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 »

Hi Folks -

Welcome back to PRBC.  We hope you had a fantastic holiday and are ready to hit the ground running.

The kind folks over at PRNewswire / ProfNet have asked me to participate in their regular #ConnectChat Twitter chat today (Jan. 3) at 3p-4:30p Eastern time.  Full details can be found here.  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 »

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 »

In the world of paid vs. earned vs. owned media, things are about to get very interesting. Coming this week, as part of a massive overhaul of its print and Web properties, Forbes will unveil what it’s calling “AdVoice”—essentially, a paid blogging platform for companies, non-profits and other organizations that will reside alongside its editorial content on Forbes.com, and presumably, within its organic search results, as detailed by AdAge this week.

While reading about this new blend of paid/earned media, I was fascinated by the potential branding and content-development opportunities, particularly the content’s prime placement within Forbes’ vaunted editorial landscape, something that has traditionally been off-limits. Also of interest is how these paid company blogs will play into Forbes’ SEO and search results, which at nearly 20 million unique monthly visitors (according to Forbes’ internal analytics), is both large and influential. Read the rest of this entry »

It started, as these things tend do these days, with an innocuous tweet; the tweet in particular was about Twitter lists. After a torrent of @ replies and emails, it was determined I needed to flesh out a post for a newly formed blog focusing on public relations as, it turns outs, there are some things that cannot be described in only 140 characters. And thus, my entry into the world of competitive blogging organized chaos.

That was a year ago. A complete revolution around the sun has come and gone since I first submitted a guest post to PRBC, a post in which I subtly make fun of both the blog and a little less subtly, the narcissistic nature of social media. As regular readers of this space, or even naturalized citizens of the world wide web, you know that not much has changed. Sure, there are more people coming here to read their daily fix of public relations banter, and sure, there are more people using social media, but what’s changed? Read the rest of this entry »

Due to work commitments, general life obligations and competing for the title of Miss CT, I disappeared from the PRBC blog for an extended period of time. Trust me that this was neither intentional nor planned. I’ve always been committed and punctual with my blog posts for this site . . . but things just got away from me.

After “getting back in the groove” and helping a business-owner friend of mine set up his own blog, the thought popped into my head: “how many people actually give serious thought to this blogging thing and how many just hop right in because it’s the coolest thing since Air Jordan’s?” Seriously, I’m commitment-phobe and I said “yes, I’d like to join these ten PR colleagues in starting and maintaining a blog!?” Who am I? Read the rest of this entry »

There are many nights when I would love nothing more than to twitch my nose, wave my wand and witness the magical appearance of the Fairy Blogmother. You know, that whimsical creature that brings great post ideas, fluid prose and a wealth of creativity. Yet, I’ve yet to track down this mythical legend. Despite my best attempts to coax her out (i.e. cupcakes), she is a consistent no show. And so, I thought it best to have a little heart-to-heart with the Fairy Blogmother.

Dear Fairy Blogmother, Read the rest of this entry »

Do you ever have one of those vivid dreams—you know, the ones where you show up pasty white and naked in front of your entire 8th grade English class, only to be transported to some tropical jungle wrestling boars because you’ve watched one too many episode of LOST—only to wake up and not remember a single detail?

That’s sort of how I feel about blogging.  Most bloggers will tell you their biggest challenges are discipline and content.  While I’ll fully admit to lacking discipline some days, content is no problem.  I come up with a new blog idea every few hours.  The problem?  Capturing all of those great ideas before my mind wanders on to the next thought. Read the rest of this entry »

[We received this question on a recent blog post about short job stints]

Dear Flack,

How does one stay active in the PR/marketing world and keep up their skills when they’re unemployed?

This may be a bit off topic, but I was late to the other unemployment posting, so I thought I’d ask here since it’s somewhat relevant.

I’m currently unemployed, and I really want to keep my PR and writing skills active while I continue to search for work. I would appreciate any tips that others have tried during periods of unemployment to keep their skills current and continue doing what they love (and it would also be great to be able to share what I did to keep on top of things while unemployed with potential employers). Read the rest of this entry »