Following a special and unforgettable debut at SXSW Interactive, I’m excited and thankful to announce that Engage! is available at bookstores near you. When you invest so much into something that you believe will change the way people think, you can’t wait to tell the world. This book is written for you… It helps champions, decision makers, and executives understand the impact and potential of new media and how, when, where to integrate it into mix. It also helps you…
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…
In Social Media, Collaboration is King
Guest post by Becky Carroll: Read her blog | Follow her on Twitter Source: Shutterstock In the past, it was somewhat difficult to have true customer conversations. We were able to solicit customer feedback, but we weren’t always good at responding. The fact is, we didn’t have a good way to easily get back to customers with resolutions to problems or closure to suggestions. Customers would feel they were sending their comments and concerns into a “corporate black hole”, never…
Are You Talking to Me?
I’ve been spending a fair amount of time touring the world in support of my ideas and thoughts on the direction of new PR, branding, service, and marketing communications. My reward and inspiration to continue is sourced from each person I meet and the experiences and challenges they share. I’ve learned that our greatest hindrance to evolve is not our unwillingness to do so, our indoctrination in new media and communications is truly obstructed by the executives to whom we…
Tracking Brands on Twitter to Improve How You Listen and Engage
Recently, I reviewed Twibs, a directory that lists all brands and businesses currently using Twitter. Electric Artists released Tracking Twitter, a new app that is a real-time listing of the top brands, media, television, entertainment, and celebrities that the team is currently following on Twitter. While this service offers appeal as a directory for consumers seeking their favorite brands and personalities on Twitter, it’s much more promising as a real-time monitor of how businesses, media properties, and celebrities are using…
Facebook and the Future of User Generated Governance
Shot at Web 2.0 Summit 2008 Facebook is learning to listen. In the middle of February 2009, the company was yet again a “Beacon” for bad PR as it introduced an updated Terms of Service (Tos) for its entire community of users. We the people responded with defiance and vigor and the company retracted its new language, reverted to the previous ToS, and listened to the valuable feedback that poured in from the community. By all accounts, this was the…
Twibs Connects Customers to Businesses on Twitter
Twitter continues to inspire creativity and innovation among third-party developers. The latest useful solution is Twibs, a directory of businesses using Twitter to communicate with consumers, peers, and tastemakers. Twitter is a conversation platform and it continues to fundamentally transform how people communicate with each other. Along with other socialized channels of online interaction, Twitter has also re-ignited the long-forgotten art of listening to and communicating with customers. What started with forums and online reviews, then evolved to include blog…
Dell Deals with Twitter
In March 2008, Gary Vaynerchuck experimented with @santagaryvee on Twitter where he would announce special Wine Library deals and opportunities exclusively for his loyal followers on the popular micro community. While he slowly phased that activity back into his main Twitter streams, many companies were introduced to a new way to engage and harness enthusiasm among those potentially interested in something new and special. Having contributed to the standard of listening and responding to users and pundits on Twitter, Dell…
Tracking the Obama Inauguration Across the Social Web: PeopleBrowsr Helps You Listen and Engage
Disclosure, I’m an adviser to PeopleBrowsr… In early December, we released a public alpha of PeopleBrowsr, an attention-centered dashboard for managing your online relationships, brand management, and communication in Twitter and across multiple social networks – all from one place. The public alpha is running incredibly well and thanks to everyone who contributed feedback, ideas, and recommendations, the public beta will be even more incredible. If you’re a brand manager, communications or customer service professional, community manager, or on the…
The State of Social Media 2008
Source I’ve been on a recent whirlwind speaking tour recently, sharing and learning all things related to the socialization of marketing and service as well as how to measure these new strategies and tactics. From San Diego to New York to SF back to New York and then Vegas and SF again, I was reminded that no matter how grand an expert one purports to be, the truth is that we’re all still trying to figure this out as it…
