Social media is used in Egypt to change the government, and in Mexico to keep people safe. But in the U.S. it’s being used by politicians to bicker and throw mud. Is it just me, or does this seem incredibly out of whack? Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS As politicians of all stripes follow Barack Obama’s precedent setting social media campaign from 2008, I’m starting to wonder if they can really be this clueless. After all, what have they been doing for the ...
Oct 31, 2011•32 min
Word of Mouth marketing is the ultimate goal of every business owner. Social media is supposed to the golden ticket for small business marketing, yet less than 1% of small businesses are succeeding with social media? Why? Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS The flat out truth is that YOUR MESSAGE SUCKS! On the other hand, there are thousands of bloggers out there with engaged, active and purchasing audiences. And they’re interested in what you sell – whether th...
Oct 24, 2011•32 min
It feels good to see research coming out that social media marketers believe a social media presence is more important than social media ads. It’s good because I’ve been saying that ever since Facebook introduced ads and called it social media marketing. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS This week we look at that research, and more research that shows just what kind of customer businesses are most likely to attract through what has quickly become the standard...
Oct 17, 2011•33 min
Sounds like a load of crap, doesn’t it? “Less is more…” Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS 86 people paying $97/month equals $100,104 per year. Small number of people paying a fairly small sum. Groupon says 80% of people actually redeem their daily deal coupon. And retailers hope that’s true because when that number goes up, they really start losing money. Now we have a lot of people getting a big discount and it’s driving business owners out of business. This...
Oct 10, 2011•35 min
Can tweeting get you killed? Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS The rise of violence in Mexico has caused news outlets, and even the authorities, to stop covering what criminals are doing. In response, citizen journalists are spreading the news and helping to keep people safe. But the criminals don’t like being tweeted about. In countries where freedom is not guaranteed, social media has become a tool for survival. Listen to know what’s happening, and how you ...
Oct 03, 2011•34 min
Facebook is talking about bringing music sharing services such as Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio, MOG and Deezer onto their site. The idea is to make your profile an entertainment hub. But how much of a hub will it be if it drives these businesses out of business? Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS Very few online music services are profitable, and they have a model that causes them to lose money every time a free subscriber joins. After all, even “free” music requir...
Sep 26, 2011•32 min
Is capitalism dead? Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS The stories this week are all about companies that claim to be capitalist. Are they? Or are they just profiteers and opportunists who no longer understand the meaning of capitalism? In the latest effort to establish an e-book lending library, Amazon is putting forward their plan. It’s different from what Google tried, and definitely different from what a group of research libraries has done (and those libr...
Sep 19, 2011•31 min
When Forrester Research hosted the Customer Experience Forum, they asked Tealeaf to do some research with attendees. They discovered that 87% of attendees believe online customer experience management is more important now than ever before. Yet only half of attendees have implemented strategies for improving that experience or measuring results of the experience. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS This week, we look at why every customer experience is importan...
Sep 12, 2011•35 min
Sounds a little brutal, doesn’t it? And yet it regularly proves to be the difference between a business flourishing and perishing. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS We know that our customers naturally split into different groups. This week, we look at how that’s happening right now. Almost a quarter of North Americans are NOT on the internet. At the same time, half of all U.S. adults are using social media. Talk about a split in the marketplace! And what do ...
Sep 05, 2011•33 min
It’s a week for big changes in the world of social media. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS Jerry Lewis is making his last appearance on the MDA telethon this year. It’s being broadcast for only 6 hours, and is slated for September 4. It’s the end of an era. One that began the same year I was born. And Jerry Lewis built a social media empire long before Meetup, LinkedIn, or even the internet. Every year, thousands of people took action to support Jerry’s Kids...
Aug 29, 2011•33 min
Now that’s quite a week! Google drops 12.5 Billion on a cell phone, a newspaper rants against social media, and IBM declares the end of the PC era. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS If you’re Google, what do you say to agreeing to pay 12.5 Billion for a company – and then having to wait while the government decides whether you’re allowed to buy it? And why do they want a cell phone company anyway? Their answer is slightly different from our answer. They’re lo...
