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	<title>Every Dot Connects &#187; Public Relations</title>
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	<link>http://everydotconnects.com</link>
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		<title>The Future of Public Relations and Social Media</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2010/08/16/the-future-of-public-relations-and-social-media/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2010/08/16/the-future-of-public-relations-and-social-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:32:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Connie Reece</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/?p=1116</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Public relations specialists were some of the first people to embrace the power of social media, and as a result they are often the ones leading the way in the social space, whether they are consulting with clients from an agency point of view or strategizing on an in-house PR team.
In the past decade, the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=69c6dd379c05d488a4cf6c7cd7ccbd95&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p>Public relations specialists were some of the first people to embrace the power of social media, and as a result they are often the ones leading the way in the social space, whether they are consulting with clients from an agency point of view or strategizing on an in-house PR team.</p>
<p>In the past decade, the Internet has had a huge impact on how PR professionals function. As of late, social media is changing the face of PR, as well. We interviewed 14 PR pros on the future of public relations and how they see social media changing the industry.</p>
<p>via <strong>Mashable</strong>: <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/08/16/pr-social-media-future/">The Future of Public Relations and Social Media</a>.</p>
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		<title>Cause Marketing: H2Orange bottled water launch</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2010/07/21/cause-marketing-h2orange-bottled-water-launch/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2010/07/21/cause-marketing-h2orange-bottled-water-launch/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:11:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Connie Reece</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/?p=1035</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve known about this product for a few months and it&#8217;s such an exciting idea that it was hard keeping the secret. (But I did!)
As an Austinite since age 3, I&#8217;ve grown up in the shadow of the University of Texas tower. I&#8217;m also a UT graduate, and a lifelong Longhorns football fan.
So when I [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=69c6dd379c05d488a4cf6c7cd7ccbd95&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p>I&#8217;ve known about this product for a few months and it&#8217;s such an exciting idea that it was hard keeping the secret. (But I did!)</p>
<p>As an Austinite since age 3, I&#8217;ve grown up in the shadow of the University of Texas tower. I&#8217;m also a UT graduate, and a lifelong Longhorns football fan.</p>
<p><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/H2Orangebottle.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1045" title="H2Orange bottled water" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/H2Orangebottle-247x300.jpg" alt="H2Orange bottled water photo" width="247" height="300" /></a>So when I found out that the University had licensed a 1:400 scale-model replica of the iconic tower as a container for a bottled water product, I was &#8220;hooked&#8221; instantly.</p>
<p>It also did not surprise me that the brains behind this idea is Tim McClure, the &#8220;M&#8221; in Austin&#8217;s GSD&amp;M ad agency and the man who created the<strong> &#8220;Don&#8217;t Mess with Texas&#8221;</strong> campaign &#8212; the most successful anti-litter campaign ever. In 2006, the famous battle cry was voted America’s Favorite Advertising Slogan.</p>
<div id="attachment_1037" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/H2OrangeMcClurePowersGurasich.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1037 " style="margin: 18px;" title="H2Orange Idea Men" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/H2OrangeMcClurePowersGurasich-300x200.jpg" alt="photo of Tim McClure, UT President William Powers Jr., and Steve Gurasich" width="300" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Tim McClure, UT President William Powers Jr., and Steve Gurasich</p></div>
<p>The tagline for H2Orange (and don&#8217;t you just love the name?) is<strong> &#8220;Drink water. Bleed orange. Fund Scholarships.&#8221;</strong> Approximately 40 percent of the proceeds from bottled water sales will be used to fund scholarships, and the company hopes to create enough sales to fund $1 million in scholarships annually.</p>
<p>Other investors in the venture, University of Texas graduates all, are are golf legend Ben Crenshaw, business giant Red McCombs and former UT national championship quarterback James Street.</p>
<p>The 16.9-ounce water bottles will go on sale August 25, the first day of classes at UT. The suggested retail price of $1.19 to $1.49 is slightly more expensive than generic brands, but less than premium brands of bottled water.</p>
<p>Environmentalists will be pleased to note that the H2Orange tower bottle is 100 percent recyclable, and carbon credits have been purchased through Green Mountain Energy to offset any environmental impact from the manufacturing and transportation of the bottle. And the water? It&#8217;s collected from Texas rain water, and is purified and bottled in Texas.</p>
<p>Every Dot Connects&#8217; long-time advisor and friend <a href="http://everydotconnects.com/our-advisors/brenda-thompson/">Brenda Thompson</a> is handling publicity and media relations for the launch of H2Orange purified Texas water. For more information, contact <a href="http://brendathompson.com">Brenda Thompson Communications</a>, (512) 461-5644, or email info@h2orange.com.</p>
<p>Facebook page: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/H2Orange-Drink-water-bleed-orangeTM-Fund-scholarships/116601021686793">H2Orange &#8211; Drink water, bleed orange.™ Fund scholarships.</a></p>
<p>Austin American Statesman coverage: F<a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/local/fans-who-bleed-orange-can-now-drink-orange-810276.html?srcTrk=RTR_95649">ans who bleed orange can now drink orange</a></p>
<p>KVUE-TV video coverage: <a href="http://www.kvue.com/news/local/98785429.html">UT unveils H2Orange water to raise scholarship funds</a></p>
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 <div class="arkayne"> <h3 class="arkayne-header"> More from Every Dot Connects </h3> <ul class="arkayne-links"> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2007/11/26/engaging-brand-interview-conversational-marketing/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869601" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869608, 1869601);">Engaging Brand interview: Conversational Marketing</a></li> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2008/10/22/mansion-of-terror-halloween-social-media-style/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869619" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869608, 1869619);">Mansion of Terror – Halloween Social Media Style</a></li> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2008/01/22/diva-marketing-talks-micro-blogging/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869600" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869608, 1869600);">Diva Marketing Talks: Micro Blogging</a></li> </ul> <div class="arkayne-footer" style="display: block !important"> <a href="http://www.arkayne.com/conniereece/?utm_source=Arkayne%20Plugin&amp;utm_medium=Recommend&amp;utm_campaign=Plugin&amp;coupon=CONNIEREECE" target="_blank"> <img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/arkayne-media/img/logo-recommend.png" width="153" height="28" border="0" alt="conniereece has content marketing with Arkayne Socialize." style="display: block !important; border: none !important; width: 153px !important; height: 28px !important;" /> </a> <img class="arkayne-hit" src="http://www.arkayne.com/widget/hit/1869608.GIF" border="0" alt="" /> </div> </div> 



