Although increasing sales is often the goal, social networks are critical to developing sustainable long term relationships

Here is what i am reading today:

“Most people think online reputation management is one of those things people in a crisis or after a crisis have to deal with and forget that they should be working to control the dialogues and search results now as preventative maintenance. Working with the social media sites that rank well in Google is part of online reputation management as the company can gain more branded search results and subsequently reduce the number of negative listings. Social media and Google+ can help you control the conversation and…”

“Nothing is forever and the rise of Google plus begs the question “When will Facebook be dethroned? ”

MySpace lasted 5 years as the king of social networks until 2007 after launching in 2002. Smart business heads such as Rupert Murdoch paid over a half a billion dollars for direct ownership, betting on the the future continuing success of MySpace and its longevity.”

“Public relations is a notoriously stressful career. CNBC ranked PR as the #2 most stressful job of 2011, just behind airline pilots. I beg to differ. Lives are not in our hands, after all.

Of course, PR can be stressful. We are at the mercy of forces outside of our control, for the most part. The right pitch has to edge up against the right timing and the right reporter for any great placement to happen.

It takes a certain kind of personality to thrive in PR. Read any PR job listing and you’ll see requirements such as: detailed oriented, excellent writing skills, multi-tasker, organized, energetic, blah blah blah. Yes, PR people must embody these traits, but excelling at PR requires a number of intangibles. It’s the gut feeling we’re looking for when we interview candidates that cannot be quantified in a job posting.”

“Old paradigms die hard. I was reminded of that recently when talking to PR guru, author, and consultant David Meerman Scott,who more than anyone has helped PR evolve in the 21st century.

While everyone’s business has been forced to change in this 24/7 always-on, mobile world, we as PR practioners (and here I am as guilty as anyone) still tend to release news according to our schedule and timing, not that of the media. Like gladhanding politicians, we knock on journalists’ virtual door fronts with our campaign literature (that is news releases) in hand, asking the media to endorse us by writing our story–not their story.”

keeping the creative edge

“Do you ever find it a struggle to come up with new ideas? Today’s video infographic gives you 29 things you can do to help boost your creativity and get you back in the game!”