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By Paul Lavoie on May 16, 2011 http://www.fastcompany.com/pics/12-examples-why-doubt-innova tions-secret-ally#0 Although he lives in a world where he is shunned by pop song lyricists, grandmothers, big-box shoppers, house cats, classic rock radio programmers, and all left-brain-thinking people, Doubt continues to throw dynamite at history and use his outlaw thinking to move us all forward. Some love him. Others hate him. But nobody ignores him. In the following excerpts from Doubt: Unconventional Wisdom From The World's Greatest Shit Disturber by Paul Lavoie, the cofounder and chair of ad agency TAXI, we learn why that all too common emotion can lead to uncommon results. FUZZY LOGIC: BECAUSE LIFE ISN'T BLACK AND WHITE Most of the structures that underpin our society are based on a system of logic that remained virtually unchallenged since Aristotle's time. In its practical, concrete way, it insists that things are either true or false, with no room for contradiction...

by Hubspot http://www.hubspot.com Monitoring your social media presence is incredibly important - but many business owners and marketers are concerned it will take too much time. You don't need a whole team devoted to social media monitoring - with some tools and these free tips, even one single person can keep an eye on your social media presence. Cover these 5 steps over a cup of coffee and you'll build social media into a healthy daily inbound marketing routine! 1) Check Twitter for chatter about your company ( 2 minutes ): Use tools like TweetDeck or Twitter Search to monitor conversations about your company in real-time. 2) Scan Google Alerts ( 1.5 minutes ): Check Google Alerts for your company name, products, executives or brand terms. To set this up, enter your search terms in a Google Alert and select to receive updates as they happen or once daily. Now, when people blog about your products, an alert will be sent to your inbox. You can read the ar...

By Chris Nerney, Network World July 25, 2011 12:02 AM ET What one enterprise may consider a fantastic tool for building its business, another may determine to be a threat to the bottom line. Both are right, depending on how social media tools are used by their employees. Here are some ways social media can help your employees be more productive, along with some ways it accomplishes the exact opposite. 1. Employees can find information they need faster The Internet has made more information available to more people than ever before. There's tremendous value in that. However, there's a downside: The Internet firehose can make it extremely difficult to quickly and easily find solutions to problems, even when a user does a specific search. After all, when you "Google" something, you don't get just one answer; you get pages and pages of search results. And they're not necessarily ranked in order of value to you. This often leaves users wading through se...

By Christopher Elliott | June 29, 2011 http://www.bnet.com/blog/customer-management/google-could-revolutionize-customer-service/650?promo=713&tag=nl.e713 Even though we don’t know a lot about Google+, the fledgling social media initiative that launched Tuesday, one thing is certain: If only half of the promised features are widely adopted by Internet users, it could change customer service forever – and for the better. I know, I know. Google has made several failed attempts at social networking, including Buzz and Wave. But this could be different. Many of the early reviews say Google got it right this time. I’ve spent this morning reading them, and they’re almost all positive. I’ve also been kicking the tires on the new social network. You can find me right here. As a consumer advocate, I’ve watched social media level the playing field for customers – just yesterday, I discussed the implications of Customer 2.0, for example – and overall, I believe Google+ has the potential to lev...

Web Copywriting Checklist: 16 tips for writing effective website copy by Herman Drost Most website owners focus on getting traffic to their sites to generate sales, leads or subscribers. They figure the more traffic you receive the more sales you will make. This is only partially true because you still need to convert the traffic into buyers. Focusing your efforts only on getting traffic is like throwing mud at a wall. Some of it will stick. Your web copy must be able to convert visitors into buyers. 16 Tips for writing effective website copy 1. What’s your USP? Your unique selling position is what makes your website stand out from your competitors. When a person first visits your website they need to understand its purpose within the first paragraph. If it’s not clear to them they’ll leave and go elsewhere. 2. Stress the benefits Most people visiting your site ask “what’s in it for me” therefore provide the main benefits of your products or services within the first few paragraphs. Do...

Soren Gordhamer is the organizer of the Wisdom 2.0 Conference , which brings together staff from Google, Facebook, Twitter and Zynga with others to explore living with awareness and wisdom in our modern age, at the end of February in Silicon Valley. He is SorenG on Twitter. The age of social media is not just changing our personal lives, but is increasingly affecting how business is conducted. No longer satisfied with strictly top-down models that view employees as cogs in a system, businesses are quickly adapting to a new paradigm that emphasizes connection, collaboration and innovation. When people in companies and teams feel engaged, the benefits are significant. Towers Watson (formerly Towers Perrin), the global professional services firm, interviewed 90,000 employees in 18 countries, and found “companies with high employee engagement had a 19% increase in operating income and almost a 28% growth in earnings per share. Conversely, companies with low levels of engagement sa...

Posted by John Jantsch http://www.marketingnewz.com/2011/05/17/what-is-a-marketing-strategy-and-how-can-i-get-one/ Ask a new business owner what his marketing strategy is, and he will most likely say “sell as many products as possible to as many people as possible.” While optimism is a good quality in an entrepreneur, this definition is a recipe for disaster. When you are unclear whom you are trying to reach, you will stumble from one marketing tactic to another, diving into Facebook with zeal one week, Tweeting like a fool the next, and, in a final act of desperation, pitch your friends and neighbors as if you were a teenager begging for a last-minute date to the prom. An effective marketing strategy defines: • the detailed profile of the ideal person you are trying to reach (age, profession, gender, race, income level, hobbies, political views, attitude) • their hopes, fears, needs, desires, challenges and problems • the particular places where they hang out in person or online • the...