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Social Sharing: Is Your Company Properly Branded?

July 14, 2011 By 4 Comments

There are many social sharing sites and if you wanted to count them it may take you all day to finally include each site in your count. Some of them are well known like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, and of course the latest darling of the dance is Google Plus. Social sharing has been evolving as a way to increase page views and cast a wider net to see if you couldn’t create a larger community and get more readers. We use social sharing at Bloggers For Hire as a way to create this very thing. Social sharing has become big business for many and a way to create some dividends in traffic and numbers. The question I have for you is whether your social sharing is properly branded? Let me explain to you, first what I mean about branding, and then I will give you an example.

Branding to me is making sure that at every turn, your community is reminded of your existence, be it your name, a logo, or something that can identify you as the expert in your field, the product that all must have, or a service people should love. We all know when I say Nike, Pepsi, Ford, that all of these bring an image to mind or a thought or something that stirs our brains to think of the company. That is branding. In the sense of the online world, we must always look for ways to have that in place, be it a link, a banner ad, a mention, or in the case of this post, a social share. Making sure your social sharing is also branded where possible is one more way to make sure you are always putting your brand out front.

The example I have seen and been privy to over the last couple of days has been sharing on Twitter. I read a large number of posts daily. I am constantly consuming information and then sharing that information with my community. It helps the person that has produced the content for me to share and it also informs my clients and others with whom I provide the links. It is a win-win for everyone. I also note that when I share information, via the in post applications people use, they have not branded their default settings.

One such instance this morning was sharing a news item from Media Buyer Planner. No I am not picking on them but it was what spurred this post. The have the sharing buttons as everyone on their news item that can be shared via various networks. I hit the Twitter share button and up popped the Twitter window for me to share with my followers, and I saw the title of the post, and the link and then i saw “via @AddThis”. This is the name of the application and not the name of the Twitter handle of the company where I found the article. They have missed an opportunity to brand @MediaBuyer. Many companies don;t put anything in the spot they can for branding. Make sure you are taking every opportunity to brand your company.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Consulting, Blog Tips, Bloggers and Blogs, Business Blogging, Findability, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Is Facebook The New Television In Advertising?

February 1, 2010 By 8 Comments

As we approach the Super Bowl this weekend, it is that time of year when we all gather around the television to watch our favorite event, not the game itself but the commercials that are aired during the game.  There have been parties centered solely around the advertisements, and they have sites dedicated to them, and those that have no idea what American football is that turn on their TV’s.

I was recently aware that Pepsi has decided to go in another direction for its advertising that normally takes place during the super bowl.  Many other companies are now getting online as well.  I think we are about to see this as a trend.  What is it that is capturing the hearts, minds, and most of all the attention of the public?  Facebook.

It used to be that the television was the pinnacle of the advertising world, and for the most part it still is, but that trend seems to be changing.  With Facebook now entering the hundreds of millions of users, brands are beginning to rethink their use of their advertising dollars.  In addition, the target is more precise and they are getting more conversions.  I have been try8ing to understand the metrics behind the idea of television advertising as well.  We used to hear of the millions of viewers that this show garnered, or the numbers of people watching each show, but there was never any real metrics to determine other than polls and ratings.  With Facebook and other applications, we can see the clicks, the landing pages, the exit pages etc.  It has a more precise feel to the campaign.

This is the way ot the future as it relates to advertising, and once the Facebook’s of the world can get millions of dollars to get your attention for 30 seconds, the next big thing will come along.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Tools, Media, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Consumer Side of Social Media: Purchasing A Mobile Phone

February 9, 2009 By 2 Comments

For some time since the iPhone first made it’s appearance, I have been thinking about how I can keep up with the Jones’ and get into the smart phone arena. Those who also know me are the first to tell you I am not the guy that should be preaching the idea of technology or gadgets. I am the one that only uses the tool, not knowing how, why, or the what of the details. The phone rings I answer it, the email comes I type out a response. I don’t know, or for that matter don’t really care, about memory, megapixels or what flux capaciter comes with the “back end of the unit”. I have been in the market for a new desktop recently as well as a mobile phone and they sometimes offer too much information on what comes with the computer. I can get easily overwhelmed. I don’t think that in this instance I am too different than most of the real life users out there and that is why I looked to them for help.samsung-omnia-mano.jpg

