Photo courtesy Will Clayton via Flickr
CisionBlog launched three years ago today with a single goal: to help professional communicators navigate a world in which news organizations are rapidly evolving, and individual voices online have an ever-growing impact. Three years later, we’ve learned that the line between what’s “social” and what’s “media” has been blurred beyond recognition. Bloggers, social site users and media professionals compete on a level playing field for eyeballs, links, Likes and retweets. It’s a fast-paced environment that’s exciting to watch.
We’ve also learned a few things about blogging from writing more than 400 posts. While it can be fun to just sit down and crank out your thoughts on a trend or issue of the day, I think most of our best posts follow one of these 10 prototypes, with which I’ve included some “greatest hits” examples. If you’re a blogger who sometimes gets overwhelmed by the blank slate in front of you (I know I do), bookmark this page and refer to it next time you get a case of blogger’s block.
1. Interviews
Landing and scheduling interviews can be tough when you’re trying to pull a post together quickly, but I think our blog benefits from all of the outside perspectives we gather from PR and marketing industry thought leaders.
Paid, earned, owned media: an interview with Gini Dietrich
The evolving role of social media consultants: a chat with Mana Ionescu
The new PR: Super Responsibility, solid research and the equity of relationships
2. Events
When I cover an industry conference for the blog, I usually highlight a key theme from the conference in the headline, rather than refer to an event our audience may not know or care about.
The Semantic Web inches closer to reality for media and PR pros
Are organizations beginning to coalesce around the social Web?
3. Toplists
It’s widely known that toplists are a great for search engine optimization, but we don’t write for machines here at CisionBlog. The toplist format also happens to be highly digestible when providing useful information for, well, fellow human beings. I think that’s the best reason to use it from time to time.
Top 100 Social Media, Internet Marketing & SEO Blogs – 2011
Top 10 news apps for the iPhone
Happy (early) Father’s Day to the Top 50 Daddy Bloggers
4. Book reviews
We rarely do a pure book review post, but we often base posts around thoughts sparked by a newly released book.
How does fair use of copyrighted work apply to branded content?
The 3 core elements of social Web analytics
5. Futurism
Where is your industry going to be in 5 years? When you speculate, make sure to back up your projections with solid research.
Rethinking the definition of media placement
2011 predictions: hyperlocal, broadcast and digital education
Web 3.0: where will technology take public relations next?
6. How tos
Our community always seems to appreciate when we get tactical with regard to tools and professional development.
Twitter hashtags: finding your community within a community
So you want to be a social media manager?
7. Roundups
Every Friday we highlight the best posts we’ve read elsewhere.
PR News Roundup 10/21/11: 5 blog posts you may have missed
PR News Roundup 10/14/11: 5 blog posts you may have missed
8. Q&A
When we do free webinars, we often don’t get a chance to answer all of the great questions that come our way while we’re on the air. Follow-up Q&A posts are a great way to answer those leftover questions.
9. Case studies
Theory is all well and good, but everyone loves a real world example.
5 great social media case studies in pharma
10. Product posts
When we occasionally describe Cision products and our partners’ products here, we usually emphasize how they provide value–efficiency, for example, or deeper insights–as opposed to the intricacies of how they work. When it comes to describing your own products on your company’s blog, it’s more important to eat your own dog food than to drink your own Kool-Aid.
Social media and mainstream media intertwine: Cision adds social media to CisionPoint
Client story #6: PitchEngine, the tool you didn’t know you needed
Introducing the Cision Influence Rating
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