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Dale Carnegie's timeless classic "How to Win Friends and Influence People" is a book about building winning relationships, both business and personal. As an example, his advice about how to make people like you states...

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile. (i.e. Have a sense of humor)
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

The Golden Rule puts it even more concisely: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

It is this attitude of beneficence that truly puts the "social" in social media and should be an ethical standard to which we all adhere. The trouble is many of us (me included) tend to focus largely on ourselves and our own interests rather than others. That is a strategy for social media failure if ever there was one.

Following are success stories from three people who have come to exemplify this attitude in their use of social media to build business relationships.

Charles Lauller's LinkedIn Strategy

Charles Lauller, SVP of Sales for Bizzuka, who is professionally and personally a very generous individual, learned this lesson the hard way with his initial foray into the use of social media for prospecting and lead generation.

Charles is an avid LinkedIn user who pro-actively connects and networks with others on a daily basis. His first attempts proved fruitless, however, because, to quote Charles, he focused on "pimping Bizzuka and its products." He quickly learned that no one had an interest and changed his tactics to something that, frankly, was much more of a comfortable fit, that of expressing sincere interest in learning about others and offering help.

That altruism turned things around. "Eventually they run out of things to say about themselves, and start asking me about my business," says Charles. The result is he gets between two-five warm leads per week which, according to him, is about the equivalent benefit of making 200 cold calls. "And no one slams the phone in your ear either," quips Charles.

I asked Charles to outline his approach to building business on LinkedIn and he said:

1. Drop all of the bogus I'm pimping me and my company bologna.


2. Be yourself. Honest, sincere, authentic (assuming that's you) But, whoever you are you will likely attract individuals like yourself to your network.


3. It's cliche, but "seek first to understand,then be understood." I always (when seeking to expand my network and connect with people) learn about them from their profile, and ask how I can help them. I've found that when I continually ask others how I can help with recommendations, referrals and/or introductions, they usually want to reciprocate.

Amber Naslund Keeps it Real

Altitude Branding principal and fellow Daily Fix blogger Amber Naslund is another person who understands and employs this "how to win friends" ethos.

This giving attitude has made Amber a rising star. For example, her blog, The Brand Box, routinely garners as many as 30 or more comments per post. Keeping things real is her key to social media success.

"I wish I could tell more people to be real, and quit trying to be everything to everyone," says Amber. "There will always be critics, detractors, and folks you don’t click with. But you’ll reap far more rewards by investing your time and energy in those that you DO connect with and figuring out how you can be helpful to them. Give first, and often. Getting happens naturally."

While not stating it explicitly, Amber pays homage to both Carnegie and the Golden Rule. "The funny thing to me is that these social media tenets aren’t new. They’re basic, common sense fundamentals of communication and customer service," shares Amber. "I think we’re remembering them more than we’re inventing them. It can be as simple as treating others the way you’d want to be treated yourself."

Beth Harte is Not About the Numbers

Beth, a marketing consultant and Daily Fix contributor has, like Amber, also gained quite a bit of attention lately. Though she admits to not having a plan for social media engagement early on, Beth says "it's not about the numbers AT ALL. It's about the people I meet and the conversations that I have or are privy to learn from."

In keeping with the theme of focusing on others, Beth shares these ten guidelines:

1. Be real, honest, authentic, transparent (it's what customers/prospects/the community wants)


2. Provide valuable content, conversation, help, information, etc. and your community will raise you up


3. Be accessible. Your community (customers, prospects, etc.) want to know that they can have a conversation with you, that you will talk back and answer questions, etc.


4. Generate conversations that others can join and invite others to participate


5. Listen to other people and their opinions (You just might learn something)


6. Ask questions. Usually you are asking what others have been thinking


7. Help other people including your competition (perceived or not) and have conversations with them. Most customer problems/challenges are industry problems/challenges.


8. Put other people first


9. Listen to your community and learn


10. Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you (hat tip: Mack -- he said it best)

Conclusion

While it may sound trite or cliché, this "do unto others," "give and it shall be given" ethic of reciprocity is universal. Every religion from Buddhism to Zoroastrianism contains some version of it in their tenets, and Carnegie certainly understood its implications for business.

As you grow in your apperception of how to make social media work as a sales and marketing tool, try putting it into practice and see if you don't experience the same benefits as Charles, Amber and Beth. You never know until you try.