I first started my initial testing of the waters by asking my real life friends how they came about purchasing their phone. Many of them had the same response. “I was given the phone by my employer”, or “I walked into the store and that one looked cool”, to the ever popular, “Scoble told me to buy this one.” Strangely enough that latter response was actually more of the popular one. I am of course picking on Robert, but this latter one is where I also paid a little more attention. The experts out there are the ones that are going to be using the best of the best. I turned my research to that area. I read blogs of the experts.

I read Engadget, Gizmodo, MobileCrunch and every other gadget blog available that had information about smart phones. I searched out their reviews and other information they had on the models available. There is a plethora of blogs you can read with information on everything and anything mobile. These are people not associated with the company or product and they truly give an independent review in my mind. Some are more specific product leaning, but for the most part they have some unbiased opinion.

I have to vent my frustration a little here because of the lack of choice we are offered as consumers based on our current service provider and the phones that are available to each service provider. I have been with Verizon since before they were Verizon and they were Airtouch Cellular and before that USWest Cellular. You might say we have established a relationship. My choices were very limited in the smart phone area so I went with a few choices, and it came down to only two that were available in my world, The Blackberry Storm and the Samsung Omnia. Yeah, I know overwhelmed with info about the phone and underwhelmed by my choices. Here endeth the frustration rant.

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I then turned to another form of social media for my research. I asked my friends. Not those that I go to church with, or have dinner with, but the ones online. I reached out to my Twitter followers. When I asked more than 5000 people what they thought, I was given plenty of opinions. I loved it. Some had no opinion but a friend of a friend had good experience with this phone or that phone, or they had a bad experience but fixed it with this or that carrier. This was great “man on the street” information. I was well armed to make a decision at this point. The problem, as always, I was afraid to make a purchase of this magnitude. I couldn’t pull the trigger. I was afraid I would spend too much money and then later be angry for making the wrong choice. In spite of being completely advised, I still needed a shove. The shove came at an opportune time.

I was reading through my RSS feeds that I had subscribed to as a result of my research and found that one of the blogs had a breaking story. Verizon was offering the Blackberry Storm at a very good savings, and sure enough a check of there site showed not only a savings on that phone but on my other choice the Samsung Omnia. This was great news to me. I was armed with the information I need to make an informed decision, had seen real life experiences, saw unbiased reviews, and knew as much about the phone as anyone. I headed to the Verizon store.

A few more follow up questions later, having actually informed the sales person of some of the information I learned, and questions specific to the usage and data charges etc., and I decided on my choice of phones. I went with the Blackberry Storm. i went with the Storm because of the fact that Blackberry is well respected in the mobile community and Samsung is still lacking somewhat in my opinion. Samsung was a little too hooked into Microsoft’s software for my taste and that was another deciding factor.

I had reached out to my community to help me make a purchase. I spoke to the people I knew that had the phones. I researched blogs and the things l that the experts were touting, and I saw what my peers were also recommending. I then reached out to my community and asked for help which was more than ample to help me make a choice. Then as luck would have it because I had signed up and subscribed to some feeds I was tipped off to a sale that benefitted me in my purchase. I had used the tools available to help me. I hope that if you are reading this and you are a company you can take a look at how people are using the social media tools available to them to make informed decisions about your products and services. By looking at how I use the Internet to go from point A to point B you too might know how to get your information to the people that are searching for your products.

My next postings will be on the after purchase and use. How did the information I gathered help? How am I using social media to help me use my phone? Yes, I am now becoming addicted to my Crackberry and I can’t wait to help the next person with their decision to purchase a phone. I have become a social media evangelist of the company and they had to do nothing other than get into the social media world. Now about that choice of desktop. Is it going to be the iMac or the HP model. All these decisions are going to be helped by my use of the social media world.

UPDATE 2/10/09: Apparently, I am a real early adopter for the Storm deal that is all over the internet. Should I be worried now about what is in store for the Storm? Is another Blackerry Storm brewing?

