Today’s guest post (and video) is by Lisa Gerber.

It’s Facebook question of the week time (clap, clap, clap)!

Today’s question comes from Barry Silver. Barry is a long-time Spin Sucks reader, the inventor of the name Gin and Topics, and a good friend.

He also is a Chicagoan (sort of – if you count Rockford as part of greater Chicagoland) and he blogs at A Life Well Lived Concludes with a Smile, where he discusses social media, happiness, life-affirmation, marketing, and some search. Continue Reading »

Let’s talk Facebook today, shall we?

Sorry, Howie. I know you’re not a fan so you can go read another blog today.

I’m going to make a pretty big assumption most of you have at least checked out the new timeline. Even if you hate it, if you’re using social media for work, it’s important to understand how these most recent changes affect your business pages.

You’re going to become pretty creative in how you use Facebook now. I’m going to give you some tips. Continue Reading »

I’ve been thinking a lot about Google+ since they launched their business pages last week.

You see, it was announced at the same time that Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and I were recording Inside PR. So we all happened to be on the page watching it happen in real-time.

Google+ announced at 1 p.m. CT and, by 1:11 (yes, just 11 minutes later), Toyota already had more than 3,000 followers.

We asked one another the question, “How is that possible?” Continue Reading »

I swear Mother Nature is punishing me.

My mom called last night to say they’re getting snow in Utah. My sister-in-law called to say they’re getting snow in Southern Missouri. The east coast got snow last weekend. Denver is getting snow.

I live in the Northern arctic. WHERE IS MY SNOW?!?

Mother Nature, I’m sorry! Whatever I did, I’m sorry!

I realize that has nothing to do with Gin and Topics. I just had to get it off my chest…and hope the power of Spin Sucks will deliver the apology.

And now Gin and Topics. Continue Reading »

This guest post is written by Molli Megasko

Yes, it’s another Facebook post. But don’t roll your eyes yet (Howie!). I’m not going to talk about the user changes, I’m here to discuss the free ads Facebook is giving to small business.

This January, Facebook is planning to give away $50 in free advertising to 200,000 small businesses across the country to show them how the ad platform works in hopes of return sales and more users.  (That’s $10 million in free advertising!) Continue Reading »

So Facebook made some big changes this week, huh? It’s been pretty funny to watch the stream. People do NOT like change. I think it’s pretty freaking cool, especially the new timeline.

If you don’t yet have the new timeline enabled, this Mashable article (sorry Howie, it’s the only one I could find) tells you how.

Beware, though, you’re about to get sucked in for at least an hour.

Oh! And happy autumn! It’s my favorite season. Cool enough for sweaters and boots and tights and hats, but not freezing cold yet.

And, with that, Gin and Topics… Continue Reading »

This post is written by Molli Megasko.

There is a new digital connectivity endeavor that I’m really excited to talk about here.

Ticketmaster is going social by creating new features that allow music lovers to see where their friends on Facebook are sitting at concerts.

A good friend of mine, Kyle Kiefer, pointed this out to me (through Facebook messages, none-the-less) and since then I’ve wrapped my mind around how much this was needed and why it took so long to create.

Concerts are the most social thing I can think of and sharing music tastes and events is one of the most talked about topics for my generation. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest is written by Howie Goldfarb

Twitter or Facebook? Most consumer brands use both now. But what is the difference if you are crafting your strategy related to increasing sales?

Twitter is selling and Facebook is marketing.

Twitter is selling

Selling is finding someone and persuading them to buy your product. On Twitter, I can search, contact, ask questions, overcome objections and close the sale. Continue Reading »

Something interesting is happening with Google+. We’re all freaking out because we can’t import our Facebook and Twitter friends (you can export Facebook friends into Gmail now, if you’re patient and have a tiny bit of tech savvy).

Here we’ve spent years (in most cases) building communities on something we don’t own and guess what? Our friends and fans aren’t moving to the newest platform with us. Or they are but we don’t know it because not only do we not have their email addresses, we don’t have their Gmail addresses.

This is why it’s so important to build community on a platform that you own. Sure, you need all the social tools and the content curation and the fun apps that make your stuff look cool, but they all should drive people back to something you own.

In this case: A database.

Following are 10 things to consider as you add the newest social network to your toolbox. Continue Reading »

Last month marked big news in the Internet world. Google reached one billion unique viewers.

One. Billion. Unique. Viewers.

This is the highest amount a web company has ever seen.

According to comScore, the four sites with the most unique visitors during the month of May are as follows:

• Google with one billion unique visitors (8.4 percent increase per month)
• Microsoft with 905 million (15 percent increase)
• Facebook with 714 million (30 percent increase)
• Yahoo 689 million (10.8 percent over the past year) Continue Reading »