Guest post by Danny Brown, the social sensei at Bonsai Interactive

Ah, geo-location marketing. It’s getting a huge amount of buzz at the minute, as Twitter apps connect location tweets to its service, Foursquare is credited with Domino’s Pizza’s UK success and smartphone users get ready for augmented reality to guide their leisure time.

All good stuff. And yet… Continue Reading »

Coming to you from Modesto, Calif., the city of “water, wealth, contentment, and health”, I pay homage to Lois Arbogast, a freshly minted U.S. citizen, and answer a question from Alex Parker.

Alex asks, “What new skills and initiative do new and mid-level PR pros need now and in the future?”

Watch the video and see if you agree. What skills do YOU think PR pros need now and in the future?

(For those of you viewing from FeedBurner, click here to see the video)

After reading an interesting article about another social website that popped up, I had this yearning feeling to share and discuss it, but with whom?

I didn’t want to share it on my personal Facebook page, as most of my friends and family couldn’t care less.  I thought about Twitter, but I only check that once a day so the conversation would mostly stop after one or two tweets.  Then I thought about posting the link on the Arment Dietrich Facebook community, and I stopped myself and thought, I should find a community where all members are interested in the same types of news that I am outside of my company. Continue Reading »

I first published this on Sarah Robinson’s blog, Escaping Mediocrity. So if you read it there last week, you won’t learn anything new by reading it here today. But, by all means, don’t be shy about leaving a comment!

On June 30,  Matt Lauer had  Elizabeth Edwards onThe Today Show to talk about life, family, her revised book as it comes out in paperback, criticism she’s received, and what she thinks about her ex-husband’s love child. Before seeing her interview, I’m not sure I would have been able to clearly articulate what creating irresistible presence really means. And then I watched her, with complete fascination and respect, as she answered tough, tough questions with confidence, class, and ease. Continue Reading »

Guest post by Ryan Knapp, a recovering linguist

What if I told you there is an innovative communication tool that allows you to talk with millions of new people in a way you’ve never been able to before? What if I told you this new way to communicate would integrate seamlessly with all forms of social media you currently use?

What innovative tool would I be talking about? Continue Reading »

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to use Twitter, not as an engagement tool, but as an SEO tool for some of our clients. And then, one of my favorite Canadians, Danny Brown, blogged about using social media in a way that’s right for you. And, just like he always does, he pulled the rug right out from under me! Okay, not really, but it is true that I think through something only in my head and he writes it before I have the chance to say it out loud. Now if I could just figure out how to switch that around! Continue Reading »

Guest post by Matt Cheuvront, founder of MATTCHEVY and part of Gen Y

What is the first thing you think of when you hear “Gen Y”? Almost unanimously, the first adjective that comes to mind is “entitled.” Yep, Generation Y is arrogant, conceited, ungrateful, and demands instant gratification. We know more than you, we’re better than you, so if you could just accept that, we’d all be a lot better off, and working together would be so much easier. Continue Reading »

On Friday, Angelica Colantuoni and I were riding our bikes along the Lakefront (Chicago, for those of you who have never been). Just as we rounded the corner at North Avenue Beach, we saw a jogger go flying across the path, as a cyclist ran right into her.

The jogger crossed the path, from east to west, without looking to see if anyone was coming from the north or the south (which is the direction the path runs so you’d think she’d look both ways before crossing). And she got hit. And she flew through the air. And Angelica and I both had to ride into the grass to keep from running over her. Fortunately, she was not hurt and she realized her mistake, and the cyclist was not hurt, but it could have turned out disastrous. Continue Reading »

Spin Sucks reader Kara Vanskike sent me an email recently saying:

“Our blog has been up and running for about a year and a half.  We know it’s being read through analytics and in person comments, but we really struggle to get people to comment on the posts.”

Despite what many people think, it’s not as easy as starting a blog, publishing a few posts, and waiting for the comments to roll in. Following are some tips for getting more comments on your blog. Continue Reading »

I don’t remember how I first found Julie Roads, but I was very lucky to find her and, in a minute, you’ll be lucky too!  That’s why today’s #FollowFriday is Writing Roads.

On the blog she says she writes about writing, blogging, social media, and marketing. And she does write on all of those topics. But I have to say, her best posts are always the ones (like yesterday’s about finding the good ones) that divert just a bit from one of those four topics. Continue Reading »