I was privileged to be on a panel with some outstanding social media practitioners from the insurance industry at the 2011 Social Media Conference for Financial Services put on by LOMA LIMRA this morning. Financial services firms – and insurance companies in general – are often seen as boring, but what these companies are doing within the confines of a heavily regulated business is anything but that. Farmers Insurance for example, hasn’t accumulated 2.3 million Facebook likes  by boring people. actually think insurance is a fascinating business. I couldn’t drink it.” With 1.3 MORE >>

In the weeks leading up to the Direct Marketing Association annual conference in Boston this week, exhibitors were out strutting their best stuff. Last week I got two letters in the mail that appeared to be personally addressed to me in a feminine hand (right). Both turned out to be promotions for companies exhibiting at the conference. One employs people to hand-address envelopes so that they appear to come from a friend. The other has an automated signature device that does much same thing. opened both envelopes without realizing what was inside and had to chuckle at how I was taken in. MORE >>

I spent a fun half-hour chatting it up with Ed, who’s a good friend and fellow media enthusiast. He told me how he spends most of his time these days working with inner-city gang leaders to mediate disputes. It makes social media marketing seem rather unimportant. B2B book podcast video cmo advantage MORE >>

The disconnect between CIOs and the emerging world of social business became clear to me at a conference I attended about two years ago. entered the room late, but figured I could quickly catch up on the proceedings by checking the Twitter stream of attendees. With an estimated 300 senior IT executives in the room, I expected there would be plenty of chatter going on. To my surprise, not a single tweet had been logged during the past hour. As I began prodding my network of CIO contacts, I learned that this was not unusual. Same Old Song and Dance. In fact, that’s exactly what they did. MORE >>

Now that we’re all publishers, writing has become a core skill for marketers. love good writing, and whenever I get the chance to teach it, I share these five tricks I’ve learned to make anyone’s writing better. Write in Pictures. Former Wall Street Journal page one feature writer Bill Blundell used that phrase in a seminar some 15 years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s the single best piece of writing advice I’ve ever had. Human beings think visually. The words we read continually conjure up images in our mind. Tell stories. They hit us in our gut. MORE >>