As a social media and public relations consultant, I spend a lot of time online researching various blogs and publications within vertical interest areas. One of the things that I have found frustrating is manually keeping multiple lists of contacts and notes about each contact. There are some extremely expensive tools. like Salesforce, and other CRM programs like ACT, which are cheaper but don't really address the needs of people looking to build relationships over time rather than sell stuff. read more...
Beyond Blogger Relations: Listening Provides the Spark to Finding Influencers
Okay, so I admit, we here in the Houston area are pretty focused on power since many have been without it for nearly two weeks now. But it is also a fantastic metaphor for the point of connection between a company or organization and the people that they care about. When you get this connection right, sparks can happen and everyone wins. In my first post in the Beyond Blogger Relations series, I covered the importance of read more...
Building Quality Relationships Online: Going Beyond Blogger Relations
As I have traveled around the country, no matter what topic I am speaking about, people always want to know, "How do I find and approach influential bloggers?" "Blogger relations" continues to be a very hot subject, even though many in the social media bubble are somewhat tired of it and all of the drama that continues to play around it. Many of my esteemed colleagues, who have proven track records of working with bloggers on behalf of clients, have done a great job of outlining read more...
The Blame Game: Getting Bloggers and PR Together Without a War
I was talking to a good friend on the phone today about the dustup with public relations professionals and Gina Trapani, of Lifehacker, who has launched a PR Spammers blacklist. Of course, this isn't the first blogger who has been (rightly) disgusted with the overwhelming number of spammy pitches from people hawking their wares. And even read more...
Movie Stars and Blogerati: TIME 100 Was Awash with the Influential
People seem to always be in the lookout for a pecking order. Some through rankings, some through awards. Certainly they are on the lookout for the influential. This year's TIME 100 was no different, with 100 people chosen who were deemed most influential by the TIME judges. Interestingly, there were four people honored from the online world: