Laura Bergells

When it comes to using social media for business, I often run into two camps of people. One camp views social media as a threat, and another camp views it as an opportunity. Those in the threat camp have an alarming tendency to put knee-jerk policies into place...

Your company’s first step with social media? Listening. (Listening is also known as “social media monitoring.) And 90 days from now, guess what? You’ll still be listening! Still monitoring. A year from now? Still listening...

When almost everyone has a video cell phone, sometimes the CEO gets caught doing something in public that needs some explaining! Or, perhaps your brand fans are rolling out product videos and tagging them with your name...

So. Are you a Twitter artist? Twitter is a new medium. No question. And like any medium, people can use it to create art and build community. photo credit: Torley...

Give people ONE contact number on your personal or business card. Maybe two. But not three. Not four. It seems I’ve read at least 3 articles this month advising people to put every possible contact number on their business cards! Yikes! photo credit: justgrimes Um, no. Don’t do that...

Here is this week’s most oft-asked question: “In social media, how do you separate your personal life from your professional life?” photo credit: cursedthing The questioners explain that they thought LinkedIn was professional and FaceBook was personal — but now that people are using...

For two months, I was repeatedly assaulted on FaceBook. At least 149 people tagged me in the “25 Things” meme. I didn’t respond on FaceBook. I’m responding here, on one of my blogs. Here’s why: It’s the internet. There aren’t 25 things that people don’t know about any of us...

Running URLs through a service that shortens their length is a fairly standard practice at Twitter. After all, when you only have 140 characters, you don’t want a lengthy URL address taking up most of your precious, limited space...

How can you make your LinkedIn Profile a little more friendly for people — and for search engines? It’s easy. Don’t use the default “My Website” or “My Blog” when entering the address of your website or blog...

In the 1960’s and 70’s, Abbie Hoffman was absolutely skilled in getting media attention. In his 1971 publication, Steal This Book, Mr. Hoffman devotes a chapter to getting free or cheap communications...

I loathe the term “social media expert.” Social media is still in its infancy: who among us can claim to be an expert? The most anyone can claim at this point is to be a practitioner. Or an enthusiastic student. Or an anthropologist engaged in cultural immersion...

So many marketing terms are dehumanizing or rooted in violence. Think of the origins of each of these words: Branding - a violent act committed upon cattle. Hits - a violent act committed with fists. Targets - the victims of a hit. Campaigns - a series of military battles...

You can go elf yourself. Again. Courtesy of Office Max. Last holiday season, the elfyourself program proved wildly popular. This year, you can elf your entire family, office, or cell block...

Harrowing Social Media Squatting Story: Last year, I sent a LinkedIn invitation to a thrilled client after I completed a short project for her company. She never accepted. After a few weeks, she called to talk about another small project...

Confusion abounds!There is a difference between a FaceBook Profile and a FaceBook Fan Page. Mymost-oft question this month concerned creating a FaceBook Fan Page for a business. First, let’s explain the difference between FaceBookProfileandFan Page: FaceBook Profile:This is strictly for humans...