Erik Qualman
Erik Qualman is the Global Vice President of Online Marketing for EF Education, headquartered in Lucerne, Switzerland. EF Education is the world's largest private educator (Student Tours, Language Schools, Smithsonian, Hult MBA School, Au Pair Exchange, Student Exchange, etc.). Qualman works out of the 850 person Cambridge, Massachusetts office.
Prior to joining EF Education, Qualman helped grow the marketing and eBusiness functions of Cadillac & Pontiac (1994-97), BellSouth (1998-2000), Yahoo (2000-03), EarthLink (2003-05) and Travelzoo (2005-08). Qualman holds a BA from Michigan State University and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin.
Qualman is a frequently requested speaker within the Internet and marketing community. He's also an acclaimed fiction author -- more information is available at American Novel. A former basketball player at Michigan State University, Qualman still finds time to follow his beloved Spartans.
Recent articles by Erik Qualman
Will Social Networks Become the New Inbox? Part 2
Many companies still believe they need to get users into their prospecting databases in order to market to them. But businesses capture a lot more information via social media about their consumers than they've ever had before. Good businesses realize though, that the relationship still needs to be cultivated. Just like dating, companies need to learn how to court their customers in social networks. Dec 29, 2008
Will Social Networks Become the New Inbox?
E-mail has held on through the years as the King of the Internet. However, the new inbox is shifting toward social media. Dec 15, 2008
Social Community: Free Pancakes Anyone?
Human beings long for a sense of community, like a charity pancake breakfast, and this isn't lost with social media. Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's and others gave freebies on Election Day -- did it work as well as fresh pancakes? Dec 1, 2008
President 2.0
In the same way JFK benefitted from the emerging medium of television, Barack Obama was helped into the White House by the increasing popularity of social media. His appeal to younger audiences, and need to get exposure in a primary race against an established opponent led Obama to develop his online strategy. Businesses can learn from his campaign. Nov 17, 2008
Trick or Tweet for CNN
Social media is revolutionary. It allows CNN anchor Rick Sanchez to have a relationship with 30,000 people, and make a connection with them that can translate to other media. Companies need to relinquish the total control they've had and allow users, consumers, viewers, etc. to take their rightful ownership. Oct 30, 2008
Obama is Winning the Internet War
Election Day in the U.S. is fast approaching and it's anyone's guess who will win...or is it? Based on five key indicators on the Internet, maybe we already know who will next be sitting in the Oval Office. A look at these indicators shows how they can be applied to your business. Oct 16, 2008
Economic Depression 2.0
Using some past economic low times as historical guides, what can the online world expect in the coming months? One likely outcome is a permanent shift from traditional channels to online marketing. Yes, online marketing could reach the highest percentage of marketing spend sooner than any of us imagined. Oct 2, 2008
5 Million Users Hate the New Facebook? No Problem
Facebookers are annoyed that their beloved social network implemented a new design. But will their annoyance outweigh the value they get from using the product? Will Facebook's brand be damaged, or emerge stronger than ever? Sep 18, 2008
(Google) Insights on VP Candidate Sarah Palin
The recently announced Google Insights tool provides unprecedented data on Google's user searches and trends. Here are three quick tips on how to leverage Google Insights, whether you're running a Presidential race or a brand marketing campaign. Sep 4, 2008
NBC's Olympic Fool's Gold; Google Comes Home Empty-Handed
It's understandable that an older-school company like NBC may get some things wrong, and rely on old metrics to judge success. But Google didn't exactly turn in a world-record performance for the Olympics either. Aug 21, 2008
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