What are some ways you've seen this "give first" attitude work in social media marketing? Please feel free to share examples from your own experience and that of others.

by William Leake

Cognitive enhancement drugs such as Ritalin are routinely used in an “off label” manner by students, doctors and other professionals to increase memory and concentration. And while the use of any medication—especially for off label purposes should be strongly cautioned—some experts are now saying cognitive enhancement drugs are no more dangerous than a cup of coffee. In a tough global economy, where business executives are always looking for an edge, should brain drugs be permitted in the workplace?

Earlier in the year I wrote an article where I detailed a hypothetical situation of two candidates vying for a marketing position. One candidate decided to take a brain booster drug to help him interview better, while the other candidate considered making the same choice—just to stay competitive.

And while reader responses varied to this particular dilemma, a new commentary in the December 2008 issue of Nature suggests brain boosters such as Ritalin, Adderall, or Provigil are a perfectly acceptable method of improving mental performance.

The writers of the article, which include a group of psychologists, and cognitive neuroscientists say, “Cognitive enhancement, unlike enhancement for sport competitions could lead to substantive improvements in the world.”

In a testimonial for the use of brain boosters taken from the article, Henry Greely of Stanford Law School in California, and Barbara Sahakian, a psychiatry professor from the University of Cambridge in Britain said, "We should welcome new methods of improving our brain function."

Do we really need cognitive enhancements to improve brain functions?

The human brain is an amazing organ, loaded with billions of neurons that process an amazing amount of information—according to one source, “20 million billion calculations per second.” And while our brains arguably have a fixed capacity, it seems that in a quest “to get ahead” there are many who feel the need to take brain drugs to push their brains to perform even better.

An article in Technology Review makes mention of another Nature survey of 1,400 people across 60 countries. A stunning twenty percent of respondents mentioned that they had taken brain boosting drugs to increase mental performance!

And according to the article, nearly 7% of students in U.S. universities have used prescription stimulants, and on some campuses, as many as a quarter of students have used the drugs for non-therapeutic purposes. These are students who will eventually be coming into the workplace. If they are taking cognitive enhancements to get ahead now, are we fooling ourselves that they will stop once they enter the workforce?

Let’s be honest. These are challenging economic times. Those who are employed are feeling the pressure to perform even stronger, and those who are unemployed may be competing with candidates who are doing all they can to land an open position.

Business executives of all stripes will be confronted with tough choices—and one of those choices could be whether to use cognitive enhancing drugs to maintain or increase performance.

The pressure is real. How will you respond?

Questions for DailyFix readers:

• Should healthy adults have access to cognitive enhancing drugs?
• The scientists in the Nature article argue that cognitive enhancing drugs are just a tool to improve performance, much like using the internet, maintaining good health habits, or getting a better education. Do you agree?
• Do you think there will be more pressure to take cognitive enhancements during these challenging economic conditions?
• Should employers have a policy regarding employee use of “brain boosters”? Is this a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation, or should companies outright ban such stimulants in the workplace?

It seems like months since I have been participating in my usual rounds of marketing world discussions. Probably because it has. My travel schedule has been “nutty” for the past several months, to say the least. To borrow from oh-so-many of my ex-girlfriends from over the years, “it’s not you, it’s me.”

I finally cracked open my reading list of marketing blogs and sites that I have loved for the past few years and came across a post by my friend and fellow rabble-rouser Paul McEnany over at Hee-Haw Marketing on the documentary film by Lauren Greenfield called Kids + Money. In a rare moment of clear thinking and brevity, Paul simply sets up the trailer to the movie and allows the kids from the movie to do all the talking needed to drive home the point. And it’s disturbing.

The movie is about kids growing up in Los Angeles and how their lives are impacted or influenced by money and our current consumer culture. These kids come from varying economic backgrounds, but it is clear that money and consumerism are the strongest factors of influence in their lives. As a parent, their words were chilling to hear. Not because anything they said was wrong, but was such a mirror of all the consumer messaging they have been bombarded with- probably since birth.

One young girl states, “if I could shop all day every day, I would”. Not too shocking, really, but coming out of the mouth of what would appear to be a pre-teen or early teen adolescent, it is still unsettling. I know that these sentiments are not new to this young generation of consumers. This detached from reality view has been prevalent for decades. Kids have been removed from any sense of understanding of money and what it really means to have it or not for as long as we can remember. Movies have pointed out this fact for years and years. My generation had such classic examples as Molly Ringwald as Claire in The Breakfast Club. The spoiled rich kid is a part of the modern movie lexicon.

