@BasilPuglisi

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PR

The Pros and Cons of Article Base Sites

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The Pros and Cons of Article Base Sites

Although many small business and subsequently website owners may have their content creation options well in hand, others can struggle when it comes to supplying their websites or blogs with fresh topics and themes. Though the concept of article bases are far from new, they are certainly increasing in popularity as small businesses spring up all over the net daily.

How Can an Article Base Benefit a Small Business?

If you asked most website owners if they would like free content for their sites or blogs, you would be likely to get an odd look, a sly smile, and questioned on what kind of tricks you have up your sleeve. However, article bases really are a cut-and-dried option in many aspects.

  • Users can sign up to most article base sites for no cost
  • Small businesses owners can browse topics, read over articles, and choose those they enjoy for their own sites
  • Most sites have no limit on how many articles or blogs a user can choose to utilize from their available content

Article base sites sound pretty lucrative for a business owner so far, but what are the direct benefits for a company’s bottom line and their web presence or brand awareness?

Article Base Pros

  • Money that would be used to pay for content can be used in another needy facet of a small businesses marketing campaign
  • Business owners who create their own content can save their valuable time by using free content from article base sites
  • Browsing article sites can give a business owner ideas about new aspects or elements of their business that may attract the general public
  • Business owners may gain more insight as to what they can expect when and if they do pay for their content in the future
  • Using article base sites may help a small business website owner to find a content creation employee at an affordable price

With all of those pros, exactly why isn’t every business owner on the net clamoring to get the best articles from base sites daily? It may be due to a few of the important cons that can come with the usage of them.

Article Base Cons

Many business owners forego the usage of article bases for a few reasons.

Proper Crediting

Most often articles on article bases will come with either an excerpt at the bottom of the article, or even a patch of HTML code to paste under the content once it is placed on the businesses site. This is part of the give and take element that article bases promote. Web site owners get free content, content creators receive free exposure and even great back links to their own sites in their credited excerpt.

Having citations or credits at the bottom of content fairly eliminates it as a website content option and secludes it fairly well to the realm of blogs.

Conflict of Interests

Many of those who supply free content to article aggregate sites are doing so in effort to promote their own small businesses. So while it may not be immensely harmful to your profitability if a shoe store in California is linked to your Maine-based offline business, a user who runs his marketing business online, will not benefit, and indeed may suffer if they use article base content that leads to another marketing specialists website.

Stale, Outdated, and Copied

It may be in the eye of the beholder (and Google) whether or not an article is worth using if it has been used elsewhere , but commonly it is bad practice to use content that is not 100% original. This rule can be ignored, but only in the case of truly spectacular, highly-viewed content. Case-in-point, if you find an article on an article base that does not make you want to do a little dance, pump your fists in the air, and share with all of your friends, chances are, it will not give Google the warm fuzzies either. No one wants the cold shoulder from the Big G.

So Who Is Using Article Bases, and How?

Many business do use article base content, however, using them under the notion that even copied or stale content is better than no content is the absolute polar opposite of correct. Your site will fare much better with one of those fist pumping, celebratory articles than thirty overused, stale, and wildly credited ones.

Fortunately, there has been one glaringly large benefit for many users. Guest blogging is widely recognized, utilized, and has proven a successful option in content management, so using article base content in this manner may be the perfect option for a few reasons.

  • High-quality content that isn’t copied to a long list of other sites, but a short list of high-ranking ones, can be beneficial to the blog by adding outgoing links and regular content for your viewers.
  • Adding them to a running blog, instead of static web content, can help to avoid the no-no’s that can cause the Googlebot to flag your site negatively.
  • Using the content of the content creator who is intent on promoting themselves, their product or services, or other opportunities will likely cause the content to be shared on the authors website and social medias as well. This can in essence be a form of free social media marketing, although, not without the previously mentioned risk of diverting your customers to someone else’s business if you are not careful about the aspects of the author content you choose.

