Pylon Sounds

Given that I actually looked forward to work every day for 30 years, and given that I never felt that I had to answer to anyone but myself I thought I’d share some tips for recent graduates.

Inbound Marketing is a salesperson’s dream. As long as you are willing to properly review the data analytics, it shortens the sales cycle timeline, allowing for more conversions and more success.

Yelp may not be the go-to source for restaurant reviews. Why? Amy's Baking Company has 1131 reviews, 99.9% of which are snarky, mean, negative “reviews.” How many of those 1131 reviewers actually ate at the restaurant and how many just piled on for flash mob social media bashing? 99.9%

The cover photo of your Facebook Page is a great piece of marketing real estate. But how can you use it to drive user actions and conversions? In light of Facebook’s new policy that allows for cover photos to include calls-to-action (CTAs), here are five ways to start converting visitors.

Building and maintaining a great e-commerce site can be overwhelming at times as it seems there is no end to what needs to be focused on. Wordpress is a great tool for e-commerce sites just starting out. But even small sites focusing on e-commerce should follow these simple rules.

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A CEO would need a lot of cajones to hang this one in the office.

It’s pretty contentious. Culturally speaking, its nitroglycerin.

But the thing is, there are two ways of reading it:

[One:] Oy vey, this company is a mess. Somebody please shoot me.

[Two:] Guys, becoming a company where this KINDA  stuff happens is JUST not an option, and if I hear about it, I’ll be really pissed off.

How it got interpreted, good or bad, would all depend on the company culture.

A junior who hung this in their cube without permission would probably get fired.

A CEO, however, could maybe get away with it. A brave one, anyway.

Hell, it could even do a lot of good.

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Link: gapingvoid business cards now available on moo.com!

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There is a popular idea that everyone hates marketing. So much so, my Twitter buddy, Scott Stratten has built an outstanding business out of the idea.

Of course, it all depends how you define “marketing”.

Making sure you hire really nice, friendly, chirpy people. Well, that’s marketing, but no one is going to hate you for that.

Few people begrudge you for building a better mousetrap, especially if they have a mouse problem. Whether you invade their chill time with a loud, obnoxious commercial, well, that’s different.

The problem people have, of course, is not with marketing, but with bad marketing.

I actually think people love great marketing, even more than they hate bad marketing.

A good thing to remember…

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I don’t know about you, but it took me twenty years to get from the bottom to the top of the pyramid. And I don’t think that’s outrageously long compared to most people, I really don’t.

Was it worth it? I don’t know, is being alive worth it?

It’s sometimes tempting to think that somehow it would be easier to think of your life not as an adventure, but as something else to be gotten on with, endured.

But it wouldn’t be easier, our spirits weren’t designed that way. And no amount of boozy late nights on the weekends will ever change that.

Earlier this month, Tweetdeck ended support for Facebook feeds, becoming essentially nothing more than another Twitter client in an already overcrowded field, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to start with. To make matters worse and even more bizarre, they pulled their apps from Android and iOS and ended the TweetDeck AIR client. So, to put this in a nutshell, they are now essentially a Twitter client which doesn't even operate on mobile devices. Seriously?

Even with the projected 80% increase in online investment by luxury brands in 2013, fashion brands small and large also are significantly recognizing that the silver lining lies in the adoption of a reliable listening strategy. As transient as fashion is, it appears that Geek Chic is here to stay. Of course, Oscar Wilde knew that over a century or two before Geek Chic became the rage, noting way back then that “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”

In the latest in an ongoing series of moves to shake things up, Yahoo announced a new partnership with Twitter Thursday that will see select Tweets being folded into the Yahoo newsfeed.

What does SEO look like when tailored to a Spanish-speaking audience? Here’s a hint: it’s not about a direct translation of keywords. Basic literary translation theory says that good translations move beyond issues of “letter” (that is, a literal word-for-word trot) into the “spirit” of the language.

Social marketing scientist Dan Zarella just released data that shows how including exclamation points in your tweets earn more syndication (Retweets) but less clicks.

A recent study shows Twitter outperforms LinkedIn and Facebook 9 to 1 for lead generation. For B2B marketers, that's a big deal. Here's a quick guide on getting the most out of your Twitter for lead gen campaign.

Idea Grove President Scott Baradell is among the speakers at next month’s 2013 PRSA Southwest District Conference, where he will participate with four other PR professionals in a panel discussion called Tackling Media Relations.

The panel will explore how dramatically newsrooms are changing and how PR practitioners must adapt their strategies to better meet the needs of journalists. Scott will talk about the importance of creating publication-ready content for use by media organizations, in the form of byline articles, infographics,  and more.  He will also discuss how a company can use a single content idea across both its inbound marketing and media relations programs.

Appearing with Scott on the Tackling Media Relations panel will be:

• Alexis Patterson Hanes, associate director of Public Information for the Austin Community College District
• Lauren Butler, vice president/group manager at Ketchum
• Casey Norton, vice president of Media Relations at Weber Shandwick.
• Sarah Marshall, senior vice president of Phillips & Company, who will moderate.

