Last week I was working with a group of CEOs and one of the leaders said to me, “How do I get my employees to use social media? None of them want to do it.”

It’s like pulling teeth sometimes. Most, if not all, use Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in their personal lives, yet seeing that passion translate to work is oft missing.

And executives are frustrated.

The issue, though, stems from the difference in how people are invited to the social networks. Continue Reading »

During this week’s Inside PR (yet to be posted), Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and I discuss the ever-looming inbox.

You see, I’m a “get it cleaned out every day” kind of person. Having unopened, unread, or unanswered emails makes me nuts.

Mr. D makes fun of me. He says no one else in the whole world uses email the way I do. Sure, I’ll admit I’m a little OCD about it.

But email is a problem. For all of us. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Jack Bauer.

It’s my birthday and Mr. D thought it would be funny to have Jack Bauer “write” today’s blog post. So, um, here it is. 

Hello, my name is Jack Bauer.

The rumors are true. I love food.

Technically, I believe our definitions of “food” may be slightly different, but that’s not why I took time out from my hectic daily schedule to write my first post on Spin Sucks.

Everyone knows I am a bit of a social media “noob” as the pups call it these days.  I do have a Facebook page, and occasionally I’ll post.  But frankly, the treat-to-time ratio isn’t really worth the effort. I have better luck waiting for Mr. D to forget to take out the trash or turn his back on a plate of food (again.)  That guy never learns. Continue Reading »

Last week Jeannie Walters and I were discussing Brian Solis’s new book The End of Business As Usual.

Because she is a customer experience expert, she was especially interested in what Brian had to say about the connected customer and where business is going because of it.

When I mentioned I was writing a review of the book, she asked if she could join in.

And, because the Pinterest debate between Paul Sutton and I worked so well, we thought we’d do a combined book review.

Jeannie reviews it from the customer experience angle and I review it from the leadership angle. Continue Reading »

In 2010 we announced Arment Dietrich was no longer a PR firm.

It was pretty amazing to see what happened, almost overnight. Clients and prospects, alike, stopped asking us to do only publicity and instead began to bring us in on integrated marketing communication programs.

Even though we were constantly demonstrating our capabilities, we weren’t seen as an integrated firm until we drew a line in the sand.

I didn’t even realize I was doing something trendy, or what the startup world calls “pivot,” I was simply responding to client needs and to the big shift the web was creating for the marketing and communication industries. Continue Reading »

I had a really interesting experience last week.

This may not be new to some of you, but it was new to me…and it was really freaking cool!

I was invited to participate in a think tank for Interlochen, a center for the arts in Traverse City, Mich.

More on them in a minute.

They invited four experts to join four staff and two board trustees in a day of thinking, brainstorming, cajoling, and planning.

With the New York Times article about how Groupthink and brainstorming don’t work on my mind, I was interested to see how this all played out.

Was it going to work? Continue Reading »

Yes, I know it’s Facebook question of the week time, but we’re trying something new this week.

You see, Social Fresh wrote last week about the best times of the week and day to blog, in order to get social shares.

Historically, Mondays and Tuesdays on Spin Sucks are our big days, but the Social Fresh research proves we might be missing something on Thursdays.

I’m curious to see if a blog post runs at 8 a.m. and the video runs at noon, if there is a difference both in traffic and social shares.

So Lisa Gerber has answered Barry Silver’s Facebook question and that will run at noon.

This morning, however, you get an intellectual discussion about when to determine it’s time to fire a client. Continue Reading »

Late last year, Lisa Petrilli published The Introvert’s Guide to Success.

It popped into my brain when I saw, “The Rise of the New Groupthink” in the New York Times last week.

Combine those two pieces of content and you may have actually heard me yell, “Hurrah!”

You see, I’m an introvert. And, until about two years ago, I thought there was something wrong with me (well, there is clearly something wrong with me, but it’s not because I’m an introvert).

I know, I know. When I say that people don’t believe me.  Continue Reading »

I’m an English major. Not as in the language, but as in literature and creative writing.

I preface with that because what I’m about to say may come across as biased.

Read. More. Fiction.

As it turns out, though, I’m not biased (well, maybe a little bit). In the November issue of Scientific American, author and researcher Keith Oatley describes what reading fiction does for our minds and souls. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Shelley Pringle. 

Once upon a time in a land far, far away—actually it was in Canada so maybe not that far away for some of you—I worked for an integrated marketing communication company called Promanad.

Promanad had one of the most interesting corporate cultures I’ve ever experienced. For example, new business presentations were always concluded with the declaration, “We’re not normal.”

And indeed we weren’t.

Now, corporate culture can be a pretty nebulous thing. Many factors affect it, including how people are compensated and rewarded, formal and informal policies, rituals, routines, and, perhaps most importantly, the behavior of the organization’s leaders. Continue Reading »