January 2011

A lot of people talk about blogger outreach but what does it mean and how does it add value? Here’s an overview of what it involves, what you should expect and some tips on how to get the best results.

At its simplest level blogger outreach is the integration of blogger relationships into a Social CRM strategy. By building long-term relationships with relevant and interested bloggers it’s possible to open up a whole new means of broadcasting your message to niche audiences who are actively interested and engaged. In addition, word-of-mouth recommendations from bloggers can be very influential, especially if they have a faithful readership that trust and follow their opinions.

However, it’s worth noting that blogger outreach is one of the hardest aspects of Social CRM to get right as a poorly thought-out strategy can easily backfire and possibly even damage your brand or reputation online. Bloggers can be savage and merciless in exposing ill-informed or overly tactical approaches, and this is why (most but not all) PR agencies often get it wrong.

Following the recent announcement of the UKTI Trade Mission to South by South West (SXSW) Interactive 2011 (10th-15th March), there's some rather good news for digital firms based in London who need a helping-hand to take part in the mission.

The marvellous people at UK Trade & Investment London have announced that they have secured 10 grants of up to £500 (tbc)  available for digital companies based inside the M25. This contribution towards the costs of going can be used towards travel and accommodation expenses of taking part in the UKTI SXSW mission.

Save the date: 7th-11th Feb 2011. In less than four weeks London joins New York, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and Istanbul for Social Media Week 2011.

Over 500 tickets have been have booked already, but there's still time to grab yours. Keep an eye on the schedule as events are being added every day, we're expecting over 70, double last year's total.

As a near-constant social media user it’s interesting watching the gradual shift to an increasingly connected lifestyle. We’ve clearly passed a tipping point in terms of how willing people are to openly share their personal lives online, be it their holiday snaps, favourite restaurants or even the minutia of their daily lives.

For the purposes of Social CRM though, we’re only just crossing over the edge of the New Frontier as people begin to wonder just how comfortable they really are letting companies get involved with their online lives.

Thus far the majority of web users have happily come to accept how services such as Amazon and iTunes are able to track their usage in order to not only tell them about other products they might enjoy but also what other users with similar tastes are purchasing.