For years I’ve admired the real-world insights and experienced perspectives of Steve Goldner, perhaps better know as @Social Steve.  head up social media at a performance marketing agency in New York City and I will tell you, everyone is interested in social media! But getting people to buy in and commit to social media takes MUCH more than having a shiny object. It might be easy to get in the door, but you must show relevance to business KPIs (key performance indicators) to get commitment for social media. Do you have a plan?  MORE >>

For the past three years I have been teaching college or graduate level classes in social media marketing. Executives are clamoring for the next level of education in this area and so I’ve been wondering … what would an Advanced Social Media Class look like? What new skills and ideas would go into the next level of social media education? Let me prime the pump … here are some ideas I might include in an advanced social media class: The politics of social media.  How do you organize to optimize? MORE >>

Social media can really benefit your personal brand. But how do you keep its most powerful value — the “one-to-one-ness” of social connection — intact when that reach explodes? The irony is, the more popular you become on the social web, the less effective you might be! was really liking this social media thing. Explosive growth + one-to-one social media = KABOOM. Social media enabled me to scale—but I couldn’t make scaling work while keeping one-to-one connections intact as my reach grew. So far, so good. MORE >>

When I have been asked for a proposal to create a social media marketing strategy for a company, I have won the business 95 percent of the time. In every organization there are five common hurdles to social media success. critical step in the strategy development process is to provide a painfully honest assessment of these factors and the company’s ability to execute and sustain a social media marketing initiative. Legal — Can the Legal Department adjust to the new demands of the social web? do no such thing. And neither do they. MORE >>

The University of Massachusetts released its annual survey of social media usage at Fortune 500 companies and the trend continued to heat up, although these mega-companies continue to lag INC 500 companies, non-profits and universities in their application of social media to marketing efforts. While we’re on the topic of data, I wanted to remind you that time is running out to purchase the discounted package of the new research from The Social Habit.  Customer Service expectations and preferred channels in social media. Tweet. MORE >>