Personal Branding means narrowing your audience from “just everyone” to the people most likely to respond to your message. It means remaining focused while your competition markets to everyone with a pulse.

Viral marketing (also called buzz marketing) encourages word of mouth, or “buzz,” by giving your prospect something exciting or valuable to share with others. That “something” can be vital information, a special offer, or a preview of your useful products or services.



The debate over measuring social media investment inspired many brands to cannonball into popular social networks and join the proverbial conversation without a plan or strategic objectives defined. At the same time, the lack of ROI standards unnerved many executives, preventing any form of experimentation until their questions and concerns were addressed.

Last summer Google made SMBs owners very happy by releasing a new business dashboard for sites that claimed their Google Business Listing. The addition put actionable data and stats directly into SMB owners’ hands so they could learn about the folks visiting their site and act on the information provided. Well, now it’s FourSquare’s turn to grown up.