Why No One Will Watch Your Crappy Corporate “Viral” Video, And How To Fix It | Fast Company

I get asked this question all the time: “How do we make our video/post/content go viral?”

The honest answer is that you can’t.

You can’t make something go viral. You don’t decide, I don’t decide, the audience does. Asking for something to go viral is almost as absurd as calling your newest launch a “viral marketing campaign.” Really? Your campaign is to get people talking to other people about your company? What campaign isn’t about that? Viral isn’t a campaign, it’s a result of a good or really bad one.

The rise and rise of influence. Remember when you looked to TV and newspaper ads to tell you what to buy? Me neither. That’s because now many of us are more likely to make an informed opinion about purchases—and many other new discoveries—based on the views of people we connect with online and through social media. Influence, that is to say, is big. Via Fast Company

Customer Relationships - What Exactly Is a ‘Social Business’? : MarketingProfs Article  Hint: You are not a social business if you don’t empower frontline employees to help customers and to have an honest conversation with customers.

It’s Time CMOs Take to the Laboratory « A Smarter Planet Blog

by Yuchun Lee, Vice President and General Manager, IBM Enterprise Marketing Management Group 

Chief marketing officers (CMO) are under the gun. Exhibit A: Customers are more empowered and fueling an era where smartphones and tablets have replaced PCs. Exhibit B:  Social networks have usurped ads and Sunday fliers as the resource for brand information. Exhibit C: Consumers are learning about brands quickly, forming opinions even faster and reacting before you’ve even finished your morning coffee. For CMOs, even the smallest blind spot or misstep could spark a behavioral change capable of fracturing the customer relationship.