Social Media

More than 90% of businesses maintain two or more social media channels. So, it’s no surprise that companies experience social media disasters. That’s when a post with insensitive comments (mostly due to ignorance or poor judgment) goes viral and destroys your brand’s message. Businesses aren’t usually prepared to handle the intensity of a full-scale online communication crisis. Worse yet, they may find that their response only escalates the situation. Learn…

Are you coughing up excuses why you missed your sales quota? Are you working at a feverish pace to get through your call list with no luck? Or, are you feeling depressed and alone since your calls and emails go unanswered? If you are experiencing these symptoms which prevent you from making a successful connection with a new sales prospect, then you have a case of the common bad cold…

The use and purpose of social media for brands has evolved dramatically over the years. In one aspect, its a great way for fans to engage and stay current with the brands they love. On the other hand, its a great way for customers to bash and publicly shame brands that have provided a poor experience. Whether brands like it or not, having a presence on social media is necessary…

Two weeks ago I took some time off from work. I was not on vacation. In fact, it was one of the hardest weeks of work of my whole life. We settled on a new house and it needs some pretty major renovations before my family can move in. And we are in temporary housing until the work is complete. Me, my wife and 4 lovely but very active and…

Yesterday was my 3-year twitter anniversary. To celebrate, I sent one small "humble brag" as one of my twitter friends called it. Hey, I'm a late-comer: @jack sent his 1st tweet over 6 years ago! In the course of those 3 years, I have interacted with some of the smartest business and marketing people on the planet. I sent over 18,000 tweets. That's roughly 17 tweets per day, and over…

There is an observation in social media called "Participation Inequality" or the "1% rule" that says that 1% of us create content, 9% of us share content and 90% of us are pure consumers of the content created. As a marketer, I feel like it is our role to at least be in the 9%, and ideally in the the 1% of active social users creating or sharing content. I believe Marketers…

My son, Luke William Brenner, was born on Wednesday October 5th at 4:25am. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 10 ounces and measured 22 inches long. My wife Elizabeth and the baby are both doing great as we plan to return home from the hospital today.

What makes one company's social media strategy successful while others #fail? Recently I have been speaking with a number of marketers, customer service folks and even sales people about social media strategies that produce real business results. I have spoken to a number of people at companies of all shapes and sizes. And I have seen a number of traits emerge. Based on those conversations and my own experience in marketing, here are what…

With Twitter's Fifth Birthday now behind us, there are still plenty of B2B Marketers considering whether Twitter is a place to engage with customers, prospects, partners and future employers. People are always asking me "why tweet, who to follow and how to get started on Twitter?" A few weeks ago I wrote my Top 10 Twitter Tips blog post and based on the volume of traffic that post continues to receive, I…

That's right, you better watch what you share on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, because you could end up getting into trouble. You could even get sued. And the penalty might be more than a little slap on the wrist. Most of us learned about copyright law with the illegal music downloading issues brought on by Metallica and the Recording Industry Association against Napster. Remember: all you needed was a computer, a Compact Disc of copyrighted music, an…