Strategy

It seems that Target may have finally found its way into the next frontier of digital retail. Within the last week, Target has launched Cartwheel, a responsive website which will eventually become an application that allows users to earn and redeem in-store savings via Facebook and their smartphones.[read more]

Semantic search is changing everything. From the way traditional marketing is done to the way social media connections are now forged, the web is forcing us to create more transparent, honest connections than ever before.[read more]

The phenomenon of big data certainly comes with big promise. After all, having terabytes of data on customer history and behavior is certainly better than trying to extrapolate from just a few data points. The good news is, there are technologies and tools that make it much easier to find the gold hidden in the data—and use it to refine your online marketing with laser precision.[read more]

Every day, I hear about how social media strategists and managers are frustrated with the lack of executive support. Yet, many aren’t doing themselves any favors. Executives don’t speak the language of social media. They speak the language of the C-Suite and their audience are shareholders and stakeholders.[read more]

A customer shares an insight within your company’s online community. She somehow found the time in between meetings, phone calls and lunch to share a suggestion, idea or complaint in a discussion thread. “It would be great if the XYZ product would …” she writes. What does your company do with that customer input?[read more]

Social relationships

In a noisy, distracting world, we are bombarded. We start each day feeling as if we are behind. Data noise is everywhere. Over 100 million bits of information come in through your visual system—every second! In the midst of this chaos, you need to build, manage, and nurture your relationships.[read more]

Did you know that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text? Content with images attracts 94% more total views on average than content without images, and videos are clicked on 12 times more often than links and text posts combined. So here are five ways to help you incorporate visuals into your social media.[read more]

For most small B2C establishments, particularly brick-and-mortar retail and dining, social media presents a challenge in terms of authenticity, timeliness and scale. Casey at the pizza place is able to capture pure moments as they happen and deliver them to his online audience, such as a toddler enjoying a slice while wearing a Superman cape.[read more]

Adam Naide, Social Media & Digital Marketing Lead at Cox Communications

I had a chance to sit down with Adam Naide, Social Media & Digital Marketing Lead at Cox Communications to discuss some of the topics that you will see at the Social Shake-Up Conference where Adam will be speaking. The following is a transcript of that conversation.[read more]

The most important thing you can do to better delight everyone who comes in contact with your brand is to listen to them. Listen with a goal to understand, not just think about the next thing you can shout back at them. Bottom line, listen more than you talk.[read more]

Yahoo & Tumblr: good luck / shutterstock

The $1 billion dollar purchase of Tumblr by Yahoo appears to be in line with many of the moves Yahoo has made since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO last year. Since then, Yahoo has been looking to cover up a few grey hairs and reconnect with the coveted 18-24 year old demographic.[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]

Tumblr fears

Yahoo! has purchased Tumblr for $1.1 billion. The funny thing is they promise “not to screw it up.” People who have followed Yahoo! around for the past decade understand that comment. They have a bad habit of buying up properties only to close them down or do nothing with them.[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]

Blog audience bonding

Connecting with your audience, improving your ‘About Us’ page, fighting content challenges in B2B marketing and many more tips have been offered this week by expert bloggers and content marketing pros. Here are some recommendations to follow for content marketing success.[read more]

promoting with Google+

Many bloggers stop the promotion of their content at Facebook and Twitter. Google+, however, has broadcasting components that can make the promotion of content easier and can create more interactive reader experience.[read more]

Facebook call to action

The cover photo of your Facebook Page is a great piece of marketing real estate. But how can you use it to drive user actions and conversions? In light of Facebook’s new policy that allows for cover photos to include calls-to-action (CTAs), here are five ways to start converting visitors.[read more]

eCommerce site building

Building and maintaining a great e-commerce site can be overwhelming at times as it seems there is no end to what needs to be focused on. Wordpress is a great tool for e-commerce sites just starting out. But even small sites focusing on e-commerce should follow these simple rules.[read more]

Personal branding (image: Rosaura Ochoa / Flickr)

It doesn’t matter if you have the perfect job and have no plans of leaving — consistent networking and personal branding efforts ensure you’ll stay on the top of your network’s members’ minds and be viewed as an authority in your field. That starts with your interaction with others, even in the space of digital.[read more]

Here's a Google+ cheat sheet to keep handy and get the most out of every post. This cheat sheet breaks it all down from post anatomy, notifications, style options, photo editing and more![read more]