A version of this article originally appeared on PR Breakfast Club on August 15, 2012. Digital marketing expert Mitch Joel wrote an interesting blog post last year called “The Art of Fake Familiarity.” In it, Joel criticized a public relations pitch he recently received that used information from his blog and Twitter feed in an attempt to garner a feeling of familiarity and get his attention. Instead, the pitch came off as creepy and...

“Fresh” is a great word. Everyone wants it. Bosses want fresh ideas, editors want a fresh set of eyes, diners want fresh food and hikers want fresh air. Where would Will Smith be today if he had started out as The Prince instead of The Fresh Prince? Fresh is great because it’s the opposite of stale, and it’s amazing how fast things in life get stale. You may love a funny commercial the first time you see it, but the fiftieth time?...

“So what do you do for a living?” “I work at a PR agency.” “Huh.” Every PR person has had that exact exchange at countless parties and social events. It’s generally followed by a glazed-over stare (aka the “time to change the subject” look) or a question about what exactly that means. One thing I’ve noticed is that when you try to explain public relations to the average person, you realize that he or she has never...

At a family get-together last weekend, a number of my relatives were lamenting the fact that the businesses they work for aren’t involved in social media – at all. For those of us who work in the social sphere, this is a mind-blowing concept. It would be like saying, “Our office doesn’t have a phone number. Upper management is worried customers will call us to complain. They don’t see why we can’t just handle everything through...

Our amazing social media manager Holly has this map (left) hanging on her wall. It captures the membership sizes of the biggest online communities in the spring of 2007, but with a whimsical, Lord of the Rings-inspired flavor (or maybe it’s more like The Phantom Tollbooth). Click here for a bigger version. How can you not love a map that features the Noob Sea, the Blogipeligo and puts AOL, Yahoo and Windows Live in the “Icy North?”...