As you know by now, this is the last Social Solutions Show for a while so it is important that we go out with a bang. But since Halloween is only a few days away, we are using that holiday to talk about the creep factor going on and coming soon to your favorite social media platform. Perhaps you already own an Amazon Alexa or a Google Assistant, but would your preference change if Facebook were to introduce their own voice assistant? And if so, have you considered the creep factor that you...

Facebook introduced Job Listings and now they are testing the ability to upload your resume. If these features sound familiar, then you probably already know this is what LinkedIn has been doing for years but with a larger audience could this be the beginning of the end of LinkedIn’s reign as the social media job site?

When Twitter is ready. That’s the simple answer. So what does it mean to marketers and business owners when we will have the ability to double our tweets? Hopefully very little. The 140 character tweet that we have grown to love works. When you hear Ken Herron and Carol McManus weigh in on the conversation, you’ll learn how to stretch your tweet message without using up the extra bandwidth.

Well it has been a long time coming, but finally Facebook is introducing a “Dislike” button. Why you ask? Because users have been requesting it over and over – but why now and what will it mean? For personal posts, it will be more appropriate to Dislike rather than Like when someone posts a death in the family, a terminal disease, or something begging for sympathy. But with business pages, this could be a game changer.

No, that is not a type. Facebook has introduced a single destination where users can access all of its tools geared toward responding to crisis. It should be no surprise that individuals and businesses alike have been turning to Facebook for a long time to report current events and locate lost friends and relatives. And now Facebook is making it even easier for people to share information.

Hurricane Irma like Harvey is now in the history books, but the devastation both storms left behind with take years of recovery. During times like this marketing sensitivity is essential for businesses to maintain their credibility and loyalty from their customer base. On today’s show hosts Carol McManus and Ken Herron will offer some tips on what to do and what not to do. We will be exploring the rules and the implications of the updated FTC Endorsement Guide and what the potential...

Did you know that your presence on LinkedIn is now visible when you are on online? We didn’t think so. The latest innovation from LinkedIn may or may not be welcome news. We’re all used to having our online presence visible on Facebook, but never on LinkedIn. What does it mean and how will it impact your engagement with your connects? Tune in this Social Solutions to get our take on it.

This has been a devastating week for nearly 13 million people from Texas and Lousiana. They need our support, our prayers and our help. But not everyone can drop everything and go there to assist. So what can you do and what should you do to use your influence on social media to help those in need? This is where we start today’s Social Solutions Show.

This fall, at Stanford CSP, Sudha will be teaching the first-ever course on the business of self-driving cars to help entrepreneurs and innovators to “find the gaps” so they can drive (pun intended) the next generation of innovative businesses. On this week’s show, Sudha will talk about the landscape of autonomous vehicles, regulations, and the key technologies which make these cars, trucks, and buses possible. As always, visionaries who can see the coming changes will be the winners.

Just when you thought Google was the biggest threat to your business, you find out Facebook is an even bigger threat. Starting immediately, if your website is not mobile responsive, then Facebook will no longer show your posts in news media feeds. Why not? Because they want their users to have a seamless experience and they don’t want to be blamed if your site is inadequate – they will put you in the sandbox!

We are not quick to recommend spending money on social media unless we are confident it will produce results for you. Well, maybe, just maybe, Twitter has come up with an innovative possible game changer with their most recent announcement. If they fully roll out this option, you will be able to invest $99 a month and Twitter will automatically promote your account and your first 12 tweets every day! Should you care? We’ll let you know our thoughts on today’s show.

We don’t like to think about it, but if something happens to us, who will take over to manage or close our social media accounts? Facebook just announced a new option for you to name your Legacy Contact in the event of an emergency. That’s only one of the topics we will cover on today’s Social Solutions Show.

We have seen the changes over the last couple of years on the granddaddy of social media sites. Linkedin, in its effort to stay relevant, has introduced features that show a striking resemblance to other platforms. But they haven’t always warmed the cockles of hearts by their user base. Well the newest announcement may be the final straw in inviting spammers to glob on to your updates to further their agenda. We’ll fill you in on why we don’t believe adding images to your comments on someone...

