Why? Why ask why? Why not? Why make excuses? Why ignore what it is that will help you stop making excuses? Why stay where your dreams are suffocated? Why would you settle for less than anything than you believe in? Why be unhappy when you could be appreciated for what makes you…you? Well, because it’s [seemingly] easier. But, it’s not who you really are… It takes courage to follow your dreams, courage most cannot find, but that’s why you are…
Are you connecting with your new generation of customers…Generation C?
As you’ll no doubt read here over and over again, social media is important to your business. If you don’t engage on Twitter, Facebook, or Youtube, you’ll eventually go out of business. At least that’s what the experts will have you believe. Fear tactics are not so much as effective in business or defining customer relationships as they are at creating a sense of [contrived] controversy. I must be honest with you however. While social media is indeed a game…
Sephora Gets a Digital Makeover to Attract Connected Customers
One of the challenges marketers and strategists face today is understanding the difference between a success story and an example that has true business impact. With every story and through our own experience, we are learning about the transformation companies are undertaking to migrate from social brands to social businesses. One of the emergent trends that we will soon be tracking is the move from social to experiential where social media plays only one part in the greater production of…
5 Ways Strategic Social Media Can Help Small Businesses
I often write about enterprise organizations and global brands…essentially big businesses. This is the first in a series dedicated to small businesses. One of the biggest misconceptions about social media strategy is that only the big brands and enterprise organizations can afford success. The impression is bigger businesses have unlimited resources, people and budgets to execute on all new ideas. This is simply not true. Like in anything, people are focused on their jobs as they exist and anything new…
![Silicon Valley is Not a Place, It’s a Movement…and It Has a Story Behind the Story [video]](https://briansolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rev-owen2.png)
Silicon Valley is Not a Place, It’s a Movement…and It Has a Story Behind the Story [video]
Silicon Valley is a flashpoint for innovation and entrepreneurialism. But, what does Silicon Valley even mean these days? Silicon Valley technically spans the area in the southern San Francisco Bay Area including Santa Clara Valley, San Jose and southern East Bay. What Silicon Valley actually refers to in terms of geography seems moot in an economy when the idea of Silicon Valley is much bigger than the square miles it covers on a map. In reality, when people outside of…
![The Internet vs. Facebook in 10 Years [infographic]](https://briansolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Internet-Decade-Later-Infographic-63x1024.gif)
The Internet vs. Facebook in 10 Years [infographic]
When we take pause to appreciate where we are, we can truly appreciate just how far we’ve come. I recently stumbled across an interesting infographic as it made the rounds across the social web recently. Created by bestedsites.com, the graphic visualizes the meteoric rise of the Internet in just 10 years. For example, in 2002, the Internet boasted 569 million users, which represented 9.1% of the world population. In 2012, that number skyrocketed to 2.27 billion at 33% of the…
Is Zuckerberg to blame for Facebook’s slumping stock?
As an analyst, that’s the questions that I’m asked over and over again. In fact it was the same question CNN recently asked in its story last week on Zuckerberg, Facebook, and Wall Street. It’s a fair question to ask and CNN’s Heather Kelly wrote a balanced and thoughtful piece on the subject. While it’s only one of many discussions likely to happen, the truth is that Facebook must focus on its business, employees, and now also investors…regardless of technicalities, follies,…
![Why Brands are Becoming Publishers [video]](https://briansolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rev-deanna.png)
Why Brands are Becoming Publishers [video]
Is content still king? According to Deanna Brown, CEO, Federated Media Publishing, “Content, in the right context, is ultimately king.” Welcome to the evolution of publishing, where storytelling, advertising, and technology intersect. By having unhindered access to social and mobile media platforms, brands are experimenting with paid, owned, and earned media to reach connected consumers in their channels of relevance. As brands dabble in publishing, traditional marketing and advertising networks are also evolving. Federated Media is no stranger to the…
The Perception Gap: what customers want and what executives think they want [infographic]
In February, the team at Pivot released a revealing research report that documented the increasing gap between marketer and customers. I referred to this as the Great Divide or the “The Perception Gap,” the distance between what customers want in social media and what executives think they want. In collaboration with Barnickel Design, we’ve just released this infographic that visualizes the extent of the perception gap between social consumers and social businesses. Following this report and in many interviews I’ve…
The Hunt for Social Business Value
Guest post by Ashley Furness of Software Advice When Microsoft announced plans to buy enterprise social network Yammer recently I was a little stunned. The reported $1.2-billion acquisition price tag seemed like a lot for simply replicating social networking functions in the business environment. Would companies really achieve ROI? Or would it be more of a “distraction,” as one user told me? Still, Chatter Product Marketing Director Dave King told me in a recent conversation that “social is more than…
