First, I want to thank everyone who submitted a nomination last week. In total we had more than 70 individuals who posted, DM’ed or emailed nominations. Wow. As I said in the initial post, we have a tremendously dynamic social community here in Minnesota–something we should all be proud of. What was interesting throughout this  Read more »

Many posts have been written about best practices in the blogger relations arena. A few of my favorites were penned by Dave Fleet, social media strategist with Thornley Fallis and Brian Solis, principal of FutureWorks. But this post is about something a little more specific: relationships. The issue I think most of us in the  Read more »

I have a unique proposition for you. Pay my way to the BlogWell event on Thursday, Aug. 13 in Minneapolis and I’ll help you and your team get smarter about social media. Sounds crazy? Maybe so, but here me out on the details before you dismiss the idea. Here’s what I’m offering: * You pay  Read more »

The last few months I’ve provided you with my Follow Friday recommendations through this video blog–along with context behind why I follow each person. Today, I thought I’d try something a little different and give you the “how to” behind my broader follow strategy. If you notice from my profile, I don’t necessarily follow everyone  Read more »

I’m starting a new series today called “Rants N Raves.” The motivation? To give colleagues and friends without a blog a chance to…well, rant and rave. I thought it would be fitting if I started this series with a post from my good friend, and trusted confidante, Jen Wilbur. You can find Jen’s wit, sarcasm  Read more »

This isn’t a new issue. Legal’s influence and command over PR issues has been felt for years. I experienced this first-hand during my time at a international professional services firm. From time to time we’d face public scrutiny around an audit or tax issue for a client. As the issue became more prominent in the  Read more »

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know by now I’m all about the community. And one community I think doesn’t get near the credit it deserves is our social/digital community right here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. So often in the social world, you hear about Boston, Austin, Chicago, San Francisco. But  Read more »

Most people know this rock star as a public affairs juggernaut. But, I’ve come to know Blois Olson as a savvy communicator no matter the discipline or sect of PR. And, his firm–Tunheim Partners–has been successful at using social tools and platforms with smaller businesses across the Twin Cities to drive sales and brand awareness.  Read more »

One of the very interesting dynamics of engaging online is meeting folks in real life that you’ve only followed and interacted with on Twitter and other social platforms. Yesterday, I had the pleasure to meet Jason Kintzler, CEO of PitchEngine, in person. And I was not disappointed. Genuine, personable and “social smart”, Jason lived up  Read more »

If you engage regularly on Twitter, chances are you know Danny Brown. The ubiqitous founder of the largely popular 12for12K effort, Danny is what I like to call an “uber engager.” He’s smart. Always open to an engaging–and quippy–conversation. And he’s not above chatting with just about anyone. But, in addition to exhibiting key traits  Read more »