{Originally published on Dianna Huff’s B2B MarCom Writers Blog}

According to an October 2008 survey of 189 marketing professionals by Forrester Research (Making Social Media Work in B2B Marketing), B2B marketers continue to rely on traditional digital marketing methods to drive leads — including e-mail newsletters.

Yet, given the rise of blogs and other social media tactics — and overflowing e-mail inboxes — you might wonder if something as lowly as the e-newsletter is still a viable tactic.

The answer is: most definitely. Think about it. Despite the buzz about social media, email remains the #1 activity on the Internet. This means that all of us check email, read email, and respond to email constantly.

Plus, not everyone reads blogs or has a LinkedIn/Facebook account. I’ve had PR and marketing professionals tell me they never read blogs but they continue to read newsletters, something I realized based on my own experience.

Although I have this blog and Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts, I still have people subscribing to my e-newsletter every single day.

(But, just because people still subscribe to e-newsletters doesn’t mean they’re reading them. If I get tired of a company’s e-newsletter, for example, I don’t unsubscribe, I simply delete it without reading it.)

If you’re a marketer who has been putting out an e-newsletter for years, now is a great time to look it over to see how you can re-invigorate your publication, and your audience, too, with the following tips:

{Originally published on Dadomatic.}

My dad is a great dad. He indelibly shaped my personality, mores, and outlook in life. Now that I am a dad too, I appreciate what he did even more. It wasn’t easy to narrow them down, but these the top ten lessons that he taught me.

1. Don’t take any shiitake from anyone. My dad was a state senator for twenty years, and he never walked away from a confrontation with the local newspapers, labor unions, and government officials. He taught me not to kowtow to anyone just because they are in lofty positions. This is a very useful attitude because if people sense that you don’t take any shiitake, they won’t give you any.

2. Obey your teachers. My dad taught me that teachers knew more than I did so I should treat them with respect. This was a rare exception to the “don’t take shiitake from anyone” lesson. Come to find out, (a) teachers very seldom dish out shiitake, and (b) they truly change the world (and not for the money), so they (c) deserve truckloads of respect.

3. Don’t follow the crowd. Initially, I thought that he was saying that most people were stupid–and I agreed with him. But I now realize that he was telling me not to follow the crowd because the crowd “mentality” can make smart people do dumb things. This is why I don’t believe in the “wisdom of the crowd” to this day.

4. Show some noblesse oblige. My dad was very big on the concept that people who are fortunate (in terms of power, prestige, or money) have the moral obligation to be kind, help others, and even answer their emails. By far, this is the most difficult lesson to implement if lots of people want something from you, but as my father taught me, you just have to deal with it.

5. Read. My dad taught me to love to read. We had hundreds of books around our house, and he bought me any book that I wanted. With his encouragement, I also spent hundreds hours in the public library too. This love of reading led to a love of doing research (in those days, in the World Book Encyclopedia!) and eventually to a love of writing.

{Originally published on SmartWomansGuides}

Today I had an interesting and educational experience. One of the great bloggers I follow on Twitter introduced a friend of his to the community. This friend is apparently well-known by many but, unfortunately, not me. But, since I trust the blogger who recommended him, I went to go check out the newbie’s profile. But I was foiled - the newbie didn’t have a profile! Gasp!

In an effort at brevity, I joked that the newbie’s Twitter profile was a little slim - no website link, no bio, nada. Just his name and a picture (which was a nice picture, admittedly). Frankly, I didn’t want to have to google the newbie to find out about him. Maybe I’m too focused on instant gratification, but well, fair enough, maybe I am. The web is all about instant info and ease and convenience and I’ve bought in.

One of my other Twitter buds messaged that this newbie was already so well known that he didn’t need to create a profile to get followers and he was busy. Wow. Not only did I still not know about this newbie (who now I wanted to know about even more, since he’s so busy and great) but now I felt like an outside, the only one left in the world to not know who he was just on his name and picture. The big capital “L” for loser felt squarely tattooed to my forehead.