At the risk of using a trite cliché, this statement speaks the truth. And Facebook is making it even easier by expanding their test of video cover images. This is really good news for creative marketers. In the ever increasing world of competing for eyeballs, there is no question that video front and center can capture and hold users attention.

Who could have imagined that the premier introduction at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference this year would be a third-to-market (instead of first-to-market) version of Amazon Echo and Google Home. And may we present the Apple HomePod? Once you get past the fact that it looks like a roll of toilet paper, you will appreciate that this little device takes the voice-activated home speaker assistant market to a whole new level. When it hits the market, it will clearly leapfrog over the...

Just when you thought usage trends were settling into a new norm, along comes Instagram as the new go-to site for researching company culture and workplace life. LinkedIn better be paying attention because this phenomenon among the 19 to 29 year old audience have pegged this site as a dinosaur. So is this a temporary fad or is it an omen of things to come as this generation ages? If you are a podcast, artist, writer, or game developer then you may already know about Patreon. If not we’ll...

You probably didn’t wake up this morning with this burning question on your mind. If fact, we’ve been pondering it all day and still haven’t decided it’s relevance in the world of digital marketing. But there is definitely some validity I considering a Chatbot (aka Conversational Commerce) for your business. Tune in to the Social Solutions Show for the skinny and more with Ken Herron and Carol McManus.

No one supports creative campaigns on social media more than Carol McManus and Ken Herron, but it might be time to discuss a few pitfalls that could cost you a lot of money and even a lawsuit if you’re not careful. Case in point: SunnyCoClothing and the offer for a free red bathing suit!

As businesses and platforms evolve, there is choice to go it alone or find ways to collaborate with complementary and beneficial partners. The latest example of this is the soon to be launched streaming news TV network from Twitter and Bloomberg. The possibilities are endless in what this will do for both giants and best of all for the voracious appetite of mobile-dependent consumers. Maybe you’re concerned about protecting your video content. Did you know that Rights Manager is already...

Remember way back when Pinterest had a Like button? Remember when creating a Facebook cover for your page was easy? Remember when??? Another week and another week to talk about the massive changes that are happening on your favorite social media platforms. This week it’s about using a video for your Facebook page cover. It sounds like a really cool idea but it won’t come without its challenges. Pinterest has removed the Like button and now forces you to save your favorite pins. What’s the...

When did the executives of the world hold the meeting to inform LinkedIn that they needed help communicating? Obviously, there was a meeting because the newest AI feature does exactly that…provides the words, the when and the automatic messaging for its users making networking easier and presumably more effective. Today’s Social Solutions Show with Ken Herron and Carol McManus will weigh in on the newest advances and add our own take on the when, where and why. Moving on, we’ll update you...

We all know that social media leaves fewer and fewer places to hide from our mistakes, and when we don’t learn from past failures, the impact compounds itself. Poorly managed customer service, specifically on social media, is not a new controversy surrounding United Airlines, but this time, they went too far. That’s how we’ll open today’s Social Solutions Show. Get ready for Ken Herron’s and Carol McManus’s take on this topic along with LinkedIn’s new desktop experience (have you read Who...

With Easter only a week away, everyone is thinking about eggs – including Twitter – but in their case, they decided to permanently do away with the egg as a default option for user who don’t take the time to upload their own image. Will this separate the men from the boys? Who knows, but that along with another change in how they count 140 characters all seem to be in an effort to clean up the riff-raff and encourage users to engage more often. Facebook profiles and pages can now...

If Copycat tactics are the highest form of flattery, then Snapchat should be blushing. But that blush probably doesn’t represent happiness as much as a boiling anger over the continued scraping of their once unique features. The latest to introduce their version of Stories is their enemy number one – Facebook! With Facebook Stories, the argument for a more connected community is diluted.

The world of social media and digital tools marches forward and with every new initiative marketers are challenged with the decision of what delicacy to taste and what should be discarded from their plate. Herein lies the challenge with marketing – we all have limitations on our budgets so when dollars are allocated for something, then something old needs to take a back seat. Today’s Social Solutions Show is all about choices and latest introductions with a skeptical eye toward the future...