Twitter For Business

In the world of B2B marketing, there exists a Great Chasm.

On one side of the Great Chasm live the business owners of the Past. They believe that "marketing" simply describes the staff who oversee networking and sales proposals. On this side of the chasm, marketing is a series of tactics, tools, and a list of chores to be completed. Marketing is a necessary evil in this land, and it’s too expensive to be done any other way.

On the opposite side of the Great Chasm live the firms of the Future. These businesses are passionate about marketing. They see marketing as a way of engaging with clients,...

Social media has been described in a lot of ways--but when done properly, it can become an art.

Just a few years ago, a simple presence on Facebook meant a company was "doing social media." Without much strategy, rhyme, or reason, a company was “hip” if they were on the one social media channel. Now companies that are serious about social media have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Vine, and more. But with more and more companies entering these channels, brands have to do more than just "be there" to be successful. It takes some social creativity to break through...

Repurposing content can be an enormous time and sanity-saver for marketers struggling to scale content production. It takes a lot of pressure off non-marketers within your organization who aren’t natural writers, and ensures content relevancy when previously successful content is repurposed.

There are, however, a few common pitfalls that can get you into trouble.  Follow these guidelines to save time and avoid headaches when repurposing content:

1. Am I really repurposing?
It’s important not to confuse repurposing with reusing or redistributing content. 

A common trap marketers fall into...

1. Foursquare's Awesome Virtual Map / Time Machine 

Kind of creepy, just not really creepy.

The animation flies you around all those haunts you've visited in times past, served up in a lovely 3D effect that you can autoplay to your heart's content. You can zoom in or out of its map showing all the places you've been, checking out each of your check-ins. The interface helpfully provides places Foursquare has recommended for you as well. (via Mashable) 

2. Apple is Back, Jack

- WDDC (Apple's Wordwide Developers Conference) was this week and it looks like the technology power brand has some kick...

In recent years, the explosion of social media has left savvy Internet-goers with choices far beyond Facebook. If you're just about tweeted out, one strong option to consider for promoting your small business is Instagram. With roughly 100 million users, it's a viable method for getting the word out about your organization. Unlike other social media giants, Instagram doesn't focus on a full website; it's mainly available via smartphone app - and if your target audience is smartphone savvy, then you should be too. Follow these tips to help get your Instagramming efforts kickstarted today:

1....

Last week Facebook launched Verified Pages to a select set of close business partners, now following their Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ counterparts. And as every social media brand manager (myself included) rushed to figure out how to get that oh-so-valuable checkmark, many found themselves on the outside looking in. Facebook has stated that they've chosen this select group based on their risk of being impersonated on Facebook.

So now what? There are plenty of blog posts, opinions, and status updates critical of Facebook for not opening this more broadly.  But even if your brand is not among...

Social media has been around for more than a decade, and most businesses have come to realize that social can (and should) be an important part of their marketing program. At the same time, marketers continue to struggle with with how to fully leverage—or even understand—the ever-changing world of social media marketing.

Finding and installing a social media management product isn't enough. You need a thorough understanding of how to launch, grow, and innovate your social media programs.

Look no further! ExactTarget Social Media Services can provide you with proactive support, a pragmatic...

Over the next several weeks, we will be sharing guest articles from experts in the realm of content marketing. This week, Jeb Banner writes.

Jeb is CEO of SmallBox, an Indianapolis web design and marketing company. He is also a co-founder of the Speak Easy, a local co-working space. He is happily married to his wife, Jenny, and they have three amazing daughters.

I attended a local tech panel recently and was starting to space out when ExactTarget's CMO Tim Kopp said something that caught my attention: "Serving is the new selling." It reminded me of something my buddy Kevin Bailey from Slingshot...

When the quirky and soulful independent hit Garden State was released in 2004, it captured the hearts of audiences around the world and helped creator and star Zach Braff gather a social following any marketer would salivate over. 

However, it is the way that Braff is utilizing this audience for his follow-up project "Wish I Was Here" that is really capturing the attention of marketers.

Braff took the unusual step of funding his new project through crowd-funding platform Kickstarter two weeks ago. The project has over 37,000 backers at the time of writing and over $2.5 million pledged already...

Over the next several weeks, we will be sharing guest articles from experts in the realm of content marketing. This week, Josh Miles writes.

Josh Miles is principal and founder of Miles Design, a branding firm specializing in branding and website design for professional services and software firms. Josh is the author of the new Content Marketing Institute book Bold Brand: The New Rules for Differentiating, Branding, and Marketing Your Professional Services Firm.

“It will look like you guys are on everywhere, even if you’re not.”

Our media buyer always had a way of helping our clients make the...

You’ve all read the stats and seen the infographics: consumers are awash with technology, and mobility is leading the charge. Many marketers already have mobile marketing strategies in place--but for those who don’t, now is the time to prioritise. It’s no longer a matter of just being mobile-friendly. You have to think mobile first.

Remember, you’re up close and personal

Consider how you use your phone. You keep it in a special case, use it to take and store personal photos and communicate with loved ones. You work with it. You play with it. Heck, most of us even sleep with it! The smartphone...

Mastered the basics of marketing automation? If the answer is yes, I'm guessing you've already begun reaping the rewards of your initial automation efforts. I'm also surmising that your CRM system is busy collecting plenty of customer and prospect data, and you're actively engaged on multiple social channels. At this point, you might even have a little extra time in your schedule to dive into your RSS feed, or take a longer smoothie break.

You're off to a good start.

That being said, there's always more to learn about the complex clockwork of marketing automation. Take your knowledge to the...

Content marketing, likely because of the term, is often viewed as a function of the marketing department. However, some of the best content marketing is produced by the president or CEO of a business.

The president of a company understands the business and product fully and has the end in mind in all activities. The end is serving customers. For those of you scared of the word “sales,” you actually have to make one to have a customer.

This doesn’t mean that content marketing is reserved for the president or CEO. What this means is that content marketers, their prospective customers, and their...

Twelve organizations - Best Buy, Ford, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, JetBlue, Intuit, Meetup.com, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Robert Verdi, Inc., Rotary International, Sprint and Waterford Wedgwood USA - have joined an innovative program we’re calling the CoTweet Cohort.

During a six-month period, the companies will use the CoTweet platform as a primary tool for communicating through Twitter and will participate in an ongoing discussion regarding opportunities and best practices for leveraging social media to further business objectives.

The CoTweet Cohort allows participants to share...

Startup Helps Companies Such as Whole Foods, Starbucks, JetBlue, Ford, Microsoft and Others Manage Brand Presence on Twitter

San Francisco, Calif. — July 9,2009 — CoTweet today announced it has raised $1.1M in venture funding from a group of high-profile investors including Baseline Ventures, Founders Fund, First Round Capital, SV Angel, Maples Investments and Freestyle Capital - social media heavy hitters whose prior investments include Facebook, Twitter, Google, Digg and Yammer, among others.

CoTweet is a web-based collaboration platform that helps companies reach and engage customers in...

I’m excited to share the news that CoTweet has formed a partnership with Dachis Group to deliver social business solutions to enterprises.

Dachis Group is a new type of technology solutions firm. It was created in 2008 by Jeffrey Dachis to help large corporate enterprises unlock the value of social technologies to do business better. The firm takes a holistic approach to its client engagements, combining advisory services along with technology implementation across three practice areas: customer participation, workforce collaboration and business partner optimization. Today, Dachis Group...