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		<title>6 ways to improve your destination marketing (and why you&#8217;re toast if you don&#8217;t)</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/05/12/6-ways-to-improve-your-destination-marketing-and-why-youre-toast-if-you-dont/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/05/12/6-ways-to-improve-your-destination-marketing-and-why-youre-toast-if-you-dont/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2009 22:58:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheila Scarborough</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bloggers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[destination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tourism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/?p=708</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(This is an Open Letter guest post from travel expert Tim Leffel, who wants to help public relations (PR) and marketing folks who are stumbling around in the dark regarding Web-based tourism development.  Anyone who still deals with a recalcitrant boss about these issues, even if you aren&#8217;t in travel and tourism, will find something [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=32453919cd499a8e6b4f210f24a44120&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p><em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/472082442/"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-716" title="Are you toast? (courtesy oskay at Flickr CC)" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/472082442_b5cc87df97.jpg" alt="Are you toast? (courtesy oskay at Flickr CC)" hspace="10" width="310" height="232" /></a>(This is an Open Letter guest post from travel expert Tim Leffel, who wants to help public relations (PR) and marketing folks who are stumbling around in the dark regarding Web-based tourism development.  Anyone who still deals with a recalcitrant boss about these issues, even if you aren&#8217;t in travel and tourism, will find something helpful in his suggestions.)</em></p>
<p>Dear person who handles the marketing budget for your travel destination:</p>
<p>In case you have not been reading the news, the media landscape rug has been pulled out from under you. What have you done to adjust?</p>
<p>I&#8217;m a travel writer who writes a lot and travels a lot. In the past year, I&#8217;ve had two dozen PR and marketing people working in travel tell me that their boss or executive board is at least a decade behind the times in their marketing focus. While my contact person telling me this may be clued in to what matters, the people controlling the marketing purse strings are still fully stuck in the old world they understand, namely print and TV press and advertising.</p>
<p>A couple of times a month, I&#8217;ll get a call or e-mail from some PR person about an article I wrote for <a href="http://www.perceptivetravel.com/" target="_self">Perceptive Travel</a>, the <a href="http://practicaltravelgear.com/" target="_self">Practical Travel Gear blog</a>, or <a href="http://www.luxurylatinamerica.com/" target="_self">Luxury Latin America</a>&#8212;all sites I run myself. The caller needs to put together some kind of ad value report to show their boss or board because, well, that&#8217;s the way it&#8217;s always been done and that&#8217;s the report that has to be written. If the article can&#8217;t be measured in monetary terms, it doesn&#8217;t matter in their eyes, regardless of how many visitors it brought to their door.</p>
<p>The problem is, while that may have sorta worked in the print world, it doesn&#8217;t on the Web.</p>
<p>It was never a very accurate gauge anyway, as this article will attest:   <a href="http://www.foliomag.com/2009/why-most-magazine-industry-metrics-are-bogus" target="_self">Why most magazine industry metrics are bogus</a> (and that&#8217;s from a publishing industry trade!) Anyone on the inside can tell you the circulation numbers are bogus, the published advertising rates are bogus and the demographic breakdowns are bogus.</p>
<p>But at least the suits are used to those particular stretches of credulity. On a website, however, this is an exercise in futility; an invitation to just make up a bunch of numbers to please the boss.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s no such thing as a &#8220;full page ad&#8221; to value to start with. Just banners. There&#8217;s no real circulation&#8212;just unique monthly visitors and page views. And how do you place an ad value on an article that people will keep reading for years, month after month? How do you value a link to your site? For someone who knows about search engine optimization, that link is very valuable. To a visitors&#8217; bureau board member who still doesn&#8217;t know what a blog is, it&#8217;s worth far less than a one-paragraph newspaper mention.</p>
<p>Everybody&#8217;s heard of the <a href="http://www.freep.com/" target="_self"><em>Detroit Free Press</em></a>, right? So it must be more valuable than being on something called <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/" target="_self">BoingBoing</a>, right? (Um, hate to break it to you, but no. It&#8217;s not even close. Besides, the <em>Free Press</em> is the one that had to cut back home delivery to three days a week because it&#8217;s a financial wreck.)</p>
<p>I promise you that your potential visitors, including the ones who increasingly can&#8217;t remember the last time they read a newspaper, are getting their information from all over the Web and from social media. They are relying less and less on what the traditional gatekeeper people you always pitched (newspapers and magazines) have to say. Unfortunately, this means you have to work much harder now.</p>
<p>Your universe of 20 magazines and 50 newspapers is now a few less of those, but 100 or even 500 blogs. And some of those writers contribute to multiple outlets. You&#8217;re no longer pitching an outlet, <strong>you are pitching a person</strong>: an influencer. The good news is, you get to the right influencers, you&#8217;ve got champions who will send you visitors by the planeload, year after year.</p>
<p>This requires a radically different approach and a vastly more fragmented way of spending your resources. Buying one of those silly &#8220;special advertising sections&#8221; in a general travel magazine is going to pale in effectiveness compared to spending that same amount on Google Adsense and 20 specialized travel websites. Inviting a dozen freelance print writers on a press trip will get you spotty results over time, but <a title="The Hutchinson Kansas CVB and Cosmosphere arranged a blogger's tour; here's one report about it on WhatsUpHutch." href="http://www.whatsuphutch.com/Cody-s-Thoughts/What-do-we-do-now-/menu-id-1.html" target="_self">inviting a dozen prolific writers who blog</a> on subjects specific to your destination&#8217;s appeal will pay off for years and send measurable traffic to your official site.</p>
<p>Here are six things you can do right now to drastically improve your destination&#8217;s marketing effectiveness and pull in more visitors:</p>
<p><strong>1) Figure out who is already writing about your destination and engage them the way they want to be engaged. </strong>This may be e-mail, Twitter, phone, Facebook or LinkedIn. It is almost surely <em>not</em> by spraying them with press releases.</p>
<p><strong>2) Figure out which blogs and sites are already sending visitors to your website.</strong> (You do monitor your stats weekly, right? You do have Google alerts set up, right?) Those are obvious ad targets for the marketing people and those are editors/bloggers your publicists need to be talking with. First <a title="Links mean something, so respond. Here's why." href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/22/dont-let-your-business-make-this-basic-mistake-online/" target="_self">go thank them</a>, then build a relationship.</p>
<p><strong>3) Spend some time researching which websites and blogs are a great match for your visitor demographics. </strong>As a cheap destinations expert, I hear regularly from and/or have been on press trips with Honduras, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, parts of Mexico and Panama. I haven&#8217;t heard a peep from most of the other destinations profiled in <a href="http://www.worldscheapestdestinations.com/" target="_self"><em>The World&#8217;s Cheapest Destinations</em></a> book or on my blog, even though I am quoted in the major media every month and my blog is one of the top 100,000 sites on the web. I&#8217;m the best-known travel writer in Nashville, Tennessee, but in a decade of living here I&#8217;ve never heard from the city&#8217;s visitors&#8217; bureau. That&#8217;s just silly. If you run a family travel destination or attraction and don&#8217;t have <a href="http://www.familytravellogue.com/" target="_self">Sheila Scarborough</a> or the <a href="http://travelingmamas.com/" target="_self">Traveling Mamas</a> on your radar, you&#8217;re missing a huge opportunity. It&#8217;s even easier to target sites focused on specific geography. For some destinations there are fewer than 10 people who generate 80 percent of the search engine hits. For a place like Nicaragua it&#8217;s two or three. Do you even know who they are? Those people should be on your cell phone&#8217;s speed dial.</p>
