I fully intended to finish this post about creative guru Robert Newman’s digital design dharma last month. But an app conspired, my first (we just launched WebMD the Magazine iPad app in the App Store. Whew.). Before we started, I consulted the master. Reader’s Digest creative director Newman—former creative director of Real Simple and design director of Fortune , Entertainment Weekly , Vibe , Details , and New York —is app-smart. He’s been at it a while. His team just released Reader’s Digest’s 14 th app issue for the iPad and fifth for the Kindle Fire. People like to read on iPads. Time Inc. MORE >>

[Posted by Ed Hadley Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.] I came across an interesting article highlighting Macy’s plans to become an “omni-channel” retailer.  According to CMO Peter Sachse, omni-channel means “the consumer can choose whatever channel she wants to interact with you on, any device that she’d like to do that with, and [still] get [.]. Best Practices Conversational Marketing Ed Hadley Posts MORE >>

Nothing is more fun for me than meeting up with friends from the {grow} community in real life. would love to meet you at some of the awesome social media meetings and conferences coming up! Here’s where you will find me over the next few weeks. March 28 at 2 p.m. will be presenting a free webinar on social influence thanks to my friends at MLT Creative. To register, click here: MLT Creative. March 29 I will be a Panel Leader on the “The future of information”  Post Advertising Summit , in New York City. Interesting blend of cutting edge workshops and futuristic thinking! See you there? MORE >>

Social media lead generation has been notoriously challenging for B2B companies. It makes sense -- when your industry isn't consumer-focused, it's difficult to attract a large audience relevant to your business. Looking at data from 2011, we did a study of 3,000+ B2B businesses to understand how B2B companies are succeeding with social media. Shockingly (or maybe not), the data revealed that 63% of B2B businesses were not generating leads from social media. So why might this be? The biggest disconnect is between content and social media. How B2B Marketers Can Generate More Social Media Leads. MORE >>

Conventional wisdom says that you would use every tool at your disposal to reach potential business prospects. That’s not always the case, however. B2B companies have long resisted video as a means of marketing, but that medium is gradually becoming more accepted. Below are a few reasons businesses have been slow to produce and post marketing videos, as well as tips for transitioning to an effective marketing strategy that embraces video. Video Optimization Seems Daunting. Marketers often falsely assume that a video is not easily optimized; the process, they figure, is not worth the trouble. MORE >>