Hamburger chain Smashburger has become a smash hit, growing from three Denver locations in 2007 to 150 outposts nationwide. And while its Angus-beef burgers and unique toppings have helped to propel its success, its secret sauce is social-media outreach.

Smashburger offers coupons and trivia contests for its 67,000 Facebook followers, replies to questions and complaints on its Twitter and Facebook profiles, and actively reaches out to bloggers who might write about the new Smashburger restaurants opening in their areas.

What message does your brand convey to socially engaged customers?

As we enter the golden age of social media, companies can no longer afford the luxury of tightly scripted, top-down messaging (e.g., “We’re the best! Take our word for it.”).
Nor can a company simply opt out and remain silent (as epitomized in Northwestern Mutual’s “The Quiet Company” ad campaign of years past).

We recently read this article and found it very interesting. It is about two competitors of the Advertising and Media industry, Zuckerberg and Graham, and how they mentor and influence each others business in profound ways. Read below and tell us what you think!

Donald Graham spends long stretches on Facebook, sharing with 4,888 friends his interest in tattoo removal, a love of the Washington Redskins and his favorite Muppets song, "Mahna Mahna."

If you're like most of the marketers or business owners I talk with these days, you're wondering what exactly are the benefits of Facebook fans (i.e., "Likes") to your brand. Also, how much more likely are they to do business with you than those who don't "like" you on Facebook?

We here at Gold Leaf Consultants would like to know what do you use social media for? do you use it strictly for business, social life, other? We'd Like to know so we can then cater our products to you.

We have been searching the web for interesting article on social media and this is what we came across. Do you think this is true?

Amidst all the buzz surrounding social media and popular networking sites, 6S Marketing, one of North America’s largest internet marketing firms, has conducted a survey to investigate trends in Canadian social media usage. Survey results reveal an overwhelming percentage of Canadians who have adopted social media for business and personal use and highlight the most popular forums and mediums for communication.

Social media are online communications in which individuals shift fluidly and flexibly between the role of audience and author. To do this, they use social software that enables anyone without knowledge of coding, to post, comment on, share or mash up content and to form communities around shared interests.

What do you think of this definition? Is it clear? Can it be improved upon?