Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

gaping void and Pam Slim
I was one powerful little girl. The Champion of the World.

My Dad smiled at me, squinting his eyes as he crouched behind the camera. I was safe, cherished and loved. He snapped the picture.

Things blew up after that, rather quickly.

Jonathan Fields, Awake at the Wheel
Rather than focusing all of your energy on fixing what’s wrong with your life, he asked:

What might happen if you focused instead on the sole quest to identify, then grow what was right?

Ramblings from a Glass Half Full
It happens the moment I step on a plane. That loss of control. Someone else is behind the wheel and taking me somewhere.

When control is lost, I get nervous. Edgy. Unsure. I need something to calm me down.

That something is information.

Art of Nonconformity
On the ride down I replayed the classic “time/money/no object” game in my head. You know, the one where you ask: “If time and money were no object, what would I do today?”

Social Media Explorer
It doesn’t matter which social media monitoring service you use. None of them do what you want them to do. They’re good at doing part of the job, but not all of it. And sadly, they probably won’t ever be good at doing all of the job because you have to do it.

Altitude Branding
Sometimes, you just outgrow things.

When you first learned to read, Dr. Seuss was awesome. Simple, rhyme-y, easy to grasp and remember. When you were little, you likely read those books over and over and never got tired of them.

Until you did. Until you needed something more to challenge you,

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4/16 is Foursquare Day
Are you already the “Mayor McCheese” of your local McDonald’s on Foursquare? Get excited because this Friday the 16th could be your lucky day. We are very proud to announce that McDonald’s are joining the celebration of Foursquare Day by offering special deals for Foursquare users on April 16th 2010. That’s right folks, ALL 17,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the USA will become Foursquare Day venues.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

CNN
This is what inspired Google’s April Fools Event.

Time to Be Frank
I am not writing this post to blast the company involved, in fact I would like to congratulate them. I think we would have all loved to see the mistake not happen in the first place, but it did. Mistakes do happen. The reason I want to congratulate them is too many people are afraid to simply apologize.

V3 Integrated Marketing
I couldn’t sleep last night and found myself thinking of you. I love competition, both for myself and for my clients. It keeps me thinking (which I enjoy), on my toes (good, because I’m short) and adaptable (which I find, perversely, fun). And while I was thinking of you, I felt compelled to write, just to make sure we’re on the same page on a few things.

Michelle Lamar
Cottonelle’s “HOW DOES AMERICA ROLL?” campaign is brilliant. The Cottonelle campaign brings the product to the forefront in a self-deprecating way that is very engaging to consumers. That is no small feat considering the product is Toilet Paper—not exactly a sexy subject for most of us.

Attraction Marketing
The “Social” in Social Media is what makes this new media so attractive. It’s what draws people to you and makes them want to connect and interact with you. Recently it seems that with everyone (including the most recent explosion…businesses) jumping on the bandwagon, there is some sort of confusion.

ReveNews
Burger King, which is building a reputation at being very good at creating marketing campaigns that go viral, is now looking to make something out of nothing.

In a savvy new ad campaign released this week, Burger King has teamed up with Digg. Whenever a search result comes up empty on Digg, up comes a Burger King ad promoting the restaurant’s $1 double cheeseburgers.

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@cr8tivejen
suggested this …

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Do It Myself
Yesterday I was interviewed via email by CBC Radio about “Social Media and the Paralympics”. It was to air this morning on CBC’s Early Edition. However, my interview responses were cut from show, which raises a larger question about traditional media and representation of people with disabilities.

Barry Moltz
It’s not really a conference or even a festival as the organizers say it is. It’s a happening. At 30,000 people, it is so large and complex, you don’t really attend SXSW, it just happens to you. …

Read Write Web
Social CRM: The New Rules of Relationship Management, a report from the Altimeter Group released earlier this month, serves to help companies and organizations understand the changing territory. The report offers a thorough framework with which companies can strategize their adoption of social CRM projects.

Marketing IQ
If you know what to listen for and how to separate signal from noise, it should propel you towards action and engagement the right way. If social media is a blend of art and science, engagement is definitely the art of it. If you approach it in a heavy-handed or inauthentic way, you may scare people off and mar your reputation.

emergent by design
This weekend I experienced a snowcrash; a moment where the seemingly disparate pieces of information floating in my head came together. A synapse fired, a new connection was made, and I was brought to a new level of consciousness, a new way of seeing the world. In reading this over, it almost sounds obvious, but it took me a while to get here. I hope that by sharing with you, it’ll help you “get it” too. So let me take you on my thinking trail.

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gapingboid
has a word …

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Chris Brogan
Someone else took your idea. You’ve been talking about it for years. That’s your thing. I can’t believe she said what I’ve been saying for years, and now she’s got a book. I could totally do that.