<p><strong>4) Add every relevant site to your RSS feed and visit them often.</strong> (You do have an RSS reader set up don&#8217;t you?) You can&#8217;t pitch to blogs if you don&#8217;t know their style, tone and subject matter (or at least follow them on Twitter if that&#8217;s your thing.) Blind pitching doesn&#8217;t work anymore. Mass market advertising doesn&#8217;t work anymore. You need to focus and converse, not broadcast.</p>
<p><strong>5) Stop worrying about bragging rights. </strong>Sure, it&#8217;s great to say &#8220;As featured in <em>Travel + Leisure</em>&#8221; when they write a few sentences about your destination on page 148, right behind the fold-out ad for Lexus, but in terms of influencing travelers to visit, did it matter? Was that one-page magazine ad that ran for one month really more effective than advertising on 20 very well-matched websites or blogs for an entire YEAR? Focus on the actual objective, not on what sounds impressive on a report.</p>
<p><strong>6) Listen to your people at the bottom. </strong>The most junior people in your organization probably already know what needs to be done. They don&#8217;t have your built-in preconceptions and prejudices and will always be two steps ahead of you. Give them a budget, stop worrying about whether they are &#8220;wasting time on Facebook,&#8221; and turn them loose.</p>
<p>If you still have questions after reading this, let&#8217;s get together at <a title="Annual confab for tourism folks and travel media." href="http://www.travelmediashowcase.com/" target="_self">Travel Media Showcase</a> or <a title="VEMEX brings European tourism pros and North American travel media together." href="http://www.visiteuropemediaexchange.com/" target="_self">Visit Europe Media Exchange</a> (VEMEX) or have a drink in your destination&#8217;s best pub. (&#8220;Will work for beer.&#8221;)</p>
<p>But if you really want to jump on the social media train with both feet and don&#8217;t know where to start, keep reading this blog&#8230;or just hire Sheila and Connie!</p>
<p><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/leffel_headshot05w180h195.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-723" title="Tim Leffel" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/leffel_headshot05w180h195.jpg" alt="Tim Leffel" hspace="10" width="124" height="134" /></a><em>Tim Leffel is the author of three travel books, editor of the award-winning webzine Perceptive Travel, and editor of several blogs. </em></p>
<p><em>He still likes to write for magazines too. </em></p>
<p><em>You can see his portfolio and contact information at <a href="http://www.timleffel.com" target="_self">TimLeffel.com</a>. </em></p>
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 <div class="arkayne"> <h3 class="arkayne-header"> More from Every Dot Connects </h3> <ul class="arkayne-links"> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/29/blogging-basics-how-to-start-a-blog-and-whether-youll-ever-make-money-from-it/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869712" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869722, 1869712);">Blogging Basics: How to start a blog, and whether you’ll ever make money from it</a></li> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2008/10/23/todays-lesson-your-private-conversations-aint-so-private/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869618" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869722, 1869618);">Today’s lesson: your private conversations ain’t so private</a></li> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/14/a-different-breed-what-to-expect-from-bloggers/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869725" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869722, 1869725);">A different breed: what to expect from bloggers</a></li> </ul> <div class="arkayne-footer" style="display: block !important"> <a href="http://www.arkayne.com/conniereece/?utm_source=Arkayne%20Plugin&amp;utm_medium=Recommend&amp;utm_campaign=Plugin&amp;coupon=CONNIEREECE" target="_blank"> <img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/arkayne-media/img/logo-recommend.png" width="153" height="28" border="0" alt="conniereece has content marketing with Arkayne Socialize." style="display: block !important; border: none !important; width: 153px !important; height: 28px !important;" /> </a> <img class="arkayne-hit" src="http://www.arkayne.com/widget/hit/1869722.GIF" border="0" alt="" /> </div> </div> 



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		<title>Blogging Basics: Getting traffic, readers and attention for your blog</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/05/06/blogging-basics-getting-traffic-readers-and-attention-for-your-blog/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/05/06/blogging-basics-getting-traffic-readers-and-attention-for-your-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 02:08:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheila Scarborough</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[publicity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/?p=626</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I discussed writing good content and posting consistently for a decent amount of time in the first Every Dot Connects Blogging Basics post &#8211; How to start a blog, and whether you&#8217;ll ever make money from it.
The next obvious question is, &#8220;How do I get anyone to read my blog?&#8221;
It may surprise you to learn [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=32453919cd499a8e6b4f210f24a44120&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandj98/266266308/"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-680" title="Let blog links flow far and wide, like these waterfalls in the Upper Cascades (courtesy mandj98 at Flickr CC)" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/let-the-blog-links-flow-far-and-wide-courtesy-mandj98-at-flickr-cc.jpg" alt="let-the-blog-links-flow-far-and-wide-courtesy-mandj98-at-flickr-cc" hspace="10" width="367" height="239" /></a>I discussed writing good content and posting consistently for a decent amount of time in the first Every Dot Connects Blogging Basics post &#8211; <a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/29/blogging-basics-how-to-start-a-blog-and-whether-youll-ever-make-money-from-it/" target="_self">How to start a blog, and whether you&#8217;ll ever make money from it</a>.</p>
<p>The next obvious question is, &#8220;How do I get anyone to read my blog?&#8221;</p>
<p>It may surprise you to learn that marketing and publicizing a blog&#8217;s content (thereby increasing traffic if the content is good) doesn&#8217;t happen <em>on the blog</em>.</p>
<p>Sure, outbound links to other sites from your blog posts are seen by those sites as inbound links/backlinks, and their authors may click back through to see what you&#8217;re saying and what you&#8217;re all about. That&#8217;s why it is important to <a title="When someone links they are saying hello, so don't ignore them." href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/22/dont-let-your-business-make-this-basic-mistake-online/" target="_self">pay attention to who links to you, and respond</a>.</p>
<p>In that sense, you are publicizing your writing directly from your own blog, but that is only part of the battle.</p>
<p>Blog publicity happens via a whole ecosystem of online and face-to-face interaction.</p>
<ul>
<li>It happens via Facebook, because a blog post link that you put on your Wall or in your status is seen on the Home pages of everyone in your network.</li>
<li>It happens via LinkedIn the same way, through your network&#8217;s Home pages.</li>
<li>It happens via <a title="Do your comments make a good impression?" href="http://www.dailyblogtips.com/do-your-blog-comments-make-a-good-impression/" target="_self">your comments on other people&#8217;s blogs</a> or in an online forum, because usually your name on a comment is a hyperlink back to your blog (so think before you comment. Ever wonder <a title="Liz Strauss has 10 reasons readers don't comment." href="http://www.successful-blog.com/1/10-reasons-readers-dont-leave-comments/" target="_self">why more readers don&#8217;t comment</a>?)</li>
<li>It happens via Twitter, both because your blog URL should be listed in your bio, and from the occasional post URL of your own that you tweet. You don&#8217;t just auto-post everything onto your Twitter stream, do you?  Good; didn&#8217;t think so.</li>
<li>It happens via <a title="Here's what I've Stumbled across; maybe you'll see something you like." href="http://sheilas.stumbleupon.com/" target="_self">StumbleUpon</a>, which is especially nice when someone Stumbles one of your posts. Give back;  Stumble other people&#8217;s good content.</li>
