With the news that Internet behemoth Yahoo will buy blogging and content platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash has many analysts, including this one, wondering what will happen next. Yahoo clearly wants to buy its way into the social media elite. In December 2005, Yahoo bought social bookmarking site Delicious, but it later sold [...]
What Yahoo Will Do with Tumblr
Does Your Website Act as a Lead Generation Tool or Community — or Neither?
I’m happy that most companies, small businesses, and individual professionals are aware of the importance of having a website. But is your or your company’s website still nothing more than brochureware — with only pages for Home, About, Products and Services, Who We Are, and Contact Us? Though the cost of building and running a [...]
One Blogger Alone Is Not Enough To Increase Eyeballs — and Sales
Some companies still think that the job of blogging should go to only one person — whether internal or to a freelance ghostwriter. While this may make economic sense and address a task that needs to get done, companies will find that there aren’t any more inquiries or sales leads. This is because content is [...]
The Power of Adding One Letter to the End of a Company Name
Today’s news that Toronto-based press release distribution company Marketwire is rebranding itself to Marketwired — yes, you read that correctly, all they did was add a ‘d’ — had me thinking: how much longer will press release companies continue to sell the traditional press release (i.e, exist)? (Share Clip) Oh, and the company has [...]
Hoping That Social Media Will Fix Crappy Banner Ads
Long live the banner ad: it has managed to survive not only the dot com bubble but also Facebook’s IPO. Yet few admit to wishing to perpetuate its existence. Talk of ‘social advertising’ usually means buying ads on Facebook, Promoted Trends on Twitter, or even the new SlideShare ads — complete with inline lead capture [...]
If HootSuite and Yammer Got Married
There is a category of enterprise social software which is emerging which doesn’t know what to call itself yet. But if engagement platform HootSuite and enterprise social platform Yammer got married, this would be it. Basically, the software encourages any employee to engage in social media activity outside the four walls of a company, and [...]
IBM Develops an Enterprise Twitter Solution, But Will Anyone Buy It?
For those employees who tweet during the workday, wouldn’t it be great to have a platform which allowed you to view all of the tweets and activity from all of your coworkers — without the noise and clutter of the rest of Twitter? For most companies, large and small, that want to collect or keep [...]
A New Victory in the Social Media Policy Debate
According to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, federal regulators are ordering employers to scale back policies that limit what workers can say online. Apparently, the National Labor Relations Board continues to inform private-sector companies that workers have a right to discuss work conditions freely and without fear of retribution — whether those discussions [...]
Blogging: Why Bother?
Some say the point to blogging is SEO; others say it’s to create thought leadership. The best blogs do both. I’m continually asked by clients about the point to blogging. I also continue to hear excuses as to why they aren’t blogging. ‘I don’t know how to write effectively.’ ‘How frequently should I blog?’ ‘I’m [...]
Social Media Certifications Seek To Legitimize the Profession
As a proud member of the social media industry, I often feel that, to borrow a phrase, ‘I don’t get no respect.’ My social media brethren often feel the same. Many of us came from corporate communications or PR roles, where we didn’t necessarily need a certain degree or professional designation in order to get [...]