Article bases do have their pros and cons, but can always be at least minutely beneficial as long as the website owner uses caution and strategic planning when choosing which authors, and their related links, will be of benefit, or at least not detrimental to your own brand awareness.

 

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Who Are You?: A Life Balance & Social Media Practice

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Who Are You?: A Balanced Life & Social Media

A concept introduced at the #140Conf, Basil C. Puglisi believes that the engagement that takes place on the internet, specifically through Social Media, has identified an issue in our life balance. As a society in general we have become obsessed with objects and titles, social media has amplified this for some, if not almost all.

A Short Review:

Social Media is just another communication tool or stage. How we use this, in fact, should be no different than how we have socialized throughout history. However, this is both the problem and the opportunity.

Who are you? This is not only a great Social Media question but a great life question. I believe that some define their life by names, titles, employment and status, while others have a fuller more genuine approach to life.

How you answer this question may help define your life. If you answer with a name and a job title, function or status, then perhaps you are narrowing your life experiences and therefore in many cases, your social life and social media experience.

Social Media has a life lesson for us all, depending on the platform and how we use it, it may describe us better than we do ourselves. The key is in the balance to our message and the brevity with which we share it.

Social Media is a path with infinite crossings that move with life’s experiences. In many cases, when we get to know an individual in real life we are most bound to those that share similar interests and or experiences. While history is full of superficial affiliations based on money, power and title, one could argue that histories most influential people came from humble but genuine interactions. This is the experience that social media offers us, a chance to interact and learn from one another in real time.

If you think of Social Media Sites and Platforms as a communication tool, you find that each has its own purpose and in many cases its own crowds. Social Media is in fact a opportunity with which, “you get from it, what you put into it.” If you choose to talk only about work, you will find that the others you interact with will also be those that talk about work. If you are a mommy blogger then you will likely find that those you interact with will also be mommy or parent based engagements. If you choose to be a poster and only speak at people, then in turn you will find your connections limited to those that do the same.

Why Dating Sites are ahead of the Social Media Sites:

Treat Social Media as a genuine full experience, just like the one you want for yourself in real life.

Engage and be engaged, talk about what you do, how you do it, what your hobbies are, your education, family, issues surrounding your age, health concerns, vacations or lack of, your dreams and so on.

Many treat social media as if life was meant to be a secret! Life is something that happens all the time, you experience it just as everyone else does, secluding “who you are” will only hinder your ability to make genuine relationships and explore the power of people and humanity, in both its most tremendous aspirations and its disappointing moments.

Dating Sites have evolved to a science of compatibility, they are succeeding in their mission because they are not asking for a photo, name and job title only! Dating Sites want to know “who you are” with questions about everything from religion to sexual orientation. Social Media can learn from this practice and in fact, Facebook did by adding relationship status in its early development.

Who You Know:

It has been a long standing tradition that jobs and opportunities come from who you know, don’t risk not knowing or being known!

I once heard someone speak about how they didn’t want to know what restaurant that others liked, or where they had visited. Surprisingly, that same person today makes decisions on how to spend their money, where to go and who’s opinion counts based on those same topics. Social Media offers us shared experiences that provide insight to how we might experience something for ourselves, be it an event, location or product. If you do not share experiences and communicate, how can you learn or request advice without a basis for justifying or qualifying the response?

People want to work with people. The day and age of robots is behind us, if most business owners speak about wanting real life interactions with real people, then the hiring process is going to require a more in depth look to social media practices in order to find a fit for a community, function or career. If a resume only outlines education, past employment and is followed by a credit check, then you have absolutely nothing to work with as a hiring manager. The purpose of interviews have been to take a look into the personality of the potential candidate and how they behave. “Who are you” is the most distinguishing feature for employment fit. Will you interact with the team, clients, product/service in a way that will be efficient, positive and successful?

Social Media may have gotten its first distinguishing mark from drunk college kids on the cover of Facebook, or rants about customers and clients on Twitter, but the very transparency that has scorned some, is the path to relationship solutions in business. The law prevents companies from asking personal questions in an interview or during the hiring process, but yet companies and education institutions all have unofficial policies to “google” the candidate before hiring.

