Discussions and debates on the viability, necessity, and effectiveness of conversational aka social media marketing continue to roar across the Social Web. There are three sides to this equation: – New media pioneers and practitioners who defend and evangelize the art of conversations because they’re investing in people and their feedback and have the experience to showcase value and ROI. – Social Media marketers who embrace social tools and promote their use in corporate/brand marketing and Public Relations, learning in…
Chad Hurley on the Rise, Acquisition, and Future of YouTube
Social Media is our genre’s Industrial Revolution. It is the era of new influencers and the ability for everyday people to share their creativity, expertise, thoughts, ideas, and passions in order to participate in and build a community around common interests. People are taking their destiny into their own hands and evolving their online, personal or professional, persona and brands online. While there are many user-generated or people-driven social networks today, none generate the mainstream traffic or exposure possible at…
The Art of Conversation – Thoughts and Observations
We all purport to be social media experts these days, yet most of us are truly students. Many of us overlook some of the most rudimentary elements that define and inspire the socialization of content, especially the social sciences involved with observing the culture, behavior, and conversations within online societies. We’re excited, and maybe even obsessed, by the tools. We frantically rush from service to service in an exhausting attempt to keep up with our peers, fearing that we may…
The Essential Guide to Social Media – A Free eBook
I’ve been involved with Social Media since the beginning and the more I work, write, and speak, the more I learn. Over the years I’ve observed a series of questions and reactions that I’ve documented along the way and have actively included them in my posts, ebooks, contributions, as well as at my speaking appearances. Over the last year, I’ve assembled the most commonly asked questions and the answers into a free, downloadable ebook as a way of contributing to…
PR Tips for Startups – The Director’s Cut
Note: This post was originally published on TechCrunch as “PR Secrets for Startups.” Many thanks to Michael Arrington and Erick Schonfeld for giving me the opportunity to share my experiences with the startup community. Due to space constraints, the original draft, which was entitled “PR Tips for Startups,” did not run in its entirety. Some of the edits actually wound up changing the context of the post and its intentions. I’ve included the full draft for you here, as I…
Ariel Waldman vs. Twitter, When TOS Doesn’t Apply to You
Credit: Ariel Waldman This is part of my ongoing series on Crisis Communications 2.0, which helps companies and marketing professionals learn from each other to more effectively communicate with customers, stakeholders, media, and peers. I purposely waited to write this post until this discussion cleared techmeme so that I could reach a fresh set of people who could see things clearly, while also calling attention to something we overlook everyday. When’s the last time you actually read the terms of…
The Escalator Pitch, Going Up?
The escalator is the new elevator when it comes to pitching and the emerging practice of micro public relations. While some bloggers and reporters are actively blacklisting PR people, whether it’s fair or not, it’s not truly fixing or changing anything at a grand scale – at least not yet. I’m part of a growing number of PR folks who are committed to sharing stories, experiences, tools, practices, and ideas on how to specifically fix the relationships between PR and…
Summize Listens to Conversations and Sentiment on Twitter
Just a bit ago, I wrote a post covering my favorite tools for monitoring conversations on Twitter. I’d like to add one more to the bunch. Recently launched Summize is similar to TweetScan, but also unique in its capabilities and in turn, changes how we may view Twitter search. At the very minimum, it’s a basic search tool that operates similar to how you would naturally search in Yahoo or Google. Both tools bring Twitter alive and expose the layers…
MicroPR Personalizes Public Relations
New media is forcing the rapid evolution of communications and is reinventing the science of public relations into the art of “personalized” relations. And, with micromedia further refining and improving how we communicate with each other, PR is going to learn the hard way, that the days of blasts and untargeted spam pitching will get us nowhere with today’s influencers. Stowe Boyd placed a stake in the ground during the Web 2.0 Expo with the introduction of #TwitPitch, a very…
The Evolution of Press Releases
Thank you to Erick Schonfeld and Michael Arrington for giving me the opportunity share my vision, and experience, on the evolution of the press release on TechCrunch. There’s certainly no shortage of opinions on where we are and where we need to be in order to improve the working relationships between PR and bloggers, journalists, and analysts and the brands we ultimately represent – including our own. There are just better ways to share information, and hopefully, this post helps…
