Twitter ads and the end of mankind
The web comments about the announcement that Twitter will have ads on their searches (as a start) were about evenly split between “ho hum” and “disgust.” This comment is pretty typical of the disgust category: “Once Twitter starts inserting ads into my feeds will be the day I turn twitter off for good.” — “Nick” […]
How do you push yourself out of your social media cage?
Where I live in East Tennessee black bears are a real fact of life. Actually, that’s one of the reasons I’ve remained here. In 45 minutes, I can be hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where bears (and fresh air) are plentiful. I heard this story about a bear cub that was rescued […]
Research shows young procurement professionals embracing social web
Planning on using the social web to market to B2B decision-makers? According to just-released research from London’s Base One Group, you might consider the age of your target audience. In a comprehensive study of 503 UK B2B purchasing decision-makers, those under 30 years of age were twice as likely to be fans of the social […]
Is technological complexity just covering up your other business problems?
Complexity has been a theme through many posts on {grow}, most typically connected with the word “STRESS!” I had a fascinating discussion with one of my ex-professors about technological complexity and why it is often making business life more difficult, instead of easier. A fundamental idea we explored was that often, technological systems are implemented […]
Why politics may drive the social web
While President Obama’s use of the social web to connect with voters and raise funds has been well-documented, it may be Scott Brown’s impossible 2010 senatorial win that cements the social web’s role in politics — and perhaps sets it at the forefront of social web innovation. To set the stage, this was one of the most important state elections in […]
Why comment on a blog? Do it for the money.
Well, I’ve written two recent posts on why people DON’T comment on blogs — one about re-defining engagement, and one with feedback on why people just don’t like to participate. So today I thought I would write a post on why you NEED to comment. But I’m not going to go into boring blogger mode […]
The silent majority: Why people don’t comment on your blog
“Why don’t I get comments on my blog?” This is one of the most common blog-related questions I receive. My recent post on re-thinking community engagement — especially on B2B blogs — received a lot of attention. In addition to a vibrant comment section, I received emails, DM’s and phone calls with more ideas from […]
Meet the captain of the world’s first viral marketing success
Can you imagine being in charge of marketing and watch your product become the first-ever “viral” success story? It was just five years ago. YouTube was brand new. Facebook was just being opened to the public. And performance art with Mentos “geysers” became the world’s first video viral sensation. If you haven’t seen some of this amazing […]
Is your company built to blog?
Every company is getting into blogging it seems but somany people seem to be struggling with it  What would you guess the biggest problem is? Not enough content? Not enough budget and/or resources? Poor writing skills? No, not usually. These are the obvious aspects of the care and feeding of a blog but many organizations overlook the […]
Exploding the “It’s all about the conversation” social media myth
One of the most pervasive mantras of the social media hype circus is that it’s “all about the conversation” with your customers. But if you look at what’s really happening out there I think you can conclude this is a load of hooey. To understand the shortcomings of “conversation” on the social web, let’s look […]