Author Archives | arikhanson

arikhanson - who has written 406 posts on Communications Conversations.


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What would your Social Media 101 syllabus look like?

Thursday, February 2, 2012

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Share A friend of mine who’s teaching a social media course at a local university emailed me (and a few others) a while back. His question: What would you include in a social media class? Actually, he sent us his idea for a syllabus and asked us to weigh in, but that doesn’t work as [...]

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Are new Twitter brand pages really a game-changer?

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

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Share Last December, Twitter unveiled a new look–and some additional functionality–for brand pages on Twitter. At the time, it was labeled as a clear attempt to compete with Facebook’s enhanced brand pages (which will get another “upgrade” in late February when Timeline is introduced it seems). Twitter obviously made a big deal of the upgrade–but, [...]

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7 tips for working out of coffee shops

Friday, January 27, 2012

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Share I realize I don’t have a normal work schedule. My “typical” day consists of working out of a combination of my car, coffee shops, co-working spaces (I’m a member at CoCo in Minneapolis), my home and client offices. But, since I spend a decent amount of time (by choice–more on that in a different [...]

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Will Path be the breakout social app of 2012?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

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Share A few weeks ago, local PR colleague Tara Cegla turned me on to a new social media app/network named Path. Some of you may have heard of Path–it launched in Nov. 2010 and now has more than 300,000 members. In fact, Path has been on fire recently, picking 270,000 new users from Nov. 2011 [...]

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The future of HAPPO–and what you can do to help

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

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Share Every month, as I plan out my schedule and calendar, I block out 10 or so hours for professional development. That usually takes many different forms: * Live, monthly PRSA, MIMA or other sessions around the Twin Cities (been sorely lacking here lately) * Coffee meet-ups with students or other folks looking for advice/job [...]

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PR Rock Stars: Melissa Berggren

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

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Share Confession: If you’ve followed this series for any length of time, you probably realize I tend to highlight a lot of people I either work with, or have worked with in the past (or, worked for, in some cases). That’s not an accident. You see, throughout my career my approach has always been this: [...]

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17 must-have apps for the Instagram power user

Monday, January 16, 2012

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Share Over the last few months, I’ve written a number of posts about Instagram. A guest blogger and friend, Jessica Malnik, has also written a couple posts on my blog about the tool. In fact, the entire Web is crazy about Instagram. Apple named it “App of the Year” in 2011. As Dickie V (Dick [...]

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Social Media Case Study: The Sprint Ninjas Employee Advocacy Program

Thursday, January 12, 2012

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Share During some research for a client project a while back, friend and HAPPO champ, Justin Goldsborough referred me to Sara Folkerts at Sprint. I was researching employee communications programs that had social components to help staff share coupons/deals on behalf of the company/brand. In case you haven’t worked in this area before, there’s not [...]

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29 terms we obvi need to totes elims from our lexi forevs

Monday, January 9, 2012

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Share Didn’t understand that headline? Don’t worry–you’re not alone. I had to have half those words on the list below explained to me by other people at different points. Which is a little ridiculous, isn’t it? I mean, I’m not the sharpest stick, but coinkydink? Really? REALLY? I’ve complained plenty publicly lately about my disdain [...]

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The 13 most fascinating people (in digital PR/marketing) in 2012

Thursday, January 5, 2012

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Share For some reason (read: my wife), I got sucked into the annual Barbara Walters special featuring the most fascinating people of 2011 a couple weeks back. Some of the folks on her list I did actually find fascinating (Simon Cowell, for example). Others, not so much (the Kardashians–are you kidding me? Aren’t they the [...]

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Page One: Inside the New York Times: A Rare Movie Review

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

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Share A few weeks ago I finally got around to watching a documentary I really wanted to see in the theaters initially: Page One–Inside the New York Times. As the title states, the doc’s all about the Times and the recent struggles and challenges it has faced as new media has exploded on the scene. [...]

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Are we helping or hurting by blogging about PR flame-outs?

Thursday, December 29, 2011

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Share I realize the fact that I’m writing this post subverts my whole point, but I’m going to write it anyway because I think it’s an important conversation. By now, you’ve probably seen the recent PR flame-out between Ocean Marketing (i.e., Paul Christoforo) and a customer (“Dave”) on a number of blogs across the Web [...]

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My version of the family holiday card

Thursday, December 22, 2011

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Share Like most, this time of year, my “snail mail” inbox is filled with holiday cards from family and friends. Most of the photo variety. I actually love those cards because for many, it’s the one time of year, I get a snapshot with the whole family (kids included). Sure, Facebook keeps me updated, but [...]

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5 Key Takeaways From Brands Rocking Instagram

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

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Share Today’s guest post comes from Jessica Malnik, a colleague I’ve met through Twitter and my blog and a fellow Instagram addict and lover. Thought I’d give her the floor today to talk a bit more about our favorite platform. It’s pretty incredible to think just how fast Instagram has grown. Instagram has only been [...]

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