This post was originally featured on The Next Web. For those of you who haven’t yet heard of MMA, it probably sounds like some form of fancy business degree from the Wharton school of business – But for those of you who count themselves among the fighting aficionados of the 21st century, you must know that MMA stands for “Mixed Martial Arts”; the global phenomenon that combines such sports as Boxing, Kickboxing, Wrestling and Jujitsu, [...]

This post was originally posted on socialmedia.biz on August 4th. We began working with easy-forex to combine their forex trading and social media activity back in February, 2010. We knew right away that teaming easy-forex’s expertise, vibrancy, and fresh approach to FX with our knowledge of the nuts and bolts of social media would invariably produce a winning combination. When we first took stock of easy-forex’ social media efforts, it was clear they had already recognized [...]

on Sunday I gave a lecture at The Marker’s Customer Experience Conference. I spoke about: “The relationship between the brand and the consumer on social networks: From flirt to love.” How should brands engage with consumers on social networks? You’ll see that the relationship between brands and consumers on social networks is very similar to the relationship between couples.  The presentation displays three examples of  brands that handle their social media efforts differently. HP, the [...]

Have you ever looked at a photograph of a captivating figure, with vivid detail and exotic settings, and thought to yourself ‘If this person could talk, what would they say?’ That’s the question that the people at Fotobabble asked themselves before creating their innovative application that allows you to upload an accompanying audio message to your photos, effectively creating a sort of digital scrapbook. The idea of attaching text to photos is as old as [...]

The Pivot conference is revving up again, scheduled to hit the Big Apple on the 17th – 19th of October, 2010. If you have anything to do with the marketing sweet spot of 18 – 34 year old generation ‘T’ (Techies), then you should definitely consider stopping by. Why?  5 reasons for you: Reason 1- First off, Pivot is the premiere brouhaha where ad agencies and brand marketers gather to discuss the styles, attitudes, preferences [...]

This post originally appeared on The Next Web on June 14th, 2010 If I were to ask you to put a face to the major players involved in foreign exchange, you’d probably think: Male, 50’s or 60’s, graying at the sides, stern faced, three pieced suit, European. Right or wrong, I’d bet any currency you want that you didn’t conjure up a 25 to 35 year old male with long hair, jeans, and some extra cash [...]

How do you measure the ROI of social media? This is a question that we are often asked by companies that want to enter the social media realm but are afraid or unsure of how to prove its success to their superiors. Wanna show your bosses that social media works? Here is a great video from Erik Qualman (@equalman) at Socialnomics which showcases several social media ROI success stories. Here are the top ten facts you [...]

The guys at Socialnomics have created Social Media Revolution 2, a sequel to their first Social Media Revolution video and it is awesome! Here are 10 reasons why you can’t ignore social media anymore (in case you didn’t figure that out yet): 1) Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30-years-old. 96% of them have joined a social network. 2) Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S. 3) Facebook added more than 200 million [...]

Brands today have the incredible opportunity of interacting with consumers on the #1 social network in the world – Facebook – and creating relationships with them that are long lasting, personal and relevant. Companies today no longer control their own brand, the power has shifted to the masses. It is the public’s desire and feedback that will decide the brand’s fate in the end. Therefore it is clearly apparent that Facebook must play a major [...]

I’ve been in the social media space now for quite a few years and I meet with at least 5 companies each week who have understood the importance of utilizing social media for their businesses but are still afraid of entering their brands into the new media age. What are they worried about? Here are the top five concerns that I’ve heard from executives and my response to them: 1) They’re afraid they’ll lose control [...]