the Death of Blogs are Greatly Exaggerated
6 Nov 2009 | 4:02 amSource: feministingEach year at Blogworld Expo, Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra presents The State of the Blogosphere as one of the event’s prestigious keynotes. For those who are unfamiliar with Technorati, it serves as a directory and search engine for the blogosphere as well as a benchmark for the ranking of blogs worldwide.While there has been much discussion about the relevance and even demise of blogs as the statusphere and micro updates gained traction in addition to earning prominence in the mainstream spotlight, the reality is that blogs are a vital ingredient to the media… -
RT @Twitter: New Retweet Feature Goes Live
5 Nov 2009 | 7:29 pmSource: TwitterThis is breaking news at the moment, therefore this post will update as new information trickles in.Twitter is making good on its recent promise to introduce new features to bring users back to Twitter.com.Similar to the way that it rolled out Lists, Twitter is incrementally releasing its new Retweet feature initially previewed in August 2009.As described by @Biz, co-founder of Twitter:Retweet is a button that makes forwarding a particularly interesting tweet to all your followers very easy. In turn, we hope interesting, newsworthy, or even just plain funny information will… -
Social Media Influencers are not Traditional Influencers
5 Nov 2009 | 4:19 amSourceGuest post by Damien Basille, follow him on Twitter | Read his blogAs more and more brands are moving all of their ad spend online, defining how influence affects their return on investment is necessary and must be done as soon as possible. While some are making inroads to define these calculations many are overlooking the fact that influence affects everything. Without factoring in the real issue of different types of influence you run into a number of problems, for instance focusing on one group of influencers over another or getting broad sweeping numbers instead of knowing exactly… -
The Future of the Embargo
3 Nov 2009 | 4:25 amCreditIn media and blogger relations, PR typically wields two powerful tools to help boost the effectiveness of pitching and potential placement of news: the embargo and the exclusive.In the case of an exclusive, a story is usually packaged prior to official release for one particular writer, fully understanding their style, nuances, and audience. If the story is accepted, it is not pitched to any other media outlets until after the story runs. The benefit for PR is that it can bank on the publishing of a guaranteed, high profile story. The advantage for the reporter is that they maintain a… -
Twitter Releases New Widget for Lists
2 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pmTwitter recently expanded its new Lists service to users network-wide and in doing so, injected a sense of excitement, confusion, and also utility. Lists represent a significant milestone for Twitter as it transcends asynchronous conversations and and broadcast messages into a form of intelligence gathering, education, entertainment, and news.Twitter Lists are also stirring controversy as many believe that it sets the foundation for a new level of establishing a metric for influence. Whereas prominence was measured by the number of followers as well as the friends-to-follower ratio, now the…
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Social Media Marketing
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What's a Brand to Do?
29 Oct 2009 | 9:03 amSay you work for a brand. Customers have more access to you than ever - and you've got a wealth of choices as far as channels go: traditional marketing, online & interactive, gaming, mobile, social media, etc. But for your customers that are interested in interacting online, what do you think they want from you? And what should you do when you connect with them? Look no further! eMarketer Daily has very helpfully published a piece on Lightspeed Research's "Global Web Index." What do customer want from the brands they love? Information, mostly (well, after a good discount, anyway). -
Recent Twitter Statistics
28 Oct 2009 | 6:50 amThe Pew Internet & American Life Project has released some statistics about Twitter and other similar services that Americans use to post updates about themselves. The bottom line? About one in five Americans uses such a service.Click here for a larger image.Another interesting phenomenon is that we're seeing more young people using Twitter now. There have been anecdotal reports that young people were shying away from Twitter, but we can see the hard numbers here:The median age for Twitter is now 31, while MySpace is down 26 from its previous 27 in May of 2008; and Facebook has risen… -
No Kidding
21 Oct 2009 | 9:21 amI originally wrote this over a year ago, but I think it deserves another go around, as there seem to be even more social media "experts" out there. Please add your suggestion to the comments section or on Twitter with the hashtag #smbulb and let's see how many responses we can get. Stop me if you've heard this. Yesterday, I asked a question on Twitter - one that Joseph Jaffe rhetorically asked on his blog - I posed it as a joke and asked for responses. The question was: How many social media experts does it take to change a lightbulb? My original answer on Joe's blog was: "309. One to come up… -
Why Apple & Google Win - and Your Company Doesn't
10 Oct 2009 | 7:03 pmIt's all about usability. Common sense dictates that the easier something is to accomplish, the more readily it will be passed along. What information do you ask your customers to submit? And of that, which is really necessary? Less is more. Courtesy of Stuff That Happens. Posted via web from The Full Monty -
Don't Waste My Time
4 Oct 2009 | 9:19 pmI'm perfectly capable of wasting it myself. According to a recent poll by Ruder Finn, 100% of the people on the Internet go online to pass the time. But what other activities do they say they primarily use it for? For those of you interested in the social space, 92% want to connect with others, 76% wish to discuss, 72% aspire to be part of a community, and 56% desire to influence others, and 52% hope to activate support. Those are pretty strong numbers. Especially when you compare them to the percentage of people who wish to manage finances, comparison shop or join a…
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Brand Insight Blog
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Marketing Strategy vs. Tactics
1 Nov 2009 | 11:31 amby John Furgurson I’m appalled. A successful marketing guy asked me a question recently — a real no-brainer — which led me to believe he didn’t know the difference between strategy and tactics. How can that be? He’s held several high-paying marketing positions. He’s college educated in Marketing 101. He’s gotta know this stuff. So I started doing some research online and I’ve found the problem: The internet! There’s more misinformation than information out there. More nonsense than common sense. Even some of the biggest gurus in the industry have posted conflicting… -
On-line shopping — The best thing ever for MANkind.
