SIX PIXELS OF SEPARATION — Have you ever asked a regular consumer where they get their information about your brands, products and services? A lot of brands have done this, but push this question a little bit further: when consumers let you know where they first heard about your brands, products and services, why not ask they how much they trusted the information they got? Chris Brogan and Julien Smith wrote an amazing business book (and New York Times best-seller) titled, Trust Agents (which is now available in paperback), all about what it takes to build trust and relationships. Through the power of Social Media, we know that those who are open, transparent and can engage in some semblance of conversation can also build market share, conversations and - maybe - an online community to go with it...

SIX PIXELS OF SEPARATION — The common online rhetoric is to respond to everything that is being said about your brand. That could be a mistake. With new Social Media monitoring tools - or just some careful snooping around - it has never been easier to figure out who are the people with a legitimate concern and who are the quacks just trying to feed their own need for attention. And yes, there are even those whose only goal is to push their own agenda forward by drawing attention to themselves. There's a known saying amongst the Digerati: "don't feed the Trolls"...

SIX PIXELS OF SEPARATION — While scaling and monetizing e-commerce is still an issue for many of the top retailers in the world, those merchants should also keep an eye out on virtual goods. News came down this week that the Executive Director of Shop.org, Scott Silverman was leaving the organization to join a start-up focused on virtual goods (more news on that here: DM News - Shop.org executive Silverman resigns to found startup). While this news sent shockwaves through both the online merchants and retailers associated with Shop.org and the NRF (National Retail Federation), this is a very forward-thinking move for Silverman, who is joining an industry so new that we can hardly even say that it is even in its infancy. Why aren't all retailers seriously focused on virtual goods?...

SIX PIXELS OF SEPARATION — Companies continue to struggle with Social Media - especially when it comes to rules, policies and guidelines. There are three "guidelines" that should be a part of every Social Media guidelines or policy - especially if you're a service provider: 1. Prior to beginning your work with this organization, you signed an employee agreement that has detailed non-disclosure, privacy and intellectual property clauses. Above all else, those contractual agreements stand...

Six Pixels of Separation -- presented by Mitch Joel from GasPedal on Vimeo.