Marketing

Social metrics that matter to your boss

A business case usually relies on numbers. Numbers to justify the investment, numbers to project the return on investment, and numbers to compare against other investment opportunities. Numbers that matter, matter differently dependent on the view of the person you talk to. Certainly social media, or social software, numbers rely on us to know our [...]

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Tagged as: ChiefExecutive.net, Deloitte Consulting, executive, finance, John Hagel, John Seely Brown, risk, social, social media, software

Your company social media strategy reflects organization culture, part 1

If you want an idea of your organization’s culture there is no simpler place for this insight than your organization’s social media strategy. Companies who view social media only as a marketing vehicle miss far more than an opportunity to engage. It is as likely these companies have lost their employee’s motivation in similar fashion [...]

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Tagged as: communication, culture, marketing 2.0, organization development, policy, social media, strategy, web 2.0

Marketing: trying to rekindle the old days

Though coming for a while, there was no sign of bitterness from the advertiser when his consumer finally walks out and abandons the clearly, lopsided relationship: Which side of the table is your seat? In a prior blog Marketing 2.0 — You Better Free Your Mind Instead I recapped: Lose control, provide content, make it easy [...]

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Tagged as: advertising, communication, consumer, marketing 2.0, social media, social media marketing

Quality communication in social media

As a professional statistician, I help doctoral students design quantitative research studies, and analyze and interpret their data, for their dissertation. It occurred to me that some aspects of a doctoral dissertation could be applied to social media communications to make information and conversations more rigorous and tractable. If all you have is a hammer, [...]

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Tagged as: project failure, project management, risk, social media, Statistically Significant Consulting, statistics, Steve Creech

Recap: Communication in the age of saturation

A recap on my series of blogs around communication in the age of saturation. Preamble: Marketing 2.0 – You better free your mind instead The printing press brought us Marketing 1.0. Marketing 1.0, however, did not bring information to all equally. Information really relied on distribution and distribution relied on money. Marketing 1.0 was owned [...]

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Tagged as: communication, marketing 2.0, social media, social media marketing, Twitter, viral marketing

A key to why so many companies blow it in social media?

Last week I posted Marketing interruption still trumps engagement, really? I quoted global brand strategist Jonathan Salem Baskin’s Advertising Age blog where he presents his case that brands have always had it correct: Brands always had conversations with consumers, whether via broadcast TV or chiseled on clay tablets. The rules have also been consistent over [...]

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Tagged as: advertising, communication saturation, Conversation Prism, engagement, Marketing, social media, strategy

Marketing interruption still trumps engagement, really?

Great post on Advertising Age website titled: Why Interruption Still Trumps Engagement [click for .pdf to avoid onerous login]. The key to the blog is the closing and I think it is worth your read because it gives yet another view of social media’s critics. The author, Mr. Jonathan Salem Baskin, states the social-media revolution [...]

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Tagged as: advertising, brand, engagement, interruption, Marketing, social media

Media’s two tribes – charging for content

The lines are drawn: charge for content, give content for free. In Media’s two tribes The Economist breaks down the thought of charging for premium content over giving content away. In this article from The Economist, read about what 2 UK media outlets weigh in their chosen strategy as well a look at some of the [...]

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Tagged as: Apple, content, Google, iPad, Kindle, market, media, pricing, strategy, The Atlantic, The Economist

The maven or the laggard – Clive Thompson’s view

Those early market adopters, the techno-weenies that stood in line for Apple’s iPhone 4, they represent only about 13.5% of the potential market. It seems many consumer and technology products look for the big splash that Apple seems to land as a sign their company and their product are cool, hip, and successful. Early adopters [...]

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Tagged as: Apple, Clive Thompson, innovation, iPhone, market, product launch, strategy, technology, Wired

Too many links, a pause for delinkification

A couple recent articles around author Nicholas Carr’s writings and thoughts present a negative symptom of hyperlinks, mainly, reduced reader comprehension. Too many hyperlinks or links negatively affect our ability to process and understand. Mr. Carr’s call? Delinkification. Is hyperlinking a hyper waste? Search engine optimization (SEO) aside, for the moment, the whole goal of [...]

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Tagged as: communication, communication saturation, comprehension, hyperlink, search engine optimization, social media marketing

5 reasons human resources hurt consumer brands

Every person connected to your organization is in sales and marketing. Each interaction anyone connected to your company, your government agency, your non-profit, or your university has with the anyone is an interaction with your brand. Every interaction with a vendor, supplier, or competitor is as important as an interaction with a potential customer. At [...]

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Tagged as: applicant, consumer brand, customer, employment, finance, human resources, Marketing, sales, talent assessment

Embrace geolocation, Foursquare, and social media sensory overload

This article, Tech Edge: Hollow Point | Fast Company, offers a view on the latest, greatest–stop me if you’ve heard this before–social media phenomenon around “checking in” through Foursquare. I have to agree with this article that “checking in can be fun, useful, and even indispensable, but only in certain contexts”. However, I’m not sure checkin in [...]

