I Can Has Cheezburger plans to turn the 54th Grammy Awards into a laughing matter by giving viewers an outlet to write funny captions for red carpet and ceremony photos. The “Live LOLing” event starts Sunday at 4 p.m. PT when Cheezburger’s ROFLrazzi site, Twitter profile and Facebook page will begin publishing Grammy images with humorous captions — in lolcat meme format. People can click “Recaption This” to plop their own witty text on the photos. Participants can then share their creations on their social networks. Cheezburger editor in chief Emily Huh…
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Most Topular Stories
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Live LOLCats: Cheezburger Plans Grammy Awards Memes in Real Time
Mashable!9 Feb 2012 | 12:35 pm -
Brainstorming = Finding Better Options
Idea Sandbox Brainstorming » SandBlog5 Feb 2012 | 6:23 amYour spouse asks you to stop by the grocery store and pick up a nice, ripe tomato for this evening’s dinner. You make your way to the produce department, to the bin of tomatoes. To your disappointment, there’s only one tomato left. It is overripe, bruised, and fuzzy. You only have one bad item to choose from. Your other option is to depart tomato-less. Go home without a tomato, you’ve wrecked the salad. Go home with a rotten tomato, you’ve wrecked the salad. While this example is so simple, it is almost silly… This is what happens in business. We find ourselves… -
Brandiose is Grandiose
Brand New9 Feb 2012 | 4:34 amEstablished in 2000 as Plan B Branding by life-long friends Jason Klein and Casey White, Brandiose, as the new company has been named, is a branding firm focused on designing official logos and uniforms for Minor League Baseball teams with awesome names like the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Having been called to the Majors, they also revitalized the Cincinnati Reds logos and uniforms. With the new name comes a new identity with lettering by Ken Barber. The Brandiose signature pays tribute to the mid-century lettering that captured an optimistic, utopian view of… -
Commentary on “Principles for Building a Successful Social Business Strategy”
emergencemarketing.com1 Feb 2012 | 2:50 pmThe students at Baruch College’s Executive MBA Cohort 31 read our book, The Hyper-Social Organization, and authored a detailed blog post with 9 principles to build a successful social business (http://baruchemba31.blogspot.com/2012/01/principles-for-building-successful.html#comment-form). They invited me to engage in the conversation with them, so here are some of the comments I have on their great piece. On the first principle — Objectives Should Complement Strengths and Help Overcome Weaknesses –I would add that a social business strategy can humanize a brand and therefore… -
The Weird interview
Seth's Blog9 Feb 2012 | 12:06 pmTo celebrate the launch of Squidoo's new UpMarket magazine, we got permission to post an audio interview I recently did with Darren Hardy of Success. You can find it here. Thanks for listening.
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Mashable!
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Live LOLCats: Cheezburger Plans Grammy Awards Memes in Real Time
9 Feb 2012 | 12:35 pmI Can Has Cheezburger plans to turn the 54th Grammy Awards into a laughing matter by giving viewers an outlet to write funny captions for red carpet and ceremony photos. The “Live LOLing” event starts Sunday at 4 p.m. PT when Cheezburger’s ROFLrazzi site, Twitter profile and Facebook page will begin publishing Grammy images with humorous captions — in lolcat meme format. People can click “Recaption This” to plop their own witty text on the photos. Participants can then share their creations on their social networks. Cheezburger editor in chief Emily Huh… -
Popularity of an Article Can Be Predicted Before It’s Tweeted [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2012 | 12:24 pmHP Labs says it’s possible to know if your tweet will be a dud before you type the 140 characters. Researchers have developed a formula that predicts the number of times a news “article will be tweeted with surprising accuracy.” The researchers predicted tweet popularity with 84% accuracy based on ranking news articles by four criteria. In the new study called “The Pulse of News in Social Media: Forecasting Popularity, HP Labs used a statistical model to rate the popularity of 40,000 news articles published during nine days in August 2011. The statistical model… -
Yahoo’s New Visualization Beautifully Shows What’s Happening on the Web
9 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pmYahoo has launched a new webpage that visualizes what’s happening on the web in near real time — and it’s totally beautiful. The Content Optimization Relevance Engine (C.O.R.E.) HTML5 site hopes to show users the “behind the scenes” process Yahoo uses to match readers with content on their personalized homepage, using technology developed in a Yahoo research lab a few years ago. While Yahoo’s homepage used to be arranged by editors, it now uses an algorithm to match individual user preferences. “We can provide users with insights through the lens of… -
Who Really Invented the Web? Texas Trial Questions Tim Berners-Lee [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2012 | 11:48 amTim Berners-Lee, who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web, testified this week in a Texas courtroom against a company that claims it has a patent on the same technology. The man who claims to have the patent on the “interactive web” is Michael Doyle. His company, Eolas Technologies, has filed suit against many of the world’s biggest Internet companies — including Google and Yahoo — over the case. Doyle’s lawyers say the companies owe him millions in royalty payments for using such common functions as watching online video or search suggestions pop… -
Mass Effect 3 Gets iPad Version with Action-Packed ‘Infiltrator’ [PREVIEW]
9 Feb 2012 | 11:35 amMass Effect 3 is coming to an iPad near you in the form of Mass Effect Infiltrator, an iOS game aimed at expanding the game’s narrative and give players some mobile combat. Infiltrator isn’t a direct port of the latest Mass Effect game. Unlike its big brother, a sci-fi role-playing game known for its first-person shooter gameplay and massive, branching story-lines, Infiltrator is all about fighting. Mashable got a demo of the game played on an iPad and hooked up to a television at an EA showcase. The story follows a soldier called Randall Ezno as he travels the universe tracking…
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Idea Sandbox Brainstorming » SandBlog
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Brainstorming = Finding Better Options
5 Feb 2012 | 6:23 amYour spouse asks you to stop by the grocery store and pick up a nice, ripe tomato for this evening’s dinner. You make your way to the produce department, to the bin of tomatoes. To your disappointment, there’s only one tomato left. It is overripe, bruised, and fuzzy. You only have one bad item to choose from. Your other option is to depart tomato-less. Go home without a tomato, you’ve wrecked the salad. Go home with a rotten tomato, you’ve wrecked the salad. While this example is so simple, it is almost silly… This is what happens in business. We find ourselves… -
Achieve Goals + Resolutions With Bite-Sized Chunks
16 Jan 2012 | 1:23 pmSand for Your Inbox January 2012 I hope your year is off to a great start! Have you ever tried to put together a jigsaw puzzle with 500 or 1,000 pieces? It takes a while… And, needs to be done in more than one sitting. One of the reasons we miss achieving our personal New Year’s resolutions or business strategies is that we try to accomplish too much at once. We approach the 1,000-piece goal as if it can be finished in one sitting. We get frustrated… The finish line seems a million miles away… And, we lose motivation. A better approach is to cut your goal into… -
On Resisting Change
9 Jan 2012 | 1:23 pmHow To Deal With ChangeChanging versus Being ChangedHow ‘Riding Elephants’ Can Prompt Change: “Switch”Read “Switch” To Be A Champion Of ChangeDon’t Like The Way Things Are At Work? -
Todd Sattersten’s 11 Best Business Books of 2011
29 Dec 2011 | 8:30 amThis article is a complete copy/paste from what Todd posted on his site on the 17th of December. Why am I stealing so blatantly? Todd “wrote the book” on great business books. No. Literally. He wrote “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You” with Jack Covert in 2009. Todd always does a great job summarizing WHY a book should be read. He lets you know the value of the read. (This is a lesson for any of us who write book reviews on our sites). Enjoy! Todd’s words are next… 2011 brought us some… -
NORAD Tracking Santa – Live!
