Yesterday I was invited to talk Pinterest for PR at the Public Relations Association of Louisiana in New Orleans.

When Abbie Fink asked me how it went, I said, “It’s really fun talking Pinterest with 30 PR girls (and three guys).”

Because, as we all know, I LOVE PINTEREST!

Rather than talk to the room from slides, I had written down 16 ways to use Pinterest for PR and I walked around the room asking for examples for each.

I began the discussion by reminding everyone that using Pinterest is not a strategy. So I remind you of the same. These are fun ideas for using Pinterest at work (and feeding the addiction), but they should be used as part of a larger marketing or communication strategy.

I now give you those 16 tips. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Mark Story. 

Recently, Fast Company ran an article called “The Verbal Tic Of Doom: Why The ’Vocal Fry’ Is Killing Your Job Search,” by Craig Chappelow.

The premise of the article is this: Craig’s organization, the Center for Creative Leadership of Greensboro, N.C., was hiring for “a position that involved a high degree of interaction with senior executive clients, so we were looking for someone with the skills and experience to operate at that level.”

And the recruitment process rolled along.

Craig’s colleagues at the Center winnowed down a list of resumes to three and presented them to him for phone interviews. His first candidate seemed “like a perfect match of background and experience” on paper. So he called her. Turns out that she was not a perfect fit in Craig’s eyes. Continue Reading »

Is anyone else concerned we’re very close to another tech bubble burst? It’s normal that history repeats itself, but it usually happens with generations who don’t remember the first time around.

In Chicago, we don’t have to look far to begin this conversation. A little more than a year ago Groupon was offered $6 billion from Google (an offer they turned down in order to go public, which they did less than a year later). At the time, I predicted they would falter and never see that kind of money again.

I didn’t make this prediction because I have some crystal ball that tells me what’s going to happen and gives me winning lottery numbers. I made it because I was reminded of what happened during the dot com bubble. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lucretia Pruitt. 

I was recently asked what I considered to be my strongest business skill.

No, I wasn’t interviewing for a job (which was the last time I was asked that question years ago). It was just one of those side conversations.

I didn’t expect it to become important, but sometimes these things linger until you have to explore them further.

I replied glibly with “I translate things well.”

In hindsight? Brevity is not always the soul of wit unless you’re Shakespeare. Continue Reading »

A few weeks ago, a Facebook fan asked on our page, “Is it OK to post our news releases on our blog?”

Dear Facebook fan, see image to the left.

Just a couple of days ago, I was perusing through my personal Facebook stream and a friend of mine posted pretty much the same question.

Dear Facebook friend, see image to the left.

Actually, what I commented is exactly what the image says (even the “the end”) and Jennifer Windram thought it was funny enough to create the image (thank you, Jen!).

In 2001, I joined an advertising agency to help build their PR department. The first few months were really exciting because the account managers were introducing us to their clients and we were providing a new service. Super fun and lots of immediate work to do.

And then. Continue Reading »

Friday, Friday, Friday!

I’m off to New Orleans tomorrow for the annual Counselors Academy.

Jay Baer and I are co-keynoting (the brain child of Martin Waxman), which I’m really excited about! If you’ve ever seen Jay speak, you’ll know he’s going to make me look suuuuuper good in front of my peers.

We’re doing something kind of fun and different: We’re interviewing each other on stage. Hopefully there will be video of it that I can post here next week.

In the meantime, check out the fun stories we’ve complied for you in this week’s Gin and Topics. Continue Reading »

Last year, right about this time, I was standing in the grand hall at the conference center where BlogWorld was being held and I finally got to meet the incomparable Lisa Grimm.

After following one another on Twitter for quite some time, it was fun to finally see her. It was too brief.

But one thing I discovered about her then and have seen her demonstrate it every day since then: She really cares about our industry.

She does digital and social media for Mall of America (a job I can’t decide is really cool or super scary – I mean, people everywhere!). I don’t spend much time on mall websites (I’d rather kill myself than go to one, especially the world’s largest), but I’ve spent some time checking out the work Lisa does and, well, I’m impressed! Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Elissa Freeman. 

Shhhh. Can you hear it? It’s the sound of yet another corporate giant falling to its knees after a tidal wave of social media criticism.

Corporate capitulation is happening with frightening regularity these days. We no longer look at the Fortune 500 as impenetrable monoliths; instead, they now appear as dominoes ready to topple at the first flick of public outcry via the Twitterverse.

When do ‘we the people’ stop having a point? And when do we as communicators stop listening to it?

Are we counseling our clients/organizations to respond because it’s the right thing to do or are we being bullied into it via the blogosphere? Continue Reading »

I have to admit, Facebook is doing something I can really get behind.

They want to lower the number of people who die each year waiting for an organ donation.

What? Facebook, the social network? Yes, indeedy.

More than 114,000 people in the United States, and millions more around the globe, are waiting for a donated organ that will save their lives.

Many of those people – an average of 18 people per day – will die waiting, because there simply aren’t enough organ donors to meet the need. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Justin Graves. 

Yes, they have something in common!

As anyone who watches any television at all has surely noticed, the new “Mad Men” season has finally started.

It’s easy to understand the show’s appeal: It gives the viewer what appears to be an inside look at the creative muscle and oversized egos that launched advertising into the business it is today.

While the advent of the Internet and social media has certainly democratized brand building, it’s also introduced a wealth of unknowns into the equation.

Given my background in analytics, I sometimes wonder how social listening and analytics might have been used by these ad men (mostly men back in those days) to better their campaigns and save potentially damaging ones from the fire of public assault. Continue Reading »