Blogs

What does building a brand mean today?  Now more than ever before, building a brand should incorporate a carefully calibrated mix of both "on land" and "online" marketing elements – that is to say, the traditional methods of allowing potential buyers to touch and feel a product, and the digitally-oriented, social media strategies that have been gaining popularity in recent years.

With projections for more than 18 million people to be using Twitter by the end of 2009 and another 200 million currently using Facebook, it’s clear that social media is here to stay. The essence of the Web 2.0 phenomenon is the rise of user-generated content (UGC) and the power it gives average citizens to express their opinions – and have others listen.

Q. What is your average week is like?
I arrive at the office, and filter through about 50-100 emails every day. I file away important ones, and delete ones that I cannot use. Then I plan my four newsletters that I create each week. The Restaurant Club goes out on Wednesdays, and includes blog entries about restaurants, dining event blurbs, and a restaurant slide show. I create content for all of those features, writing about restaurant openings and trends, compiling interactive features involving the best places to dine, depending on the season, and tracking down the best dining events for the week.

On Tuesday evening, November 17, a group of New England’s most celebrated tech journalists descended on the Fama offices in Cambridge to discuss their field in the age of social media.  As the de facto hotbed of high tech, Massachusetts is the home to a plethora of print and online technology publications.

Lois Kelly, a partner at Beeline Labs and author of Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing facilitated an interactive event that made many in the packed room think of writing for social media in a new way.

She opened with a video that will make even skeptics see the value in social media, Social Media Revolution.

By Christopher Ranjitkar, Sharon Merrill Associates

Have you ever had one of those "uh oh!" moments in your career?

Was there ever a time when an unexpected event or incident meant you had to cancel all your weekend plans?

Can you recall a time when an email or a slip of the tongue of an employee caused unintended clean-up work?

Compiled by Danielle DiGiovanni

PR Week is looking for recent campaign case studies. (Must include budget.) E-mail erica.iacono@prweek.com.

Facebook has set new guidelines for promotions. Kami Huyse highlights the changes in her post, Facebook Covers Legal Risk for Giveaways; Maybe Opens a New Revenue Stream?  

By Katie Boucher, Kaspersky Lab

I am going to Moscow in December for work and it is all because I attended a PubClub event. No really.

 By Danielle DiGiovanni

Diane Darling is Founder/CEO, Effective Networking, Inc.,  and author of The Networking Survival Guide and Networking for Career Success. Diane hosts networking events such as Water Cooler Football and Drinks Above Tiffanys to prove that everyone can learn to network, they just need to find their own style.

Diane received the Rising Star Award from the Center for Women & Enterprise and was profiled in the Boston Globe. 

 By Karen Reynolds, BusinessWire

Everyone loves a great success story, and John Ingoldsby, a Pub Club member and President of IIR Sports & Entertainment, Inc., shared an outstanding networking success story with me last night at our Crisis Communications event.