I happened upon this thought as I came across a Twitter account for the movie, Country Strong. The movie, starring Gwenyth Paltrow and Tim McGraw needs all the promotional help it can get, battling with heavy hitters like True Grit and Black Swan. It’s no wonder movie promoters look to Twitter and real-time interaction to boost ticket sales.

But, what happens when the movie is no longer in theaters and is nothing more than a rental box tenant? Do social media marketers continue to nourish the content being poured into this account? Do they delete it? Do they let it fade into dust?

This specific Twitter account does not make me curious as much as the notion that this is likely happening EVERDAY. Bad vH1 reality programming, pop artists, and other fads of entertainment are likely looking to engage with their audience via Twitter. I’ll go out on a limb and say there are thousands of Twitter accounts vacantly lying in the Internet stratosphere abandoned and neglected forever.

I’m not under the impression that this is good or bad, mostly I find it overwhelming. To me, social media is about perseverance and determination, as well as time and patience. With this reasoning, it’s curious that Twitter accounts are created and nurtured only for a matter of weeks, then sent off to the Twitter heaven in the sky.

The end of the year always makes me think differently about my business. Perhaps it’s the little bit of down time I afford myself with family during the holidays, the free-flowing wine and food, and the reflection that so easily comes with both. Or maybe it’s the realization that an entire year has just flown by me, a thought that always leaves me a little breathless.

Either way, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is usually one spent thinking critically about what I have accomplished in the previous 12 months, and thinking strategically about how I plan to spend the next 365 days. I write. I chart. I plan. I get very intentional about every area of my business, to make sure I understand what is working and what isn’t.

As we go into 2011, I hope you are thinking as strategically as I am about your own business. Evaluating your marketing. Examining where your time is going. Determining if what you have been doing is going to be the thing that gets you where you want to go, or deciding that you need to try something new. I hope you’ll stretch yourself. Find new opportunities for growth. Prepare yourself to become the business you want to be in this coming year.

I thoroughly enjoy helping our clients realize business success. I take great pride in the work we do each year that contributes to a bigger bottom line for your businesses, practices, and shops. Rest assured that as you think hard about what you want to accomplish in the coming year, we are primed and ready to help you get there.

Here’s to continued success and growth in 2011! Happy New Year to all of you!

There’s the “Who has deleted ya,” scam or the, “Did you see what this girl’s dad did,” scam, and even the, “OMG this video made me totally LOL,” scam. Social media addicts beware – there’s a scam for every day of the week, and there’s no sheriff in town.

Facebook does a fair job of reporting abuse that can harm user profiles. However, it is often too late. Common Facebook users (moderately tech-savvy 40-somethings) are click happy, and this often results in Facebook scams sweeping profiles before anyone realizes what has happened.

There is rarely any harm to these Facebook scams, as of late. Usually, people click on a link, it sends a link to all their friends’ profiles, and so on. However, scams are getting more intuitive and you never know when something is truly going to do damage to your hard drive. Word to the wise: if you’re not sure, don’t click it! 90% of Facebook scam “epidemics,” can be avoided if people use their street smarts. If it looks suspicious, or if you question it at all, do. not. click.

Do Facebook scams harm the social media experience? Do they make us less inclined to share with friends, family members, and acquaintances? Are we going to become so hardened by fear that Facebook and other social mediums will become as cold subway station glances? Let’s hope social media scams do not deter our innate desire to share with those we know.

I am always floored by the talk at the end of every year in regard to politics; especially how what goes on each December that will carry over into the following year. While taxes certainly affect each of us, I have discovered that what is best for me is to concentrate on what I have control over.  It is much more productive to evaluate myself and my business at the end of each year and identify what has worked and what has not worked throughout the previous year as well as to start the planning and strategies that I would like to implement in the next year.

Worrying about what Congress is going to do, to my knowledge, has never made me any additional money. I have and will continue to call my Congressman and/or Senator and put in my two cents but again, to my knowledge that has never changed my Congressman or Senators mind so I see no sense in making decisions based on what they do in Washington. What does make sense to me is to spend my time thinking about and discussing the things that directly impact my business so I can make changes that need to be made. Thinking ahead also allows me the advantage of being prepared for whatever comes down the pike; to be able to move swiftly and decisively when things change that will affect the business and this includes whatever ends up being passed in Congress in regard to taxes or anything else.

Snapshot decisions may change the way we search…but not really.