25 Oct 2009 | 9:27 pmby John Furgurson Twenty five years ago I couldn’t imagine getting all my Christmas shopping done from the comfort of the man den. The idea of a world without malls was pure fantasy, right up there with that scene from Flashdance where Jennifer Beals dances in place until she’s raining sweat. But today, it’s reality. Men really do have an alternative to the drudgery of shopping. It’s called e-commerce. For men, shopping harkens back to cro-Magnon days when we’d hunt down the things we NEEDED to survive. Men shop alone, in order to be more stealthy and less visible to people who… -
If you got hit by a bus, what would happen to your brand?
9 Oct 2009 | 11:05 amby John Furgurson Death and taxes. Death and taxes. The two are always lumped together as inevitable parts of life. So why, as business people, do we obsess over taxes and ignore the issue of death? Nothing derails a small business faster, and more dramatically, than death. When a partner or key employee dies, or experiences a death in the family, the business suffers. No two ways about it. The question is, is your brand strong enough to survive a devastating personal loss? My dentist lost his 3-year-old daughter in a drowning accident. How do you go back to drilling teeth after that? My… -
A feel-good brand in a bummed-out world.
19 Aug 2009 | 4:35 pmby John Furgurson It’s being dubbed a “”depressed economy.” There are nightly reports on our current “ecomonic dulldrums,” and the “downturn” in consumer spending. But if you sift through all the doom and gloom you’ll find that some brands are thriving in this “challenging economic environment.” How do they do it? Here’s the secret: Make people smile! It’s as simple — and as difficult — as that. If your product or service can elicit genuine smiles, you’ve got a winning brand. Because happiness is contagious. And when people are experiencing stress… -
F15 Fighter vs. the 787 Dreamliner — Why corporate mergers are seldom good for brands.
14 Aug 2009 | 5:49 pmby John Furgurson In 1997 Boeing and McDonnell Douglas agreed on a merger. Like most corporate marriages, the deal looked great on paper: Boeing’s strength — commercial jetliners — was McDonald Douglas’ weakness. And vice-versa. Boeing’s shortcomings on the military side would be bolstered dramatically by partnering with McDonald Douglas, maker of the F15 Fighter, the Apache helicopter, the Tomahawk missile, and many other successful weapons systems. Two global brands, both looking to shore-up the weakest parts of their business. Two diametrically opposed corporate cultures. The…
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Ignite Social Media
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Under the Dome - Stephen King's Newest Novel is a Social Experiment
28 Oct 2009 | 7:57 amI'm a fan of Stephen King, even though I find some of his work to be a bit daunting and overwhelming, he is still one of the greatest literary giants of our time. There's really no denying that. His stories are often gruesome and bone-chilling (Cujo, Carrie, The Shining), and some are even heart wrenching and beautiful (Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption). Others are epic works that encompass entire lives and worlds (The Stand). Now, King has embraced the power of social media and adapted a new way of storytelling by sharing peices of his latest story, Under the Dome, all over the world. -
Don't Like the New Facebook Feed? Here's How to Change it Back
26 Oct 2009 | 7:04 amIf you don't like the new Facebook news feed, where the top ranked news is shown Share first, and you have to click over to see your live feed, here's how to change it back. Open the "More" Link on the Left On the upper left hand side of your page, under the Facebook logo, click the small "more" link. Move Status Updates to the Top Drag the "Status Updates" to the top, above News Feed. Still a bit erratic... In… -
How to Handle Negative Reviews
22 Oct 2009 | 2:54 pmIn one of my recent blog posts, I touched on the idea of social review tools and how much I believe in the idea of customer reviews. It sparked a fair amount of conversation about the power of reviews, especially negative reviews. I sort of touched on a similar topic when I wrote this blog post on how to deal with negative blog comments, however, negative reviews are a different kind of animal. In order to illustrate a few best practices for negative reviews, I’ll use a personal example. My parents own a restaurant, which is, of course, subject to the reviews of customers online on… -
10 Ways MySpace Can Avoid Oblivion-An Open Letter to MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta
20 Oct 2009 | 8:38 amDear Owen, Since you moved over from COO of Facebook to become CEO of MySpace, you’ve certainly made a lot of changes to the company. You've let one-third of the staff go. Your entire executive team is new. Reports are that you're removing walls between cubicles and hanging white boards. That's all well and good, but the problem with your network is with your network. It's not the sales person, or the cubicle walls. We need to see physical changes to the way your network works. As a marketer that represents large brands who use social networks (and often pay handsomely to do so), here… -
Update: Good Mood Gig Breaks 100K votes, 700 Applicants
20 Oct 2009 | 6:09 amAs many of you already know, early this month, we launched the Good Mood Gig Talent Search with our client Nature Made SAM-e Complete ®. We kind of thought that a new laptop, $5,000 per month for 6 months, and the chance to share your infectious good mood with the world might be an enticing offer - thankfully, we were right! In case you've been missing out so far, here's a recap of what we're offering: a 6-month blogging contract with our team here at Ignite Social Media where you'll join us as part of the Nature Made SAM-e Complete ® outreach team to blog daily about how you maintain…
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Social Media Consulting and Strategy by a Social Interaction Design Specialist
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Social search and advertising: Google's endgame?
