I have always had an Apple computer, from the Apple IIe my father had when I was a kid to the new Macbook Pro that’s on its way to my door. While I’m an Apple fan, I don’t buy every product Apple releases or agree with everything they’ve done. I’ve always admired Apple, and especially Steve, for doing things differently, and, for more importantly, thinking about the needs of the user first — for building tools that free people to create. remember fondly that Apple IIe, on which I learned my first programming and gaming. never did go to work for Apple. MORE >>

Marketing and Sales have been dating for years, and it’s no longer okay for them to have a casual relationship. If Marketing were my daughter and her boyfriend were Sales, then I’d have to put my foot down and say, “Enough dating…it’s time to get married!” Take a look at the current situation, and I think you will agree. They Live Separately. When your relationship is casual, you maintain your own places. Marketing lives in a cute garden apartment, and Sales lives in a downtown loft. They don’t share anything, and they spend time separately. They Don’t Share Finances. News & Notes MORE >>

Who wouldn’t want to wake up one morning and see twice as many sales, visits or retweets? Especially if you did nothing much different the day before.). growing crop of tools and best practices for automatically optimizing and increasing promotion of tweets, Facebook shares and blog posts is promising exactly that. These new tools are so effective, existing apps have begun taking notice and integrating them into their features. BlogGlue : Have your latest blog post automatically shared on similar blogs as a “recommended” post. Let’s start with one you can’t do without—the Buffer button. MORE >>

Just as all audiences are not the same, neither are all social media sites. Every social network has its nuances, whether it be in the way users behave, connect, or share within that network’s particular environment. Think about it. Do you have the same criteria on LinkedIn for who you choose to connect with as you do on Facebook? If Twitter were like LinkedIn, would you still ‘follow’ as many people? So, if people act differently from social network to social network, shouldn’t your marketing act differently, too? Step 1: Create a Personal Account. News & Notes MORE >>

Simply put, social media needs to be built into marketing and consumer engagement pushes, and has to be part of any successful company’s future plans. But to catch up and truly capitalize on the craze, you need a strategy. In a recent Smartblog on Social Media poll, more than 77 percent of respondents reported their companies don’t have any sort of formalized social media training process, while fewer than 20 percent said they did. Here are some ways to make sure you, and your workers, are smart about social media: 1. Familiarize employees with the basics. Obvious? News & Note MORE >>