24 Dec 2011 | 2:28 pmIt is very exciting to be able to track Santa’s progress around the globe. As of this writing, he is making his rounds in Italy! The NORAD website (noradsanta.org) allows you to watch Santa as he flies over different cities and also tracks how many presents delivered along the way. [click for larger view] NORAD – which stands for North American Aerospace Defense Command – is a military organization responsible for keeping watch of the skies and waterways of North America. Normally they use their equipment to watch for air attacks and missiles. On Christmas Eve, their…
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Brand New
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Brandiose is Grandiose
9 Feb 2012 | 4:34 amEstablished in 2000 as Plan B Branding by life-long friends Jason Klein and Casey White, Brandiose, as the new company has been named, is a branding firm focused on designing official logos and uniforms for Minor League Baseball teams with awesome names like the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Having been called to the Majors, they also revitalized the Cincinnati Reds logos and uniforms. With the new name comes a new identity with lettering by Ken Barber. The Brandiose signature pays tribute to the mid-century lettering that captured an optimistic, utopian view of… -
Rescuing the American Red Cross
8 Feb 2012 | 4:31 amEstablished in 1881, the American Red Cross is one of the most well-known emergency response organizations in the world aiding victims of natural disasters and other emergencies. It counts with more than half a million volunteers and 35,000 employees across 700 national chapters. Recently, a new logo and design standards designed by Turner Duckworth have been quietly implemented. The Brand Standards manual can be seen here [PDF] and covers more than is represented in this post, in case you are interested. The pin is a symbol of enthusiastic participation. It is a personal, grassroots and… -
New Theatre on Rotation
7 Feb 2012 | 3:57 amEstablished in 1932, the New Theatre is a proudly independent theater in Sydney, Australia. "We're not slick, we're not refined and we don't conform," is only one of many statements it makes, "We believe in artistic and social expression, not just escapism. When we take the stage, we're for real." Or "We're driven by passion, not money." You get the point. This past January, New Theatre introduced a new visual and verbal identity created by the Sydney office of Interbrand. At the centre of it all, a new logomark referencing unexpected twists and turns in the form of an 'NT' device, that stems… -
Dulux Colors the World
6 Feb 2012 | 5:51 amDulux, owned by Dutch multinational conglomerate AkzoNobel is an international brand of paint with a history dating back to 1931 which, during its lifetime, has been sold by Dupont and former British chemical company ICI. Initially aimed at wholesalers and decorators the brand moved into the retail market during the 1950s and delivered a significant (and memorable) advertising impact with the introduction of the "Dulux dog" as part of a 1960s advertising campaign which continues to be used today. Following a decision to resolve the international variations of Dulux into one premium paint… -
Brand New Awards, Early-Bird Pricing Last Day
3 Feb 2012 | 7:24 amQuick reminder: Prices go up tomorrow, Saturday, for the Brand New Awards. Don't forget to cast your vote about this post online
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emergencemarketing.com
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Commentary on “Principles for Building a Successful Social Business Strategy”
1 Feb 2012 | 2:50 pmThe students at Baruch College’s Executive MBA Cohort 31 read our book, The Hyper-Social Organization, and authored a detailed blog post with 9 principles to build a successful social business (http://baruchemba31.blogspot.com/2012/01/principles-for-building-successful.html#comment-form). They invited me to engage in the conversation with them, so here are some of the comments I have on their great piece. On the first principle — Objectives Should Complement Strengths and Help Overcome Weaknesses –I would add that a social business strategy can humanize a brand and therefore… -
You don’t want to turn your business into a social business
23 Jan 2012 | 1:33 pmFor someone who co-authored a book on how companies that succeed in leveraging this current wave of innovation, powered by the social, do so by turning their business processes into social processes, it may seem contradictory to now hear that you should not turn your business into a social business. There are several reasons why those two concepts are very different. And most pundits declaring that you should be building social businesses are missing the point. First off, a social business (see WikiPedia entry) has been defined by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus inhis… -
CIO 2.0 Conversation with Dan Greller, consultant, speaker and ex-CIO at Legg-Mason
29 Sep 2011 | 12:18 pmDan Greller, the former CIO at Legg Mason, and currently technology innovation consultant, speaker and writer (with a great blog), was kind enough to join me for my second CIO 2.0 Conversation. Dan has 30 years of experience managing global technology organizations, mostly within the financial services industry. Having first entered the job market when the debate between mainframe and desktop computing was raging, Dan has seen his share of technology innovation battles – which made it particularly interesting to discuss this latest battle between innovation and control taking place… -
CIO 2.0 Conversation with Shirley Cunningham, CIO at Monsanto
22 Sep 2011 | 3:49 pmMy first CIO 2.0 conversation with Shirley Cunningham, the CIO at Monsanto, was truly a 2.0 conversation. Shirley has a rich background. Hailing from Scotland, she held many positions in MIS departments (Management Information Systems) across various industries before joining Monsanto in the late 90′s through an acquisition. She became the global CIO 3 years ago. As CIO at Monsanto, Shirley is a member of the strategy team. Becoming a member of the strategy team came with a change in role for IT – that from being an order taker to a strategic partner sharing responsibility for… -
CMO 2.0 Influencer Conversation with Tom Asacker
