The speed at which the social media universe has forever altered online interaction, marketing and the exchange of information has been phenomenal. Many brands, agencies, publishers and countless others have restructured internally to account for the fluid dynamic this has created, and continues to create. I thought it might be helpful, for those that are only ‘tuning in’ to the space in the past 6-12 months, to provide a very brief commentary on the past two years from a macro-standpoint. I read across 5-12 different industry publishers (blogs, magazines) on a daily basis to watch for macro trends in a…

When the term social media is mentioned, many now instantly think this just means “Facebook and Twitter” with little regard for the other major players in the field. This could mean huge missed opportunities for small businesses, who might not realize the big opportunities in places like Yelp, Foursquare and more. Web Pro News published a recent article about Facebook and Twitter Tunnel Vision and I couldn’t agree more. So I starting thinking through the main reasons this is happening and it’s definitely driven a great deal by the fact that Facebook, and Twitter to a certain degree (but not…

A heads up here that this post is not immediately actionable, for those of you with only 30 seconds to spare. It’s a quick note on a greater trend, something will take some years to refine and penetrate but I believe it’s a certainty because it makes complete sense, it’s centered around “ambient awareness.” A few years back, Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley made a remark at Tech Crunch Disrupt in NYC: Jeff Jarvis: Mobile will be come a meaningless word soon? It’s just that we’re always connected. Isn’t the real frontier what’s local. Dennis Crowley: It’s about ambient awareness. I remember…

In an informative Tech Crunch article from Josh Cons-tine on Tuesday, he noted the blistering pace of desktop to mobile-only users that Facebook is experiencing. According to Facebook’s 10-Q SEC document 102MM people accessed Facebook solely from mobile in June (roughly 10% of the 955MM total). Which constitutes a 23% jump from the 83MM reported in March. The challenges are pretty obvious. A smaller screen equals less display ads and fewer opportunities to compromise value for ad real estate. But isn’t that what this entire ad revolution is about? Isn’t it about finding better ways to evolve the brand-to-consumer connection…

Many of us have faced the daunting task of understanding our website traffic. Google has a free service called “Analytics” which was built for marketers and doesn’t require detailed technical knowledge. Google Analytics dashboard gives an overview of search engine referrals, pay per click advertisements, email marketing, etc. Google offers customization, drag and drop interfaces with over 80 types of reports. Examine several reporting features and see the amazing flexibility of this free website tracking system. Goal Conversion Reports: Retail goals may consist of converting more shoppers to buyers. Set parameters and track success rates. Non-commercial websites can also meet…