360 hosted a professional development session of digital media leaders last week for our Converge agency network. The two-day summit kicked off with three phenomenal speakers on what’s hot (and what’s not) online. Here are a few key nuggets from each speaker:
I had the pleasure of joining a team of mompreneurs, editors and bloggers at last week’s Detours & OnRamps Conference, created by Meghan McCartan to help moms in career transition. It was the second such forum, following a successful launch event in New Jersey last fall. According to the US Bureau of Labor, more than 70 percent of women with children under 18 work outside of the home. That’s approximately 24 million moms trying to balance family needs with the responsibility of working part- or full-time.
HybridMom Publisher Meryl Otis Kessler moderated the “entrepreneur” panel I participated in, and I got to meet Christine Koh, founder of Boston Mamas and Posh Peacock, a gorgeous new line of stationery and invitations. Christine has more degrees than anyone I’ve met in Boston and in this university town, that’s saying something. She’s an accomplished musician and, of course, a proud mother. Amid all this, she finds time to post twice daily about resources and events for families living in and around Boston. She talked about the importance of finding a niche when starting a business - in her case focusing on Boston happenings rather than trying to be all things to all families everywhere. She said the strategy has helped her attract advertisers.
Laura, Carrie and I hopped on the Acela last week and headed for NYC. We joined a mix of PR pros, brand managers, bloggers, and social media execs at the 2008 BlogHer Business Conference.
Over the course of two days, we took part in a number of panels and sessions all about blogs (and other social media) and the opportunities for brands today. For those who couldn’t attend, here are some take-aways:
The personal nature of blogs was a recurring theme at BlogHer Business in New York this week. The conference opened with results of the 2008 Compass/BlogHer Social Media Study, presented by Susan Wright, Managing Director, Compass Partners.
According to research presented, more than 36 million women (Millennials, GenY, GenX, Boomers and Matures) in the US are involved in the blogosphere weekly - either as readers, reading blogs at least 2x weekly, or as publishers, publishing their own blog or posting. They’re looking for “advice, reviews and recommendations,” Wright said.
But if you can’t guarantee a positive review, why should companies venture in? “Getting bloggers to talk about your product or brand has a huge value and a balanced review is a win,” BlogHer’s Jory Des Jardins said.
So how do you join the conversation? First you have to find it, said Des Jardins. “Look at who’s out there doing what. Find the conversations already happening. The conversations are happening with or without you - you have the opportunity to participate.”
Last weekend, I spoke to a great group of students about blogs and blogger relations at the PRSSA 2.0 conference. It was held at the Boston University Photonics Center - a beautiful building - and was organized by members of various local college chapters of PRSSA including a couple of our own super-star interns here at 360! I was in great company - some of the other speakers were Rick Murray, David Meerman Scott, Dusty Rhodes, Greg Peverill-Conti, and Jason Glashow, among others.
Welcome to the 360 Days Blog! It took a trip to BlogHer Business to light a fire under our collective 360PR tails and finally get our blog up! Not that we haven’t been thinking about blogging for a while now. I personally struggled with the decision though. #1: It didn’t seem to fit our “team” style to have a traditional blog, with one (my) voice. But we solved that, with a team of contributors. #2: Does the world really need another PR blog? There are already some good ones (such as the PR Week editors’ blog).
In the end, given that our many clients and other friends of 360 are spread across the country and we’re all spending so much time online, it made a lot of sense to have a place where we can connect with you, beyond the emails, IM and conference calls. We’ll be sharing PR best (and yes, worst) practices, as well as industry and other events we hope you’ll find of interest. Speaking of which…
This week, Carrie, Elicia and I are in New York at BlogHer Business, where no doubt Johnson & Johnson’s Camp Baby, or as it’s being dubbed in blogging circles “Baby Gate,” will be a hot topic (there’s a good synopsis here about bloggers who were invited, uninvited). 360 is sponsoring the Social Media Outreach session with speakers from Method, General Motors, Graco, Microsoft and HP. It should be great – we’ll blog about key learnings on 360 Days later this week!
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