Saul Colt
Way back in October I put my “money where my mouth is” and challenged someone to come up with a new idea in Social Media because if there ever was something that needs re-invention, this is it …

Tim’s Strategy
And if you listened to my appearance on the Recruiting Animal Radio Show you may have an interesting view of my personality and strengths. Animal has a well-honed way of sweeping your feet out from under you.

But the places I stumbled were not his fault. They were mine. I was not able to answer some pretty basic questions he asked. Ones that, I think, seem pretty straight-forward. Not intentionally deceptive at all.

So now I’m here to answer the big one. In full detail. For the world to evaluate and comment on.

Social Media Marketing News

# Ask for feedback and/or ask questions at the end of a post.
# Comment on other’s blogs.
# Barrier to comments BAD (in other words, don’t make it difficult for people to leave comments).

Barry Moltz
I am horrible on putting things together. So when my son wanted a new basketball hoop I shivered.

I dutifully ordered it from Walmart and it came a few days later in the mail. One night, my son and I embarked on the journey called “Assembly Required.”

Media Buzz
Instant messaging, viral marketing and social networking sites could make his workplace uncomfortable — even scary — for men and women raised in a slower time. Yet Wasiak surrounds himself with 20-somethings and 30-somethings and loves it.

“There’s no rule that says 20-year-olds are better at this than 60-year-olds,” says this cofounder of the creative development company The Concept Farm. “It’s the approach that counts.”

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Lewis Howes
wants to know … does this video entertain or offend you?

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

src=’https://www.successful-blog.com/wp-content/u

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Powered
Why is it that when it comes to conversation about social media, business-to-business (B2B) seems to draw the short stick every single time? As someone that does a lot of webcasts, blog posts and speaking gigs, the questions/comment that always comes up is, “what about B2B examples.” Fortunately for me, I’m able to mention companies like BreakingPoint Systems and Hubspot that do a great job tapping into the power of social media but I often wish there were more examples (with public results) that I could discuss.

Six Pixels of Separation
Imagine this scenario: you are walking along one of your favourite streets and you suddenly receive a text message on your mobile phone. It notifies you that your favourite fast-food burger chain has a joint just up the block, and if you come on in, they are willing to throw in a medium-size fries and bottomless jolts of free cola with the purchase of a hamburger.

Brand Savant
One thing that has become apparent to me over the past few months is that there are a lot of folks using social media monitoring tools to listen for brand mentions, but truly they are capable of so much more with a little forethought and planning.

Randy Gage
Do you hold back on things because you feel you aren’t worth the extra money? Does going for the luxurious choice bring up feelings of guilt?

I used to say these kinds of things were issues for people who grew up in the great depression. Then I came to realize that this was a problem for most people. It’s no surprise really, when you think about it.

Bawld Guy Talking
BawldGuy Axiom: When the farmer plants corn in the spring after proper preparation, tends his fields diligently, fertilizes as needed, and adjusts to any bumps in the road, he’s not surprised when he’s harvesting corn in the fall.

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Social Media Enthusiast
Are there still companies who haven’t entered, at any level, the social web? Sure. But they’re so far to the right of the adoption bell curve, we’ve effectively entered the territory of the Amish. They might make awesome baked goods, but don’t know diddly squat about marketing a brand in the digital age.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Altitude
Today on Twitter’s #SMChat, DJ Waldow asked about professional uses for Twitter and what we got out of it.

In my first year as an independent consultant, I can attribute over $100K in revenue for my business directly to Twitter. How?

Small Biz Survival
Suzy and Tracie make bread in a little strip mall in Mishawaka, Indiana. They have a franchise with Great Harvest Bread Company. They give you free slices to sample. (Apple Scrapple is very good.) They are like lots of bread stores in lots of towns.

Their store/bakery is only a couple miles from our daughter’s college, but I never would have noticed it. It’s one of many stores in that mall, and there are many strip malls along Grape Road.

So how did Suzy sell me a muffin and a coffee mug?

Servant of Chaos
CMO.com released a handy chart with snapshot social media information designed as a quick heads up for chief marketing officers. It’s not a panacea and it doesn’t cover all the places, spaces and platforms – but it’s a great start.

Social Media Marketing Institute
You can bet I understand the importance of numbers. They are crucial to every business.

BUT…..(you knew this was coming)… everything you do in your life doesn’t have to have a concrete measurement. Todd Carpenter said, “if you coach a softball game”, do you measure the ROI of getting new clients?” Now, that is just silly. Of course not.

Lip Sticking
I’ve decided to step out and say what few people are willing to say: women business owners need to approach social media differently than male business owners.

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Being Five …
If you truly believe something with all your heart …

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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