CRM Update – May 14 : 1:02 pm

You may have used Google AdWords, but a whole new set of rules apply on the giant social network.As my company has been managing pay-per-click advertising since the dawn of the medium, I’ve been thrilled to turn its attention to the Facebook advertising platform’s amazing targeting abilities.We stumbled a lot at first, however, and went through millions of dollars of testing before we learned to walk (and finally run).Here are the five biggest lessons we have learned about using Facebook ads.1. Forget Google AdWords…

Have phantom orders been placed using your Best Buy website account that you had nothing to do with? Since the wee hours of this morning, we’ve heard from two separate readers who write that their accounts and credit cards were used to order downloadable content that was delivered to another person’s email address. And if posts on the Best Buy user forums are any indication, they’re far from alone.

H. wrote in first, telling us that three separate orders were placed on her account…

Scott Thompson’s short run as Yahoo CEO is over. He resigned this weekend after trying vainly to beat back the growing controversy over his somewhat fanciful resume. Thompson said he had a computer science degree when, in fact, he did not. For all the finger pointing and promises of long-term support for Thompson, nothing it seems could save him from the chopping block. Now Yahoo must try and build momentum behind a new, relatively unknown CEO, as well as a new chairman of the board.
Thompson’s resume became valuable weapon in the behind-the-scenes proxy fight that had been underway for weeks in the Yahoo boardroom…

As a business owner, you go above and beyond to keep customers happy. But your employees might not feel the same.I recently visited a local small business (a pet food store) because I wanted to get my doggie, Dwight, some kibble. It wasn’t a highly trafficked joint and in a remote area, and I only wanted a small bag of food. So I got out of the car and went up to the door only to find they had just closed.Turns out I had arrived three minutes after closing time and the person who was manning the store was still behind the register with a customer…

I am inclined to agree with Damien. Your SEO company should jump at the chance to get better tracking installed- the more information they have about

Sleep deprivation is a huge productivity killer. One solution is to make naps normal at work.Last month, I explained that working an average of more than 40 hours a week is counter-productive. Not surprisingly, some readers protested that working long hours was the only way they could remain competitive.What I found odd about those comments was that they completely missed the point, which is that the long work hours are making them less productive and therefore less competitive.Anyway, I was thinking: Maybe the reason those readers didn’t understand the post is that they were so sleepy from working long hours that they’ve lost the ability to think clearly…

A bug in the popular crowd funding site Kickstarter exposed 70,000 unlaunched projects over the weekend, though the company says that only 48 projects were accessed.
The bug, discovered by The Wall Street Journal, stemmed from a website update in late April. No credit card numbers were accessible, but the bug “made accessible the project description, goal, duration, rewards, video, image, location, category and user name for unlaunched projects,” according to Kickstarter’s API blog…

Are you wondering how Pinterest could help your business?Pinterest is one of the hottest social media sites at the moment. Pinterest was the fastest stand alone site ever to reach 10 million monthly unique visitors.One study shows how Pinterest has been bringing in more traffic to websites than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube put together.Brands are benefiting with Pinterest in generating traffic and sales.So if you’d like to attract a lot of traffic to your website using Pinterest, check out these 6 tips…

 
Strategy Is As Strategy Does
We’ve touched a bit on this blog about why implementing a Social CRM is a good thing. We’ve talked about trends and industry happenings and even explored some of the analytical concerns that surround Social CRMs.
All that’s well and good, but talking about food doesn’t help those that are starving and mapping out how a life preserver works won’t help those drowning at sea. If you’re really serious about understanding the necessary pieces and attitudes for setting up a Social CRM Strategy, then this post will be a welcomed breath to you…

You don’t have to be Einstein to apply this success theory to your business. But, trust us, the results can be nothing short of brilliant.In 1992, after significant time laboring over a title for his new book, Jack Canfield thought of the name, Chicken Soup for the Soul. He recalls getting goose bumps and a feeling of certainty that this book title would carry his labor of love into the hearts of people around the world. Even his co-author, Mark Victor Hanson, Canfield’s associates, friends, and family were enamored…

The weekend sat on the cusp of big news coming, especially the looming Facebook IPO. But that didn’t keep us from finding hot stories over the past few days, including fascinating concept pics that might show what the upcoming iPhone 5 might look like, a frank review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, and a sneak peek at Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs in an upcoming film.
There was a boatload of news, views and ballyhoo this weekend, so you might be sitting there worrying that you missed a lot…

Bill 8, the Ontario One Call Ltd. Act, will return to the Ontario Legislature for a third reading.

11 Tips to Get Your Content Marketing on Track [Research]
Content marketing, regardless of what marketers call it, is the most popular digital marketing strategy according to Chief Marketer’s March 2012 online survey of US marketers. Closer examination of the Chief Marketer research as reported by eMarketer shows email, social media and search are at the top of the list for mainstream marketers with a third using video.  Further, marketers’ focus on content is strongly correlated with supporting sales, optimizing their owned content for search and helping social media…

From what we’re hearing at Consumerist HQ, it’s easy to picture what goes on at Macy’s credit card headquarters. When a check arrives, someone throws it in the air, and then it’s applied to whatever completely random bill it lands on. That might help explain what happened to Joe, or not. He doesn’t even know what his account number is supposed to be in the first place, and no one in the credit card department does, either.

I opened a Macy’s credit card account approximately two months ago, and when I received my first statement I paid the entire balance of $268…

Scott Gerber is the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, a nonprofit organization that promotes youth entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment. Follow him @askgerber.
Mobile phone sales are higher than ever, beating out the personal computer as the must-have gadget. With that shift, mobile commerce is now on the rise. But it’s not just big-box retailers and household names setting up shop on smartphones and tablets.
Small businesses should also be ready to bank on the growing trend…