by Jason Miller It’s like peanut butter and chocolate for the B2B Marketing  professional. The announcement of LinkedIn acquiring Slideshare has all the characteristics to make an incredibly enticing pairing. combined estimated 136 million monthly unique visitors now aligning 9 million content uploads with 161 million members; this incredibly exciting news opens up a whole new world of possibilities for B2B marketers. With an optimistic wishlist and no crystal ball in hand here are five predictions I have for this soon-to-be-integrated platform. B2B Marketing MORE >>

Are you aware that, according to research from ExactTarget , 58% of Facebook users expect to receive discounts or promotions when they 'like' a business page ? Well yesterday, Facebook started making it a lot easier for marketers to give the people what they want. And now brick-and-mortar local businesses have another smart reason to use Facebook. Coupons! Yesterday, Facebook rolled out its new Offers product to all local business pages in the U.S. -- a feature that allows marketers to create coupons to share on their timeline. For free! While the feature is only available in the U.S. MORE >>

by Liz Smyth In the final part of our Marketing in a Downturn series, we’re examining the importance of getting your sales and marketing teams aligned. Read Part 1: Lead Generation and Nurture and Part 2: Content, Content, Content.). Historically, the relationship between marketing and sales has been (to put it politely) problematic, with lots of finger-pointing, and lots of valuable sales leads falling through the gaps between the two functions. But in an age of cautious spending, no company can afford to have sales leads disappear because of poor internal processes. Key Takeaway. MORE >>

Happy Friday, everyone! We hope that you are enjoying spring and getting outside when you can. To reduce the time you spend looking for the most useful posts from the week, check out our favorites below. Did we miss something? Add them in the comments! Enjoy the weekend, and see you on the other side. Is Your Content Supporting or Sinking Your Thought Leadership Efforts? by @ kevinrcain via @ Junta42. Kevin Cain of OpenView Venture Partners offers up a set of criteria to separate what’s often passed off as thought leadership from the real deal. Does Your Website Need a Mobile Makeover? MORE >>

Throwing a killer marketing event takes tremendous planning and resources; you have to think about attracting PR coverage , turning conversations into sales , and even how you'll integrate inbound marketing throughout the thing. But you're a pro -- wouldn't forget big components like that when planning your event. The smaller details, however, are likely to escape. And the thing is, it's the little details that make attendees walk away and say, "WHOA, that was an awesome event!" And you do want attendees saying that, right? Here are 25 ways to make jaws drop at your next marketing event. MORE >>