FIR B2B #27: Josh Bernoff on Getting the BS Out of Business Communications

FIR B2BIn this episode:

News & Trends

Twitter stock took a hit as the company announced disappointing earnings and continues to struggle with increasing member activity. Could Twitter become acquisition bait or, even worse, the walking dead? It’s looking like a distinct possibility if this company doesn’t refocus its efforts on creating a great user experience. It’s too beholden to Wall Street right now.

Special Guest: Josh Bernoff

Josh Bernoff is well known to the community of social media aficionados as co-author of the best-selling book Groundswell and a highly visible Forrester Research analyst for many years. Last year he left Forrester and struck out on his own, setting up a website called Without Bullshit that attacks jargon, corporate doublespeak and vacuous communications. Having read more than 10,000 press releases during his career, he has no shortage of material and he appears to have hit a nerve. A recent post about 10 writing trips and the psychology behind them logged more than 100,000 page views in a little more than three days. Josh believes the companies that succeed will be those that are honest, forthright, original and personal in the way they communicate.

Josh is working on a book about how to write without BS. It’s a topic he’s passionate about, and that comes through in this interview.

Follow Josh on Twitter.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Send Paul an email or connect with him on Twitter: @pgillin

Eric Schwartzman is a digital strategist with 15 years of experience selling and leading teams on the agency side in the development and delivery of innovative integrated marketing initiatives for multinational corporations, NGOs, federal government agencies and military commands. He is a frequent speaker at conferences all over the world on the topic of how technology is changing the way organizations communicate and the way people use media and information.

Follow Eric on Twitter at @ericschwartzman.

Eric’s expertise is in digital strategy, digital governance, content marketing, database marketing, user experience design, employee advocacy, education technology, digital multimedia production, B2B lead generation, search engine optimization and social media engagement techniques. He’s also the best-selling co-author of Social Marketing to the Business Customer.

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Posted by Paul Gillin on 05/13 at 09:54 AM

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