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I wonder if there is a Foursquare Anonymous. I’m seriously addicted.  Don’t laugh. Once you try it, you will be too. It’s what I thought Twitter was supposed to be - letting people know where you are and what you’re doing, but there’s so much more value-add than that with Foursquare. It’s not just the “I’m here” but also the “and now what” that makes it soooo powerful and cool. This weekend I was in Stowe, Vermont with my son and his friend. Needed a place to go to dinner, so I checked into Foursquare and found that the Whip Grill was just two blocks away. I was also able to get a great tip on what to order - guacamole made fresh at our table! What’s also neat is how businesses are making the most of Foursquare. When I showed the server at the Whip Grill that I found his restaurant using Foursquare, he handed me a free drink. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m also addicted to the competitive aspect of Foursquare. I’m still a Newbie, but well on my way to unlocking the Adventurer badge. Not to brag, but I”m number one on the leaderboard today.

Foursquare is so practical and easy to use too. Even if you don’t have an iphone or blackberry, you can still use the service by sending SMS messages to 50500. Another neat feature is that you can gain points without letting your friends know where you are (in case it’s a scandalous venue). They know you’ve checked in but you’re “off the grid.” And “shout outs” are fun - you do stuff at a venue and then shout out that you’ve done them.

Love to blog more, but I’ve got things to do and new places to see… thanks to Foursquare.

Are you addicted too?

Filed under: Digital PR, Internet, Social Media, Uncategorized by CindyGordon - 8 Comments →

There’s a lot of confusion about the new rules governing how brands can run contests and sweepstakes on Facebook.  We dug into the rules with help from  360PR friend Susan Getgood, and we’re happy to share our learnings in this post.

Get Your Contest Approved.

The most important thing to know is that all promotions administered on Facebook must be approved in writing by Facebook at least seven days before the start of the contest (advice: try to give two weeks notice to Facebook.)

If you are just promoting your contest, and all the action (entries) take place elswhere, you do NOT need approval from Facebook, but you should also not mention Facebook at all. Our advice is to put a notice on the Tab page announcing the contest that says “this promotion is solely sponsored by (insert your brand or company name here).”

If you are administering the contest on Facebook there are very specific rules and prohibitions including specific language that you must include on the entry form and in the rules. The entry form and official rules must include acknowledgement that Facebook is not involved, a signed release from each entrant, and a company contact for questions from contestants (so Facebook will not be contacted.)  Here are the other important Do’s and Dont’s.

What you CAN’T do

• Run a promo that targets individuals under the age of 18
• Promote gambling, tobacco, firearms, prescription drugs and gasoline
• Offer any of the above as prizes
• Offer dairy as a prize
• Run a sweepstakes that conditions the entry upon purchase or completion of a lengthy task
• You cannot condition entry to the promotion upon taking any action on Facebook, such as updating a status, posting on a profile or page, or uploading a photo (on standard FB areas). Rather, contests must send users to a custom app box in a tab or pop-up window to enter the contest
• Finally, no promotion can use any Facebook messaging mechanism (wall post, chat, message, poke, etc.) to administer the contest or alert winners. Winners must be alerted by email. You can promote the winners on the Facebook wall.

What you CAN do

• Post an announcement about a contests/sweeps on the wall; you just can’t administer it through the wall.
• Administer the contest on your website or on a Facebook tab.
• Run a photo contest in which a user uploads a photo or video through a third-party app to enter the contest.
• You can make being a fan a condition of entering a contest - by not displaying the tab to non-fans, or providing notice that you must be a fan to enter.  BUT, becoming a fan cannot be an automatic mode of entry. That is explicitly prohibited.
• You can instruct visitors to your page to visit the tab/third-party app to enter the promo and they will be prompted for their Facebook account to access the contest. If they don’t have one, they will be prompted to sign up.

Even with the new rules, we’re seeing many fun and engaging brand contests and sweepstakes on Facebook. Here are two examples of brands with great viral mojo doing contests on Facebook (and following the new rules.)

[Read more →]

Filed under: Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Social Media by CindyGordon - 10 Comments →

Part two of two in our year-end social media recap touches on the more serious side of our evolving online landscape. We hope you enjoy! Let’s get started…

5.  Newspapers Move to Online-Only, Embrace Social Media Back in September, 360PR’s own John LeRoy wrote about the end of the Ann Arbor News’ print publication, and throughout 2009, many newspapers followed suit, moving to publishing their content strictly online and incorporating social media functionality.  Along with the recession came widespread newsroom cuts, and while many papers folded altogether, others can only be found now by visiting the web. Whether you embrace the change or miss the sound of a daily paper landing on your doorstep, the move to online-only is here.

