For hundreds of friendships and acquaintances, readers near and far, the blessings of my skill set, a loving partner, and free WiFi at Metropolis, I’m thankful. It is, indeed, a very, very good life.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I’d like to know how an anonymous, scathing comment about my recent criticism of the Visit Milwaukee tourism campaign got on my blog from…the IP address of a PR firm employed by Visit Milwaukee. How about you?
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Imagine my surprise when I emailed a colleague on Facebook and received a response from her boss. Word to the wise employer: if you want a presence on Facebook, make sure you’re aware of the Terms of Service, first. Corporate fan pages? Feel free. Impersonating your employees? Facebook fraud.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
A local nonprofit recently applied an absurd requirement in an online-marketing employment ad rendering almost all job hunters unqualified. Here’s why you shouldn’t rely on your HR department to write ads for critical, web-related jobs.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
You can’t run a 21st-century blog network at the speed of a 19th-century newspaper. I wish someone would tell the Chicago Tribune. Here’s how institutional lethargy, inadequate tools, inscrutable navigation, and newsroom pushback make it hard to be a successful ChicagoNow blogger. (This post has now officially become the top-rated Windy Citizen story of all time.)
Estimated reading time: 18 minutes
This morning on Twitter, one of the people I’m following retweeted a message from a regionally prominent interactive marketing manager who declared that tweeting’s not all that important. So where does social media fall in the grand scheme of things?
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Lido’s Caffé, the home of a longstanding coffee klatsch that germinated on Twitter–my coffee klatsch–succumbed to the ailing economy last week. Yet in the shop’s failure is a lesson in online community–and how to translate it to real life.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Back in January, new-media marketing maven Chris Brogan (@chrisBROGAN) asked whether social media could save a business. In the face of the TARPconomy, He was hoping to help keep a Peabody, Mass., sandwich shop open. He wasn’t successful. Last month, however, a local Chicago comic shop in economic distress had much better luck when reaching out to a loyal online following.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Local bloggers can lose a lot of sleep figuring out how to boost their traffic numbers. Following a cardinal rule from the world of public relations might help. Don’t just know who your audience is today: know who you want your audience to be tomorrow. Answering three simple questions right now will help you determine who those audience members should be…and how to reach them.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Last week, local dining-industry PR shop Restaurant Intelligence Agency wrote a blog post telling clients to concentrate on exclusive media pitches or risk being blackballed by angry reporters. As long as three years ago, however, media watchers began warning that exclusives can actually do more harm than good in a highly interactive, Web 2.0 media world. Who’s right?
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