Where I become disturbed is in the realization that these new kids are inheriting a now broken system of consumerism that has driven this country to the verge of collective bankruptcy. We’ve built the US economy on spending money. We create little and buy tons. Now, I don’t pretend to have an answer to our problems and how to turn things around, though I wish I did (because I’d love a job in the Obama administration). Our economy is in collapse for many reasons, but one of them is this irrational desire to spend money and buy things to be replaced by newer and better things the second they become available. Overnight lines in front of stores to be the first to buy a shiny new iPhone? How on earth is this a rational behavior? Taking out second (or third, or fourth) mortgages on our homes so that we can buy larger vehicles or new HD televisions? Economic stimulus packages are focused on putting money back in the hands of consumers… so they can consume and not so that they can put money away in the bank.

The kids in the film do not represent all kids across the country and I will be the first to admit that Los Angeles breeds a different brand of consumerism, but they represent far more kids than you might think. Right now, our country is holding its breath waiting to see how the Christmas shopping season turns out. Consumerism is what our country now produces- not products.

As a marketer, I have to ask myself if I am partially to blame for this problem. We all must, actually. Do we market for the right reasons or the wrong ones and do we even know what those reasons are? Sincerely, I don’t know the answers to these questions, but watching the trailer for the film sent a shiver down my spine as I watched it. I’m not sure of what to do with this shock and fear, but I know that I am hoping our consumer behavior is changing.

We're proud to have some of our Email Marketing Council Member's presenting at the Email Evolution Conference in February. Marketing to Europe - The Do's and Don'ts Location: Westin Kierland ~ Scottsdale, AZDate: Tuesday, February 10, 2009Time: 3.30pm - 4.30pm...

There is often a disconnect between an artist and a screen printer. Problems often arise when there is a lack of understanding of the print process and a lack of communication between the designer and client. Screen printers get mad when a customer sends them a job that has a bazillion colors and is outside the realm of their capabilities to print. Designers get upset when a client can’t afford to pay printing costs on his brilliant 16 color shirt design.

So what should a designer know about working with apparel companies? What do they expect? How can you improve your chances of your designs getting approved?

Awhile back, I had asked Dave Pearson, founder of awesomely successful UK-based fashion company Paint the Stars, a few questions about this. And his answers were fantastic and insightful. Dave offers this advice to all designers who design t-shirts for clients.

I know that Go Media would often do 4 or 5 concepts for a company and they would all get rejected. We would be upset that the client didn’t accept our “artistic vision.” When truthfully, part of it was our fault for not following some of these suggestions. However, after reading through Dave’s suggestions, our approval has begun to increase noticeably.

Show Preliminary Proofs

I’d say one of the main problems we encounter when we hire people is that more often than not, designers don’t provide any kind of preliminary proofs. As a designer as well as someone who hires people, I know from both sides that design rejection sucks for both parties; for the client it’s always difficult to tell a designer that you’re ‘not feeling it‘ for whatever reason - it is essentially telling them that you don’t like their work. I’ve never found that to be an easy thing to do because designers work hard, so to be told that it’s not good enough can make you feel like you’ve wasted your time and, if it’s something that happens more than once with the same client, can start to make you question both your ability and your choice of client - nobody wants to be paid $200 to do 5 different designs before one is accepted.

I’ve had designs rejected before, I think it’s apparent that most clients find it difficult to do, because no-one ever says ‘Nah, that sucks’ ..they usually say ‘That’s awesome but…‘ or the classic ‘I’m not feeling it’. But because I’m also in their position I can sympathize with what a difficult thing to do that is when someone is putting their art out there for your acceptance. The flipside of that of course is that designers should be aware that the industry they are in is pretty black & white - clients rarely say ‘yeah.. it’s alright, I’ll take it‘, so they should be able to take rejection with a pinch of salt because of course, it’s never personal.

How to avoid getting your ego bruised

The reason I always ask for proofs at the sketch stage is to try to avoid situations like this altogether - if someone provides you with a rough sketch that gives you some basic idea of where they’re going with it and you don’t like it, it’s not so much of a kick in the balls for them to be told that you don’t like it, because it’s just a sketch. When someone presents you with a full resolution ready-for-print design as your first proof it’s a lot harder to dismiss their efforts without alienating them, upsetting them or even pissing them off. We’ve actually taken a design before because we felt bad for the guy who did it because he clearly put a lot of effort into it, and we probably shouldn’t have done that. I think it’s equally important to receive proofs at each stage of the design process, not like for every hours work, just regular updates to keep track of the progress, again to avoid wasting everyone’s time and stepping on people’s toes.

