Blogger Relations Manifesto (and Other PR Blog Jots)

Blogger Relations Manifesto
Diva Marketing
Toby Bloomberg had some questions, and some very smart bloggers and other folks had some answers. She wants to know about blogger relations. Who gets it right? Who gets the big fail? What are the best strategies? It's a must-read post, with input from experts from across the boards. "Rohit's simple but elegant statement, "One where everyone benefits" indicates the sentiment of many respondents. A successful blogger relations strategy is a win for the blogger, the brand and the community. Rajesh Lalwani reminds us that it is also an opportunity to co-create. Developing the conversation was important to others."

What I Learned on Summer Vacation
Brand Flakes for Breakfast
In their epic west coast summer marketing road show, Darryl Ohrt and the Plaid team learned quite a bit from all the agencies, businesses and start-ups they visited. One of the key elements, according to Darryl, is nailing the culture of your workplace. "Are your employees smiling? At this very moment? This is more difficult than most people realize - but it starts with little things. And it almost never has to do with money. Most of the places that we visited were filled with smiles. Humor. Friendships. Lively discussion. Encourage this, and let it grow."

Evangelize Means Educate
The Buzz Bin
One of the greatest qualities about the social media space is the eagerness of nearly all involved to talk to those new to the realm and share their knowledge. Larissa Fair highlights the importance of early adopters sharing what they know and educating the communicators of tomorrow. "We need to continue teaching, learning, and engaging others in social media for it to continue to grow. Collaboration is key to learning and teaching, how else can you share your thoughts and ideas? Reading and networking are very effective ways to get started, which is now made even easier with online tools and social media networks."

Social Media Challenges
Web Strategy by Jeremiah
In politics, candidates and their teams are well schooled in doing opposition research. That is, finding out what the challenges are to your arguments in order to know how best to respond. Jeremiah Owyang has a terrific post this week about the challenges facing social media as an industry. Knowing these challenges is the best way to face them head on. "I realize this post could infuriate some social media purists, but I wanted to provide an objective view of what I'm seeing in order to map out danger spots on the map, so we can collectively overcome them. I hope you read my other posts where I list out challenges of social networks, widgets, blogging and others, if you plan to run in this space, first know the hurdles."