Are you guilty of any of the “7 deadly sins of marketing,” as illustrated by Tom Fishburne?

The evolution of marketing over the past several years has resulted in the development of new roles and positions in the industry. Plan B has assembled a list of unintentionally-hilarious, completely-real, “most ridiculous advertising job titles.” Enjoy.

11. Interactive Evangelist

10. Social Media Ninja

9. Innovator-at-Large

8. Chief Creative Insurgent

7. Brand Champion

6. Chief Blogging Officer

5. Global Chief Growth Officer

4. Brand Strategy Guru

3. Director of Emerging Media

2. Web Alchemist

1. Digital Marketing Genie

BuySellAds recently created this charming infographic, illustrating The Evolution of the Adverting Executive.

The typical 1960s advertising executive was the Don Draper-style “playboy.” He smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and often wears a grey fedora.

The 1980s brought with it the “global superstar” advertising executive. He’s thinking big, clicking away on his brand new Macintosh and making calls to MTV on his 20-pound cellular phone. You know you love the power suit.

We met the advertising “techie” in the 1990s during the dot com era. Goodbye power suit, hello polo shirt. He’s never without his cell phone and palm pilot.

What about the advertising executive of today? That would be the constantly connected “social butterfly,” with his iPod, iPhone, iPad, and “ironic sweater vest.” His favorite ad line? “Anything is possible when you smell like an Old Spice man… I’m on a horse.”

Click here to view the full infographic.

Marketer Philip Sheldrake and illustrator Nic Hinton joined forces to create this great infographic, “Content: An Illustrated History of Creation, Curation, Circulation and Consumption.”

Social media is powerful, no doubt. But, as all good things do, it has its limitations. Brands shouldn’t dive headfirst into a social media plan without considering the things that social media will not be able to do for them.

Creating a social media presence is not, in itself, the key to community engagement. Econsultancy points out 5 main things that brands are responsible for that social media can not do:

Make You Cool
As Econsultancy explains, “Long gone are the days when being on Facebook or Twitter meant you were ahead of the curve. Today… your social media presence is only as cool as you are.” It’s how you use it that makes you “cool.”

Create Great Products & Services
Social media may help your brand, but it can’t make up for poor quality products and services.

Quash Criticism
With a social media presence, you can respond to criticism more effectively, but criticism will not cease to exist.

Provide Free Marketing
As Econsultancy explains, “Building, growing and maintaining a social media presence always requires an investment in time, and for every business, time is money.”

Improve Your Customer Service
Social media has become a helpful tool for providing customer service, but the quality of your customer service is still as good as you make it.

And on that note, your social media campaign is only as good as you make it.

Engaged consumers generally become loyal consumers, and we all want loyal consumers. So, how and why do consumers engage? According to a recent study, more than 97% of respondents said that an online experience has influenced whether or not they bought a product or service from a particular brand… so it would be wise to know what spurs engagement. For some insight, check out GetSatisfaction’s infographic.

A new Old Spice Guy? Yes, the latest series of ads from Wieden + Kennedy have replaced the tried-and-true Isaiah Mustafa with a new character… Fabio.

Watch the newest Old Spice spots at NewOldSpiceGuyFabio.

QR codes are recognizable, but unfortunately generic-looking. Luckily, their designs are more flexible than you would think. With a 30% tolerance in readability, these codes can be customized while maintaining their technical effectiveness (and that customization will likely improve their marketing effectiveness). See a few examples below, via Mashable.

HBO’s True Blood:

Louis Vuitton:

Discover LA Tourism Bureau:

Why are social networks so important? Why are they so powerful? The answer is the Network Effect, first popularized by Bob Metcalfe, a co-founder of Ethernet (he called the theory “Metcalfe’s Law”). In other words, when a service becomes more valuable as more people use it, this is the Network Effect. Get Satisfaction has created a great infographic (as usual) visually explaining this theory, which has taken on new significance in this time of widespread network technology. Click the image below to see the full graphic.

According to a report by Inside Facebook, Facebook user growth – while still increasing – is beginning to slow. The significance of this data has been debated; as Portfolio.com points out, “One month does not make a trend, and such hiccups aren’t unheard of for Facebook. ‘Short-term factors’ like college graduations can affect Facebook’s numbers.” Still, this new information has led some to question the future of Facebook, as Portfolio.com also added, “there is some cause for caution. The social network’s overall growth, driven by its march into newer geographic markets, has slowed down.”

Specifically, user numbers dropped in the US and Canada, two of Facebook’s largest countries. As Econsultancy commented, “Facebook is no spring chicken, and its days of staggering growth will not last forever. The possibility that the company has already plateaued, or is in slight decline, in the markets that it first entered, would seem real.” Portfolio.com added that “the numbers could… show Facebook hitting a saturation point in key markets.”

Of course, even if Facebook growth suddenly halts, it will remain a huge and influential market. For now, it will take more time to see if these recently reported numbers are meaningful.