Many SEO and web development circles are up in arms about Google’s installment of the Instant Preview feature. When you search for something using Google, each search result will have a magnifying glass icon next to the search result.  Click on the magnifying glass to reveal a snapshot of the web page in the search result like this:

Some experts think this is the end of organic search, and the beginning of snapshot judgments that will hurt many websites and their rankings.  When considered, Google Instant Preview aligns itself with current web trends and user habits in order to make the web searching process faster and easier.

The Internet has made all users able to make fast decisions, and move on. We are constantly searching for the next great source of information, new innovative product, and best way to share pictures and videos with friends and family. The result? Shorter attention spans and less patience for searching, clicking, and scrolling.

Google Instant Preview takes this into consideration and allows users to view website layouts and basic information before navigating away from Google. Users won’t waste time clicking on a website if the Instant Preview shows any of the following:

• Not enough text
• Too much text
• No images
• Outdated design

The user experience is becoming more streamlined as a result of this, but it won’t drastically change the way websites are designed and outlined. Instead, website owners may be encouraged to keep their web design, content, and functionality up to date to attract web users instantly, and to retain their interest.

In short, Google Instant Preview does not revolutionize or even threaten the way we search. It simply recognizes the way we search the web in order to make it easier.

The Newbie

You’re just starting out your business – congratulations! This is a wonderfully exciting time where you get to figure out exactly what it is you want to say. So…what do you say? If you’re like most start-ups you likely don’t have a definitive voice connecting you to an audience or clarifying your presence.

One of the biggest mistakes I see new companies make is the error of fallacy.  Companies without a lot of experience often falsify their professional history, or sound bigger than they are in order to impress their audience. Don’t do that! While you don’t need to hang a, “I don’t know what I’m doing,” flag outside your door, you certainly don’t need to pretend you have a full staff when you and your business partner are conducting business in local coffee shops. (Editors note: there is nothing wrong with using coffee shops as your office.) After all, if you’re not starting out your business on a totally honest foot, aren’t you missing the point?

Fear not, newb. Your brand and identity are in there, waiting to be discovered. Consult your content professionals to discover the best way to display your expertise and business model, without overcompensating due to lack of experience. Together, you can exhibit your business in a way that’s both interesting, and appropriate.

The best way to reach your target is by being you.

Unless you are Superman or Wonder Woman (and we know she reads our blog.. hey there!), you’re going to require a helping hand now and then in generating the mountains of digital content expected of any thriving business with an online presence today.  You don’t have to hire content strategists like us, but it’s important to begin building a Content Dream Team that can crank out various multimedia, social and SEO/SEM content.

So, we asked ourselves, if we were stranded on a desert island, which three players would be indispensable in helping us generate our marketing content? (This is assuming that we would care about such things, being recently stranded on a desert island, and all…)  These are our answers:

1. The Multimedia Pro. This is the person who can easily and effortlessly crank out video after video from their cool iPhone4, and upload them to YouTube seconds after catching a poignant story moment in the office or out in the field.  Make no mistake, the person who is a natural for this role is the person who is already engaged with the technologies to make this sort of thing happen, and that means that this person is particularly hard to source.  If you’re lucky enough to have one on staff doing something else, then make it part of their job description to follow around people and get this content captured and published to share with your hungry public!
2. The Social Butterfly. I bet you never thought that the person who spends 2 hours a day on Facebook and Twitter while at work could ever prove to be an undiscovered asset to your company, huh? Well, maybe, maybe not. They’ve certainly proved how enticing and potent the medium can be.  And they certainly have an understanding of the workings of the various online social spaces.  But if they have an interest in helping you develop an authentic voice in those spaces, you may have just just hit pay dirt.  Ask them to give you a written proposal on how Facebook or Twitter could become a part of what they do for you on a daily basis.
3. The SEO/SEM Robot. Writing articles, blog posts, submitting a site to multiple directories, and increasing the number of inbound links coming to your site from good sources is the bane of most small business owners. Who has the time?  Well, if you can add someone who has a penchant for technical details and obscure strategies, it’ll take most of this tedious-yet-essential stuff off your plate.  The best person for this job is someone who finds the Zen in keyword research and loves to get lost in formulating vast charts and spreadsheets of links and potential links to go after.

So there you have it. It’s not going to be easy to find natural fits for each of these roles, but we cannot see how you’ll be able to keep the content coming in any meaningful quantities without them.