business

Kindly pee into this cup and hand over your login and password

Kindly pee into this cup and hand over your login and password

(boss to employee) Your work here has been flawless. But unless you start following people back on Twitter, your days at this company are numbered.

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Birds of a feather repress together

Birds of a feather repress together

(man to female protegee) I like you, Lenahan. I sense in you things I see in myself... in particular, a spiritual quality that recognizes there must be more to human existence than the single-minded accumulation of obscene amounts of wealth at all costs. Which is why I've called you here today: to impress on you the absolute importance of ensuring that spiritual quality never, ever in any way, shape or form finds voice in this company.

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Blog ROI: Homemaking

10 ways to maximize your blog's ROI: Part 10, giving your online conversations a home base

House key (red)

Visiting someone else's place is great. You eat their food, drink their imbibables, and meet their guests.

But eventually to host a gathering at your own place takes hold. You want to choose the hors d'oeuvres, cue up the playlist and invite your own friends -- in your own home.

It's no different with blogging. True, your organization can go quite a ways in engaging the online world by commenting on third-party blogs. But if you want to be serious about joining the conversation, you'll want a place of your own: an online home for the conversations you want to have.

And while you have no more control over where those conversations ultimately lead and what other conversations may start than you do when you're hosting a party, you're the one who sets the agenda. And it's your voice that sets the tone and pace for your audience.

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Blog ROI: Open wide...

10 ways to maximize your blog's ROI: Part 9, Embracing openness

© istockphoto.com/R9_RoNaLdO

There's a convergence going on: some big social and business trends that have one thing in common - the word open.

Whether it's open-source software, or enormous information repositories that are open to be accessed and sometimes even edited by anyone, or the growing requirements for transparency on the part of organizations and governments, your customers, supporters and audience are expecting you to be open to them.

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Inconceivable

Inconceivable

(a sperm cell swimming in one direction, to the sperm cells swimming the other way) Niche play: I'm going to try to fertilize a kidney.

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How can we use social media to increase our sales and revenue?

For most companies, the bottom line in social media is this: how can I use it to increase sales revenue? There are four ways social media can help you achieve this goal: marketing, traffic, loyalty and innovation.

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We'll call it the "Calamari 5000"

We'll call it the "Calamari 5000"

(worker in blood-stained apron to coworkers) I'm as dedicated to the squid-gutting business as anyone. But the writing's on the wall, and it's time we came out with a line of netbooks.

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Your brand in 140 characters

17 tips for using Twitter to grow your business

"Take me now, you magnificent beast" is well under the limit

In 2008, companies woke up to the power of Facebook as a way of engaging customers, building brand, and selling their products or services.  Today, the hottest new marketing tool is Twitter: a social network that consists entirely of people exchanging 140-character messages with their friends, family and colleagues.

Just like black-and-white photography can reveal depths you’ll never see in colour, the short length of a Twitter message encourages new levels of creativity and effectiveness in marketing.

Don’t believe me?  Here are my top tips on getting started with Twitter…and each is 140 characters or less.

 

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Blog ROI: Storytelling

10 ways to maximize your blog's ROI: Part 6, telling a story over time

Typewriter: It was a dark and stormy night

Not every story fits in a few neat paragraphs - especially stories that are still unfolding. Maybe you're taking on a major advocacy project. Adding a green roof to your office building. Or tracking an intern's apprenticeship in the skills and culture of your industry.

Either way, you have a story that can engage readers over an extended period: weeks, months or even years.

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Blog ROI: You can relate

10 ways to maximize your blog's ROI: Part 4, building relationships

Lots of hands

So far in this 10-part series, we've seen how blogs can help you give your organization a human voice, gain valuable feedback and create a communications alternative to news releases and advertising. Now we're going to look at how it can help you build relationships with your customers, your public and your team.

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Your vision starts here »

The Concept Jam: This is where great social media ideas are made.

The Concept Jam finds the social media concept that creates value for your team and audience. Learn more!