<li>It happens when you <a title="How to use Delicious, from Mahalo." href="http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Use_del.icio.us_Like_a_Pro" target="_self">bookmark on Delicious</a>.</li>
<li>It happens when you do any of the above and it shows up in your <a title="Here's Connie Reece on FriendFeed, a consolidator of most of your social networking activity." href="http://friendfeed.com/conniereece" target="_self">FriendFeed</a>.</li>
<li>It happens via Flickr photo &#8211; I try to remember to put applicable links in the description of photos that I put online. <a title="From my Flickr pool." href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheilascarborough/3493408819/" target="_self">Here&#8217;s one of my Chicago photos with links</a>, as an example.</li>
<li>It happens via YouTube videos; put links in the description of those, too.</li>
<li>It happens via email &#8211; when people see your blog&#8217;s hyperlinked URL in your email signature line.</li>
<li>It happens when people see your blog&#8217;s URL on your <a title="Jennifer Navarrete has a good post on the modern multitasking business card." href="http://jennifernavarrete.com/calling-cards-as-the-new-business-cards/" target="_self">business card</a>.</li>
<li>And finally, it happens when you go &#8220;Old School&#8221; and meet people in person at conferences and networking events, and you mention your blog if it is appropriate.</li>
</ul>
<p>Be everywhere, representing your writing.</p>
<p>Be ubiquitous, along with your content.</p>
<p>Marketing happens OFF of the blog.</p>
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 <div class="arkayne"> <h3 class="arkayne-header"> More from Every Dot Connects </h3> <ul class="arkayne-links"> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/29/blogging-basics-how-to-start-a-blog-and-whether-youll-ever-make-money-from-it/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869712" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869751, 1869712);">Blogging Basics: How to start a blog, and whether you’ll ever make money from it</a></li> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/05/12/6-ways-to-improve-your-destination-marketing-and-why-youre-toast-if-you-dont/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869722" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869751, 1869722);">6 ways to improve your destination marketing (and why you’re toast if you don’t)</a></li> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/05/21/social-media-blog-carnival-your-best-shots/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869750" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869751, 1869750);">Social Media Blog Carnival – Your Best Shots</a></li> </ul> <div class="arkayne-footer" style="display: block !important"> <a href="http://www.arkayne.com/conniereece/?utm_source=Arkayne%20Plugin&amp;utm_medium=Recommend&amp;utm_campaign=Plugin&amp;coupon=CONNIEREECE" target="_blank"> <img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/arkayne-media/img/logo-recommend.png" width="153" height="28" border="0" alt="conniereece has content marketing with Arkayne Socialize." style="display: block !important; border: none !important; width: 153px !important; height: 28px !important;" /> </a> <img class="arkayne-hit" src="http://www.arkayne.com/widget/hit/1869751.GIF" border="0" alt="" /> </div> </div> 



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		<title>Don&#8217;t let your business make this basic mistake online</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/22/dont-let-your-business-make-this-basic-mistake-online/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/22/dont-let-your-business-make-this-basic-mistake-online/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:31:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheila Scarborough</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Connections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conversation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Linkworthy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[etiquette]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[importance of links]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Links]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[netiquette]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/?p=586</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I see it over and over again.
In between the squawking about how blogs are already passe and how Twitter is going mainstream, there is a fundamental Old School operating concept of the Web and social media that is routinely ignored by many organizations, mostly through what I suspect is simple lack of knowledge and fear [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=32453919cd499a8e6b4f210f24a44120&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/2134277457/"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-593" title="A link is a digital wave of the hand. Are you responding? (photo courtesy striatic at Flickr CC)" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/waving-hand-courtesy-striatic-on-flickr-cc-300x225.jpg" alt="A link is a digital wave of the hand. Are you responding? (photo courtesy striatic at Flickr CC)" hspace="10" width="304" height="227" /></a>I see it over and over again.</p>
<p>In between the squawking about how blogs are <a title="This Chicago Tribune journalist says that if he has one, it must be passe." href="http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2008/10/blogs-become-pa.html" target="_self">already passe</a> and how Twitter is <a title="From Chris Garrett on Blog Herald." href="http://www.blogherald.com/2009/01/02/when-will-twitter-go-mainstream/" target="_self">going mainstream</a>, there is a fundamental Old School operating concept of the Web and social media that is routinely ignored by many organizations, mostly through what I suspect is simple lack of knowledge and fear of a <a title="Handy excerpts from a book on net etiquette." href="http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html" target="_self">netiquette</a> misstep.</p>
<p>Here it is  &#8211;  they fail to <strong>acknowledge the link</strong>.</p>
<p>If a blog links to your business/organization/nonprofit/product/service, the simplest way to acknowledge is to leave a comment on the blog post that linked to you.</p>
<p>If someone links to you in their Twitter stream, then acknowledge with a return tweet.</p>
<p>If someone writes on your business Facebook page Wall or uploads a great fan photo, write something back.</p>
<p>When someone links to you, particularly in a two-way conversation tool like a blog, that is the blog author&#8217;s way of saying &#8220;I acknowledge you and find you link-worthy.&#8221; Someone is talking about you with that link. It may be good. It may be bad. The important thing is that they&#8217;re digitally waving at you.</p>
<p>If I were a real, live person standing in front of you waving, would you ignore me, or would you engage and talk about your business/organization/nonprofit/product/service?</p>
<p>Of course, you&#8217;d engage&#8230;.unless you don&#8217;t care, in which case, you&#8217;re on the wrong blog and there&#8217;s nothing for you here at Every Dot Connects.  (Go watch <a title="You know, from when there were music videos on MTV." href="http://www.mtvmusic.com/van_halen/" target="_self">old Van Halen videos</a>, maybe?)</p>
<p>You should acknowledge because people behind keyboards are real, too, and <a title="A basic video on links, from The Link Spiel blog." href="http://thelinkspiel.blogspot.com/2008/10/link-building-video.html" target="_self">links</a> are important.</p>
<p>Links are the coin of the realm online.  They are a &#8220;<a title="From a Liz Strauss Successful Blog post on 3 Easy Steps to Persuade a Quality Blogger to Link to You." href="http://www.successful-blog.com/1/3-easy-steps-to-persuade-a-quality-blogger-to-link-to-you/" target="_self">vote of trust</a>.&#8221; They drive Google authority. They are a powerful &#8220;<a title="From a Chris Brogan post, The Vital Importance of Links." href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-vital-importance-of-links/" target="_self">communication path</a>.&#8221; They provide helpful background information.</p>
<p>Most wonderfully, they can shed light on hidden gems that might otherwise be lost in the Webby flood. Through a well-placed link, an influential blogger or wired journalist can bring millions of people&#8217;s attention to worthy <a title="One of the talent judges who was taken with Boyle's previously little-known singing talent." href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-16/how-susan-boyle-won-my-heart/" target="_self">Susan Boyle</a>-like businesses or services that would otherwise labor in obscurity.</p>