1 Sep 2011 | 7:26 amI truly enjoyed my CMO 2.0 Influencer conversation with Tom Asacker – who I consider a friend and also admire as an original marketing thinker. Tom is the author of multiple books, including Opportunity Screams: Unlocking Hearts and Minds in Today’s Idea Economy, and also blogs at A Clear Eye. Before becoming a successful author and speaker, Tom started his career at GE, where he participated in a management buyout of an electronics firm. After that he became the founder and CEO for a medical devices company. The first topic we tackled is that of marketing in a world where…
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Seth's Blog
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The Weird interview
9 Feb 2012 | 12:06 pmTo celebrate the launch of Squidoo's new UpMarket magazine, we got permission to post an audio interview I recently did with Darren Hardy of Success. You can find it here. Thanks for listening. -
Inaccurate labels and why we need them (and need to improve them)
9 Feb 2012 | 2:46 amIf I tell you, "I'm going to the baseball game," it seems as though you're likely to understand what I mean. Of course, you won't. When George Will goes to a baseball game, it's a religious experience. Me, I don't even like baseball. Or maybe it's my nephew's ball game (the playoffs), or maybe going to the game causes me to miss an important event, and on and on. We label the experience with just two words, and two words can't possibly capture the emotions and circumstance surrounding an event. The same thing is true with brands. If I tell you that a new business was funded by USV, that might… -
How do they know you're not a flake?
8 Feb 2012 | 2:43 amBefore your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person is going to triage it to find out if it's even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures. Do I know this person? Did someone I trust send them over? Where does she work? (Ideo? the FDA? The New York Times?) Has she won an award? Is she famous? Are there typos and is the design sloppy? Are they pestering me? Do I already follow this person online? Does music play when I visit the website? Will… -
Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea
7 Feb 2012 | 2:09 amBut it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be ignored and need to spend more money. Horizonal marketing, on the other hand, means creating a remarkable product and story and setting it up to spread from person to person. It's out of your control, because all the interactions are… -
Who is your customer?
6 Feb 2012 | 2:26 amRule one: You can build a business on the foundation of great customer service. Rule two: The only way to do great customer service is to treat different customers differently. The question: Who is your customer? It's not obvious. Zappos is a classic customer service company, and their customer is the person who buys the shoes. Nike, on the other hand, doesn't care very much at all about the people who buy the shoes, or even the retailers. They care about the athletes (often famous) that wear the shoes, sometimes for money. They name buildings after these athletes, court them, erect…
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MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog
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Has Pinterest Broken a Golden Rule?
9 Feb 2012 | 11:26 amWhy are we so concerned about a report by LL Social that popular online pinboard Pinterest is making money off our interactions when Facebook has been doing it for years—but with our much more personal information? Is it because more people understand affiliate marketing—and have experienced the spammy nature of its content? Or is it that most people just don’t understand how Facebook makes money from them? The interesting or perhaps biggest risk I see Pinterest facing is in the relationships it will now have (or perhaps, not have) with brands. The launch of Google + brand… -
The Biggest Challenge for Marketers: Engagement
9 Feb 2012 | 11:17 amA recent McKinsey Quarterly study revealed that having the ability to engage their customers and leverage those relationships is the No. 1 digitally related challenge facing marketers today. The survey, which was conducted over a two-week period, queried nearly 800 marketing executives representing a wide range of industries from business-to-business marketing and business-to-consumer marketing. The results of the survey were quite fascinating insomuch as over 50% of the respondents indicated that engaging their customers and gleaning deep insights from those engagements is their most… -
How to Find ROI in the Multichannel Marketing Haystack
9 Feb 2012 | 6:51 amA guest post by Irv Shapiro of Ifbyphone. Admit it: Sometimes, you get knots in your stomach when you think about trying to attach measurable outcomes to all of your company’s multichannel marketing campaigns. The (sort of) good news is that you’re not alone. Even veteran marketers are having a tough time finding ROI in the ever-expanding haystack that is today’s multichannel marketing environment. But the unsettling news is that easy, online tracking tools and a shaky economy have created a C-suite expectation that every dollar spent must be connected to a quantifiable and measurable… -
How Social Media Is Changing the Agency/Client Relationship
8 Feb 2012 | 10:03 amThis week on the Marketing Smarts Podcast, we discuss the evolving relationship between agencies and clients in the era of social media. Our guest is Glenn Engler, CEO of Digital Influence Group, a full-service digital agency with “social media at the core” of everything they do. The jumping-off point for our interview was that “social at the core” position. I wanted to know what that meant, and Glenn explained that, in a nutshell, it doesn’t make sense for an agency to offer “social” as a capability to its clients (as in, “We can also do… -
5 Super Bowl XVLI Ads That Could Have Been Improved with a Mobile Call-to-Action
8 Feb 2012 | 6:49 amMarketers buy into the Super Bowl telecast because it is the one time of the year when consumers are actually tuning in to commercials instead of muting the volume or fast-forwarding on their DVR. Here’s an old school recipe for success: One part new product or service offering upgrade A tear-inducing script (Tears can be a result of hilarity or a message that pulls at the heartstrings.) One teaspoon of a timely message (Think Valentine’s Day and/or tax season.) A cute animal or hot celebrity A tease in the media What’s missing in this day of 24/7 social, mobile consumers? Mobile calls…
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PSFK
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Springwise: Japanese Restaurant Serves The Food From Popular Video Games
9 Feb 2012 | 12:26 pmA new eatery from game developer Capcom offers a menu inspired by its best-sellers. -
Is Twitter Becoming The New Google?
