The HMV Rogue Tweeter Revealed

It would be just plain remiss not to document the latest social media misstep of a brand, and only partly because I can't help lauding the foolhardy bravery behind the @hmvtweets #hmvxfactorfiring HMV Twitter account hijack.The story in brief: yesterday, 60 members of the HMV PR department were g...

By Bliss Hanlin • Feb. 1, 2013

Small Business Field Guide to SoLoMo [INFOGRAPHIC]

Today's sophisticated consumers are using mobile devices more than ever and they're using them to access social media and business web/ecommerce sites. People are constantly on their smartphones and tablets looking for things to do or to buy. In order to attract and keep this audience, your brand...

By Jacey Gulden • Feb. 1, 2013

Super Bowl: Reaching Beyond the 30 Seconds of Airtime

Today's top brands understand the need to extend the life of their Super Bowl ads - and their $3 million investment - by publishing supporting content across paid, owned and earned channels leading up to and beyond the big game. Engaging and entertaining an audience before and after the big show ...

By Patricia Travaline • Feb. 1, 2013

Transitional Marketing and the Connected Interface

Guest post by Scott Forshay, creator and editor of mobi.luxe. Follow him on Twitter @scottforshayThere is no first, second, or third screen; there are only screens. Regardless of their uniqueness in form factor or function, these connected screens are simply humanized interfaces allowing us to co...

By Brian Solis • Feb. 1, 2013

Biggest Brands at the Super Bowl

If the top brands buying ads for this year's Super Bowl went head-to-head in a Social Bowl, who would win?SHIFT, a collaborative platform for digital marketers, took a closer look to find which brand is the overall champion of social media. Their recent infographic identifies the top brands across tech, beverage, food, and automotive. Each measured in terms of social reach:

By Andre Bourque • Feb. 1, 2013

Why Your Company Needs to Blog

Effective blogging requires dedication and a significant investment of time for brainstorming, research and the actual writing. High-quality business blogging has real value. Learn how to take your content marketing to the next level.

By Monica Jade Romeri • Feb. 1, 2013

How to Promote Your Blog Posts with Social Media Writing

When I was eleven, I wrote a mystery story and sold it for a quarter a copy on the playground. Even back then I knew that writing didn't happen in a vacuum. I used my classmate's names as characters, and cleared about $9.50 before the recess monitor cut it short. I knew my audience, and played to...

By Neal Schaffer • Feb. 1, 2013

Next Big Role: The Content Marketing Manager

Marketing positions have been pretty static over the past 5-10 years. We have however, seen a slight shift that has matched our marketing efforts, the rise of online and digital marketing managers and execs for example, but these job functions require a similar skill set to their predecessors', o...

By Gareth Case • Feb. 1, 2013

Vine Equals Great Opportunities (If We Are Creative Enough)

Vine, the new social networking application that allows you to create six second videos to share with the world is building incredible hype. Major companies are even jumping on the band wagon in order to utilize this new social media effectively according to an article from TechCrunch. But, havin...

By Eric Gruenfelder • Feb. 1, 2013

The New BlackBerry Brand: Who's Calling?

Remember RIM? Research In Motion? The company that used to be a juggernaut of smartphones? They just introduced their long-delayed BlackBerry 10. In days gone by, we probably would have written their "long-awaited BlackBerry 10," but given the numerous development problems and introduction postpo...

By Robert Passikoff • Feb. 1, 2013

Whatever Happened to Voice Mail?

Remember the days when you couldn't WAIT to listen to your voice mail messages? People made things happen and got things accomplished through voice mail. We patiently listened to 3-minute voice mail messages and took action. We even thanked people for taking the time to leave us a voice mail mess...

By Josiane Feigon • Jan. 31, 2013

Why The Rise of Mobile Will Change B2B Content Marketing Forever

With mobile traffic now representing about 13% of all internet traffic, it's clear that mobile is well positioned to sit beside desktops as the way the world interacts online in the near future. This obviously has had and will continue to cause a number of changes in the online world. Some major ...

By Brad Milne • Jan. 31, 2013

3 Reasons Your Business Should Be Using Video

Your website visitors won't wait. They take a micro-second to decide to stay or leave your website, even after all the money and hard work you just spent getting them there. One of the best ways to keep them there is by adding online video to your home page. Adding online web video will increase ...

