Chris Brogan’s speech at New England XPO – Excerpts

Chris Brogan’s speech at New England XPO (excerpts):

  1. Mobile matters a great deal!
  2. 16pt plain-text “rules” in mobile, especially as consumers age.
  3. Web-enable your store’s location: Google.com/Places (add your physical store).
  4. >10% of complaints about a store experience – actually Tweeted from within the store
  5. Facebook: fastest-growing segment is 31-60 year olds, mostly women (to look at other people’s grandkids and kids)
  6. Email marketing: no more than 250 words in your newsletter – it’s the 140 character mentality.
  7. Just “First Name” and “email addy” – that’s ALL you ask for when asking people to sign up for a newsletter.
  8. Business cards are a placeholder for a relationship extension – not to add them to your free newsletter.
  9. The Referral Engine by John Jantsch
  10. YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world – add keywords to your videos.
  11. Social media is about being there BEFORE the sale – build relationships.
  12. C.R.A.P. – Connections (connect about them, not you); Referrals (The Referral Engine by John Jantsch); Awareness/Attention (pay attention to them); Presence (being where the buyer is)

Wadah Khanfar (Al Jazeera): A historic moment in the Arab world


As a democratic revolution led by tech-empowered young people sweeps the Arab world, Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, shares a profoundly optimistic view of what’s happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond — at this powerful moment when people realized they could step out of their houses and ask for change.

More small businesses use Twitter, Facebook to promote – USATODAY.com

By Jon Swartz, USA TODAY

A surge in social-media use by small businesses reflects a shift in how they operate and their comfort with increasingly easy-to-use technology.

In growing numbers, small-business owners are adopting social-networking services, location-based services, Twitter and online video to promote products and services, according to a new study by MerchantCircle, a social network for small businesses. It polled a fraction of its more than 1.3 million members.

The survey results are the strongest evidence yet that small businesses — which account for more than 90% of all U.S. companies and fuel the economy — are accelerating their use of social media at the expense of traditional media such as newspapers, the Yellow Pages and radio. Even e-mail messages have taken a beating.

Read full article: More small businesses use Twitter, Facebook to promote – USATODAY.com.