Source: Shutterstock I recently was invited to keynote the Ragan New PR and Social Media conference in Chicago where I met some truly amazing people doing some truly incredible things in the world of enriched communications. Following my presentation, I was asked to share my thoughts for identifying influencers and also the associated methodologies and strategies that serve as the governance for meaningful communications also known as the rules of engagement. Also, I should point out that my use of…
Channeling Our Inner Celebrity Through Twitter and Social Media
After I finish the new (unannounced) book that I’m feverishly writing, I plan to finally pursue “Internet Famous – The rise of micro celebrity and the end of privacy.” Alexia Tsotsis (disclosure, she’s a dear friend) recently wrote an intriguing article at the LA Weekly entitled, “Is All of Hollywood the Bitch in Twitter’s Sex Tape or Just P. Diddy?” She links to a recent article written by A.J. Keen, author of the controversial book, Cult of the Amateur, in…
The Decline of Traditional Advertising and the Rise of Social Media
Forrester Research released its five year forecast that estimates interactive marketing spending from 2009 – 2014. Forrester predicts that interactive marketing in the US will near $55 billion and represent 21% of all marketing spend by 2014 and will include search marketing, display advertising, email marketing, social media, and mobile marketing. More significantly however, overall advertising in traditional media will continue to decline in favor of less expensive, more effective interactive tools and services. Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk alerts marketing…
Unveiling the New Influencers
Traditional influence has followed a systematic top-down process of developing and pushing “controlled” messages to audiences for decades, rooted in one-to-many, faceless broadcast campaigns. Personality wasn’t absent in certain mediums, it was missing from day-to-day communications. For the most part, this pattern seemingly served its purposes, fueling the belief that brands were in control of their messages, from delivery to dissemination, among the demographics to which they were targeted. It scaled very well over the years, until it didn’t… Unbeknown…
A Pictorial History of Twitter’s Rise to Pop Culture
Every now and then I discover something that is so captivating, that I have to stop what I’m working on to share it with everyone I know. This is one of them. For those veterans who continue to define Twitter’s role in how we communicate, share and learn, those who have recently made its acquaintance, and those just finding their stride, we all linked through common threads and context that pique our curiosity, stimulate our quest for adventure, expand…
Social Media is Rife with Experts but Starved of Authorities
Perhaps Lewis Carroll was peering into the looking glass when he wrote “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.” In it, we were introduced to Tweetle Dum and Tweetle Dee, a curious duo that always shared a fruitful, entertaining, and complementary conversational exchange even though they always agreed to battle each other. Some suggest that the significance of Alice’s encounter with the twins explores how curiosity leads to the unknown and therefore, may not be worthy of…
Twitter Inspires a Dedicated and Thriving Startup Economy
Twitter continues to amaze us. Its constantly evolving examples of change and connectivity persevere and reinforce how the “little microblog that could” is transforming media and communications while also silencing the most dubious of critics. At the same time, I’m confident that through our pioneering efforts and innovative developments, we also continue to amaze the team behind Twitter itself. As Jack Dorsey shared in his keynote today at the 140 Characters Conference in New York, “Expect the unexpected. Sometimes, be…
A Soliloquy: The Language of Social Media
© Tyler E Nixon (This is a striking photograph) While I was traveling in NY for InternetWeek and DC for the Vocus conference recently, Mark Olson sent a note inviting my thoughts on a post he was authoring on the subject of authenticity versus authority. I immediately replied, “I’m in.” This is a subject that is garnering much of my attention and contemplation as they are among the key words that orbit the social media marketing universe and are in…
How Tweet It Is: @DellOutlet Banks $2 Million on Twitter
Good friend Richard Binhammer of Dell (@richardatdell) reached out to let me know that the company is releasing the latest financial figures for its @DellOutlet account on Twitter tonight. Last December, the company generated over $1 million in revenue through @delloutlet by posting special offers and also nurturing customer relationships on Twitter. Today Dell reported over $2 million in sales through its popular @delloutlet presence. @delloutlet currently boasts close to 625,000 followers seeking exclusive deals available only on the micro…
The State of PR, Marketing, and Communications: You are the Future
This post is long. If you prefer a Word or PDF version, please click here to download. Please take your time…Read it. Breathe it in. Live the change you wish to see. If you have not yet done so, please buy this book, it will only help you…”Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.” Source Modern Public Relations was born in the early 1900s, although history traces the its roots and origins of practice back to the 17th century. Two…
