By Daylin Mantyka 
It’s Friday again, which means we’ve compiled a short list of the top articles we read and loved this week. Compliments of Social Media Explorer, Startup Professionals Musings, The Huffington Post and V3 Integrated Marketing, these entries were shared extensively throughout the startup and marketing communities.
First up, an article that insists that as marketers, we are still doing social media wrong, followed by a post on identifying and nurturing creativity. Third, we’ve selected an article that summarizes the most effective measurement for startup progress and last, a post that shares top social media productivity hacks.
5 reasons marketers are still doing social wrong
Social media has changed the way people interact online. And, where there are people, there are marketers. Tracy Parsons thinks that the pros are still not using social to their full advantage. In this post, she provides five reasons why we are still doing it all wrong. There is a silver lining, however: Where there are failures, there are also solutions.
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By Bob Bailly 
My reading over the last several weeks has been all over the map, from political parties entrenching in unsupportable positions in Canada and the US, to the neuroscience of leadership. While I’ll discuss more about this later, it was at a board meeting of a not-for-profit that I attended last week that I finally was able to see a thread connecting my readings and what I was observing.
The meeting concerned the introduction of a new name and identity for the organization – a need clearly outlined as a priority in the organization’s strategic plan. The meeting shifted from the ordinary, however, because in the process of doing this work, there was a major disconnect between stakeholders. While the discussion was supposed to be about the rebranding, it quickly centred on the intent, tone and function of the new name that had already been approved. In fact, not only was a previously approved decision of the board being questioned, staff morale was in jeopardy and emotions were running high.
The particulars beyond this are unimportant and all the issues were ultimately resolved. But it was in this resolution that an ah-ha moment hit me. Most of what I was reading, hearing and now experiencing had tribal roots, but there was also something else going on that intrigued me.
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By Leo Valiquette
I don’t have an MBA and I haven’t partaken of any executive leadership programs. Whatever insights I offer on this blog about group dynamics and management arise from what you might call qualitative participant observation.
In other words, I take note of what helps, and what hinders, when it comes to getting __________ done by a given deadline, to whatever standard or benchmarks meet with the general approval of the stakeholders involved.
What do I consider to be one of the most important tools for getting _________ done?
The all-hands meeting.
Yes, I can hear the groans out there. There is no shortage of literature that talks about how meetings kill productivity, in hand with ample advice on how to make meetings more organized and productive.
What I want to focus on here is the value of having a meeting in the first place.
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By Daylin Mantyka
Last month’s contents were newsworthy and informative. Leading the pack was Maurice Smith’s post on the ultimate marketing challenge followed by Leo Valiquette’s piece on phone etiquette. As always, we had some great contributions from our guest bloggers on presentation skills, measuring Facebook contest ROI, the neurobiology of marketing, and filing patent applications, among others.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
October 9: The ultimate marketing challenge: Final Fling helps plan your own death, by Maurice Smith
October 29: Don’t let your phone skills atrophy, by Leo Valiquette
October 23: When a good presentation isn’t good enough, by Anil Dilawri
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By Daylin Mantyka
It’s Friday — which means that it’s time for the weekly roundup. This week. we have informative content from velocity, Founder Dating, memeburn, The Buzz Bin and Duct Tape Marketing.
7 critical elements of a great content brief
Doug Kessler says that home-run content doesn’t happen by accident and that it always starts with a great plan. Since marketers aren’t often the ones producing the content, it’s incredibly important to communicate clearly in content briefs. Besides the usual stuff nascent to all, Doug goes a step further and identifies seven elements to turn good into great.
Am I an entrepreneur?
A serial entrepreneur based out of Silicon Valley, Rick Marini hears from many young startup enthusiasts and how they want to build a multibillion-dollar company. But before jumping in, he urges you to consider whether or not you actually are an entrepreneur or just someone after a piece of the limelight. In this post, Rick outlines key attributes of a successful entrepreneur and whether or not you have what it takes to make it down this tough road.
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