4.  Rise of Mobile Apps If you’re an iPhone lover or a Blackberry devotee, you can’t deny the ease and convenience the downloadable applications that are essential to these smart phones bring.  With the click of a key or the touch of an icon, you can find the nearest gas station, read restaurant recommendations, check out times for movie showings, and much, MUCH more.  Running late for the airport?  There’s an app. that allows you to check the status of your flight. 

3.  Live Stream Presidential Inauguration Not only did 2009 see a new, African-American president in the White House, America saw his inauguration unfold in real-time online.  Courtesy of CNN, those unable to obtain a ticket to the inauguration were able to watch every second from the comfort of their own home.  January 20, 2009 was an extremely historic day in more ways than one.

2.  Moms Online  Nielsen recognized the power of moms’ online presence and released “The Power Mom 50,” 50 of the most influential moms on the ‘net (though Nielsen’s list left off some biggies), and the FTC implemented new rules guiding interactions between brands and bloggers (largely driven by the increase of sponsored content on mom blogs).  Meanwhile, Oprah recognized the importance of moms online when she Skype’d in mom bloggers from across the country in an April episode ‘The Secret Lives of Moms.’ 

1.  Brands and Social Media If you’re a Facebook or Twitter user, you’re likely connected with a few brands online. Jet Blue (@JetBlue,) Comcast (@comcastcares) and Whole Foods (@wholefoods) were among the most followed on Twitter this year.  Top brands on Facebook included Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Disney. But with more brands competing for valuable online space, it will be tricky breaking through the clutter. Starting with a solid fan base will help, but providing the online community with “insider” knowledge and unique insights is what will really make a brand stand out in 2010.

Happy New Year!

Filed under: Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Internet, Marketing to Moms, Media and Press, Social Media by SkyeMcIntyre - No Comments →

Well, 2009 is nearly over and 360PR certainly was not going to miss out on the “year end list” fun!  We decided to compile our Top 10 Favorite Social Media Moments of 2009. Sure, the topic may be slightly played out, but does that make it any less important?  2009 concluded a decade of digital innovations: the iPod, BlackBerry, consumer GPS system, etc. And in our eyes, it most definitely went out with a bang!

So here they are, numbers 10 - 6 in our countdown, part one of a two-part social media extravaganza. Whether you think our choices are spot on or off-base, we’d love to hear your comments!

10. Burger King Whopper Sacrifice This year, Burger King challenged its fans to the ultimate test-delete 10 friends on Facebook, get a free Whopper-and created a slew of online buzz in its wake. Alerts popped up on mini-feeds everywhere (i.e. “Skye McIntyre sacrificed Lindsay Durr for a free Whopper”) and friends’ lists suffered significant depletions. But BK’s plan worked! Whether quirky, offensive, or just hilarious, the Whopper Sacrifice taught us all a valuable lesson-you can put a price on friendship, and that price is 1 Whopper.

9. Miley Cyrus Deletes Twitter On a more serious note, teen queen Miley Cyrus made headline news this year when she deleted her Twitter account. Outlets like The New York Times covered the “news” and, to respond to the public outrage inspired by her de-tweeting, Cyrus created this brilliant YouTube video. Wait-why is this #9, again?

8. “JK Wedding Dance” on YouTube This was probably the feel-good YouTube video of the decade. Something about this video struck a chord with online video watchers nationwide. In a year where everyone from Jon and Kate to Tiger and Elin headed for their attorneys, Jill and Kevin Heinz reminded us that love is out there, waiting, and it’s on YouTube. Several Today Show appearances and a hilarious Office spoof later, J&K are still going strong. They even used their tremendous popularity for a good cause; the pair helped raise over $26,000 for the Sheila Wellstone Institute, an organization that helps victims of domestic violence.  People questioned the authenticity of the video and wondered if a marketing team was behind it; marketers wished they could take credit.

7. Swine Flu Infects Social Media Swine Flu was one of the most serious topics of the year with an estimated 50 million cases in the US according to the CDC. However, the disease really went viral when concerned citizens began discussing it across Facebook and Twitter. According to Mashable, swine flu was the #3 topic trend on Facebook and the #2 and #6 trends on Twitter in 2009. For those who think Facebook and Twitter are only platforms for trivial discussions, think again.

6. Celebs on Twitter Want to be alerted every time Diddy sips Cristal? Well now you can-thanks to Twitter! Everyone from Lindsay Lohan to Oprah Winfrey to Shaq started microblogging this year, some more successfully than others (we’re looking at you, Shaq). Missed out on the celeb tweeting action? Check out CelebrityTweet.com to get all the latest updates in one place.

