Recently, Aaron Stout posted about his experiences in hiring someone the “new way”. There are new rules for everything these days.

Aaron learned a ton through his experiment, and about the candidates that he was talking to, following or otherwise looking at from a web 2.0 way.

He learned that there are several things that can benefit your business through by adopting an HR 2.0 method:

• Saving money (no external recruiters)
• Increasing your reach through social networks
• Assisting your future recruiting efforts by staying in touch with great candidates that you didn’t hire first go around
• Providing more information about candidates which can help with the “reference” work at the back end while up giving you a better up front “taste” of:
  • writing style
  • network size/quality,
  • interactions with others
• Creating a way for candidates to get to know you and your company up front (this assumes that you and your company engage in some sort of social media activity - even if it’s a blog, LinkedIn account or podcast series).

You can check out all of Aaron’s observations and thoughts here

So, I’m about to crash so I can get up early tomorrow morning to go meet Gary Vaynerchuk, the host of Wine Library TV, and a man who made his family wine business flourish, partly through using Social Media.

So I’m wondering, if you had an hour, face to face with Gary, what would you ask him? Remember that this is a guy who is using some kick ass social media tools to promote his business, above and beyond what the traditional tactics are. What advice would you like to know about how to run your business better?

After I posted about my friend, Rebecca from Miss604’s experience with Matchstick Marketing, I realized that I was basically doing exactly what I was trying to teach people not to do: I wasn’t getting a balanced view of the situation.  Made me no better than a mud-slinger. So, I reached out to them and asked if we could chat.

Gillian Sloan, the senior account manager got back to me right away and we set up a time to chat with both her and Matthew Stradiotto, one of Matchstick’s founders.

They were both great to talk to, and were completely candid about what had happened with Rebecca and also what they were doing to make sure that similar situations don’t happen in the future.

Gillian and Matthew explained that Matchstick views the bloggers they work with as consumers first and foremost, which I thought was a great way to look at it.

The main thing that Matchstick wants to do, before sending product out to the people they’ve determined are influencers (what they call the bloggers and consumers they work work) is to understand them as people first, rather than just an influencer. They want to know what makes people tick so they are sure they’ve found the right fit.

Gillian has circulated one of Jason Fall’s “how to conduct blogger outreach”  [post] around the office and they were meeting later this week to go over everything with their staff.

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if all companies responded this way to a compliant or problem?? I have to applaud Matchstick for responding so quickly and for being as honest and transparent as they say they are. Hallmarks of any company operating in what is now a social media world.

Thord D. Hedengren recently interviewed me for both the Blog Herald and Blogger Talks.

The Blogger Talks interview is my take on PR and gettin’ famous.

The Blog Herald was founded by Duncan Riley in March 2003 as a premium source of blog and blogging related news for bloggers. It was the first blog dedicated exclusively to the news of the blogosphere and remains the longest (and largest) standing resource of its kind.

I was interviewed this week by Thord D Hedengren, from Sweden for Blog Herald and then, today for Blogger Talks. Here’s the Blog Herald interview, and I’ll post the Blogger Talks interview as soon as it runs.

On April 22, Colleen Coplick took the helm at b5media blog Buzz Networker, replacing former blogger Kevin Palmer. Taking charge of an established blog is always a hard thing, I know that for a fact (actually, it goes for most things), but it is something that happens all the time, with people buying and selling blogs. What makes this switch extra interesting is the fact that Colleen will be blogging about “PR 2.0″, which means social media and more, and she’ll be doing that with her 7 years of traditional PR backing her.

Should prove to be an interesting ride, so I sent her some questions, resulting in a short interview piece about Buzz Networker here, and a longer one coming to BloggerTalks later on.

Congratulations on taking over Buzz Networker, a b5media blog! What will you do with it?

I’m planning on examining the where PR, Social Media and Business intersect. I’ll be leveraging my network to interview as many interesting people in these spaces as I can including Loic Lemeur from Seesmic, Tara Hunt from HorsePigCow and Charlene Li from Forrester. I tend to be pretty opinionated however, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up generating some controversy.

You’ve branded yourself a PR rockstar. How will you use your knowledge in this on Buzz Networker?

I’ve been in PR for 7 years and understand very very clearly how to do it *right*. With the rise of social media, PR people need to understand how to use these tactics correctly. I hope to be able to apply my knowledge of both PR and social media to help people to understand how they can apply these tactics to their current promotions.

You got the gig more or less via Twitter, and have already written several posts about the service. What’s the ideal use of microblogs? What’s the point of 140 character messages anyway?

I love Twitter! It’s quite honestly changed my life. I know it sounds silly, but I’ve had things happen through Twitter that would never have happened otherwise. I think that the ideal use of Twitter, and microblogging in general is the conversation that is sparked. The connections made with people around the world - like yourself - that I would never connect to in real life. There are ways companies can use it to engage their consumers in conversation as well as promote their brands. The 140 character messages make you succinct. Anything you’ve got to say that’s longer than that needs to be reserved for blogs, emails or your website.

What are the 3 most obvious PR mistakes made by blogs?

I think that that most obvious mistakes made by blogs is that the writers aren’t honest or transparent. If a company is writing a blog, they need to be very clear about WHO is writing it. Take a look at the Southwest Airlines blog - they are very clear about who contributes the posts. Also, the frequency of the updates is important. you’ve got to be consistent - it definitely doesn’t have to be DAILY, but blogging is not something you can do once and then stop, especially if you want your readers to respect and believe you. The third main error that blogs make is in their posts themselves - no images, boring subject lines… you’ve got to engage your audience and make them want to come back to your site for more!

