The other day someone asked me where I think the future of social media in marketing is for 2010 and beyond. What an interesting question. Here’s my answer.
Accept and Embrace
As we enter 2010, I look around at budgetary predictions and the first thing I see is something awesome—social media has real money behind it. In 2010 eMarketer.com estimates 35 percent growth in conversational marketing spending over 2009, leading it to break the $1 billion mark for the first time. The [...]

Originally posted on huffingtonpost.com.
The inaugural One Young World summit that concluded on Wednesday in London wasn’t just a gathering of hundreds of tomorrow’s world leaders. Don’t get me wrong: The energy of the more than 600 delegates from 100-plus countries, the passion of their debates and the progress that their resolutions made toward finding solutions to problems such as economic injustice, climate change and excessive corporate power were all substantial and meaningful.
But the leadership summit wasn’t just about the delegates [...]

Originally posted on huffingtonpost.com.
Every generation assumes it has been handed the world’s problems because the one that preceded it didn’t quite master the agenda. In the rebellious 1960s, the baby boomers demonstrated noisily against established powers and ideas. But in the case of today’s energetic and engaged 20-somethings—the Real-Time Generation—I think assuming responsibility isn’t as much about disappointment in prior leadership (although there’s certainly cause for that) as it is about the power of the new tools. Thanks to the [...]

Originally posted on eurorscgpr.com/blog.
In the world of high-end editorial fashion, print magazines are revered and respected for their wit, honesty and credibility—and probably the most highly so is Vogue, with Anna Wintour at the helm. But despite the editor’s and the magazine’s reputation, it couldn’t avoid editorial layoffs late last year. Vogue was just one among several Condé Nast publications that lost staff members (the company also folded Cookie and the stalwart Gourmet in 2009).
Still, the fashion industry is largely [...]

I’ve worked with bloggers for some time now, and I even discuss work with them during off-hours so I can constantly improve on my strategies. One thing I’ve noticed that many bloggers have in common: pet peeves having to do with PR professionals. Some are so common they shouldn’t even be occurring, but our industry will always have those who choose to not evolve. So here, gleaned from my research, is a list of eight PR pet peeves:
8. Proofreading, or [...]

There is more being written about social media than any other marketing topic today. And with good reason: Social media has turned out to be a powerful determinant of a brand’s success.
Before a company ventures into the social media arena, however, it pays to take a look at what others before them have done in the space. Recently, I did a study on the social media strategies of organisations and found that they were using them at four key levels:
1. [...]

This is the third in a series of three.
My last two posts addressed social media, present and future. The social media thought leaders we spoke with also had some notions about the social Web’s global impact:
George Gallate, global chairman, Euro RSCG 4D:
“Social media has made fundamental changes to the community. Huge effect on children all around the world.”

This is the second in a series of three.
In my last post, I shared some of what social media thought leaders have to say about the state of the social Web now. Here are their predictions for the future:
B.L. Ochman, president, Whatsnextonline.com:
“I think in the next five years, we’ll see a lot of companies get on the train or they’ll be left behind.… Companies will fall off the map when they refuse to be involved with what’s going on around [...]

This is the first in a series of three.
We just finished conducting one-on-one interviews with some of the brightest minds in the social Web. Here are some of their insights, which we shared with our general managers yesterday in Paris. Check in tomorrow for more of what these leaders have to say.
B.L. Ochman, president, Whatsnextonline.com:
“For big corporations, this stuff is still very scary…. Anyone who is a consultant must tackle fear.”
“A lot of companies should take their websites down, because [...]

Cause marketing is one of the biggest trends shaping our industry these days, right up there with social media. Can the two work together? Can social networking support social responsibility?
A growing chorus of advocates would say yes. (I count myself among them: I spearheaded Tweet to ReMIND, a Twitter-based fundraising effort for the Bob Woodruff Foundation that brought in more than $172,000 for helping wounded military personnel transition back into society.) USA Today reported earlier this year about a new [...]