Photo courtesy of hoangnam_nguyen via Flickr

It’s time for my weekly round-up of the best blog posts I have seen around the web this past week! Here’s the top five in no particular order…

Optimize Your Social Media Schedule: 4 Tips for Avoiding the Social Media Time Suck via Online Marketing Blog

Making the time to execute on a social media strategy can rattle even the most experienced marketers.  Unlike traditional marketing, social media marketing can present many different challenges and distractions.  According to a study by eMarketer 73% of marketers say finding the time to create content as their biggest marketing challenge.

I recently ran a poll of @TopRankTwitter followers to get a sense of how they spend their time online.  I asked “If you had only 20 minutes a day to spend on social media what would you focus on?”

Read it all..

This is a guest post from Teresa Dankowski, Community Manager of Seek Or Shout and Opportunities Supervisor at Cision. 

The old saying goes: A carpenter is only as good as his or her tools, and users are only as effective as the effort put into maintaining a community presence. We launched an incredible site in public beta last week, and as the Community Manager of Seek or Shout, I would be remiss if didn’t help users maximize the experience. Here are five tips for perfecting and publicizing profiles and posts that give back.

Read it all..

Late last year, PRSA announced a new initiative to redefine public relations with a more modern definition through their Public Relations Defined campaign. The definition hasn’t been revised since the 1980s, and with the rapidly changing media landscape, it may just be time to think about how our profession has changed. Using crowdsourcing techniques, PRSA has announced three candidate definitions and is asking for feedback in the comments section of this hyperlinked post – final responses due today.

Beyond responding in the comments, I’ve reached out to some of the PR experts that I respect the most and asked them, “How would YOU define public relations?” The answers are compelling – and as varied and unique as the professionals that work in PR:

“I don’t think public relations needs a definition. It’s relating to the public, for chrissakes. If PRSA wants to do something outstanding, they should demystify and simplify. A PR pro is responsible for helping an organization successfully communicate with all its audiences. No definition they draft and distribute and stamp their approval on will ever change or inspire or affect what public relations professionals actually do.”

- Jason Falls, Founder & Editor, Social Media Explorer & Exploring Social Media, Author, No Bullshit Social Media

“I think the definitions are all wrong. They seem to be trying to bolster a reason for its existence and glamorize it–or as Newt might say “make it a grandiose statement”. (Ooof!)

What is PR:  It’s the ultimate communications tool between the practitioner and the end user (usually a person who buys or tries something). The power of being able to shape opinions, the ability to ensure messages are complete and uncomplicated, the ideal of crafting content that actually helps someone understand a concept…this is PR. And it’s not getting the press swayed either; since the press can be swayed by anyone who gives them a good quote!

Finally, what is PR?

1. An ability to get people nationwide clarmoring for your wares, turning a local father ‘n’ son shop into a national, never neglected, constantly referenced, known everywhere, megabrand.
2. Making someone famous, infamous or notorious for whatever she does, no matter what it is.
3. Sending our clients’ stock price through the roof (we do not supply the Cohibas).
4. Getting social concerns in front of our neighbors and House representatives alike.
5. Making a “gold” album shoot up the charts or get something to “break” Hollywood style.
6. Setting the record straight.
7. Incapacitating the competition and cannibalizing the bastards.”

- Richard Laermer, CEO of RLM PR, Author, 2011: Trendspotting, Punk Marketing and others, Blogger & Founder, Bad Pitch Blog Read it all..

Photo courtesy of sofiabracho02 via Flickr

It’s time for my weekly round-up of the best blog posts I have seen around the web this past week! Here’s the top five in no particular order…

4 Things Lady Gaga Can Teach Us About Social Media PR & Online Influence via Online Marketing Blog

“Lady Gaga is the definition of an influencer offline and online; her music, fashion sense, and passion for social causes have spread around the world in only a few short years.  Love her, like her or hate her, you know who she is and you’ve probably heard more than one of her songs.

