INFLUENTIAL MARKETING BLOG — Social media is not a robot. In fact, there could hardly be a more opposing idea to social media than that of robotic automation. I start this post by sharing that because the idea that any job could be "replaced" by social media is contentious idea. There are plenty of market forces displacing people from jobs ... do we really need to add social media to the list? Actually, the truth is that social media is already supplanting many jobs. Marketers, politicians, government officials, athletes and librarians are all using social media to varying levels to add context to what they do every day. Social media is a part of their new roles and will continue to be moving forward. There are a smaller number of jobs, however, that I believe will very shortly REQUIRE SOCIAL MEDIA in order to be done effectively...

INFLUENTIAL MARKETING BLOG — It is not easy to know where to start when it comes to social media. The stories of brands that have taken missteps with fake profiles, and become a lightning rod for negative comments are aplenty - causing more than one marketing team to take a big step back and wonder where and how best to get involved. Increased scrutiny by legal teams, the recession and a general fear of taking risks are also factors that are keeping brands from really digging deeply into using social media. Yet for all this reluctance, there is still interest and a desire to start somewhere - coupled with a knowledge that all this social media "stuff" does actually matter when it comes to fostering customer loyalty and connecting with your best customers. So what's a brand to do? Here are four social media ideas tailor made for the nervous brand to start to engage online with social media tools without diving straight into the deep end...

INFLUENTIAL MARKETING BLOG — Just about every week I see an article or have a conversation with a client about the potential risks of social media and how to manage them. Quite frankly, there are many ways that social media can go wrong and cause problems for a brand, and as someone who shares advice on using social media for marketing - I can readily admit that. What I haven't seen as much discussion about is how social media could be used to protect your brand. Not fighting back after a crisis happens, but proactively as a tool to prevent people from hijacking, corrupting or negatively impacting your brand. What if you were to see social media as a way to prevent these effects instead of a potential conduit to increase them? Here are a few ideas for how you might use social media to protect your brand...

INFLUENTIAL MARKETING BLOG — There is no denying that Twitter has had a huge impact on how marketers are thinking about using social media tools for marketing. One thing that is most interesting about it, however, is how the site has managed to avoid overcomplicating itself with more features. Twitter is simple, and it just works. Of course the one overused word that has been used recently to describe Twitter is that it is a "firehose" of information, shooting out at a speed and volume that has threatened to make it unusable for many people. So when I had a chance to try out Twitter's new Lists feature (which I had been looking forward to seeing for some time), I was not only surprised, but also excited about what this will mean for all of us who use the site. Here are just a few reasons why I think lists may revolutionize how you use Twitter...

INFLUENTIAL MARKETING BLOG — As a consultant working with many brands on social media strategy and efforts, I hear a lot of perceptions about social media. Extended out to the conferences that I attend and sometimes speak at, it is surprising how often I hear the same myths about social media. These are not things that brands are just using as reasons to not engage...they often come from brands and marketing teams that are actively using social media as well. The following is a selection of some of the myths that I hear most often, as well as some thoughts on why they are simply myths and what your brand can do to get past them...