There’s a new social media platform or tool born every 23 seconds (totally made up statistic but it sounds about right, doesn’t it?) When you make your living in the social media and marketing world, you need to be aware of the new but also beware of the distraction factor that could pull you off-course. Is this tool a potential time waster instead of a useful tool? Quora is coming into its own lately and so I’ve started investigating it […]
Homework for My Social Media Students
As many of you know, I sometimes teach social media seminars through the local community education program (as well I do private social media “tutoring.” I have classes coming up in 2011 in Twitter and using social media to promote your blog.) Many people benefit enormously from seeing someone else doing it and explaining it, more than reading a book or any of the numerous blogs out there — but there are wonderful books and blogs out there. This blog […]
Location-based Social Media for Good
While reading the Boston Sunday Globe, I was struck by an article about the lack of maps of the handicapped parking spaces in Boston and Cambridge. Anything location-oriented seems like a problem that could be solved by one of the location-based social media tools. Hey, SCVNGR or FourSquare — what do you think? I would think you could enlist your users to mark all those spots and offer a digital map. Show us you are about more than just games.
How Others See Us
Who Are Your People?
Local entrepreneur and innovator Bill Warner is an important resource for startups in the Boston market. He blogs, tweets and speaks on topics of interest to the young startups. One of Bill Warner’s queries from his presentation about How to Build Your Startup from the Heart has taken on new meaning for me lately. One of the questions he asks is “Who are your people — the people for whom you invent or create?”
Mass Innovation Nights and Twitter
As you probably know, Dan Englander and I started Mass Innovation Nights about 18 months ago. What you might not know is that Mass Innovation Nights is more than just a monthly event to launch new products. It has been a sandbox in which we frequently experiment with new social media marketing and online marketing techniques, especially Twitter techniques (Twechniques?).
What Happens in Vegas
What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas if you choose to share all the gory details. There’s been plenty written on maintaining a professional image online. Dozens, probably hundreds, of articles urge young people to think about how their social media profile stacks up when a potential employer looks at what’s available online. But what if you are hiring people to represent your company online through social media?
Getting Started and Building a Twitter Following
This morning The Boston Globe published Scott Kirsner‘s 10 Tips for Attracting a Following on Twitter. Recommended reading for my social media marketing students — several of the folks quoted are ones I spend time with in person and on Twitter. I’ve been asked previously to publish my tips (I usually give these to my classes as a handout.) So, here they are — warning, it’s a long long list, and it is focused on people who are just getting […]
Reading for Inspiration
I spent a couple of hours yesterday hanging out in Harvard Square waiting for my older son to finish a Boy Scout merit badge “camp.” I did what I usually do when I have time on my hands, headed for the bookstore. (In this case, the Harvard Coop.) I had a list of books that I have been meaning to pick up and random browsing in a bookstore is one of my favorite hobbies — not an inexpensive hobby. I […]
Best Social Media Marketing Books
Every once in a while I teach a class on social media marketing for Lexington Community Education. (I also do private sessions for small groups and in corporate settings where I am frequently called upon to provide expert guidance for agencies, corporate PR and marketing departments.) Recently, one of my former students tracked me down while I was speaking on a panel of local female entrepreneurs. She’s part of a book group comprised mostly of marketers and they are currently […]