360PR Blog

Guess what the first and last topic was on the first day of Blogher? Right. That FTC stuff. Disclosure was the main message from the Blogher founders.  Blogher requires its network of 2,500 bloggers to aggregate product reviews to a separate review blog and note that reviews are sponsored.

But is disclosure enough?  Do we need or, let me rephrase, want “compensated reviews”?  If a product or service is truly break-through and relevant to the audience, and the outreach is well timed and appropriately targeted (if I can put in just a small plug for PR), reviews get written and for the right reasons.

There was a lot of discussion throughout Blogher Business about how bloggers “add value for marketers.”  But most blogs weren’t started as a marketing platform, and even as they’ve collectively evolved to be a viable channel for advertisers online, the audience needs to come first.  If it doesn’t, we all lose.

A group of bloggers we have a heck of a lot of respect for launched an initiative this week called Blog with Integrity, inviting bloggers to take a pledge of a code of conduct – totally voluntary and completely about raising the bar back up in the blogosphere for mom bloggers and all bloggers.

So what about us PR peeps?  Almost a decade ago, The Council of PR Firms set forth a code of ethics by which members firms (including 360PR) agree to conduct business – to help ensure PR with Integrity.  ”In communicating with the public and media, member firms will maintain total truthfulness and accuracy… the sources of communications and sponsors of activities will not be concealed,” reads an excerpt.

Social media, and PR’s prime-time role in social media, have raised the stakes.  We need to strive to be authentic, accurate and transparent in every interaction with bloggers, journalists and analysts every day.  What would our moms say?  Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

What are your thoughts?

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Internet, Marketing to Moms, PR Industry, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - 6 Comments →

Call it a stunt.  Call it desperation.  MomDot issued a challenge to its community of bloggers last week calling for a PR Blackout for one week in August.  (Just so happens that’s the week everyone’s on vacation anyway, haha.)  The ironic thing is the announcement was the most successful PR move ever for MomDot, accidental or not.  The Wall Street Journal was the latest to cover the news, in today’s edition.

On the one hand, I don’t blame MomDot.  Bloggers, and mom bloggers in particular, are over-saturated with PR pitches.  We get calls daily (truly daily) from brands wanting to dive in.

I often think of our mom blogger friends on the inevitable receiving end.  Step into their world for a minute.  Unlike journalists, most mom bloggers don’t work full-time. They’re balancing blogging with their other passion – family.  And some of the pitches, no scratch that, MOST of the pitches they get are just awful.  Read Bostonmamas Christine Koh’s recent “Bad Blogger Outreach” series.  Delete, delete, delete.

The good news is blogs are now widely recognized by brands as a legitimate channel in the mom media mix.  And there are brands and PR firms (wink, wink) that get it.

It’s important to look at blogs individually and not as one big mom blog bucket.  So much of good blogger relations is about content mapping. What’s the blogger’s focus?  What value does the brand bring to the discussion?  How can you be a true resource to a blogger and not a source of exasperation?

For more, look for 360 at Blogher Business this week, and if you’re not headed to Chicago, keep an eye here and on our tweets (@Laura360, @C_Pierce, @BWelch).

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Internet, Marketing to Moms, Pitch tips by LauraTomasetti - 12 Comments →

If you thought your High School graduation signified the end of the rat race for popularity, you were mistaken. This week, the focus was on maintaining a “cream of the crop” social media status, whether you’re a blogger, avid Facebook user, or intern relegated to delivering the daily dose of java for the office. Check out some of the following articles for some pointers on excelling in the digital space.

Copyblogger “The Real Secret to Becoming a Popular Blogger” – These days, who doesn’t have a blog? Many infants do. So do some canines. But how many people are actually reading your blog on a regular basis is what really matters. How do you become part of the blogosphere’s inner circle? According to Johnny Truant at Copyblogger, your need to be interesting, smart and relatable. Sound similar to the dating scene to anyone else? C’est la vie.

Mashable “Dunkin Run Automates your Coffee Breaks on the Web and iPhone” – “America Runs on Dunkin.” At least the Northeast does, that is. But when everyone in the office is working on deadline, in a meeting, or on a call, it’s tough to facilitate that mid-afternoon caffeine pick-me-up. With an ingenious new application from Dunkin’ Donuts however, you can collect a list of orders before you head out the door. Coffee’s never tasted so sweet.

AllFacebook “How To Get Your Facebook User Name Back From a Squatter” – After reading our post about Facebook Vanity URLs, and CNET’s article on the same topic, you might’ve scrambled to secure your personalized URL. But if you waited to make your claim, you might be out of luck. Check out this article from AllFacebook before you fret. Note however, that if you can’t prove your URL is your livelihood, it might be time to consider a legal name change.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Blogger Relations, Internet, Social Media by SkyeMcIntyre - No Comments →

The third annual BlogHer Business conference is taking place on July 23 in Chicago. This year, 360PR is proud to sponsor the event, which brings together brand marketers, pr and communications pros, social media consultants and, of course, bloggers. The day-long conference serves as a course in the most effective ways to reach women online – a rapidly growing and extremely influential demographic.

