Why Chris Brogan is invincible
I am fascinated with uber-blogger Chris Brogan as a cultural icon of the social media revolution. Whether it’s trying new business models or pioneering sponsored posts, he is our canary in the coal mine, exploring the leading edges of our field. But a post this week established a new milestone even for Chris. For your […]
Is the Internet destroying your culture … or creating it?
“Mass culture is dead. Every one of us is creating our own version of culture.” This quote from futurist Faith Popcorn sums up a lot of things I have been experiencing lately. Whether it’s YouTube-inspired dance moves, crowd-sourced literature, or my own personalized information stream, the Internet is inexorably un-tethering culture from the places on earth […]
Ten reasons to blog – even if nobody reads it
Building an engaged community through a business blog can be extremely difficult — sometimes impossible. Look at companies like General Electric who do an amazing job with their blog and yet have almost no “community” or comments at all. There must be some good business reason they do it, right? There better be. Every corporate marketing […]
Secrets from the trenches: How to become a Blog Whisperer
I just 700 blog posts on {grow} and I thought this would be a good time to pause and share some of my lessons learned for all you budding Blog Whisperers out there! CONTENT Yes, it really is all about the content. One blogger said he was afraid his lengthy posts are diluting his keywords. Are you […]
To succeed in social media, set aside your marketing plan
Forget your marketing PLAN? Have I gone MAD?? Every good social media plan STARTS with a solid marketing strategy but social media efforts are sub-optimized if a company is too wedded to long-term plans and can’t respond to sales opportunities happening RIGHT NOW in front of their noses. To succeed, let’s put the long-term plans aside for a moment and […]
Bringing down the Twitter snobs
It seems that Mitch Joel and I are becoming the Social Media Odd Couple. I like Mitch. He’s smart. It’s just that I think he is so frequently wrong. Like in his latest post, “Being a Twitter Snob is a Good Thing” when he states “it annoys many people when they follow you on Twitter […]
Bill Piper has no clue what he’s doing in social media
I have this new habit. When I’m alone on a long car trip I will put out a tweet asking people to call me and keep me company. It has led to some serendipitous benefits, including meeting Bill Piper. Bill called me seeking advice — lots of advice! He had begun a new marketing assignment […]
Today’s lesson: Yes, I do have limits.
I had a personal milestone last week — a different kind of {grow} experience — and it wasn’t a very good one. The story starts with an 8-year-old boy. Over the past year, I have been a mentor through a program called Amachi which pairs adult role models with children who have a parent in prison. My […]
What is Social Media’s Next Big Thing?
One possible answer:  The Enterprise. No, no. Not the Star Trek kind of Enterprise (although that would be pretty cool).  I mean using social media technologies internally, within the large company kind of enterprise. I’m often asked what I think the next big thing in social media might be. I’m excited about a lot […]
Can you make money from your Twitter stream? Mack Collier just did it.
Very quietly, a significant milestone occurred last Sunday night. Blogger and consultant Mack Collier monetized a Twitter conversation.  That’s right. Mack made money from other people’s tweets on a free and public platform. I think this is one of the most clever and interesting social media stories of the year and Mack agreed to tell […]