Aug 23, 2011•32 min
Flat out, there’s no way any business owner can stay in business by giving away 75% of sales through daily deal sites. That’s a model built for bankruptcy. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS The unfortunate part is that the daily deal sites – Groupon, Living Social, Google Offers, and others – are positioning themselves in just that way. They have followed the example of the yellow pages. Yikes! Today we walk through 3 specific steps your business must take wh...
Aug 16, 2011•34 min
Imagine picking up a copy of USA Today and seeing them pick up a story you’ve been trumpeting for months. That’s what has happened to me. And it turns out 75% of investment bankers are thinking like me, too! Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS Kinda gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling to know you’re having an impact. J This week we also look at what business social media sites are really in. And it isn’t connecting you with friends, old classmates, or helping you f...
Aug 08, 2011•32 min
Facebook is now FaceBroke, although they don’t want you to know it. But what does the rise of such an information storehouse mean for local business owners? Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS That people are willing to share their information is a boon to every business owner. Big corporations will use it to be more competitive, and local business owners can use that consumer willingness to absolutely dominate their own market; even against the biggest of corp...
Aug 01, 2011•32 min
It’s big news when the second largest bookseller – Borders – gives up and decides to close their doors. Their remaining 399 stores will be gone by the end of September along with 10,700 jobs. And there’s a lesson here for every business owner who thinks exceptional service is enough. It isn’t. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS We’ll take a look at how some ordinary businesses can go beyond exceptional service into the realms of experience and relationship. An...
Jul 25, 2011•32 min
Your day is already busy, and your schedule is already full. The answers to these questions help you protect your privacy, make use of your time, and build stronger relationships with everyone you meet. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS Dr. Oz is the “front guy” for RealAge. A site that purports to give you the latest scientific and medical advice available – all for free. They even tailor the information you receive by asking you to fill in a survey; an incr...
Jul 18, 2011
Amex and Foursquare are getting the jump on all the mobile wallet providers. They’ve teamed up to harness the power of social media with credit card spending. The great thing is that you can do exactly the same thing in your business. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS News Corp has finally been able to sell MySpace. And they only took a $501 Million dollar loss on the deal. Once the king of the social media sphere, could the fate of MySpace foretell Facebook’...
Jul 11, 2011•31 min
Google launched Google+ last week, and they’re off to a roaring start. It’s their third swing at the piñata, and they may have found the formula for knocking Facebook off its pedestal. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS Google’s first two swings were Wave and Buzz. They both went bust, and it looks like Google has learned from their mistakes. Still in Beta, Google+ has been opened to a fairly large audience of testers (tens of thousands) and looks plenty sweet...
Jul 04, 2011•31 min
Some internet celebrities had their YouTube accounts closed last week. David Jenyns, Jeff Herring, and Darren Rowse to name three. Listen to find out how it happened, and how you can keep it from happening to you. We also send you to two special interviews David Jenyns has done to help you play in the YouTube sandbox nicely. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS To be sure you get there, here’s a link to David’s site: www.davidjenyns.com . If you’re using YouTube...
Jun 27, 2011•34 min
Groupon and Living Social have interesting competition in the online coupon market. Bill Shrink has teamed up with more than 2,000 banks and is a case study in how to do coupons the right way. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS Google has added some cool features to their local and mobile search functions. They make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for, and that means it’s easier for you to get found. Hear how they work today. And Twitter user...
Jun 20, 2011•30 min
Imagine that – Facebook is back in the news over Privacy concerns. Fortunately it has an easy fix, and I walk you through it step-by-step. Protect yourself in under a minute. Groupon – Is it a revolution or evolution in marketing? Coupons have been around a long time, but online coupons are changing the way this game is played. And the future of marketing belongs to small business. We have the agility and appeal that big companies lack. Are you prepared to seize your future and be successful? I ...
