Here's the standings for Week 130:1 - Duct Tape Marketing - 256,000 (+3,000)(LW - 1)2 - Church of the Customer - 244,000 (+3,000)(LW - 2)3 - CopyBlogger - 45,286 (-449)(LW - 3)4 - Web Strategy by Jeremiah - 16,874 (-150)(LW - 4)5 - Chris Brogan - 13,108 (+273)(LW - 5)6 - Search Engine Guide - 12,622 (-91)LW - 6)7 - Logic + Emotion - 10,964 (+8)(LW - 7)8 - Influential Marketing - 7,651 (-72)(LW - ...

It's been interesting to see how the marketing portion of the blogosphere has changed over the last few years. When I started blogging in late 2005, many of the posts were of a more 'philosophical' nature. We talked about why social media SHOULD help companies better connect with their customers, simply because there weren't really that many case studies that we could point to. Those of us that were using blogs to connect with each ...

Thanks to a mention from Dan Schawbel on Twitter, I was alerted this morning that GE has started blogging, and has joined Twitter. It seems that GE Reports just went live today, and had been writing for the blog for several days previously, so there were plenty of posts waiting on those of us that have found the blog. Even though it is WAY too early to feature the blog in the Company Blog Checkup ...

Here's the standings for Week 129:1 - Duct Tape Marketing - 253,000 (+4,000)(LW - 1)2 - Church of the Customer - 241,000 (+3,000)(LW - 2)3 - CopyBlogger - 45,735 (+753)(LW - 3)4 - Web Strategy by Jeremiah - 17,024 (+242)(LW - 4)5 - Chris Brogan - 12,835 (+340)(LW - 6)6 - Search Engine Guide - 12,713 (-272)LW - 5)7 - Logic + Emotion - 10,956 (+148)(LW - 7)8 - Influential Marketing - 7,723 (+606)(LW - ...

Ever since I joined in March of last year, I have been struggling with the best way to use Twitter. More than anything, I use Twitter as a way to connect with people, to share links, and chat it up. But the problem I began running into several months ago was that I was following so many people that it was difficult to keep track of all the conversations happening, and especially hard to stay ...

Whenever I speak at an event about blogging and social media, I always like to point out how these tools are wonderful ways to let companies connect with their customers, when properly positioned.But eventually, there's always a few questions about how much traffic you can drive to your blog through SM, like what about Digg? Or Facebook? How important is it to have the right keywords targeted?Let me tell you that social sites can be ...

Over the weekend, a nice lil Twitterstorm erupted after Motrin ran an ad on it's main website that many mommy bloggers took offense to. And those moms descended upon Twitter to vent their anger over the ad, making #motrinmoms the most common term on Twitter. And as of this writing, the Motrin main website is down.As the backlash grew during the day, one blogger sought out the agency that handles the Motrin account and contact ...

I am always trying to tweak/examine how I spend my time with various social media sites and tools. A big reason why, is because I honestly love connecting with people and sharing ideas. I learn SO much, but at the same time, I am a social media consultant, so I have to balance out the benefits to my business, as well.I have two rules for budgeting my social media time:1 - Spend 10 times as ...

I had an absolute blast speaking last Friday at Learn About Web. It's funny because when I speak at a conference, I'm never quite sure where the audience is on the social media learning curve. I assume they are beginners that are curious, but that at best are really just starting to play with these tools.But when arriving in Pasco for LAW, I was immediately struck by the fact that of the 100+ attendees, there ...

Hello Learn About Web! I mentioned several blogs, tools and sites in my Blogging for Businss session on Friday, and here are the links so that you can check them out for yourself!Stats on current and projected blog readership and creation from 2007-2012.Breakdown of which age groups are reading blogs and blogging on a weekly basis.Information on Graco's blogging strategy and the results they have seen. Graco's blog.Newcastle Square Realty's blog.Avis' UK Blog.Dell's Direct2Dell blog.MasiGuy's ...

This morning, as I do on most, I went through my feeds in Bloglines looking for blog posts that I could share with my followers on Twitter. I read Mike Sansone's post on how beginners can get started with Social Media, and knew it would be a post that many of my Twitter friends could find valuable. So I linked to it on Twitter, and almost immediately, my followers began Re-Tweeting it to their followers. ...

The way I use Twitter has been constantly evolving since I joined the site in early 2007. Currently, I have two main ways that I use Twitter:1 - For conversation2 - Sharing linksAs far as sharing links, as I read through my feeds in Bloglines, when I come across a post/article that seems interesting, I will drop it in Twitter and share it with my friends and followers there. But I have always wondered if ...

One of the highlights of last week's Digital Marketing Mixer for me, was the chance to spend some time talking to Chris Brogan. We had met briefly at SXSW, but I hadn't really gotten the chance to pick his brain. I did last week and I asked him the question I think we all would like to know the answer to:"How in the HELL do you create that much content?!?"Chris explained that when he gets ...

Here's the standings for Week 126:1 - Duct Tape Marketing - 243,000 (+27,000)(LW - 1)2 - Church of the Customer - 233,000 (+25,000)(LW - 2)3 - CopyBlogger - 44,452 (+5,172)(LW - 3)4 - Web Strategy by Jeremiah - 16,238 (+938)(LW - 4)5 - Search Engine Guide - 12,578 (+676)LW - 5)6 - Chris Brogan - 11,259 (+4,974)(LW - 6)7 - Logic + Emotion - 10,615 (+7,209)(LW - 10)8 - Influential Marketing - 7,334 (+2,836)(LW - ...

This morning while I was trying to write up my MPDM recap and sound witty on Twitter, a courier knocks on my door and tells me he has a package for me. Ok. He then explains that he has to deliver the package at approx. 10:00 am. No biggie, I'm still with him there. Then he gives me the clincher; he explains that he has two more packages, and that he has to wait till ...

One of the top goals I set for myself for 2008 was that I wanted to attend and speak at as many conferences as possible. Originally, the thinking was that I needed to do this to in order to network and get my name out there as a social media consultant. I figured that meeting and connecting with people and friends I had met online would be a pleasant byproduct.Then when I arrived at SXSW ...

Over the last year or so, I have seen a big spike in the interest companies have in learning more about social media, and especially blogging. This is a good thing for obvious reasons, but I am a bit worried that many companies are patterning their efforts after the wrong people.Many companies, when they begin doing some internal research into blogging, try to quickly identify the 'experts'. The people that have built their blogs up ...

Peter Kim asks an interesting question, wanting to know the definition of the term 'social media marketing'. On the surface, it seems like an easy question to answer. It's just marketing using social media, right?Well...Many companies are no doubt working under this assumption. I think the problem with viewing SMM as being simply marketing through a new set of tools (social media), is that you assume that the 'new' tools function just like the 'old' ...

Back in March, I attended my first South by Southwest, and honestly loved the conference. The main reason why I loved the event was because I got to meet so many people that I had connected with in the blogosphere and other social circles. I was warned beforehand that 'you don't go to SXSW for the panels, you go for the people', and that assessment was spot-on. There were hundreds of panels, and I could ...

Hello Columbus! I'll be mentioning several blogs, tools and sites in my Blogging for Businss session on Monday, and here are the links so that you can check them out for yourself!Stats on current and projected blog readership and creation from 2007-2012.Breakdown of which age groups are reading blogs and blogging on a weekly basis.Information on Graco's blogging strategy and the results they have seen. Graco's blog.Newcastle Square Realty's blog.Avis' UK Blog.Dell's Direct2Dell blog.MasiGuy's blog.Tim's ...