27 Oct 2009 | 10:42 amA few weeks back, Jeremiah Owyang wrote a piece "Revealing Google's Stealth Social Network Play." In it he detailed the tactical benefits of a combined of Google Reader, Wave, and Sidewiki in a back-door strategy aimed at social networking. And more to the point, to realizing the advertising opportunities around social networking.Google has been neither a leader nor a even a decent case study in social networking. It's home-grown social network, Orkut, is popular elsewhere but not here. Open Social is still very real, but is largely invisible to the public. And when it comes to making use of… -
Realtime streams: now and then
8 Oct 2009 | 8:40 amAll social media involve a dislocation that de couples the act of communication or interaction from its artifact, which is a text or recording. This is a shame, in some respects, but one that creates possibilities that wouldn't exist if it weren't for the medium. The medium allows us to be always here and now but visible elsewhere anytime. It has a built in "anyplace, anytime."This anyplace, anytime is brought into focus by each of us when we use social media. For us it's always now. When I use twitter, I use it now. If I read your tweet, it's now. Your now, which is now "then," is again… -
Brands, and putting twitter word of mouth in context
6 Oct 2009 | 12:39 pmAn interesting study of twitter's viability for eWom, or electronic Word of Mouth marketing, has been making the rounds (Twitter Power:Tweets as Electronic Word of Mouth). The research involved analysis of 150,000 tweets, treated as natural language expressions, or "talk". The aim of the research was to study tweets in which brands are mentioned for a number of attributes relevant to brands, including sentiment, purpose, frequency, and so on.I found this interesting for several reasons. First was that I've been arguing of late that the conversational turn in social media (twitter, status… -
Social media, converging streams?
6 Oct 2009 | 8:35 amOne of my favorite books about community is a work by Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti called Crowds and Power. It's a beautiful and thoroughly insightful study on people assembled in different ways and for a kaleidoscopic set of reasons. I turn to the book often when thinking about how social media both separate and connect us, using it as an imaginary frontier of sorts for what mediated crowds might or could do.A piece by Tim Leberecht reminded me of Canetti this morning. Got me thinking about converging streams and how conversational media sometimes produce that effect of being together at… -
Social Interaction Design: Ratings
5 Oct 2009 | 11:35 amI had other things in mind for this morning until a client sent me an article in today's Wall Street Journal about online ratings. She, like many others running review and ratings-based sites, is "suffering" from excessively generous end user ratings. The article, which surveys a number of online properties, cites the tendency to 4.3: On the Internet, Everyone's a Critic But They're Not Very Critical. Offering up a number of anecdotes as reasons for the broken state of online ratings, the article's authors pretty much capture what many of us get intuitively about why online ratings really…
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Chris Garrett on New Media
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Brilliant Free Stuff from Friends
30 Oct 2009 | 9:07 pmAuckland, New Zealand I’m sat taking some time out from our travels down under to let you know about a couple of great giveaways. Yes, I am on my travels again. This time touring the other side of the planet. We are down in Auckland, New Zealand right now, after a quick stop in Singapore and just before we head to Sydney, and then Melbourne Australia. Ordinarily I wouldn’t be updating my blog with a vacation update but this news is too good. How good? My friend Sean is giving away an entire audio course. Not only is he giving it away, it’s a course that he is currently… -
Gary Vaynerchuck Interview
13 Oct 2009 | 5:00 amGary crushing it at Web 2.0 Expo NY Today I am happy (and more than a little relieved) to be able to share with you this quick and informal interview I grabbed last week with Gary Vay.Ner.Chuk. Gary has quickly become a fixture on the convention scene, TV celebrity and a media darling because of his larger than life energy and positive personality, and also his expertise in personal branding, social media and business. Right now he is in the process of the launch his brilliant new book, “Crush It“. I was fortunate to grab 30 technical gremlin frustrated minutes where I got to ask… -
Join Me For a Live Chat
12 Oct 2009 | 2:17 amAsk me social media and blogging questions and see me answer live As part of the launch of Social Media Examiner I will be doing a live video chat along with Mike Stelzner. It’s free and easy to join in, and should be good fun! 10:00 New York time 15:00 London time Check out the full details here. Also, while you are there, check out my first article for the site … “How to Create Headlines that Go Viral With Social Media“ Related Posts:Social Media Marketing Survey Results - Free PDFHow to Really Use Social Media Marketing as a Tool For BusinessI Want Your Social Media… -
Get My New Business-Blogging Book with $10 Off
8 Oct 2009 | 6:50 amBusiness Blogging Made Simple A real-world guide to creating, writing and promoting a successful blog Inside my new e-book “Business Blogging – 50 Steps to Building Traffic and Sales,” you’ll discover: Why your business needs a blog (yesterday!) The biggest pitfalls of blogging — and how to avoid them How to build a following of faithful blog subscribers Proven tips for converting your blog traffic into sales Order now and get instant access … Save $10 – offer ends 14th Today! (Offer extended) I am really proud of this new book, I think the Wordtracker folks have done a… -