By Robert Weiss • Jan. 31, 2013

Interview with Founder of Startup Secrets, Michael Skok

Any entrepreneur will attest that starting a company is anything but easy. As business gets off the ground, entrepreneurs wrestle balancing long hours, wearing multiple hats, and figuring out problems and issues that distract from the ultimate goal of building a successful company.Just ask Michae...

By Mike Lewis • Jan. 31, 2013

Successful Videos for Educational Institutions

There was a time-not too long ago-when creating video for your school meant hiring a full-service firm for a high-end piece, complete with a hefty price tag.Realistically, schools still occasionally need to take this route from time to time, but more often than not, video as part of school market...

By Jesse Bardo • Jan. 31, 2013

5 Ways To Cultivate Your Social Media Brand Ambassadors

In an age where social media and brand image are irrevocably linked, brands and businesses need methods of managing their social media brand activists. In social business, the most loyal fans aren't just supporting brands, they define a brand.As a result of social technologies, fans now have a g...

By Kelly Dern • Jan. 31, 2013

The Instagram Superbowl: 49ers vs Ravens on Social Media

Finally, the Superbowl XLVII is right around the corner.In just a few days, the San Francisco 49ers will face the Baltimore Ravens in the game that will crown this season's NFL champion. As both teams prepare to deploy their A-game on Sunday, another battle is being waged...On Instagram.@49ers an...

By Thibaut Davoult • Jan. 31, 2013

Content Marketing or Content Spam? [SLIDESHOW]

Content marketing has become every marketer's favorite topic in the past year. And for good reason. The benefits to your site SEO and overall traffic volume, as well as the fodder for social media sharing and conversations are well documented.It is also rather well known that more frequent genera...

By Tommy Landry • Jan. 31, 2013

3 Commonly Asked Questions by Real Small Business Owners

On our social accounts, I solicited small business owners for their most pressing questions about using social media. Keep in mind that I don't consider myself an all knowing guru-expert; however I am someone who likes to use what I DO know to help others get the most out of social media. So with...

By Nathan Mendenhall • Jan. 31, 2013

After a PR Gaffe, Should Ryanair Eschew Social Media?

PR Week in the UK is running this story about the decision of Robin Kiely, Ryanair's new head of communication, to dismiss the value of social media engagement. Is he right to do this? Absolutely, in my opinion. Ryanair is an organisation that has been hugely successful despite a studious disreg...

By Richard Stacy • Jan. 31, 2013

How Pinterest Could Boost Your Business

Guest Post by Vincent ClarkePinterest is a digital pin board where users upload and share images that they find particularly engaging or beautiful. In less than three years it has become the third largest social network, with over 10 million users. If you're interested and engaged with the aesthe...

By Kelsey Jones • Jan. 31, 2013

Stipple Introduces Interactive Images to Facebook

What is Stipple? If you have not heard about the service, Stipple allows you to embed interactive hotspots into an image to create additional connections directly within the image. Now Stipple supports direct publishing support via Facebook, a feature that has been missing to date.Now it is possi...

By Larry Weintraub • Jan. 31, 2013

Vine May Have Sprouted, But How Can It Grow Your Business?

With a solid 7 days of experience using Vine, I'm going to go ahead and declare myself a world-leading-ninja-Jedi-guru thinker on the social network (please know that of course I'm kidding).If you're not familiar with Vine, it is a social media network built around the creation and sharing of 6-s...

By Matthew Peneycad • Jan. 31, 2013

Meeker's Year In Review: Digital Trends and Predictions

Technology and youNo doubt 2012 was a big year for all things social - and we were pleased to see Mary Meeker's (of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers) follow-up to her May report - "2012 Internet Trends Year-End Update," which details many of the momentous technological shifts and warns of cont...

By Errol Apostolopoulos • Jan. 31, 2013

Social Selling Is on the Rise: Get on Board

I don't know if anyone can claim to have created or invented "social selling." Even though I was a part in creating Social Selling University, I know I didn't invent the term. Back in 2005 I was doing it before I ever knew there was a term for it.Books like Sales 2.0 from Anneke Seley opened my e...

By Koka Sexton • Jan. 30, 2013