While some choose not to engage, I argue that this practice is already starting to hurt them. Social Media offers the chance to humanize and qualify the candidate. It allows people and businesses to learn, do they (candidate) really care about this? Do they interact and network like they presented? These can be the distinguishing factors in fit for employment, education and other opportunities. Unless there is something to hide, you should be who you are, this is a best practice for both you and the employer.

A Sustainable Practice: You as a Brand

The greatest part of being a genuine engager on social media comes from the fact that you are investing in you!

While the last decade has been full of amazing technology, platforms and software, none has had the potential to empower people more than Social Media. While some have engaged from business accounts and company profiles, others have taken the initiative to learn, write and speak for themselves. These people have created their own brand, a sustainable practice that allows them to seek employment as who they are. This combination of learning, networking and sharing has positioned them to be successful in any roll, be it one representing someone, something or themselves.

If you build a following and engage an audience, it is likely because you share common interest, values and/or experiences. This has value, it speaks to who you are and why someone would interact with you. It is this practice that has value both in employment and in entrepreneurism.

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Can You Keep a Secret in the Twitter Age?

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Twitter has change how we communicate these days, and those who thought that the service is going to change the world in ways we cannot foresee, like Jeff Pulver, the founder of #140Conf. have proven to be correct.

But Twitter is, in a way, a double edge sword. As much as it can bring people together, pass information quickly and tell news as it happens, it is also a potentially dangerous tool.

The last events in the Middle East were enabled and perpetuated by the use of social media and especially Twitter. Whether you look at the way demonstrators passed information or cases such as Al Jazeera tweeting from Cairo when they could not report the news in any other form, social media played an important role.  The latest cases of relying on Twitter were reported in an article in Lancer, a medical magazine, when Japanese doctors used the network to get medicine to their chronically ill patients after the earthquake. The telephone communication was disrupted but the internet stayed on. It has become a convenient and wide spread tool, an “excellent system”, as one Japanese doctor puts it.

But consider other information that has been passed lately through Twitter that might have had an adverse result; during the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Sohaib Athar, an IT man living nearby, twitted:  “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).” He continued tweeting about the explosions and gunshots he hears, but had no idea what was going on.

Had Al Qaida done its due diligence and monitored the tweets of a resident living near their leader, they would have known about the raid a little earlier. We can’t know for sure if there was something they could have done, but it raises the question; can you keep a secret anymore? He later tweeted:  “Uh oh, now I’m the guy who live blogged the Osama raid without knowing it.”

What did an actor, Dwayne Johnson (“The Rock”) know about the raid before the news broke? He suddenly tweeted “”Just got word that will shock the world – Land of the free… home of the brave … PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” 45 minutes before the news broke.

What will happen with all the secrets? Remember the mayor of Los Angeles, Mayor Villaraigosa who was caught in an affair with a news reporter? All that would have come out earlier, had the neighbor who saw him in the middle of the night going into her apartment with dinner and a bottle of wine, had tweeted about it. It could have potentially changed the results of the elections.

In the days of Twitter, information can come from unexpected sources and has to be reckoned with if a secret is important and has to be kept under wraps. Twitter has had its moments, and while some believe that Facebook is the powerhouse behind social communication, I would argue that a Facebook message takes far longer to make its way around then the 140 characters that are breaking news, leading revolutions around the globe yesterday, today and tomorrow.

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Tumblr Becomes More Sociable with Launch of the New Share Button

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The publishing platform known as Tumblr has officially joined the social networking class of tools alongside more popular Facebook and Twitter options. While the Tumblr button is very similar to other bookmarking buttons offered by a large variety of services, it does offer a significantly more advanced options for the display posted.

Customized Tumblr Display Flexibility

Tumblr developers have provided a short set of coding that is easily copy-pasted into any content that you would like to promote through their micro-blogging service. The difference is in the results. The new Tumblr button gives users total authority over how their content is displayed when shared via Tumbler.

