As I was trolling the web for a topic for today’s blog post, it occurred to me I haven’t covered many tips or tools lately.

I hereby commit to change that.

Therefore, today I have created a list of 10 types of content you can use for your blog. When you have writer’s block (cough, Lindsay Bell and Jason Konopinski, cough), you now have something to jog your brain.

It’s not just a list, though. Obviously my examples are PR, marketing, or social media relations. But you can easily turn these ideas into something for your industry, blogging niche, or particular interests.

And now let’s see if I’m right about seventh tip. Will this blog post get commented on and shared more than some of our more popular blog post (Pinterest!) in January?

I’ll report back! Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Molli Megasko.

I’m sure you’re as overwhelmed as I am with all Google+ search and looming FTC investigation stuff, but as marketers, it’s our jobs to stay on top of what is happening and how it can affect our clients or our companies.

If we break it down, I see two different debates going on:

1) Fairness (for corporations and businesses); and

2) Privacy (on the individual side).

Let’s dig into each one. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is by Molli Megasko.

It’s Facebook question of the week time.

I hope I don’t disappoint anyone, but I’m replacing Gini Dietrich this week.  She asked me to help her out as she actually is taking some vacation days, believe it or not.

Her question to me was…

“Molli, you’ve worked at Arment Dietrich for nearly six years. During those six years, what are the top three accomplishments you’ve seen the firm achieve?” Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Molli Megasko. 

Did you know 9.2 percent of 25- to 34 year-olds are unemployed in America?

I’m not an expert at being out of a job. In fact, I don’t know what it’s like, and I’m definitely not sitting here saying it’s easy by any means.

What I do know is how to look attractive while being unemployed.

Besides the job of looking for a job, following are five ways to busy yourself while unemployed. Continue Reading »

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and, as I sat here last night trying to decide what to blog about, I though it’d be fun to ask my team what they’re thankful for this year.

The only rule? They couldn’t be thankful they have a job or for their families or all the stuff people always say.

We know you’re thankful for that stuff. And you’d BETTER be thankful you’re working with me.

I asked them to have fun with it and to be creative.

So here is what some of them have to say. Continue Reading »

Five years ago, Molli Megasko was promoted from intern to account coordinator at Arment Dietrich. She was fresh out of Western Michigan University and she competed with her peers for a full-time job. And she won.

Today she leads four client accounts, manages expectations, and drives results. She does this all from New York City, where she moved with her then boyfriend two years ago (she married him three weeks ago).

I’ll never forget the day she walked into my office, closed the door, and sat down. I thought, “Oh no. She’s quitting.” She was shaking she was so nervous. I was convinced I was right. Continue Reading »

I had a brilliant idea for today’s post in the middle of the night, but between it being the middle of the night and Jack Bauer sleeping on my head (which is not comfortable), I’ve forgotten what it was. So you get a half-brilliant post instead.

A couple of weeks ago, Molli Megasko went through our analytics and pulled the top 10 most popular blog posts, based on page views. Five of those we written by me and five were not. Never fear, guest bloggers! I will beat you next year!

But Jay Baer did an interesting aggregation of his own blog posts this morning, based on what his readers liked best, so I’m copying that idea, with a twist. I told you it was only half-brilliant; I’ve stooped to copying people I admire.

Following are the top 10 Spin Sucks blog posts of 2010, based solely on the number of comments. Shoot. Now I have to figure out how to efficiently find them. OK. Here we go! Continue Reading »

If you have not heard of this video campaign targeting gay youths, you must not go online often. Thousands of people, including handfuls of celebrities, have made YouTube videos letting gay teenagers know that “it gets better.”

Just four weeks ago, after the horrible news of tragic teenage suicides (due to being bullied to the point where they thought ending their lives was the easier decision), Dan Savage, a homosexual sex columnist, started the viral campaign with messages of how it does get better, also pointing viewers to the Trevor Project, a toll-free telephone line for gay youths at risk. Continue Reading »

This post is guest blogged by Molli Megasko, an account executive with Arment Dietrich. Molli started her career with us and has been integral in how we’ve moved our business model in the past 18 months. She is our Facebook guru and is here to talk to you about creating a fan page, engaging with your fans, and developing creative ideas for posts and photos.