360 has attended in the past and found the sessions to be very valuable and the overall event to be fantastic for networking. The event brings bloggers from across the country together to meet in-person and engage with brands and each other – can’t get much better than that!

We’d love to see you there! To register, visit the BlogHer Business website here.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Blogger Relations, Events and Conferences by SkyeMcIntyre - 1 Comment →

Bloggers and marketers have new common ground: the proposed FTC regulations that, if enacted, will hold bloggers liable for product reviews.  That could have some bloggers skittish about accepting your next product sample for review.

Blogger X says the product cleans your house, picks up your kids and puts dinner on the table.  If the product doesn’t work the same way when you try it at home, you now have someone beside the product maker to blame – that nice mom blogger up the street, who, by the way, was just expressing an opinion, not writing a product manual.  Check out NJ Mom Blogger Liz Thompson’s comments on the subject.

There’s something, no wait, there’s a lot that bothers me about the idea of mom bloggers like Liz having to hire legal counsel.  But things may not be as bad as they sound.  The proposed regulations are primarily aimed at curtailing pay-for-play posts – separating editorial and advertisement, as traditional media have historically done (though things do seem to be murkier every day with “advertorial” copy and product placement, not to mention celebrity endorsements).

The new regs would also hold brands liable, requiring brands to ensure information provided to bloggers is 100% accurate – and PR people don’t embellish the pitch beyond what the product truly delivers (not a bad thing, truth in advertising, truth in PR).  The bigger challenge for brands would be traversing the blogosphere to make sure information delivered is accurately translated, as reviews are posted.  No small task.  Perhaps an opportunity for social media monitoring services, such as Radian6 (which we use) and more advanced tools, such as Trucast.

One positive that could come from all of this is the demise of pay-for-play agencies that promise to deliver XX number of positive reviews in XX days.  They can guarantee the reviews because they’re buying them.  I’ve been surprised at the level of brands who have subscribed to these models.  Why not be transparent and just place real ads on blogs and at the same time earn the editorial and endorsements?

Some networks, like BlogHer, have put in place their own standards – requiring bloggers participating in their network to place advertising and editorial on different pages – and sometimes different blogs altogether (many bloggers have separate blogs for product reviews, though their readership is not always as strong as their main blog).  That policy is meeting with mixed reviews, as some bloggers say they don’t want third-party groups controlling their blog.

I’m headed to NewComm Forum to join Susan Getgood on a blogger relations panel Monday, where the FTC regs promise to be a hot topic.  Stay tuned for more here and keep an eye on Twitter #sncr for the discussion.

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Marketing to Moms by LauraTomasetti - 3 Comments →

Our 360PR Stop & Shop team hit the road last week and headed to the Frog and Peach Restaurant in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The reason?  To meet some of the great New Jersey mom bloggers and chat with them about what Stop & Shop can do to help their families eat nutritiously, while still sticking to a budget.

Our good friend Liz Thompson from This Full House co-hosted the event and spread the word about it with her fellow Jersey (or Joisey as she calls it!) mom bloggers.  We had a really nice lunch with some great new friends, including Deb from Jersey Bites, Vanessa AKA Chef Druck, Hilary of Mrs. Mo’s NJ, Baby!, Monica from Paper Bridges, Bay from Queen Mother Blog, Cecile of The Shopping Duck and Kate from Growing Up in the Garden State who even celebrated her birthday with us!

Bringing together communities of bloggers for in-person events is always fun. Many of the bloggers at the lunch knew each other in the online world, but just “met” for the first time. And it sounds like great things will come out of that. The bloggers we met are especially committed to helping their communities through their blogs. Started by Deb at Jersey Bites, bloggers across the Garden State participated in Blogging Out Hunger, a holiday-timed campaign that raised $7,000 for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and showed the power of blogs. Stop & Shop was able to get involved by pledging a $1 donation for every comment Liz at This Full House received in response to her campaign post.

Now that we’ve been formally introduced (and broken really good bread!) with these New Jersey bloggers, we definitely look forward to more events and collaborations like Blogging Out Hunger in the future.

Stop & Shop’s New Jersey Blogger Lunch introduces new friends: Cecile from The Shopping Duck, Deb from Jersey Bites, Kate from Growing Up in the Garden State and Liz from This Full House

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Cause-Related, Events and Conferences by Admin - 3 Comments →

Yes, you read that correctly – the recession (the dreaded ‘R’ word that seems to come up more times in any given day than we can stand) can suck it. So say the folks at Mekanism who led a crowd-pleasing, laughter-induced presentation to a ballroom full of marketing and PR professionals at the fourth annual MI6 conference last week.