Congratulations to Colleen on her new gig, and thanks for answering these quick questions! Do visit Buzz Networker and see what she does with the blog, and keep a lookout for a longer interview focusing more on the PR aspects of blogging over at BloggerTalks.

I’ve got some big plans for BuzzNetworker in the upcoming weeks, and I want to know if there’s anything you’d like to see.

I just received a copy of Rohit Bhargava’s latest book, “Personality not included. Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity- and How Great Brands Get It Back” that I’ve already started on. Rohit and I will be talking as soon as I get the book finished.

I’ve got an interview set up with Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos to talk about how Zappos is using social media and PR. Thanks to Tara Hunt for that connection!

Speaking of Tara, I’ll be talking to her about her new book as well.

I’ve got an interview set up with Charlene Li about Groundswell and that will happen as soon as I’ve had an opportunity to read that book as well.

Who else should I be talking to? What do you want to hear about? Who’s got a great book that I should be looking at?

What are your thoughts? Email me or leave a comment!

One of the interesting things about social networking and the phenomenon it has become is that it has created its own celebrities. An example of a celebrity that used MySpace and other social networking websites to promote themselves is Bobbi Billard, who has the fourth largest female profile on MySpace with well over one million friends.

Bobbi has used MySpace and social networking websites to expand her fanbase and brand, she has landed various modeling and promotional gigs on the strength of her marketing ability. While most people would discount Bobbi as just being an attractive female she has proven time and time again to be much more than that. She has a marketing savvy that anyone can learn from. Her intelligence is displayed in her blogs and in this interview that was conducted over e-mail.

What sites are you currently using right now to promote yourself?

NowLive.com, MySpace.com, Facebook.com, GrindSpace.com, Fubar.com, Stickam.com, LiveMansion.com, ModelMayhem.com, UjenaTalent.com, etc. (too many to list). The ones I have mentioned above are my personal favorites. If you decide to sign up for a profile at any of these, please search for me, “Bobbi Billard” and add me to your friends list. Thanks!

How has social networking websites impacted your career?

It has opened the doors to many opportunities that might not have come my way otherwise. Many companies are looking to alternative sources to market their products. Commercials are no longer as effective as they once were before TiVo came along because you can fast forward past them. When a company hires me, I come with a built in fan base. I use my network on these sites to heavily promote any project that I am involved in. In doing that, I bring much more to the table than just being a pretty face behind a product’s marketing efforts. I believe that hiring someone like me can be more effective than hiring a model without the numbers that I have achieved. If you were in charge of hiring someone to promote your company, who would you choose? Some eye candy that turns heads, or someone who turns heads AND has the numbers to back it up? It’s a no brainer… I am one part model and one part marketing. *smile*

What perception do people have about your success on these web pages? Do most people consider your presence impressive or do some people think of it as “just myspace”?

It depends on the person I guess. Most people think that it is quite amazing what I have been able to accomplish via my MySpace and other sites on the net. Any person thinking that it is “just myspace” must be oblivious to the fact that MySpace is one of the most visited websites on the internet. The current rankings according to traffic from Alexa.com: #1 Yahoo, #2 Google, #6 MySpace.

What tips can you give to people starting out using the internet to promote themselves or their business?

Work hard! Hard work will always pay off in the end. Do not discount the power that these sites can have in helping your business to grow. If your company does not have a myspace presence, you need to get with the program! And depending on what type of business you have, it might be worthwhile to consider hiring someone to design and maintain a professional business profile and/or purchase an advertising profile space on MySpace.

I want to thank Bobbi Billard for taking the time out to answer these questions you can find her MySpace profile here or visit her at her website Bobbibillard.com.

Technorati Tags: interview, bobbi billard, social networking, marketing, MySpace

It is always interesting to see another marketers perspective when it comes to the social networking website. Recently there was an interview on Blogcritics.org with Matthew Sherbone, an internet marketer. There were a few things that I wanted to point out from this interview and comment on.

Sherbone talked about creating an impression with the first things people see:

Your MySpace picture is often the first thing that people see; make sure you have one that stands out. The best pictures stir up an emotion in its viewer. A good rule of thumb is to select pictures that are relevant to your product and audience. My favorite strategy is to use a movable gif that is a little larger than the average and captures the viewer’s attention.

You’ll want to spend time selecting a strong headline for your profile since it will appear next to your picture. It will also be visible from comments you leave on other profiles and on the MySpace search function. It’s important that you use proper search engine optimization techniques in your headline and throughout your profile’s content. The headline should reflect your overall strategy with important keywords.

I have talked about the importance of an attention drawing picture before in laying out my strategies for MySpace , but Sherbone brings up something I haven’t touched on, using an animated .GIF. Bloggers such as the Ryan King and others were the first to use animated GIFs and they were huge attention getters on the site. If you can’t produce an animated gif, taking popular ones that float around the web from movies or television is another way to grab attention to your profile.

Also he is correct about having a good headline as that is one of the first things people see.

Sherbone also tackled some of typical topics such as using bulletins and commenting pages, nothing really new there.

I really wanted to share the animated GIFs point that he brought up because it is something that had totally slipped my mind, also it is an excsuse for me to share my favorite animated GIF ever:

Technorati Tags: social networking, myspace, interview, Matthew Sherborne