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Some peeps are just more comfortable in the dark.  We often call them lurkers, but that has a rather nefarious undertone. These looky-loos are an important part of our audience, despite our inability to track their activities and efforts. In fact, these lurkers are the next bastion of active participants. We simply have to help them feel comfortable enough to take part. India White of affin.io joins us to discuss dark shares and our silent audiences.

When did discussion, debate, the sharing of differing opinions become a bad thing? When did we all become so puffed up and prideful that we closed ourselves off to the betterment that can only come from being told that we might have missed something? When did it become okay to throw around terms like hatred so easily?  We so wish we could say that the questions above don't require answers, but that's sadly not the case. Danny Brown joins us to take a deeper look at the dissent around the sharing of dissenting opinion and the demise of discussion and debate. Has social media marketing become a toe-the-line or be taunted as a troll mechanism? When did we all start believing our own hype and become helpless in the face of a little dissent. When did we stop discussing and start labeling anyone who disagrees

Aw with anything you do in the field of social media marketing, building your connections and growing your audience requires hard work, consistency and daily application.Ross Quintana joins Brooke and Mallie to discuss the day-to-day growth of his own following, along with the audience building best practices and tips he's learned along the way.Why build an audience? What's the point of sharing great content and ideas if no one EVER sees them!

Let's face it. We all want to get more eyes on the prize that we consider our content to be. If we didn't think it was good, we wouldn't write it, right?Jim Dougherty joins the gals to discuss his multi-author site journey, from humblle (unplanned) beginnings to daily distribution of some pretty stellar content written by a variety of authors.While using other multi-author sites as a template for his own content marketing channel, Jm has also carved out his own special niche, sharing articles that dig a little deeper into what makes our business, digital or otherwise, tick.

Visuals sell. Visuals are shared. Visuals go viral. True, to a point. Good visuals do all of those things. But there's quite a lot of visual marketing going on that can't quite be called good. While design is certainly subjective and personal preference, of course, plays a role in our perception of the marketing visuals that surround us, there's certainly something to be said for creating and standing by some design principles. There's a reason graphic designers go to school, hone their craft, pay for the proper tools, etc.Visuals gone wrong, Dre uses the phrase "visual diarrhea," can set a brand back and reflect poorly upon otherwise stellar products and services.

When it comes to engaging in social business we can always count on one thing. Demand. Demand for content, demand for response and demand for fast, friendly and focused customer service.Is your brand keeping up with the customer service demand? Are you acknowledging your customers, your prospects? Are you answering their questions, responding to their needs and requests? If not, you could be negatively impacting your reputation and diminishing your chance for positive word of mouth, no matter how great your product!

You know the type. The type of marketer, business owner or entrepeneur who constantly has to tell you how very influential they are in business circles. GACK! Thought leadership, expertise, influence ... yadda yadda ... they can all muddle together into one big fat mess if you're not following the kinds of true leaders that actually walk what they talk. Brian and Brooke discuss the actions that make for real leaders. And guess what? Self proclamation isn't the proper action!

Social media marketing has become a 24-7-365 endeavor. However, human beings can't function on that schedule. Well, not unless they're zombies or something even more sinister. With that in mind, social media automation can only be a good thing, right? Sadly, NO! Social media automation in the hands of ne'er do wells has landed the practice on the naughty list, with several big names belittling and even bitching about its use. Can we take it back and return automation to its former glory? Indeed, we can. With education and conversation we can get it back on the right track!

Community. It's a buzz word in many a social media and digital marketing circle. Yet as important as community can be to brands and business, it's still sadly misunderstood. Ask not what your community can do for you, but what you can do for your community. Give to get will long live when applied to digital marketing, especially when applied to community building and management. Disclose and share, more than your content, to elicit response and create cohesive community that benefits your brand!

Are you stifling your brand and brand experience by worrying overly muh about appearing professional? Jeremy Miller wants to you knock that off, IMMEDIATELY! Brands with personality, brands that stand out, stick. Brands that manage to teach, entertain and share on a real and personal level are the brands that make it. We talk a bout a whole lot more, but the end note (or golden nugget ... just for Brooke) is clear: Brands with personality are those that choose to share that personality and prosper!  

