Online Business Directories – the Good, Bad and Ugly

Business Directory post at SocialMarketingConversations.comOnline business directories provide, among other things, links to a business website and if you’re a business just establishing or wanting to improve your ranking in search engines, they can help.  The question is which online business directories will give me the best effect to my SEO?

I get a lot of requests in our strategy side of the business and in my work around Economic Gardening.  The use of online directories is a popular tactic to build links and positively impact SEO, but on the other hand, if the site is just a link farm, the effect might be negative.   How can I tell the difference of one business directory versus another?  Read more ›

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Posted in Economic Gardening, marketing, Social Marketing, strategy, Uncategorized

The Social Economic Gardener

SocialEG logo at Social Marketing ConversationsWaiting on my plane to depart from Chicago Midway, I had just sat down after an intense four-day session learning the principals of Economic Gardening and I was so inspired it was somewhat difficult to collect my racing thoughts into something I could share.  I had been exposed to concepts around about how personality, organic system complexity, chaos theory and other frameworks could be applied to the practice of economic development.  It was like drinking from a fire hose for sure, but now a week later, I feel like I can put some of the pieces together and connect them to how social media and SEO practices fit the practice of economic gardening, or ‘EG’ as it’s called by those involved. Read more ›

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Posted in Economic Gardening, Entrepreneurship, Social Marketing

Getting the right B2B message to the right B2B audience – Everytime…

Blaring trumpets creating noise at SocialMarketingConversations.comWhat three things (among the zillions of possible things) are impacting how marketers connect with and get the right message to the right audience?  First is that the noise in social media is deafening and secondly, if the message does get through the din, how can you get the executive responsible a message that appeals direct to him and not a generic, one-size-fits-all bit of malarkey?  And third, we are at the front edge of a wave where we should expect consumers (and buyers) will opt out of the behavioral tracking model that many marketers rely on to help present a message at the right time (assuming it ever could that is).

Thanks to our friends at LinkedIn©, business-to-business (B2B) targeted messaging has taken a turn for the better.  LinkedIn© Company Pages and a new multiple-audience messaging capability for the Product & Services page have arrived and wow, are they exciting!  This development is important to businesses for a few reasons – Read more ›

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Posted in Economic Gardening, Entrepreneurship, LinkedIn, Social Marketing, Social Media, strategy

Condensed Edition of Colorado Social Business Survey Now Available for Download!

Social marketing and the use of social media to attract prospects, service existing customers and connect with stakeholders is clearly becoming more and more relevant for businesses everywhere. We are also clearly well past the point in adoption of social media by consumers to believe that the use of social media is a fad that warrants no further investigation.

Top10 Ranked Colorado Companies in Social Marketing The next step for business then is to decide how best to invest in social media-based marketing and create social conversations that support the business. One approach is to make the objectives of your marketing more data-driven, a capability that in the past was horribly expensive and cost prohibitive for many companies. Today that data is only a few mouse clicks away, at least for a Colorado-based business.

A few weeks ago we announced the development of the Colorado Social Business Survey (well… we actually called it an ‘Index’) and that soon it would be available – here it is! The Condensed Edition (CE) is available at no charge for download here (www.SocialMarketingConversations.com) and while it is abbreviated from the full report, the information presented in the CE version is both valuable and relevant to businesses anywhere that want to understand what it takes to become a top-ranked company in using social marketing.

What Does The Social Business Survey Show Me?

Readers will uncover what’s important in connecting to their audience, regardless of how they define that audience and regardless of whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter or Linked. Presented in the report are the most important factors that establish what’s important on each platform and how different online media relates to another.

Who is the Report For?

The survey is designed to be used by business executives who need to manage the business objectives and want to understand what metrics matter most. What is learned by reading the survey is how others are successfully managing a social presence for business and what best companies in Colorado are doing with social media.

To Know More

Download the Condensed Edition of the survey here or call us by clicking here.  We’ll be happy to talk with you and discuss the content in the report.

 

 

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Posted in Colorado, Social Marketing, strategy

Business Cards to Digital Exchange – A Paradigm Shift

The writing is on the wall for the end of business cards.   Let’s face it – traditional business cards are archaic in a world of digital alternatives.  While I’ve carried them for years, I have never been a big fan of them.   Once you have them in your hand, you know that once you get them home, they’ll end up in a box, gathering dust.  Even if you find a great storage and retrieval system, you can never seem to find the one you need at just the right moment. When you need one, it’s most certain to be in your desk drawer and not at your disposal.  I’ve even considered purchasing a business card scanner to scan in the hundreds of cards collected during networking events and shows, but opted to wait.  I’m sure glad I did. Read more ›

Posted in marketing, Social Marketing, Social Media

Adapt or Die – Are They Only Alternatives?

The demands for better and better social marketing tactics for the digital marketer is constant and unrelenting.  In an article on ‘Digital Darwinism’ posted at PandoDaily.com, Brian Solis makes the case that traditional marketers need to update their skill set to include digital or run the risk of being considered irrelevant.  I am right there with him and think he’s right in a hundred ways, but in my mind I see that the trend to digital is well past the early stage and seriously into being a fixed element in the markets bag of tricks – at least that is, if you’re paying attention.

Read more ›

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Posted in Enterprise, marketing, Social Marketing, strategy