We’ve been asked over and over again by small business owners whether or not they should get involved with this recent social media marketing frenzy. The answer is always the same: Yes, and for several important reasons. Let me begin by stating that social media marketing is becoming a necessity for all types of businesses. It’s no longer a question of whether or not to get involved with the game, but “how” to get involved.  The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business tracked the relationship between social media and small businesses and found that the technology adoption rates in the U.S. have doubled in the past ye

  I don’t talk about social media tools very much anymore. Before I started my own agency, I had a lot more time to read about shiny new objects, but it was one of the things that I cut out very quickly when my time suddenly became much more valuable than it once was. I don’t think I’m alone there. It’s not that I totally ignore the space now. I’m just much more judicious about what tools I try, use, review or even talk about. The litmus test is that they have to make my life easier. Otherwise, they’re just more noise. A few months back, a guy named Mike Potter emailed me out of the blue and asked if he could sho

At a local business conference, I made some predictions on how companies will change their view on social media in 2011. 1) Websites will begin to integrate social media functionality back onto their own domains. 2) Businesses will hire more mature social media specialists 3) Executives will demand better measurement on their Some investments 4) Word of Mouth marketing will be the key channel, innovations around WOM will occur 5) Video reaches it’s tipping point and every small business will invest some capital in production View the slides: 2011 Social Media predictions  

Pay Per Click For Local Business Only.  This is Very BIG and Coming Soon. Google is testing a new pay per click advertising program tailored only for local businesses.  It is a PPC system giving businesses the ability to advertise their Google Places (Maps) position.  You have probably noticed lately that when you do a local search and the map comes up, that the map is on the top right corner of the page, and instead of the top 7 listings being inside the map, they are now each featured individually all along the main section of the page, where the top 10 “organic listings” were previously placed. The organic (natural, unpaid res