Talking recently with Cheryl Burgess ( @ckburgess )—partner and CMO at Blue Focus Marketing, a B2B social branding consultancy firm in Bridgewater, New Jersey; 2011 & 2010 winner of the Twitter Shorty Awards in Marketing; and author of the Blue Focus Marketing Blog —we were both struck by how many of the same people we know through social media (and we both learned about some interesting new people to follow as well). Based in Boston, Rebecca is a singing Inbound Marketer with all-in-one marketing software platform developer HubSpot. What is it? Jennifer Aaker. aaker. Ambal. MORE >>

According to a social media study by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42, original content, both branded and expert, is by far the most employed tactic for social media. Next year [2011], marketers will need to rethink their approach to advertising and marketing and intensify their focus on creating magnetic content that will naturally attract consumers, rather than relying solely on the interruption model of advertising, which consumers are responding to less and less.  . Content is the most important asset in using social media for new business. Think pull vs. push. MORE >>

I’ll preface this post with the fact that I like the people over at B2B marketing company Hubspot… A LOT. They have a smart CEO in Brian Halligan and an equally smart CMO in Mike Volpe. Add to that mix, former 140 CEO, Laura Fitton and a slew of other “roll-up-your-sleeve” types and you get MORE >>

There have been numerous posts written about the pitfalls of social media marketing (including helpful pieces from Online Social Networking , Sysomos , and  one I wrote for HubSpot ). Social Media Marketing automation in social media b2b social media success free HubSpot Kmart Oracle resources social media intern social media pitfalls social media planning social media results social media training Sysomos top social media mistakes to avoid WalmartFailing to LISTEN. Social media is about having a conversati0n with your prospects, not broadcasting to them. It will backfire. MORE >>

In January of 2011, I said that I’d make our Internet Marketing Posts of 2011 subscriber only. Many loyal readers have checked in on the newsletter throughout 2011 to get both evergreen content , the content that typically embraces these monthly updates, in addition to something completely new, monthly digital trends  – the stuff you use for presentations and proposals, for arguing that social media and online marketing does have a firm place in today’s landscape. The New Edition of the Ranking Factors for 2011 is Now Live !: SEOmoz And I did. MORE >>