Conversational Media Marketing

How to pitch bloggers...the need for best practices and standards

Mack Collier's post at MarketingProfs, Dueling Blacklists: Bloggers vs. PR Firms, has raised quite a stir.

The post addresses the issue of PR folks pitching bloggers and the animus that can come as a result of irrelevant, unsolicited pitches. Specifically, Mack cites Lifehacker editor Gina Trapani's threat to blacklist PR firms which engage in this practice.

You'd think Mack released a fox into the hen house. One has only to look at the comments section to watch the feathers fly.

Data portability, the stuff semantic web dreams are made of

Data portability... MySpace announced Thursday they're doing it... Facebook and Google made similar announcements on Friday.

The issue has been gaining ground for a number of months, especially since the unintended (It was unintended wasn't it?) Scoble Facebook/Plaxo mishap shed more intense light on the need for netizens to be able to control, move and share their data across a network of trusted sites.  Now, it appears another step is being taken in the direction of a more Pangaea-like web.

A data portability or semantic web expert I'm not, but anything that's going to make the job of registering for yet another social network easier suits me just fine. And, Google's announcement comes with an added bonus, especially where small business is concerned.

links for 2008-05-09

• A Short Guide on How to Use Twitter in B2B | Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog
  (tags: twitter)

links for 2008-05-08

• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121012629176672867.html?mod=e-commerce_primary_hs
  (tags: advertising web marketing)
• Social Media Insider » Blog Archive » Is It Time For DIY Social Networks?
  (tags: facebook socialmedia socialnetworking ning)

Using strikethrough function in blogs...you may know 'how', but do you know 'why'?

Yesterday, I was twittering about how I needed to edit some typos in a blog post. The question was asked whether I fix the typos or use the "strikethrough" function. That brief discussion sparked the idea for this post.

Most everyone knows how to use the strikethrough, but I wonder if everyone knows why it exists so far as blogging is concerned. If not, perhaps a little blog history lesson is in order.

Content as a marketing strategy

Even before being included in Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs list, I've given serious thought to content as a marketing strategy, especially since Brian Clark began touting it via his new Teaching Sells initiative.

Junta42 defines content marketing as "a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action."

I made the list...the Junta Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs list that is

What a nice serendipity to find Conversational Media Marketing made the Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs list... and at what is truly my lucky number, 13.

What's most exciting (and kind of perplexing, though I'm not knocking it... darn grateful in fact) is that I ranked higher up the list than a number of much more notable people, including Seth Godin!

Apparently, that's because the selection criteria is different for this list than most. 

A father, a son, and a 320 mile run

I'll be taking off for a few days (again), this time traveling to see my son, Jonathan, walk the stage and receive his diploma from Mississippi State University this evening at 7:00 p.m. He graduates with a Bachelors of Science specializing in Physical Education.

Simply stated, my son is a coach. When I say "coach," I don't just mean the title; it's who he is. That's something his mother and I have known for years. And it doesn't extend just to the athletic field either, but to many aspects of his life.

There are some other terms I could use I suppose. "Leader" is one that comes to mind, for he is that. And a man of strong convictions as well.

Whoever he is, I'm proud to be called his father, and never more proud than on this day.

So, here's to you Coach Chaney!  May your life and career be everything you've ever hoped or dreamed.

Online Reputation Management: An 'industry' or accident waiting to happen

I learned from Marketing Pilgrim that Online Reputation Management has just been ordained as an "industry" by Business Week.

It's true that, as my colleague Brian Bille says, Search Engine Marketing is no longer just about SEO/PPC, but involves managing ones online reputation as well.

The question is, how does one go about doing that?

Taking a few days off to celebrate with family

I rarely ever write personal posts on this site. That's what Twitter and Facebook are for these days. However, you may (or may not) have noticed there was little activity here last week. That's because I took a few days off to visit family.

My father, Clarence Ray, turned 80 last Wednesday and I spent a few days with he and mom. Internet access where they live is non-existent.

I then spent the weekend in Nashville with my son Alan, who turned 26 on the 26th (I read somewhere that's called the "golden" birthday). Needless to say, I didn't worry too much about getting online.

Now, I'm back at work trying to catch up. Hopefully, that includes more posts as well.