With the increasing number of people who dislike salespeople and being sold to, it becomes even more important to develop an awareness for what makes people feel like they are being sold to and how to prevent it.

GM was very clear about something, though: they would not be deleting their Facebook accounts. While they noted that they didn’t believe advertising on Facebook was very effective for them, they continue to embrace the platform itself.

Social media marketing touches all digital marketing channels, or at least it should. Are you missing the boat or grabbing the tiger by the tail?

Analytics give us feedback that allows us to marry the right brain, or the emotional side of marketing, with the left brain, or the rational, side. It’s easy to get excited about 10,000 likes on Facebook, but what if you’ve only really engaged with five of those people? Your right brain can throw an “I’m so popular!� party while your left brain is left wondering, “Exactly how much will this cost and what kind of revenue will it generate?�

Anyone can launch a new website, come up with blog content ideasand start building an audience immediately. But it's hard because of all the noise and competition online. So if you want to get attention from prospective customers, then you need to set yourself apart from everyone else. Here are 3 ways small businesses can stand out using social media.

An article considering the value/damage to brands when Like-Gating their content on Facebook, and whether there are more practical solutions available.

GM’s the third largest advertiser in the US and it just withdrew its $10 million worth of ad budget from Facebook. Whether it’s an isolated case or a microcosm of the nature of Facebook ads, it really sends a message to brands.

As a community manager, analytics act as our compass, our teacher, our friend. When Facebook increased their insights, at first we all groaned at deciphering the insanely filled excel downloads, but now knowing every detail about our pages leaves us feeling empowered. Thank you Facebook for giving these to us. For free. (Hint hint, nudge nudge Twitter).

Have you ever met someone and thought, déjà vu—I’ve met you before? That’s not just your lunch talking. It’s likely that you have “met� that person, either through posts on a mutual friend’s Facebook status, or a particular tweet (or a retweet), or maybe through mutual connections on LinkedIn. Herein lies the beauty of social networking—it’s connecting strangers and making our world smaller than ever before.

I help businesses (of various industries) with their social media marketing initiatives, but in the last year I've focused a lot of my attention to the real estate industry. Social media is EXACTLY what real estate agents need (now more than ever) to build relationships with potential home buyers.

To utilize your fan page effectively, you must try to avoid the social media fluff that pervades so many pages. Many business owners get stuck in the rut of counting their fans and not communicating with those fans. A great way to distinguish your page is by providing real value to your fans.

Permission-based social media strategy can help you jump-off the social media nightmares. There is a better way to approach social media. Every marketing campaign has its penetration concept – when you penetrate these networks effectively, the result will speak for itself.

A marketing director, she was convinced that her fairly expensive ad spend on a local radio station was all their brand needed to reach its target demographic, 18 to 45 year-old men. Incredulous, our fearless leader tried to explain that such a group was one of the sweet-spots for social media/Twitter marketing ...

So is LinkedIn selling you out by offering up their database of user profiles to sales people? The new premium service, which wasn’t publicized with a news release and launched with any type of fanfare, is called Sales Navigator and is specifically designed to help salespeople with, what LinkedIn is calling, “social selling�.

Relationships are messy. What works for one can fail another. Individuals are, well, individual. They have unique needs and preferences but some things are universal. They want to be respected, appreciated, and valued. If you start there, you are on your way to good relationships.

One of the core beliefs of Likeonomics is that there is a real currency to unexpected honesty. It is why I told the story of the "Making of Likeonomics" several weeks before it was even out. I believe that if I don't hide my motivation from you, and share it openly - I can build trust, because I'm not trying to trick you.

When Mark Zuckerberg was involved with first launching the now giant entity that is Facebook, he had a smaller vision of how it could be used. Students would be able to connect with other students locally through his network and share ideas, friendships, and according to the movie The Social Network maybe gain a little fame for the little guy.

We are currently in the third iteration of social media, and adoption is quickly becoming more measurement-focused. Tools are being built to make a smarter approach to social media because people are beginning to realize that measuring social results actually MATTERS.

If Ann Taylor wants to be the "go-to" brand for women of all ages - or even women in their 20s, 30s and 40s (which their advertising suggests), who are looking for sophistication and confidence through the clothes that they wear - why not use Facebook as a resource to share all things related to a confident, successful life?

Having setup many different social media units for small, medium and large companies, many of you will agree that just because you are good at social media on a personal level only adds up to 25% of the required skillset one needs in order to develop a structured social media approach.