Social Marketing: Page 307

  • Why Is Good Customer Service So Difficult?

    This could easily be a rant based on some recent customer service experiences but I'm going to avoid that and instead look at what companies are facing today in trying to meet customer expectations. I read recently that Comcast has finally appointed a VP to try and address their extremely poor cu...

    By • Oct. 19, 2014

  • Why, How, Who, When, And What

    There's a huge difference between what our customers go through to buy and what most sales people do in trying to sell those customers. It's this difference that causes much of the disconnect between customers and sales people. It's recognizing this difference and engaging customers in their en...

    By • Oct. 18, 2014

  • Which Side of the Twitter Algorithm Debate Are You On?

    Twitter CFO Anthony Noto's recent mention of platform changes that could take hold in 2015 has many users concerned about the integrity of the channel we know and love."Twitter's timeline is organized in reverse chronological order, a delivery system that has not changed since the product was cre...

    By • Oct. 17, 2014

  • Understand Your Business: Value Proposition 101

    Our organization provides ABC to XYZ.I urge you to take the phrase above and repurpose it for your brand; in which ABC is the product or service your organization offers, and XYZ is your target audience. Did you do it? If so, you have just identified your brand's value proposition in its simples...

    By • Oct. 17, 2014

  • Dreamforce 2014: Your Product Is Only as Good as Your Service

    There is a shift happening in the customer service community. Words like service, support and even call center are being replaced by new phrases like customer engagement and customer experience. The refrain recently has been "customer service is a marketing opportunity." At Dreamforce today in th...

    By • Oct. 16, 2014

  • How Small Business Can Leverage Selfies for Social Media Marketing

    It's nearly impossible to log in to a social media network and get through a single scroll without seeing the latest phenomenon. The now pervasive pictures of an individual or a group holding a camera out in the front of them and snapping a shot to preserve their dinner for posterity are everywhe...

    By • Oct. 16, 2014

  • Is Your Business Too Boring for Content Marketing?

    Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing yet it generates about 3 times as many leads. (DemandMetric) Its numbers like those that are making businesses take content marketing seriously. In fact 93% of B2B marketers now use content marketing.But many of these businesses face a s...

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • Social Employees: The New (Old) Trend

    Everywhere I turn (at least in meeting rooms), I hear the words "Employee" and "Social" mentioned together. Companies are keen to get their employees "active" and "influencing" on social media but I'm not always convinced they completely understand what it means, or if they are really prepared fo...

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • Do You Include a "Don Draper Clause" in Employee Contracts?

    At Dynamo, every employee has a Don Draper clause (inspired by Mad Men) included in their contract, which means that on a regular basis each employee receives strange, creative, wonderful, personalized treats/gifts paid for by Don. The clause is just one part of Dynamo's culture, which is designed to attract and keep the best staff - particularly critical in PR, where there is a high turnover.

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • Business Networking: Getting Found

    Since the later part of the last century there has been a big shift in how business networking is perceived. Believe it or not, there use to be a time when "business networking" was a taboo. It was actually considered shameful to admit that you received access to a meeting or even information thr...

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • The Future of Social Business [VIDEO]

    At the Social Shake-Up conference in Atlanta (hosted by Social Media Today) I was delighted to participate in a keynote panel with Jeff Dachis and Renee Ducre to talk about the future of social business. A video of the session was just posted online so I am sharing it here as I think we covered s...

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • Forget Products: Sell Hope

    In late September, Burson-Marsteller released its perception study findings on what people think of corporations. This Slideshare infographic, for example, shows that 40% of US Millennials believe that US corporations are a source of fear, not hope. The American public overall is split on this is...

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • Future of Marketing Requires Wider Perspectives and Engaged Communities

    Panel after panel of speakers at the recent AAF-KC Advertising 101 conference talked about the future of advertising, as the marketers of tomorrow listened intently. The main demographic of this "Career Day" was college-aged marketing students, but among the speakers, there was something I notice...

