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Business Beware: A Social Media Cautionary Tale

Most companies seek the “Good to Great” scenario–improving upon their current performance. Still, sometimes things go wrong–and they become teachable moments, touch points for future excellence. The following scenario should be one of them–a story of how things went awry and SNAP! Just like that, a business has someone ranting about them on a blog post. And if the ranters are valued customers, that’s not good. In my case, the customer service meltdown occurred at the heart of where hotels interface with customers: the front desk. Continue reading Business Beware: A Social Media Cautionary Tale

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Where’s the Beef? Finding & Providing Value in a Digital Age

Last night on the Grammy’s the president of the Recording Institute made a public plea for purveyors of music to pay for it. Literally. He posed this question (paraphrased),” if someone said they like the work you do, but then told you they didn’t want to pay for it, what would you do?” So, why the plea to Grammy watchers to keep paying for the music? Clearly we are paying for peeps like Beyonce, since she’s making $80 Million this year alone. It seems to me that what we have here is a failure to communicate about VALUE. The value proposition–a good one–becomes the tangible in an economy of intangibles. And what we all know is this: people will pay for value. Here are 5 ways to ensure your value proposition when consulting in Social Media: Continue reading Where’s the Beef? Finding & Providing Value in a Digital Age

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Twitter Primer 2: Amping Your Tweetcred & Becoming Tweetsmart

So, you tweet. And you have a few followers. But, even now, you’re just not feelin’ the twitter love…should you keep tweeting?
Nielsen reports that 60% of twitter users quit after the first month.
Does this describe you? Were you hoping for more but stopped using Twitter because of unfulfilled je ne sais quoi? If so, read on. This post is for those who are beyond the basics of sign up and want to become more “tweetsmart” Continue reading Twitter Primer 2: Amping Your Tweetcred & Becoming Tweetsmart

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Twitter Killed the Mad Men: Thoughts on Social Media, Advertising Agencies and Brand Management

We’ve all heard the song “video killed the radio star” by The Buggles. (If you haven’t, you can see the video here: http://bit.ly/7Kkl ). Released in 1979, the song pays homage to what was deemed a game changer for music: the advent of the music video. (If they had only known about the digital revolution that would really kill radio and TV as we used to know it! )

In a similar vein, social media is doing much the same thing to brand marketers and ad agencies–shifting the conversation–and if the enclosed research is any indication, it doesn’t seem that they like the shift… Continue reading Twitter Killed the Mad Men: Thoughts on Social Media, Advertising Agencies and Brand Management

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Survey Says: Does Social Media Info Reflect Identity?

Social Media Research: Does social media information reflect people’s true identity?
If you’re in marketing, advertising or human resources, you should CARE whether social media information is real or just another online persona.
Some of the first quantitative research available that examines social media and identity, the results of this survey will tell you: http://xeeurl.com/A01825 Continue reading Survey Says: Does Social Media Info Reflect Identity?