Posts

What the Dalai Lama Could Learn from Fast Company

“Is it wrong to hide the Dalai Lama’s posts?” I asked on Facebook a couple of years ago. “They’re just so frequent.”* I wonder if Tenzin Gyatso saw this recent profile in Fast Company, which featured Rufus Griscom talking about how to build online communities around your content. We liked what RG had to say. […]

Why Does This Little Girl’s Blog Have Over a Million Visitors?

Nine-year-old Martha Payne started a blog last month analyzing her school lunches. Boring, right? But, with over a million visitors in just six weeks, she has something to teach the likes of Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver. Why is her blog so successful? She pretty much sums it up in her profile: “My dad says […]

What a Simple Paper Sign Can Teach Us About Effective Marketing

As anyone who reads our blog knows, my entries feature a reference to Diesel Café approximately 33% of the time. Why? As a small business owner, I really appreciate when other small businesses get it right. (Also, I go there a lot.) And Diesel routinely nails it. So it’s no surprise that when they upped […]

Oh, Social Media, How Far You’ve Come

I always have a tough time committing to day-long seminars. But when I managed to finagle a free ticket to the New England Direct Marketing Association’s Marketing Technologies & Tactics Summit, I decided to go. Good decision. As you’d expect with an event like this, there was plenty of talk about social media. (Session titles […]

Thoughts on “A Glimpse Into the Future of Marketing”

Earlier this week, I shared some thoughts on a session I attended at last week’s FutureM conference. Here are a few things I picked up from another panel discussion, “A Glimpse Into the Future of Marketing.” Learn to listen better, not just talk. Chris Brogan (president, New Marketing Labs) is The Man when it comes […]

Social Media Tips and Insight from Lewis Howes, LinkedIn Expert

Recently we gave you some basic tips for improving your LinkedIn profile. Now we’ve brought back LinkedIn expert (and Ohio native) Lewis Howes for some advanced strategies. What’s the biggest mistake people make when creating their LinkedIn profile? Forgetting that LinkedIn is a social network, and that social comes first. Uploading your résumé once and […]

Five Things I Learned: “5 Ways to Measure Social Media Marketing Success”

Kudos to Anna for getting her act together and finally checking out the 2010 Social Media Summit. It had been on my to-do list too. But with the series finale of Lost, the Boston Celtics charging through the playoffs and my countless charitable endeavors, I just couldn’t find the time. Until last night, that is. […]

Are Twitter and Facebook Headed for a Fall?

Social media is supposed to be red-hot, right? Not so fast. According to a pair of recent articles, two of the giants of social media may have trouble ahead. Although Anna tweets (as do dozens of other people I like or admire), I’ve never been a big fan of Twitter. In certain cases, it can […]

Well, it’s about time!

These days we’re all about SoMe here at The Hired Pens. No, not as in “Girlfriend, you have got to let me borrow your fuchsia goulashes — they are SO ME!” SoMe as in “the new, in-the-know way to abbreviate ‘Social Media.’” And as I learned at the recent New Marketing Summit, if you’re not […]