Yesterday every person wanted to be on Facebook and today every company wants a fan page.  When working with clients I begin with the same five tips and we work from there.  If you can master these five, the fun strategic stuff (contests, crowdsourcing, and word-of-mouth) comes easy.  And don’t forget, I get paid to do this, so I would pay attention!

1.  First and foremost, get a unique URL.  Instead of having the URL be www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/crazylongcompanyname/119081977941, make it www.facebook.com/CompanyName (or something similar).  It’s really easy to do this.

If you are the administrator, go to the Facebook user name Web site and follow the directions.  If you have a unique URL, you can share it with  your customers, employees, stakeholders, and prospects. You can include it in your email signature and in any marketing, communication, and sales  materials.

2.  Now that Facebook pages are a part of Google’s real time search results (as of this week), I suggest using keywords liberally and constantly update your company information.  This helps with search engine optimization and also turns your fan page into a second Web site for potential customers to learn more about you and your company.

3. Add photos of employees and capture fun stuff around the office.  Take a look at the Arment Dietrich fan page (and fan us while you’re there!).   One reason our fan page is a hit is because we’ve turned it into a personality.  By letting your fans see the faces behind the brand, it creates loyalty and customer engagement and connection. Remember, people want to see inside companies; no, they don’t want it, they expect it. Give them the personality of your culture and your team.

4.     Now you can focus on your posts.  Most fan pages post a lot of company info, which is GREAT, but it’s not giving your fans a reason to engage or come back.  This is not another avenue for your news releases, nor is it a sales tool. Asking questions and posting articles that are not self-serving are the easiest ways to get your fans talkin.  Gini says time and time again…LISTEN!  Having a fan page is a great way to listen because you can ask questions and your fans will tell you what they think.  Listen to what they are saying and start communicating WITH them.

5.     Now for my favorite part.  Once you get more comfortable on Facebook, take a look at the insights and download the interaction data (both in the administrator’s dashboard) to help you track and set benchmarks to ensure each post is getting more clicks than the last.  I love tracking our company’s Google analytics and seeing how many people come to either here or to the Web site through Facebook.

What are some of the things you recommend people do when starting a Facebook fan page?

I’ve written, and rewritten, this blog post in my head the past two months and, now that the time is here to announce our news, I don’t have the perfect post yet.

So…I’m just going to write it.

Arment Dietrich is no longer a PR firm.

Yes, I’m serious. We are no longer a PR firm.

So what happened? Well, a few things (including the economy), but the two big game changers were:

1. We had nearly half of our clients tell me at some point that they missed working with me on very strategic projects; and

2. I wasn’t enjoying my job anymore – the reason I started my own business was to do PR the way I thought it should be done and, instead, I was sucked into running a business and no longer doing what I loved.

I did some soul searching. What is it I love to do? Why do I get out of bed and come to work every day? The answers surprised me.

I love to write. I love to speak. And I love working with clients. Other than blog writing, I wasn’t doing any of those things.

So, in September, I began to test the waters. The speaking and working with clients starting picking up and, almost overnight, I was doing what I loved to do. And, through my speaking came writing inspiration and the ability to work with clients every day. But I didn’t have a business that supported this model.

It won’t come as a surprise to you, if you read this blog, that I’ve been solely focused on social media for the past 18 months. And it’s turning into something we can build a business around

As of today, Arment Dietrich allows me to write (with the goal of being published in the next 12 months), but it also allows us to build a business around speaking and coaching. Our focus is a bit different than most – we understand how online communication affects growth to the bottom line and we’ve created a process around how to make that happen for our clients. We now work with executives to incorporate online communication (right now it’s social media, but that will evolve) into their companies in order to: Build their communities, generate leads, cultivate those leads, and then convert those leads into sales/customers/clients for business growth.

Will we do some traditional PR as part of a bigger, overall plan? Sure. But if the majority of your program isn’t focused on digital communication, we’re not the right company for you. In most cases, we won’t do your online communication for you; we’ll help you incorporate it into your business so you eventually fly on your own.

Courtney Lawrence and Molli Megasko are here to help build this new business model. And, of course, we couldn’t do any of it without Patti Knight. Everyone else, though, has moved on to PR positions where they don’t have to change careers.

We are communicators, innovators, and thought leaders. Now we can officially claim our expertise goes beyond PR. But how do we encompass that into one quick answer when someone asks “What do you do?”

How would you answer that question if you were us?