Yesterday, both Google and MSN’s Bing made announcements that the two search engines will include Twitter updates in search findings.  (Bing will also include Facebook updates as part of the search results, but for now, this will only apply to those Facebook pages that are open to public viewing).  

What does this mean for your organization?  It means when someone goes to search for information relating to your brand, conversations happening on Twitter will appear, allowing you to more closely monitor, engage and join in on what’s being said about your company.

We meet with people all the time who are still skeptical about social networks in general, still thinking they’re a passing fad.  Kim and I will be the first ones to tell you that we don’t advocate a brand jumping into a social network just because “all the cool kids are doing it.”

Rather, just like with all smart branding strategies, social networks should be considered as another tool in the box, another way to communicate with your audience in an authentic, two-way form.

I’m excited about this new search development, because I think it’s a great way to harness information in one place for consumers.  I’m sure it won’t be long before other search engines follow Google and Bing’s lead.

United Ministries Walk for the Homeless

According to the Greenville News, there are between 900 and 1,200 homeless people on any given night in Greenville.

On Sunday, October 18, Liza and I participated in United Ministries’ Walk for the Homeless and walked the 3.5-mile route that many homeless people walk in order to receive services from agencies that serve the poor and homeless in Greenville County.

As sponsors of this 20th annual event, we hope that we can – in some small way – raise awareness of the services that assist people in need in our community.

There were certainly a lot of people out there yesterday, and we’d love to hear from others who walked in the recent event. What did you think of it? Why did you participate yesterday? What does this event mean to you personally?

So, anyone who has ever worked with our fearless leader, Liza Jones, knows that she’s smart, she’s funny – and all of her clients love her for her honest, candid viewpoint of how strategic public relations activities can help them meet their communications goals.

With that all said, I’m thrilled to announce she has been nominated – and is currently under consideration – to receive a GSA Business‘s Suzanne Thaler Rising Star Award, given annually to a woman with outstanding accomplishments in business who shows leadership in her industry and in the South Carolina community.

Liza and I will be attending the 9th annual GSA Business Women’s Summit
on October 20 to find out the recipient of the award. Either way, we are so proud of all Liza has accomplished – and are excited to see what lies in the future for her!

Congrats, Liza!

This is a re-post from Mashable.com. Susan Payton is the Managing Partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an internet marketing firm specializing in blogger outreach, social media, and PR. She is also the blogger behind The Marketing Eggspert Blog. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.

It’s clear that the public relations landscape is changing. No longer does emailing a journalist a press release always result in coverage on major news channels (there are exceptions, naturally, but the average business doesn’t get on Oprah). These days, journalists (and yes, bloggers too) are inundated with press releases. It’s easy to hit delete and move on.

How do you get your pitch heard above the din? Conversation. Engagement. Interaction.

Click here to read the rest of the pointers about how to use social media in your PR pitch.

Yesterday, the FTC announced it will impose fines up to $11,000 for bloggers not disclosing payment or the changing hands of anything of “material value.”

While this may come as a shock to the system for some, it shouldn’t really change much for those PR and social media marketing practitioners who have been disclosing information all along.

For example, when I’m conversing with outdoor bloggers about a new pair of Costa sunglasses and I offer them a sample to test out for their readers, they know who I work with and what I’m doing. Likewise, most of the bloggers with whom I have relationships already disclose when they’re testing out a sample of a new product for their readers.

There’s sure to be lots of gray area with this new ruling and hopefully we can all work together to make sure we’re providing authentic, transparent information to consumers. Ideally, this development will work to stop some of the more shady marketing practices out there, which is what it’s intended to do.

What do you think? Is the FTC overstepping its bounds? Was this ruling necessary to provide consumers with more transparent information? How will it change your relationships with bloggers?