Last year an employee was sued for taking the Twitter followers he’d amassed with him when he left his company. The case focused attention on just how much a Twitter follower was worth. Suffice to say that since then, a good deal of effort has gone into highlighting just how many followers are fakes. So it’s clear that not all followers are of equal value to you.[read more]

I have been on a bit of a tear as of late on the topic of authenticity and ethics in social media. While this is a vital issue, I had intended to move on--and then I saw a Facebook advertisement that induced me to click. The experience I had with the Bank of America ad has returned me, once again, to the topics of ethics, authenticity and the danger of chasing "fans" rather than furnishing positive brand experiences.[read more]

Most social media campaigns are doomed from the beginning. Nothing you can't recover from. But if you start off on the wrong foot, then it's hard to convince others (or yourself) to keep persevering in the face of lackluster results.[read more]

Every day, businesses are inspired to bring creative marketing ideas to life on Facebook in ways that have a real impact on their bottom line. Many have discovered how to leverage their Facebook communities to strengthen brand loyalty and communicate directly with customers.[read more]

Right now Google has one of the best long term visions compared to any other major company. What is this vision? Well, it’s to slowly corral each internet user (so basically, everybody) to think of Google not as only a piece of the internet, but the internet.[read more]

Happy to hear that long-time advocate for social, and true expert, Ekaterina Walter is moving to Branderati as their CMO and partner.  Walter has longed been one of the leading voices for understanding social media marketing not as a question of platform or even tech alone, but as a way of creating a converation with real people,...[read more]

It isn’t just your imagination – the internet is becoming less of the “too nice” place that The Atlantic speculated it was turning into and advancing into a state of “social rudeness” where arguments are increasingly made public rather than privately discussed.[read more]

If you're using Facebook just to connect with family and friends, than it's not really for business use, and you can use a fun profile pic or whatever you'd like. Many people though will mix personal and professional use. For instance, you might have a Twitter account that you use to follow some celebs, as well as share business-related stories and articles.[read more]

Nearly every business is attempting to become a content marketer. The idea is create original, compelling, helpful content to lead people to your business. But beware: a lot of marketers are making some serious mistakes.[read more]

Topics discussed include: Legal risks of identifying and screening candidates with social media.Keeping candidate research legal.When to review a candidates social media profiles.Legislative trends in social media governance.Findings of the Sources of Hire 2013 Report by Gerry Crispin and Mark MehlerBest practices for Twitter...[read more]

Is the world ready for another social media network? The folks at muvver think it is. "Muuver is a simple to use social app that let's you share your hypes and gripes, kudos & complaints, likes, and dislikes - about ANYTHING. muuver then takes your hype or gripe about an item and adds it to the 'item page' where you can see everybody else's posts who hyped or griped about that item."[read more]

The Social Contribution Index of a campaign can be defined as the relationship between the percentage of total mentions a campaign earns for a brand vs. the percentage of positive mentions that a campaign earns for a brand. It’s an excellent metric for understanding the effect that different campaigns have on the brand.[read more]

A company has rolled out a new social media platform to its employees in the hopes of improving its health and safety record by getting workers to talk about best practices and also to point out problems or things that need to be done differently. Is it unusual for companies to introduce a social media platform to fix this type of problem?[read more]

Facebook Guidelines have always been a narrow lane and often overlooked by businesses. One misstep can send all your Facebook marketing efforts in a permanent tizzy and may also result in your page being banned or shut down![read more]

Your goal each day should be to inspire your audiences to connect with you with a goal of helping them achieve their goals. When you help them achieve their goals, you achieve yours by default. Inspire – Connect Achieve! Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be. Got it?[read more]

The restaurant netted national attention, about 50k+ followers on Facebook, and – I can’t confirm this – but I’m sure they’re dining room is now full. Their website is so busy that it’s crashed. And so goes the half-life of the social media meltdown. Far from the howls and screams of the social media pundits, you’ll find that the episode was nothing more than a fart in the wind.[read more]

Photo from Brian Solis

What makes Brian Solis' book most interesting is that it is a product informed by the very thing he is covering, namely, social and the Internet. It may be one of the first books which is a product of “the internet of things."[read more]

Many branded viral videos achieve that status by being supported by a sizable seeding campaign. When a video is produced, companies will invest huge dollars in paid media to drive views of their YouTube content, pay to have high-profile sites and blogs host the content, and will put PR initiatives in place to raise the profile of their content to garner more views.[read more]

One of the things I tell potential clients is that being social (e.g. actively using social media) in industries that are typically viewed as less of a fit for social media can be a great way to stand out, to show thought leadership and to reach new audiences (or your existing audience in new ways).[read more]

A warning, from an ex-digital activist, that keeping a low profile, or no profile, is a tactical risk when it comes to reputation management in the 21st century.[read more]