Social Media Bytes

My Favorite Sales E-mail Ever

Posted On: 2011 April 20

InsideSales.com send me my favorite drip-marketing e-mail ever.

Offensive and Marketing: Clausewitz's Principles of War Applied to Marketing

Posted On: 2011 March 10

I'm a pretty successful chess player against casual and decent players. I don't have any formal training in chess nor do I fancy myself a Grandmaster by any stretch, but I understand basic principles of strategy and maneuver and applying that to chess allows me to beat most casual players. My favorite principle to apply to chess is also one of the simplest: Maintain the offensive initiative. As long as the opponent is reacting to my moves, I control the terms of the engagement and prevent them from developing their own plans.

Objective and Marketing: Clausewitz's Principles of War Applied to Marketing

Posted On: 2011 February 22

Marketing shares many of the same principles of optimizing resources and adapting to changing circumstances with military theory, and we would be remiss as marketers if we ignored the research and refinement of thousands of years of human warfare and the lessons that we can learn in the development, execution, and optimization of our own campaigns. In part two of this series, I discuss the second of the U.S. Army's 9 Principles of War, Objective, and how modern marketers can apply them to their own marketing campaigns.

Mass and Marketing: Clausewitz's Principles of War Applied to Marketing

Posted On: 2011 February 15

Marketing shares many of the same principles of optimizing resources and adapting to changing circumstances with military theory, and we would be remiss as marketers if we ignored the research and refinement of thousands of years of human warfare and the lessons that we can learn in the development, execution, and optimization of our own campaigns. In this series, I'll break down the U.S. Army's 9 Principles of War and how modern marketers can apply them to their own marketing campaigns. First up - Mass!

How Long Can Twitter Posts be? Not 140 Characters.

Posted On: 2011 January 18

Since Twitter first became widely adopted when they had an absolutely useless web interface, many users (including myself) use third party applications to manage their Twitter accounts. Many of these applications use the old methodology of including the username when ReTweeting posts, and therefore need to have enough space to include the username.

Consumer's Love Customization: Lessons from WaWa Deli in Maryland

Posted On: 2011 January 13

We can take inspiration and lessons for life and business from many situations - some places you might think are unlikely places to find business and marketing wisdom.

Measure Twice, Price Once: The Importance of Measuring Customer Value

Posted On: 2011 January 11

Are you setting your prices right on your subscription site? Is that big marketing campaign going to be worth it? There's one value that's more important than any other when it comes to determining the ROI of these business decisions: The value of a customer.

Blog Review: 5 top trends in consumer-based Internet businesses for 2011

Posted On: 2011 January 11

A review of Jeremy Liew's article on his Top 5 picks for internet commerce trends in 2011 from Venture Beat

What drives me crazy about marketers?

Posted On: 2010 October 28

Chris Moody, Social Media Marketing Manager at Phonebooth, wants to know: "What's one thing that drives you crazy about marketers?"

Well Chris, unfortunately I can't think of just one thing, so here's my Top 10 habits of marketers that piss me off:

Picture or Logo? What's better for Social Media Marketing?

Posted On: 2010 October 28

What piqued my curiosity to write this article was actually while I was filtering through the "People You May Know" on Facebook, I noticed that I was automatically ignoring anyone with a logo as their profile picture. Simply put, there's such an incomprehensible volume of SPAM in social media that I was subconciously classifying anyone with a logo picture to be associated with a brand, and anyone associated with a brand as a spammer.

Why Giving Away an iPad May Be a Horrible Idea

Posted On: 2010 October 27

If you read this article, you could win an iPad! (not really - but read it and see why!)

Help Me choose: It's Time for a New Cell Phone

Posted On: 2010 October 26

I need help choosing a cell phone - please chip in!

Link Building and Search Engine Optimization - Interview with Brian Smith

Posted On: 2010 October 26

This is an excerpt of an instant message conversation I had with Brian Smith, SEO extraordinaire, about the nature of links to and from other websites.

The Practical Marketing Applications of Social Media: Episode One - Facebook.com

Posted On: 2010 October 18

In this series, I'm going to profile some of the biggest social media sites and some prominent potential marketing applications, as well as share some data that I've aggregated through my research.  Keep in mind throughout this, that many of these social media sites interface with each other to create a richer user experience. There are also many third-party applications that make using social media sites easier that I'll profile as well.

Apple's iDebacle

Posted On: 2010 July 01

By now, everyone has heard of the iPhone 4's failing antennas, at least everyone who is reading this tech blog

Good Morning Interwebs

Posted On: 2010 June 29

I'd like to kick off my part of this blog by talking about a game that I've been getting into recently. I'm referring to the oldie but goodie Marvel vs Camcom 2.

HubSpot's Gamble

Posted On: 2010 June 02

HubSpot's in trouble! They've asked for our help to combat a grievous injustice, and it's time for us to ride to their aid!  Or is it?

10 Things To Look For When Hiring Your Digital Native

Posted On: 2010 May 30

Many companies have found it easier to hire "Digital Natives" rather than try and learn and adapt to the changes in technology and information culture using only personnel for whom these technologies and attitudes do not come naturally.  What's a Digital Native?  What should you look for when considering one for hire?  This article lists 10 traits your applicant should have before you set them loose on your brand.

Why You Should Use Social Media Marketing

Posted On: 2010 May 16

Do you use social media to help promote, control, and engage in your or your company’s brand?  Odds are you do, since my primary methods of content distribution for this blog are via social media.  Do you want to hear something weird?  Some people don’t.  Some major brands don’t.  Some brands that do, do it very poorly.

 

“Influencers” are no longer just Oprah and Tiger, they’re the brothers, mothers, sisters, fathers and friends of our consumers.  If one of your customers has a bad experience, hundreds or thousands of people know about it almost in real time.  Does that matter? Very much so.  How can you use social media to improve your business?  Read on...

Who Am I?

Posted On: 2010 May 16

Who is Sam Mallikarjunan?  What is the Social Media Bytes blog?  What is the meaning of it all?  Get answers to these questions and introduce yourself in the comments section!