HUBSPOT INBOUND INTERNET MARKETING BLOG — Sometimes, because of unforeseen circumstances, things can go horribly, horribly wrong for a company. Over the past day (since June 15, 7pm PST), Intuit has been dealing with their own unforeseeable crisis when they experienced a major outage that has left customers unable to log into onlinesoftware websites like QuickBooks Online, Quicken Online, and others. The result is some very unhappy customers. While Intuit PR managers jump onto Twitter and make blog posts to reassure customers, other businesses see an opportunity to capitalize on the situation...

E-CONSULTANCY.COM — Tax software maker TurboTax has a unique problem. Their customers find them incredibly useful. But for a very short period every year. The company has gotten used to the seasonal nature of its business, but this year, they took that approach to Twitter. By ramping up their staffing efforts on Twitter -- and bringing some much needed expertise to the space, they happened on something great for business: an excellent customer retention program. Chelsea Marti (@TTaxChels on Twitter), TurboTax' Social Media Manager, explained the company's approach at TWTRCON in New York this week...

GROUNDSWELL BLOG — Charlene Li's book Open Leadership has generated some discussion about what it means to lead in a social world. I wanted to share some thoughts about leadership in the social era from our own research for Empowered. Empowered includes lessons on leadership from Scott Cook, founder of Intuit; Rob Katz, the CEO of Vail Resorts; Bary Judge, CMO of Best Buy; and the management at Dell Computer. You've read about some of these companies before, and you'll read about them again -- it's not coincidence. Many, many companies have created social applications. Very few have transformed themselves as a result...

ZDNET — With one more day until dreaded April 15, last-minute taxpayers all over the U.S. are clamoring to get all of their ducks in a row so they can file on time and get either that email confirmation or postage stamp and breathe an annual sigh of relief. On the positive side, taxpayers have a plethora of options for getting information online thanks to the social movement. Unfortunately there’s a risk that people are Googling and landing on blogs and resources from dime-store accountants and those without the expertise needed to keep taxpayers out of trouble. TurboTax, whose products range from extension help to business filing, has moved in swiftly on the social movement by creating tools, live chats, and even social network presences that allow taxpayers to ask questions and get trusted information. I spoke with Julie Miller, director of public relations and social media for Intuit, about how TurboTax is using social to not only help customers, but grow its business during tax season...