Users can decide if their link appears as:

  • Videos
  • Links
  • Quotes
  • Photos

Further user customization includes attributions, pre-filled descriptions, and even specific selections of text if desired. Buttons can meet configuration standards for Ruby, JavaScript, or PHP.

Add the Tumblr Share Button Bookmarklet

Head to the Tumblr website and log into your account. Go to the Goodies Section, and you will see the new Tumblr share button. Drag it over to your toolbar. Now each time you see an interesting item worth linking, just click on the Tumblr bookmarklet and publish it.

Tumblr Improvements

The Tumblr site is undeniably showing improvements in GUI as well as functionality. Customization options give users immense control over how their shared content is displayed, even offering an improvement in blogging systems.

Tumblr Users

Tumblr’s site has achieved an overall traffic ranking of 50 on Alexa, with a US traffic ranking of 25. Users do show an extended amount of time at around seven minutes. Predominantly users tend to be childless females between the ages of 18 and 34 who enjoy browsing Tumblr’s site from work or college.

Overall improvements of the Tumblr site including the social bookmark sharing tool addition is likely to bring Tumblr just what they were looking for with this upgrade, an increased share of social bookmarking users who enjoy and benefit from their available services.

 

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The PR State of Facebook

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In a few days in Silicon Valley there were some rather unusual ideas, stories, and news articles, pitched that insinuated that Google was invading their users’ privacy. PR agency Burson-Marsteller, even offered to assist a highly influential blogger write an Anti-Google op-ed, promising him it would be posted in places like The Huffington Post or The Washington Post.

Not ignorant of their own share of privacy or security shortcomings, they were likely none-too-happy when Burson’s offer fell apart as the blogger turned him down, then publicly posted the emails in which Burton had asked him for assistance in publicly maligning Google. Subsequently, this failure to communicate was compounded as USA Today latched onto the story and accused Burton of launching a “whisper campaign” about Google on the behalf of a client that was unnamed.

In a world of instant coverage on any type of event, those very elements on which Facebook thrives upon, it is quite difficult to understand how anyone at Facebook thought that it would be a remotely good idea, or one that was kept a tight secret. Is this a sure sign that Facebook executives are worried about recent Google social marketing elements such as the +1 system? Will their willingness to execute black hat behaviors cost them enough users to matter? Unlikely, but it has likely done irreparable damage to their reputation, at least for now.

Google?

Since many users may actually have seen or suffered from privacy issues from Google themselves. As usual, in most situations, the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle of both sides. The problem is, Google has said very little about the incident and as of yet has made no public comment about the failed campaign. In a way, this could also lend the some weight to the original plan by bringing Google privacy issues even more into the public eye.

The real problem is that now that Facebook has made such an irrational and hasty decision that will likely cause them to suffer from some form of back lash, and any real issues that Google may need to address, could have been brought to light a bit more properly, will fall to the wayside as most publicity outlets and news releases will report it and spin it as the story in which Facebook failed in an underhanded campaign to publicly bash another company.

Love-Hate Relationship

Facebook’s most recent PR plan to smear Google was an embarrassment and failure on more than a public relations scale.

In the internet advertising world, Facebook seems to be on the losing end in effective marketing and product branding. If you monitor Facebook regularly, you know it is not uncommon to see someone ranting, raving, and railing at Facebook for some imagined, or even a realistic slight. A week or two later they are back, having forgiven and forgotten their source of displeasure, or at least enough to continue to use Facebook.

As Facebook has begun to integrate itself into everything from daily deal websites to major retail chain, we have largely come to depend on it as our go-to log-in integration of choice. This is predominately because Facebook integration sites will auto-complete most of the information that will commonly be required to complete a new registration for a website’s products or services. Users would certainly be frustrated and disappointed if Facebooks PR flog affected their Facebook experience.

Will Users Boycott Facebook?

Many groups openly boycott websites that make immoral or illegal decisions. However, just as many points above prove, it would be quite difficult to boycott a large interactive element of our social media usage, most certainly Facebook that so many now use for advertising, entertainment, social network, or even just chatting with long distance relatives.

