If your viral video effort goes big, it will also go places you never imagined or intended it would go. Is that bad? No, of course not. The goal is exposure. But you need to be ready for the tangents, the crazies and unintended consequences, because those are part of the package too.

Admittedly, Pinterest brings some incredible stats to the table. But in addition to requiring highly creative and visual content not easily assigned to most B2B plays, Pinterest puts two significant hurdles in the B2B path: potentially sticky legal issues and opportunity cost.

Targeted campaigns like the Assassin's Creed III campaign can turn social media lead into gold. It's a bold new frontier, and it's the job of smart marketing campaigns to embrace and exploit that audience.

A CMO of a prominent B2B company recently told me she thought of Pinterest as a game for moms and didn't consider a "pinboard" a serious business tactic. Reminds me of the days when blogs were called "journals" or "diaries" and their ability to support business objectives was dismissed..

Owner Josh Harris’s moves to rejuvenate the venerable Philadelphia 76ers provide helpful pointers for any business leader who’s taken up the charge to get a brand on track. He understands the brand and how to get fans involved with it.

As practicing marketers, digital marketing and the power that consumers (for B2C marketers) and clients (for B2B marketers) have in terms of finding information--not necessarily what you want them to see--has been a true game-changer.

For many organizations, such as the one in a recent case study, social media seems to have taken on the role of the golden hammer. Companies use it for anything, anywhere and tend to ignore other marketing methods that remain at play -- and then attribute every lead generation and marketing success to “#social”.

You already know that digital technology is getting smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more prevalent. You also know that almost everything and everyone can now be connected wirelessly. But you probably don't realize the degree to which these four disruptive forces work together to make it easier for customers to act smarter.

Despite what some will tell you, social media takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and consistent engagement. Social media marketers are a dime a billion these days, so you must set yourself apart—or die trying! Here are my top five lies about social media.

The 30-second pre-roll is the blink tag of our era. It's the ad format that drives users crazy, and it's just not right for Web or mobile. Here's how to fix video advertising and make online video profitable for everyone.

Mobile and Web advertising is where real growth is happening. It’s essential for advertisers to start exploring new ways to serve ads in mobile search, within apps, and on various social media networks to truly understand what budgets are required to achieve specific campaign goals.

If you can prove marketing is a justifiable investment, marketing will no longer be seen as a cost center, but as a valuable part of the organization.

Advertisers are constantly looking for ways to get their messages in front of consumers. In a world where everyone is publishing content in text, images, audio and video, we all need to be a little wiser to who is being paid what to say what.

Walgreens was drilled into my brain and I liked it because I was watching a fun show on TV that featured the company and playing a related game on my iPad. Yes, I’m a walking, talking example of how second-screen branding works.

Most of today’s marketing is still based on a snapshot frame of mind. And while photos give an impression, they just capture a moment in time. Smart marketers are trying to understand the customer's story, not just where they are at one touchpoint.

A couple of months ago, Google started blocking some of the most valuable data that could have been provided to you in Analytics. If a user is signed into Google and uses Google to search, the terms they used to reach your site will not be reported in Google Analytics.

The most visual update on the Facebook Timeline is the cover photo. This image gives B2B companies a great opportunity to make an impact with the page.

Corporate UK is not completely without a successful track record in online viral marketing. But perhaps it’s exactly the attitude gently mocked in one example, of a reluctance to embrace change and pursue rapid innovation, which is behind the UK’s relatively slow uptake?

Speed does matter in dealing with a social media crisis, but so does judgment. The trick is to be ready, but also to keep a cool head and really listen and understand what is going on.

By all means, create branded content, and shoot for the moon when it comes to earned media. But in all cases know that your best-case scenario is to be just a part of the social stream. Throw a rock in a raging river and watch how quickly those ripples are subsumed by the greater powers of the current: that’s what you’re up against.

The marketing world and the business world continue to change. Rapidly, in fact. But there are a few facts upon which we can rely. Why is there so great a desire to dispense with these foundational aspects of marketing and business?

The “list” format as a favored blog post and white paper format is becoming more popular than ever. Detractors blame the writers, but list-related content is just as popular (if not more so) with readers.

Huggies has apologized on Facebook for their latest ad, yet another commercial implying that U.S. dads (a third of whom are the primary caregiver for their kids) are a bunch of bumbling idiots. The company has since pulled the ads -- which are by no means the worst of their sort.

The only way that advertising will be acceptable and work, according to a recent consumer survey, is to know their personal interests, make it relevant to what they're doing, and be specific to their location. Sorry, kids but that can't happen if you click that "do not track" button.