Neal Schaffer

For those of you who still don’t “get” StumbleUpon, let me put it to you simply: I have become a new customer on multiple occasions different companies simply because I stumbled into them on SU. So, if you haven’t heard of StumbleUpon, you could be missing out on one of the best and easiest opportunities to grow and promote your business online. As a primer, SU is what is called a “discovery engine”, a site that allows people to discover websites based on their personal tastes. It comes in a variety of formats from apps to browser toolbars to the StumbleUpon website itself, which helps users easily discover new content through “stumbling”.

The user can then give feedback on whether the site matches his or her taste by giving it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. It’s a virtuous cycle where StumbleUpon gathers all the feedback, ranks them and presents the most liked sites as random selections to its users, which leads to...

Social media has gone from being a pastime to a necessary component of any brand and business. To build up your stockpile of social media knowledge, you need to stay informed of the latest news and trends by reading the best blogs in the business. You already know about the “famous” social media blogs – but what about those logs that consistently publish good information but just haven’t been exposed to the same traffic? Similar to my list last year of top social media blogs to follow in 2011, I wanted to update that list with 10 more blogs who I think deserve more recognition and your follow in 2012.

As in 2011, I tried to find those to recommend you follow that were not yet in the Top 50 of the AdAge Power 150 of top marketing blogs as well as those that were focused on social media and had consistently high...

Your LinkedIn profile is the public-facing summary of who you are, what you represent, what your professional history is, and your area of expertise.  In essence, your profile is a snapshot of the brand you are sharing with the entire world. It’s only natural, then, that increasing the Inbound Marketing potential of our profile can lead to more exposure – and business – from our target audience.

When you establish your profile in a way that highlights your company’s expertise and outlines how you can assist potential customers, you maximize the business opportunities for you and your business.  Although you might customize the way in which you present your company in each business interaction, there is only one universal profile on LinkedIn that everyone will...

As 2011 leaves us and we begin 2012, sometimes it takes time for us to catch up in the world of social media to all of the new applications as well as new features from older applications that we have been inundated with. Take LinkedIn, who introduced us many new features in 2011 that you might not already be leveraging as the new year in 2012 begins. It seems that LinkedIn is always tinkering with ways to improve the user experience of its members and to provide them with the necessary tools and features to help them gain a leg up in their respective businesses or professions. Here’s a rundown of the ten best features introduced by LinkedIn in 2011 that you’ll want to utilize in 2012: