The Best Blog Posts of Week 19

Getting the word out about your product or service is not easy. Times have changed from when we could buy a TV spot or post a classified ad in the paper. Today we're drowning in advertising across search engines, social platforms, and digital radio, just to name a few.

In response to a question about the "5 material trends you see shaping the future face of social media" I got to thinking: In 2013 what are those trends and fairly quickly I settled on..... Brands are quickly realizing that "words tell, but images sell."

On a regular basis, someone in the world of social media publishes a list of "power users" or "influencers." Sometimes it is a list meant to represent a certain niche in the online world. For example, you might see a list of the "50 top marketers on Twitter."

ArCompany examines famous social media PR disasters and how they impact sales.

The original article by Forbes Jenna Goudreau (link to article is at the end of the page) is actually titled "Five Social Media Tricks Every Entrepreneur Should Know". I believe a better title would be "Five Social Media Strategies Every Entrepreneur Should Know". They're not really tricks.

The emergence of social media marketing, reputation management, and search engine optimization (SEO) has seemingly overshadowed email marketing. Email is DEAD! they shout. Long live what ever else it is they are selling. Nonetheless, email marketing is still a crucial component that every business needs to incorporate into its marketing plan.

Being an avid Twitter user, there is nothing worse than logging onto a Twitter account (especially one belonging to a business) and it sucking hardcore. I don't mean reading an opinion I don't agree with (I love contrasting views) and I don't mean a background made on MS Paint (although that would kinda be retro [...]

The numbers don't look good this month. Sales are down and you need a plan of action to right the ship. You could sift through the numbers, benchmark against your competitors, come up with a pragmatic course of action and then execute. But you probably should have thought of that a few months earlier.

I found this infographic when I was redesigning this site (it's a little dated but relevant nonetheless). I have a personal preference for green, but as this infographic shows, there are a few very common colors that are used in corporate palettes.

When I was born, the Internet barely existed. My mom likely had no idea she had brought me into a soon-to-be digital world - much less how to raise me in it. But I've come to learn that she didn't have to.