Working with the brand’s art direction

Direction is a double edged sword for some companies (ourselves included) for a number of reasons. Many companies like Johnny Cupcakes and Pyknic have some of the most amazing and random ideas for tees and I’m told they’re quite specific, but generally their stuff is spot on because of it - of course giving a specific brief can give mixed results, especially when you have a clear vision in your mind of what you want, meaning that anything short of it will be a disappointment, which puts a lot of pressure on the designer.

But the brand’s idea sucks

The other element of giving direction is that sometimes your idea is god-awful. Generally a designer will know this, and will try to work with it as best as they can, but as the saying goes ‘you can’t polish a turd‘, so it’s not always a bad idea for an artist to try to implicate their own ideas onto the design, and usually, so long as the client is kept in the loop and its worked out, the client won’t mind you trying, and they certainly shouldn’t be afraid to suggest or try something if they feel it’s going to better the design.. we encourage it. Of course, if someone is 100% set on an idea then just do what they say - you are being paid and if they have enough faith in both the idea and your design then you should take their word for it and do it. You may hate how it turns out, but if it’s what they asked for - they’ll probably love it.

Go Nuts!! But first…

The other direction form, or non-direction rather, is saying to a designer ‘go nuts‘, and it’s equally risqué - this is usually based of the artists’ portfolio or reputation, and in some instances they’ll hit one out of the park, and in others they could miss the point, and you’ll be left embarrassed when you have to tell them that it’s not what you’re after, even though you clearly specified that you wanted them to ‘go nuts‘. This happened to us recently with one of our favorite designers, and it was embarrassing, but the problem there was probably in the artist not knowing enough background info on our company, which is something we should have made him aware of. If you have enough faith in a designer then allowing an artist to do what they like isn’t a bad idea - we work with this guy called Drew on every range, and his stuff is consistently amazing, but the problem with that is he doesn’t let us direct him, he just comes up with something, and we have to hope its good. As I said, it pretty much always is, but there have been times when things have needed changing. If you have your own style, or a designer has enough faith in you to have free roam of your imagination, then take a look at their existing stuff and come up with something that both stretches you and could fit into their range. That’s why they will have asked you.

Understand the company’s background

I always try to tell new designers we hire a little bit about our company and what kind of thing we do, in our case it’s a pretty alternative ‘emo’ (eurgh..) type brand, but with our own inside jokes and unfunny references to retro and nostalgia thrown in… we also try to out ourselves across as a brand who doesn’t take themselves too seriously. A lot of brands take the ‘doing it for the art‘ route with high levels of integrity, which is fine, but we grew up listening to Blink-182, and we’re all about songs about ‘dicks and butts‘, and we try to purvey to our customers and our artists that we’re not too serious and pretty fun. There’s a level of immaturity to our brand, but we don’t see that as a reason to have people only designing shirts with wieners on them for us, so there’s nothing wrong with doing something out of character or serious because that alone doesn’t change the fun/stupid fascia of our brand. Companies don’t want hundreds of tees that are the same, they just want the same undertone to run throughout the brand, which is our job when marketing, and not entirely yours when designing.. just be aware of what a company is about and has done previously, they will have asked you because your style is something that they would like in their line, not because they think you can copy their other shirts.

Brands want variety

I think it’s important for an artist to get to know their client, or at least what they’re about as a company - because that allows you to design accordingly. I touched earlier upon a tee one of our favorite (and everyone’s favorite) designers did for us - he came up with this beautiful shirt and it was incredibly pretty and we loved it. But we looked at it and came to the conclusion that it just didn’t fit in with what we are doing; it was almost too beautiful.. and it was hard to tell the guy because he is not only awesome, and busy - but we’d also told him to ‘do what he likes‘. I think the downfall of that in that instance was that he didn’t know enough about our company, and had we have told him he’d have probably come up with something different. In the end he came up with something a lot more ‘us‘, and ironically, one of the best shirts I’ve ever seen anywhere.. It’s out in September.. keep your lookin’ balls peeled folks, you’ll know which one I mean.

I should add, I don’t think companies should stick to 1 genre or look, but I think it’s apparent when something doesn’t fit into your line and is out of context with your company. We have no problem with trying new things and we encourage it.. our new range is very broad, without being vague, as a result of that and we’re really stoked about that.