<p>Sure, if you&#8217;re a big business with lots of Web traffic (or a small organization with a tiny staff, or a one-person organization like me who writes for more than one blog) it&#8217;s tough to keep up with all the inbound links. I discussed this issue <a title="Richard on Twitter, where he's very accessible." href="http://twitter.com/RichardatDELL" target="_self">on Twitter</a> with the ebullient <a title="All of Dell's online communities, including blogs, under one roof." href="http://en.community.dell.com/" target="_self">Dell online community guy</a> Richard Binhammer, who said that while he and his company certainly keep track of who is linking to Dell and its blogs, they only go back and provide &#8220;commentary when warranted.&#8221;</p>
<p>Well, sure. Some conversations in real life are ignored when appropriate, some just get a cursory nod or &#8220;hey, thanks&#8221; and others elicit a more active exchange. It&#8217;s the same online.</p>
<p>This assumes that there is a mechanism in your business or organization that TELLS you when there&#8217;s an inbound link, and from whom.</p>
<p>I think that half the battle with lack of response to links is that the right people&#8230;.</p>
<ol>
<li>Don&#8217;t even see data about links or Web traffic or Facebook business page commentary, and</li>
<li>Don&#8217;t know what to do with the data if they get it.</li>
</ol>
<p>The answer is to:</p>
<ol>
<li>Get an internal communications system set up so that you see, immediately, when people link to you (to start, here&#8217;s how to <a title="From Google Webmaster Central." href="http://google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&amp;answer=55281" target="_self">see when someone links to your site</a> and <a title="Get an email alert when someone links to your URL." href="http://www.google.com/alerts" target="_self">where to set up a Google Alert</a> for your URL.)Â  Then&#8230;.</li>
<li>Recognize the value and acknowledge the link.</li>
</ol>
<p>As a travel writer and tourism consultant, I link to travel-related and state/county/city <a title="Shaking the social media tree in the tourism business." href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/01/30/shaking-the-social-media-tree-in-the-tourism-business/" target="_self">tourism organizations</a> all the time.  Usually, I am trying to highlight a place in a positive way because I love and support travel.</p>
<p>The only way I can ever get a comment response to those links in my blog post is to send an email to the linkee, saying, &#8220;Hey, I linked to you. Come say hello!&#8221;</p>
<p>Um, I&#8217;ll wait here while y&#8217;all think about the absurdity of that. <img src='http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Don&#8217;t be &#8220;that guy&#8221; online  &#8211;  acknowledge the link.</p>
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		<title>A different breed: what to expect from bloggers</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/14/a-different-breed-what-to-expect-from-bloggers/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/14/a-different-breed-what-to-expect-from-bloggers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:06:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheila Scarborough</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bloggers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[journalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[journalists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[press trips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[writers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/?p=539</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m getting ready to leave on a press/media trip to Hutchinson, Kansas;  several of the city&#8217;s public relations and marketing folks decided that bloggers and wired writers offer a different way to get the word out about their destination.
My travel-related posts will be over on my Family Travel blog and the Perceptive Travel blog, but [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=32453919cd499a8e6b4f210f24a44120&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital/2493066577/in/set-72157604000142049/"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-572" title="We Can Blog It (Courtesy Mike Licht on Flickr CC)" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/we-can-blog-it-courtesy-mike-licht-on-flickr-cc-256x300.jpg" alt="We Can Blog It (Courtesy Mike Licht on Flickr CC)" hspace="10" width="256" height="300" /></a>I&#8217;m getting ready to leave on a press/media trip to <a title="Hutchinson Convention and Visitor's Bureau Web site." href="http://www.visithutch.com/">Hutchinson, Kansas</a>;  several of the city&#8217;s public relations and marketing folks decided that bloggers and wired writers offer a different way to get the word out about their destination.</p>
<p>My travel-related posts will be over on my <a title="Family travel on the BootsnAll Travel Network." href="http://www.familytravellogue.com" target="_self">Family Travel blog</a> and the <a href="http://perceptivetravel.com/blog" target="_self">Perceptive Travel blog</a>, but there&#8217;s an online angle here that&#8217;s intriguing. Some in Hutchinson have already impressed me with their Web connections &#8211; over 1,100 in the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42097700087" target="_self">WhatsUpHutch.com Facebook group</a>. Go, small town social media!</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t know that everyone I&#8217;ll encounter will be quite as plugged in, however.  Something that I noticed on the <a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2008/11/05/why-this-travel-writer-is-going-on-a-tech-tour-in-china/" target="_self">China 2.0 Tour</a> was bouncing around in my head this morning, and as I was getting ready to send an email to one of the trip organizers about dealing with wired writers, it occurred to me that I should write a blog post instead.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s because someone like me thinks a bit differently than a mostly-print writer. We&#8217;d rather write a blog post to reach many than an email to reach only one, and we&#8217;d rather do it NOW.</p>
<p>Public. Rapid. Sharing.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re different, and for people who are used to dealing with print writers and journalists, there are a few other things you should know:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>We may be talking about your organization or destination before we even get there</strong>. We talk about it <a title="One of my tweets about Hutchinson, before I left to see it." href="http://twitter.com/SheilaS/status/1484896273" target="_self">on Twitter</a> and on Facebook. Our TripIt widget on our LinkedIn profile says we&#8217;re coming your way, and we&#8217;re bookmarking Web sites using StumbleUpon or Delicious for some advance research. Can you hear us?  Do you have rudimentary Google Alerts set up? Do you know how to <a title="Twitter's search engine." href="http://search.twitter.com" target="_self">search Twitter</a>?</li>
<li><strong>We&#8217;re immediate, or at least pretty darn quick</strong>. You&#8217;re used to seeing print articles a few weeks to a few months after a journalist visit, but bloggers are different. Many of us are blogging while we&#8217;re still hearing briefings or touring attractions. We&#8217;re posting videos on YouTube. We&#8217;re uploading photos of your destination on Flickr.  We might be talking about lunch and dinner on <a title="Yelp has user reviews, similar to TripAdvisor." href="http://www.yelp.com" target="_self">Yelp</a>. We&#8217;re uploading photos and comments to our Facebook page.  Constantly.</li>
<li><strong>Where are you on the Web?</strong> Does your organization have a blog? A Flickr pool? A video channel? Are you on Twitter? Where&#8217;s your Facebook page or group? Not to be dismissive of people&#8217;s efforts, but you&#8217;re not knocking anyone&#8217;s socks off these days simply by having a Web site.  A Web site is a given, like a phone number. Please tell us where you are &#8211; if we like your stuff, we&#8217;ll be linking to it and talking about it.  <a title="My post on why links are coin of the realm and why you mustn't ignore them." href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/22/dont-let-your-business-make-this-basic-mistake-online/" target="_self">Do you see our links coming in?</a> Come on over and comment on whatever we&#8217;ve posted.</li>
