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What are some tips to create your own content through content you have curated?
Last week while on a business trip, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman seated next to me on the plane (who also happened to be a tech marketer) about content curation and how difficult it can be at times to keep up with the barrage of information flowing through the Web. We discussed all of the curation tools available, what we liked and didn’t like about them and successful ways to organize consistent, timely, and relevant information updates to our respective communities that kept them active and engaged. During the discussion I asked him what he thought was the key to successful curation that helps a marketer create their own meaningful, innovative content. After all, successful content curation requires the right mix of original content to help maximize SEO potential.
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enterURL: “Enter the URL”,
enterImageURL: “Enter the URL of the image”,
enterImageDescription: “Enter a description of the image”,
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toggleFullscreen: “Toggle fullscreen mode”
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In our last post on this topic we reviewed the new challenges agencies face in staffing to handle the much broader knowledge base they expect of employees. PR, marketing, and the other related arts previously had a comparatively limited set of tools that they’d actually use on a regular basis – media relations (print, broadcast, etc.), event marketing, etc. – with the occasional foray into something digital.
Now, in addition to the old tools, we’ve got all the digital arenas (platforms) to play in and on, each with their own set of rules and standards and much more specialized types of media – lifestyle bloggers (or as some like to call a large subset of this group – “mommy bloggers”), bloggers affiliated with mainstream outlets, bloggers who consider themselves journalists, bloggers who don’t want to be journalists but rather paid advocates and so on. Continue reading →
As we bask in early September sunshine it’s hard to imagine Christmas is just around the corner. But in the marketing world, it is looming. I am now starting to receive journalist requests for Christmas gift ideas and festive-themed features on a daily basis, so any brands that have not yet planned their strategies needs to act fast to get ahead of the curve. Continue reading →
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enterURL: “Enter the URL”,
enterImageURL: “Enter the URL of the image”,
enterImageDescription: “Enter a description of the image”,
fullscreen: “fullscreen”,
toggleFullscreen: “Toggle fullscreen mode”
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Well New Orleans is finally surfacing after Hurricane Isaac made an appearance in our city. As a communicator it was hard to be without power. No power may mean no AC and everything in your fridge is spoiling but to a communicator no power means no TV and no internet. I was so desperate for information and to connect with the outside world that I went as low as to “watch” the radio. Continue reading →
To practice public relations there is no board or exam. The practitioners are lumped in together- the good, the bad and the ugly. The Accreditation in Public Relations process is elective. You can choose to sit for accreditation or you cannot without any consequences. And if you pass there is no real effect on your job and you won’t get an extra zero on your next paycheck.
However, I just checked the mailbox and my official letter of passing has just arrived. There is something that feels so good about having three little letters behind my name that I can’t help but be excited.
The desire to take the APR has to come within. You have to want to go through the process to further your career and to separate yourself with the designation in the pool of resumes. Continue reading →
NASA scores a big PR win with the Mars landing of the Curiosity Rover
Welcome to Friday and another edition of “The Summer Week That Was.” Aren’t we lucky to work in a profession where news is always plentiful? Here are this week’s top five news stories:
Everyone knows that the NFL is practically bending over backwards to appeal to their female audience. Can we attribute the decision to put the first woman referee (well, technically she will be a Field Judge) on the field as part of their massive and well-targeted PR campaign to women? Or is the decision to let Shannon Eastin participate due to the NFL referee lockout caused by a collective bargaining agreement dispute? I suspect it’s a little bit of both. In my opinion, a savvy PR move by the NFL.
Hold up there social media cowboy (or cowgirl). Are you telling me that IT-decision makers, a demographic you would logically think gathers information from social media resources, considers other sources outside of social media to be more valuable for news gathering? Looks as if this survey may turn conventional wisdom on its head about the shift towards social for information and research prior to making a purchase. At least for some demographics.
Holy rapid fire tweets. There is no doubt that Twitter has stole the show as the social media platform darling of the 2012 London Olympics. 2,000 tweets per minute? Over 28 million total tweets about the games? Insane numbers. And the 2nd half of the Olympics is just getting into full swing.
I thought this was an interesting story not from the perspective of how quickly Alaska Airlines responded to the criticism, not because social media fanned a firestorm of complaints and negativity for the brand and not due to the fact that an airline ranked #1 in customer satisfaction can experience a problem of this magnitude. My interest was how people flew off the handle without knowing the whole story and how industry regulations and gut perceptions that consumers are unaware of often drive decisions. Before you complain about something, make sure you know both sides of the story.
In case you hadn’t noticed, NASA has sort of become the red headed step-child of taxpayer angst over government spending. Mired in a two year slump and with a dearth of projects on its plate coupled with public disdain over its budget, NASA needed a little PR shot in the arm. They are after all, more focused on successes than PR campaigns but at this point in their history, they needed the Rover Curiosity landing to pump up perspective, which as you know, is the bread and butter of PR.
That’s it for us on this Friday afternoon. Enjoy the weekend and do something fun with family or friends. Before you know it, the sun will be going down at 5pm and we will all be slogging through the dreary winter longing for days like this where the warm sun shines and the ice cream tastes just a little bit better.
As public relations professionals we are often asked – what exactly is public relations? Personally, I find that my definition is evolving daily as I am constantly finding connections between the core rules of public relations and everyday situations.
Now, it may be that I have less a month until I officially “tie the knot,” but I have found at least three core rules that public relations and wedding planning have in common: Continue reading →
Talking points are a staple of public relations. A bullet-point document that helps clients stay on message during interviews, every PR agency is adept at producing talking points for just about any situation.
In my experience, however, clients sometimes push back when they receive these documents.
There are various reasons for the push back. “I know what I want to say.” “I’ll make my own notes.” “I don’t like talking from bullets.” “This is just make-work designed to bump up billable hours.”
I want to challenge these objections and discuss the usefulness of talking points. They are of great value in many, many situations. Continue reading →
Whenever I see the words PR and bloggers next to each other I can usually expect there to be a reference about how PR and bloggers work together to spread a brand’s messaging. Two years ago I was trying to grow my personal blog’s following and decided to launch a project and test out a few PR tactics. What happened was my following grew from my two family members to over 10,000 readers that month, I was interviewed on NPR: All Things Considered and featured on a number of national and regional media outlets including the New York Times and Chicago Tribune. (Oh, and I landed a book agent). Continue reading →
We have all heard of Spring cleaning and in the South, where I am from, we have freezer cleaning when it is hurricane season.(This basically means you use all of the items in the freezer so in case you lose power you don’t lose a lot of frozen items). Either way they are both dedicated times that you stop each year to focus on clearing out the clutter and reorganizing yourself.
While it is hard to stop in the PR world, summer is the perfect time to stop and clean up the shop. Add it to your Outlook calendar to save time for cleaning. Tackle those things that you wish you had time to do that would make life easier but you don’t have time to stop. Continue reading →
In our 
