VIEW ARTICLES FROM AUTHOR

3 Steps to Leadership with Social Media - A Perspective for Brands

  • February 27 2012
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

This past week, a colleague asked me if I could help out her friend with some social media advice for her legal business. The first questioned that was asked was, “How should I use Facebook?” In other instances, people ask me about...Read More

Understanding the New Marketing Landscape via STDs

  • February 23 2012
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

The (successful) marketing landscape is changing because the consumer and their behavior are changing. No longer does a person see a commercial on television, in print, or hear one on the radio and act. Intrusion marketing has seen its day. Now...Read More

The Dos and Don’ts of Social Media and Customer Service

  • February 08 2012
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

With regards to social media, most of what we read (and I have written about) relates to marketing. Yes, social media is a powerful and important piece of the marketing mix. But social media is also a paramount customer service and support...Read More

Social Media Reviews – Value, Morals, and Ethics

  • February 02 2012
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

No hidden agenda. One of the primary objectives of social media is to produce advocacy and word of mouth marketing such that real customers promote your product/service to their family, friends, and colleagues. There is no denying the power of...Read More

Marketing Demographics and the Ramifications of Social Media: Introduction to Psycho-Demographics

  • January 19 2012
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

Marketing 101 – know your target market. Who is likely to buy your product or service? This is often answered by a definition of demographics. “Demographics are the statistical characteristics of a population … Commonly...Read More

MLK Knew Social – Tribute and Comments

  • January 16 2012
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

The following was written one year ago on Martin Luther King Day 2011 and originally appeared on the SocialSteve Blog (http://socialsteve.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/mlk-knew-social-%E2%80%93-tribute-and-comments/) … January 15th &ndash...Read More

Don't Forget Influencers and Advocates to Optimize Social Media

  • January 11 2012
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

Wouldn’t it be great if someone could do your marketing for you and actually succeed? And what if they actually did it better than you and accomplished more? If you heard that a restaurant had amazing food by their chef or a friend of...Read More

Lessons Learned in Social Media

  • January 03 2012
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

There is no shortage of trending lists, reviews, and top 10 lists looking back at 2011. I know many are cynical and think they have seen enough of them, but frankly I like them. They give me an opportunity to learn some things I missed. The...Read More

Flipping the Relationship of Social Movement and Social Media

  • December 20 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

We have seen a handful of instances where social media was a key to the success of a social movement. But what about a social movement being the reason for success of social media? Confused? Let me explain. I am sure you are familiar with what...Read More

The Social Media ROI Conundrum

  • December 14 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

As the year closes out, everyone (including me) will be looking back on the year and looking ahead to 2012 and stating their trends and predictions of social media. There is absolutely no doubt that the most common topic will be social media ROI...Read More

The Simple Explanation of Social Media

  • December 06 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

Still a bit confused about social media? I understand. I see it day in and day out with clients I serve. While so many want to make it complicated, it really is nowhere close to rocket science. Heck, it is not even as hard to follow as my...Read More

Cyber Monday was a Win

  • December 02 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

BUT BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND HURT CATALOGERS The statistics tell us the consumer retail holiday season has started off with a bang. Black Friday total four day weekend sales were $52.4 billion, up from $45 billion last year. That’s the best...Read More

Social Media - Good to Great

  • December 01 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

« Five User Experience Lessons from Usability Testing Jive Social Business Platform | Ten years ago, Jim Collins wrote the book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t.” Collins book...Read More

New demand or channel shifting for direct marketers this holiday season?

  • November 16 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

I have been talking with several gift and specialty food multi-channel marketers recently to try to get a sense of what direct marketers might expect from the holiday season this year versus last. I chose to talk with gift and specialty food...Read More

Content is Super Important !!! (But Not King)

  • November 14 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

About a week ago, I was doing a social media briefing and I was talking about the importance of content. I made the comment “content has to be awesome.” I got a response, “does it really need to be awesome?” Heck &ndash...Read More

What Brands and Social Media Players Can Learn from The Grateful Dead

  • October 26 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

Yeah – I know, many of you are thinking Social Steve puts the name Grateful Dead in the headline and expects many hits … it is like putting the “sex” in anything and stirring interest.“They love each other …...Read More

Social Media Model that Defines the End of the World as We Know It

  • October 20 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

If I offered you $0.01 to work for a week, but promised to double your pay each week, would you take the job? If you work the math through you will find that by week 28, you would be making over $1 million a week. Started off slow, but the pay...Read More

Making Friends with Your Inner – and Outer – Geeks

  • August 31 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

As a bit of a nerdy, geeky type myself, I’ve advocated that CMOs make friends with their inner geek. Why, you ask? Given the vast amount of data becoming available on customers and their behaviors, successful marketers, are beginning to...Read More

Online Video Portals - Lessons Learned and Best-Practice Considerations

  • August 30 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

Video content has proven its value on dedicated sites such as YouTube, Hulu and beyond over the past several years and has made significant inroads into the enterprise.  However, with the number of tools available to manage and distribute...Read More

What rockers can teach us about loyalty

  • August 30 2011
  • Resource: Loyalty Today

IF YOU’VE GOT A GIG IN LOYALTY MARKETING, YOU MAY WANT TO SING ALONG WITH SOME OF MUSIC’S RISING STARS. Back in March, I proposed that loyalty programs might better be thought of as “Brand Fan” programs – designed...Read More