<li><strong>Everything is on the record and recorded</strong> unless you say otherwise, right up front.  Our style with speakers is a little different   &#8211;  for presenters or PR folks who aren&#8217;t used to geeks, it&#8217;s like a digital Normandy invasion. We all arrive in some conference/briefing room and swing into action. We&#8217;re crawling under tables looking for electrical outlets to plug in our stuff, we&#8217;re opening laptops, we&#8217;re aligning our Web cams to live-stream your presentation to the Web as it happens, we&#8217;re firing up to live-tweet on Twitter using our iPhone, we&#8217;re holding up our Flip video cameras to start shooting, we&#8217;re snapping photos and uploading them right then.  You&#8217;re ON, not only to the bloggers, but to everyone outside the walls who is in the blogger&#8217;s many networks (and questions will come in via Twitter and video chat boxes from those who are watching and listening outside the conference room.)  Don&#8217;t be alarmed. You want reach, you got reach!</li>
</ul>
<p>For organizations who are used to a lot of &#8220;control&#8221; and one-way broadcast of their message, it&#8217;s a bit disconcerting to look at people who all seem to have data streams coming out of their bodies, going who knows where.</p>
<p>In my experience, wired writers and bloggers are generally a pretty sharing, friendly group although our communications techniques may be different than what you&#8217;re used to.  We&#8217;re big on authenticity and transparency, and we talk about things that we like.</p>
<p>Be the one we talk about. Be ready to engage.</p>
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 <div class="arkayne"> <h3 class="arkayne-header"> More from Every Dot Connects </h3> <ul class="arkayne-links"> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/29/blogging-basics-how-to-start-a-blog-and-whether-youll-ever-make-money-from-it/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869712" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869725, 1869712);">Blogging Basics: How to start a blog, and whether you’ll ever make money from it</a></li> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/05/12/6-ways-to-improve-your-destination-marketing-and-why-youre-toast-if-you-dont/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869722" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869725, 1869722);">6 ways to improve your destination marketing (and why you’re toast if you don’t)</a></li> <li><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2008/10/23/todays-lesson-your-private-conversations-aint-so-private/?utm_source=Arkayne.com&amp;utm_medium=Plugin&amp;utm_campaign=conniereece" id="arkayne-1869618" target="_parent" onclick="return Arkayne.go(event, this, 'link', 1869725, 1869618);">Today’s lesson: your private conversations ain’t so private</a></li> </ul> <div class="arkayne-footer" style="display: block !important"> <a href="http://www.arkayne.com/conniereece/?utm_source=Arkayne%20Plugin&amp;utm_medium=Recommend&amp;utm_campaign=Plugin&amp;coupon=CONNIEREECE" target="_blank"> <img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/arkayne-media/img/logo-recommend.png" width="153" height="28" border="0" alt="conniereece has content marketing with Arkayne Socialize." style="display: block !important; border: none !important; width: 153px !important; height: 28px !important;" /> </a> <img class="arkayne-hit" src="http://www.arkayne.com/widget/hit/1869725.GIF" border="0" alt="" /> </div> </div> 



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		<title>Swag Bag 2.0</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/13/swag-bag-20/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/04/13/swag-bag-20/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:38:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheila Scarborough</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[buzz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gift]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[giveaway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[promotions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[swag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SXSW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SXSWi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/?p=541</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As a member of UpTake&#8216;s Marketing Board, I wrote an UpTake Travel Industry blog post on the advantages of getting information about your product or service (not necessarily just tourism-related ones, either) into the hands of travelers who use social media tools&#8230;.
Smart marketing with giveaways 2.0
In it, I describe and link to some of the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=32453919cd499a8e6b4f210f24a44120&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p><a title="Pam Mandel (left) and Sheila Scarborough with travel-related giveaway bags prior to the SXSWi travel blogging panel (photo courtesy Sheila Scarborough)" href="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/blog-the-bag-3-sxswi-bfw.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-543" title="Pam Mandel (left) and Sheila Scarborough with travel-related giveaway bags prior to the SXSWi travel blogging panel (photo courtesy Sheila Scarborough)" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/blog-the-bag-3-sxswi-bfw-300x200.jpg" alt="blog-the-bag-3-sxswi-bfw" hspace="10" width="296" height="197" /></a>As a member of <a title="Info on their blog network." href="http://cms.uptake.com/press_and_bloggers/uptake-launches-travel-blog-network-smf" target="_self">UpTake</a>&#8216;s Marketing Board, I wrote an <a href="http://travel-industry.uptake.com/blog/">UpTake Travel Industry blog</a> post on the advantages of getting information about your product or service (not necessarily just tourism-related ones, either) into the hands of travelers who use social media tools&#8230;.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://travel-industry.uptake.com/blog/2009/04/12/smart-marketing-with-giveaways-20/">Smart marketing with giveaways 2.0</a></strong></p>
<p>In it, I describe and link to some of the online reactions (particularly on Twitter) of people who got a travel-related gift/giveaway swag bag during my<a title="UpTake's coverage of the panel." href="http://travel-industry.uptake.com/blog/2009/03/15/travel-bloggers-sxsw-2009/" target="_self"> South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) travel blogging panel</a> with fellow writer <a title="Pam's Nerds Eye View blog." href="http://nerdseyeview.com/blog" target="_self">Pam Mandel</a>.</p>
<p>Every link in the post is one more effort to land a roundhouse punch against â€œthereâ€™s not enough ROI (Return on Investment) in social media marketing.â€</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>&#8220;Many liked the sample pralines from local Austin company Lammes Candies &#8211; traveler <a href="http://www.couchsurfingori.com/">CouchSurfingOri</a> <a title="And he said his Dad would love them, too." href="http://twitter.com/CouchSurfingOri/statuses/1329175750">talked about the Lammes habanero praline</a>, and <a href="http://twitter.com/kimhaynes/statuses/1339146275">so did</a> hedge fund talent recruiter <a title="Kim's blog." href="http://kchaynes.blogspot.com/">Kim Haynes</a> and <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/">Download Squad</a> tech writer <a href="http://twitter.com/cjclark/statuses/1328413364">CJClark</a>.</li>
<li>Krista Parry (<a href="http://www.parkcitymountain.com/winter/adventure">Park City, Utah resorts</a> PR and marketing) <a href="http://twitter.com/krista_parry/statuses/1328624788">cheered the stickers</a> provided by the <a title="Alltop is an online magazine rack featuring feeds from thousands of blogs, by topic area." href="http://alltop.com/">Alltop.com</a> Travel topic channel.</li>
<li>Canadian travel internet marketing guru <a title="Todd's marketing blog." href="http://www.tourismkeys.ca/blog/">Todd Lucier</a> was <a href="http://twitter.com/toddlucier/statuses/1330178203">ready to cash in</a> his bagâ€™s Blue Bell Ice Cream free pint certificate, and he <a href="http://twitter.com/toddlucier/statuses/1331426052">told his friends about it</a>.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>I&#8217;d love to hear your comments <a title="Link to Smart Marketing with Giveaways 2.0" href="http://travel-industry.uptake.com/blog/2009/04/12/smart-marketing-with-giveaways-20/" target="_self">on the post</a>; thanks!</p>
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		<title>Escaping the geek bubble at Austin&#8217;s Metropolitan Breakfast Club</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/03/09/escaping-the-geek-bubble-at-austins-metropolitan-breakfast-club/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/03/09/escaping-the-geek-bubble-at-austins-metropolitan-breakfast-club/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:16:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheila Scarborough</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Connections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conversation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Branding]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Austin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Connie Reece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metropolitan Breakfast Club]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[presentations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheila Scarborough]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speaking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/2009/03/09/escaping-the-geek-bubble-at-austins-metropolitan-breakfast-club/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Birds of a feather&#8230;.&#8221;