Be nice and professional

Finally, there’s nothing wrong with being nice to a client. We’ve actually found that the more high profile designers are a lot more pleasant to work with then the low-end ones which could be down to being more professional and aware of how manners affect clients. If you are friendly and approachable towards a client, there’s a greater chance of a). you finishing the project faster because you feel more at ease with one another to share ideas and critiques and b). being re-hired by that client for another project. We’ve had plenty of occasions where we’ve approached artists whose work we love only to get a bullshit response like they’re doing us a favor as opposed to the reality of us doing them a favor by giving them money. And there’s been occasions like that where we’ve chosen not to follow it up and work with people like that regardless of how good their work is.

Clients contact you because they think you are good at what you do and are willing to pay for your services. When people contact me for designs I always take both of those things as a massive compliment because that’s what they are. There’s no need for feigned enthusiasm or niceties, but a little manners like your mother taught you wouldn’t go amiss, because it makes you seem more approachable. If you went into a shop and asked politely to try on some shoes, and the sales guy sighed and threw them at you whilst yelling nothing but the cost, you’d probably go somewhere else for your footwear.

Summary

1. Proof! Lots! It’s time consuming sometimes, but a) you’ll build up a better relationship with the client and b) it’ll save you time if it gets declined at the sketch stage.
2. Don’t take critique or rejection to heart. Clothing companies don’t enjoy having to reject anything and we all appreciate how much time and effort goes into work. If your design gets rejected, it’s nothing personal, because if it, was we wouldn’t have hired you in the first place. You may find your rejection level goes down if you send more proofs, as it means you are getting direction constantly rather than springing a thumbs up/thumbs down on a final design, because it is usually harder to take rejection on a finished piece.
3. Direction - Listen to what your client wants, if they are adamant about a specific design then just do it because it’ll be what they’re after, but don’t be afraid to suggest or sketch out potential changes because each persons’ imagination only stretches so far and you may have thought of something that they otherwise wouldn’t have. If you are given free roam of a design, find out a little about your client first. (See number 4)
4. Know the client. When working with a new company, find out what they’re about if they haven’t already told you - ask other designers what they’re like, check out their existing work, or simply ask the client because they’ll be happy to tell you. This will improve both your working relationship with the client and the chances of coming up with something they’ll like. You wouldn’t design a floral shirt for a cyber-goth company.
5. Be nice to clients, they want to pay you for doodling and messing about with Photoshop because they like what you do.. that could be the best job in the world, and you should realize how lucky you are to be doing it and to have people wanting to pay you to do it. Take it as a compliment. It also makes you easier to give direction or critique to, and can usually guarantee repeat business between you and the client.

Check out Paint the Stars online store, they have a bunch of really cool shirts!

Email marketing has proved to be an easy and cost effective way to establish and maintain long-lasting relationships with your customers and prospects. The tools available to marketers today provide not only a better subscriber experience, but also new opportunities to build value. Effective email marketing caters to the needs and preferences of your customers and provides timely information. Doing so develops trust and opens the door to two-way communications (positive and negative). Using the information you gain from your subscribers also enables you to better serve their ongoing needs and leverage your message to satisfy your customer’s motivation for subscribing.

Here are tips to effectively acquire, retain and build value with your email marketing program.

Acquire: Make the first impression count

Any successful marketer will tell you that if you want to build a good quality list, get permission from the people on it. If you plan to ignore this step, be prepared for failure. I can’t stress the importance of this step enough - without it there is little or no retention or trust.

If you want your list to grow, simplify the registration process. Refrain from asking for information you’ll never use or need. Once you have a well thought out opt-in form, strategically place it at all your customer touch points, both on-line and off-line. Simply placing a sign up box on each page of your website is a good start.

Once you have permission, send a welcome message immediately and make your first introduction. It’s just like meeting someone for the first time in person, so make your first impression count. Be brief, shake hands and build anticipation for the next email. “Thank you for signing up! Be sure to keep an eye on your inbox for our next email.” Don’t use this message to “hard sell.” You wouldn’t get down on your knee and propose to someone right after you met them, so don’t ask for anything at this point - just introduce yourself.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking quantity over quality. The quality of your list, not the quantity, produces the best results. For inactive subscribers who have not generated any clicks or opens over the past year, try an outreach campaign to see if they’re still there or still interested, and remove those who don’t respond. This will boost your metrics and allow you to concentrate on building long-term relationships with those who engage.

