Watch the Best Video Introduction to Gamification & Explanation of its Pros & Cons from Penny Arcade

It's a funny and informative introduction to gamification and I guarantee you will laugh out loud at least once :)

This may actually be the first simple explanation I've ever seen of any of the potential positives AND pitfalls of using gamification as a strategy.  Clocking in at around 6 minutes, it's a great introduction to share with people who are interested in learning about the basics of gamification.

The fantastic work done on this particular episode deserves to be called out:

Free Webinar & White Paper: IBM Social Analytics: The Science behind Social Media Marketing & Putting the Science into Social Business

As I have been working on Inbound Marketing & Content Marketing Strategies with clients I have noticed that as we begin to master measuring and managing the metrics that have been traditionally associated with Social Media Marketing (likes, reach, shares, etc...) they quickly discover that these metrics are disconnected from the way we manage the rest of our Marketing, particularly around tracking Sales Conversions and assigning cash values to metrics.

The truth is that even though Social Media offers marketers a wealth of data that almost no other marketing channel provides about our customers, the tools we have to analyze, report, and act on that data have not kept up with the pace of development of the various social media platforms.

IBM has recently released a fantastic set of resources that help to illuminate how you can use a scientific & quantifiable approach to tracking these Social Media Metrics.  They are based on IBM's new approach to Social Business & Analytics and outline steps you can begin working on today to develop and execute a Social Media Strategy that is based on HARD DATA instead of the guesswork we're so used to in this space.

Grand Opening of The University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Moody School of Business and Northwestern Mutual's Professional Sales and Research Program Lab

Images - B. I. Moody III College of Business Administration

A few weeks ago I was invited to judge at a Sales Competition for the Marketing & Hospitality School of the B. I. Moody III College of Business Administration of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Dr. Gwen Fontenot, Head of the Department, and Dr. Duleep Delpechitre, Head of the Sales Competition Team, invited me down to help select two students to represent the University at their next Sales Competition.

Interesting perspective on customer acquisition, conversion, and "growth hacking"

I thought this was a really interesting way of conceptualizing the two fundamental extremes of using marketing / growth hacking to grow your customer base.  The most interesting thing is that there seems to be some really good support for navigating the middle ground.  Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think in the comments: Two ways to look at growth | Aaron Ginn's Thoughts