When searching for a way to improve your online PR strategy or increase your social reach, who better to learn from than one of the most influential celebrities in the world and on the web?”

Read it all..

I’m very excited to announce the public beta launch today of a new community site presented by Cision: Seek or Shout.

We’ve built this site to help journalists, bloggers and professional communicators research and promote their content while connecting with each other in a productive, relevant way. Here’s what you can do inside of Seek or Shout:

• Seek products for review, experts to interview, and research materials for an upcoming news article or blog post. Choose to make your requests anonymously, or syndicate them to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for maximum response.
• Shout about your latest content, campaign or product. Users who follow you or the tags you place on your Shout will see them in their News Feed.
• Communicate privately with other users about exclusive inquiries and offers
• Define your Interests and find relevant messages from other users in your News Feed
• Maintain a profile outlining your roles and background. Point people there to take back control of your inbox and let other users, along with Cision customers, know what you need from them.
• Search editorial calendars,  CisionWire and PitchEngine to spark content ideas

Go check it out, or stick around and I will briefly tell you how we got here.

Read it all..

This is a guest post from Lisa M. Larranaga, Research Development Coordinator at Cision. 

Today brings the launch of our newest feature at CisionBlog: PR Wins, Moves & Other News. Here we will share – you got it! – staff shuffles, accolades and other details on the happenings at the offices of your PR friends and competitors.

For the time being, you can expect it to appear every other Wednesday, but that could increase if we receive large numbers of submissions.

Read it all..

Photo courtesy of Brett Jordan via Flickr

We all spend a lot of time online…it seems like we fill every waking moment on one social-media site or another. This is definitely true for me personally; I mean I am a social media manager. But even when I’m off the clock and at home relaxing, I’m still on at least one social site. Whether I’m waiting for the bus, train, or just sitting through commercials (well I can’t DVR everything!) I’m checking Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Etiquette is crucial, online or offline. Like any other form of communication, social media has its own nuances about how you should behave, but here are some things I have learned over the years…and taking a look back through my Facebook Timeline, I’d like to officially apologize for some of my posts. I’ll never put you through that again!

Read it all..

Photo courtesy of terren in Virginia via Flickr, CC 2.0

It’s time for my weekly round-up of the best blog posts I have seen around the web this past week! Here’s the top five in no particular order…

The Top Five Reasons PR is So Darn Stressful via PRNewser

“After CareerCast listed PR as number seven on its list of most stressful jobs, we wanted to know why you think PR is so tough. Well, you had a ton to say on this topic but we boiled it down to the top five reasons.

Read it all..

This is a guest post from Erin Cloherty, Marketing Specialist at Cision. 

I don’t believe there will ever be a replacement for the excitement of meeting and networking with new people. Many of the most valuable, insightful, and hilarious conversations I have had with other industry professionals occurred- in real life- at one of the many events that Cision participates in throughout the year.

I invest a considerable amount of time researching new and relevant events for Cision to get involved in each year- check out these Industry events I’ve got lined up for the beginning of 2012 (plus I’ve added a few others that I thought you’d  be interested in.)
Read it all..

Photo courtesy LG via Flickr

There are many ways to track the media industry’s evolution in the digital age. Look at the thousands of journalists using social sites to find stories, for example, or count the myriad devices and delivery methods we now use to consume news content. But the shift really becomes clear when you have a look at the business card titles that some media professionals now use.

Chief Content Officer. Engagement Manager. Multiplatform Editor. Social Media Producer.

Suffice it to say, journalism schools were not preparing people for these roles 10 years ago. Techniques and strategies for these positions are growing and changing quickly but some best practices have begun to emerge.

Our media database lists contacts with all of these titles and hundreds of similar ones. I searched the database for titles containing the following words: community manager, ambassador, evangelist, social, content, engagement, curator, strategist and platform. I found that globally, the media profession has seen 165% growth in positions described with these terms since December 2009. Read it all..