So much news and hype surrounding social media is churned out daily, that at times I have found it feels great to just unplug for a while, step back, and think. By think, I mean reexamine why we do things in social media like publish a blog that seemingly is read by no one and understanding what “listening” online really involves, with an objective to do it well and derive a business benefit. I figured I would pass you some of the answers to these most basic and critical questions, in case you have pondered some of these same concerns. If you have not, I am sure you will eventually. Why...

David Scott, our Vice President of Business Development, is going to be on at 8:10 a.m. Thursday, June 2, on KAXE, discussing the intersection of telecommunications and the Internet. The show is called “I.T. Connections with Chad and Dan.” He is particularly knowledgeable on this topic, given his history with Verizon, and now PureDriven. You can listen live at http://www.kaxe.org or the station is on 91.7 FM in Grand Rapids, 89.9 FM in Brainerd and 105.3 in Bemidji. Let us know here what you thought of Dave’s performance!

A huge welcome to the many people who are checking out our blog for the first time, following hearing our CEO Christopher Swanson or Content Strategist Patrick Garmoe speak at the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce’s Social Media Conference. We hope you enjoyed our presentations, and would love to get to know you better. But most importantly, we have some useful content that hopefully will help you begin applying what you learned Wednesday. By joining our e-mail list, you will receive several pieces of excellent content we have charged for in the past. If you would rather just receive...

One of the many pleasures of my job is the opportunity to help run the Social Media Breakfast Twin Ports here in the Duluth and Superior area. We’ll often have a speaker who tries to break down the complexities of business online into useful steps the average business can take. Last month we had the pleasure of Regis Hadiaris, founding member of the online marketing team at Quicken Loans and a blogger at Dot Connector come and speak. What made his presentation outstanding, was precisely because it avoided the WOW factor of Google Analytics. It was about the very simple questions you...