With 2011 coming to an end and 2012 just around the corner, I reflect on what has transpired over the past year and attempt to predict what the future has in store for us. Here’s what I am envisioning…

There are millions of tweets shared everyday. By creating Twitter lists you can filter through the noise and find exactly what you are interested in. Take for example, food trucks…

I recently interviewed Michael Stelzner, the author of the newly released, Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition. He also happens to be the founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com — an online magazine focused on all things social. Technorati ranks SocialMediaExaminer within the top 5 small business blogs — rank [...]

That’s right, it’s all about location nowadays but hasn’t it always been? The rapid rise of proximity-based marketing or location-based marketing (take your pick) is validating the old axiom of location, location, location.

Things are moving fast, incredibly fast. I keep hearing peers, colleagues, friends and family commenting on how fast paced life has become. I personally often find myself not knowing what day of the week it is, let alone determining the actual timing of past events, which may have taken place only a week ago, yet somehow seem to be several months ago in occurrence. This mind blazing pace is a challenge at many levels. For marketers it’s especially challenging as staying current on cultural norms, trends, fads, news, etc. often seems beyond reach. Yet it’s vital to stay up on the latest what’s what in relation to developing relevant messaging and marketing solutions that will resonante withtarget audiences while it’s still valid.

The question is, just how does one stay current on culture when it’s moving 300 hundred miles per hour? The answer seems to be to slow down a bit, take a break from your normal routine (these days, that’s mostly work for me) and be sure to leave your mobile device behind. The simplest way to describe the concept is to “plug in” which requires you to “unplug”. Here are some quick ways to make it happen:

Twitter is now conducting trials with advertisers for placement of new ads in their “Trending Topics” section, rumored to sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Trending Topics, located on the Home page of Twitter, is an area that highlights real-time topics that are most chatted about within the social network. This new advertising [...]

That’s right, if you’re one of those self-involved individuals that believes the world is all about you and only you, then this blog post is a waste of your time. This post is about how to approach the social media channel. There are many aspects to participating in social media but a major tenet is sharing.

Do you hear that buzz?! It’s not a bird…no! It’s not a plane, no, NO, it’s GOOGLE!!!!  That’s right Google does it again, this time with their latest product launch Google Buzz. Giving us all yet ANOTHER way to share with our networks online, this tool is rumored to potentially threaten Facebook and Twitter as [...]

”Stop! Collaborate and LISTEN!” Let’s apply Vanilla Ice’s song lyric to social media. Your customers are talking, are you listening? Whether it be around your product specifically, your competitor, or the industry as a whole, people are engaging in conversations online through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, forums, product reviews, etc. as an outlet to recommend, [...]

Last Tuesday, January 12th the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake hit Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.  Once I had heard the news of the massive destruction, I immediately hopped onto my Twitter account @carolynruiz and searched for Haiti using Twitter Search .  I did this because I wanted to see the real-time news transpiring and how I could contribute to [...]