After a moment of being stunned, the conversation got me thinking - are you ever so big that you don’t have to introduce yourself? You can guess my answer - a resounding NO.

Being focused on beginners, I try to be aware of the idea that there are people who aren’t living in my personal world, who don’t live in my bubble of experience. Like meeting people who’ve never heard of Twitter, or who have never purchased anything online, or don’t know what RSS is, it’s easy to think that maybe they’ve just been living under a rock. That’s not very kind or compassionate and it’s a bit foolish from a marketing point of view. It gives the impression that you don’t care.

Sometimes I am simply madly in love with this magazine. Blog Nosh Magazine has changed the way I read blogs, as I now approach the internet as one massive This American Life story. On my better days, I so fancy myself as Ira Glass. (tongue firmly planted in cheek, thank you.) So many different perspectives, so much to find, opening my eyes to stories I may never have heard before if it were not for blogs. If it were not for your willingness to open your lives to us.

Our goal for Blog Nosh Magazine is to deliver as many diverse perspectives as possible, across numerous topics and genres, many of which you may never have been exposed to in your daily reading, let alone daily real life. This is made possibly by the work of our Channel Editors, of which we have close to 40. But even with a team that size, it is still not enough.

We need more. We need more eyes. More minds. More guts. More hearts.

(click title for more)

Less than two months in and Blog Nosh Magazine is growing by leaps and bounds, all thanks to you! In the pipeline, we have a very exciting site redesign with ease-of-navigation in mind, new channels (including Race & Ethnicity, Travel & Expats, and Personal Finance), dynamic new editors with even more diverse perspectives, and much more.

Today may be one of the biggest turning points for us, though, as we proudly announce that we are opening to private advertising! And for a very good reason:

Blog Nosh Magazine will soon introduce a quarterly print publication to complement our daily online magazine!

What serious blogger doesn’t dream of seeing their name in hard copy? Now is your chance.

Grab your piece of the pie!

One of the key elements of Blog Nosh Magazine is timeless content. As such, we plan to offer a quarterly literary magazine perfect for casual browsing-over-coffee-n-scones or in-depth reading during your daily (ahem) personal time. The ideal coffee table magazine that you can keep for years, so to speak.

Blog Nosh Magazine begs to have crumbs scattered across its pages, don’t you think? We do and we welcome you to be part of making this happen as an advertiser on www.blognosh.com!

(click title for more)

Originally published at The Social Path

Yes, I
know. We’re all tired of lists. But studies have shown that they’re
still the most effective way to list things, and I can’t argue with
science.

(click title for more)

Originally published on Social Impressions

As you become increasingly active in social
media, you will find a wide variety of competitiveness across the
board. Some want to be regarded as A-list bloggers, to reach a top
status on social bookmarking sites, and to have the most number of
friends on Facebook. While some can maintain genuine relationships with
people, others see them as part of their massive network. Competition
is usually healthy, depending on the amount of competitiveness involved.

Although there are many gray areas between each level, I have
observed roughly five main levels of social media competitiveness and
involvement.

Lurker

Lurkers exist online; they just aren’t visible. These people don’t
actually participate. They quietly watch the activity on their favorite
sites. They may identify core sites and users that they admire or enjoy
and follow them religiously. Even the most offensive of posts won’t
incite a comment from them. Although these lurkers might sign up for an
account on a social site, they are usually the users without an avatar.
Their activity on these sites is minimal, and their contribution is
non-existent.

(click title for more)

Originally Published on Sally Walker

With all the fuss these days about social media, social networking,
twitter this and plurk that, are all these ‘ways of communication’
actually needed by Mums?

There are a host of social media and networking sites these days,
ranging from simple ideas like Twitter to full on website making
profile page ideas such as Facebook or MySpace.

However, as a Mum, do you need them? Will they benefit you?

As Mum’s we have enough on our plate with housework, being a taxi
for our children, cooking, cleaning, working out the weekly menu, doing
the shopping, washing etc. We might also have a full or part time job
on top of all that, so do we really need endless websites to try and
keep track of too? Well maybe…

(click title for more)