Filed under: Digital PR, Internet, Media and Press, Social Media by LindsayDurr - 2 Comments →

Blogland will be buzzing tomorrow as the new FTC Guides take effect, clarifying rules for disclosure of material relationships between bloggers and brands.  We talked to blogger members of our MomSquad to get their reaction to the guidelines – what the rules mean for their blogs and what advice bloggers have for brands.

“I couldn’t be happier about the new guidelines,” says Jill Notkin of Work at Home Mom.  “Over the last year, everybody with a computer has jumped on the ‘blogwagon’ and the saturation is making it difficult for serious bloggers to maintain a reputable face.  Maybe this will bring more respect back to blogging.”

“I am now including a disclosure statement at the end of each post – I either add my own verbiage or use verbiage the brand supplies,” explains Mom’s Favorite Stuff’s Jodi Grundig. “Brands should be up front with how they’d like bloggers to handle disclosure on products they supply.  If the brand and blogger isn’t in agreement with how disclosure should be handled, it’s probably not a good fit.  I do think some companies have been going a bit overboard with disclosure, however.  I’ve been asked to write, ‘this recipe was supplied to me for free from xx.’  I really don’t want to see blogs become all disclosure/no valuable content.”

“In order to give an honest review, you must try products and put them to the test.  It’s no secret companies offer products for this purpose and your audience will not think less of your opinions when this is disclosed,” comments Julie Gerber of The Gerber Babies Blog (not that ‘Gerber’).
“I think brands should look at the sites first and find the blogs that are a good fit for them,” advises Anisa Raoff of Kidoinfo. “Do they want to send their product out to whoever will review it or does it matter who the blogger is?  Do they want to align with certain blogs because of the content on their site?”  Great questions.

“Brands need to cover their own ‘behinds’ – there are plenty of review bloggers who take [the FTC Guides] seriously and work professionally and there are others who do not,” adds Posh Parent Clarissa Nassar, also a Glambassador for Glamour magazine.

“I just wish the rest of the media world was held to similar accountability, especially celebrities,” says Mommy Niri Nirasha Jaganath.

And on that note, the FTC guides do go beyond bloggers, extending the same rules of transparency and disclosure to third-party experts utilized as spokespersons and celebrity endorsements – and that’s a good thing.  We’ll have much more on this topic in the December issue of the 360PR MomSquad Trendletter. Meantime, some good resources are Blog with Integrity and the Council of PR Firms’ Code of Ethics. Love to hear your comments!

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Marketing to Moms, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - 4 Comments →

I had the pleasure of moderating an informative panel of leading brands and bloggers in the parenting space at last month’s Marketing 2 Moms conference.  We’ve edited the two-hour session down to a 13-minute podcast, packed with tips and insights – worth a listen as you’re building your 2010 campaigns and considering how to initiate or extend your work with bloggers.

eMarketer reports that there are 34 million moms online and that may very well be a conservative estimate – we’ve seen numbers as high as 40+ million moms online.  And as parenting books such as Child, Wondertime and Cookie have ceased publication, hundreds more mom bloggers have begun posting.  There’s no denying it, blogs are a legitimate part of the mom media mix today – especially if you want to reach the connected, influencer-moms who have the power to word-of-mouth your brand.  But with more bloggers and brands jumping in, the environment is cluttered, and communications needs to be on point to break through and resonate with bloggers and their readers.

Moreover, with the FTC Guides taking effect 12/1, brands need to be diligent with their monitoring – making sure what is played back is accurate and any material relationships are clearly disclosed. We all have lots at stake – brands, bloggers and, most of all, readers.  Here’s what the experts at M2Moms had to say:

“Blogger relations should be about “quality over quantity…what [bloggers] say is more important than the numbers.” – Lesley Hettinger, General Motors Corp

“The intimate conversations are so much more valuable…it’s not about building an army, but an influential group of advisors and advocates…you really have to look at the long tail.” – Jeannine Harvey, PBS

“To me, it’s always about the added value…brands need to be able to provide added value” when working with bloggers and their audiences. – Kristin Brandt, Manic Mommies

“Blogs are such a personal experience for the reader…it’s really important that everything on that page be reflective of who we are.” – Liz Gumbinner, Cool Mom Picks & Blog with Integrity

“We want to get to know moms on a 1:1 basis.  We’re always reading blogs and looking at what bloggers are talking about on Twitter.”  - Marcia Hansen, Allstate Insurance Company

“I feel better about a brand if they have a presence on Twitter.  But the most important thing is to have someone monitoring…you have to have someone interacting with your customers.” – Beth Blecherman, Silicon Valley Moms Group

For more, listen to the M2Moms Brands & Blogs podcast below. A BIG thanks to Kristin Brandt for recording the session and to Susan Getgood for her masterful editing!

