One powerful use of online communities is to help get new ideas into a business; taking advantage of the fact that many (if not most) of the best ideas for your business are likely to come from outside, from people who don’t work for you. There are some well know examples of businesses working with consumers on co-creation in this way: MyStarbucksIdea and Dell’s Ideastorm being among the most well known.

Most of these sites use a similar process: people can join the community and then suggest their own idea, comment on existing ideas or vote for the ideas that they think are best. The best, most commented on or most voted for ideas are then responded to by the brand. They are an effective way for businesses to get ideas into their business and, more importantly perhaps, of showing customers some of their internal decision making and letting people who buy the product understand more about, and even influence, the processes by which it is made.

Like any good online community, such ideas sites work best when they work with other social networks – interacting with people on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, in forums and blogs. Going to where ... read more >>

A business model is the framework of how a business generates revenue and profits. While most proven business models can be profitable for a long time, it is just as important to realize that they evolve.  And when they do things could fall apart quickly.

If you’ve been keeping up with my Twitter tweets lately, you know I’ve been linking some statistics about how newspaper is going away and landline telephones are dying. Both are  examples of an older business model getting obsolete in favor of newer models.

Business models evolve for 3 reasons:

1. Technology Disruptions - Technology changes consumer behaviors and the perception of value.  It is also the main driving force behind creating new technology.
2. Commoditization - When a product or service lacks tangible value, it becomes a commodity that simply competes on price alone.  When a business model is commoditized, it will be forced to sell on quantity to scale the business.
3. Competition - While competitiveness is good for most industries, excessive competition or lack of competition can result in a changing business model.

The perfect example for technology disruptions is the impact of internet on ...

The benefit from a firm grasp of social media for companies is impossible to ignore. Whether you work in marketing, advertising, public relations or interactive, there are distinct competitive advantages for both individuals and businesses from a better understanding of the social web.

This post provides specific advice from in-house social media marketers including: Dell, Comcast, HP, Wells Fargo, Intel, Best Buy, General Mills, Ford, UPS, Home Depot, Cirque du Soleil and a mix of SMM consultants/agencies: Altimeter Group, Crayon, Ogilvy 360, Future Works, Doe Anderson, New Marketing Labs and others. Advice includes justifying investment in social media, strategy, how to decide on tactics and measuring success.

Our 25 contributors include:  Charlene Li, Richard Binhammer, Chris Brogan, Katie Paine, Valeria Maltoni, Joseph Jaffe, Dave McClure, Tac Anderson, Brian Solis, Rohit Bhargava, Jim Cuene, Jason Falls, Michael Brito, Scott Monty, Gary Koelling, Jessica Berlin, Tim Collins, Dave Evans, Brian Clark, Debbie Curtis-Magley, Geoff Livingston, Frank Eliason, Lindsay LeBresco, Nick Ayres and Shonali Burke -  an impressive mix of social media tal... read more >>

It is better to fail after trying something new, than to fail because you're not even trying.

The definition - content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

It's the opposite of interruption marketing. You create great content that attracts customers and prospects, educates them, and potentially engages them in a conversation with you. 

With that in mind, here are Top Ten reasons why your content marketing strategy fails:

(1) You don't have one - you think fulfillment just means you stick all you've got on that landing page, mini site, or newsletter, and pray something will stick. 

(2) You don't understand the difference between interruption and content marketing - you think that because you have something to sell, you can push it out there and get people to but it because you say so.

(3) Your content does not provide value - the worst offenders will ask for information on customers and prospects to give them something that doesn't really tell them anything new - just to... read more >>