Climb Inside Gary Vaynerchuk’s Brain and Crush It
1 Oct 2009 | 3:03 amGot personal branding or social media questions? How would you like to get answers from one of the biggest new media rockstars on the planet? Gary Vaynerchuk is one of my favorite people in social media and he is in crazy demand right now due to his massively successful business projects, his new book (Crush It), and the arrival of his child. I am pinching myself right now because he has given me a slot in his super-busy schedule. Frankly I am also a little cautious – I do not want to mess up this chance to get some GaryVee wisdom on record. This is where you come in! As well as giving…
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Buzz Marketing, Creative Thinking and Personal Branding Like a Rock star
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Let’s Work Together
4 Nov 2009 | 4:51 amUPDATE: I have received over 60 emails thus far, so apologies if I don’t reply straight away Hi all, Would you like to partner with me on a project, business or opportunity? If you have an existing business that you would like to take to the next level, I would be open to possibly working with you. I can [...] -
How-to Get the Attention of Strategic Partners
2 Nov 2009 | 6:26 amHave you ever wanted to contact a big blogger? Perhaps you have wanted to recruit affiliates to sell your stuff? Here is the best way of grabbing the attention of strategic partners attention. The company that sent me these was MiniCanvas.co.uk, very cool! -
Video Killed The Podcast Stars
1 Nov 2009 | 8:25 amWe recently did a Halloween VIDEO episode of the Blistering Success show. It has Google wonderwheel advice, SEO tips, and more… Click below to check it out: -
Web Designers and Web Developers
26 Oct 2009 | 3:33 amDo you know any good web designers, web developers, graphics experts etc? We are going to be launching a few new projects in the near future, and would love to hear from the above people. If you know of anyone, please email me at: contact @ deanhunt.com Many thanks, Dean PS: a friend sent me the graphic above, I am [...] -
Business Optimization Week
24 Oct 2009 | 5:21 amOn Tuesday 27th October I am going to be one of the speakers at Business Optimization Week. It is a huge and highly respected event, and some of the people involved are people I have looked up to for many years, so I am really excited about it. My topic is “11 Deadly Business Myths” If you want [...]
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B.L. Ochman
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Think There Are No More Real Heroes? Meet Zoe Koplowitz
2 Nov 2009 | 8:13 amI hope you will show this post to someone you love. This morning, at 9:30 a.m., I had the great good fortune to meet up with Zoe Koplowitz, as she approached mile 24 of her 21st NYC Marathon - on purple day-glo crutches, 27 hours after the start of the race. She, and a team of Guardian Angels who acompany her as she keeps her pace of approximately one mile per hour, were on course to finish her race in just under 29 hours. She told me she felt "fine," and we talked about her dog, as Benny - clearly recognizing a great soul - bowed before her (his best trick.) I told her she was a great… -
10 Things Social Media Can't Do
31 Oct 2009 | 11:30 amBy B.L. Ochman Amid the endless pronouncements about social media -- often shortened to "social" these days by consultants trying to sound like they know what they are talking about -- is the reality that social media is not a solution, or a sure bet. Social media can't: 1. Substitute for marketing strategy A Twitter campaign, or a Facebook page that announces your weekly specials is not a marketing strategy. 2. Succeed without top management buy-in Social media requires a way of thinking that includes willingness to listen to customers, make changes based on feedback, and trust employees to… -
Top Five Reasons Why Free is a Good Business Model & How We Plan to Use it to Retire Before We're 90
30 Oct 2009 | 9:21 amPawfun, the site I hope will one day allow me to say "I used to be a corporate social media consultant", is one year old this month. My partner, Caimin Jones, and I started out thinking we'd sell a ton of t-shirts, customized photo note cards, and personalized pet photo greeting cards to pet lovers. We've sold a bunch, but not enough to allow us to retire from consulting before we're 90. Then, Eureka! We realized that we weren't using the very community-building tools we've spent the last 10 years cajoling our Fortune 500 clients into trying. Pawfun's new focus: free We're changing our focus. -
Top 13 Guidelines for Commenting on Blog Posts
29 Oct 2009 | 9:17 amLike most bloggers, I love comments on my posts. Comments help bloggers feel like we're not talking to ourselves. I've learned a lot over the years from the smart people who comment on my posts. And I've made many friends whom I never would have met otherwise. Sometimes, I sit at my computer laughing out loud at the funny things people say. And sometimes, I just shake my head and wonder what in the world a person was thinking. Even though blogs have been on the landscape for more than a decade, it seems that some people don't understand how to comment on blog posts. So here are some… -
Ricola Cougher: a sick campaign that needs to die is baaaack!
