Let your brand LIVE. 

Be Real. Be Social. Talk about what you are actually passionate about. Listen to what people actually care about. Listen. Then listen again. If you don’t like the conversation, change it. Trust your opinion. Do the hard work. Think before you share. Share what you think. Discover real people. Build lasting relationships. Stop the selling. Start the giving. Don’t wait. Say it now. Be part of the conversation. Have a point of view. Get straight to the point. Be fascinating by being authentic. Share something you have learned. Thank someone today for teaching. Start doing what you are passionate about. Open your mind to something new. Ask someone what they care about. Share your passion. Start a movement. Social is about the people you meet and what you create together. So, create something. Live a social life.

I read this manifesto on Splash Media…I only wish I’d wrote it.

This is a great infographic shared on “Social Mouths“…

2012 was indeed a crazy year in social media.

If you think about it, every single network went through some kind of transformation such as launching new features, dropping others and even major updates to their interfaces in order to increase engagement.

 This is a very cool infographic from the guys at Pardot, assigning a grade to different aspects to determine which networks are the winners and losers in 2012.

In my opinion, 2012 has a positive balance for each one of the networks included in the infographic, maybe with the exception of Facebook that went public with very high expectations and disappointed.

But to me there is one obvious winner in 2012 and it’s not included here. Instagram. Forget the recent TOS issue, the network went from approximately 15 million users to 100 million in 7 months and was sold for a cool billion. The most important thing about Instagram is the penetration in the next generation.

Other than that, Twitter appears to be the most solid one of the bunch with excellent grades in Growth, Users and ROI. I’m not surprised, I believe Twitter will be bigger than Facebook.

A great post for our ever-favourite, Heidi Cohen, Actionable Marketing Expert…..

By their nature small businesses are small. This means you have limited employees or budget for extra stuff (Read: anything beyond the basics of running your day-to-day business). Further, as an owner, your time is one of your most limited resources. You must understand that every choice to do something is a choice not to do something else.

Three reasons a good blog supports your small business with limited time investment:  [READ MORE]

Time Starved?  Any hints to shorten meetings are worth sharing…..from The Entrepreneur

Time is often the enemy of entrepreneurs. Countless lengthy troubleshooting meetings take away from the strategic planning needed to stay on the right track.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Over the years, I’ve developed a method to keep status-update meetings as short as five minutes.

I call it the “five-minute stand-up,” and it’s about the questions that I expect an employee to have answers to if he or she stops me between meetings to give me an update.

[READ MORE]

This is a good article from “The Daily Dose” on motivating creative employee’s…it can be a struggle for anyone in the creative business, from marketing to fashion…..

Your company is filled with creative employees. Some of them are easy to pinpoint and many others are brimming with untapped potential that can help your business thrive in an ever-changing market. Many companies unintentionally hinder creativity, so learning how to motivate creative employees can give you an advantage over your competition.

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Think of a brand you love — one you’d trust with your personal information, recommend to your friends, and loyally choose over a similar brand. As an entrepreneur in a skeptical market, creating that sense of trust takes an ongoing commitment to integrity.

“The biggest challenge is the so-called fragility of trust,” says Roderick Kramer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University. “Trust is hard-won and easily lost.”

To build trust, your customers need to believe three things about your company:

1. You have their best interests at heart.
2. You are capable of delivering on your promises.
3. You are honest and authentic.

To earn loyal customers who trust your brand, try these three techniques:

1. Focus on doing your job well. Most companies worry far too much about whether or not they are trusted. Instead, spend your energy delivering on what you’ve promised. Management has to be committed to ′walking the talk′ in every transaction.

2. Be transparent about mistakes. People naturally prefer to hide mistakes, but you want to be as direct and open as possible. Any sense of secrecy, concealment, or dishonesty will undermine the public’s trust. When you make a mistake, own up to it immediately, share what you’re doing to correct it, and follow through.

3. Stay vigilant over time. Building trust is not a one-time deal, you have to prove yourself every time the customer uses your product. Trust-building and maintenance take vigilance and sustained effort. Once you have it, you can’t rest on your laurels.

If you’re wondering whether the effort is worth it, think of it this way: Delivering on your promise is your business. If you don’t deliver, there’s no tagline that fixes it.

A great infographic from Daily Infographic…..

