With the rumor that Twitter is going to create their own photo sharing/hosting platform within their own walls, it’s time for businesses to start getting serious about using photos if they’re using Twitter. The following are best practices on how to do just that. Know your audience. Before you even look at taking photos and posting them to Twitter, you have to ask yourself the most basic of questions: Is your audience on Twitter? According to eMarketer, only 20 million Americans visited/used Twitter last month. While that’s a decent number, that leaves a few hundred million potential customers choosing to get their information in other ways. If you’re not finding them where they are, all the best practices in the [...]

When I boarded my flight Wednesday morning from Denver to Houston to connect to a flight to Asheville for my speech on Thursday, I tweeted out a question. I said “I’ve got roughly five hours in the air today. How can I help you? You’ve got 45 minutes to respond.” And people did! So briefly, here’s what people asked, and my answers: @andreahrizk said that she needs exposure about a shortage of interactive talent in the advertising industry, and included a link: http://imediaconnection.com/content/28737.asp – I think she has a point – Small interactive ad shops can’t offer the same “possibility of instant riches” that tech startups, whether they be in a basement or in the Google offices, can. As such, [...]

This post may or may not be NSFW, depending on your view of what “NSFW” is, which is the whole point of this freakin’ post. I was once in a long-term relationship with someone. We went out to dinner to meet two of her friends I’d never met before. About an hour into dinner, when everyone was loose and having a good time, and the male friend cracked a pretty ribald joke about sex. I thought it was hysterical, and had to counter. So I did, with the following: Two truck drivers are talking about a blown tire on the second trucker’s rig. The first one says “Hey, how’d you blow that tire?” The second one says “Oh, I ran [...]

A follower sent me a screen-grab Monday morning from the 7-Eleven fan page on Facebook, which I’ve posted below. Worst thing in the world? No. But should their social media person have thought twice before posting it? Yes. They’ve since deleted it, but people are still talking about it on their fan page. (Click on the image to expand.) 7-Eleven probably dodged a bullet since Monday happened to be a very active news day. But still, valuable lesson in here? On Facebook, you’re talking to a LOT of people. Make a joke to three people? Not too dangerous. To over 700,000 people? Someone is going to be offended. And people were. Big-time. When I use the term “short-bus” in a [...]

When I speak at conferences catering to small businesses, I usually show up an hour before the conference starts. I check in, but don’t pick up my own badge. Instead, I scan the badges already spread out, and grab someone else’s – usually someone who runs a small business. I’ve been Jon Michelson, Tyrese McHale, and my personal favorite, Gordon Brown (not that one), all of whom own small businesses, and all of whom are looking for the magic bullet that will convince them that social media actually works for them – will actually make them money, will actually help them sell product, and isn’t the next BS thing they hear about every day on the radio, on TV, and [...]