9 Feb 2012 | 12:17 pmThere is now a new way to discover new media using TasteKid's unique search engine service on the social network. -
Music Site Lets Indie Bands Hold International Live Concerts Anywhere
9 Feb 2012 | 12:01 pmAwdio provides easy access to larger audiences for local groups through the online plug-n-broadcast features. -
Will Samsung Be Launching A Voice And Gesture Controlled Tablet?
9 Feb 2012 | 11:44 amIntuitive devices, rumored to be released, will allow users to operate them using speech and motion commands. -
Sustainable Skeletal Buildings Function Like Living Organisms
9 Feb 2012 | 11:28 amSOMA architects present a tower and museum concept whose structure reflects how plants and animals interact with nature.
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Digital Influence Mapping Project
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Are Social Media Ethics About Actions or Intentions?
30 Jan 2012 | 12:29 amWhat is your social strategy? Are you trying to increase the amount of positive consumer generated media (CGM) for your brand or are you trying to inspire and manage brand advocacy? The media mindset thinks in terms of CGM. How can they make more of that and put it in all the places where customers will find it. How they “make” that media happen is a means to a simple end. The social mindset thinks in terms of genuine brand advocacy. How can we give customers, employees, stakeholders a reason and a means to share a sincerely positive point of view about a brand with their friends,… -
Actionable 2012 Social Business Predictions: #4 Social Selling as a Service
16 Jan 2012 | 1:38 amSales force-driven organizations are wising up to using social media to build relationships with customers. Businesses are investing in sales enablement software like Salesforce.com, iCentera and Jive that have social-related functions internally to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing and some even have ways to manage social contacts. Sales as Content Sales organizations are all a-twitter about content marketing, certain the answer to closing sales is in a steady flow of just the right white papers or video talking heads. All that is right-minded in my book. The sales process,… -
Actionable 2012 Social Business Predictions: #3 Gamification Endures
9 Jan 2012 | 12:08 amNo, it’s really not about gaming. It’s about good old behavioral economics using game mechanics. PFSK recently ran a series profiling how different organizations were using points, leaderboards and social proof to drive behavior change. They have sunk a fair amount of energy into reviewing the use of game mechanics in groups like RecycleBank, LetGive, Stickk and SuMo . They have also produced a report that is worth previewing and grabbing called The Future of Gaming. The world of ‘gamification’ is certainly buzzy if not frothy. Loads of marketers are talking about it. Many startups… -
Actionable Social Business Predictions: #2 Social Insights over Social Data
5 Jan 2012 | 12:35 amWe have long been fascinated by the wealth of data we could collect, analyze and put to use via digital media. It’s taken us years to get beyond the intention and excitement of doing that to actually using data in constructive ways. Now along comes all this social data spread between platforms like Facebook and Twitter and conversation search tools like Radian6 and Sysomos. The promise of knowing what your fans and detractors are saying about your brand is irresistible. The chance to put these social "signals" to use cannot be passed up. Well, as more brands finally… -
Actionable 2012 Social Business Predictions: #1 Comprehensive Content Strategy
2 Jan 2012 | 12:30 amTiming is everything in business. Business leaders want to embrace innovations the moment before they become profitable business strategy or execution. That goes for most social media-based business solutions. Most annual social media predictions are loose stabs at what may happen and often range from the obvious, “20-whatever is the year of mobile,” to the interesting, “2012 will/won’t be the year of Google+.” With hard-to-read economic indicators, business leaders don’t need broad meditations on what might happen but rather ways of more precisely anticipating change and…
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PR-Squared - Social Media Marketing and Public Relations
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Open Letter to Havas CEO David Jones
8 Feb 2012 | 8:12 amHi Mr. Jones. I caught your MSNBC interview this morning with Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski re: your new book, Who Cares Wins: Why Good Business is Better Business. You made some excellent points re: how transparency, authenticity and speed will win the day for corporations; about how companies who expect to do well must increasingly expect to do good, as it is becomes ever easier for consumers to suss out egregious behavior and punish bad actors (from un-friending to public humiliation). This is all well-worn territory for Social Media geeks, of course, but it’s always good… -
Facebook IPO is Good for Everybody
6 Feb 2012 | 6:35 amDepending on who you ask, the Facebook IPO will result in boundless glory or is destined to be remembered as the final pinprick in an impending burst of the current tech bubble. For my part, whereas in the past I likened Facebook to previous Walled Garden successes like AOL (the AOL of the early 90′s, not the AOL of today – which is a SHIFT client!), in the past 18 months or so I’ve only been impressed by Facebook’s ability to embed itself across the larger, open expanses of the Web. It “rides alongside” us as we surf, versus dictating how and where we experience the… -
Susan G. Komen PR Disaster: Lessons Learned
3 Feb 2012 | 11:27 amWow. It’s been nearly two weeks since my last blog post. Sorry about that. I was out sick. And wow, what a crazy time to sit on the sidelines… Facebook IPO. Hello! More on that in a future post. Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood. Sheesh! Let’s talk about that! (Caveat: I am a Blue State progressive; whose mother died of breast cancer; who marched on Washington as a college student in support of women’s rights; and whose dear-departed grandmother spoke with horror of the days prior to Roe v. Wade. Got all that? You’ve been warned.) Just as I started… -
It’s the End of the Web as We Know It … or, Speed Kills
23 Jan 2012 | 9:46 amThose of you who follow me on other social nets like Twitter or Facebook know that I am pretty opinionated when it comes to politics. Suffice to say that I am a card-carrying member of the “Liberal Coastal Elites.” (I try not to over-indulge or bore folks with it; and I certainly can play nice with my right-leaning friends.) I bring it all up only as a segue to the fact that I am a big fan of Andrew Sullivan’s Dish blog. Sullivan’s one of the big dogs in blogging; he’s been freshly-empowered by his move to the Daily Beast to experiment… -
Thoughts on a Twitterversary
19 Jan 2012 | 7:18 amLet’s take a ramble. One of those automated spambots on Twitter informed me that today was my 5–year anniversary of microblogging. Wow. Five years. Really? What was I up to five years ago? I was living in Boston, in-between my family’s quinquennial moves to San Francisco. My brain was on fire, as I’d hit upon a worthy successor to the Social Media News Release concept and was just a couple of weeks away from debuting the Social Media Newsroom template. As I look back, 2007 was a prolific time for the entire Social Media industry. It was not only the year Twitter…
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Branding Strategy Insider
