Blog Archive

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The moment that changed my life

It was a beautiful sunny spring day and I had just taken my nine-month-old son on a walk in his stroller. He was a chubby, healthy, happy baby and I […]

An easy way to explain the social web. Really!

I’m often asked to explain the social web … in three minutes or less. Difficult! But I’ve come up with a simple way to describe the importance of social media […]

Wait a minute. It’s not about engagement after all!

I’ve been invited to be a presenter on an upcoming B2B Blogging webinar (announcement forthcoming!) so I’ve been studying many company blogs that I regard as best practices. As I […]

How to sell stuff on your B2B blog without being annoying

I’m hoping by now the “selling is bad” phase of the social media mantra is passe and we can all freely embrace our inner capitalist. Right?Earlier this week I wrote […]

How to Use the Social Web to be a Star at Work

A few years ago, I was in a graduate leadership program at Carnegie Mellon University and took a class from a talented educator and author named Robert E. Kelly. Dr. […]

How to use Twitter to crowd-source creativity

I have a “virtual” company. Well, it’s a real company, but I don’t have a building and employees and all that traditional stuff. I work with a posse of freelancers […]