Regarding the Pope

The Viral Garden is a great source of social media inspiration. Written by Mack Collier, it is filled with a wealth of content designed to inform and enhance marketers. Besides having a great domain name, MoBlogsMoProblems.blogspot.com/, it is also a very handy tool to have on hand.

Posts range from news to tips to opinion pieces, but each is just as informative as the last. Social media is still new, so having someone like Collier to break it down for marketers is very helpful. For example, last month, Collier posted a piece explaining the importance of understanding why your company should even be on Twitter or Facebook before blindly joining in.

They assumed they had to be on these sites, and once they were there, had to scramble to figure out how being there was going to help their business.

Another great post of Collier's is about making interesting Powerpoint presentations. It is very informative, but part of what makes it so great is the level of humility that Collier brings to it by admitting how much he has grown as a presenter. He does not post as an authoritative figure, handing down decrees about Powerpoint, but instead as someone who has also had to learn the hard way and with a clear understanding of the benefits these changes can bring.

3 - Use quotes and key facts or stats to back up your points, and then use pictures with them. In the What Rockstars Can Teach You About Kicking Ass With Social Media presentation I gave at Social South recently, I wanted to add a quote from Sarah McLachlan. I could have gone with a cookie-cutter slide like this:

But instead I went with this:

See the difference? And here's another tip; notice that's a LONG quote. So I bolded the key words that I wanted to focus on, and didn't read the whole quote to the audience, just pointed out the two bolded phrases.

A recent favorite of mine was a post on blogs and their call to action. In marketing, the call to action is one of the most important features of any campaign, but beyond that, the call to action seems to just disappear. Sparked by a comment by @wilsonellis, this post explains how to add a call to action to any blog post. Often it is as simple as asking for comments, but other times you can ask people to subscribe, purchase, or even consider you for a job. It is a recent article (Tuesday Oct. 13), but looking back at Collier's older posts, he has been hyping his own consultations quite regularly, hopefully to great effect.

Collier is a very knowledgeable blogger, and seems like a genuinely nice guy as well. He has an eclectic knowledge of presentation and blogging expertise, so if you are a company in need of some help, reach out to Mack Collier. Just check his posts; he's given you plenty of incentive to work with him. Overall, The Viral Garden is a fun and informative blog filled with anecdotes, interviews, and tips that can really help companies and marketers. What do you think?