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Marketing to Moms, Parenting, Pitch tips by LauraTomasetti - No Comments →

Following the landmark research reveal on 2008 social media adoption trends by Dr. Nora Barnes at last Friday’s Society for New Communications Research Symposium SNCR.com, I floated a question that richoted around the room like a bullet.

Very simply I asked, “Who was the first Fortune 500 company to blog?”

Dr. Barnes respectfully deferred the question to the many experts in the room, and it was an immediate jumpball. Shel Israel was the first to speak up, saying he was fairly certain that General Motor’s was the first official mover in 2005 with its fastlane blog.  John Cass took possession of the ball next saying he was fairly certain that either SUN or Microsoft, or maybe both, were ahead of GM. A brawl ensued.

To get some answers, I reached out to Steve Harris at General Motors and Molly O’Donnel at Microsoft.  John Cass was a huge help too - he has been following all these guys since 2004 - forever in internet years - and was able to dig up some old blog posts and research for me.

So, who was right?

[Read more →]

Filed under: Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Social Media by CindyGordon - 1 Comment →

Research doesn’t easily wow me, but this particular study did.

I’m referring to the research presented by Dr. Nora Barnes from The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth at last Friday’s SNCR conference in Cambridge, MA.   Her study compared the adoption rates of social media from 2007 and 2008 between the 200 largest charities, the Fortune 500, the Inc 500, and the top US colleges and universities.

This study reveals that use of social networking, blogging and video blogging has increased dramatically. Video is up 38%, social networking 47% and blogging.

What’s really remarkable are the differences between sectors.

Charitable organizations are outpacing the business world and academia in their use of social media. In the study, a remarkable 89% percent of charities are using some form of social media including blogs, podcasts, message boards, social networking, video blogging and wikis.

 Also, charities are far and away “out-blogging” everyone. 57% of charities have blogs.  The Fortune 500 has the fewest number of blogs at 16%, followed by the Inc. 500 with 39%. Colleges and universities are blogging at 41%.

My initial reaction was to question how this could be happening when clearly top companies have many times the staff and money resources of non profits. Then I remembered that no matter the depth of your organization or the size of your budget, everyone can have an equal voice on the internet. What matters is the power of your brand.

[Read more →]

Filed under: Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Social Media by CindyGordon - 1 Comment →

Consumers want brands to help them stay informed. And with people often times defining themselves by the brands they buy, companies should be doing more than just providing a product or service. By educating consumers about topics surrounding a brand or an industry, they are likely to more deeply engage with that brand. 

eMarketer posted an article last week about Lightspeed Research’s “Global Web Index.” According to the research, “providing relevant news and analysis” was one of the top actions that US Internet users say brands can take (it came in 2nd to “offering discounts”). “Providing new ideas and thinking” came in at a close third place.

To illustrate your company’s thought leadership position and share its expertise with consumers, social media is the perfect platform. Some companies keep consumers informed through Twitter updates, Facebook applications, the production of online videos or podcasts, a blog, or via their own community driven company website.

HSBC and VISA are two great examples of companies that are providing small business owners with informative advice and tips. Both companies have “Business Networks” through which they share, for example, toolkits for Online Marketing and Cash Flow Management for small business owners. They also branch out from their network websites to other social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter. 

Home Depot is another great example. They not only have “Home Improver” and “Garden Club” group websites where consumers can ask experts questions, but they have Home Depot TV and a YouTube page, which hosts numerous do-it-yourself and how-to project videos. Home Depot also shares tips and tricks via its Twitter account andFacebook page.

What brands help you stay informed and about what?

Filed under: Digital PR, Internet, Social Media by EliciaBasoli - 1 Comment →

The key take-away for me at this week’s Marketing to Moms conference was about story-telling. Not story-telling by advertisers or PR people - not the campaigns and messages that are pushed out. I’m talking about the stories created by the millions of consumers on YouTube, Facebook and other social sites.

With the increasing amount of user-generated content online, one of the best things brands can do is sit back and take it all in. Then, after looking and listening, figure out how to choreograph the content that’s already out there into a meaningful brand dance - the kind of raucous dance you see at Greek and Jewish weddings.