29 Oct 2009 | 7:42 amYes, the entire world is paranoid about Swine Flu. Yes, everyone is ready to lynch people who cough, sneeze or sniffle in public. And yes, The Ricola Cougher, surely one of the Top 10 most ill-conceived marketing campaigns in history, is baaaaaaaack! Since 2005, the cougher has been turning up in public places and coughing. The first person to run up and hand him a cough drop won a prize. He coughed in hair salons, movie theaters, malls, parties and parks. He's lucky he didn't cough on the subway in New York, where people kill people who look at them wrong. This year, for the first time since…
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Online Marketing Blog
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5 Tips for Effective Email Copywriting
6 Nov 2009 | 4:34 amThe quality of email content is one of the core factors in determining whether an email marketing campaign succeeds or fails. But successful email copywriting is an art — rather than a science — making it different from most other forms of business writing. To start out on the right path, consider these 5 tips for effective email copywriting: 1. Focus on the subject line. The subject line may be the shortest piece of content to write, but it’s one your campaign’s most critical elements. The challenge is to create excitement for a special offer, provide enough information… -
Reader Poll Winner: SEO Dojo for Best Paid Subscription SEM Community
5 Nov 2009 | 7:53 amTopRank has been publishing the BIGLIST of SEM blogs since Jan 2007. We’ve created other BIGLISTs of resources as well including the BIGLIST of 100+ Search Marketing Resources posted in October. The categories for that list of SEM resources includes books, conferences, newsletters, blogs, forums and many more. We decided it would be interesting to see which resources from that list our readers felt were the best. In the past 3 plus years TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog has run over 50 polls: Everything from Best Social Media Podcast to best Keyword Research Tool to Best City for… -
How to Save Money on Social SEO Consulting
3 Nov 2009 | 5:45 amSocial Media Marketing is getting a lot of attention in the media on and offline, causing many business marketers to wonder how to adjust budgets and resources to participate. Others that have allocated funds to Social Media and SEO programs without proper implementation, timelines or measurement may question their return on investment. While businesses decide to push or pull budgets, companies that are focused on winning market share and driving revenue are soundly and consistently investing in a mix of digital tactics involving search, email, online PR and of course, social media. Adding… -
Pubcon Las Vegas 2009: Are You Ready?
2 Nov 2009 | 8:41 amAnother year in the Search Marketing world, another WebmasterWorld Pubcon in Las Vegas. Pubcon was one of the first search marketing conferences I attended and where I first met a number of highly talented SEOs in person. TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog has been liveblogging the Pubcon conference since 2005 and includes a mix of content ranging from interviews with Pubcon owner Brett Tabke to Google’s Adam Lasnik. Also videos (Neil Patel giving interesting tips), photos (see the 2006 Yahoo Party in the Playboy Suite and many, many posts from the sessions offering strategy… -
TopRank’s SEO Halloween Costume Contest
30 Oct 2009 | 10:42 amThe TopRank team loves to have fun – for holidays, on team outings, at conferences, etc. Because tomorrow is Halloween, a few members of the TopRank team decided to dress up for a costume contest. And it’s up to you to decide the winner! Winning includes at least $50 worth of coffee, so be sure to share this post and get your friends to vote too. We have a winner – Congrats goes to Dana Larson: Winner! Dana as Minnesota Strawberry Shortcake Safari Thomas Bad Angel Julie Michelle the Football Star Monkey Audrey and Veterinary Nurse Amie Mike as Zombie Soupy Sales Sue After…
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Social Media Rockstar
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When TV Product Placement Goes Too Far
26 Oct 2009 | 3:07 pmCalifornication – a prime-time Showtime TV drama – celebrates the womanizing exploits of a lazy rockstar writer named Hank Moody (played David Duchovny). It has some good moments and sharp, engaging dialogue mixed in with the rough. But it jumped the shark for me personally, when it engaged in ultra-sneaky product placement for a social media site that pushed past all known bounds of advertising. Chillin’ and shillin’ with a product placement for Guitar Hero Moody lusts after a hot college student (Eva Amurri) who says she moonlights as a stripper. When he goes to her… -
Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk
12 Oct 2009 | 5:26 amGary Vaynerchuk is ‘the man.’ He’s a 33-year-old, charismatic and slightly over-the-top video blogger who’s managed to grow a multi-million dollar business by mixing his passions for wine and social media marketing. You can join along in his video wine tasting adventures or follow him on Twitter. What excites you the most about social media? “Everything has changed in the last 3 years. The fact that you can use social media for your marketing, and not have to pay millions of dollars, has really, really sent this whole game in a different direction.” Wine 2.0:… -
5 Signs You’re NOT a Social Media Expert, Yet