 Of course there are a few obvious boycotting methods, anything from ceasing to use Facebook, refusal to integrate other programs and remove already integrated applications from your Facebook account, and even simply deleting your account.

PR on Facebook

Facebook has already proven to be an effective method of PR for a few businesses.

  • AT&T
  • Microsoft
  • WordPress
  • Coca-Cola
  • The New York Times

Although likely the best representation of the shortlist, many other smaller businesses have also found great advantage to applying Facebook capabilities for better consumer interaction.

Business Promotion

Facebook has proven a very handy tool in managing membership relationships for fans of your products, or even groups related to your business. This is a very cost effective tool for group, member, or fan management that will allow users to create events calendars, or even just supply other leads and information that could provide additional networking benefits for those same consumers.

Facebook Connect

Adding this handy tool allows users to quickly register with your website by allowing them to approve Facebook integration. This easy option is highly encouraging for those who may not want to spend time filling out many fields, even those who have interest in your brand.

Brand Affinity

One of the most important public relations elements that can be satisfied via Facebook. If you have a product or service that directly, or even indirectly meets a need and connects a user to their Facebook presence. With the text and visuals you have the ability to provide for easy viewing, this can be a great beginning in building the brand awareness that can be invaluable to your business.

 

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Main Stream Social Media: Foursquare, Twitter and the NYC Mayor

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If you needed proof to how much social media is becoming the mainstream media, here’s a little tale:

Mayor Bloomberg, of New York City, made April 16 the official “Foursquare Day” in the city of New York.

Foursquare.com, a location based application that offers its subscribers the ability to “check in” through their smartphones and text messages, into an establishment to tell their friends where they are at the moment. By doing so users get prizes, collect virtual badges and redeem them for free stuff. They can also meet other users whom they don’t personally know but are at the location at the same time, and, as they say, let serendipity take its course. Foursquare has more than 8 million users.

So Mayor Bloomberg visited the Manhattan office of Foursquare, a social media platform, and made a proclamation through Twitter: “I’ve officially declared 4/16 @Foursquare Day in NYC #4sqday,” he tweeted and posted on Facebook as well. Together he reached at least 100,000 followers (70,680 on Twitter and 30,660 on Facebook).

Why this date? 4/16 – four squared. And the company is trying to get other cities around the world to declare it so for next year.

What a way for a mayor to boost his city’s economy.

A day later we learned the results: 3 million people checked -in in New York City alone and a lot of activity in charities they support. Foursquare events collected food, donated money to Japan disaster victims, supported the Red Cross, Humane society and more. On their blog they write “We love the fact that 4sqday helped contribute to these causes in a spontaneous, grassroots way” Mayor Bloomberg.

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Mobile Advertising is Expected to Reach 5B in 2015

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Whether you are aware of it or not, the iPad and its clones have created a revolution. They are changing the using habits of computer users. Tablets are expected to outsell desktop computers as soon as the end of this year. Coupled with the rapid rise of smartphone sales, it can potentially result in millions upon millions of additional mobile searches, sites visits and transactions done on mobile devices.

Google’s dominance is still grabbing most of the internet advertising dollars. But with over 100,000 apps and growing, even Google is trying to get a foot in the door of the applications market. Google is also doing some very interesting research on the user habits of mobile connectivity.

Google reported that display ads on Youtube increased by 50% from 2009 to 2010, selling 2 billion views per week. It is well known that Youtube is one of the most accessible and viewed mobile app.

At the end of 2010, Google surveyed 5,000 US adult users of smartphones and published some interesting statistics:

–          Activity on smartphones:

  • 81% said they use it for browsing
  • 77% did a general search. General search includes general information, search for local establishments and specific retail information
  • 68% were using different apps and
  • 48% use it for video viewing

–          Search patterns:

Action orients searches: The first on the list are the big search engines. The next most visited sites are the social media sites, after that comes retail and video content. It’s amazing to find that 90% of respondents indicated that their search resulted in direct action. One in four recommended a product to others as a result of a search.