Coca-Cola is doing it. One of the best, most compelling presentations at M2Moms was by Wendy Clark, SVP of Integrated Marketing at Coca-Cola, who held a can of Diet Coke in her hand from the start to the end of her presentation (maybe not surprising, but as Clark talked about authenticity and brand fans, that Coke can seemed to add even more street cred).

Clark talked about seeking opportunities for collaboration and co-creation, tapping into the people who are telling your story. And that doesn’t mean people have to be literally talking about your brand. More often than not, it’s going to be a story that gets at the essence of what your brand has to offer (healthy living or more family time, for example).

“We need to integrate consumer ideas into the way we’re going to the marketplace, and use digital as an enabler,” said Clark.  She wasn’t talking about the usual consumer research or the traditionally linear process in developing campaigns.  As she talked, she pulled up random search results for “Coke” on Google.

What are people finding when they search for your brand (or a related topic)? How can you contribute to the conversation?  How can you “curate” what’s already there?  “The shift has happened - advertising doesn’t seem to capture what we do any more. We spend a lot of time talking about community marketing,” Clark said.  Marketers need to “be open to a model that bypasses traditional stages.”

Clark shared that her PR team is playing an active role in beating the social media drum at Coca-Cola.  “Our PR team has been our best friend,” she said. At the core, I believe good PR people are about two things: story-telling + relationship-building. We’ve got “the right stuff” for this new social media world. Now, we just need to listen a little more to the stories already being told in order to help write the next chapter for the brands we work with and the communities they want to be part of.

While at M2Moms, I “curated” a panel of brands and bloggers who are working together. Kristin Brandt of Manic Mommies, who was on the panel, was kind enough to record the session and we’ll be posting the audio here next week.  Meantime, you can scan some of the insights and soundbites from this week’s Marketing to Moms conference on Twitter, #m2moms.

Filed under: Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Food & Beverage PR, Internet, Marketing to Moms, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - 5 Comments →

The Summer issue of our MomSquad Trendletter is out and I keep meaning to post the link here in case you’re not a Trendletter subscriber.  It’s a particularly good issue if I may say so, with a great line up of content and contributors, including:

• What’s happening with Dad Blogs, a piece contributed by Christy Matte of About.com’s Family Computing blog and her own blog, More Than Mommy;
• Boston Mamas’ Christine Koh’s report from BlogHer with tips for brands interacting with bloggers;
• Going beyond blogs to forums such as the Mom Bloggers Club to reach powerful networks of influencers, by Clarissa Nassar, a.k.a. The Posh Parent; and
• A look at what’s on the mind of PTA moms as back-to-school time approaches, written by PTA Mom Anisa Raoof, editor at Rhode Island-based Kidoinfo.

We’d love your feedback if you get a chance to link over and read the current issue!

Filed under: Blogger Relations, Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Marketing to Moms, Parenting by LauraTomasetti - 1 Comment →

New social media tools, apps, and sites crop up every week. And the most well-established ones, like Twitter, set the bar higher by adding new features, bells and whistles. Over the past couple weeks the much-buzzed about Twitter.com, as well as the sometimes forgotten Delicious.com both launched new homepages. And both revamps seem to focus mostly on search - doing whatever it takes to make spotting the latest news and topics easier for consumers.

So how exactly have these sites changed and what should brands and PR know?  Read more….after the break. [Read more →]

Filed under: Digital PR, Social Media by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

We’ve returned safe and soundly from Chicago and BlogHer 2009 was a big success.  Its biggest turnout to date, the five-year-old conference morphed into a true tradeshow format with major brands turning out to grab the attention of bloggers across the country.

Elaborate booths, impressive swag and even celebrity sightings (Tim Gunn, Paula Deen and Carson Kressley), are a testament to the fact that brands know how important bloggers are to their success; and are willing to put the resources and funds behind social media initiatives to get in the bloggers’ good graces.

Social media is a force to be reckoned with; and is certainly gaining lots of attention in the industry.  Issues with the FTC (see Laura’s recent post), Blog with Integrity and the recent announcement of the PR Blackout Challenge all point to an obvious truth: new media is calling and is here to stay. By the looks of BlogHer 2009, brands have taken notice.

From national brands like Pepsi Co and Walmart to non-profits such as Safe Kids to the unexpected presence of Pork (touting themselves as the Real Pork Bloggers of Chicago), the brands at this year’s conference ran the gamut.  Also, our Safety 1^st client was in attendance to introduce its new Complete Air car seat with Air Protect Side Impact Technology.  Stay tuned to view our Flickr page with all of our booth visitors in front of the Chicago skyline!

See you all next year in NYC for BlogHer 2010!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Blogger Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Social Media by BrittanyWelch - 3 Comments →

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 →