The times they are a-changin. Ten years ago, in 2002, as a young middle schooler, I would sit on my parent’s computer waiting for the dial-up internet to, well, dial. Now, in early 2013, I sit on my laptop typing away on the internet. Which moves faster than light. Today, there are 27.7 billion internet users, 555 million websites and pages load in a meager 6 seconds.

What difference does a decade make? A decade can change everything. The scene has changed and businesses have adapted. Well, they have adapted or crashed and burned. Companies who refuse to embrace the digital age have struggled. As the internet adapts, smart companies stay ahead of the curve and use the advancements to their advantage. Stay connected, stay relevant. Here’s to another ten years, full of progress!

A great article from Entrepreneur.com on how to “Get things done”…

When you face a big decision in your business, it’s easy to start over thinking. As we debate the pros and cons, we often get stuck rehashing the same arguments in lieu of making a choice. Effective leaders develop the confidence to take decisive action, a skill that makes them more productive.

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Trust is a critical element for consumers, without it you can’t enter a consumer’s product consideration set. As an integral part of content marketing and social media, trust is the filter through which consumers evaluate brand and product information. This is even more important in light of the fact that consumers don’t trust advertising!

When it comes to consumer trust, making use of content marketing resources without a hint of promotion is a necessity. Here are five findings from the  2012 US research by About.com and Latitude Research to support this point. Of the more than 1500 Americans surveyed:

• 84% won’t consider a product that doesn’t pass their trust standards.

• 71% don’t trust a brand that doesn’t provide promotion-free information.

• 83% trust brands that offer resources through the entire purchase cycle.

• 82% aggregate and check information veracity.

• 62% trust brands that help them use purchased products better.

To ensure your content marketing builds trust, here are the ten trust attributes as ranked by consumers, based on the 2012 US research by About.com and Latitude Research.

1. Accuracy. Don’t give consumers misleading or false information since they’re going to check it against other sources such as consumer reviews and their social network. Actionable Marketing Question to Ask:  Is your information valuable and can it be verified by other sources?
2. Transparency. In today’s social media savvy world, it’s critical for businesses to be open in their dealings with their customers. Actionable Marketing Question to Ask: Are your organization’s motives clear to consumers? Can they tell when you’re truly trying to help them, not sell them?
3. Expertise. Be recognized in your field and share it with your prospects, customers and the public. Actionable Marketing Question to Ask: Does your organization have authority in your category? Does the information you share provide value for your prospects and consumers?
4. Choice. Offer customers different alternatives based on their needs. No one wants to feel forced into having only one option. Actionable Marketing Question to Ask: Does your organization offer choices and different solutions? In other words, do you appreciate consumers’ purchase process?
5. Awareness. Actionable Marketing Question to Ask:  What’s the experience of other consumers and their social connections?
6. Relevance. Actionable Marketing Question to Ask: Is the information your organization provides consumers on a specific topic or product pertinent? Does it take into consideration the consumer’s needs?
7. Fairness. Actionable Marketing Question to Ask:  Do you offer information that provides the positives and negatives of different products or solutions?
8. Format. When your audience is overwhelmed with information, it’s critical to ensure that they can quickly find the facts they want and need. This translates to findability on search and the use of bolding and outlining. Don’t forget your target consumer may be getting the content on the go via a mobile device (smartphone or tablet.) Actionable Marketing Question to Ask:  Is your information and content easy to find and quick to consume?
9. Relatability. Offer information that consumers can understand. Skip the gibberish and write in plain English. Treat your audience with respect. Actionable Marketing Question to Ask:  Does your organization relate to consumers’ points of view and respect them?
10. Exclusivity. Realize that consumers want to be recognized. They want to feel that they’re special to you. Think in terms of how you can tailor your sales process to meet their needs, not yours! Actionable Marketing Question to Ask:  Do you give consumers special benefits in the form of discounts or other offerings?

As a marketer, the best way to win consumers is to build trust through the use of content marketing and social media. Ideally, provide prospects with the information they want and need at every step of the purchase cycle including customer reviews, both the good and the bad.

This is a great post from one of my favorite social media experts, Heidi Cohen.  Team work is key to creating and participating in any social media communication.  Take a moment and read Heidi’s tips…

Social media must be integrated across your organization in order to effectively leverage your employees’ strengths. This requires strong teamwork that breaks down the corporate silos and creates cross-functional partnerships. Getting social media to work in large organizations means understanding and meeting these three requirements.

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