Does humor belong in business?

Folks, business is serious business! I’ve worked for too many companies who took themselves way too seriously.  And why not be serious – its important work bringing great products to consumers, right? Wrong!  Given the growth of social media and its ability to put a human face on your companies business, its time to have [...]

A 3,500% increase in fans/likes, engagement and sales on Facebook? (a case study)

When I first started marketing via social media, I didn’t understand Facebook. A blog was the central focus of my social media programs. I’d create a blog post and push it out via Facebook and other social media channels. And that worked well at driving traffic to my blog. As for engagement with my readers, I got some comments back, even some people interacting with each other on occasion, but nothing earth-shattering. But about a year ago, I found the key that unlocked the Facebook engagement factor.

7 ways to make the Inc. Magazine 500 Fastest Growing Companies list in a down economy like my client did

I’m not really big on self-promotion or self-congratulations — especially here in my column. However, I’m quite pleased to “admit” that one of the companies I work for has made Inc. magazine’s fastest growing companies in America list.

So, what does it take to make the list? While it’s not Inc.’s criteria, I’ll tell you from my perspective what you and your company need to do to get there.

Learn how to give to get, or… Don’t be stingy, give up the product!

Social media has indelibly changed the way we market and brand our companies forever. To compete in the social “mediasphere” (and in general), companies must give to get (G2G). My definition of G2G is as follows:

Why Direct Marketers Hate Beer Commercials and Branding

But usually I love the Super Bowl. Actually, I should say that I usually love the Super Bowl’s commercials. They’re usually clever, funny and make my annual trip to my friend’s Super Bowl party much better.

But I’m not really sure what happened this year. Here are four ways that I would’ve rewritten the scripts of all the commercials I saw (and a select few actually did this):

Communication 2010: The “smartphone stoop”, multitasking and a cautionary note

I was sitting at my desk working, crunching some numbers in Excel. At the same time, I was watching tweets pop up on TweetDeck (retweeting ones that I like, of course) and instant messaging a client on AIM, when the phone rang. So I take the phone call, start talking and a text message pops up on my phone. All the while I’m checking my emails. Good thing Facebook wasn’t open, or I would probably be getting IM’s from there too.

New Year’s Recap: 19 Direct Marketing, Call-Center and Social Media Tips of 2009, Part 1

After a careful review of all my columns this year, I’ve come up with a list of 19 top tips for you. Implement these strategies into your planning to help prepare your business for a prosperous 2010. (Part 1 contains tips one through seven, dealing with hot-button topics such as social media, lead generation and Twitter. Then check back next week for tips eight through 19, focusing on direct mail marketing and analysis, call centers, and e-commerce websites.)

The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing

“What can I expect from social media?”

“What kind of return on investment will I get?”

“I tried social media and got no customers!”

These are the kinds of questions and responses I hear daily in my conversations. From these conversations I’ve come up with a set of nine laws of social media to provide all marketers with proper expectations. 1. Brand…

6 key takeaways for getting a handle on this new-fangled social media customer service

To me it’s simple: Make it easy to speak with me or my business goes elsewhere. But the big impact on my life was the discovery of social media as a customer service tool

New word of the year – “Unfriend”

For those of you naysayers who believe that social media is a fad, a toy, or something that cannot drive business robustness, engagement and ROI, I have one word for you…