On January 31, 2013, LinkedIn's popular (or maybe not so popular?) Q&A tool met its untimely end. We loved the Answers feature for a number of reasons, but mainly for its value in generating customer referrals and high-value leads for social brands.

Happy birthday, Foursquare! This free geolocation app was launched back in March 2009, and it’s sure grown a lot in the last four years! As of January 2013, Foursquare reported more than 30 million users around the world. And given its high potential for generating customer referrals, more than 1 million businesses have made it a key component of their social media strategy.

3 Tips for Managing Churn Rates The entire customer lifecycle is in the hands of the SaaS company, and churn rate reduction is a business building block that needs to be cradled. Jason Lemkin of the SaaS blog saastr.com told OpenView Labs that if SaaS companies are doing what they're supposed to be doing—creating and selling products customers love—renewals will take care of themselves. If you want low churn rates and long-term, renewing customers, your customers need to love your brand, ...

Using Social Media to Create a Buzz about Your Brand With over 757 billion daily active users on Facebook and 241 million monthly active Twitter users, there’s no question where to find your target audience. Regardless of demographic, people across the globe are turning to social media as a way to not only connect with one another, but to also learn more and engage with brands they do business with.

Which Social Networks Drive the Most Traffic, and Why You Should Care As most marketers know, Google Analytics includes a wealth of information and reports about your website, and you are likely already familiar with at least the basic statistics such as total visitors, time on site, and number of page views.

Regardless of the size of your business, or the industry you happen to be in, one goal you have in common with all other organizations is growth. A lot of factors contribute to achieving this goal, from improving customer service, to attracting and retaining top talent, to finding the most effective ways to market your brand. One of the most effective, yet often overlooked, growth mechanisms for business is a customer referral program. Here’s why: