The emergence of social media and user-generated content has radically changed the practice of PR. The articles and blog posts below—some of the best of 2008 on interactive PR, or "PR 2.0" as some refer to it—provide outstanding guidance on using social media tools like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and social media newsrooms to maximize the impact and SEO benefits of online PR activities, as well as measuring your success.
Brave New World of Media Pitching: LinkedIn by PR Meets Marketing
PR 2.0 expert Cece Salomon-Lee follows up on her post about
Twitter pitching by explaining how LinkedIn can help with PR, such as through forging new connections and researching reporters.
Online PR - Is there any value beyond the links? by Search Engine People
Search marketer
Jennifer Osborne answers the provocative question posed in her title with a resounding "Yes!," detailing six ways to measure the impact of interactive PR, from links and increased traffic to SEO rank and increases in offline inquiries.
Optimizing Press Releases - It All Starts with the Lead by StraightUpSearch
This brief but valuable post offers several simple tricks to help get your news releases not only found but actually
read online.
How To Pitch To Bloggers by Pick Me!
The tireless
Laura Moncur, author of a half dozen blogs, gives PR practitioners priceless advice on how to effectively pitch bloggers, such as doing some research first, understanding how bloggers differ from traditional journalists, proiding review copies when applicable, and being "prepared for the truth."
Words to Write By: SEO Tricks for Press Releases by Speak Media Blog
PR strategist
Jennifer A. Jones recommends using
SEO keyword tools to discover the most popular current keywords when writing news releases. At the time she wrote this post, "sex," "money," "secret" and "trick" were among the top attention-getting words (it's not clear if that means used separately or in combination...hmm) while
gobbledegook words like "solutions," "leading" and "cutting edge" are pretty much worthless.
Social Media Newsroom for How Best to Avoid DyingThis is the social media newsroom page for the book
How Best to Avoid Dying
by Owen Egerton—one of the best and most comprehensive examples of a social media newsroom I've seen.
Press Releases and Search Engine Optimization by Search Engine Watch
SEO and web design expert
Mark Jackson offers step-by-step guidance on how to maximize the value of press releases for SEO, from writing the release through distribution and publishing.
Facebook Connects Your Brand Across the Social Web by PR 2.0
Brian Solis, principal of Silicon Valley-based PR firm
FutureWorks, reviews a presentation by
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and cites the platform as key to
online reputation management, noting that "With just a bit of code, Facebook Connect enables seamless integration between Web sites, pages, communities, and networks and the Facebook identity system."
Previous posts in this series:Best of 2008: SEO Guidance, Part 1*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom