Will an economic recovery pummel social media?

I’ve had the great privilege of teaching a college-sponsored class on social media marketing and as usual, I’m learning more from the class than what they’ve learned from me … but that will be our little secret, OK? As I was providing examples of how you can leverage content across various channels to increase awareness, […]

Most companies can’t connect social media efforts to success

For the last two months I have been eagerly anticipating the results of Dr. Ben Hanna’s Business.com 2009 survey of corporate social media utilization.  Why is this report significant?  With nearly 3,000 valid respondents, this is probably the largest survey ever conducted on this subject and also represents one of a handful of social media research […]

An interview with GE’s Social Media Wizards

The GE Social Media Team: Gary Sheffer, Jen Walsh, Sean Gannon, Lisa Lanspery, Mike Eisenreich, Megan Parker and Vivek Kemp A few weeks ago I was introduced to GE’s social media initiative when doing research for an article on Social Media’s B2B Superstars. I’ve continued to be impressed with their aggressive and progressive approach to […]

Finally! A B2B social media success story

At long last, I bring to you my valued {grow} folks, a true B2B social media success story that can really be measured by MONEY.  I believe this is the only one in the world.  ; )  And it is GENIUS! Best of all, the success comes from one of our very own {grow}-er’s, Nathan […]

The case for social media marketing and "Extreme B2B"

At one point in my career, I had one of the largest (if not THE largest!) sales positions in the world. I had just one customer and they bought more than US$1.5 billion of goods and services from my company every year.  That’s what I call Extreme B2B. Long sales cycle. High stakes. Extraordinary power […]

Social media: Old people rule!

Today I’m pleased to introduce a special guest-blogger, my daughter Lauren, who provides a 20-something perspective of social media. Lauren is an awesome young woman (with a capital AWE) and is a junior majoring in Public Relations at Indiana University. She is also completing a summer internship with a company in San Francisco. This week, […]

Social Media’s Economy of Giving

In the first article in this four-part series, I defined the three elements that contribute to business benefits through social media: Connections + Meaningful Content + Authentic Helpfulness = Business Benefits. In this final article, we’ll examine the difficult issue of Authentic Helpfulness. “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who […]

The biggest obstacle to social media business success

This is the third in a series exploring the keys to achieving business benefits in social media:   Connections + Meaningful Content + Authentic Helpfulness = Business Benefits. Let’s continue the discussion with the second element, MEANINGFUL CONTENT. To turn online connections into serious business relationships, you need to surround your cyber-self with useful, interesting […]

Building meaningful business connections through social media

This is the second in a series exploring the keys to achieving business benefits in social media: Connections + Meaningful Content + Authentic Helpfulness = Business Benefits. Now, we’re going to dive into each element to build a strategy for YOUR social media success! Today we start with CONNECTIONS. Think of the social media landscape […]