Local information: 95% of users said they use their smartphone to locate local establishments. 88% of those follow it with action within a day. 75% say they contact an establishment as a result of the search, 61% made a phone call and 59% physically traveled to the business.

Purchase driven searches: 80% said they use their smartphone to assist them in shopping, in activities such as looking up competitive pricings. 75% of those end up making a purchase in the store.

That is why the U.S. is expected to grow to $5 billion spent on mobile advertising by 2015, according to research done by Smaato/mobileSquard. They point out that more than half of smartphone users in the U.S. did not yet see an ad on their phones yet – that is approximately 160 million users in the United States alone. Of those who did see an ad, 59% clicked but didn’t buy, 16% clicked and completed the purchase on a computer and 25% clicked and made a purchase. With the growing popularity of tablets and smartphones these number have a lot of room to grow.

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How Online Customer Preferences and Feedback Has Changed

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It has only been a couple of years since integrated log-ins began to creep into our everyday tasks online. Although it began on a smaller scale, such as the 2008 integration of Yahoo and Google ID’s with Zoho, from this small test in integration preferences, an entirely new beast grew.

Logging in via third party is no longer a delightful surprise in most cases, indeed, the lack of integrated log in can actually deter visitors from signing up, or logging into your site, especially when there are like options elsewhere that have the nifty one-click integration option. This type of log in integration is referred to as a type of social log-in service. Although Google came out strongly by quickly adding early integration for all of their available applications, it seems that the wind in Google’s social log-in services sails may have shifted.

Facebook Takes the Lead

Janrain, a web company that tracks social web data, states that since the first time they began reporting on these statistics in January 2010, Google has been overtaken. During the first quarter of 2011, 35% of users chose to use Facebook as a log-in option over all others. In the last quarter of 2010, the number hung around 27%.

However, this may not be indicative of overall users. When given the option on 350,000 different sites, users will choose not to integrate their Facebook account, but will choose other methods, or manual log-in instead, at a rate of 65%.

How is This Changing the Consumer Voice for Business

It may be difficult to determine who benefits the most, even though this new aspect of social media marketing seems to have perks for all. Social log-ins are appealing to businesses as they can help to personalize content, interactions, and brand awareness. Social log-ins are an attractive option for users who seem to love the feel of interacting with those of whom they make regular, or significant purchases from.

While Urban city guide sites like Yelp give consumers the ability to review products or services of any company on site, it seems most users these days prefer to simply Facebook ‘Like’ a fan page to show their loyalty to brands they enjoy, as well as to gain benefit by keeping more up-to-date on sales, or enjoy social chatter on the latest in the industry.

A recent study showed that while 20% of people claim they prefer to click a Facebook Fan pages ‘Like’ button to show their preference for local businesses, only 13% report being willing to write a review for the same business.

Turning the Tide

Although this may indeed turn the tide a bit on how users will begin to review local businesses, this is certainly not now nor likely to be the end all spot to find all of the pertinent information that users may be searching for.

The same study also showed that 52% of adult users under 35 will still check three or more websites when researching products or services locally or online. The main site still searched is Google at 63%.

At this point, the type of business will still rank high on the users list of what sites need to be searched. While those considering larger purchases may prefer the interaction that Facebook provides, users who may just want to check out how good a restaurants’ dishes are may still prefer the detailed review style of Yelp.

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Small Business Solutions: Sponsored Reviews

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Statistic shows that the first page on Google search results brings about 40% click through rate. The sponsored links bring about 50% of the remaining clicks. It is said that most people will change their keyword search rather than go to the second page of the search results.

So, it is very important to try and rank on the first page of Google. One of the methods used to get a higher ranking is the SEO, having articles and posts posted on the internet that contain the keywords you are aiming for, to create more links and rank higher.

Since the Social Media has become a major player in influencing the ranking on Google, many have been searching for a way to increase their presence. One of the ways is to be mentioned on blogs and other social media platforms, but you can’t do it all yourself and sometimes help is available in places you haven’t thought about.

