What the (bleep) is Social Media, You Ask?

Well maybe not in that exact tone, but this really is the common response from people when trying to grasp the concept of social media.  It’s simple: Social media is about community building and engaging the public - think current and potential customers - in conversation.  It’s open, honest and transparent.  It’s positively democratic to [...]

Next Detroit Tweetup - August 15 @ GM Heritage Center

Want to check out a drive-in movie and classic cars with some of your favorite Twitter friends? If so the August Tweetup at the GM Heritage Center in Warren is your chance. GM’s social media team is sponsoring the August Tweetup. If you’re not familiar with a “tweetup” it’s basically a way for people that [...]

Social Media and Higher Education - Part 1: Admissions

At BrainGain we like to think we are bringing social media to the masses. We’re not trying to preach to the choir but instead we constantly look for new opportunities to educate and equip organizations on how to use social media effectively. Higher education is one area that we see huge opportunities for effective [...]

Social Media 101 - CommonCraft video says it all

At BrainGain Marketing we’ve been working with a number of clients to basically explain social media and train them how to join the conversation. I love the CommonCraft videos on social media. They pretty much sum it all up in 5 minute segments. Here’s their latest work - “Social Media in Plain English” - Enjoy!

5 Rules for Gaining Tweet Cred

As mentioned in my last post “10 Reasons I Love Twitter” I am somewhat of a Twitter evangelist. I rarely go a day or two without telling someone new about the virtues of the 140 character driven little engine that could. So naturally people are curious about the service and often run right to their [...]

10 Reasons I Love Twitter

Anytime I mention the word Twitter in a conversation I get one of two responses. The first response is “Huh???”. The second response is “I signed up for Twitter, like, a year ago and I didn’t really ‘get it’ so I quit using it.”

Corporate Blogging Takes Off

From Workforce Magazine Online - Today, just more than 11 percent of Fortune 500 companies have corporate blogs. While not exactly mainstream kind of numbers the number of corporate blogs continues to rise. And companies such as Coca-Cola, Marriott and Kodak have created the position of Chief Blogger.
When we first meet with prospects the initial [...]

Social Media by the Numbers - Stats on Social Media Marketing Budgets

Curious about the impact Social Media is having on marketing decision makers?
Here are some numbers from Coremetrics Second Annual Survey on “The Face of the New Marketer“.
Their findings:
A clear disconnect between the desirability of social marketing and the budget allocated to it:

78% of respondents see social media marketing as a way to gain competitive edge, [...]

Starbucks Wants Your Ideas - Engaging Customers in an Open Dialogue

Starbucks is the latest major brand to engage their consumers in an online conversation. Earlier this month the Cafe behemoth launched “My Starbucks Idea” a website that according to the site will “Help shape the future of Starbucks…with Your ideas”. On the site you can share your ideas, vote on other’s ideas, discuss the ideas [...]

Episode #1 - BrainGain Report

Download and listen to our first podcast - The BrainGain Report Episode #1
BrainGain Report