What does real engagement mean? A change of mindset.

Engagement is a term that has been used so much in the last couple years by marketers it's starting to loose it's meaning. It's become a shorthand for do something "social." But engagement at it's best is an emotional involvement or commitment between two parties. Unfortunately, commitment is something many…

Halfway-serious webvertising predictions for 2010

Most predictions are either easy, safe, or just wrong. So why not add a few more to the list? I dare you to go on the record on which ones of these are wrong. Mobile Web will become even bigger. The kids will continue to text at an alarming rate…

How’s your online personal brand doing? Or what we can learn from Tiger Woods.

This train wreck that's been happening on all the gossip sites, new channels, and sports outlets should be driving two things home to everyone who lives in the digital age. There is no privacy and can't control your personal brand. So what if you're not Tiger Woods with millions of…

It takes more than a wow to keep people excited

Image by danorbit. via Flickr The latest technology to get people all hot and bothered in mobile web marketing is augmented reality. Because the technology is so new we don't require any creativity from the people employing the medium other than than just using it proficiently. This is going to…

When employees tweet their mouth off

You knew it would happen. An employee was gonna blow a gasket on Twitter. So now you're thinking maybe this social media thing needs to be clamped down on. And just when it was starting to pay off too. Well did you plan for when the implosion happens? You've got…

Return to Normalcy?

Warren G Harding ran for president for promising a "return to normalcy." The word normalcy didn't sound normal back then either. But his slogan did tap into the uncertainty and rapid change of the time. They'd just gone through a war in which the rules had changed thanks to a…

Nobody Knows Everything

I was talking with a group of social media folks about metrics the other day and it made me think of a famous quote by William Goldman, the Hollywood screenwriter "Nobody knows anything." Goldman was talking about how nobody in Hollywood knows if a movie is going to do well.…

New Media Atlanta and the BackNoise controversy

My first experience with BackNoise ever was three weeks ago at the New Media Atlanta conference. BackNoise is a website that allows people watching an event to provide a running commentary of what is happening. They can do it anonymously or, if they choose, comment using their name. What this…