One of my colleagues and I had a discussion not long ago. We turned to the other  and teased each other about our Klout score. Mine was lower than her’s, and that was surprising. But the conversation quickly moved from office teasing to a more serious conversation about clout with a “C” and Klout with a “K”, which is a numeric measure of online influence. Clout Basics Explained. When we think about clout with a “C,” my colleague, Sandy, is wise to observe, “We all give people in our lives a “clout” score whether we realize it or not.” Right? MORE >>

A few weeks ago, I came across an OpEd by Ann Patchett , the author. It was in the New York Times  and she was lamenting the fact there was no Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction this year. Before I go on, let me be clear I also think it’s a shame there were three finalists, but no Pulitzer Prize winner, too. But the OpEd read like sour grapes to me. When this blog gained a little bit of popularity, we began to have internal conversations about the type of content we should be writing. You see, what I consider the “smart” posts are never the ones that get shared a lot. P.P.S. MORE >>

Lori Guarino. As the high DISC* “S-C,” of the Human Resources Team at SIGMA Marketing Group , I am responsible for a large portion of our behind-the-scenes compliance and detail.  Sure, that includes administration of benefits, payroll, and policies, among other responsibilities, but there is another area that is a critical role of the job…miscellaneous communication. Daily communication keeps your employees informed of not only the necessaries, but the culture and voice of the company.  What is our company culture about?  How is the business performing?  What business ethics do we embrace?  MORE >>

I wanted to give you a sneak peek into new research and a presentation I am giving at a couple of conferences in the next week. This information is based on the changes in retailing and the customer engagement strategy of old. The ways in which email subscribers and social media fans interact with brands are evolving rapidly. Today’s struggles is not only to build this “earned” audience but also to retain their attention in today’s noisy marketing landscape. The Future of Retail Marketing. View more presentations from Kyle Lacy MORE >>

Tweet Last week I presented at a webinar as part of a series looking at the science of social , focusing on social media ROI and demystifying the confusion that surround it. The problem with social media ROI is that it is so easy to measure so many things that we become overwhelmed by measures. We think that everything is important and that everything is a measure of ROI. It isn’t. And it isn’t. Followers and Likes do not make ROI; moreover they stop us from thinking about the bigger business benefit of social. How successful are my channels and campaigns? Why are we doing this? MORE >>