lena west | Fast Company

Fashion Icon Turned Business Mogul on Swimming With the Sharks

BY Lena L. WestTue Mar 29, 2011

Daymond John and I talk about the history of the FUBU brand, what it meant for hip-hop and fashion at large, his books... and what social media has done for the brands in his empire.READ»

BLOGS | Comment

ATTENTION: This Guy Knows His Stuff

BY Lena L. WestFri Sep 10, 2010

I've known Jim Kukral ever since I met him at BlogWorld a few years ago; and I can easily say that I've been a fan ever since. The world of internet marketing (read: making money online) can, at times, be a thinly veiled popularity contest. In the years that I've known Jim, I've never gotten that vibe from him. So, when he told me he was writing a book...READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Have You BAM'ed Your Company?

BY Lena L. WestThu Dec 17, 2009

With the exception of companies like Zappos, the term "good customer service" is almost a laughable oxymoron these days. Companies continue to get it wrong over and over and over. Even in an era of self-service (here's to never having to answer the "paper or plastic question again), there seems to be something missing. (Ya think?)READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Leading in Social Media Monetization

BY Lena L. WestThu Nov 19, 2009

There are not many people I sit around thinking about meeting. It's not that I have a super-elevated opinion of myself. It's more than I'm your average (or not so average) jaded New Yorker who has seen things and met some people. A lot of things and a lot of people.READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Authors + Social Media = Tribes...and Tribes Sell Books

BY Lena L. WestThu Oct 22, 2009

Sure, attention is rapidly moving online, but truth is, having a traditional printed book still remains one of the most effective credibility-building tools out there. Challenge is, whether you self-publish or go with a traditional publisher, the marketing is on you. (C'mon, you know it's the truth!)READ»

BLOGS | Comment

The Facebook Era

BY Lena L. WestThu Oct 1, 2009

What seems like eons ago (but in reality was a few months ago), I interviewed Clara Shih, the author of The Facebook Era and the creator of the Facebook application, Faceconnector (formerly Faceforce), which helps people connect with their Salesforce contacts on Facebook to build better relationships with customers, influencers and people who happen to like you!READ»

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Social New, Now & Next: The Baltimore Marathon on "Social Media Steroids"

BY Lena L. WestTue Sep 15, 2009

I'm always interested in organizations that are taking the use of social media to the next level. And, Corrigan Sports qualifies. They plan to use some latest social media hotness, R2iSMASH, to showcase the Baltimore Marathon on Oct. 10.READ»

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Helping Companies Take on "the Cloud"

BY Lena L. WestTue Sep 15, 2009

More and more companies are diving into cloud computing, but there are security, quality and scalability concerns. That's where Sonoa Systems comes in.READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Biz Stone Advance Video re: Twitter Hack

BY Lena L. WestThu Aug 13, 2009

“We spent a lot of 2008 catching up with a lot of the popularity of Twitter, the unexpected popularity--getting there technically so that we were stable, and along comes this massive attack. You know, we learned. We worked behind the scenes with folks from Google and other companies to figure out how to stop the attacks and how to better deal with them in the future.”READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Social New, Now & Next: OurBlook Gets Their Social Debate On

BY Lena L. WestWed Jul 15, 2009

Debate is a healthy part of life. It's an understatement to say that people won't always agree. And, as I've mentioned in a previous blog post, my interest is always piqued by companies and organizations that use social media tools in innovative ways. Which is why, when I read about OurBlook.com, I was intrigued...READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Social New, Now & Next: Scitable's Social Science

BY Lena L. WestWed Apr 15, 2009

I'm always interested in how companies that don't have an obvious connection with social media are using these tools to create online destinations that work for them and work for their market. To feed my curiosity, I've started a whenever-I-feel-like-it interview series about such companies. Which is why, a few weeks ago...READ»

ONLINE COMMUNITIES | Comment

Real-Time Communications Means Real Talk

BY Lena L. WestThu Jan 15, 2009

This is my first full week back from being on holiday for the past month. Ahhh, good old R&R.... Yesterday, I spent half the day leading two roundtable discussions at the Real-Time Communications Conference, where Steve Etzler ...READ»

BLOGS | Comment

What Proposition 8 Shows Us About Having Your Own Social Media Turf

BY Lena L. WestThu Dec 18, 2008

This post is an idea-stem from an excellent post that was written by Michael Mace in the Rubicon blog network. When consulting with clients and while delivering presentations about social media, I often mention the imperative that ...READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Much Ado About Convergence

BY Lena L. WestThu Nov 13, 2008

Who knew there was so much to say about convergence? Steve Etzler, the founder of the conference and career fair producer, Business Development Institute (BDI) did. READ»

LENA WEST | Comment

Consider the Source

BY Lena L. WestThu Nov 6, 2008

I wrote a post for the Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix blog today and in it, I talk about how agency types have “predicted” a slow down in brand spending on emerging media. I won’t repeat the whole post here, but you can read it ...READ»

ONLINE COMMUNITIES | Comment

Gasp! Ads Do Work After All!

BY Lena L. WestWed Oct 29, 2008

The folks at Razorfish conducted a survey of 1,000 "connected consumers". Most say they don't mind ads on social networking sites so much so that 40% of them had actually purchased a product or service after being ...READ»

WIDGETS | Comment

Consumers are Weary of the Okey-Doke

BY Lena L. WestFri Oct 3, 2008

In reading Max Kalehoff's OnlineSpin about how online transparency might affect brand building, I got on my soapbox a bit and wanted to share it with my FC readers. Here's what I had to say: "I don’t think it’s a ...READ»

ONLINE COMMUNITIES | Comment

Good News for Video Marketers - Bad News for Privacy?

BY Lena L. WestThu Sep 11, 2008

Let's face it, everyone and their mother has a video on YouTube. That's a good thing - user generated content is mainly what's fueled the rapid growth of social media - and it's also pretty much the bain of a video marketer's ...READ»

ONLINE COMMUNITIES | Comment

Conference Hopping

BY Lena L. WestFri Sep 5, 2008

Is it just me or are there conferences going on EVERYWHERE? There's OMMA, Web 2.0 NY and IZEAFest this month and ESM and MarketingProfs next month to name a few. I know I'm speaking at the Association for Women in ...READ»

ONLINE COMMUNITIES | Comment

A Fresh Approach to Forecasting...

BY Lena L. WestWed Jul 30, 2008

Corporate forecasting is, at best a labor of love and at worst, boring...or usually incorrect. The folks over at Inking, Inc. have developed prediction market software, called Inkling Markets, that allows companies to tap into ...READ»