An ex-cop friend of mine once told me an interesting story about his experience at a law-enforcement tactical driving school. During the training they learned techniques to avoid and recover from sliding and spinning situations. They learned these techniques on a number of different law enforcement vehicles, but there was one vehicle that stood out. Apparently, in this particular vehicle, if control was lost and a spin began, the tactic was to let go – let go of everything – hands off the steering wheel and feet off the pedals, everything! This story illustrates the idea that control can be an illusion. It is only by letting go of control that the vehicle righted itself and recovery was possible. (Read full post …)
So I am at the park the other day with my 5 year-old, trying to fly a kite. It seemed like there was a nice strong breeze and getting the kite aloft would be a piece of cake. Toss it up, set it, and forget it.
The kites these days are a far cry from the old newspaper and stick kites we used to piece together: Fancy “string winders”, a “wind gauge”, non-tear nylon, and fiberglass shell. All for the low low price of $14.99. Assembled in 3 minutes or less. Set it and forget it. (Read full post …)
Over the last couple of years much has been made of the commercial power of social media. We hear how the Dell Outlet sold $1 million through Twitter, how Zappos blew their site traffic (and conversions) through the roof. We salivate over Facebook’s 350,000,000 users and the opportunity that could bring. The direct marketer in each of us is understandably tempted. But wait! Resist the urge to send that one-sided overly commercial tweet. From the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study we know that “85% believe a company should not only be present but should also interact with its customers via social media” and that “78% of new media users interact with companies or brands via new media sites and tools, an increase of 32% from 2008 (59%)”. (Read full post …)
Tonight I will be attending my third Tweetup put on by the good folks at Silicon Valley Tweetup. I’m now a bit bias (full disclosure here) as you’ll soon see, but I’ve got to give props to @Britopian and @GabrielCarrejo who have left nothing to be desired from the last two I’ve attended. Isn’t it sad how a person’s identity can be relegated to Twitter handle?
As the début of this shiny new blog neared I thought a lot about what would make the most sense for an initial post. After all, it is a big decision and one that can absolutely never be undone. Everyone knows the saying; you never get a second chance to make a first blog post – or something like that.
Then it came to me. While much of this blog will be devoted to sharing industry insights, professional experiences, lessons learned, and general commentary on the world of search and social media marketing. It will also be about sharing who we are individually and as an Internet marketing consultancy. That said, a good start might be to address a potential misconception. The apparent incompatibility between one of our primary service offerings (organic search marketing) and that of our own namesake, Excite Social Media. Pretty smart huh! (Read full post …)
