Ask social media managers about “brand standards” and you might elicit some uncomfortable expressions. Brand standards, created to ensure uniformity with brand messaging and imagery, can sometimes feel like restrictions for creative social development.
“Do I really need to include all these brand logos and elements in every social message?”
The answer (most often) is yes, but don’t let this dampen your spirits. Maintaining a consistent brand identity is vital for long-term business growth, and you can still flex your creative social muscle within brand guidelines. Here are some tips that can help you stretch your brand’s identity to its creative peaks:
Creating quality content that not only engages customers but encourages them to share is no easy task. A recent study by Exact Target found that 
As an Internet marketer I am always on the hunt for new content marketing tools that can increase my efficiencies and improve engagement with my audience. I cannot begin to express how valuable content curation can be if done right. It will allow you tap into and respond to what people are searching for, what they like to read and share, what influences their buying decisions and so on. In my search for a new means of marketing I came across a tool called Scoop.It. Below I have detailed my review of this tool including some of it’s cool features.
Any marketer who’s successfully made the move to social media will tell you the rules of traditional marketing have to be reexamined. That’s particularly true with Twitter, where brands have just 140 characters to inform, evoke emotion and inspire action. One of the most basic and critical rules for brands on Twitter? Be authentic and transparent in all you do.
By day, 
Recently I came across the new book by Dave Evans, Social Media Marketing An Hour a Day. It’s one of the few marketing books I actually purchased in 2008 because it seemed thorough (as far as a book can be on a fast changing topic) and since so many publishers send us free copies to review.