For some reason Twitter is daunting to many a new user, but if you keep it about the conversation you'll see it leads to connections and more! John Paul Aguiar of The Money Dummy Blog joins Mallie (sadly she didn't get to share the experience with her partner in crime and connection) to talk about the way he engages and converses on Twitter.He talks tools, about ignoring metrics that don't mean anything, and about being present.  They key takeaway, or - since she couldn't say it herself, the GOLDEN NUGGET? Be present on Twitter and you'll reap the most reward. You can't set and forget conversation, and conversation is what Twitter (and all social media) is all about!

When it comes to digital marketing, one size fits all solutions really don't solve our problems. In fact, they can potentially do more harm than good! When we rely TOO heavily on solutions we sometimes fail to see the conversations that really matter to our budding relationships. There's more to digital marketing than the initial share, than the metrics. To succeed we have to consider the response! The response to our initial share and our response to any questions and discussion the share generates.

Can you love and loathe a social media platform at the same time? Loathe might be too strong. But Ray Hlitz fessed up to his love/hate relationship with the digital marketing powerhouse that is Google+. More than a social media platform, Google Plus can do so much, but the confusion surrounding how to best use the platform can make getting started a little daunting. Ray doesn't pull any punches. He professes his love, but goes into tough love mode when he tells Google Plus that they need to get on the stick and start making things a little easier for current users and new adopters.

Tamara Macduff thinks that funeral homes, long the social center of many a community, are almost tailor made for a smart, conversation-based digital presence. She joined Brooke and Mallie to discuss this very topic. With so much history and such a strong foothold within a given community, the funeral home can, and should, take it that one step further by maintaining a strong community presence online, above and beyond local or regional keyword campaigns. Funeral directors are both storytellers and educators.  Social media marketing is all about education and sharing stories. Seems a rather perfect fit, don't you think?  

Community managers often bear the brunt of the misunderstanding that whirls around digital marketing and what the professional actually entails. There's more to the #CMGR than food photos, dang it! Carrie J. Keenan joins the dynamic duo to dispell several #CMGR myths that continue to run rampant amongst those not in digital marketing circles. We talk about the skills that pay the community manager bills and a whole lot more. There may also have been some movie, movie star and nerd chat!

Many a business owner falls prey to the "I Don't Know What To Say" monster. But Mike Sansone thinks every business owner has a successful blog, book or podcast inside, waiting to get out, hoping to be shared with the world. It can be scary, of course. We second guess our guts, our instincts, and try to stick to the same safe paths traversed by our peers and competitors. But why? Isn't there something more? Don't you want to stand out?  You can stand out without sticking out like a sore thumb. Give it a try!

Blogging. It's gotten a bum rap from some. Supposed experts bemoan the fact that their target audience connects with bloggers writing on topics which they feel they should be sought out. Our response to that? Sod off! Blogging connects readers and writers in a profound way. It's a two-way relationship that means something, that matters. Blogging has had a profound effect on Sarah's life, and on the lives of many other men and women across a variety of industries.  Blogging involves writing about real experiences. And that's why the best bloggers really connect with their readers!

When you land on a landing page (sorry, we couldn't help ourselves) you're looking for a solution, hoping to learn something new, maybe you even want to solve a problem. So, you sign-up under the premise that the owner of the page is going to deliver on the promise his/her page has made to you. Promises, promises. Stop lumping everyone who signs up into a generic mailing list. That's false advertising and it's a fantastic way to ensure you're not trusted. Landing pages require a lot of thought and pre-processing before they're launched. Luckily we have Stephan to share the ins and outs, the nitty gritty and maybe even a few golden nuggets!

It's a no brainer for Sarah Nagel! The Sprout Social community managers knows a loyal online community involves education, conversation, and making each end every member feel special and involved! And that's exactly what she discussed with Brooke and Mallie when she joined us to chat about community and social media. Loyal community? In a nutshell? They involve open and fluid communication that makes the members feel like they're a vital part of something bigger! 

Before we go any further, let's get one thing clear. Brent isn't against content marketing. In fact, he believes in it. He knows it's important and he's a seasoned blogger himself. That being said, Brent share that content marketing alone isn't going to help you stand out from your competition. A smart and strategic SEO strategy works with your content marketing to ensure you get the most rank for your efforts. We talk SEO tools and more as we debunk the fairy tale of Google Rank via Content!