The conference is sponsored by the Austin chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and takes place June 5-7 at the Omni Austin Hotel Downtown. The three-day event offers PR professionals everything from sessions on managing a crisis and making an impact to free yoga on the hotel’s roof.

As you can imagine, parents and teachers have strong opinions about the effect media and technology is having on America’s youth. About 73 percent of parents say they would like to limit their children’s TV watching. The top parental concerns of social media’s impact on kids include the following: violation of privacy, inappropriate sexual behavior, cyber bullying, identity theft/fraud, and diminishing ambition.

Today, it is not enough to just have a great product. You have to humanize your brand and create lasting relationships among your consumer base.

Aliza Licht, SVP of Global Communications at Donna Karen, humanizes the brand brilliantly. She is the woman behind DKNY PR GIRL on Twitter and has managed to make the DKNY brand feel like an actual person. I found myself wanting to buy every piece of DKNY clothing, even though she sometimes talks more about ABC’s Scandal than the actual brand. Still, she has cultivated a loyal DKNY online community of close to 500,000 followers. In a recent TEDxTalk, Licht addresses “The Power of Being Real.” She says that the people she interacts with on Twitter are not followers, but friends. These friends embraced her when she revealed her true self on Twitter, despite her fears of being rejected. The fact that she was a real and not just a brand resonated with her followers. 

Being real doesn’t just apply to us, it applies to all businesses. The human touch is more powerful and compelling than most ads you will find out there. First off, we know consumers look and listen more to their peers when it comes to making a purchase decision than the brand itself. By humanizing your brand, you become more of a peer among your consumers, thus more influential.

So you’re on Facebok, but every brand belongs on Twitter. Twitter is your new BFF, no matter what industry you’re in.  Turn up the romance and start getting cozy with this social network. Once you’ve lit the fires of love, develop a set personality for your brand. After all, every human has one and so should you. Social Media Today poses these questions: Who are you? What are you? Are you serious? Are you funny? Are you a combination of both? What is the tone of your conversations? The tone of your educational material? Social media is not for those who want to remain hidden in the shadows like an over-hyped vampire. It welcomes every person on the social network to come on it and see you at face value. You are exposed to the online world and you cannot hide. A set personality that best reflects your brand is your ultimate asset and weapon.

According to Social Media Today, Jon Iwata, Senior Vice President (Marketing and Communications) at IBM, stated, “We don’t try to manage the IBM brand. We try to manage our character as a business. And we’ve never defined IBM by what we’re selling.” Being human yourself, do you only talk about your business? Probably not. You shouldn’t do this with your brand either. For example, JonO is the epitome of a BzzAgent- chatty, informative and influential.

On Twitter and Facebook, JonO is an actual person but he still represents our brand. He mostly posts quirky and unique tidbits of information, but that’s exactly how we are here! With 90,000 “Likes ” on the BzzAgent Facebook page, JonO has 8,300 people talking about BzzAgent right now.  That’s over 9%, and that’s often up around 15%.  It’s an amazing level of engagement considering AdAge reports that brands only see about 1.3% engagement on Facebook. Obviously, you will need to talk about your business on social media, but adding those off topic pieces allows you to be more human and connect to your audience in a different way like JonO has.

The relationships that result from humanizing your brand are one of the most important products from this process. Cultivating relationships with your consumer base can lead to long-term loyalty and sales. Social Media Today wants you to remember that real people are behind those Facebook posts and Twitter handles. Engage with your consumers everyday. Respond to tweets inquiring about something or just to thank the person for showing their loyalty. The connections you make with your consumers now will be a valuable asset for the future.

Humanizing your brand is the next step you need to take in social media. Become not only a brand to your consumers, but a friend.

The political visualization Words & Votes [sandyhookpromise.org], developed by digital agency R/GA for non-profit organization Sandy Hook Promise, provides a comprehensive look into the opinions of congressional representatives on the issue of gun violence.

More specifically, the visualization tracks each member of congress as being "neutral", on the side of "Gun Safety," or on the side of "Gun Rights". It then maps the evolution of these opinions over time on a vertical timeline.

These individual opinions have been based on two separate types of information: the analysis of the tweets sent by members of Congress and their voting record on Capitol Hill on laws and bills that relate to gun violence.

Individual members of congress can be explored in terms of being influential or vocal, or filtered by address, zip code or home town.

The political visualization Words & Votes [sandyhookpromise.org], developed by digital agency R/GA for non-profit organization Sandy Hook Promise, provides a comprehensive look into the opinions of congressional representatives on the issue of gun violence.

More specifically, the visualization tracks each member of congress as being "neutral", on the side of "Gun Safety," or on the side of "Gun Rights". It then maps the evolution of these opinions over time on a vertical timeline.

These individual opinions have been based on two separate types of information: the analysis of the tweets sent by members of Congress and their voting record on Capitol Hill on laws and bills that relate to gun violence.

Individual members of congress can be explored in terms of being influential or vocal, or filtered by address, zip code or home town.