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Time For Brand Marketers To Lead A Comeback
7 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmIt’s a good thing the game between the NFL's New England Patriots and the New York Giants was exciting because this year’s Super Bowl commercials were dull, and what a weird thing to say about the Super Bowl. Generally, it’s the very opposite of that. Perhaps it’s best not to read too much into Super Bowl ads vying for viral buzz (many of which adopted a new pre-game, social media preview approach to generate buzz, albeit some have argued it was poorly done). But there was one thing that stood out. In a noticeable departure from the tradition of Super Bowl Sunday, this year’s crop… -
When To Reposition Your Brand
6 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmBrand repositioning is necessary when one or more of the following conditions exist: Your brand has a bad, confusing or nonexistent image. The primary benefit your brand "owns" has evolved from a differentiating benefit to a cost-of-entry benefit. Your organization is significantly altering its strategic direction. Your organization is entering new businesses and the current positioning is no longer appropriate. A new competitor with a superior value proposition enters your industry. Competition has usurped your brand's position or rendered it ineffectual. Your organization has acquired a… -
How To Transform An Under-Performing Brand
5 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmOnce the decision has been made to continue to invest in an under-performing brand, brand owners will be faced with a new set of challenges completely foreign to them. The temptation is always to do more of what got you there. That rarely works when brands face reinvention. By that I mean brand relevance. The main reason brands begin to under perform is that people no longer care. When that happens, like it or not, you’ll be starting over from scratch. This is a hard pill for brand owners to swallow, particularly if the brand was once an iconic leader in its category. For brand owners… -
Logo Design Requirements
4 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmA brand’s identity is a combination of visual, auditory, and other sensory components that create recognition, aid in memory encoding and decoding, represent the brand promise, provide differentiation, create communications synergy, and are proprietary. The logo is one key component. Here is what we look for when we evaluate logo design: Memorable – highest recognition and recall (both of which can be tested for) Including recognition at maximum distances (can be tested for) Aesthetically pleasing Timeless quality - the logo will not become dated Appropriate for the product/service… -
Brand Tagline Requirements
3 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmIn definitive global research, The Conference Board has found the development and consistent use of a tagline to be a key factor in brand strategy success. A tagline that succinctly and powerfully communicates the brand’s promise is one of the quickest, easiest and least expensive ways to communicate the brand’s new position to internal and external audiences. It should consistently accompany the brand’s logo in situations outlined by the brand architecture. I believe that developing brand taglines (and elevator speeches) are the most important next steps one can take once a brand has…
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chrisbrogan.com
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Throw Away the Maps
6 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amPeople judge us by the path they’ve seen us walk before. They can’t anticipate our future steps. We, ourselves, look to how things have been, what seems to be the lay of the land, without realizing that the maps are not the territory. Want to succeed at work? Then don’t try to do your job. Instead, work towards something larger, more meaningful, and something that blends your convictions internally with your best ability to help others externally. Want to create something new? Then throw away the old, or maybe join two disparate old things together into something new. The… -
The Next Social Networks
5 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amThe rage in social networks right now is Pinterest, partly because it’s probably the first social network that has a much higher adoption rate by females than males, and partly because it’s an interesting concept: somewhere between visual social bookmarking and scrapbooking. What also might not be immediately obvious is that it’s just “easier” to interact there. In that way, Pinterest has something in common with Instagram, which is community around photos. What I’m interested in, though, is Gentlemint, which I keep calling “Pinterest for… -
Learn From Adele – Build Your Platform
3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amJacq and I just watched Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (amazon affiliate link), and though every song was just wonderfully done, I found myself fascinated by what Adele was doing in between each song. Because even though most people would be interested in hearing her belt out her amazing repertoire of hits, what I took away from the performance was Adele’s real magical ability: the ability to resonate with her audience. What Adele Could Teach You About Impact I’m writing something about this right now for my upcoming book with Julien Smith, but I had to share some of the… -
Rob Gokee is a Musical Wizard
2 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amI had such a great experience working with award winning musical composer Rob Gokee. We did some musical work together, and the process was so amazing. Rob helped me create my theme song for Shhh! The Secret Show. So anyhow, he and I sat down to do an interview, and it’s a bit long, but it’s totally worth it. We talk about what collaboration feels like at a distance, what it takes to get music like this made for your own show, and a lot more. Rob’s a hero to me, and has been part of the community for a while. I was so fortunate to have worked with him. Can’t see the… -
Build Your Platform – Start
30 Jan 2012 | 1:30 amThe following is part ONE of a series called Build Your Platform. If you find it interesting, please consider subscribing for free to get the rest of the series. This post is long. You might want to bookmark it for later. The age of social media oversaturation is upon us. People are declaring Twitter bankruptcy to go along with their email bankruptcy. They cite not wanting to start on yet another social network as their reason for not getting more involved with Google+. And just as soon as you start getting into Pinterest, you hear about Path, but wait: there’s Gentlemint, which is…
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Logic+Emotion
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Permission To Fail
9 Feb 2012 | 10:15 amI love my job. Seriously. The skeptical among you may read this as shameless corporate cheer-leading, or a PR ploy (given I work at a PR firm). It's not. You have to understand that I work for a very unique company—in fact, it's been the most unique career experience in my life. A sixty year old company—technically family owned (not public) with over four thousand employees globally and the CEO of the company wears the last name of the founder, his father. Which brings me to the video above. I had the opportunity to interview our CEO, Richard Edelman on the topic of trust as it relates to… -
Will The Real Social Business Experts Please Stand Up?