5 Oct 2009 | 9:48 pmOver the past two years, social media has quickly flown onto mainstream business marketing’s radar. This boom has created thousands of “Social Media Kindergarten Teacher” types with lower-intermediate skills… who get passed off as industry ‘experts’ on unsuspecting novices or clients. Next, there’s a class of smart, relatively advanced social media users who are still learning the professional + business consulting ropes. Above them, there are a handful of true social media experts who personally define the industry’s best practices and train… -
Social Media Interview with Mani Karthik
29 Sep 2009 | 11:19 pmMani Karthik is an India-based professional blogger and SEO consultant. Mani has an insightful daily SEO blog (in English) with over 5,000 subscribers, a team of overseas employees, and world-class level of search + social media skills that distinguish him as one of the very top international web consultants in Asia. You can follow Mani on Twitter or subscribe to his SEO blog. Where do you live, what do you do for work and fun? “I’m from Cochin, India (a tropical city on the southwest coast, in Kerala province). I make a living by helping people sell things online, fine tune their… -
Update Twitter & Facebook Fan Pages Automatically via RSS
21 Sep 2009 | 10:36 pmYou’re cranking out some solid blog posts for your company. And you’ve just convinced the boss to let you set up a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page, too. But the boss is worried it’ll take up too much time, and she asks: “Can you automatically update Twitter and Facebook with our new blog posts?” Yes, you can. Here’s how to do it reliably and for free. This method will allow you to link out of Facebook’s walled garden and get maximum traffic for your publishing efforts. Step 1: Getting RSS Updates Automatically Posted to Twitter Twitterfeed is…
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Denver Post: News: Breaking: Local
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Broncos will be running up hill against Steelers
6 Nov 2009 | 11:25 pmBroncos head coach Josh McDaniels often will say an offense can't force the ball to specific spots or players, that it has to go where the openings are against any defense. -
Grocery union wants strike option for holidays
6 Nov 2009 | 9:39 pmThe local grocery workers' union pleaded in a letter to its international leadership today to authorize a strike before the busy food holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. -
Hot dog scam ends with long prison term
6 Nov 2009 | 6:01 pmA kosher meat salesman who scammed investors out of nearly $2.5 million by faking purchase orders for hot dogs was sentenced to 15 years in prison today in U.S. District Court in Denver. -
Broncos adding Law
6 Nov 2009 | 5:11 pm— The Broncos moved to shore up their secondary Friday coming to terms with veteran cornerback Ty Law. -
Soccer coach given 24 years for sex with girl
6 Nov 2009 | 4:38 pmA Littleton soccer coach was sentenced to 24 years in prison today in Jefferson County District Court for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl last year.
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TheDenverChannel.com - Local News
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Ritter Proposes Cuts In Education, Tax On Soda, Online Sales
6 Nov 2009 | 10:08 pmFacing an expected $1 billion shortfall in next year's budget, Gov. Bill Ritter is proposing a 4.6 percent cut in education spending and charging sales tax on items including candy and soda and online purchases. -
Air Force To Honor Fort Hood Victims
6 Nov 2009 | 8:43 pmThe Air Force Academy will hold a moment of silence to honor the shooting victims at Fort Hood before the Army-Air Force football game Saturday at the academy. -
Colo. Safeway Workers Wait For Strike Sanction
6 Nov 2009 | 8:31 pmUnionized Safeway workers in Colorado have voted to authorize a strike as contract talks drag on, but it's unclear if union leaders will OK one. -
Fallen 'Kosher Hot Dog King' Headed For Prison
6 Nov 2009 | 5:37 pmArnold Zaler, the self-styled kosher "hot dog king" of Denver, admitted that he was driven by a hunger to be a "big shot" in the city's Jewish community. -
CHSAA: Cancer Not A 'Hardship' For Teenage Hooper
6 Nov 2009 | 5:29 pmA teenager gets one last shot at an appeal after the Colorado High School Activities Association rejects her request for a hardship waiver due to a mother fighting cancer.
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Denver News
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Drivers can pay for parking over the phone
6 Nov 2009 | 11:03 pmOne of the city's most popular shopping districts has a new way for drivers to pay for on-street parking, just in time for the holiday shopping season. -
Hearings set for Denver Water proposal
6 Nov 2009 | 6:56 pmThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold hearings next month to discuss a draft environmental impact statement for Denver Water's proposed reservoir expansion in the foothills northwest of the city. -
Mile High Murder, No. 50: Dead woman found at 1873 S. Clermont Street
6 Nov 2009 | 10:37 amOur Mile High Murder project, started on May 17, reaches the unfortunate half-century mark in fewer than six months as result of word about Denver's latest homicide. -
Arts Week puts new, free focus on Denver art scene
6 Nov 2009 | 4:55 amA Denver Arts week gets underway Friday. The city-sponsored event, which runs through Nov. -
The State of Denver Public Schools Not Swell
6 Nov 2009 | 12:31 amA new school board is about to take office in the Denver Public Schools and the transitional item , finished by the last board, but subject to review by the new school board, will be how to deal with six troubled schools, three neighborhood schools and three charter schools.
