Social Media impacts every business, every brand, and in doing so, connects a network of distributed communities of influence, making the world a much smaller place in the process. Small businesses are in fact at an advantage in Social Media Marketing as they can focus on hyper-local activity that can offer immediate rewards or at the very least, the real-time feedback or lack thereof says everything about next steps. A recent survey conducted by Citibank offers a contrary point of…
The Predictive Web
From intent to purpose… Good friend Jeremiah Owyang recently wondered whether or not the real-time Web was fast enough to keep pace with our insatiable appetites for information and connectivity. As such, Jeremiah introduced the emergence of what he refers to as the “Intention Web.” With event planning features, like Facebook events, upcoming.org, we’re starting to see people make explicitly public remarks on what they want to do, when, and with who. Welcome plancast.com a startup by Mark Hendrickson formerly…
The Business of Social Media: B2B and B2C Engagement by the Numbers
I spend a great deal of time working within the B2B sector, among other things, and social media is a growing and or pervasive program within a comprehensive, integrated communications and service strategy. In almost every scenario I’ve encountered, executives, marcom and service executives, and brand managers have generally assumed that social and interactive activities and programming were ideally best suited for consumer applications. However, as we recently explored, in Social Media, it’s not just business, it’s business-to-business. Indeed, Social…
Defining Social Media: 2006 – 2010
Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers.
Facebook’s Continued Rise to Pervasiveness
Source: Shutterstock (edited) As the flame of 2009 flickered into the history books, Facebook celebrated its rise to 350 million users and certain dominance in the U.S. social networking market. However, in December, analysts questioned whether or not Facebook was losing its cool as time spent on the popular social network dropped three consecutive months among 18-24 year old users. Experts feared that the “family effect” was having a negative impact within this highly coveted demographic. As I observed: Facebook…
The Evolution of Social Media and Business
Social Media is fundamentally transformative and is rapidly evolving the architecture of business, communications, and the dissemination of information and influence. Today, there are businesses that engage in social media and those that do not. Those at least experimenting with the formidable, yet shifting landscape of intelligence and communication are learning how to adapt and connect in a new world of conversation, networking, and influence. Those that have yet to evaluate the opportunities and advantages for socialized marketing, service, sales,…
The Greatest Hits of 2009 Part X
Source: Shutterstock Happy New Year! Well, this is it. The final installment of the most read, shared, and discussed posts of 2009. I hope that Part X as well as the other nine parts help you to leap into 2010 with confidence, inspiration, and direction. Let the education and stimulus continue this year… The Greatest Hits of 2009 Part X 1. Is Facebook Losing its Coveted Demographic? 2. There’s an App for That: Mobile is the Next Frontier for Brand…
The Greatest Hits of 2009 Part IX
Source: Shutterstock Happy New Year! The closure of 2009 sparked a series of important news and events that only seemed to further the evolution of Social Media rather than subsiding and waiting for a new year. Your path in 2010 is defined by the knowledge you’ve amassed and embraced. It affects not only where you are, but where you’re going and how long it will take to get there. The Greatest Hits of 2009 Part IX 1. The Rapid Evolution…
The Most Influential Conversations on Twitter in 2009
What follows is the unabridged version of my current post on Mashable, “Twitter’s Most Influential Topics of 2009.” As we ring in the New Year and usher in twenty ten, let’s take a moment to reflect on the topics that defined the real-time stream in Twitter. Twitter recently published a Top 2009 Trends list which essentially symbolized a digital microcosm of culture and conversations throughout the year. In many cases, Twitter served as the “wire,” connecting us to stories and…