7 Feb 2012 | 10:23 amStop what you're doing and check out this thread (on Google Plus of all places) started by Francine Hardaway. She started it off with a simple question. "Who are the best experts in social business?"What followed was a robust discussion on what social business is, isn't and who's driving the agenda forward in the space both in thought and action. If you're interested in the emerging definition of social business (aka the convergence of enterprise 2.0 and social media) I highly recommend you taking a look. Some of my favorite thoughts:"the thread that social business is not the same as social… -
People, Places & Events
3 Feb 2012 | 11:01 amA few significant events happening over the next few months—here's where I'll be: Chicago: February 6th, Social Media Club, An Interview With Richard EdelmanOur I'll be interviewing Richard Edelman our CEO in our new office space as we host the Chicago Social Media Club. We will be discussing this Year's Trust Barometer findings. If you can't make it to Chicago, we will be live streaming video the interview at 5:00 CST. London & New York: February 13-16, Social Media Week Our London office is hosting a panel titled "Social Business In Action". A topic I'm very passionate about—then… -
How To Be A Social Media Self-Righteous Jerk
1 Feb 2012 | 4:28 pmThe scale above shows the many stages one has to go through in order to become a bona fide self-righteous jerk in social media. Still, there are many people who aspire to reach this peak, but fall short in executing against it. Given this observation, I thought it would be worthwhile to piece together a few best practices which will ensure your status as a social media self-righteous jerk (or SMSRJ). In no particular order: 1. Join The Klout GestapoAll social media SMSRJ's know that Klout is simply evil incarnate and requires a organized force to take on this evil axis of influence wherever… -
Launching a Social Command Center (Without The Center)
27 Jan 2012 | 8:05 am"Social command centers" are all the rage today and it's not without some merit. Many organizations now find themselves in a real-time business environment where news travels faster than sound, and information is set free. As a result, some forward thinking companies have put "monitoring" in place either in-house or in combination with partners. This isn't enough. And to make matters worse, I've seen companies make the classic mistake of buying a tool BEFORE putting any thought into the design that goes into effective monitoring and response, forgetting the 3P's (People, Process, Platforms).
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Brian Solis
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Meet the Mother of All Processes
8 Feb 2012 | 10:32 amGuest post by John M. Bernard, author of the new book, Business at the Speed of Now, and Chairman and Founder of Mass Ingenuity. Imagine going to work in one of Henry Ford’s factories a century ago, proud that management referred to you a “hand” or a “hammer” or maybe even a “wrench.” The labels reflected Ford’s emphasis on automation and management’s view of laborers as mere cogs in the machine. Screw this nut onto that bolt; weld this strap to that frame; do it over and over and over again until your brain froze with boredom. Of course, management needed workers to get the… -
2011 Was the Year of the Mobile Consumer, What’s in Store for 2012? Value.
7 Feb 2012 | 10:10 amChris Silva, my colleague at Altimeter Group, released a useful report today that I wanted to share with you here. Mobile is important and I believe you know this. However, when we consider mobile, we often think about the experience when and where it begins. But, we often miss the opportunity to lead a more meaningful journey as it may travel from small screen to larger screens across laptops, desktops and beyond. And along the way, we must now determine our role in this journey to provide information, shape decisions, and influence behavior. In Chris’ report, he reminds us that 2011… -
Season 2 Finale: How Yamaha invests in new customer experiences
3 Feb 2012 | 10:52 amThis is it…the Season Finale! And, what a way to end Season 2 of (R)evolution…. In this episode, Yamaha shares what is by far the most expansive view of disruptive technology’s impact on business infrastructure and culture on the show to date. What you’ll see is a genuine discussion with Jeff Hawley and Rick Williams of Yamaha explore how an already successful business is exploring new opportunities to better define the customer experience before, during and after transactions. It comes down to workflow. Nowadays, it either works for you or works against you. Here,… -
Smartphones, Tablets, PCs, The Devices People Use to Discover Information in Social Media (and when)
2 Feb 2012 | 3:13 pmMy friends over at bit.ly published an interesting graph that reveals the devices as well as the days/times that people use different devices and how and when they consume information. As you can imagine, it’s across the board, but as you can see, there are waves that every device follows, except the desktop. Desktops are of course the devices that we can assume people use during work hours. As such, they are most heavily used on weekdays before noon. Interestingly enough, phone traffic peaks at about the same times, but not to similar effects. What’s also telling is that tablets… -
What’s Love Got to Do with It? The 3P’s of Identity
2 Feb 2012 | 6:16 amGuest post by Allison Cerra, author of Identity Shift With the 2012 Presidential election looming, there’s no shortage of polls to help narrow the field of candidates. I find a recent one from Fox News to be particularly fascinating. Among other questions, Republican primary voters were asked which Republican presidential candidate is most likeable and which they would most trust with a nuclear weapon. While Newt Gingrich scored at the top of the heap in earning the trust vote, he scored only marginally well on the likeability scale. The topic was discussed on the network’s “Fox &…
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Brains On Fire Blog
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I Watched, I Purchased, My Problem was Solved
9 Feb 2012 | 6:42 amI recently remembered a story about advertising that worked wonders in introducing me to a product that I purchased and loved. Being somewhat of a music and technology nerd, I follow several blogs that keep pace with what’s happening in the industry. I can’t remember exactly where, but in browsing one of those sites a few years ago I ran across this marketing video from a company called Tune Up Media (1): They happened to be running a discount promotion at the time, so in an extremely rare instance for me, I acted on their message, went to the website, and purchased their product. -
Get Your WOM Notebook Ready… Chapter One: Believe
8 Feb 2012 | 6:30 amSo, here you are… a friend of WOM or maybe you are just starting to explore. Word of Mouth Marketing is a passion for me, and I’m lucky enough to have a career in it. But this didn’t happen by accident. My career took root organically, as a result of my belief in the power of WOM, not because I set out to do it. Back in 2001, Brains on Fire partnered with the Department of Health and Environmental Control of South Carolina. We were tasked with the challenge of tackling teen smoking in our state. If you are at all familiar with South Carolina, you probably know tobacco plays a… -
Airport Conversations and The Secret Sauce of Success
7 Feb 2012 | 6:59 amEvery once in awhile someone will ask me what I do for a living. These conversations usually occur in the kinds of places where strangers feel compelled to carry on polite chitchat. In line at the grocery store. Doctor’s office waiting rooms. Airplanes waiting to be cleared for take-off. When I tell people I am a writer, they often respond in the same way I imagine I would respond if someone told me they traveled with the circus or roadied for Def Leppard in the 80s. An incredulous mix of shock and awe, with undertones of questioning my sanity. “That’s…brave,” they… -
Inspiration.