Connie and I do realize that when you spend a lot of time around the feathered tribe of tech-savvy folks (thereby miraculously becoming two of Austin&#8217;s Social Media Mavens) it can be easy to forget that not everyone&#8217;s world revolves around LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and blogging, aka &#8220;the tech-o chamber.&#8221;
As my teen [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=32453919cd499a8e6b4f210f24a44120&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/slide009.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-387" title="Email is for old people (courtesy Connie Reece)" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/slide009-300x225.jpg" alt="Email is for old people" hspace="10" width="301" height="226" align="left" /></a>&#8220;Birds of a feather&#8230;.&#8221;</p>
<p>Connie and I do realize that when you spend a lot of time around the feathered tribe of tech-savvy folks (thereby miraculously becoming two of <a title="We are featured in the March issue of AustinWoman Magazine, on women in social media in Austin." href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/03/02/austins-social-media-mavens/">Austin&#8217;s Social Media Mavens</a>) it can be easy to forget that not everyone&#8217;s world revolves around LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and blogging, aka &#8220;the tech-o chamber.&#8221;</p>
<p>As my teen would say, &#8220;Duh.&#8221;</p>
<p>We know that lots of people find social media to be one big confusing alphabet soup of applications, jargon and insider jokes.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s why we run <a title="What we've learned from teaching social media workshops." href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/01/11/teaching-the-teachers-what-weve-learned-from-our-social-media-workshops/">classes and workshops</a>; to demystify the gobbledygook, and that&#8217;s why we love speaking engagements with great organizations like Austin&#8217;s venerable <a href="http://www.mbcaustin.org/">Metropolitan Breakfast Club</a>.</p>
<p>From the MBC Web site:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The Metropolitan Breakfast Club is a 20-year Austin tradition thatâ€™s anything but traditional.Â  Every Wednesday morning our members are informed and entertained by a variety of local and internationally recognized experts in business, politics and education. Our speakers share stories of Austinâ€™s past, our current challenges, and future opportunities in and around Central Texas.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Since 1984, the Club has been renowned for its extraordinarily eclectic speakers &#8211; everyone from the city Police Chief to historians to company CEOs to astronauts to the person who organizes the local rodeo.</p>
<p>Connie and I are <a title="Our bios and speaker information, in PDF form." href="http://www.mbcaustin.org/speaker_bios/reece_scarborough.pdf">thrilled to be included</a> in the distinguished lineup on this coming Wednesday morning, March 11 &#8211; you can <a href="http://www.mbcaustin.org/rsvp.php">RSVP here</a> if you happen to be in Austin.</p>
<p>We will do our best to rock the house with a combination of two of our favorite presentations:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Email is for old people</em> &#8211; Connie gets laughs and lots of attention with this one because, just like me, she IS one of those &#8220;old people.&#8221; More mature and particularly more skeptical audiences tend to listen to someone who does not appear to be 22 or live in her Mom&#8217;s basement, especially when she cheerfully blows up preconceived notions about social media for businesses and nonprofits.Â  <a href="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/reece_scarborough.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-385" title="Connie and Sheila on the Metropolitan Breakfast Club speaker flyer (photos courtesy Korey Howell Photography)" src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/reece_scarborough.jpg" alt="Connie and Sheila on the Metropolitan Breakfast Club speaker flyer (photos courtesy Korey Howell Photography)" hspace="10" width="112" height="134" align="right" /></a></li>
<p></br>
<li><em>Follow the bouncing blog post</em> &#8211; I use a series of tabbed Web pages to show audiences how the information in a single blog post moves through the Web on other blogs, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, StumbleUpon and even (how retro!) email. Newcomers to social media say that it gives them a clear visual demonstration of the power of Web communications.</li>
</ul>
<p>We&#8217;ll then open the floor for lots of questions and answers.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re in town, we hope to see you bright and early Wednesday morning!</p>
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		<title>Tips for South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) from a local</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/03/07/tips-for-south-by-southwest-interactive-sxswi-from-a-local/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/03/07/tips-for-south-by-southwest-interactive-sxswi-from-a-local/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:52:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheila Scarborough</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Connections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conversation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[In the News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Austin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geek]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South by Southwest Interactive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SXSWi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tips]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/2009/03/07/tips-for-south-by-southwest-interactive-sxswi-from-a-local/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s that time of year again, when the tech universe is abuzz with the digital creative delights of the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference in Austin, Texas.
Since I live in the Austin metro area and this is my third &#8220;South by,&#8221; I thought I&#8217;d update last year&#8217;s post on why SXSWi is like Disney [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=32453919cd499a8e6b4f210f24a44120&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p><a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/03/07/tips-for-south-by-southwest-interactive-sxswi-from-a-local/austin-motel-marquee-so-close-yet-so-far-out-photo-by-sheila-scarborough/" rel="attachment wp-att-383" title="Austin Motel marquee, So Close Yet So Far Out (photo by Sheila Scarborough)"><img src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/austin-motel-sign-bfw.jpg" alt="Austin Motel marquee, So Close Yet So Far Out (photo by Sheila Scarborough)" align="right" width="230" height="340" hspace="10" /></a>It&#8217;s that time of year again, when the tech universe is abuzz with the digital creative delights of the <a href="http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/">South by Southwest Interactive</a> (SXSWi) conference in Austin, Texas.</p>
<p>Since I live in the Austin metro area and this is my third &#8220;South by,&#8221; I thought I&#8217;d update last year&#8217;s post on <a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2008/02/28/why-sxswi-is-like-visiting-disney-world/" title="Wherein I combine my family travel and social media knowledge.">why SXSWi is like Disney World</a> and revisit <a href="http://everydotconnects.com/2008/01/22/ever-i-saw-your-face-the-lure-of-conferences">the lure of conferences</a>.</p>
<p>Just yesterday at <a href="http://wiki.workatjelly.com/JellyInRoundRock" title="Jelly Coworking Round Rock.">Jelly Coworking</a>, I discussed the five geeky days of craziness with City of Round Rock communications guy <a href="http://twitter.com/brooksbennett" title="Brooks on Twitter.">Brooks Bennett</a>.</p>