Jun 13, 2011•32 min
It’s a great week in social media. YouTube is doing a lot to improve their service, and that means a big opportunity for business owners. E-Mail is getting more dangerous with spear phishing. Fortunately, the fix is simple – more simple than the experts want you to believe. And GroupOn is talking about going public – to the tune of $750 Million. What’s that mean for us and our businesses? Listen in to discover how you can use GroupOn’s growth to fuel your business, too. Subscribe with your favor...
Jun 06, 2011•32 min
Two offers for free reports came across my desk this week. They got me thinking about how much information we see every day, and helping you sort out what’s likely to be useful from what’s just a shiny object. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS The reports came from InfusionSoft and HubSpot. Both have the potential to be useful, but the report from HubSpot is mostly a collection of shiny objects. In all cases, you need to be aware that those “free reports” are...
May 31, 2011•34 min
LinkedIn has had their IPO, and enjoyed huge success. Of course, the pundits automatically assume this means all other social media sites will enjoy the same success with IPOs. We’ll see about that. And a new study suggests Twitter is making us stupid. Judging from what I see posted on Twitter, that’s no surprise. And I spent the weekend at an AM2.0 conference. Hear the highlights, and how Google, Facebook and your website can actually be useful to you. Subscribe with your favorite podcast playe...
May 24, 2011•30 min
In one day, Facebook managed to shoot itself in both feet AND the head over privacy issues. With excellent timing, several startups have launched that focus on real social networking – they connect us privately with our friends. And Google is testing fully automatic – no driver – cars. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS Facebook found itself in the New York Times, USA Today, ComputerWorld, and hundreds of other papers, blogs and newscasts this week. Many of th...
May 16, 2011•30 min
Apple’s idea to publish magazines through iTunes has been sputtering, but they recently managed to sign two big publishers. Google is in the news again. This week we look at the changes they’ve made in their ranking system and explore how you can use it to promote your business. Then we wrap up the show with questions from listeners. Did we answer yours? Listen to find out, and keep sending the questions in – we appreciate getting them. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts ...
May 10, 2011•30 min
I just arrived home from the largest annual marketing conference in the U.S. A roofing supply company turned $5,000 worth of marketing into more than $600,000 in sales – and that’s just one example. I also spoke to a lot of business owners make good use of social media. They’re being careful about which sites they choose. And Google is looking for ways to profit with mobile search. They’re progress is a good guide for using mobile search in your business. Subscribe with your favorite podcast pla...
May 02, 2011•31 min
Amazon struggled with down servers recently, but they’ve rebounded. Listen to find out what Amazon S3 is and how you can use it. President Obama made a splash with Facebook. Now hear what it means for your business. Tracking customers continues to be in the news, but this time it’s because some doofus is shouting about things we’ve known about for years. And the press is dumb enough to be jumping on the bozo band wagon. If you think Android, iPhone, Google and Apple are “bad for tracking,” then ...
Apr 25, 2011•32 min
eMarketer thinks integration means making sure your mobile and social media marketing are working together. They completely missed the boat this week by failing to show readers how to successfully integrate social media with direct mail and other “traditional” media. Facebook, on the other hand, is so deep into our lives that it’s making us feel lonely. We’re starting to feel inferior and rejected when our friends post their exciting lives and we’re sitting at home. While YouTube has discovered ...
Apr 18, 2011•32 min
Epsilon lost your name and e-mail address so watch your inbox for fake e-mails. And I tell you how to stay safe. Barack Obama is running for re-election. Pay attention to what he does with social media this time around. CEOs are afraid of social media – with good reason – and Google may get their library after all. If they play it smart. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Apple Podcasts Android RSS The post Social Media: Cheap and Easy – Epsilon, Barack Obama and Google – all a little c...
Apr 11, 2011•33 min
