Social Media Marketing

Where are the B2B Marketers in Japan?

Japan B2B Marketing is in the Midst of a Crisis. Here's Why & What to Do

I travel to Japan frequently for business (read My Japanese Approach to Social Media Strategy for some background), so it is fascinating to see the unique developments in digital and social media marketing there. I know that many of my clients are Japanese-owned or sell to the Japanese market directly through a subsidiary or indirectly…

What Consumers Really Think About Businesses Using Their Social Media Data

There’s no doubt that the potential reach of social media is massive. In fact, it’s become the main marketing channel for an increasing number of businesses. Accompanying the massiveness of social media is the plethora of social media data that exists. “If you took out social media, Bark and Co. wouldn’t be a company,” said…

Do Social Media Marketing Automation Apps Pose a Security Risk to Your Social Media Channels?

Do you realize how much social media marketing automation goes on around us? Engaging in social media is essential for any business today. It’s no surprise, then, that in order to scale and become more efficient, some marketers try to employ the use of social media automation to save time and add consistency to posts…

social media audience being where your audience is today and tomorrow

Marketing is the science of influencing buying decisions by convincing your customers that they need what you are selling – no matter if it’s a product or a service. In this day and age, marketing is at the heart of the economy – after all, there are simply far too many products and services for…

Seven Helpful Social Media Writing Tips For Businesses

Social media is still considered by many to be the useless pastime of young people with nothing better to do with their lives. The reality is that social media can be considered to be one of the most massive advertising platforms in existence. Billions of people of all ages and walks of life use social…

How to Reach a Whole New Demographic Using Social Media

Have you ever found yourself under the influence of something you saw on a friend’s social media page? If so, then you’re not alone. Countless people now look at what trusted friends and family members have to say about a product before they make buying decisions. You can reach new social media demographics by appealing…

Do each of your salespeople have their own social selling playbook? It is a social selling best practice that you need to follow for social selling success. Having just finished another 5 ½ hour social selling training session, this time for insurance sales professionals, I reflect upon how I can do better at not just…

Get Ahead of Your Competition with Social Media Posting Intelligence (1)

Social media is a part of modern life and for any business owner, it should be a daily activity to check on – and post to – your company accounts. Social media intelligence is yours for the taking. I’ve talked before about the importance of social media analytics, not only for your conversion rates but…

Recently, social media marketing has turned into one of the most efficient ways to generate more leads and increase the ROI of your business. However, a large number of methods available to boost your social media impact may make you feel daunted. In this post, we’ll cover the top 15 tips to make your social…

Neal Schaffer Speaker Headshots Social Media Marketing World #smmw18 social media conferences

Why attend a social media conference? It goes without saying that social media is always changing. There is no better way to tap into the collective wisdom of experts than by attending social media conferences where you can: learn from subject matter experts, such as well-known bloggers, authors, and speakers, in the field network with…

The What, Why and How of Employee Advocacy

Every business is going digital and trust has become the new marketing currency in today’s digital business world. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from family and friends. Today’s ever-changing social media landscape opens up a new world of advocacy opportunities for tapping and motivating the most important marketing assets of your organization…

What's in It for Me? Six Benefits of Employee Advocacy

The proliferation of digital and social technologies empower today’s modern workforce to spread company updates online. Recent studies enumerate the fact that the ‘Rise of an Employee Marketer’ is evident in today’s digital world. However what exactly are the benefits of employee advocacy for both the company and employee? Does employee advocacy play a pivotal…

10 Stats That Prove the Importance of Employee Advocacy

Employee advocacy has become a buzz word in today’s digital world due to the rise of social media landscape. Social media opens up a new world of advocacy opportunities for modern marketers. For example, online reviews can make or break any businesses today. Many companies are beginning to leverage employees’ personal social channels for evangelizing…

“Sales is a numbers game.” I began my B2B selling career back in 1977 when I went to work for a national company and I was assigned a geographic territory in Los Angeles where I was expected to make 30 in-person cold-calls each day. We were offering business calculators that averaged $500 each although we…

Many social media marketers see holiday posts as “fluff” – content that doesn’t really mean anything, but is easy to create and post. The truth is, holiday posts and newsbreaks can be some of the most valuable content you produce. And, with the right tools, it could be easy to produce, but it should never…

Is Your Business Making Any of These 10 Social Media Mistakes?

10 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid Social media has grown into an influential part of developing both a business reputation and a relationship with the public. The ability for people to interact with their favorite companies, learn new facts about upcoming products, or get a glimpse at “behind the scenes” of big brands is an…

Is Social Media still important and should you bother? If you’ve just started a business and put together the social media profiles for your company brand on different networks, then I’m sure your mind is filled with questions like: “How do I get followers and likes?” “How to drive traffic to your website using social…

What are subreddits? Subreddits are – unknown to many – free to create and customize. Just like we might create our own forum or Facebook group, a subreddit bears many similarities to these platforms. It has a theme: we can designate what type of content and discussions are appropriate and which are not. It has…

The current social media authenticity crisis is a reminder that you have only one job on social media. Be authentic. Be true to who you really are. That’s what they’re saying anyway. We hear this all day every day, and it’s a sound that continually rings in our ears. But why aren’t we being who…

The Ultimate Best 61 Social Media Books List [Always Updated!]

