Read Time: (10 - 15 Minutes)

When hiring someone to be in charge of your company’s social media presence, there are things that you can teach, and things you can't.

The key is knowing the difference between the two and hiring someone that has the potential to be a rock star for your company’s entire online presence from the get-go.

In other words, don’t try and fit a square peg into a round hole.

In this post I’m going to show you the same step-by-step process we use at Biquitous to attract the very best talent that will completely eliminate your frustration with finding and hiring the right social media manager for your company.

Step 1: Start With A Top Down Approach

Before this process begins, you need to first understand the fundamental issue that speaks to the essence of not only what social media is, but the core of every single person working for your organization.

Essentially there are things that you can teach and things that you can't.

What we have learned in our time hiring, training and utilizing various social media managers is that there are traits that certain positions must have that are naturally hard-wired only within certain people.

From a fundamental level, it’s probably not wise for your introverted CFO, your tech-averse product manager, or someone on your outside sales team, to be the face of your social media presence if it’s simply not in their DNA.

So, for a social media manager you should look for someone who is:  ...Read More >>

Most websites fail miserably at the only thing they were ultimately designed to do: Generate sales.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on where your website stands, most websites fail because of one simple reason:

They were created BACKWARDS.

Let me explain what I mean with the graphic below from a leadership perspective (a graphic on the technical perspective follows later in the post):

(Click on image to enlarge)

(Note: Please feel free to use any original image in this post on your website, just link back to this post as the original source.)

You see, what often happens is that in a rush to get a website on the Internet and start branding, selling or collecting customer information, a business and the leaders responsible for that website, don't take the time to ensure that they are creating a sustainable and highly converting Internet presence.

Let's call this the "Ready, Fire, Aim" approach vs. "Ready, Aim, Fire" -- with an extra "Fire" thrown in the mix.

• Ready: We need a website... (Mild panic)
• Fire: We need more traffic! (Panic level rises)
• Fire Again: Wait, the traffic isn't converting, we need more conversions! (Really panicked)
• Aim: Sigh...we need to redesign our entire online presence. (Resignation)

So What Goes Wrong?

This is a classic case of basic human nature rearing its ugly head on a broad scale.  ...Read More >>

Read Time: (5 Minutes)

I woke up the other day to the sound of a commercial...

It caught my attention because it had a little old lady talking about how she "puts that sh*t on everything".

The "sh*t" she was talking about is Frank's Red Hot sauce, and it not only caught my attention, but it made me laugh hysterically.

Here's a video clip of one of the ads (the radio spot is a bit different):

Here's another short spot that will lift your spirits and make you laugh:

UPDATE:

Frank's has since released additional commercials -- they are nowhere near as good as the old ones, but play off of the new love affair with dating apps and a new take on spiking the punch:

So let's talk about what the company did RIGHT with their offline and online marketing initiatives (as well as their website) and also look at what they did WRONG because inevitably, there are always things that could be done better or are being neglected, that a company can improve upon and that we can learn from.

And while Frank's did a lot right, they also made some key mistakes that you can and should learn from.

 ...Read More >>

(Read Time: 5 Minutes)

Delta Airlines and Twitter just saved my trip -- yeah, I'm as shocked as you are!

I had read about how large Fortune 500 companies were using Twitter for customer service, outreach and for more than just to "engage" -- which I previously wrote was a bad idea in and of itself.

But what I hadn't yet experienced is the power of social media -- specifically Twitter -- when I needed it the most.

Here's a lesson in customer service, social media, and how your company can use this powerful medium to actually get real work done and increase profits, not just waste time.  ...Read More >>

(Read Time: 3 Minutes)

Wow, what a "disaster" the latest "Got Milk" marketing campaign turned out to be!

I put "disaster" in quotes because the company behind the controversial ads -- who created a tongue-in-cheek campaign showing how drinking “milk can help reduce the symptoms” of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) -- received such a backlash from the Internet, that they had to remove the website created for the sole purpose of making this campaign go viral...

Go figure!

The California Milk Processor Board in conjunction with their ad agency, San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, launched a new social media campaign designed for guys to poke fun at something we've all dealt with directly or indirectly at one time or another.

The ads featured pictures of guys holding milk cartons looking quizzically and remorsefully at the camera (presumably at their wives/girlfriends/significant others) with sayings such as:

I'm sorry for the thing -- or things -- I did or didn't do.

and

I'm sorry for listening to what you said -- and not -- what you meant.

Here's a couple more:

To me, the ads were clever, funny, witty and definitely served their purpose: to make the micro-site (everythingidoiswrong.org - now inactive) go viral and utilize social media to do the marketing for them.

And man did it ever work...  ...Read More >>

(Read Time: 5 - 7 Minutes)

Lately things have gotten insane when it comes to Social Media.

You've got the big 4:

• Facebook

• Twitter

• YouTube

• LinkedIn

You then also have Google+ hot on their heels, as well as a whole host of targeted and niche sites that have started cropping up.

Heck even Google and Bing are using social media for search engine rankings now!

No kidding!

In light of this, I wanted to share with you what the top 5% of SUCCESSFUL companies are doing with their social media presence to actually make real profits via social media, rather than just gain "followers", which is a rather quaint and outdated notion that can actually hurt your business.  ...Read More >>

(Read Time: 5 Minutes)

Your company can learn a lot from Charlie Sheen...

By now you've probably heard and seen more than you care to about Charlie Sheen.

Except this: He's a freakin' genius!

Seriously!

Now, I don't know whether or not his "genius" was preordained or whether he just got "lucky" but you cannot deny the juggernaut that is Charlie Sheen.

What does this have to do with Internet marketing and your business?

That's the easy part:  ...Read More >>