Marketers who are worth their salt have known it for years. If you want your audience to take a specific action, you actually have to ask them to do it -- in email, in display ads, on landing pages , blog articles -- you name it. But for whatever reason, it seems like once we started using social media for marketing, we collectively forgot all about calls-to-action (CTAs). Let's end that now. I've long been a proponent of using calls-to-action in social media. But what about the impact of CTAs within other social networks. like Facebook? Check it out. And isn't that what all marketers want? MORE >>

No amount of increased website traffic will fill your lead pipeline if you make it difficult for your visitors to ‘convert’ on your website. For most B2B websites a “conversion” typically is measured by a visitor filling out a form, providing you with their personal information for sales or marketing follow up. Examples of registrations take place in the form of case studies, whitepapers or even a product demo. These ‘calls to action’ (CTAs) should be conspicuously places on each of your most important web pages. Your most important pages should have up to three calls to action. MORE >>

I love this time of year! The kids start getting excited knowing that Christmas is not too far away. They dream of lots of presents and start making their list and checking it twice. also think adults and children enjoy the change in the routine that comes with holidays. There’s the parties, great food, the short weeks, family and friends, and, oh did I mention the parties. am certainly not going to be the first, the last or the only person wishing that the holiday spirit lasted throughout the year but in social media particularly, every like, RT, mention, comment, +1 and pin is a gift! MORE >>

Look social is getting complicated. In this Twitter hiccup,Oprah, or someone tweeting for Oprah, indicated her love of the Microsoft Surface tablet, but it was from an iPad, at least according to. Hitting on a single topic in marketing, social media and business communications. Quick and to the point. Challenge Your Answers Social Media Oprah social mistakes twitter MORE >>

In his classic Harvard Business Review article Marketing Myopia , Theodore Levitt argued that railroad companies could have survived the rise of the automobile had they considered their business to be providing transportation, not running trains. Someone at Pitney Bowes clearly got the message. The postal equipment giant has aggressively moved to become a provider of “customer communication technologies”, making 83 acquisitions costing $2.5 billion since 2000. Offers are linked to products, which have customer-level eligibility criteria. The dashboard can be extended to include external data. MORE >>