As a social media speaker, author and professor, I often get asked at the many social media conferences I speak at what are the top social media books I recommend. The barrier of entry is so low for anyone to pretend that they are an expert and publish on Kindle that it is an important…

Social media marketing is the driving force in most bloggers’ strategy. You’re probably posting to social media every day, using your blog links as bait to lure the reader to your site in some form or fashion. But, for some reason it may not be working… The secret is the concept of cognitive recognition. There…

More often than not, I see a lot of social media marketing tips from people that don’t know their eyeball from their elbow. These people are usually known for spouting off pieces of information like, “How not to lose your following” and “Ways to increase your social followers.” They fail to address the important issue…

What are subreddits and Why Should I Care?

If you’ve been following my monthly column here at Maximize Social Business, you’ll know I have a passion for translating the odd world of reddit. Now it’s time to answer the frequently asked question, “What is a subreddit on reddit?” If you haven’t, you should read my post on 15 reddit Beginner Tips as it will…

It is becoming less and less often that I see a national brand, or even a local Mom and Pop store without some form of social media profile. This is a good thing. However, more often than not they are only using Facebook and social profiles are not integrated with other marketing communications, or worse…

A Reddit Guide for New Redditors Last month I introduced 10 reasons to consider maximizing Reddit for business. In that article I included examples, mini-case studies, and screenshots to bring light on what seems to be a rather foggy place to increase sales and market a business. Rest assured, Reddit is a viable place to…

You’ve established a great social media presence. As the head of marketing, or a marketer in charge of social media – you’re really proud of what you’ve done. Your fingerprints are all over your social media program – but the time has come to bring in other team members. How do you stay consistent with…

Properly identifying the decision maker(s) may be the single most important aspect of the sales process. Certainly, this is no different in social sales. Specifically, we are looking for that person who has the … Money Authority Need Otherwise known as the “MAN”. If they don’t have the money, or they are not willing to…

In the fast-paced world of social media, it’s easy to assume that ideas from just last year are passé. The concept of AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) as a model for marketing success has been around for over a hundred years. AIDA is not even “so last century,” it is “so 19th century.” Given its…

15 Social Media Concepts to Become a More Marketable Social Media Professional

Approximately 73% of Fortune 500 companies have a Twitter account; 66% have Facebook Pages. However, many of these organizations lack experienced personnel to truly unleash the power of social. According to a survey by Harvard Business Review of 2,100 companies, only 12% of those utilizing media feel they use it effectively. Further, online job postings…

Have you ever been close to finishing a puzzle only to discover there are one or more missing pieces? Isn’t it interesting how the smallest missing piece can distort the bigger picture? This is often the case when creating your SoLoMo marketing strategy. Connecting Social, Mobile and Local in Your SoLoMo Marketing Strategy The power…

“Privacy is dead, and social media hold the smoking gun.” – Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable I recently mentioned the word privacy to a social media business colleague while researching the topic of this post. My friend Rachel Strella, who caters to the small business market, responded with a shrug. I wasn’t surprised. As participation in…

SoLoMo is an acronym for Social+Local+Mobile marketing and it is an increasingly common term referring to a new marketing approach. You may have read plenty about each of the individual elements; if so, you’re likely to be asking questions like: Isn’t this just semantics? What’s so different? Where is the opportunity? Good questions. But hopefully…

Great writing can connect with your audience, so it’s only natural that you should be gearing your updates toward the audiences on your social media platforms. Even though Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter tend to get lumped into the same general category of marketing, they are actually quite different. The audiences and the platforms call for…

Social media and the Internet have revolutionized the way real estate professionals conduct business. Gone are the days of relying solely on traditional marketing methods such as yellow page ads and direct mail campaigns. The Internet and the increase in using social networking within your real estate business now make it possible to connect with…

Consumers and Companies Benefit From Location Based Services (LBS) Businesses that integrate location based applications into their marketing strategies are keeping step with today’s social consumer. The 2012 consumer expects immediate response and thrives on instant gratification, which is exactly what location based services can offer. Through location based apps, which employ GPS technology on…

I frequently get invited to speak on social media for professional associations, and when I do it often seems as if the clocks in the room have been turned back 10 years since before the advent of social media. Although there are always some savvy users of social media in the room when I present,…

With so much public information about us out there in social media and on the web, do you ever start to wonder what others can find out about you? On the other hand, if you are doing social recruiting or looking to do business with or even get back in touch with someone, wouldn’t you…

10 Things Seth Godin Taught Me about Social Media Marketing

With Seth Godin about to appear on stage in Orange County in just a few weeks time, there is a buzz around here about what new Seth Godin ideas and insights he will provide to us. And the event, in line with what Seth preaches about holding BIG events, is set to be HUGE –…

How to Start a Social Media Consulting Business in 6 Steps

As a leading social media speaker and consultant, I often get asked about how to start a social media consulting business and develop initial clients. I am happy to mentor a new generation of social media-savvy business consultants, and I plan to be blogging about this more in the future, as I believe the subject can…