It’s been awhile since my last “Funny Friday” and let me tell you, this one will give you a chuckle and a half.  For other delightful funnies, go to the Humor section.

This post is originally from Shane Nickerson, who is an executive producer of Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory show on MTV, called the 46 Stages of Twitter.  I thought Shane’s post was brilliant so I decided to revise his original post with his consent.  The original 46 became what this list is now – The 85 stages of Twitter.  Holla if you’ve experienced one, any, all, or none!  Reply to me @shinng or comment below.   This should be amusing… …continue reading Funny Friday: The 85 Stages of Twitter

We have all heard of the objections in using social media.  That’s great and all, but how do you respond to these objections.  Direct Marketing Observations listed the top 45 objections.   There were some repeats so I revised the list, expanded it, and included comments on how to respond to each objection.   Comment below or @ me on Twitter and let’s continue to evolve this list to help others start engaging.  No more excuses! …continue reading 30 top objections to social media and how to respond

This is a guest post from Matt Cheuvront and is part of the Guest Blog Grand Tour over at Life Without Pants. Want to learn more about Matt Cheuvront & see how far the rabbit hole goes? Subscribe to the Life Without Pants RSS feed & follow him on Twitter to keep in touch!

Ok, you caught me. Busted. I’m kind of a Star Wars nerd. There’s something about the lightsabers and intergalactic battles that is just so damn cool. And in a world full of analogies these days, why don’t we tie the connection of being “one” with the force as being “one” with your consumers and community audience.

Here are seven things you NEED to be doing with your blog and Social Media “force” in your epic struggle against the “noise” and “clutter” from the Dark Side. …continue reading One with the Force: Tapping into your consumer’s psyche and becoming a thought leader

I’ve had the pleasure of being on both sides of the fence.  On one side, my former boss was not a proponent of social media because of the difficulty in measuring ROI.  Bottom line, did the social media efforts translate into dollars.  On the other side of that fence, my current employer, Marketwire, is a big believer in social media and the benefits that social media produces.  This post focuses on the former.

Convincing your boss and selling social media should be approached with a plan.  Most importantly, you must genuinely believe in social media and its benefits.

How to sell social media to your boss …continue reading How to Convince and Sell Social Media to Your Boss

Are you kidding me with this?  Nike does yet another brilliant ad.  This time featuring rappers KRS-One and (one of my favorite rappers) Lupe Fiasco.  This time, it’s an all out (MVpuppets) Christmas rap battle.  Let’s touch mics gentlemen muppets and keep it clean.

Santa = KRS-One
(smack talking reindeer) Blitzen = Lupe Fiasco

Blitzen calls up Santa with some smack talk, “I hope y’all ready to get served cuz beating Blitzen is gonna take a miracle cuz last time I checked this wasn’t 34th street.”

Lyrics to Santa’s response to Blitzen…I can’t believe I just wrote that. (if you see any corrections, comment or tweet me) …continue reading Reindeer versus Santa Rap Battle with Dunking on Reindeer Lyrics

The last session of SES Chicago Day 3 proved to be one helluva entertaining discussion on black hat, white hat SEO.  However while listening to the panel, I couldn’t help thinking about the 5:30 PM Chicago traffic and the 4-5 inches of snow that was expected (and had started!).

My recaps will include some useful tidbits that I picked up during day 2 of SES Chicago.  Tweets were made from @marketwire as well as my personal handle @shinng using the hashtag #seschi and #rt2eat.  So what is the meaning of the latter hashtag?  Well, the creative marketing team @marketwire wanted to give back for the holiday season so we decided to take advantage of the Marketwire presence.  For every ReTweet of our tweets that include the hashtags #seschi #rt2eat, Marketwire will be donating $1.00 per RT for a max contribution of $500 to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

SES Chicago Session – Black Hat, White Hat: Does it Really Matter Anymore? …continue reading Black Hat, White Hat Does it Really Matter Anymore

Out of the three keynote speakers attending SES Chicago 2009, I was looking forward to Dan Siroker’s keynote the most.  Siroker is the former deputy new media director for the Obama presidential transition team and considering the location of Search Engine Strategies, I could only imagine the kind of information and footage that would be expected.

Simply put, I did not want Siroker’s keynote to end.  Great information and amazing footage from the Obama campaign.

This SES Chicago recap will cover the keynote address by Dan Siroker.

My recaps will include some useful tidbits that I picked up during day 1 of SES Chicago.  Tweets were made from @marketwire as well as my personal handle @shinng using the hashtag #seschi and #rt2eat.  So what is the meaning of the latter hashtag?  Well, the creative marketing team @marketwire wanted to give back for the holiday season so we decided to take advantage of the Marketwire presence.  For every ReTweet of our tweets that include the hashtags #seschi #rt2eat, Marketwire will be donating $1.00 per RT for a max contribution of $500 to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Opening Keynote with Dan Siroker, former Deputy New Media Director, Obama Presidential Transition …continue reading SES Chicago Dan Siroker Obama Presidential Transition Team Keynote

This SES Chicago recap will cover the last two sessions of Day 2.  This recap includes “Igniting Viral Campaigns” and a sponsored session named “Social Media Strategy”.

My recaps will include some useful tidbits that I picked up during day 2 of SES Chicago.  Tweets were made from @marketwire as well as my personal handle @shinng using the hashtag #seschi and #rt2eat.  So what is the meaning of the latter hashtag?  Well, the creative marketing team @marketwire wanted to give back for the holiday season so we decided to take advantage of the Marketwire presence.  For every ReTweet of our tweets that include the hashtags #seschi #rt2eat, Marketwire will be donating $1.00 per RT for a max contribution of $500 to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

SES Chicago Session – Igniting Viral Campaigns …continue reading SES Chicago Day 2 – Igniting Viral Campaigns; Social Media Strategy

Day 2 of SES Chicago proved to be a much slower day, but I think many of the attendees needed the “break”.  The biggest session by far was Tim Ash’s “Landing Page Optimization”.

This SES Chicago recap will cover my favorite session of Day 2, Tim Ash’s presentation on “Landing Page Optimization: The 7 Deadly Sins”.  My primary reason for attending this session was to listen to Tim Ash speak.  I was told that Ash was an engaging speaker and he did not disappoint.

My recaps will include some useful tidbits that I picked up during day 2 of SES Chicago.  Tweets were made from @marketwire as well as my personal handle @shinng using the hashtag #seschi and #rt2eat.  So what is the meaning of the latter hashtag?  Well, the creative marketing team @marketwire wanted to give back for the holiday season so we decided to take advantage of the Marketwire presence.  For every ReTweet of our tweets that include the hashtags #seschi #rt2eat, Marketwire will be donating $1.00 per RT for a max contribution of $500 to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

SES Chicago Session – Landing Page Optimization: The 7 Deadly Sins …continue reading Top 7 Mistakes to Avoid in Optimizing Your Landing Page

This SES Chicago recap will cover Bryan Eisenberg’s “21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites”.  Also included are 5 steps to great conversion rates next week.

My recaps will include some useful tidbits that I picked up during day 1 of SES Chicago.  Tweets were made from @marketwire as well as my personal handle @shinng using the hashtag #seschi and #rt2eat.  So what is the meaning of the latter hashtag?  Well, the creative marketing team @marketwire wanted to give back for the holiday season so we decided to take advantage of the Marketwire presence.  For every ReTweet of our tweets that include the hashtags #seschi #rt2eat, Marketwire will be donating $1.00 per RT for a max contribution of $500 to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository. 

SES Chicago Session – 21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites …continue reading 21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites and Steps to Great Conversion Rates