Many marketers stepping up to embrace social media are bringing their old “push strategy” skills to a new “customer pull” reality, making a critical miscalculation. The social media phenomenon is not just a new set of communications vehicles for your company to broadcast its value proposition and messaging to a target market. It is about customers wanting and needing relevant information to make better decisions and to share with others. Over the years they have become jaded by the packaging and spin that typifies most marketing and advertising campaigns.

More than eight out of 10 North American and European enterprise IT decision makers said word-of-mouth recommendations or testimonials are the most important sources when making buying decisions. Obtaining these recommendations and testimonials becomes easier when B2B social media practices are put into place—turning your customers into brand advocates.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Howard Schmidt on his appointment as White House Cybersecurity Coordinator today, the nation’s top cybersecurity post.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Maples Communications has worked with Howard for several years in his capacity as both a board member and spokesperson for our client (ISC)2.

Step one: Before you start, establish clear business objectives and metrics.

What surprises me is how many blogs and podcasts or even Facebook groups and Twitter sites are started as an executive pet project. That may relieve some pressure to demonstrate ROI, but as a marketer responsible for social media initiatives, you should never move off the starting mark without clear and measureable business goals.

Companies are still finding many reasons for not engaging in social media or taking it seriously. For those firms, I have one word: TwitStorm.

For Maples Communications, it is an honor to be called a wingman. We want to “check your six”-the six o’clock position where the jet is most vulnerable, the pilot’s blind spot.

If traditional media is correct, and social media does not have any real value or is at least being overestimated, then what is the answer? Because it is not traditional media in its current form.

The first commandment in marketing is: Know Thy Customer.
Companies selling security software and services to information security executives should know one more thing: Maples Communications knows your customer. Very well.

A few days ago, a friend sent me the “Social Media Revolution” link from YouTube knowing that I believe the traditional media model for companies to communicate to customers is broken.    We are in the middle of a revolution.  The tools may change over time, but social media is here to stay.   
You and I both [...]

We’ve all been there-we click on a link in the hopes of getting some interesting or relevant information only to be greeted with a page requiring us to supply our name, e-mail address, phone number, birthday, address, and yet another password that we won’t remember because it has to be 268 characters long. I don’t know about you, but unless it is something I really want to read, I click the back button and move on.