By Josh Cline

As technological innovations occur at an ever-increasing rate, marketers often develop unrealistic expectations because they think that each new gadget or medium has made all of the previous communications strategies obsolete.

Far from it. For example, social media is a form of public relations and not some heaven-sent technology that has changed everything, and as such, it and other online-marketing methods need to incorporate traditional best-practices from the beginning. It is crucial not to throw decades of communications knowledge out the digital window. Companies today need to ignore the so-called “hype cycles” that occur in all new marketing mediums and methods, instead understanding that classic communications theory never changes.  Read more...

By Josh Cline

Over the past five years, many public-relations professionals (some have called them publicists) became “social-media gurus” overnight, writing books and helping to spin what social-media marketing and SEO allegedly really are. Then, they became “digital-marketing specialists” or gave themselves other titles. Eventually, many woke up and realized again that, in the end, they are still marketing and communication specialists. Several have written three or more books since 2007 to regain their places as true marketing professionals.  Read more...

Note: This is the third part in an ongoing series. Parts one and two.

By Samuel J. Scott

Social media is all about the “social.” On Twitter, you want to converse not only with influencers and journalists but also with current and potential customers. On LinkedIn, you want to brand both yourself and your company as experts in your particular sector while still participating in group discussions and LinkedIn Answers.

On Facebook, however, the rules have changed. Now, the social-network giant has set its sights on establishing its monetary benefits. (More on that later.)  Read more...

By Samuel J. Scott

Has your company ever put out a job opening for a social-media manager and then received countless resumes for people with experience as community managers – or vice versa? You’re not alone. Many people – and even many businesses – mistakenly think that the two are merely different phrases that mean the same thing.  Read more...

By Allison Seifert

Facebook is not just for relating with friends and family – companies that operate in the B2C services sector including hotels and restaurants need to invest in the social network as part of a long-term strategy to have a feedback platform that relates with customers as well. But too many businesses are not using Facebook for customer service effectively – if at all.

Entrepreneur writer Mikal E. Belicove recently reported on a study by STELLAService that discovered that only seven out of twenty companies in its analysis answered customer-service questions on Facebook within forty-eight hours. As Brian Person rightly observes at SocialFresh:  Read more...

Note: This is the second part in an ongoing series. Part one and three.

By Samuel J. Scott

In the first part in this series, I introduced how I have been using holistic, integrated marketing to build and market a personal, hobby website of mine at night entitled Buffy the Vampire Slayer Online that aims to sell advertising and merchandise. (Yes, it is a website of the 1990s cult-television show because I have been a fan ever since I first saw it in college.)  Read more...

By Samuel J. Scott

Note: This is the first part in an ongoing series. Part two and three.

If you are using a social-media marketing strategy without a corresponding content-marketing one, you are most likely wasting your time. As different parts of the Internet increasingly affect and influence each other in marketing terms, it is also increasingly important to use an integrated strategy that incorporates these numerous factors.  Read more...

By DeeDee Rudenstein

In 1982, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) adopted the following definition of “public relations” that had remained in place until this month: “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” (For even-earlier definitions, you can see Wikipedia.)

On March 1, PRSA announced a new definition after a lengthy debate and vote by public-relations professionals: “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” The organization describes the new definition thusly:  Read more...

By Daniel Goldstein

Unless you have been living under a digital rock, you probably know the increasing importance of social-media marketing to your business both today and in the future. However, it is important to know that social media is not a panacea – it is not a magic bullet that will get you a quick million dollars in sales in return. If it were, then every business would be successful within weeks of creating a Facebook page or Twitter account.  Read more...

By Samuel J. Scott

If you follow marketing news, you have probably heard of national brands launching large social media campaigns like Kohl’s and Target on Facebook and Radio Shack and Nestle on Twitter. Still, it is very easy to use social media for business even if you just have a local store.

In Boston, where I lived for nine years, one of the most-famous pizzerias is Santarpio’s in the neighborhood of East Boston. If you live in Eastie – as Bostonians call it – and order delivery from somewhere else rather than take-away from Santarpio’s (pictured), your neighbors will think that you are crazy or have bad taste in pizza.  Read more...