Lipstick on a Pig: Is this the new Social Media?
You may be one of those unlucky individuals who cannot “do” any social media at work. Not because you don’t know how, or don’t want to, but because your workplace policy prevents you from doing so. Or the regulatory compliance environment means that social media is off-limits. Or you’re just too busy. Don’t feel bad […]
Risky Business: Identity Theft
We’ve all heard the horror stories of people whose identities have been stolen. Their bank accounts are wiped out, credit cards maxed out, and they feel terribly violated. Then after the “theft” has been discovered, they are faced with the hassle of rebuilding their financial reputation, one step at a time. Too often, these people […]
Persona Grata
When you are doing a major presentation, writing a blog, or posting on Twitter, how do you know whether what you say is hitting the mark? And how can you improve the effectiveness of your message? One of the more clever techniques that marketers use for this purpose – and you can too – is […]
Protecting Your Digital Cargo
Every organization owns intellectual property: in fact, this recorded knowledge is often key evidence of expertise, capability, and fit. So if it is that valuable, how do you protect it from being stolen? Before answering that question, it is useful to distinguish between content that you want to be widely distributed, and content that is […]
Big Data and Lead Scores
Often times, the greatest insights happen at the intersection of two areas, and this is certainly true of the intersection between marketing and business development. Typically, what lives here are leads.
Tools of the Trade
If you are reading this and profess to have some expertise in Social Media, then you may be offended by my next comment: it soon won’t matter, and your “expertise” is fast becoming irrelevant. Your long term career is in jeopardy, and your short term prospects are also questionable.
The New Social Journalism
In the 1930s, there were two primary news sources: radio and the newspaper. They sent their correspondents around the world to gather news. These journalists would see and hear, verify and corroborate, investigate, and then expertly and objectively file their reports. The reader (or listener) would know that an editor provided oversight, and the publication (or radio station) stood behind the report.
Social Relevance: Amplifying Your Message
No one cares about you – they care about how you can solve their problems. Write for your readers.
These two expressions epitomize the most important marketing (and social media) concept: relevance. How often have you seen a post, picture, tweet, or comment that adds zero value? Or where the signal-to-noise ratio is, well, noisy?
How to Compete with Free
Are you involved in your professional association? Or do you run one – either as a director, staff, or volunteer?
If so, you’re probably concerned with one aspect of Social Media: How do you compete with free? (Or perhaps, you’re concerned with a more existential question: Does social media make associations irrelevant?)
When Market Research is inadequate… or ill-advised
Yes, we do market research. In fact, each year we (108 ideaspace and Bramm Research) have done industry benchmarking and best practices research in the area of Social Media. So it might be surprising to read a post about when – and why – market research should not be done.