It is that time of year again where we look forward and try to predict the future of social media for B2B companies. This is not a shot-in-the-dark exercise, but one based on observing how B2B companies have adopted social media over the past year. When we look back at 2013, we will not see a banner year with explosive growth in B2B social media. In many areas there will be continued gradual growth started in 2012 or earlier. If you have your own predictions or you disagree with ours, please let us know in the comments below. B2B CEOs will remain skeptical about social media. MORE >>

As the year comes to a close, it's the perfect time for reflection. And as marketers, that means we can't help but think about how our strategies took shape, how we adapted our tactics and techniques, and of course, how successful they all were. But it's not enough just to think about how our own campaigns performed; we should also think about what our fellow marketers did so we can apply their lessons to our future campaigns, too. And let me tell you: The year 2012 brought us some of the most exciting and memorable marketing campaigns. Proctor & Gamble: Thank You, Mom. Impressive! MORE >>

We love Santa. The idea of a chubby old man shimmying down a chimney to bring toys to little girls and boys is awesome. Santa is the freaking man. He has flying reindeer, defies laws of space and time on Christmas Eve, and still maintains his rotund figure despite constant work-related stress. Additionally Santa possesses some sort of omniscience that allows him to determine the 'niceness' or 'naughtiness' of every living child. He also ages remarkably well and is able to coax the world's elf population to maintain a scalable enterprise without, apparently, much of a profit. Santa, stop hating. MORE >>

From TrendWatching.com, here's an infographic of ten consumer trends that will effect marketing in the next year. Consumers will participate in the funding and (pre-)launch of new products and brands. Emerging brands from all over will cater to emerging middle classes from all over. Consumers will look to their mobile devices to maximize absolutely every moment. Products that give back. Digital technologies are the new medicines. Emerging markets will proudly export and even flaunt their national and cultural heritage. Resurgence in domestic manufacturing. View Original Article MORE >>

Last week, a friend of mine sent out a link to Cold Call Me Maybe on Tumblr. If you’re in sales and haven’t seen this clever blog with gif animations yet, I highly recommend it for a good laugh! One of the animations I found particularly funny was specific to the concept of objections and the caption read, “When a prospect has an objection that you don’t really know how to overcome…” which you can see here. The main thing to focus on is what is in our control; which starts with coming up with a cheat sheet of the typical objections that tend to come up in conversations with a rebuttal for each. MORE >>