LinkedIn's new Contacts app is designed to help users stay in touch with important business contacts and build contacts with others. According to Mashable: "LinkedIn Contacts integrates into your email, mobile address book and calendar to create a one stop shop of sorts for all of your contacts that is... Continue reading

Read enough industry opinion on content marketing, and you can start to determine each author’s professional background. If their point of view is focused on: Interactive: the author tends to be in digital marketing or may work with a digital agency; Creative: a traditional marketer might be chief storyteller, perhaps... Continue reading

At the recent, inaugural #solopr conference, I really enjoyed the other speakers' presentations. One of those individuals, Tom Martin, served up a simple but powerful tip regarding content creation. Whether you're blogging, part of a brand newsroom or just creating content - think in terms of cornerstones and not just... Continue reading

While this infographic has five tips to help brands create content,** the tips apply to anyone -- including you. We encounter multiple stories on a daily basis, regardless of our job. We just need to look at things from a different, content marketing, perspective. Full-Sized Version is Available for Download... Continue reading

Less than 10 days after it's debut, news about the Vine app is a lot like Super Bowl pre-game commentary. We've got so-called experts everywhere weighing in on who will win and who will lose. Whether you like Vine, hate it or couldn't care less whether it thrives or withers,... Continue reading

Instagram changed its terms of service earlier this week, unleashing a vocal and fast-emerging online protest. For brands, the “Instadrama” raises a more important question. As brands and their loyal consumers become invested in free online platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, what should brands do as these platforms evolve... Continue reading

Storify’s new site design makes it easier to find relevant content on the site. As part of the more cosmetic changes to the site, Storify also became the latest social platform to add landscape header photos to its users’ profiles. The changes might also be designed to make Storify less... Continue reading

Three pieces of content driving some serious sharing online last week are "year in review" stories from Facebook, Twitter and Google. Perhaps stories doesn't do their projects justice. More than just breezy content, each story also holds lessons for brands and their approach to content marketing. It's Not About You:... Continue reading

Facebook just changed its privacy controls, making it impossible to hide from Facebook Search. Unfortunately, the bulk of users that are even aware of these changes will probably spend more time complaining about it instead of either learning about the changes or doing something about it. Learn According to Mashable,... Continue reading

Two of Guy Kawasaki's favorite topics are Google+ and Apple. But it was great to hear new perspectives about each...new for him and for me. Continue reading

Living in a battleground state, I've been subject to a long and noisy 2012 election season that started in May. But only two different yard signs, for a single candidate, have stood out for me this election season. And it’s all due to the impact of font and color choice - and perhaps my profession. Continue reading

Like any professional industry, social media discussions can become unnecessarily “confrontational.” The air quotes are to emphasize this confrontation isn’t heated by any means. It’s usually a keyboard-based back and forth that starts when someone makes a point and someone else splits hairs to create a counterpoint. That’s what happened... Continue reading

Lately I've noticed my more heavily edited pics are getting more likes. To assume that more apps/edits equate to more attention is short-sighted. Format is no substitute for content, and likes aren't the best engagement metric. But these are the apps I've used to create my five most-liked photos on Instagram. Continue reading

UPDATE: BOOM! All books are gone. UPDATE: With just one book left in the stack, this has been a lot of fun. I assumed readers claiming the books would be scattered geographically. But it's been even more global than I anticipated. Yes, I will be covering postage to Sweden, Turkey,... Continue reading

We were inspired to create an infographic capturing how a single character could become "kind of a big deal." Continue reading

The image above makes me assume that, while Progressive Insurance may have a social media policy in place, it does not have a crisis plan. Or at least not a crisis plan that considers social media -- Twitter most obviously. With nearly a dozen people designated as Progressive Insurance Twitter... Continue reading

>> Carlo Pandian approached me with a ready-made guest post. But his pitch was so good that I pitched him on writing about Pinterest instead. PR's ability to drive consumers through the purchase funnel tends to focus on awareness. I like some of his Pinterest tips for PR people as... Continue reading

"If you want something you've never had, then you've got to do something you've never done." -- Drina Reed This quote is Pinterest porn but, in marketing, it can also be a bit of a paradox. When an industry succeeds moving in one direction, it can be hard to justify... Continue reading

Taylor Wiegert's Brave Ad World blog and podcast are great sources to add to your list of go to content. Continue reading

Along with several other timely Father's Day stories, I've got something to say. But it's more of a question. Why is the ad industry taking all of the heat for portraying dads in a bad light? Don't get me wrong, I can't agree more with Adweek's "The Demise of the... Continue reading

When we look at any research, our first question should always be: sample? From there, anytime we're trying to make a point or we're putting together anything from a tweet to a powerpoint deck, let's take a deep breath and also ask: context? Continue reading

When I saw Mary Meeker present at Conversational Marketing Summit, it was a race between my hands and my keyboard as to which one would fail first. The keyboard won as she moved through her Internet trends presentation with the substance of an academic and the speed of an auctioneer.... Continue reading

Based on Facebook's recent app store news and a string of mobile acquisitions, I'm wondering when it will launch its own device? Continue reading

The Signal P&G event brought together brands we see in the news almost daily -- from Twitter and Facebook to Coca-Cola and more. But the brands on Procter & Gamble's dais getting less media attention, or perhaps less positive media attention, were the most interesting that day. Presentations from Amazon, AOL and Nokia taught me to reconsider the power of unassuming brands. Continue reading

TidyCats latest ad campaign spans online and offline to get consumers sharing about what stinks in their lives. But one of their ads created its own stink. To the brands' credit, they were listening and responded in less than 24 hours to stop a possible catfight with consumers. Continue reading