I caught a conversation on Twitter today, between Lauren Fernandez, Mack Collier and Alison Heath that made me smile wryly. Built around the Twitter hashtag #buzzwordbingo, it looked at some of the most overused phrases in social media. Things like, “It’s all about the conversation” and “Pain points and point of need” amongst other examples. The funny thing is, these terms are used so often and yet even 12 months ago (or more) they were already being looked at as…

Social media often works best when using it to involve your local community, and new web show Local Joints TV does this really well. Hosted by my friend (and part of the 12for12k creative team) Darin Berntson, it’s a mix of entertainment, education and promotion. What’s cool about Local Joints TV is the way that it mixes offline businesses with the distribution of social media. Not only is it helping local businesses be highlighted, it’s showing them (and others like…

Catapults are a great piece of engineering. They can be small and simple enough for a child to use. They can be intricate and building-sized for an army to use. They can hit a target a few feet away. They can zone in on a target hundreds of feet way. Catapults are built to hit whatever you’re aiming for with the least amount of fuss. Couldn’t businesses benefit from more catapult builders?  

How are you offering value to your customers? How is your business doing it differently from your competitors and peers? Are you taking their service and adding a slight twist to it, or are you thinking of ways to separate you from the many other similar approaches that others are using? “Customers” doesn’t necessarily need to refer to people paying for your services, either. Customers could be readers of your blog; or connections on Twitter; or watchers of your YouTube…

Hi guys. Since you helped me immensely when I asked your views on a blog redesign (which will be unveiled soon thanks to Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer), I’d like to ask your views again, if that’s okay? Currently I have an account at Posterous, which I use for short and punchy thoughts. They’re mainly ideas and views that I always refer to as too little for blogging and too much for Twitter. They also helped provide the content for my…

I’ve been looking at a lot of businesses lately and watching with interest as they adapt (or don’t) to today’s business world. Some are managing the transfer (Coca Cola, Ford, Four Seasons), while others seem to be struggling (BP, Nissan, Nestle). And these are the big boys that should be able to provide the budgets to create a successful strategy – yet as BP, Nissan and Nestle show, that’s not always the case. So why are companies still struggling to…

The Berlin Wall was constructed for one simple reason; to divide East and West Germany. Built shortly after the Second World War, it was a symbol to separate cultures between Western Europe and what was known as the Eastern Bloc. Walls are solid objects, defined by their ability to separate two factions. They’re built to maintain the status quo. Windows, on the other hand, allow us to see the world around us and gain wisdom from it. Business could do…

My friend John Haydon posted an interesting status update on his Facebook profile. Short and simple, it said: “Dear Facebook user. Please don’t tag me in a photo or video unless I’m actually in the photo or video. Thanks.” And it stopped and made me think – are we now offering permission spamming for friends on social networks? The minute we sign up for a service like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc, we offer our details so we can find our…

Hi guys, Just wanted to give you a quick heads-up on access to the blog over the next couple of days. I’m in the process of switching web hosts from Hostgator to BlogOnCloud9. While I’ve been pretty happy with Hostgator, I’m finding that as my blog grows (and the other domains that I currently have live, as well as a couple that will be soon) I need a host that can grow with my needs. BlogOnCloud9 fits these needs, particularly…

As more businesses get used to social media and how they can utilize it for their needs, news aggregation and brand monitoring has become a key part of the puzzle. While there are a host of premium models available, including Radian6, Meltwater Buzz and the recently released IBM model, these can often be prohibitively expensive for smaller businesses. Then there are the free platforms, like Surchur, SocialMention and Trackur. The problem is, while these platforms offer great information, the way…