Some of the fun game industry facts that were presented on just how the recession can suck it included the following highlights from 2008:

• Dance Dance Revolution was incorporated into 765 physical education classes around the U.S.
• World of Warcraft (and, believe me, I hate including this as we represent arguably, the #2 most successful MMO, The Lord of the Rings Online ) announced 8.5 Billion (yes Billion with a capital B) guests since launch in 2004
• 26% of Americans over 50 years old played games in 2008, up from 9% in 1999 (and I, for one, can back this up with my parents actually asking to play Wii games at my house over Easter weekend)
• 100 Million Sims games sold, making it the most successful PC franchise of all time
• And, finally, playing games, according to 32% British males, is better than sex (and that number jumps to 72% when sex is compared with a new game release). Yes, you read that correctly.

Couple these stats with the cold hard cash earnings from leading games retailer, GameStop, which recently touted an increase of 22.4% in Q4 sales, along with the fact that the industry reported record growth 11 out of 12 months last year (as reported by the US President of Future publishing in his opening address), and maybe we’re onto something here.

[Read more →]

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Events and Conferences, Media and Press, Social Media, Video Games by Admin - 2 Comments →

I’m heading to the West Coast next month to the Society of New Communications Research‘s annual NewComm Forum.  Besides being excited about tagging on a weekend in wine country, I can’t wait to sit in on the conference sessions. 

I’m joining Susan Getgood on her panel covering Blogger Relations, along with other SNCR award honorees from the blogger relations category.  NewComm Forum 2009 will feature sessions on the culture of Facebook, a social media measurement “master class” with Katie Paine, a “Twitterville” session with Laura Fitton (a.k.a. Twitter/Pistachio), a social media crisis communications session, and roundtables on social media management best practices and other hot topics.

Check out the full agenda.  SNCR is on the cutting-edge of all things social media - I learned a ton going to their fall conference in Boston.  If you’re budgeting time out of the office and travel this year, NewComm Forum is one of the best tickets to keep on your short list.

You can also participate in SNCR’s annual Tribalization of Business Study on the use of communities and social media in business.  All who participate get an early, free copy of the results.

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Internet, Measurement, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - 3 Comments →

As a follow-up a blogger relations session we had a few weeks back with Susan Getgood, which Elicia posted about, we were lucky to have a top locally based mom blogger come to our office and talk to 360ers about what works – and what doesn’t – when working with bloggers.  Christine Koh is the brain behind BostonMamas.com.  And when I say brain, I mean brain.  Among her many other accomplishments, Christine Koh has a Ph.D. in music and brain science!  Christine had some great tips when it comes to planning events for bloggers.  At 360, we typically call them “blunches!”  Her tips include:

• First and foremost, don’t request (or require for that matter) that if a blogger come to an event that they post about it.  Not only is it an immediate turnoff, but PR people and marketers should think of events as a way to build relationships with bloggers.  And hey, if it is a good, meaningful event, then chances are bloggers will have something to post about anyway, which leads me to Christine’s second point…

• The best events are multifaceted and can appeal to a wide range of bloggers and subject matters.  For example, Christine went to a blogger event that was put together by a family vacation destination where there were speakers and sessions on multiple subject matters.  For instance, the chef of the resort offered recipes for the whole family while someone else spoke about economical travel tips so virtually everyone that attended the event had something they wanted to write about coming out of the event. 

Speaking of blogger relations and events – I hope that everyone caught Susan Getgood’s post on Monday about another blogger relations campaign gone bad that spreading like wildfire on Twitter.  Just search #fishfulthinking and you will see what I mean!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Blogger Relations, Boston, Pitch tips by Admin - 1 Comment →

Blogger Relations has become as important (and sometimes even more important, depending on the brand and audience and how much time they spend online) as traditional media relations. From time to time we host “best practices” speakers at 360. On Friday, Susan Getgood, a Society of New Communications Research Fellow and the voice of Marketing Roadmaps, led a discussion amongst 360 staff about getting beyond the “101″ of  working with bloggers.

