I was alerted earlier by good friend Todd Defren, that I have been included in the Alltop index of top sites on the Web. Wow, thank you! I don’t know what to say. It’s a pretty incredible group of voices and I’m more than flattered to be included. So, allow me to officially introduce Guy Kawasaki‘s latest startup, Alltop. Guy at last year’s Gnomedex Like POPURLs, Alltop aggregates stories from “all the top” sites on the Web. They’ve grouped…
Transforming Customers into Evangelists: The Art of Listening and Engagement
I recently hosted a workshop at the Satisfaction event, Customer Service is the New Marketing. The topic I’m focused on was, “How to Listen to the Market and How to Engage Customers Online.” Fellow workshop leaders include Christopher Carfi, Deb Schultz, Chris Heuer, Jeremiah Owyang, Becky Carroll, and Douglas Hanna. Empowering your customers to become an extension of your marketing and sales forces isn’t new, but it isn’t widely embraced either. In fact, the function of most customer service has…
THE SEMMYS Recognize The Social Media Manifesto
I guess I must have been running a bit too fast lately, because I missed the fact that “The Social Media Manifesto, The Future of Corporate Communications,” made the finals for THE SEMMYS. Had I known, I would have asked for your help during the voting process 😉 THE SEMMYS tracks and ranks the year’s best posts in search engine marketing. Quite honestly, I was happy to be included in the finals. The manifesto finished as a runner up to…
PR People: Do As I Say, and, As I Do
…bloggers, reporters, that goes for you too. Tom Foremski and me at a recent PRSA event, holding “Now is Gone” You’ve heard it a million times. Read the work of the person you’re trying to reach before you pitch them. Sometimes we do. Most of the time we don’t. And, we’ve all witnessed what happens when you don’t – thank you very much Mr. Chris Anderson. Tom Foremski is not only a brilliant journalist, videographer, and blogger, he is also…
The Evolution of Social Media Releases
The conversation about Social Media Releases (SMRs) as well as the tools to create them continue – albeit slowly. Each time someone introduces something new, we place a new stake in the ground and reignite an important conversation. Maggie Fox released a new Social Media service called Digital Snippits(tm). Congratulations Maggie, it’s a very polished and useful solution that will help your clients expand their options when running proactive communications campaigns. And, I’m being genuine when I say that Maggie…
The Value of Online Conversations
No, blogs are not dying. No, blogs are not going away. Blogs will continue to serve as one of the driving forces for the democratization of how content is created, shared, and also internalized. All forms of user-generated content will continue to excel…maybe to a fault. In conjunction with how blogs are continuing to influence the evolution of online conversations, micromedia is also inspiring new forms content creation and in turn, contributing to the spike of mostly irrelevant conversations. Steve…
BrandWeek Runs My First Article: You Are the Online Brand in 2008
My first article for BrandWeek is now online, originally entitled, “In 2008 the Online Brand to Focus on is You.” Here’s an excerpt: Yes, it’s a new year. And no, this isn’t another “Top trends for 2008” piece. For the last 12 years, you’ve been reading how to leverage online tools to amplify visibility for company brands. In 2007, it was all about how to leverage Social Media to “engage” brands, and the people behind them, in the “conversation.” Well,…
PR for Startups Now Available as a Free ebook
I recently spoke at an SVASE StartUp University event in San Francisco to discuss PR and how startups can effectively leverage the right strategies, tools and tactics in order to gain visibility at every stage of their growth – without breaking the bank. Early stage and bootstrapped startups must embrace DIY (Do it Yourself) or outsourced PR as their product reaches advanced alpha in order to build strategic visibility without losing precious time. It all starts with answering a several…
New ebook: The Art and Science of Blogger Relations
Happy New Year everyone! The discussion around blogger relations is more relevant now than ever. And quite honestly, with every debate, exploration, and analysis, these conversations only fuel the advancement and improvement of Public Relations overall. It makes us think. Lest we forget, there is a significant percentage of bloggers, reporters, and analysts who think we’re useless – we’re merely spin artists who focus on pitching, blasting, and cranking out poorly written press releases. We contact people without caring or…
PR Advice for Startups
In celebration of Alex Iskold’s brilliant toolbox for startups on Read/Write Web today, I’ve decided to join the conversation to help startups make PR work for them now and in the long term. PR is one of the most misunderstood disciplines in the marketing department and many startup entrepreneurs and even veteran executives are quick to under estimate and under value it, or on the contrary, expect PR to solve all of their marketing needs all with just one email…