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Denver Business News - Local Denver News | Denver Business Journal
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German delegation visiting Denver
6 Nov 2009 | 5:52 pmRepresentatives of eight German companies involved in the global wind energy industry are coming to Denver next week, hoping to find local companies in Colorado to partner with in the future. -
Ritter proposes $131.8M in cuts to budget
6 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pmGov. Bill Ritter proposed $131.8 million in temporary eliminations of tax exemptions Friday as part of $1.02 billion in budget-balancing maneuvers he suggested in releasing his plan for next year's state budget. -
Real deals: Warehouse sells for $5M
6 Nov 2009 | 1:49 pmFisher Scientific Co. LLC has purchased the warehouse it already occupies in the Montbello industrial park for $5.05 million. (TMO) -
Dow ends the week at 10,023
6 Nov 2009 | 1:44 pmWall Street ended the trading day Friday with a slight gain, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing slightly above 10,000. -
State lawmaker takes aim at medical pot
6 Nov 2009 | 1:34 pmA Republican state senator said Friday that he planned to introduce legislation to tighten regulation of the medical marijuana industry in Colorado.
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The Practice of Leadership
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Leaders Take Risks!
1 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pmPhoto by schoschie The act and practice of leadership is a risky undertaking. Leadership is the act or bringing about positive change. This requires leaders to initiate, to blaze new trails, to venture into the unknown and unexplored terrain. All of this entails risk. Kouzes and Posner in their bestselling book, “The Leadership Challenge” describes it this way: “Leaders are pioneers – people who are willing to step out into the unknown. They are people who are willing to take risks, to innovate and experiment in order to find new an better ways of doing things.” Leaders take… -
10 reasons why you’re going to fail!
1 Nov 2009 | 11:50 amI can across a really stunning post on failure by Tony Morgan, “10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail” that is really worth sharing, so here is Tony’s list… 10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail It’s not your passion. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing. You don’t have a plan. You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That includes a financial plan. (I happen to believe you need direction from God on… -
The 2009 Most Influential Business Thinkers
1 Nov 2009 | 11:45 amForbes.com released their 2009 “The Most Influential business Thinkers” results. The consulting firm CrainerDearlove compiled this list of today’s top thinkers, by surveyed 3,500 people and a panel of experts to determine the 2009 edition of the Thinkers 50, the fifth edition of a biennial list of the most influential living management thinkers. This years results are listed below. Rank Name 2007 Rank Country Day Job 1 C.K. Prahalad 1 India/U.S. University of Michigan Academic 2 Malcolm Gladwell 18 Canada New Yorker Columnist 3 Paul Krugman U.S. Princeton Academic 4… -
Keeping your goals in focus
30 Aug 2009 | 1:39 pmPhoto by kevindooley The article “For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big” from the NY Times discusses the work of the best selling business author Jim Collins. Given the popularity of Jim Collins the article discussed how he allocates his time, which is as follows: “… in a corner of the white board at the end of his long conference room, Mr. Collins keeps this short list: Creative 53% Teaching 28% Other 19% That, he explains, is a running tally of how he’s spending his time, and whether he’s sticking to a big goal he set for himself years ago: to spend 50 percent of… -
Do you have a personal leadership vision?