6 Feb 2012 | 7:28 amThe Erics, looking for inspiration. Hello! Hope you’re excited about the week ahead of you. I am. About a year or so ago, I posted a blog asking YOU a simple question. And since I LOVED the answers and they all inspired me, I am asking again… I really need you guys today. I love writing. Think I have shared this before, but I believe writing inspires thinking and exploring and sharing. And thinking and exploring and sharing are good things. If you are reading this and hanging out with us, I have to believe you think we add value in your life. So, I have a question for you: If you… -
The Power of Kindness.
2 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amFresh flowers from Libby William’s Photoblog. The other day I got a note in the mail. The old fashion “ink on paper” kind. It started like this: Dearest Darling Robbin, Hmmmm. I have to tell you in the middle of my crazy, busy, over stimulated workday, those words stopped me dead in my tracks. I took a deep breath and smiled at the “over the top-ness” of this salutation. What came after that was nothing short of the kindest words anyone’s written to me in a long time. Just a couple of heartfelt observations mixed in with some wit and honesty. It was a nice gentle break from…
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PR-Squared - Social Media Marketing and Public Relations
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Open Letter to Havas CEO David Jones
8 Feb 2012 | 8:12 amHi Mr. Jones. I caught your MSNBC interview this morning with Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski re: your new book, Who Cares Wins: Why Good Business is Better Business. You made some excellent points re: how transparency, authenticity and speed will win the day for corporations; about how companies who expect to do well must increasingly expect to do good, as it is becomes ever easier for consumers to suss out egregious behavior and punish bad actors (from un-friending to public humiliation). This is all well-worn territory for Social Media geeks, of course, but it’s always good… -
Facebook IPO is Good for Everybody
6 Feb 2012 | 6:35 amDepending on who you ask, the Facebook IPO will result in boundless glory or is destined to be remembered as the final pinprick in an impending burst of the current tech bubble. For my part, whereas in the past I likened Facebook to previous Walled Garden successes like AOL (the AOL of the early 90′s, not the AOL of today – which is a SHIFT client!), in the past 18 months or so I’ve only been impressed by Facebook’s ability to embed itself across the larger, open expanses of the Web. It “rides alongside” us as we surf, versus dictating how and where we experience the… -
Susan G. Komen PR Disaster: Lessons Learned
3 Feb 2012 | 11:27 amWow. It’s been nearly two weeks since my last blog post. Sorry about that. I was out sick. And wow, what a crazy time to sit on the sidelines… Facebook IPO. Hello! More on that in a future post. Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood. Sheesh! Let’s talk about that! (Caveat: I am a Blue State progressive; whose mother died of breast cancer; who marched on Washington as a college student in support of women’s rights; and whose dear-departed grandmother spoke with horror of the days prior to Roe v. Wade. Got all that? You’ve been warned.) Just as I started… -
It’s the End of the Web as We Know It … or, Speed Kills
23 Jan 2012 | 9:46 amThose of you who follow me on other social nets like Twitter or Facebook know that I am pretty opinionated when it comes to politics. Suffice to say that I am a card-carrying member of the “Liberal Coastal Elites.” (I try not to over-indulge or bore folks with it; and I certainly can play nice with my right-leaning friends.) I bring it all up only as a segue to the fact that I am a big fan of Andrew Sullivan’s Dish blog. Sullivan’s one of the big dogs in blogging; he’s been freshly-empowered by his move to the Daily Beast to experiment… -
Thoughts on a Twitterversary
19 Jan 2012 | 7:18 amLet’s take a ramble. One of those automated spambots on Twitter informed me that today was my 5–year anniversary of microblogging. Wow. Five years. Really? What was I up to five years ago? I was living in Boston, in-between my family’s quinquennial moves to San Francisco. My brain was on fire, as I’d hit upon a worthy successor to the Social Media News Release concept and was just a couple of weeks away from debuting the Social Media Newsroom template. As I look back, 2007 was a prolific time for the entire Social Media industry. It was not only the year Twitter…
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Web Strategy by Jeremiah
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Google+ Has a Perception Problem
9 Feb 2012 | 5:36 amRemember that smart kid who sat in the front of the class, but was ignored by the cool kids? That’s a good metaphor for what Google+ is going through. I’ve heard from corporate social strategists I should be cautious about how much time and how frequently I discuss this nascent social newtork, and I spoke to media from a Tier 1 this week who said “does anyone even go there anymore? It seems like a wasteland”. Furthermore take this damning image which has been viewed 11k times suggests Google+ is filled with Google employees –and that’s about it. In fact, in our data on Super bowl… -
Altimeter Webinar Recording: State of Social Media Management Industry
8 Feb 2012 | 10:08 amThis week, Altimeter (myself and Andrew Jones, researcher) hosted a webinar stemming from the the recent report on Social Media Proliferation, which you can download the full report on this blog post. In the embedded slides and video below, you’ll be able to get additional insights on how we perceive how this market will change in the coming years: We’ll see a vendor shakeout, although expect pure play vendors of each of the five uses cases to remain Consolidation will occur from market forces of email marketing, web analytics, CMS, marketing automation, brand monitoring, support… -
Hey Retailers! Refine That Mobile Marketing Strategy (Altimeter Report)
7 Feb 2012 | 10:01 amThis latest Altimeter Report, by my colleague Industry Analyst Chris Silva, focuses on how companies must develop a mobile marketing strategy. It sources research from 26 ecosystem contributors including brands, agencies, and technology providers. To learn more about this report, please register for the webinar in which Chris will provide deeper knowledge from the report. This report is powerful in a few ways, it indicates the growth the in space, referencing that 45% of all mobile phone users are carrying a smart phone, and the growth rate for tablets is 23% annually. The report also… -
Five Trends: How Brands Integrated Social, Mobile, and Web into 2012 Super Bowl Advertisements
6 Feb 2012 | 8:39 amBy Altimeter’s Jeremiah Owyang, Brian Solis, and Zak Kirchner Findings: Five Trends Indicate Cross Channel Integration a Mainstay. Super Bowl ads, while only representing the nation’s largest consumer facing ads are a bellwether for advertising trends for the remainder of the year. To best understand these trends, Altimeter Group’s research team analyzed each Ad in real time, and conducted analysis to best understand the advertising trends for 2012. Using Chicago as a middle ground, we reviewed all ads from kickoff till the game clock expired and found that trends out of 87… -
P&G Layoffs Signal Focus on Digital Industry
4 Feb 2012 | 10:49 amLast week was a tremendous change, giant marketer P&G announces 1600 layoffs as they reduce jobs in various roles, and instead shifting budget to digital marketing. The CEO, when pressed, indicates a strong focus on digital marketing, citing: “In the digital space, with things like Facebook and Google and others, we find that return on investment of the advertising when properly designed, when the big idea is there, can be much more efficient” -Bob McDonald, Chairman-CEO, P&G Yet this is a trend, as P&G had previously cut advertising spend on soap operas on traditional TV,…
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Conversation Agent
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Being in Control of the Interaction
9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amI don't know about you. I wasn't terribly impressed by the Super Bowl ads this year. With the exception of the seducing commercial of the FIAT Abarth, where they are clearly in control of the interaction, most ads seemed to have sacrificed newer creative executions for safer ones. At the per second dollar spend, it was an understandable move. Disappointing because of the high expectations created through social media ahead of the big day. I got many ad preview offeres from the PR Agencies working with brands this year. A few days ahead of the game I saw that FIAT was making the rounds on… -
Collaboration? You Must be Joking!
