If you hire me to help plan and launch your blog, you’re going to spend some portion of the first three months learning how to write for one. And among the first lessons you’ll learn is how to write a great headline. I’ve spent years understanding what makes for a great headline and likewise, spend a fair amount of the first quarter of your blogging campaign showing you how to do it as well. Writing a great headline or title for a blog post is a craft; make no mistakes. Read the rest of this entry »

Trust. It’s not a very nebulous term. Yet in social media circles, it has lost some of its shine, some of its clarity, sort of the way Stairway to Heaven and Free Bird have due to overuse and overexposure. Trust, as a concept is, nevertheless, a fairly easy idea to digest. In much the same way we allow the time-tested, the reliable and the faithful access to our fragile and emotional squishy parts, consumers allow brands access to their wallets, if again, trust is and has been present.

Easy right? Not so much. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m beginning to see online marketers trend away from forcing social media down the greenhorn’s throat. This is wonderful news, because it shows that we’re likewise beginning to stop a bit of our own shouting too. As online evangelists, we sometimes lose sight of how noisy we can get when we’re waving the social media flag to signal the troops. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey gang. Been a little more than a month since I’ve posted new content to my blog. Well I won’t bore you with the reasons for my absence too much (I think). I will however, take a necessary moment to explain what’s in store for scottpdailey.com in the coming weeks and months, as it does speak to my disappearance.

Ok so here’s what’s happened.

I’ve grown a bit exhausted of discussing the philosophies of social media marketing alone. Now don’t get me wrong: in general, I love philosophy. In particular, I love discussing the sociological systems that drive online sales rituals. So it’s not that I’m bored with tackling these emotional underpinnings. It’s that I’m a bit tired of talking about them exclusively. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m concerned about the purity of the conversations undergone in blog comments. I’m concerned that many are not all that pure after all. I’m finding that often blog commenting appears to be something akin to a bunch of people not-so gingerly exchanging business cards and PowerPoints and even worse, trite and banal ass-kissing.

Yawn.

What if hundreds of comments on a blog you love were actually nothing more than a mirage? The post was terrific, but the post’s comment mojo was less the result of the post’s quality and more the result of self-important opportunism and profiteering? What if the 100 comments can be reasonably likened to a pack of hyenas scrambling to snag a bite of the feast the author has laid out by virtue of her blog’s popularity? Popular blog, popular blogger, hmmm? Read the rest of this entry »

“I don’t have time for all that, Scott.” That’s what most of my customers say when I suggest they use social media tools to engage with customers and prospects.

And you know what? That’s fair. I totally get it. As a small business owner, your sights are steadily fixed on keeping what you have happy and not so much on growth opportunities driven by methods that are (a) largely unfamiliar to you and (b) time-consuming to apply. You’ve got bills to pay, debts to manage, second and third mortgages and most importantly customers to keep happy. Your business is doing fine without the added labor burdens built in to socializing your company’s message using the likes of Facebook and Twitter. And Hell, blogging is something probably better suited to the young entrepreneur anyway. Read the rest of this entry »