Today’s guest post is written by Anne Weiskopf. 

Shaw’s supermarkets (part of the SuperValu chain) launched a holiday giveaway in November worth more than $15 million in prizes and money saving offers across their 169 stores in five states.

The concept of the “Wish Big Win Big Holiday Giveaway” is simple and compelling: Shoppers are given a number of tickets based upon their total grocery purchase spend and specially marked items.

These tickets, when unsealed, reveal a 25-cent coupon for a product from a participating brand as well as four game markers.  Match the marker to a spot on the Official Game Board and you are “playing the game.”

I’ve never participated in a game contest or sweepstakes. But as the mother of two teenage boys, I shop for food – a lot (There’s a reason food is #2 on Maslow’s Hierarchy). And I hate going to the grocery store. Each step in the process from filing my cart, to packing the bags, paying (have you seen prices recently?) to loading my car and then unloading the groceries at home and putting them away – sucks. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Eric Wittlake.

Be Authentic.

A chorus of advisors and consultants that have beaten the authentic drum in recent years.

It only takes a brief look at the world around us to realize we really don’t want to see authentic in social media. What we really want is something carefully constructed, with enough personality and individuality to look real instead of robotic.

Before you jump back on the authentic bandwagon, consider what a real authentic social media presence would reflect. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Tyler Orchard. 

The popularization of social media has created two very different environments.

On one hand, social media has produced a world of vast connectivity. Consumers and professionals are linked without boundary. Barriers that once limited engagement are overcome with new ways to network.

Social media has offered people unconfined opportunities to tap into conversations that were once hidden.

On the other hand, the technology simultaneously provides others with a shrouded veil behind which they can hide. Social media has offered more power in the form of selection, engagement, and response.

It is possible to seamlessly transition between both of these worlds at our convenience. We can operate in two elements that contrast one another so vigorously it almost seems impossible they were borne from the same revolutionary technology. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Craig McBreen.

What can a snarky, middle-aged, New Yorker teach a 40-something, wannabe blogger about life?

Well, I often find inspiration in the strangest places and politically incorrect, sharp-tongued, bad boy chefs dole out the best advice. You knew that, right?

I’m an unabashed fan of Mr. Bourdain’s work and simply love his sardonic wit, candid observations, and appreciate his creative chops. Emeril Lagasse, Paula Dean, and Rachael Ray might beg to differ.

He often has too many drinks on camera, openly mocks other celebrities (see above), and has a disdain for all things vegan. Even though his contempt is generally a bit tongue in cheek, it’s certainly fun and part of his charm.

I mean, we all know the most dangerous person to America is clearly not Paula Deen, right? Continue Reading »

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

This week, I have a little contest for you. During the video, I show you the view from my hotel room.

The first person to correctly guess where I am will receive a free copy of No Bullshit Social Media by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers.

And, as an extra bonus, if you not only name the city, but the exact hotel where I’m staying, you’ll win an Arment Dietrich Rabbit wine opener.

No cheating. And my team is not allowed to participate. Or tell anyone where I am.

I repeat. NO. CHEATING.

On to the question at hand. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber. 

My first real job in the PR industry was working with downtown Seattle retailers assisting them with cooperative branding and marketing initiatives.

Right away, I noticed two types of business owners: The type who are passionate about their business and curious about how to apply new ideas to their models; and the victims, who blame outside sources for everything. They looked to their landlord and their neighborhood association to bring them traffic.

To the latter, I wish I could have said then, what I’m about to say now: You shouldn’t be in business.  Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Adam Justice.

SEO has a few basic principles that will never change, but search engines routinely refine their algorithms in ways that usually make any fringe efforts worthless.

Every few months there is a new set of best practices, and another group of web properties are adversely affected by changes.

This year, in particular, has been especially harsh on websites that focused a lot of their attention on SEO.

It’s also the year Google search began to lose some of its power as gatekeeper of unique hits, but gained some of it back with Google+. Continue Reading »

Welcome back to the real world! I hope everyone had a really good Thanksgiving weekend.

To start the last 20 work days of the year, I thought now was a good time to discuss trends for next year.

This will get you started on planning and getting everything ready to launch the year on January 2.

I’ve written the eight social media trends you  need to pay attention to for next year.

But, before we get started, we’re going to let you choose the ninth trend, just like we did last year, for the chance to win two seats to the trends webinar.

The contest information is at the end of the post. 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 »

Today’s guest post is written by Adriel Hampton.

Forget how many followers someone has, how many likes they have, and even their Klout score.

The first thing to look at when making a snap judgement about someone on Twitter is how many lists they are on.

Twitter introduced lists two years ago and their effective use separates amateurs from the pros.

The thing is, any former real state agent (<ducking> – some of my best friends are realtors) can amass tens of thousands of followers, but in general, a person who’s been listed 100 or more times has achieved significant credibility. Continue Reading »