PRBreakfastClub

I went to a great presentation this week by @jaykrall on Blogger Relations. He talked in depth about how PR pros can seek and engage bloggers with their brand. Great speaker if anyone is looking for one.

One thing he said is that bloggers know other bloggers. I guess I never really thought about it but of course they do. The challenge is breaking into that group. There are many similarities between bloggers and the cool group in high school. Read the rest of this entry »

I may be in a minority here, but it’s getting harder and harder to tell when I’m watching politics from when I’m reading the conversations on some of my favorite blogs these days. As things change, money comes into the picture and a new wave of bloggers emerges, the “vibe” inside the social media bubble is feeling a lot less hospitable.

I don’t want to get lost in the who are the Republicans and who are the Democrats nonsense (although it would be a funny post if anyone else wants to write the damn thing), but what I do want to point out is this… At the moment, no matter what your leanings are, it has always been difficult to have a political conversation and it is starting to feel similar in Social Media. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, Nathan Burgess wrote about a very top-of-mind issue for PR professionals – blogger compensation. If you haven’t read that post yet, head over there first before diving into this one.

As Nathan notes in his article, it’s not uncommon now for bloggers to receive monetary compensation to review a product or service…in addition to getting to test out that product or service for an extended period of time.

But won’t compensation in the form of cold hard cash sway the blogger’s opinion of said product or service? And won’t that immediately move this review into the paid media versus earned media category? Can bloggers actually be unbiased when a company pays them to write about their product or service?

I reached out to a few bloggers I’ve connected with over the years to get their thoughts on the compensation topic, as well as working with PR pros to coordinate reviews. Here’s what they had to say: Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had the pleasure of seeing my two good internet buddies, Danny Brown and Gini Dietrich, try to get a room full of bloggers and PR folks to play nice. As someone working on the brand side, I was an impartial witness to what is clearly a big, heaping pile of infighting.

Clearly, the explosion of Social Media and blogging has changed the landscape, with bloggers looking to be taken seriously and PR reps not quite sure how to handle this new Fifth Estate. As an outsider in both camps, I wanted to share some unemotional insights into what is clearly a highly charged subject. Read the rest of this entry »

Did I lure you in with my snazzy headline? Yes? Okay great. Now I’m going to spend the first few sentences using buzz words so that you will keep reading my social media post. Then after you’ve gotten through the first couple of paragraphs, I’m going to provide you with these awesome bullet points packed with information that you already knew.  Lastly, I will summarize the topic which pretty much has nothing to do with my headline that I created for SEO purposes.

Does this situation sound familiar? Every day my inbox and RSS feeds pile up with articles about social media. The articles seem to always be about the same topic but recycled, rehashed, rewritten – they are offering me nothing of value. If you are like me, you’ve probably about had it. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh yes, it’s that time of year where thousands of contestants try out to be the next American Idol. There are some great singers, some really awful ones, and then there are those that are a little ‘pitchy.’

I’ve been getting a lot more pitches lately that are starting to remind me of Idol contestants. They aren’t necessarily terrible but they aren’t that great either.

Do you want to wow the judges (the media) with your next pitch audition and get that golden ticket to Hollywood? Think of me as a sort of Marie Seacrest but taller; grab a Coke glass and sit back as we break it down for you. Read the rest of this entry »

Can you hear that sound? It’s the sound of a blogger revolution ya’ll! That’s right the blogging world is changing and I predict that this year we will see some things really come to surface. From money to marketing, bloggers are savvier than ever before and we all need to get with the program.

I spend quite a bit of time reading tweets, blog posts, etc. which are all about the blogger/public relations dynamic. After covering this territory for years, here’s what I think will go down in 20-11: Read the rest of this entry »

I know, you are probably scratching your head right now. Well, the topic of pitching a publicist isn’t as silly as you might think.

Yes, that’s right, publicists get pitched too. Whether it’s for product reviews or hiring a blogger for a myriad of services (writing, conference sponsorship, and consultant opportunities) – it happens.

Bloggers and publicists – it seems we are all just trying to find a way to get along and work together. There is a lot of information out there on how to pitch bloggers, yet there’s not much material on pitching publicists or, what I refer to as “reverse pitching.”

Every day, more and more blogs are popping up and it’s making the blogging arena pretty competitive. Since I work with a lot of bloggers, I’m continually asked from a publicist standpoint on how I like being approached, or what do I look for in working with a blogger. Let me just put it out there that every company, brand and publicist looks for different things.

That being said, here are a few pointers to keep in mind when pitching a publicist. Surprisingly, these may sound familiar. Read the rest of this entry »

As communications professionals, we all have our “holy grail” of coverage. Maybe it’s the Wall St. Journal or the New York Times. It could be Vanity Fair or Pop Sugar. Maybe it’s Spin or Maxim. But does the pursuit of a clip to put in a frame come at the expense of pursuing solid coverage in smaller trade or audience-specific outlets?

The importance of trade press and niche outlets is hard to argue against. For every TechCrunch, there  is a Commercial Construction & Renovation Magazine. Keeping this in mind, I was intrigued when I saw a tweet from somebody that I respect that he was compiling a media list for an upcoming announcement.

So, I called up Allen Stern, who is the founder of Cloud Contacts, which scans, transcribes and connects your business cards on social networks, email services and CRM systems about how he approaches PR. What makes Allen’s perspective valuable is he is also the founder and editor of Center Networks, a news blog that focuses on start ups and Web apps.

Read the rest of this entry »

During the #prbc Ragan panel, I brought up the point that the line between a blogger and marketer will continue to blur, and you will start to see more bloggers taking a stab at becoming publicists/marketers.

As this trend continues – which I have a feeling it will – everyone is going to have an opinion on the subject. Can bloggers be publicists? Should companies stick with PR firms?

I’m not saying that bloggers shouldn’t be marketers or they can’t be publicists, but I do think a select few might need some insight. So, what’s the reality you may ask? Well, being a publicist/marketer isn’t as easy as it looks. Read the rest of this entry »