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • A Recap of The Social Shake-Up 2014

    While we have a lot to look forward to at SMT in the coming months, including the launch of new columns like The Social Insider (moves and promotions for social change agents) and The CMO of the Week (in-depth interviews with top CMOs), I wanted to recap some of the highlights from last month's c...

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • Are Your Social Media Platforms Engaging Customers?

    Social media has evolved by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Today it has become a profitable marketing channel. Social media has also changed the dynamics of call center services. But are customers really engaging with brands using social media? Recent statistics revealed that Instagram...

    By • Oct. 15, 2014

  • 11 Tips for CEOs to Stay Active With Entrepreneurship

    Once a CEO starts their own business or they make it to the top of the ladder that they were climbing, they may have the tendency to feel complacent or complete with what they've accomplished. However, this is very rarely the mindset that gets the best CEOs to the positions of power that they lik...

    By • Oct. 14, 2014

  • Technology-Focused Career Paths for Women: Virtually Limitless

    A couple of weeks ago I wrote What Does It Mean to Be a Woman in Technology? Let's Think Bigger, in which I argued that women can make strong contributions in technology-focused areas without being employed by technology firms or educated and trained in technology-related fields. This piece exten...

    By • Oct. 14, 2014

  • 25 Tips to a Healthy Social Business Mindset for the C-Suite and Marketing Leaders

    Becoming a social business is a journey, not a destination. You can't just mark a day on the calendar and say "this is the day we will be a social business."We must embrace the journey. We need to endure the bumps, valleys and remember we are on this journey for the long haul! We need to build a ...

    By • Oct. 14, 2014

  • 3 Customer Service Trends to Watch at Dreamforce

    It's that time of year when masses of CRM vendors and professionals descend on San Francisco for Salesforce's annual user conference, Dreamforce. It's a good time to take stock of the CRM industry as a whole and consider where we've been, where we are and - most important - where we're going.Head...

    By • Oct. 14, 2014

  • 3 Reasons Employee Advocacy Is the New Marketing Paradigm

    The marketer's job keeps getting harder. In one way, modern marketing technology empowers marketers to connect, reach, engage and measure results like never before. The problem is that without a sizable ad budget, the marketing department's reach is limited. The solution isn't to ask for more hea...

    By • Oct. 12, 2014

  • Think Call to Reward, NOT Call to Action

    All brands want attention. All brands want awareness. And many brands do a lot of work to gain these, and then they stop.Fans, followers, email lists are the customer giving you permission to talk to them. They are saying "I am aware. I like what I see yet I still need reasons to buy from you and...

    By • Oct. 11, 2014

  • Are You A Social Media-Savvy Leader? You Should Be!

    I just came across an interesting survey, BRANDfog's 2014: The Global, Social CEO. This annual look at social media engagement in the C-Suite explores the changing role of a business leader's involvement with social media by surveying 1000 employees in both the UK and the US. The industries repr...

    By • Oct. 11, 2014

  • What Customers Expect on Social Media: Are You Doing It?

    Social media is a fantastic tool for assisting customers. However, customers understandably have high expectations when it comes to relying on social media to get help. We live in a culture where instant gratification reigns supreme.If you're planning to use social media as a way to connect with ...

    By • Oct. 10, 2014

  • Real-Time Marketing for the Glory, Real Engagement for the Win

    From the moment Oreo went viral with their well timed Super Bowl blackout tweet, there have been countless articles touting the benefits of 'real-time marketing' - and even more brands attempting to recreate that success (typically soaked with desperation or haste). The allure of heightened impre...

    By • Oct. 10, 2014

  • 33 Thought-Provoking Quotes to Awaken Your Inner Innovator

    We are all builders. We are all innovators. I refuse to think otherwise.When we grow up we are taught that innovation is something special. To be an entrepreneur, you somehow have to be different. Being an entrepreneur and an innovator, they say, requires a particular approach, personality, train...

    By • Oct. 10, 2014