30 Aug 2009 | 1:30 pmPhoto by maessive Stew Friedman writes a great post titled “Define Your Personal Leadership Vision” in which he provides some guidance on how to go about defining your personal leadership vision. He describes a personal leadership vision as… “… an essential means for focusing attention on what matters most; what you want to accomplish in your life and what kind of leader you wish to be. A useful vision has to be rooted in your past, address the future, and deal with today’s realities. It represents who you are and what you stand for. It inspires you, and the people whose…
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Management IQ - BusinessWeek
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CEO Oversharing
5 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pmRecently Chip Conley, CEO of Joie de Vivre, a $230 million company with more than 3,000 employees, got enmeshed in a bit of a modern corporate culture snafu. Conley's not your average Harvard MBA pinstriped buttoned-down corporate chieftan. He's an entrepreneur. He writes his own rules. So to him, it wasn't so strange to post some pictures of himself at the Burning Man whatever-it-is in the desert on his Facebook fan page. Or to tweet on Twitter about the demise of his 8-year-long relationship. Some of his employees, however, found it unseemly for a CEO to be shirtless on Facebook. And since… -
Marketing Drugs: The Pitfalls of DTC
5 Nov 2009 | 9:56 amWhat happens when pharmaceutical company ads urge TV views and magazine readers to "ask your doctor" about a particular drug? A new study from market researcher Verilogue suggests patients either aren't asking for the drug by name, or worse, they're asking about its scary side effects. Verilogue came to that conclusion from a unique and useful vantage point: It recorded 12,500 real conversations between patients and physicians. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising is one of the most controversial issues in pharmaceuticals. Critics say the ads promote the over-use of prescription drugs… -
CEO Pensions Encourage Earnings Games
23 Oct 2009 | 3:44 pmA new study finds that it’s not just the outsized pay packages executives at AIG, Citigroup and others receive that is a problem. Nor are the golden parachutes given those forced out the only thing that deserves scrutiny. Regular run-of-the-mill CEO retirement has become a reason for CEOs to goose the numbers. The study by Paul Kalyta of McGill University finds that a CEO whose retirement pay depends in part on the company’s performance in his final years at the helm, will manage earnings up as he approaches retirement. After he’s gone, the stocks tend to drop sharply. By contrast,… -
Pay Czar Slashes Compensation; Makes Governance Changes
21 Oct 2009 | 2:55 pmIn a striking display of government authority, pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is taking a knife to the pay packages of certain companies receiving U.S. funds. According to media reports, the government will slash the compensation of the 25 highest-paid employees at the seven firms receiving the most aid. The biggest drop will be to salaries, which will plummet 90% on average for these firms, while total compensation will fall by an average of about 50%. (Those numbers could be skewed by agreements reached with executives like outgoing Bank of America CEO Kenneth D. Lewis, who is forgoing all of… -
Research and Development Spending Slows
21 Oct 2009 | 8:02 amHere's a sobering prediction: A new study put out by The New Democratic Leadership Council predicts that American investment in research and development will experience its biggest decline in 30 years. R&D spending is expected to fall 2.4% in 2009- marking the third time in 30 years the nation has witnessed a pullback in research spending. Continued R&D spending is considered a key to economic growth. And there are companies that have continued to keep up their research investments. Nevertheless, the US overall now lags behind its competitors in terms of the percent of the nation's general…
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Branding Strategy Insider
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9 Digital Trends For 2010
5 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm1: Facebook replaces personal emailQuestion: Google has it, Hoover has it (in the UK anyway), TiVo had it, lost it and has somewhat got it back. Xerox had it, but nobody really cares anymore. So what is it?It's when a brand name becomes the verb associated with its use. So rather than searching, you Google, or TiVo when digital recording a television show. Arguably an even more powerful synonym is when a brand becomes a noun, such as Polaroid, for instant developed photographs, although that didn't end so well.The newest one would seem to Facebook, although it has too meanings.'I Facebooked… -
The Anti-laws of Luxury Marketing #16
2 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm16. Keep celebrities out of your advertisingIn traditional marketing, stars of stage and screen are very often used in advertising: there is nothing like a David Beckham for selling sunglasses or shaving cream. Nestlé has also got in on the act, with premium brand Nespresso calling on the services of George Clooney, and Nescafé recruiting the famous English soccer player Ian Wright. Nestlé, the world’s number one in food marketing, knows what it’s doing.However, using celebrities to promote luxury products is extremely dangerous. A luxury brand is courted by the stars, in the same way… -
Brands and the Ladder of Life
1 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmOne of the typical questions marketing people ask themselves is, What’s the lifetime value of a customer?Presumably a company benefits by keeping its customers satisfied over an extended period of time. Nice idea in theory, but this kind of thinking often leads a company down the wrong path.Take Saturn, for example. Here was a brand built on the ultimate in customer satisfaction. Comfortable showrooms, no high-pressure sales people, no haggling over prices. ‘A different kind of company. A different kind of car.’The first Saturn model, the S series, was wildly successful. For a number of… -
Uniting Naming and Promotion
31 Oct 2009 | 9:10 pmX-13D? What kind of name is that for something you pop into your mouth?Doritos turned naming conventions upside down with its savvy plan in 2007 to generate buzz – and, oh yes, a new name – for its new flavored chips. How? By submitting suggestions on the Web, prompted by these eye-catching black bags of cheeseburger-like chips with the 'classified' moniker.“This is the X-13D flavor experiment,” said the text box on the bag. “Objective: taste and name Doritos flavor X-13D.” This was followed by directions to a website that linked to yet another website. And when snack-happy teens… -
When The Name You Want Is Taken
30 Oct 2009 | 9:05 pmYou've just found out the name you want for your brand is owned by somebody else. So, the temptation is to say, "Let's move on."Not so fast. Names are property, and can be bought and sold (or leased) like real estate.Coors licensed the name of its upscale beer Irish Red from a long-defunct brewery. Yves St. Laurent bought the name of its Opium fragrance for only $200 from two elderly perfumers.The 1999 relaunch of National Airlines came about after the new owners paid $175,000 to buy the name at a bankruptcy sale from defunct Pan Am. (Pan Am had acquired the carrier in 1980.)Not that long…
