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Want to Build Stronger Online Relationships? It’s Really Not That Hard. #CMAD

29 Jan

CMAD videoIf you didn’t know, this past Monday (January 25) was Community Manager Appreciation Day (or CMAD, for short). It was a chance for people and companies to celebrate folks like me — social media managers and others who work so hard every day to grow our businesses and organizations by building stronger relationships with customers, clients, and others using blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social channels (and offline means as well). And to learn from each other as well.

As part of the day, a social media company called Zoomph reached out and asked me to share a quick tip for building stronger online relationships. I was happy to do so. That video is below. Continue reading →

Everybody’s Searching for Something

6 Jun

the_internship_posterIt’s hard to judge The Internship solely as a movie.

That’s because it’s more an advertorial for Google than it is a movie — as anyone who’s seen even the smallest shred of the film’s marketing campaign can attest.

I mean, holy product pimping, Batman! This film shills harder for the search engine and all its auxiliary tools than American Idol does for Coke and Ford.

It’s more in the tank for Google than You’ve Got Mail was for AOL back in 1998.

More than The Wizard was for Nintendo back in 1989.

And yes, even more than Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle was for the burger chain in 2004.

Hell, I’m surprised the film’s not called Google: The Movie.

But alright, now that we’ve got that out of the way, can we move on?

Yes.

Let’s.

Continue reading →

Fool Me Once, LinkedIn … Shame on You

13 Feb

LinkedIn emailLike so many other people, I recently received an email from LinkedIn telling me that my profile was one of the most-viewed ones of 2012.

Specifically, that I was in the top 5% of all profiles.

That’s awesome, especially given that there are now more than 200 million people on the social network.

Woo hoo! I’m so proud.

And I’m definitely cooler than all those people who’ve been bragging that they’re in the top 10%. Ha ha!

The email from LinkedIn gave me a nice ego boost. And clearly, I’m not alone: A ton of people have been bragging on Facebook and Twitter that they were also in the top 5% … or the top 1% or the top 2%. Continue reading →

The 7 Things on My Holiday 2012 Wish List

19 Nov

Where does the time go?

Seriously. How is Thanksgiving already this week?

And of course, then there’s Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Then Hanukkah is a week and a half later, and not long after that is Christmas. And then before we know it, it’ll be New Year’s Eve.

Holy crap, the year is almost over.

But on a happier note (I think), the holiday season is now officially here.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or something else (Festivus, anyone?), it’s likely you’re going to be buying and receiving lots of gifts over the course of the next month.

I’ve been saving up to buy all kinds of things for my niece and nephews.

Yes, I have a list of things I want too, but it’s not exactly the kind of things you might expect. Here’s what’s on my Holiday 2012 Wish List …

Continue reading →

Is Your Brand in on the Joke? Or Is the Joke on You?

13 Aug

One of the best ways to show your brand’s social media accounts are managed by an actual person is to show a sense of humor.

That doesn’t mean posting a lot of jokes.

It means lightening up and having a laugh — sometimes at your own expense. Continue reading →

5 Things Small Businesses Can Learn from the 2012 Summer Olympics

1 Aug

Though I tried awfully hard to resist, over the past couple weeks I’ve come down with a pretty bad case of Olympics Fever. (Damn you, NBC, and your endless hype!)

Thankfully, it’s been an exciting few days and there have been plenty of highlights — a great Opening Ceremony and Ryan Lochte beating Michael Phelps among them.

Even if you don’t have much interest in swimming, diving, basketball, gymnastics, tennis, cycling, weightlifting, track and field, or any of the other events taking place, there’s still good reason to tune in to these Games — particularly if you’re a small business. That’s right, the Summer Olympics may seem like a giant corporate blowout, but they can also teach small businesses a thing or two if you look at them the right way.

So in the spirit of my earlier post about marketing lessons you can learn from baseball, and because there are five Olympic rings, here are five things that small businesses can learn from the 2012 Summer Olympics. Continue reading →

Email Is Not Dead. Now Shut Up.

30 Jul

Here we go again.

On Friday, the latest in a long line of “email is dead” blog posts was published, this time by a guy named Ted Landphair, and as if right on cue, folks I know in the email world got all riled up about it, going back and forth about how stupid and misguided the blog post was.

Every now and then this happens — too often, really — and it’s always the same routine: A provocative article gets published declaring the end of email. Industry folks and others all link back to the article, thus driving up the writer’s traffic. Email folks go on defense, arguing that email is still an effective marketing channel. Email folks claim moral victory. Nobody cares, and nothing changes. Continue reading →

Everything I Know About Small Business Marketing I Learned from Watching Baseball

20 Apr

Today is the day the Red Sox are celebrating the 100th birthday of Fenway Park.

Yesterday, I took part in the team’s Open House and spent a chunk of the day wandering the country’s oldest (and yes, most beloved) ballpark.

In short, it was awesome. I got to go into the Sox dugout, touch the Green Monster (Wally too), sit in the famous Ted Williams seat, and basically, go anywhere in the park that I wanted to. It was a perfect way to spend a few hours.

Of course, truth be told, I haven’t always been a Red Sox fan (I grew up in New York, and am the child of Mets fans). But I’ve always been a baseball fan.

I love the drama, the history, the athleticism, the strategy, the pageantry, the pomp and circumstance … and how aspects of baseball translate into other areas of my life, like my career as a marketer.

I know that even when my team isn’t doing well — which, yes, lately is too often — there’s still plenty to learn from watching each game.

So humor me, if you will, as I share nine things you can learn about small business marketing from watching baseball. Continue reading →

Americone Dream Come True

24 Aug

I did it again.

As you may recall, last summer, I successfully led an effort to get Ben & Jerry’s to come and give free ice cream to my coworkers.

In fact, it was exactly this week that the ice cream truck rolled up to our building and gave out servings of tasty Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to all who wanted it.

Well, Ben & Jerry’s is at it again this summer, and so was I. Continue reading →

More Free Stuff Thanks to Twitter

1 Mar

You may recall that last summer, I used Twitter to get my entire office free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Aside from it being a great marketing program for Ben & Jerry’s, it was lots of fun for me.

To this day, I use the story as just one reason why I think Twitter is worthwhile. I mean, how can you argue with getting free stuff?

Well, guess what: It’s happened again. Continue reading →

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