Google+ for Business: A Beginner's Guide

To use or not to use Google+? That is the question.Many people are still on the fence about whether or not to incorporate Google+ into their social media marketing strategy. Are you a little overwhelmed with where to start and how it works?You're not alone.This is a very simple breakdown of how y...

By Melissa Leiter • Sept. 17, 2013

Hiring a PR Firm: There is a Time Investment Required

In the past week I have been asked the same question four different times during interviews.This question has never come up before and I find it strange four different people have asked it of me in just the last seven days.It is:What is the one thing you wish prospects would ask you?Think about t...

By Gini Dietrich • Sept. 17, 2013

What's in a Name? 15 Criteria for Naming a Brand or Product

A new brand name represents an opportunity. Choosing a good brand name is a key to marketing success.A decision to name a branded product is a challenge for many marketers. By choosing a good brand name or name of a product underneath your corporate name, a company is positioning itself for great...

By David Mitchel • Sept. 17, 2013

Digital and Social Trends Seen at New York Fashion Week

Fashion Week used to be a ultra-exclusive event reserved for the fashion elite. The public had to wait for the print publications before they could see the coverage, images and commentary related to the year's premier fashion event.However, with the arrival of the digital age, the fashion industr...

By Julie Blakley • Sept. 17, 2013

Building Relationships by Proactively Initiating a Dialogue on Social Media

Despite having an amazing opportunity to initiate and sustain meaningful dialogues with their consumers, many brands treat social media primarily as a broadcast platform.Emphasis, energy and resources are typically pumped into the creation and publication of meaningful content - which is great - ...

By Matthew Peneycad • Sept. 17, 2013

11 SEO Secrets Only the Insiders Know

This post will most certainly ruffle some feathers. But that's okay-because sometimes, feathers need to be ruffled. This is not one of those "SEO is dead" posts. In fact, it's far from it. This is an "SEO has evolved" post. Undoubtedly though, some SEO purists will see this post as a threat and w...

By Chad Pollitt • Sept. 17, 2013

Google Optimizing Search Results for "In-Depth" Content

Changes are coming to the search results you see on Google. The search engine will now be featuring "in-depth" content. This is an important change for those of us who are very invested in content marketing. With this new focus on in-depth content, companies who post blogs and articles are even m...

By Elizabeth Kent • Sept. 17, 2013

Study Search Ranking: What Makes Your Brand Look Good on Google

It is one of these questions that many brand marketers are asking themselves: What makes us reach the top search results on Google? A recent report based on Searchmetric data for 10,000 top Google search keywords sheds some light here. It was based on correlations and website characteristics of 3...

By Martin Meyer-Gossner • Sept. 17, 2013

Think Like A Rock Star: Mack Collier on Turning Customers into Fans [VIDEO]

I'm a fan of pop culture- just as much as I'm a fan of marketing. That's why Mack Collier's book, "Think Like A Rockstar," was such a win-win for me to read. It's filled with stories of how rock stars and divas like Jewel, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and even one of my favorite Nashville ...

By Georgia Cross • Sept. 17, 2013

How to Keep Fans Coming Back All Year Long

Consider the holidays as the spark needed to light your yearlong social marketing strategy. Once you've ignited the flame of social interaction with your consumers, it's time to focus on sustaining it. Here are a few tips on creating holiday marketing campaigns that make an impact all year long.O...

By Mark Cooper • Sept. 17, 2013

Terms to Drop from Your Marketing Vocabulary and How to Replace Them

There are dozens and dozens of buzz words out there when it comes to marketing. Most of them have little real meaning or value beyond being trendy. But there are terms in our marketing vocabulary that really do mean something-terms that do your marketing strategy more harm than good just by utter...

By Dan Stasiewski • Sept. 17, 2013

#SocialShakeUp: 10 Key Learnings from MasterCard, Xerox and Get Satisfaction

This morning's session featured Jason Bartlett, Vice President, Global Social Marketing, Xerox; Andrew Bowins Senior Vice President, External Communications, MasterCard; and Wendy Lea, Chief Executive Officer, Get Satisfaction. With nothing in social written in concrete because of its ever-evolvi...

