In the online community – social media or otherwise – trust is power. Why, you ask? It’s pretty simple. In an online forum, you’re asking potential clients and customers to use your services and your brand above any other faceless brand on the internet. What sets you apart from the crowd is the level of trust consumers have in your brand.

Developing that level of trust, however, is key, and a lot of companies and brands aren’t sure where to begin. The beginning, as convoluted as it might seem, is as simple as becoming a transparent brand for the hundreds of thousands of consumers looking for answers every day. The first step is pretty simple. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you want to receive from a company online. How would you like to be treated? Read more…

We do a lot of how-to’s here on our little blog, but I like to think it’s just a little bit of what I’ve learned along the way becoming public knowledge. Whenever a business, organization, non-profit or individual starts a social media campaign, they have to build the thing from the ground up. There are things to do, those things that you shouldn’t do, and then there are those things that you wish you knew when you first started.

To me, being a human is one of the most important things, and Discovery will tell you that pretty much any time. People want to speak to people – not a brand. They want to be heard, and they want to know they matter. The same goes for social media. Here are my top seven tricks on how to better humanize your social media presence. Read more…

When I was a youngster attending a parochial grammar school in the heart of Boston, we had televisions in every classroom. This was a big deal because I am talking about the early sixties, and using television as an educational tool was not all that common. I don’t know why some things remain with me and others do not, but I remember that the nuns in our school (St. Peter’s in Dorchester) always tuned in to a particular show on the local public broadcasting channel. The show featured a folk singer named Tony Saladin.

I remember one song in particular that he performed. It has stayed with me all these years and the wisdom of the lyrics that escaped me at such an early age have become the central tenet of my life today. He sang; “Love is something that if you give it away, give it away, give it away – Love is something that if you give it away, you end up having more.” Read more…

A lot of you have probably heard the buzz about Pinterest lately. Do you understand what it is though, or are you completely clueless as to what, and why, it is popular today? Pinterest, simply put is a dynamic social bookmarking tool that allows you to “pin” images, sayings, and visual content you like to virtual “pin boards,” which are hosted on your Pinterest profile page.

Pinterest is a fairly straightforward site. It’s about the user – plain and simple. By utilizing straightforward, visual boards, users have the ability to flatten and streamline the hierarchy of information for others to view. Pinterest boards fill the user’s entire screen, and other users have the option to “like,” and “repin” information to their boards. Users can also leave comments below images on the board and, when opened, a board looks very much like a simplistic website – clean and minimalist. Read more…