If you have questions like these on your mind. . . . Where do journalists research stories? How believable is social media? When do PR professionals factor in? Cision’s 2009 Social Media & Online Usage Study with George Washington University offers some valuable insights. Heidi Sullivan, Vice President of Research for Cision, says “Mainstream media…
As a marketing student, I find it interesting to look into communities. Here are a few highlights from a recent study about the African American market. “‘African Americans Revealed’ shows us that the black community should never be referred to as one homogeneous population… We hope this report will help organizations better connect with an…
Americans LOVE video so much that they watched 33.2 billion of them in December 2009. Why do you think Americans watch so much video online? Highlights from the comScore Video Metrix service stats include . . . Videos averaged 4.1 minutes long and 86.5% of the total U.S. internet audience viewed online video. Online Video…
Who’s who on the Web? Forbes recently released its fourth annual 25 top Web Celebs. To be a contender, you had to meet this criteria . . . Each candidate was ranked in four areas: Web references as calculated by Google, traffic ranking of their home page as calculated by Alexa, TV/radio mentions and press…
Adding another layer of personalization, LinkedIn now lets you present your profile in the order that best represents you and your profile. Customizing your profile’s section ordering is quick and easy. You will notice that the headers of each of the sections on your “Edit Profile” page now have handles that can be dragged. To…
Looking to add some PR blogs to your reader? Check out this list. Matthew Watson recently updated the World’s Top 100 PR blogs list. Here’s how Matthew came up with his list . . . The list is by no means perfect since it only features blogs on the AdAge Power 150 with PR, Public…
So, where is all this digital stuff going? Edelman’s Digital team gives us a preview of their opinion of what’s to come in their recently released white paper, Digital Visions: Ten Ideas for the New Decade. The bigger opportunity for clients, we believe, is to identify the global societal and technological trends that are reshaping…
Next week, I’m honored to present four programs at the IAPD/IPRA [Illinois Association of Park Districts – Illinois Park and Recreation Association conference]. Thanks so much to Jessica Alexenko of the Lisle Park District for booking me to speak at two workshops and two breakout sessions. We started talking about the conference almost a year…
How do you handle negativity, privacy, branding, security on Facebook? Thanks to a reader who asked these questions about Facebook and their business. Have IRL [in real life] questions you need answered? Leave them in the comment box, text 630.207.7530 or email corywestmedia @gmail.com. 1. How do we manage negative feedback about our product/services? Monitor…
Ever wished you had your own in-house search engine strategist? I have and today we do. Thanks to Bob Tripathi for contributing this guest post on how to write an optimized press release. Bob and I met in the press lounge at Ad-Tech, we worked collaboratively to promote a SEMPO event and we met up…
I’m really excited to be presenting at my first ever Public Relations Society of America [PRSA] meeting. Thanks to Diane Short for being such a professional and easy to work with program chair. If you’re in the Chicago area, I’d love to see you there! Here’s the program announcement. January 12, 2010 PRSA Suburban Chicagoland…
In this picture, I’m smiling at an authentic Chicago Italian beef joint with Marc Harty. We met for the first time a few years ago when I won a contest to be Marc’s guest at an Internet marketing seminar. We’re both Illinois grads, we both like Italian beef and we both have a passion for…
This post probably should be in a few parts, but since it is a progression of experiences, I’ll keep the collection together. Speaking of collections, you’ll find my Elysian Hotel images here. When I got an invitation to attend a private reception at The Elysian Hotel on November 18 I almost said no. With social…
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. Aesop In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of every year. But, you don’t have to be a resident to count your blessings. To help you do that, here’s a refresh of a post that first appeared here in November 2007 about gratitude and…
Online you can be anyone you want to be. Not that you should, but you can. While we would never, ever recommend our clients create even a slightly fictitious persona, some people can and do make things up every day in real life and online. Over the weekend, I watched a rerun of this Saturday…
Butterflies used to be my visual brand. Why? Because I like photographing them and with the tagline “Marketing Transformations,” I though they were a natural fit. So I posted a series on my site: one for every page. But, did the images fit the brand? Here’s a replay of an article about branding methods, updated…
Gary Vaynerchuk is coming to Chicago tonight! I’ll be there. Because it’s Gary V Day in Chicago, I’m sharing this post from October 9, 2008 with 20 tips and a video. Enjoy! And…yes, I’ll be back with a report on what it’s like to meet Gary live. Thanks and congratulations to Kally Olexa for bringing…
Peter Shankman visited Chicago this week and I was there! Now this is one guy I’ve always wanted to meet. I’m a fan of HARO [helpoutareporter.com], more stats on that later, and Peter’s brilliance in general. Although most people associate Peter with HARO, did you know he’s also the author of Can We Do That?!…
Rather than print out pages of handouts, I’m posting my Digital PR workshop materials here for the world to enjoy. First, we’ll talk about how to become your own publicist using the PR P-R-I-M-E-R Next, we’ll go over the Digital PR=Publicity Repositioned presentation. Rozgonyi Publicity Repositioned Final View more presentations from CoryWest Media, LLC. Then,…
Coming up on October 30 in Lombard, Illinois . . . here’s a press release about an event that’s expected to draw over 500 people and 50 exhibitors. Need a business to business social networking or social media marketing strategies speaker? We released new about the expo via PRWeb. Social Media Talks Buzz Up Lombard…
How do you think Google Wave will change the way you communicate? That’s the question on my mind today. My Google Wave invitation arrived on October 24. Now, I can invite 20 people to join me. Invite others to Google Wave Google Wave is more fun when you have others to wave with, so please…
By the end of the year we’re going to talk about lists, not followers. @scobleizer via @wireprworks At BlogWorld Expo, I found this greeting on my twitter home page: New! Lists. A great way to organize the people you follow and discover new and interesting accounts. (BETA) Lists are timelines you build yourself, consisting of…
Looking for a workshop on how to hone your digital PR and social media skills? I’m teaching one on October 27. Here’s the event description. Register for DIY Digital PR Social Media Workshop. “Ingredient X: Top Secret Digital Fuel for Powerful Business Results” Learn how to propel your reach directly to people who can bring…
At BlogWorld Expo, Steve Rubel talked about how to use technology to stream your business and your life from email to a site based on a platform called Posterous, pronounced päs-t(?-)r?s. Hope your find these note from Steve’s session to be helpful and informative. Image: Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer introduces Steve Rubel. What,…
Note: This post contains dramatic videos – plan to stay for awhile. My trip to KÀ began with a brief email exchange . . . ME: Thanks so much for making this offer. Last year I found out about it a few hours too late. I’ve never seen a show in Vegas, but I love…
English