One of the newest trends are companies that will connect you with blog owners so you can pay them to write a review about your product or service, and link back to your site.

One such company is Buyblogreviews.Com which “brings advertisers and bloggers together for reviews on products and services”. They offer to connect the business owner with blog owners that specialize in that niche and get reviewed by professionals, semi-professionals and ordinary bloggers. The connection with the bloggers is done through their site and the bloggers bid for the opportunity to review the product. The site charges 30% of the deal.

Another company is Payperpost.com, which is owned by IZEA Innovation. “Think of it like eBay for sponsored blog posts” they say on their website. Advertisers offer opportunities for blog owners to connect with you, write a review and post it in their blog.

PayU2blog.com is yet another company that offers the same service. Theirs in the only site that says positive reviews are not guaranteed.

Socialspark.com offers an array of services, from connecting the advertiser with the blogger, set link the advertiser wants embedded in the post, choose which blog they want it posted on and measure the effectiveness of the campaign. They work with some Fortune 500 companies as GoDaddy.com, Overstock.com, AmericanGreetings.com and will create a whole campaign for the advertiser around the subject he want to enhance.

A new survey conducted by BlogHer and Ketchum.com found that 20% of women who used social media are motivated to try products bloggers wrote about and 53% of them have bought a product based on blog recommendation. The top three typed of products people look for personal recommendations are consumer electronics, computer hardware and software and movies. Almost half of blog readers read blogs to find new trends or ideas.

Is it legal? Yes. Is it Ethical? Yes, as long as the bloggers posts at the top of the article that this is a sponsored post and the opinions of the blogger are 100% his.

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Innovative ways Professional PR People are Using Social Media

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Social Media has become part of every serious advertising campaign, and most PR people have been using it on a daily basis; following and engaging in conversations on different media platforms, checking what the competition is doing and sharing news and information about their products.

Besides the usual advice of how to engage your followers on Twitter: use a friendly tone, answer quickly, make Twitter a place where you give prizes and announce competitions, it is interesting to see what the professionals do to take advantage of what the market has to offer.  What causes their blood pressure to go up and what can we, small business owners, learn from them?

Here are a few tips: –

  • Pay attention to the news. Events happening around the world might trigger some reaction and connection in your mind. Try to tie these events to your product or service. Examples? A celebrity (Elizabeth Taylor) passes away. Is there a way you can tie it in to your clothes line? Jewelry? Make Up? Look at what the New York Public Library is doing, which makes it the number one library on Twitter and Facebook. When JD Salinger passed away, they tweeted many of his quotes and linked them to the corresponding books in the library. Newsweek, NPR Fresh Air and other news sites used the Library tweets and mentioned them as the source.

 

  • Find Freelancers to Tweet for you. Use social Media to find the right people. Example: the tourism department of Rwanda wanted people to tweet for them to increase their visibility as a vacation destination. They started a contest on Twitter for people to get an all-paid visit to Rwanda in exchange for tweets about their visit. More than 80 people joined the contest and 3 won. They posted 448 tweets which were visible to 1.5 million people.

 

  • Create an influencer network. Some PR agencies are using social media to deliver a complete network of influencers as a package deal to their clients – A group of bloggers, opinionated and media savvy who use the product and write about it. They can also be used as a test group for new products. Look at what Child’s Play PR did with a network of Moms.

 

  • The immediacy of social media offers PR people an opportunity to insert themselves when news somehow related to them is posted, just like it happened in SXSW Interactive Festival. They secured coverage on behalf of their clients by showing up at events via Twitter. They have abandoned e mail or phone calls as a favorite means of communication.

 

  • Use mainstay advertisement to increase twitter visibility. Freed Maxick, an accounting firm, used billboards in late 2009 to display updates from the company’s tweets in real time. In 2010 they did it with Facebook as well. That drove many people to follow them on Twitter and made them a reputable company that gives up to date, accurate information.

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