It was an awesome discussion that ran over-time by about an hour!  We covered a lot of ground and I’ve summarized a handful of key takeaways below for your reading pleasure:

• “New to You” is Enough - A product/service doesn’t have to be brand “new” to be relevant to a blogger. Susan recently posted a blog entry with more detail about the concept of “New to You.”
• Add Value – When reaching out to bloggers, it is so important to add value. It is about much more than a quirky pitch. “That means putting your product or service into the blogger’s context, not talking at him from yours with a press release, list of features or carefully crafted message point.”
• Bad Pitches – Susan shared a number of examples of bad pitches that she and fellow bloggers have received. We have a no-blast policy at 360, but often bloggers do get blanket pitches from PR folks that, for example, are addressed generically, e.g., (“Hi!”), or include mixed fonts (a sure sign that the pitch was blasted out), or are geographically irrelevant. Susan has a bunch of examples of bad pitches on her blog – check them out!
• Being Reactive and Proactive – It is just as important to be reactive in the blogging community as it is to be proactive. Listening before you engage in the blogosphere is important, and only after you’ve listened should you choose to either pro-actively reach out to a blogger or react to something they’ve already said.
• Planning for Measurement – Incorporate measurement into your plan at the start of a campaign! Whether it be measuring visits to a websites or microsite, downloads of a file, blog views, etc., those metrics must be determined at the get-go.

Thanks to Susan for a wonderful discussion and a great way to kick off 360′s professional development series for 2009!

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Pitch tips, Social Media by EliciaBasoli - 2 Comments →

The Council of PR Firms is hosting a series of workshops to help non-profits leverage digital media.  Perhaps more than any sector, non-profits have been hit hardest by the economy.  Donations to candidates’ campaigns in this year’s Presidential election also have taken away precious dollars from non-profit organizations.

At the same time, non-profits operating in the social services sector, such as The Women’s Lunch Place here in Boston, have had to balance inceased needs and the higher cost of providing services (for example, food and health care costs have skyrocketed) with tighter support.

Digital and social media could be a big boon to non-profits looking to extend their donor base, especially those trying to tap into younger philanthropists and volunteers whose first interaction with a non-profit may be online.  In addition, social media provides a more interactive environment to engage existing supporters, and can also save thousands of dollars in printed materials.

The Council’s digital workshops for non-profits will be held beginning this month and into early next year in Los Angeles (Dec. 11), Boston (Jan. 14), San Francisco (Jan. 27), Raleigh (Feb. 19), Dallas (date TBD) and Washington, DC (date TBD).

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Boston, Cause-Related, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Internet by LauraTomasetti - 2 Comments →

Over the past couple weeks I’ve taken note of a few blog posts and articles related to Digital PR and relevant to 360′s work and our clients’ businesses.  In the spirit of sharing, I’ve listed these below with a few thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mashable – “The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan” / List of Social Media Examples

A couple months ago I stumbled across Peter Kim’s list of Social Media Marketing examples. It is a really great resource, but can be a little overwhelming to browse (he listed over 300 examples!). More recently, Peter Kim wrote a guest post for Mashable.com in which he narrows it down and lists 22 different social media tools, like Blogs and Virtual Worlds, and examples of companies that have used these tools. If you’re interested in social media, I suggest you check it out. He links over to examples from companies like Delta, Kodak, Pampers, method, Rubbermaid, and more.

[Read more →]

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Pitch tips, Social Media, Video Games by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

I was out at the Marketing to Moms Conference in Chicago last week hosting a panel entitled, “Brands, Blogs & Beyond.”  Joining me were some of the smartest people I’ve met from both the giving and receiving end of blogger relations: Carmelle Druchniak of Stonyfield Farm, Jeannine Harvey of PBS, and Liz Gumbinner, co-founder (with Kristen Chase) of Cool Mom Picks.

There’s a lot of interest in working with bloggers and that’s great.  But before jumping in, it’s important to take stock of which brands are doing it right and some do’s and don’ts learned in the blogosphere trenches.  First rule:  no blasting.  There are (apparently) lists of bloggers floating around for purchase, and anyone can easily pull a list of top bloggers in their space on a site like Alltop.  As Liz spoke about, blasting out a template “Hello Mommy Blogger X” pitch can seem like an easy way to catch up.  But it can also land you on bloggers’ PR black lists, which are growing by the day. [Read more →]

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences by LauraTomasetti - 3 Comments →

It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg question:  Which comes first, content or community?  No contest, according to Teresa Hanafin, director of community publishing for Boston.com.  “Content is queen,” Hanafin told a room full of bloggers and PR people at BlogHer Boston over the weekend.

Turnout was huge for the first-ever BlogHer event held in Boston - more than 200 bloggers from Boston, New England and well beyond attended the event.  The New England region is fast-becoming a hotbed of activity for bloggers.  Established bloggers like Erin Kane and Kristin Brandt of Manic Mommies, Christine Koh of BostonMamas, Merideth O’Brien of WickedLocal and Lydia Walshin of The Perfect Pantry were there talking about building their following (all already have a strong following). [Read more →]

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences by LauraTomasetti - 2 Comments →

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:

[Read more →]

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →