Nine years ago this evening I sent my first Tweet. I believe this was after I joined Facebook, but it’s all a blur. For years I was energized by the small pipe platform of Twitter. I saw it as a way to connect with people all over the globe. A platform to learn, gain knowledge […]
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Tag Archives: Social Media
Six Years on Twitter. How Many More?
February 22, 2014 
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I was contemplating whether or not to blog about why I’m on Twitter and how I use it. My first Tweet was February 23, 2008. For some unremebered reason I put it on my iCalendar that day with a perpetual repeat. The internal food fight of whether I should give it life here went on in […]
Continue readingImproving the Customer Experience with Social Media
May 5, 2012 0 Comments
I have been thinking lately about how customers form their perceptions of brands and what we can do about influencing those memories. Brands and products can easily become look alike commodities, which makes gaining mind and wallet share more difficult. Brands want to be distinctive, stand out among the crowd and be noticed by consumers. […]
Continue readingThe Role of the Persona is Shifting
April 10, 2012 1 Comment
I have been a proponent of using Personas to assist in the design of digital interfaces since 2003. I still believe in them, but I think their role has shifted and has perhaps become a bit diminished. Personas are user archetypes, models of groups of users that help define features, requirements and messaging choices. They are […]
Continue readingSocial Media: It’s Déjà vu All Over Again
March 9, 2012 0 Comments
From about 1995 to 2003 the departments inside firms who were responsible for establishing and maintaining the enterprise online presence had to do most everything themselves. Jack of all trades if you will. IT of course helped, and eventually agency partners were hired, but for the most part it was a one area show. Those […]
Continue readingeMetrics Marketing Summit 2011 – Data Storytelling
March 15, 2011 2 Comments
This was my first eMetrics Summit, and I must say I was quite impressed all around. I was asked to present and sit on a panel about social media metrics and so I arranged my schedule to specifically attend that Monday session. Fly in late Sunday and back out early Tuesday. I soon discovered that […]
Continue readingThere is No Social Media Playbook
January 6, 2011 1 Comment
As the calendar has turned to 2011, we have been inundated with an endless barrage of Social Media predictions compiled by experts and dabblers alike. Some of what I have read are excellent and well informed perspectives backed by data and research, while others appear to be, well, nil-informed. As Yogi Berra once said, “Prediction […]
Continue readingThe Soul of a Brand
October 18, 2010 0 Comments
What’s your soul worth? Bart Simpson sold his to Milhouse for $5.00. I would say he may have left some money on the table. Not to worry, this post is not about any particular spiritual compass, but it is the longest post I’ve ever written, 1,486 words. Let’s say that a soul, for the sake […]
Continue readingThree Years of Blogging. Really.
October 13, 2010 1 Comment
Breaking news! Today marks the third anniversary of my first blog post, and you probably don’t care. But that’s the beauty of a blog. People post even if no one cares. The past 1,095 days as a blogger will be remembered by me as both an enriching and challenging experience. One has to face the […]
Continue readingFinally Succumbed to foursquare
January 26, 2010 0 Comments
When it comes to trying Social Media applications I’ll be the first to admit I don’t exercise much restraint. Normally I jump in. Frequently I abandon for various (and good) reasons, but it doesn’t take much arm twisting to get me to try. Foursquare was for some reason different. Yes I read all the Tweets […]
Continue readingCreate a Social Network Inside your Company to Succeed
November 27, 2009 0 Comments
Large corporations are beginning to give Social Media more face time, but it’s still well down the food chain for resources and attention in most C-Suites. There are good reasons for this; no reliable ROI, potential risk, medium not fully understood, don’t see how it can scale. It’s popular to say, “They just don’t get […]
Continue readingConsumers Wield New Found Power – Is it Being Abused?
November 7, 2009 1 Comment
I have always been an advocate for listening to the voice of the customer. In the eighties I was the GM for a bookstore chain. From time to time I would receive letters from customers who had an unpleasant experience with a staff member, or felt our practices, or title selection, was not acceptable. I […]
Continue readingHow Many Agencies Does it Take to Screw in a Light Bulb?
November 2, 2009 2 Comments
I recently sat on a panel called Managing Multichannel Agency Relationships at last week’s Forrester Consumer Forum in Chicago. Sean Corcoran the panel moderator and Forrester Analyst took an interesting approach. He passed across a short list of questions for us to ponder a week ahead of time, but did little else to help us […]
Continue readingMultichannel Mania at the 2009 Forrester Consumer Forum
October 30, 2009 2 Comments
Just back from the Forrester Consumer Forum. I say just back, but actually it took place in my hometown, Chicago. There was a great turn out and some very engaging keynotes. One of the major benefits of attending a Forrester event is the quality of presenters and attendees. I had lunch with Brad Brooks, VP […]
Continue readingUser Generated Content Disrupts Brand Search Results
August 23, 2009 7 Comments
In a June 8, 2009 article from Marketing Vox and Nielsen BuzzMetrics SES Magazine entitled Turning Blogs and user-Generated Content Into Search Engine Results, Chris Aarons, Andru Edwards and Xavier Lanier state: 25% of search results for the world’s Top 20 brands link to user generated content This is probably at once exciting and frightening for […]
Continue readingIs Twitter Losing its Value Exchange Power for the Individual?
April 24, 2009 0 Comments
It’s only 3 years old, but Twitter seems to be transforming faster than it’s adding users. Two years under the radar, one year in steady growth; the fourth year (over 14 million members) is shaping up to possibly be “thee” year it will flirt with the mainstream. And that’s when I will have to completely […]
Continue readingTake Social Media Stealth, At Least for Now
April 18, 2009 0 Comments
I’ve been following interesting discussions lately about the use of the word Media in Social Media. Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research takes his usual professorial approach (that’s a compliment Josh). He points out that media evokes advertising which is one way, but all social web sites/technologies are two way. He offers a number of other […]
Continue readingSizing your Social Media Audience
April 14, 2009 0 Comments
Forrester Research publishes and tracks a social engagement “Ladder of Participation.” It’s a framework, based on consumer research, for categorizing users of Social Media by activity and age. This construct has some longevity and I would recommend you spend some time with it. But companies already have their own ways to segment customers or identify […]
Continue readingWill the Next Agency be the Client?
April 11, 2009 0 Comments
I’ve worked with agencies nearly all my professional life. Big, small, east coast, west coast, midwest, south, you name the region, I’ve worked with a company based there. Always thought I should switch sides at least once in my career and work for one, but so far the opportunity hasn’t presented itself. Perhaps someday it […]
Continue readingAll the News That’s Fit to Digitize
March 13, 2009 1 Comment
There is a precipitous drop in printed newspaper readership. Digital media delivers the same information more quickly, more efficiently and of course in an interactive manner that paper can’t touch. But touch is an important distinction. You can touch a newspaper. How many of us love to wake up Sunday morning and reach for a […]
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