Retain: Build trust

The cost to engage with an existing customer is significantly less than acquiring a new one. It’s critical to live up to the promises you’ve made to your subscriber or you will quickly erode the customer’s trust. Be diligent in respecting the subscriber’s preferences you’ve worked so hard to gather. If a subscriber requests to receive an email once a month, refrain from sending irrelevant offers every week.

Get to know your subscribers better by collecting more information if you didn’t obtain it on the primary sign up form. The more you know about your customer, the more you can tap into their desires and tendencies. Keep in mind that customers are looking for “what’s in it for me” and will gladly serve up personal information if it means getting something in return, so be sure to customize your forms to gather preferences. Over time as the relationship grows stronger, you’ll be able to leverage your message and satisfy the customer’s motivation for subscribing.

Keep a close eye on your frequency, content and types of communications you send. Don’t overburden the recipient by sending too often, and don’t wait three months to send either.

Build Value: Listen to your customers

Getting permission from subscribers and gathering their preferences are both important. Now it’s up to you to listen to your customers and study their responses to build value in the campaigns you send. Campaigns targeted to segmentations by preferences are proven to build stronger and longer-lasting relationships with customers.

It’s all about sending the right message, at the right time, to the right person. Doing this will not only meet your customer’s expectations but consistently exceed them and create a customer for life.

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A commenter to one of my recent posts asked whether more personal, "slice of life" style content -- such as posts about staff days out and/or office antics -- is appropriate for a corporate or business blog. Here's my response.

It depends on your goals

Every blog needs to have a reason to exist. Let me suggest a few:

1. Inform or educate the public


2. Encourage dialogue with current and potential customers


3. Convey a sense of company personality and culture


4. Entertain readers and customers

If either of the last two are goals you have for your blog, such "behind the scenes" content could (and should) be included.

Relationship marketing

It has long been established that blogs are useful relationship-building tools. They put a human face on a company and allow customers to connect with real people, not just brands. As Future Buzz blogger Adam Singer put it, "On the web, people are what matter, not brands."

Frankly, I believe that people would rather do business with people rather than businesses and, better yet, people they know. While that may seem to be less important where B2B is concerned, think about this: It is not so much a matter of making prospective customers like your company, products or services, but helping them to like you and gain a greater sense of loyalty and trust as a result. What better way to do that than through your blog.

One client of mine a few years ago, a fitness equipment manufacturer, maintained a blog largely focused on fitness and health tips. Its goal was to do #1 from above, educate and inform.

On occasion, however, posts would be included that share some insight about the people who made the products. Those posts were at times informational, inspirational, or even humorous. One that was especially memorable showed a photo of the CEO sliding down the rail of an escalator at an airport while on his way to a tradeshow. That photo told a story and gave readers insight into the CEO's personality. ("He is a fun guy.")

Not only that, but now that brands are connecting on what is the most personable of social networks, Twitter, there seems to me to be natural relevancy to including some anecdotal-style posts.

How much is enough

Whille there is no rule-of-thumb to what makes for a healthy balance of informative posts vs. slice of life, let me suggest that "less is more" and "a little goes a long way."

One B2B company that does a great job of mixing fun posts with informative ones (and sometimes a given post is a mashup of both) is Hubspot. Their Hubspot TV video series is affable enough to tickle anyone's funny bone (take their You Oughta Know video as a case in point), yet doesn't predominate, but fits comfortably in with more informationally-oriented ones.

We're attempting to use the same tact with our company blog at Bizzuka. Mixed in with posts on CMS workflow management and announcements about new sites and platform components you'll find a post about snow in south Louisiana, our COO's trip to Alaska and an inspirational one about Thanksgiving. While I admit it's a bit hodge-podge, the blog serves each of the purposes listed above.

Keep it in good taste

I realize that is a) stating the obvious and b) very subjective. My preference is to err on the side of caution. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. It's not just a matter of taking care not to offend customers and prospects either, but members of your board and investors as well.

Search engine optimization issues

Not only are blogs useful for relationship marketing, they serve a vital SEO role as well. Sometimes, those two benefits can run counter to each other. In an effort to tell your company's story from both more personal and professional angles, you can send mixed signals to Google.

For the sake of search engines, it's best to keep your company blog singularly focused. That does not, however, prohibit the occasional inclusion of ancillary information. Again, I reiterate, "less is more."

The aforementioned commenter included this well-stated remark: "It sounds as though the best thing to do is to try and strike a happy medium between the individuality and character of a social blog and the professionalism and content of a business blog. Am I on the right track?"

Again, depending on your company's goals, I'd say the answer is yes. What do you think?