In terms of lead generation, B2B marketers often overlook the potential of the world’s largest social network, Facebook. Most favor LinkedIn because it’s a professional network, but Facebook’s massive amount of data (both personal and professional) makes it the ultimate resource for persona-based lead generation in social. And the best way to use the site?...

Google Reader is no more (starting in July 2013). And I’m not concerned. I used to be a daily user of the service, but like most everybody else on the planet, I’ve turned to my social networks for updates. Why? Because RSS was always the techie’s solution and not a consumer solution. Back in October when there was an eruption of concern over Feedburner’s...

I’ve been living in the marketing data analysis world for the better part of the last two years. And after watching Nate Silver (who only attempted to predict the Big 6) and HuffPost both try to predict last night’s Oscar winners using data, I thought I’d put my own skills to the test. Usually, I only get about 16 out of 24 (depending on the year) winners...

Well, it looks like I won’t have to worry about rifling through dozens of junk mail pieces to find the one letter I actually need to read on Saturdays anymore. The USPS plans on ending first-class mail delivery on Saturday, according to several reports out today. Without first-class mail, one can presume that other letter and non-package delivery will end...

The other day I received an email from another blogger. In it there was a great infographic blog post, which I was seconds away from sharing. Then I noticed the quid pro quo at the end of the email: Post a link to my post and I’ll post a link to one of yours. This isn’t a new link building technique. Bloggers have been pitching bloggers for years now. Today,...

Marketing is a creative field so it’s full of epic successes… and failures. There are times when you can see a problem coming and times when you’re so far along you can’t avoid one.. And then there are the players who have a crystal ball that can move the industry forward, while others hold us back like a ball and chain. So in the spirit of the...

At Inbound 2012 in August, Boston.com introduced its “Insights” product, a way to have your blog posts appear on the heavily trafficked website. The idea isn’t new. Sponsored posts have been a mainstay on many websites, including Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and The Atlantic. Even Facebook got in the game with post promotion. When I heard about it, I liked...

I’ve been banned from submitting links on Reddit on three separate occasions. Each time I was posting links to my own stuff mixed with links to other sites. I thought I was doing the right thing, following the so-called 80/20 rule of social (80% other people’s stuff, 20% my stuff). But I wasn’t. My mistake? Jumping in and thinking it was just like every other...

In May, I ended my Hulu Plus subscription because I knew I wasn’t going to watch as much TV on my Xbox over the summer. Summer shows aren’t that interesting and I could watch The Daily Show on my PC without caring much about the experience. With the new fall TV season is kicking off in the next few weeks, I figured it was time to go back and restart my Hulu...

“Oh, don’t get me to buy anything.” That’s the reaction I got at a party once when I told someone I was in marketing. And at Inbound 2012, HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah told a story like mine when he announced the new HubSpot 3 software. I’m sure every marketer has a similar anecdote. It’s a cold hard fact, nobody likes marketing as they know it. And...