Ben LaMothe's media blog

One of the side benefits of businesses using social media is that it requires some maintenance by actual human beings. For every business, this presents an opportunity. Whomever is managing your company’s social media efforts could become the face of your brand or company online.
The above screen grab is of Scott Monty’s Twitter account. Scott [...]

There are a few really great social media visualization tools around, that really bring the experience of social media to life.
Instead of banging on about them all, I will talk about two of my favorites.
The first is TrendsMap.com, which imports “trending topics” via geographic location. We’re in Jacksonville, so this is what Jacksonville is talking [...]

Earlier this week Kevin Rose, founder and CEO of Digg.com posted a tweet announcing the launch of his friends’ new site, fflick.com. This site was utterly new to me. I hadn’t heard any chatter, or read any analysis. Sometimes that’s the best way to come across interesting sites — on your own, without preconceptions.
The page [...]

Now that businesses are taking notice of social media and using it to engage with customers, there exists a need to look forward and understand what the next level looks like. The above image is taken from the 1991 book “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey A. Moore.
In a fascinating blog post, Axel Schultze, CEO of [...]

When writing a social media strategy, the main focus is often on Twitter, Facebook and a blog. For the widest reach, it’s a good idea to focus a large amount of your time and resources there.
But those are not the only platforms that you should plan for. There are may other second-tier, niche social platforms [...]

For some companies, the rise of social media has brought with it some hard truths, namely that their brand or company risks being left behind because it doesn’t lend itself well to traditional commercial uses of social media.
There is a hint of truth to that — not every brand has social built into their DNA. [...]

This afternoon eMarketer published a fascinating article based on research in ExactTarget’s “Subscribers, Fans and Followers” report.
The report highlights what many already know: That customers are listening to brands on multiple platforms. Knowing that, it’s important to present a united front in your brand’s communication and marketing strategies.
Most Internet users studied in April 2010 engaged [...]

Social media has quickly become commercially viable over the past year and a half as companies large and small have recognized its value. While today you’d be hard pressed to find a major company not involved in social media, occasionally one does pop up.
I happened upon one a few weeks ago. My first reaction was [...]

This is a primary barrier for many businesses that are considering becoming more active in social media: We use social media, but our customers don’t — so what’s the point?
My advice to businesses confronted with this dilemma: See it as an opportunity, not a barrier.
Your current customers may not be using social media so much [...]

Last week I wrote a post about whether your company needs an online community manager. In today’s business climate, it’s becoming an increasingly important position to have as part of your staff. I still believe that.
But the post I read this morning by Richard Millington, an online community consultant, made me realize that while some [...]