Social marketing is a challenge for everyone especially for those just getting started. There are many issues that impact a marketer’s ability to achieve good results. Some of the issues are caused by the social sites themselves. When do these issues impact a social site’s ability to achieve its business goals?

A new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that preference for Google among search users has nearly doubled in the last ei...

"Nearly one in every five minutes spent online is now spent on social networking sites compared to only six per cent of time spent back in March of 2007."

This was a newsletter I distributed on New Year's Day that is a comphrehensive list of tools, resources and services for social marketing. I will be speaking at the NAMM Show in the Idea Center on Thursday at 2:30pm on how to optimize your website for maximum effect. Please stop by and say hello.  Also I will be at the NAMM Show all four days in case you want to chat.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or give me a call at 760 566-6998 to set up an appointment.

This is a bit introspective but hey it's the holidays. Stand by for more digital marketing advice next month. I greatly appreciate the fact that you read my articles when you have so many choices for content out there. 

As you are most likely aware Facebook has rolled out some major changes to the platform timed for the Facebook recent F8 developer conference.  The changes are specific to personal profiles, not to business pages.  Yet some of the changes impact marketers' strategic planning for the social site.

Do we really need another social network? Personally I think Facebook needs some competition. In some ways Facebook has gotten so large that various user experiences get compromised not to mention the privacy issues that were global news.

Will that major competition come from Google's new social site, Google Plus? Time will tell. Time will also tell how the biggest search engine company in the world optimizes search and adjusts the company advertising strategies around its own social site. This article looks at some of the features of Google Plus.

Darryl Wood provides some excellent advice in this interview about digital internet and social strategies to increase qualified leads.

What if you spent thousands of dollars and countless hours planning and scripting a video for your marketing strategy and no one watched it? Resources, intense planning and of course expense go into making an excellent video that gets very few views. What do you do?

This article discusses optimizing your videos for search. You need to get those videos on page one of search engine results when people enter search terms that are relevant to your videos.

 

Social marketing is about creating conversation. Studies have found that the more customers participate in relevant conversations the more likely they are to purchase your products and recommend them to friends. The better your strategy for creating fresh, unique and interesting content, the more effective you will be in keeping your community engaged, interested and talking to you.

In a world that continues to bring people closer through social site participation, the musical instrument industry struggles greatly with communication at the very basic B2B business level.  The following are some ideas to start bridging this gap though social channels and digital tools.

Forums have incredible power for swaying consumers buying decisions.  Yet most marketers cringe when they hear someone say "what's going on with user comments on the forums these days?"  This interview with Jules Standen of Gearslutz provides some excellent advice for marketers on understanding forums.

Looking at the lighter side of digital marketing we analyze what would happen if Santa hired a digital and social media marketing consultant.

If you are a traditional marketer learning how to communicate in this fast paced digital world can be a challenge.  This article looks at those challenges and ways to adjust your thinking for success.

The Growth of the Mobile Internet Whether or not you are fond of the iPhone or the iPad, these devices are changing the way the world interacts wit...

What do visitors think of your website? Do they resonate with your presence then buy your products (either directly or through your retail channels...

Peter Sprague, the Managing Director of the Premier Guitar and Guitar Edge multimedia networks, shares his thoughts on business development, digital marketing and shifting trends in the guitar industry. With revenue growth of 38% in 2009 and on track for a 41% increase in 2010 (an anomaly in the world of magazines) PG is obviously doing something right.