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Tips, Business Blogging, Corporate Blogs, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Blogging Networks Feeling The Economic Pain

January 31, 2009 By 1 Comment

headache.jpgI have been following the story of Pajamas Media and the closing of their ad network operations as of April 1. This is not earth shattering news as we see the boom days of blog earnings begin to buckle under the economy and crash on the rocks caused by the storm. We have seen other networks close and cut back and have similar problems. As companies cut back on their ad spends it stands to reason that these forms of revenue will dry up or become scarce. i think this is not going to end any time soon.

One of the reasons ad networks were so powerful before was because they could leverage large page views and could funnel the eyeballs into one place better than companies looking to buy up ad space on single blogs. That trend has changed now as properties that have large followings have figured out how to leverage and negotiate their own advertising deals cutting out the middle man. The smaller single manned blogs are also more flexible and don’t need quite the investment to turn a profit. We are seeing a definite shift in the blogosphere and that shift will continue to transmogrify into a new model that is hopefully better.

I intend to discuss this further on my radio show on Tuesday. I want to have a few or the blogging experts weigh in on this as well as discuss my ideas further. Join me on Tuesday at 5 p.m. PST as I discuss ad revenue and blog networks further.

[Headache photo via pvera]

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Revenue, Blogonomics, Mediasphere Radio Tagged With: , ,

Social Media and Participatory Marketing

January 18, 2009 By 3 Comments

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Marketing has taken a new look as we enter the digital age. Companies are now looking for a new way to reach customers. They are reaching them in different ways because their customers are finding them in different ways. With everyone, even my 84 year old grandmother, searching the global market through Google, and getting recommendations from every friend in Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and in circles like Twitter with their options to buy or find services and products, businesses are clamoring for the attention of people. The new look and feel of marketing is participation, or what I have been calling participatory marketing.

Social media is really nothing more that participation in a social structure using different tools. All of the vehicles I mention above are merely a community of people. Like a block party where everyone gathers. An online neighborhood. They talk about their lives, they talk about their kids, they stand around the water cooler now known as their computer screen. They talk about you, your business, your product and your service.

Companies are trying to work their way into these communities now and they want to be the most noticed person at the party. The problem is that many of them are doing it wrong. They participate in the community but don’t provide anything of value. I’m not talking about walking into the party and handing out coupons for $5 off your $100 ice cream scoop. That is the way most are doing it. I’m talking about actually participating. Getting into a community of us Daddies and talking about how your 6 month old kept you all up all night is the conversation starter and ice breaker that works to get an in, but again companies open with that and then turn around and say, “Now download my sidebar widget thingy.” Again, what does that have to do with a sleepless night unless my 6 month old is put to sleep by your product? It takes a while for you to be in the group before I want to be approached for life changing conversations, like here let me help you buy a new home. Perhaps I should be calling this Kumbaya Marketing.

It takes a while for you to be in my group long enough to give me marital advice or if you want me to buy your stuff. Some of the companies have already been in my group a while. Some of the big brands and major companies are a part of our everyday lives and they can leverage that into instant credibility. If you come to my community for instance and say hey look at this cool Mac Book Pro, chances are we will all look and perhaps buy. If you want me to send you $100 to have me try your latest blue pill that will change my life, I will probably have to get to know you first.

[photo via mikebaird]*

*Not really relevant to participatory marketing but that is the point. Be relevant. That is one cute critter though. Since we are talking about Otters, check out Otter Box. See what I mean? No they are not a client, but they are a cool company that is using social media. They have been in my community a little. Now if I could get them to send me a new Blackberry case with the actual Blackberry in it.

Filed Under: Advertising, Business Blogging, Findability, Marketing, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Have You Sourced Your Crowd Today?

January 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

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I have been thinking about that title for a while and how i could turn that into a million dollar money maker as a bumper stickers for the new social media generation. I was actually thinking of making a blog post about how we crowd sourced the people in Twitter, Facebook, Friend Feed–well you get the idea, no need to belabor that longer, in getting a new logo header image on the blog here, and me a new looking brand for 2009.