<p>This will be his first SXSWi and he&#8217;s really psyched about it, but also a bit overwhelmed by the <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/schedule" title="The full Interactive schedule. You can take a look; I'll wait here. Ah, you're back. Yowzer, right?">barrage of offerings</a>.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the advice I gave him&#8230;.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Forget about seeing everything. Heck, forget about seeing half of it!</em>Â  There are the big <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/keynotes">keynote speakers</a>, a crazy-huge number of <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/panels">panels</a>, the smaller Core Conversations (I&#8217;m speaking at one with writer <a href="http://www.nerdseyeview.com" title="Pam's Nerd's Eye View website and blog.">Pam Mandel</a>, about <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/schedule?action=show&amp;id=IAP0900629">travel blogging</a>) plus book readings on the Adobe Day Stage (where I heard then-unknown <a href="http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/">Tim Ferriss</a> of <em>The 4-Hour Workweek</em> speak in 2007,) early evening <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/salons">salon discussions</a> and my personal &#8220;secret&#8221; favorite that often has big names in a small setting, the <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive/trade_show/studio_sx">Studio SX discussions</a> in the northeast corner of the Exhibition Hall.Â  There are <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive/parties_and_lounges">hang-out lounges and parties</a> galore, both official and &#8220;unofficial.&#8221; This goes on for five days &#8211; you&#8217;ll be fried.</li>
<li><em>Pick everything that sounds good, and weed it all out later</em>. Here&#8217;s what I do &#8211; I go through the online schedule and say, &#8220;Yes, Yes, Yes&#8221; to everything that sounds good and every speaker that I know and/or like.Â  I don&#8217;t worry that I&#8217;m double-, triple- and quadruple-booked for events. I print the whole thing out (yes, print &#8211; paper always boots up &amp; never needs a power outlet or WiFi) and stuff Beast Schedule in my purse. Each morning of the conference, I do ruthless triage to pick the happenings that it would KILL me to miss, saying a fond farewell to the rest. It really sorts itself pretty clearly as the conference wears on;Â  some people hardly make any panels, but their whole day is a schmoozefest in the hallways and lounges. Whatever works for you!</li>
<li><em>Loud, packed parties are overrated. Networking and socializing are not.</em>Â  Look, I&#8217;m not a big party girl if it means jammed, loud rooms full of people that I don&#8217;t know.Â  I assure you, however, that I get plenty of fun time at South by &#8211; I&#8217;m socializing in smaller gaggles, with lots of folks I don&#8217;t know but a few that I do, hanging out in places where we can actually find a seat.Â  Many people do the same thing &#8211; go to the &#8220;big&#8221; parties, discover they&#8217;re not all that insanely fun, go back out on the sidewalk and regroup, run into someone from the day&#8217;s panels and all go off together to have a civilized beer and proper geek bonding. (OK, you want a nice bar? <a href="http://www.driskillhotel.com/" title="You go into this bar, you KNOW you're in Texas.">The Driskill Hotel</a>, since 1886. Take that, Sixth Street lemmings.)</li>
<li><em>The basics &#8211; bring business cards, check that your cell phone has unlimited texting, pack a couple of energy bars, bring a water bottle, comfy shoes, power cords.</em> It is truly an endurance event, but I mean that in the most positive way.Â  While we&#8217;re talking basics, there&#8217;s good BBQ right around the corner from the Convention Center: <a href="http://www.ironworksbbq.com/restaurant-menu.asp">Iron Works BBQ</a> at 100 Red River.</li>
</ul>
<p>I hope to run into any and all of you during South by Southwest &#8211; I&#8217;m @SheilaS on Twitter, Connie Reece is @conniereece and Jennifer Navarrete is @epodcaster (don&#8217;t forget @sxswi &#8211; unofficial tweets &#8211; and @sxsw &#8211; official tweets.) See you there!</p>
<p>More good advice:</p>
<ul>
<li>Attend Friday&#8217;s <a href="http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/schedule?action=show&amp;id=IAP0901327">How to Rawk SXSW: The Basics</a></li>
<li>A <a href="http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/other/03/08/0308guide.html">guide to SXSW Interactive networking</a>, from the <em>Austin American-Statesman </em>(and the <em>Statesman</em>&#8216;s latest <a href="http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/xldiningguide08/index.html">Austin Dining Guide</a>.)</li>
<li>The <a href="http://sxsw2009.pbwiki.com/">SXSW09 PBWiki</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cindyli.com/site/comments/sxsw_interactive_survival_tips/">SXSW Interactive survival tips</a>, from The Adventures of CindyLi.com</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sxswbaby.com/">SXSW Baby!</a> especially the forums.</li>
<li>The <a href="http://sxsw.ning.com/">SXSW09 Insider&#8217;s Guide</a> Ning group.</li>
<li>Kent Brewster&#8217;s <a href="http://kentbrewster.com/things-to-remember-about-sxsw/">Things to Remember About SXSW</a></li>
</ul>
<p>(If this post was helpful for you, please vote it up <a href="http://www.kirtsy.com/story.php?title=tips-for-south-by-southwest-interactive-sxswi-from-a-local">on Kirtsy</a>, or Stumble it <a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/everydotconnects.com/2009/03/07/tips-for-south-by-southwest-interactive-sxswi-from-a-local/">on StumbleUpon</a>. The Digg and Delicious links are just below the post as well. Thanks very much!)</p>
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		<title>Is your communications strategy stuck here?</title>
		<link>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/02/28/is-your-communications-strategy-stuck-here/</link>
		<comments>http://everydotconnects.com/2009/02/28/is-your-communications-strategy-stuck-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:40:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheila Scarborough</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://everydotconnects.com/2009/02/28/is-your-communications-strategy-stuck-here/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

Do you know what these are?
They were the height of communications convenience at one time.
They were everywhere. Everyone knew how to use them. Now, they&#8217;re seen less and less, and most folks chuckle a bit when they spot one.
The communications world has passed them by. Did they see it coming?  I&#8217;ll bet they didn&#8217;t.
Pulse [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img style='float: left; margin-right: 10px; border: none;' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=32453919cd499a8e6b4f210f24a44120&amp;default=http://use.perl.org/images/pix.gif' alt='No Gravatar' width=40 height=40/><p><a title="Do you know what these are? (photo by Sheila Scarborough)" rel="attachment wp-att-373" href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/02/28/is-your-communications-strategy-stuck-here/do-you-know-what-these-are-photo-by-sheila-scarborough/"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a title="Do you know what these are? (photo by Sheila Scarborough)" rel="attachment wp-att-373" href="http://everydotconnects.com/2009/02/28/is-your-communications-strategy-stuck-here/do-you-know-what-these-are-photo-by-sheila-scarborough/"><img src="http://everydotconnects.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pay-phone-booths-in-an-airport.jpg" alt="Do you know what these are? (photo by Sheila Scarborough)" /></a></p>
<p>Do you know what these are?</p>
<p>They were the height of communications convenience at one time.</p>
<p>They were everywhere. Everyone knew how to use them. Now, they&#8217;re seen less and less, and most folks chuckle a bit when they spot one.</p>
<p>The communications world has passed them by. Did they see it coming?  I&#8217;ll bet they didn&#8217;t.</p>
<p>Pulse check &#8211; is your public relations and marketing strategy still up to speed&#8230;.for 1999? Congrats. That was 10 years ago.</p>
<p>Think about how your market, your audience, your customers communicate now, and think about how the Web and social media continue to change how they communicate.  Did you know that the <a title="From Inside Facebook." href="http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/02/02/fastest-growing-demographic-on-facebook-women-over-55/">fastest-growing demographic on Facebook</a> is women 55 and older?  If that&#8217;s part of your customer base,  are YOU present where THEY are?</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t let your company be &#8220;that guy&#8221; &#8211; the equivalent of a sad, lonely and empty pay phone booth.</p>
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