BrandSeed

Developing a Social Media Strategy can be challenging today with so many options out there. I present here some of the building blocks that go into a strategy (I'll cover social media tactics in another blog). When it comes to developing social media strategies, there are two types of companies - those with a significant brand and those without. You'll often hear case studies on the successful use of social media in business - Dell, Domino's, Ford, Zappos, Starbucks... And yet these companies had solid brands to begin with. So for small businesses, a bit of a brand refresh might be in order. Establish your brand... full article »

The great thing about your Facebook Wall is that it's a wonderful way for both you and your friends to share information with others. Unfortunately, it can quickly get cluttered with e-flowers, gifts, pillows, and other such nonsense, that really don't add any value. If they were sent specifically to you, perhaps it could be seen as a nice gesture. But more often than not, someone has just blindly sent it to their entire address book, making their well wishes just a little bit disingenuous. The problem is, this social junk takes up valuable wall space and restricts good conversation. And like it or not, the appeara... full article »

By "work", what I really mean is "does it deliver a return on your investment of time and money". Your business needs to deliver shareholder value and social media already gets a bad rap for being a huge time waster. So does it really add any value and why? Like any other business function, social media does require an ongoing investment of time and money, but the financial returns are significant. Furthermore, social media represents a new way of doing business that is rapidly becoming the norm. Making Closer Connections Being a celebrity can certainly help you make connections, whether people have seen you ... full article »

I was introduced to the concept of precessional business models by Roger Hamilton, who several years ago was writing about the ideas of Buckminster Fuller. The idea struck a chord and has stuck with me ever since. A precessional effect is one in which an outcome occurs as the side effect of an objective. Contrast this with processional, in which the objective and outcome are the same. The now famous example of a precessional effect is the bee that seeks nectar and inadvertently pollinates flowers, producing large amounts of agricultural products for us. This kind of pollination is a side effect, in that the bee is ... full article »