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Tagged as: Fast Company, Foursquare, geolocation, marketing 2.0, sensory overload, social media, social media marketing

Tips to turn your blog into a pod(cast) into revenue

Tired of trying to reach a critical mass with your blogs? Tired of sitting in front of the blank compute screen trying to channel your Ernest Hemingway? What about podcasting? Podcasting is one great alternative to reach millions. “Podcasting?” You say? ”To reach more people than my written blog?” You say? It is true. And [...]

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Tagged as: blog, communications, Fast Company, podcast, strategy

How to launch and manage your social media identity – the slides

Last Thursday night I gave a presentation to the Massachusetts Bay Organization Development Learning Group on how to grab hold of the marketing world that’s spinning around us and get a tangible handle on how to launch and manage a social media identity. Both the deck presentation and some recommended resources are available above and below. However, [...]

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Tagged as: blog, communications, customer, marketing 2.0, social media, tweet, Twitter

Viral marketing and Twitter gone right – the comment & the blog

On my last blog I received a comment I thought deserved a longer response than should be posted within the comment section. So, I decided to pick up the comment and carry it onto a new post. The blog comment david_becker: I disagree with this article as this is a “contest” and not a viral [...]

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Tagged as: Adecco Group, communication, customers, goals, Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory, motivation, motivation to work, Twitter, viral marketing, Will it Blend

Viral marketing and Twitter gone wrong – help Adecco recognize Adecco and win $100

Viral marketing happens when a story or idea takes off and spreads. The story is spread, like a virus, from one person to another through Twitter, the blog world, email, and YouTube – to name a few. In the online community being the object of the viral campaign can bring instant fame, for free, but [...]

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Tagged as: Adecco Group, communication, David Meerman Scott, ebook, strategy, Twitter, viral marketing

Marketing 2.0 – You better free your mind instead

Marketing 2.0 is about revolution, not evolution. Where marketing and public relations (PR) of the 1.0 world relied on distribution control, Marketing 2.0 relies on free distribution and the creative commons. This is less evolution and more revolution. The printing press was the key to unlock information. The printing press broke down the carefully regulated [...]

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Tagged as: communication, Creative Commons, distribution, marketing 2.0, pr, public relations, strategy

Twitter power – Sarah Palin and the tweet to sue the entire Internet

As a follow-up to my Twitter is a waste of time blog, I provide a 4th example about the application of Twitter and social media communication: Late night, July 4, Sarah Palin uses Twitter to threaten to sue the entire Internet. Sarah Palin’s lawsuit tweets: AKGovSarahPalin To see full text of the letter from my [...]

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Tagged as: blog, communication, Huffington Post, leadership, msnbc, New York Times, Sarah Palin, Shannyn Moore, strategy, Twitter, Washington Post, web 2.0

Twitter is a waste of time

Twitter has changed the way people communicate. The marketing world, as it was known, has been carpet bombed. The rules have changed. The roles have changed. In a series of earlier blogs I talk about communication in the age of saturation, so I won’t repeat those points. However, I will revisit one reality: people don’t [...]

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Tagged as: communication, goals, return on influence, roi, social media, strategy, Twitter, web 2.0

Communication in the age of saturation, part 3 visual

In 2 prior blogs, Communication in the age of saturation, part 1 and part 2, I attempt to outline our communication challenge to break through filters and biases people set up to manage their information overload. In the spirit of Henry David Thoreau’s quote, what I began by reading, I must finish by acting. I [...]

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Tagged as: communication, Conversation Prism, plan, strategy, value, web 2.0

Communication in the age of saturation, part 2

Is your communication effort designed to interrupt people? Think of the filters you put up around your world to manage the saturation of information and decisions you have to make. What percentage of today’s decisions do you make from a telemarketer, billboard, or yellow pages? Conversely, what decisions do you make from a friend’s recommendation, [...]

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Tagged as: buy in, communication, feedback, recommendation, rss, social media, strategy, web 2.0

Communication in the age of saturation, part 1

The goal of communication is to be understood. Typically, the first piece of communication advice is: know your audience. When you know your audience – their interests, their lingo, their needs – you better relate to their communication style. When you know their style you can write and speak in a way that they understand. [...]

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Tagged as: audience, communication, email, filters, motivation, Twitter, web 2.0

Quick Bio

Toby Elwin has lived around the world and worked globally with, and for, some of the most highly-respected leaders and organizations in their fields.

This site, and thoughts, are rooted in the role leadership and talent have on an organization's motivation to influence, achieve, and sustain.

Toby's work combines systems theory, organization development, marketing, and portfolio and project management from more than 15 years in post-merger integration.
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Blog Archives
Biggest Influences – So Far

See Influence page for more detail:

The Modern Firm: Organizational Design for Performance and Growth by John Roberts

The Workforce Scorecard by Mark A. Huselid, Brian E. Becker, and Richard W. Beatty

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein

The Future of Ideas by Lawrence Lessig

The Truth About Thriving in Change by William S. Kane

The Motivation to Work by Frederick Herzberg, Bernard Mausner, and Barbara Bloch Snyderman

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott

Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

The HR Value Proposition by Dave Ulrich

The Strategy Paradox by Michael Raynor
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