I mentioned on Twitter that I was having some difficulties with photoshop and some other things I needed done, and the help we received from that “crowd” was tremendous. I had ideas of changing my company name and brand, and looking to do some different marketing, advertising and public relations for myself and mentioned that too. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the whole experience. Many people from all over wanted to help me. It was a good old fashion barn raising, or in this case i guess a blog raising. I have been hearing the crowd sourcing phenomena for some time and now i know why it is so popular.

My entrepreneurial spirit being what it is, I’m thinking a t-shirt of the title or a bumper sticker. What do you think?

[Photo via Allison J]

Filed Under: Advertising, Announcements, Marketing, Media, Social Media, The Site Tagged With: , , , , , ,

“So How Did You Get So Many Followers On Twitter?”

January 5, 2009 By 1 Comment

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I have been asked that a number of times and I have a specifically crafted response, “I follow everyone that includes social media expert in their bio.” The response has a certain tongue in cheek quality to it but it has more truth than anything else. Yes it is true, like falling out of boat you hit water and like pulling up a Twitter bio you see “social media.” There are experts, gurus, strategists, consultants, wizards, rock stars and many other titles associated with social media people and their listed professions. I often joke about my own title. I have called myself social media consultant as it seems to be the buzz phrase, but I used to be a blog consultant, and my running joke at present is side bar wigetizer expert. You can never tell which way that tide will take you.

My point to all of this is merely to state that it really matters not the number of followers but the quality of those followers. If you sell flowers or if your business is chocolate covered cherries, chances are you can find your own niche on Twitter and any other network. Heck, some of those niches have huge networks. Scrapbooking is a group that comes to mind and knitters. They have a huge niche. You can find like minded people using some of the apps available, I mentioned before using Mr. Tweet, and then there is Twellow, and some of the other apps you can use. The idea is to find people that have your interest.

The important takeaway from this is to make sure you put the information you want people to see in your Twitter bio and profile. If you want people to find you, your bio should be filled with the keywords or phrases that people are looking for or trying to find. A look at Twellow makes my point. Just so happens at the time of this writing there are 3800+ people that have made “social media” a searchable term. Also it just so happens I have just over 4000 people I am following. Actually, it is more a coincidence because I am also following lots of mothers and fathers and other niche’s, but if you want to find a specific person to follow on Twitter, say an underwater basket weaver, I can find one for you (Thanks to @zinkly for allowing this bit of humor, our sole listed Twitterer at the time I put this together).

People talk all the time about search and increasing your search rank and search marketing, are you being found through this source? Ask yourself that question and I hope your answer is yes.

[Photo by Sreejith K]

Filed Under: Advertising, Featured Articles, Findability, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Your Social Media New Year’s Resolution: I Can’t Help Everyone

January 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

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There are many people out there getting into shape this week. Those 2009 New Year’s resolutions are getting into full swing. This is a time for the local gym to be jam packed with new people. That new guy that has a large gut (yes I am raising my hand), and an unused sweat suit will be showing up full of vigor and ready to be the next calendar boy or Men’s Health magazine cover. He’ll go a few days and then the pain will set in and the monotony will start and suddenly the honeymoon is over. They have small result on the scale and they think “wow this is easy” or they think “boy, I have this exercise thing licked.” Then reality hits and they suddenly wonder why they are having to actually work at it. The scale quit moving, or they get busy doing other “more important” things.

This is very similar to the idea of social media and starting that as a business. Many business people have all said to themselves, “I need to start a social media program here.” They perhaps even make it a resolution for the new year.  

They do a little research and get all jazzed about how it is going to change the way they market, advertise and interact in their community of customers. It is going to save them in this dark and scary economy. The propaganda they have read, and yes I consider it nearly as bad as propaganda, tells them that their troubles are over. Start a blog and you can sit back and watch the needle move to the black, get on Twitter and Facebook and watch you bank account soar. Sure they get a little bit of a result in the beginning as anything that is new. They watched as their weight on the scale drops a bit, like the guy that cuts Christmas fudge out of his diet and gets on the treadmill (raises his hand again). Then as with the guy that started his exercise routine, it starts to get hard, and the results are not easily seen, and the monotony starts to get the better of them and they finally abandon the program going back to the old ways. Gone is the difficulty, and that lactic acid burn they means it might be hard again tomorrow.