8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amI read this post by Chris Saad the other morning in response to Robert Scoble 's mention in a recent post and I keep thinking about the applicability of its concepts not just for Silicon Valley and the tech community. It applies to marketers and communicators as well. [Posted originally on Google+]<rant>1. lead not just cheerlead - how many times do we copy the same concept over and over, or look at short term payoffs when the opportunities are on the making better promises side of the conversation?2. add to the business DNA - nothing dies, not media companies, not blogging, not… -
What a Difference Five Years Make
7 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amHere I am. Writing from my heart more than my head where all the good ideas are and I get the zinger -- yeah, a personality would be great. Seriously? Kidding. I'm sure it would. And I have one. I can go from Zero to Italian in no time. When appropriate. Why do you care? Because that's just it -- online content should have a style and point of view, to get more personality it needs to have guts, and it needs to have time. Guts don't come from charts and stats, they come from people. Time as in face time, as in skin in the game, as in relationships. Or you're just making the seagull move --… -
How Would You Redesign the Sears Customer Experience?
6 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amAs a regular at Brand Autopsy, I remember the "would you miss" series of posts about brands John Moore wrote a couple of years back. The brands discussed ranged from Denny's, Costco, Ace Hardware, Dairy Queen, Crate & Barrell, BusinessWeek, UPS, Pizza Hut, to Walgreens, Polaroid Instant Film, Advertising Age, The Cheesecake Factory, Chili's, Wells Fargo, and more. One of the brands was Sears -- if Sears went out of business tomorrow, would any of us care? Does Sears provide such a unique product and customer experience that we would be saddened if it didn’t exist? How did Sears do on… -
... then I Discovered I am Actually Funny
5 Feb 2012 | 4:00 amSo, I've been thinking. What I'm doing here with this blog is not working. It's not you, it's me. Somehow I manage to scare you off to some site with LOL cats whenever you open your feed. I'm not inspiring you. Or maybe I am, and you're not telling me. I've tried a couple of things to justify keeping up with producing researched and useful content. That only makes the scraping and copying and rewriting gremlins happy and me poor. They don't link anymore in the sphere, those bastards. This is a departure from my usual writing style, I know. I've been slaving on figuring out an angle for the…
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Social Media Clubhouse
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When Objects Go Social
9 Feb 2012 | 4:00 amObjects now become kind of chatterbox and the world shifts as an huge connected information system” Yes we must now consider objects as a real part of social movement, even if social genuinely means « interaction between two human beings », they can enter the game of socialization…How far, when, for which uses/features? Future will tell… 2020: 20 Billions of connected objets; which ones, which services behind and for which uses? What might we face in organizations, skills, value chains and industries? read more -
Deep Lessons About Shallow Conclusions
8 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amTo my great chagrin, I find I am as guilty as anyone of drawing shallow conclusions about the role and value or social media in a marketing plan. I read this article in Ad Age about an Australian study whose research proved that no more than 1% of fans actually engage with brands on Facebook. In other words, fans may "like" your page, but it's pretty meaningless, because they don't talk about you. So, I concluded, why spend a lot of time on Facebook, especially if you are a small business with limited resources. And I wrote that on Google+, home of the serious conversation. read more -
The Evolution of Super Bowl Advertising
7 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amEveryone loves the Super Bowl. Even if you’re not crazy about watching football, you can stick around the watch clever advertising at its best. But you probably noticed that Super Bowl XLVI was a little different from its predecessors. Social media helped brands change the rules of Super Bowl ads. On average, a 30 second spot during the game of the year put a company back about $3.5 million so it makes sense that they would want to get as much value as possible from this enormous expense. This year, brands came up with creative tactics to get plenty of bang for their buck(s). -
Three Creative Ways of Using Google+ Hangouts
6 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amThere are so many shiny new toys in the social media sphere…sometimes we can’t keep up. Google has a tendency to test out new ideas (remember Google Buzz?) and this time around they have spun out Google Plus Hangouts. It’s an opportunity for individuals or businesses to utilize this virtual “hangout” to communicate with others in their community or business via video. The only disadvantage that appears right away is the restriction of 10 people per hangout. However, when it comes to meetings and having the chance to build a deeper relationship among community members sometimes fewer… -
Social Media Clubhouse Newsletter (01/3/12)
3 Feb 2012 | 11:01 amFEBRUARY BOOK CLUB: THE SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST We're proud to feature great titles in 2012 with monthly reviews and complimentary webinars hosting some of the social media industry's most innovative authors. We received a lot of great feedback last year and want to thank you for supporting the Book Club, our publishing partners and the authors. read more
