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Guest post by Lior Levin In November, Google launched a competitive product to Facebook’s Fan Pages, called Google+ Brand Pages. Companies can set up Brand Pages to connect with customers and affiliates in the same way that they can with Fan Pages. Brand Pages and Fan Pages, at least in appearance, are incredibly similar. They both feature a primary image, a row of images, a collection of fans/followers, and a stream of updates that can be commented on or shared by those who visit their page. Which...

Good content is an essential element to any digital marketing strategy. Content “scent trails” can help generate awareness and give prospects a stronger sense of your organization and its offerings. It keeps them interested. I’ve written about organizing and managing a team blog for business, and shared some pointers about how to choose the perfect authors to generate juicy content. These two posts will get you started in terms of creating original content. But unless you (or your team)...

Several good posts have been written about how much time brands should spend minding their social media store. Jeff Esposito related the time question to business objectives when he wrote a post evaluating these four areas as ready matches for social media: Customer support Brand awareness Sales Thought leadership His post touches on two important, individualized factors influencing the time equation: company size (resource availability) and level of target customers’ social savvy...

So you’re a community manager in charge of growing online engagement for your brand. Now what? Where’s the manual for this thing? What else should you be doing? The concept of community is an evolving one and may carry a variety of responsibilities at every company, depending on size and basic organization. But by overlaying the time-tested 7 deadly sins on the most general of community management job descriptions, we can build  an initial list of “Don’ts.” The 7 deadly sins of community Lust If...

Small and local businesses have gotten the telegram: social media can play an important role in marketing and sales planning. The channel has reach, allows for user-generated context, offers immediacy and is accessible. And because it’s an opt-in channel, small businesses reaching out to prospects with a deft touch stand a good chance of breaking through customer trust barriers. The simple knowledge that your direct and indirect competition is using Twitter and Facebook is one thing. But it’s...

Have you heard the phrase “entrepreneurial spirit“? It’s all the rage in job listings these days. Entrepreneural spirit may mean a company is looking for anything from “someone with no email marketing background to grab the reigns” to “an idea person” to “someone who can handle a ton of ambiguity while we sort things out.” Gophering may or may not be involved (and by “may not” I mean “is”). Whether you’re current career is with a small entrepreneur-ish start-up or with...

Social media can provide tremendous business intelligence (BI) to companies in several ways, including: Community intelligence surrounding the category, issue, or brand Brand identity monitoring, including competitive intelligence Community discovery identifying influencers, issues, and engagement opportunities These and other forms of BI are often accessible through social media monitoring tools, most of which have been reviewed and compared/contrasted across the interwebs. Undoubtedly...

A few months ago Twitter was abuzz with thoughts about the @RedCross snafu and the @Chrysler all-around bungle. More recently, it was Burson-Marsteller’s attempt to manipulate Facebook. Today it’s (insert Twitter crisis of the day here). Tomorrow it’ll be something else. And we humans claim to be advanced mammals. Social Media Screw-ups Will we ever learn from the mistakes of others? Why do we continue to nod our heads and mutter “I know that’s right, um-hmm” while bashing stupid...

There was no band camp for me this summer. But my days were chock-full of work, errands, and coordination worthy of an air traffic control award. Here I'm sharing some random observations learned as a business owner, a mother, household administrator, and chauffeur who survived the summer of 2011. Planning is something we need to do more of, and less time talking about doing soon. Schedules can make you feel like a hamster on a wheel, but at the end of the day at least you got somewhere. Probably...

Somewhere recently I read a blogger mention that he turned off the lights each night to the light of his smart phone display, and the first things he did each morning was check his email and browse his RSS feeds. Before ever setting foot into the bathroom or stumbling to the coffee maker.  It was interesting to read someone actually describe a behavior that’s probably typical of many professionals. I mean, we don’t talk about brushing our teeth, right? It’s just one of those routine things...