I’m like that trainer in the gym that everyone seeks out in January only to cuss out in March as it gets more painful to continue. I’m everyone’s go to guy when they want to get started then suddenly I’m the enemy and that evil guy that keeps pushing them to keep posting on their blog or to make those comments in Twitter. Many of them don’t have the discipline for it. Like the person that sets out to be the latest cover of a magazine they end up abandoning the program. Those that start and quit are not uncommon. The one that sees it through are the ones that will be the cover of a magazine soon. Which are you going to be this year. Can we push through the hard part?

[photo via DryRot]

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Consulting, Blog Tips, Bloggers and Blogs, Bloggers For Hire, Business Blogging, Corporate Blogs, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Twitter Monitoring For Lead Generation and Sales – The Twitter Leads

December 8, 2008 By 2 Comments

One the best referrals I get from Google is my post on Google as a Lead Generator. I get many leads as a result of people simply searching on Google for the services I offer. I recently found others that are using online tools as a lead generator as well. Twitter.   leads.jpg

I am speaking at an event in Miami this week with Rick Calvert of Blog World Expo and Chris Brogan. We are doing a panel on using social media to help promote your convention or trade show. The event is IAEE which is the trade show or convention for the trade show and convention industry. I am looking forward to being in Miami while the snow falls here in Denver. I sent out a Tweet on Twitter about heading out to the city.

Anyone want to organize a Tweetup in the Miami area Wednesday night?

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Immediately upon sending out that Twitter I noticed that three new twitter followers were now following me. As is my norm I checked out these new followers and wanted to see their bio, where they were from and who they were following and speaking to on Twitter. Did i have anything in common with them, Should I be interested in following them on twitter as well? What I found was interesting. 3 out of the three new followers I had gained were from the hotel or travel industry in the Miami area. This is interesting because one of the followers had a pitch right in their bio. Coming to Miami? Check out our stuff. I am paraphrasing of course but this is a very interesting use of Twitter. They can quickly follow a user that sends out a tweet that contains a keyword they are interest in for instance “Travel Miami”. They set up a twitter search for that phrase and can quickly drill down and get a quick lead follow up to the person sending that Twitter. If I had been looking for perhaps their service, they are there and showing me what they have to offer. Chances are I might but their product or book travel through them or whatever the case might be.

I remember Robert Scoble talking about this when Marayam was pregnant with their child. He continued to ask why companies were not there looking for ways to sell him a stroller or to get him to sign up for their gods in a registry etc. This is doing exactly that. Using Twitter to generate a possible sale. I think this is an innovative way to do business. If they get a few sales or leads for sales using this method it makes sense. It is an inexpensive use of a social media tool.

[Pic via Glengarry Glen Ross]

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Tips, Findability, Marketing, Media, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Social Media Tools Like Twitter Can Be Tough To Implement

December 4, 2008 By 1 Comment

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I have been meaning to write this post for some time and continue to get sidetracked and have my ADD kick in which keeps me from writing (oh look something shiny). It wasn’t until Guy Kawasaki recently wrote a post on Twitter as a business tool or as he refers to it a Twool, that i decided I had to finally get words to a page.

I am referring to Guy’s post of a few days ago called “How To Use Twitter As A Twool.” I had to look twice to see if he spelled that correctly. Normally I do not disagree with Guy. He has about twice the brain power I have and it shows in his success and frankly his bank account. When he speaks people really do tune in and listen to his advice. He is one of the leaders in the world of tech and social media which is why I don’t often disagree with his blog posts. In this instance however, I have to say I think he misses the mark on a couple of things. Not because Twitter should not be used in business as part of your online social media arsenal, but because his advice comes from on high and not down in the trenches.

