Twitter is just one of the many social media channels businesses and individuals use to connect and create leads. As a business, Twitter is used to share the latest news and product with customers, as well as sharing content of other businesses to generate leads. For an individual looking to make it in the world, using Twitter helps to connect with leaders in their industry of interest and learn from them. Using Twitter properly and effectively is another story and does not happen over night. Here are some articles that teach the proper way to use Twitter to benefit you and your business.

Email has grown and changed significantly since its inception. It has revolutionized how individuals and companies communicate globally and has proven to be a great marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. In order to be an effective marketing tool though, special practices should be met, such as what to include in the content and when to send an email. The design and layout of the email are very important as well. Here are this week's inbound marketing news articles about effective email marketing campaigns.

As we begin new web site projects with clients, one of the top questions we are asked is "Will my web site work on my phone?” Smartphones are no longer a trend, but they are an extension of connecting your business with your customers wherever they may be - it doesn't matter if it's a local client in Milwaukee or one with locations globally. With creating new mobile websites comes additional learning on how to keep up your SEO rankings, not just for the computer but for mobile marketing as well. Here are some useful sources from this week’s inbound marketing news to help you learn the steps to being a successful mobile marketer.

So there we were, "noses to the grindstone" on the verge of making another bad decision. Do we shuffle over to the fridge and get our depressing brown bag lunches from home or do we head over to McDonald's for some guilty pleasure? Honestly, I was leaning towards the latter. But then it happened. 

Article originally written and published for Inbound Marketing University

As 2010 ends, let's reflect on how many B2B corporations have been made aware that their online presence is losing out to competitors who "get" inbound marketing and social media.  For many of these corporations, the focus in 2011 will be to grow social networks, drive more quality leads online, and be able to measure and track their inbound marketing campaigns.

Here are four key topics that every marketing department will be discussing in 2011:

• Inbound Marketing
• Social Media
• Mobile Marketing
• SEO

The following articles have been taken from a few great leading web sites within each of the above categories - these are their 2011 predictions:

B2B MARKETING AND INBOUND MARKETING PREDICTIONS

Find and Convert
Why 2011 is the Year of Content Marketing
by Bernie Borges

Marketing Sherpa
New Chart: Expected Changes in B2B Marketing Budgets for 2011
by Jen Doyle

Social Media Today
11 B2B Marketing Predictions for 2011
by Paul Dunay

Blue Focus Marketing
Top 11 Ad Agency Predictions for 2011
by Cheryl Burgess

MarketingProfs
Predictions From Customer-Experience Experts for 2011
by Linda Ireland

Open Forum
5 Trends that Will Shape Small Business in 2011
by John Jantsch

Mashable
6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011
by Jesse Thomas

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PREDICTIONS

Smart Blog on Social Media
Why 2011 will be the year of social-media convergence
by Jesse Stanchak

Entrepreneur Magazine
10 Social Media Trends for 2011
by Starr Hall 

Social Media Today
Seven Predictions for Social Media in 2011
by AmithaAmarasinghe

Social Media Today
5 predictions for social media in 2011
by Trevor Jonas

oneforty.
4 Social Media Predictions for 2011
by Janet

ReadWriteWeb
10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011
by Ravit Lichtenberg from Ustrategy.com

SEO PREDICTIONS

Search Engine Land
SEM Trends For 2011: What To Expect & What To Do
by Siddharth Shah

Search Engine Land
5 Social Marketing Predictions For 2011
by Ciarán Norris

Search Engine Land
Digital Marketing Trends & Predictions For 2011
by Matt Lawson

Search Engine Journal
5 Link Building Predictions for 2011
by Kristi Hines

I Need Hits
2011 Predictions: Online Marketing Trends
by Courtney Mills

TopRank
SEO Tops Digital Marketing Tactics for 2011
by Lee Odden

MOBILE PREDICTIONS

Business Insider
Five Unexpected Mobile Predictions For 2011
by Jamie Hall

RCR Wireless
Reader Forum: 2011 mobile industry predictions
by William Dudley

Mobile Marketer
11 trends for mobile apps in 2011
By Kunal Gupta

Mashable
5 Predictions for Mobile in 2011
by  Christina Warren

In the NFL and the business world, relationships will come to an end. In the case of Al Harris, his relationship ended when the Green Bay Packers released him a few weeks ago due to a knee injury. It's what Al Harris did next that is a lesson any business should take notice of. Harris took out a full page ad in the Sports section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and said "Thank You" to all of his supporters and fans with a heart felt note in the ad.

Our flights and hotel rooms have been booked and today four of us at Stream Creative are flying (gotta love AirTran Wi-Fi) to Boston for two inbound marketing events this week.

A couple of weeks ago, a new book "Empowered" hit the store shelves. They also included free downloads during the premier week for U.S. Kindle users. I was made aware of this promotion through my Forrester enewsletter subscription (which I signed up for after reading Groundswell). In this past year, using free ebooks, whitepapers, research data, etc has become the norm for companies looking to increase leads by using this inbound marketing technique. However, I haven't seen anyone give away a Kindle book like this before! Even if you don't have a Kindle, why not download the book and read it on the Kindle App for your iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Mac or PC?