Everyone is freaking out about the “media revolution” and talking about the death of A, B, and C industries. There are Chicken Little’s all over the place, speculating gloom and doom like they get paid for it. It’s getting to the point where I can’t even function in the space that I’m supposed to function in…enough! It’s not the end of the world Look, things...

As a social media consultant, I feel it’s my duty to spend time interacting with other companies online in order to see what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. I see it as a way to gauge how many companies not only respect the value of social media, but also to see how many actually spend the time/money to do it right. For instance, recently I had trouble with a Samsung DVD player and made a small...

Too many businesses are playing it safe right now, especially in a time when the environment caters to those that take risks. If playing it safe got you in trouble, then what makes you think that continuing to do so will help you navigate the social media waters? Right now, the new media landscape is like the Wild West…there aren’t any rules, and there are new guys taking over every single day. Speed...

I’ve talked before about how you can use social media platforms, like Twitter, to watch your back, but social media monitoring doesn’t end there. An effective social media campaign will also include the implementation of listening stations, which are essentially, a microphone placed in a crowded room that you can use to see how your brand is being talked about. Sites like Twitter make it easy because...

In 2010, I think we will see witness the social media buzz get louder and technology becoming more reliable, pervasive, and sophisticated. One year might not be enough time for social media to have become completely mainstream, but I predict it will be moving in that direction. New Becomes Commonplace In a few years, words like new and social will drop off…it will not be new media, or social media. It...

Some of you might know that I recently co-authored a book called Beyond Blogging, which launched on the 28th of December. The book was a success, and was plastered on blogs all over the web. All of that sounds good so far, but there’s a sidebar to this launch that a lot of people didn’t get to see. The part that felt for a time like trench warfare, even though on the surface it might have looked...

As some of you might know, I’m currently going through a product launch, and as it’s my 3rd or 4th, I’ve started to pick up some of the tricks that are useful in creating buzz and hype before a launch. Of course, there are the important things, like making sure the product is good and you have a lot of affiliates ready to help you, but there’s much more to it than that. And now, thanks...

Last week, we talked a bit about building email funnel, which is an important way to manage leads and convert them into buyers. However, that’s just a small piece of the social media marketing funnel. Today, I want to share a video with you that discusses the bigger picture…as in the social media funnel. This funnel should be the the #1 driver of any social media campaign, and if you don’t...

In the past, we’ve talked about the importance of collecting customer and prospect emails in order to implement an email marketing campaign, but we really didn’t get into the tricks of the trade. The truth is, regardless of whether or not you are collecting email addresses, if you aren’t segmenting and setting up funnels, then you are setting your business up for failure. Why? Well, let’s...

Many people mistakenly assume that social media is just about driving traffic and creating buzz for a product or campaign. Sure, those are great goals to have, and they are possible to achieve with a solid social media plan, but that’s not the only benefit. What social media does really well, and why I think it is essential for businesses, is build relationships with clients and build brand loyalty. Traffic...