Guy has paid his dues early and has worked hard to garner the celebrity status he has today. He has launched a few online things that take off immediately just because it has his name attached to it. Some of his things are not too popular as in Truemors, but other things he has are quite cool and do well such as Alltop. I needed to preface my post with all of this because I have seen companies like Guy’s try to launch and get attention and hit below the mark. His companies get instant saturation because he is in the cool kids group. I struggle to help some companies not in the cool kids group get the traction they deserve and help with with the use of tools just like Twitter, which brings us full circle to my point (we had to get there sooner or later).

Guy provides 10 ways to use twitter as a business tool and I agree with nearly all of the points made but I wanted to clarify the point or flat out tell Guy he is wrong. The first of his 10 tips caught my attention immediately:

1. Forget the “influentials.” You must buy into the theory that products and services reach critical mass because mere mortals spread the word for you. This defies the common wisdom that a handful of “influentials” shape what the rest of us try and what we adopt. In the online world, these influentials include Mike “I can go a week without Twitter” Arrington, Robert Scoble, Seth Godin, and to some extent me.

Guy is very much correct in his opinion that mere mortals will make your business a success. The problem with that statement however is the fact that mere mortals do not have the accessibility to the information as much as the influentials like Guy and Robert Scoble and Mike Arrington and Seth Godin. It is easy for Guy to say I can’t make or break your company you have to have a product that doesn’t suck. Agreed Guy, but you have to have the ability for a mass amount of the little people to actually hear of your product and then you can sit back and watch the buzz begin. Not everyone has that luxury. I watched at Blog World Expo when you mentioned a company you were looking at everyone madly making a note to go and see what company you mentioned. Yeah, it was a cool company, but because you mentioned it, I actually had a chance to check them out. My advice is don’t discount getting the info to the people through a megaphone such as those influencers mentioned. It is the somebodies that get the information to the nobodies. I myself would never hear about some of the cool stuff in the tech world had it not been for Robert Scoble having access to things where I cannot get past the door. Yes, Robert Scoble is the Richard Grieco to me being a Butabi brother. This is a blog post unto itself (more to come).

Remember the Motrin debacle? It took a few of the influencers in the Mommy blogdom to get the ball rolling, then the army of the nobodies were able to take the ball and run. Actually that is not true completely as a nobody mentioned it to a somebody and then, well you know the outcome. Getting the influencers to light the fuse is a part of the equation Guy discounts in his post. I think it is one of the more important parts of the puzzle. Guy has never not been invited to the party. He has not stood on the street hoping his name is on “the list”.

I also wanted to touch on the third point Guy makes in his tips:

3. Get as many followers as you can. I recently explained what I do to get more followers. Click here to read about my methods. Ignore people who tell you that it’s the quality of your followers not the quantity. They’re trying to make friends, not use Twitter as a tool. And, truth be told, there are only two kinds of Twitter users: those that want more followers and those that lie. You can follow me here.

The reason you want more followers is the law of big numbers: the more followers, the more people talking about what you do, the more you can reach the tipping point. If you think you “know” exactly who can and will help you, you are deluding yourself.

realitycheck.jpg I purposely ignore those people on Twitter that don’t use the tool as it is intended. This is a fine line you must learn to walk. Guy seems to imply that getting followers is important, and it is (follow me here) but how you get those followers is more of the point. I get many people that follow me on Twitter and when I go to their twitter page they have perhaps 10 updates in the last 6 months or even not at all and they have 3000 people they are following and have about 100

people that have reciprocated that action. This is in no way using Twitter. You have to put a little effort into it to get anything out of it. Yes, Guy is correct, the more followers the larger the reach, but make sure you are not shelved as a Twitter spammer. Your influence will be ignored.

At the end of the day however, pay attention to Guy and what he has to say about things. He had a hard time with twitter at first and I must admit I unfollowed him and ignored any Twitter stream he had. He has since turned that ship around and really uses Twitter as a tool for his own business. I have read a book or two and the man is a genius when it comes to doing things right. Guy’s latest book is Reality Check and I don’t yet have my copy. I’m hoping I can get one of those checks soon.

[tool photo via flattop341]

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Consulting, Blog Platforms, Blogging Books, Findability, Marketing, Media, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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