Community Marketing Blog

Four Perspectives on Social Media and the Balanced Scorecard

	By Andrew Jenkins March 1, 2010 Volterra Consulting, Founder Biography	Connect.Follow.Network.

I am currently working on a strategic planning project and I am incorporating the Balanced Scorecard developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton. It got me thinking about how one might apply the Scorecard to social media strategies. I know that I am not the first to consider such an approach but I still thought it worthwhile to give you my take on it.

How Thought Leaders Destroy Businesses

By Andrew Ballenthin February 23, 2010 President, Sol Solutions Biography

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The timeless adage "don't fix it if it isn't broken" is the opposite of what thought leaders aim to do. Seth Godin, an illustrious thought leader, recently stated, "want to know why so many companies can't keep up with Apple? It's because they compromise, have meetings, work to fit in, and fear the critics...". As a thought leader is he right?

8 Tips for Hiring a Social Media Expert

By Andrew Ballenthin February 1, 2010 President, Sol Solutions Biography

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Reproduced from MarketingVOX - Because it is meant to look fun, putting together a social media campaign - or integrating one into a larger online initiative - can be surprisingly difficult. There are many challenges to capturing and engaging user interests online - starting with finding the right person to lead that effort, says Andrew Ballenthin, president of Sol Solutions.

Not An Impressive Presentation by Google At Ad Week

By Andrew Ballenthin January 30, 2010 President, Sol Solutions Biography

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Yesterday I attended the last Advertising Week 2010 presentation by Jonathan Lister, a Google Managing Director, on the "Evolution of Online Video". I give the presentation 7 out of 10. Jonathan shared widely available statistics, spoke mainly about YouTube versus the broader arena, and shared widely available stories. My biggest disappointment was the failure to significantly demonstrate the relevance of how video is assisting a wide array of businesses achieving monetizable results now and in the future for the cases he did share.   

3 Powerful Ways To Boost Your Marketing On LinkedIn - Part 1

By Andrew Ballenthin January 19, 2010 President, Sol Solutions Biography

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With over 55 million people on LinkedIn are you sure your company is getting the most out of it? Following are a number of powerful ways to market your company and actively make yourself known to potential customers, suppliers, strategic alliances, media and other LinkedIn users. LinkedIn doesn't keep track of how many dollars flow through its site in jobs, new business, media exposure or strategic alliances. Yet the 2% who have mastered LinkedIn know there's hundreds of thousands of dollars that are moving back and forth between members weekly if not daily.

What Does It Take To Be Effective In Social Media? 3 Top Performers Share Their Insights

By Andrew Ballenthin January 3, 2010 President, Sol Solutions Biography

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In 2009 there was a lot of talk about social media, but how do you know if the people giving advice are competent in the field or theorists? In 2009 this blog I had the opportunity to innovate an event called Blog-Off contests. These were events that offered social media enthusiasts the opportunity to be measured and show they knew how to apply several of the fundamentals critical for social media marketing effectiveness.

Out With The Old And In With the New - The Debate of Print Versus Internet Advertising!

As the year end is rapidly approaching it is time to take a look back at where the advertising money has gone and what kind of return we received for it, as well as look ahead at where the money should be directed in 2010 to attract more business. As a small real estate company we invested quite a bit of $$$$ on print advertising in 2009 and in all honesty the only thing it did was pacify some sellers of ours who didn't even sell anyway. On the other hand the little bit of money we spent on the internet advertising has generated close to 400 leads and has helped to build the pipelines of the 5 agents working here.

Blog-Off II Winners: A Great Close to 2009

By Andrew Ballenthin December 24, 2009 President, Sol Solutions Biography

Connect.Follow.Network.

How do you really know if the person advising your company on social media has the capability to deliver? One way is to find out if if they've participated in a Blog-Off contest. A Blog-Off contest offers social media enthusiasts and professionals the opportunity to be independently assessed by judges and statistics on their capability of implementing the fundamentals of social media marketing. On December 1-12, 2009 28 people from 5 countries entered Blog-Off II to find out how they measured up: following are the results.

Tweeting in Crisis: A New World of Communication

By Julie Tyios October 20, 2009 CEO, Red Juice Media Biography

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There is no doubt that Twitter is a powerful communication and collaboration tool. Some call it a social network, others liken it to the phone. It has one purpose: To deliver a message.

At 5:22 p.m. on December 14, self-employed mommy blogger Shellie Ross was active on Twitter. Minutes later, her 11-year-old son called 911 to report that his two-year-old brother, Bryson, was floating unconscious in the family’s backyard pool. Ross performed CPR throughout the call. 34 minutes later, Ross tweeted again: "Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool."

By Julie Tyios October 20, 2009 CEO, Red Juice Media Biography

Connect.Follow.Network.

There is no doubt that Twitter is a powerful communication and collaboration tool. Some call it a social network, others liken it to the phone. It has one purpose: To deliver a message.

At 5:22 p.m. on December 14, self-employed mommy blogger Shellie Ross was active on Twitter. Minutes later, her 11-year-old son called 911 to report that his two-year-old brother, Bryson, was floating unconscious in the family’s backyard pool. Ross performed CPR throughout the call. 34 minutes later, Ross tweeted again: "Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool."

Urban Jungle Myth: Use Your Network

Discussions about how to win new clients usually involves discussion of the “network" myth.

You may have recruited experts to your company in order to have access to their professional networks. Word of mouth marketing and referrals is the most dependable way for specialized, knowledge services to win new clients. 

And yet, when it comes to getting inside large, complex organizations, the “network myth” becomes apparent.  How often has the expert you hired on the strength of their network been disappointing?

Oprah and the Voice of a New Generation

This blog post is also connected to my blog at The Huffington Post.

"You work and work and fight and struggle and all the time, you're dreaming of this moment when it's all going to happen, when people will listen to your opinions and team up to make your ideas happen.  I'm in that moment right now and it's unbelievable.  Everything I've worked so hard for is coming together right now," says Derrick Ashong, activist, social entrepreneur, and front man to the band Soulfège - who has recently caught the eye of Oprah Winfrey.