By Christianna Giordano • Sept. 17, 2013

10 Super Powers of the World's Greatest Social Media Marketer [INFOGRAPHIC]

Gone are the days when social media was a curious little sandbox marketers would play in when time allowed. Today, social media is every bit as integral to your online marketing initiatives as your website.Companies that have staffed up and stepped up to make social media marketing a meaningful element of the brand experience are seizing advantages that megadollars can't buy.They're refraining from using megaphones to shout out messages, and they're done trying to dictate the destiny of their public relations with press releases.

By Barry Feldman • Sept. 16, 2013

9 Tips to Keep Moms Engaged With Your Content

We can churn out content as much as we want but that doesn't mean our target audience will read it. When it comes to content marketing for mom-focused brands, it's especially important to ensure the content engages your key audience: moms. Between work, kids, household tasks, social media, and so...

By Katie Petrillo • Sept. 16, 2013

5 Tips for Brainstorming Blog Content

If you're a blogger, it's critical to develop ideas that attract an audience while making sure you have enough of these ideas to sustain your efforts.Brainstorming is, in essence, setting aside some time to think up as many themes or individual blog post ideas as you can, and jot them down for fu...

By Rachel Strella • Sept. 16, 2013

How to Engage Fans After the Holidays

The clock doesn't stop on December 26 - that's easy to forget in the midst of holiday planning. Don't make the mistake of going radio silent on social.Create content and offers that engage consumers during that post-Christmas lull, and keep them loyal all year. Here's how you keep your social mar...

By Mark Cooper • Sept. 16, 2013

#SocialShakeUp: Marketology 101 with Ric Dragon

Greetings from Atlanta and the #SocialShakeUp! Just completed my first workshop with Ric Dragon and the Dragon Search Digital Marketing Team and let me tell you, it was robust, informative and had great takeaways including his latest book, Social Marketology and an intensive workbook of activitie...

By Christianna Giordano • Sept. 16, 2013

Research Reveals Most Influential Social Media in B2B Buying

The latest BuyerSphere research report on business to business (B2B) buying decisions reveals key insights into the role of social media in the B2B buying process. These include the most influential social media channels and the best content formats.The research covered over 500 B2B Buyers in Eur...

By Steve Rayson • Sept. 16, 2013

Facebook Marketing for Business: Don't Be Lazy!

The introduction of social media has birthed tens of thousands of overnight self proclaimed marketing experts. While some are using good practices to help the businesses they work in or work for achieve results, some have unfortunately fallen to lazy, spamming tactics.I have great concern for thi...

By Pam Moore • Sept. 16, 2013

4 Ways Twitter Helps SMBs [INFOGRAPHIC]

A mutually beneficial relationship between SMBs and their Twitter followers drives brand ROI and consumer value.People who follow small to medium-sized businesses feel more engaged with them and are more likely to purchase from them, recommend them, retweet their content, and share positive exper...

By Pam Dyer • Sept. 16, 2013

Social Selling: Why Twitter is a Powerful B2B Sales Tool

Twitter has came along way from a social network in which people told you what flavor of ice cream they were eating to a powerful platform for inside sales teams can count on for success.Twitter ListsLists allow you to filter out all the noise and organize important people. For example, creating ...

By Julio Viskovich • Sept. 16, 2013

Low Budget Video Production Successes [VIDEO]

I love it when low budget video production does well online. It is proof of the potential democracy of the Internet and it means the little guy does stand a chance against the big brands. I am going to share with you some of my favourite low budget video successes - prepare to be inspired.1. Orab...

By Neil Davidson • Sept. 15, 2013

Digital Storytelling Re-imagined

In the constantly changing world of social and digital media, corporate communicators must rethink how they communicate with key stakeholders. And those that think they have figured it out are dangerously close to falling behind. The book on social media is still being written and finding the rig...

By Andrew Bowins • Sept. 15, 2013

Twitter Going IPO So What Does this Mean for Businesses?

With the recent news of Twitter filing for its initial public offering (IPO), this is a major step in the process of becoming a publicly traded company. For many of its investors, this is a long awaited payout of dollars that they have invested in the company. But what does the act of becoming a ...

By Mark Scott • Sept. 14, 2013

Will Facebook Be the Death of the Polling Industry?

Facebook announced this week that it's releasing a limited API to certain "trusted" media partners to enable those partners to track and publish, in real time, public Facebook profile and page posts using a keyword or hashtag, as well as data or insights on a certain keyword or hashtag in a certa...

By Elisabeth Harper • Sept. 14, 2013