This month’s Todd And’s Power 150 list of Top Marketing Blogs was revealed.

For the first time ever, we ranked on the honorable mention list, albeit at #234…. OK, we’ll work on that. But at least we’re ranked for the first time. Considering the longevity of the blog in its current format (2 mos), we’ll take it. Diary of an Ad Man, the predecessor, had a good local following, but was not well read throughout the blogosphere.

Also listed locally were Presto Vivace at #134 and Potomac Flacks at #205. Congratulations, Alice and Adam!

Other Buzz Bin friends who are listed in the top 150…

• Lee Odden’s Online Marketing Blog at #6.
• Toby Bloomberg’s Diva Marketing Blog at #20!
• Jeremy Pepper’s Pop! PR Jots at #40.
• Kami Huyse’s Communication Overtones at #42.
• Todd Defren’s PR Squared at #48.
• Scott Baradell’s Media Orchard at #61.
• Laura Ries’ Origin of Brands at #72.
• Todd And himself at #73.
• Valeria Maltoni’s Conversation Agent at #99.
• Brian Solis of PR 2.0 fame at #118.

Congratulations to all ten of you!

Our late night post yesterday (below) seems fitting as the Post reported on the current lacking nature of most GOP sites today. But who cares about that? Let’s talk about the big candidates. And of the big ones, Barack, Hillary and McCain have the best new media initiatives. Read on for more.

Updated 5/21 at 8:28 a.m.

Lest people get the wrong idea, we wanted to highlight just a small portion of the DC public relations community’s work. Here’s a look at the new media efforts from the big three within each party’s presidential race. After all, political battles are where the best communicators in the world duke it out, right?

Democrats

Pretty cool stuff at YouTube! Check out Hillary Clinton’s YouTube page. This is social media at its best. Of course there’s counterpoint: Hilary Clinton’s blog is here. Recent entries include a rather lame attempt at justifying being a Wal-Mart board member… This blog proves DC is a great PR town, but a lousy graphic design city. Obligatory MySpace available, too.

Barack Obama’s blog is much hotter, with a lot more going on visually. Even more impressive is the My.Barack.Obama dashboard. These guys get social media. I’m not sold yet, so no sign up, but the access to community blogs, messenging and more was really quite savvy. This was the best use of social networking technology we’ve seen yet. Barack’s MySpace page… Obligatory, but Barack’s got more friends than Hillary.

John Edwards MySpace page was formatted a little weird. The Edwards blog was a lot like Hillary’s, and lacked the dynamism of Barack’s. Howver, the use of video and photo blogs is very good. The “multimedia tab” smacked of the 90s, and probably should be renamed Social Media.

Republicans

We like the name of Rudy Giuliani’s blog, The Buzz. There’s not much else to like on the official site, which in the search engines still say Rudy’s still exploring official candidacy. Are you kidding me? Fire the Madison Avenue ad guys and get a real DC-based PR wonk, Rudy. Of course you can put a Rudy widget (Hillary has widgets ,too) or the like on your blog. No official Rudy MySpace page. Whoops. Still trust those Madison Avenue guys, Rudy?

John McCain’s McCain Space made me laugh! That’s great. Who needs Rupert Murdoch anyway? Blogging’s not for kids, but this one could stand to use some more imagery. But hey, the man has a blog roll! And of course, a MySpace page. McCain’s pretty hip for an old guy.

Mitt Romney’s Five Brothers blog concept is a great idea. It really lets you into the family and get a feel for who these folks are while they pitch Mitt. However, the design is mediocre. Mitt TV on the same site is good, too, but not as savvy as Hillary’s YouTube page. Overall this site is not inspiring, and I hate the main font used on the menus. A bad courier-like font that makes the design look cheap. Hey Rudy, even Mitt Romney’s got a MySpace page.

Conclusion

The winner so far is Barack. I’ll give props to Hillary (YouTube is great) and McCain Space, too. However, I wonder when one of these campaigns will get really smart and start letting campaign supporters throughout the United States in on the content generation. Can you imagine the power of such a peering network, especially if it was open to the public? That would be truly leveraging the power of social networking technologies.

Looking around Technorati, I found the top ranked new media/pr/marketing blogs in the Greater Washington region. These are ranked by Technorati’s very subjective authority system. We have an A-lister, Chris Abraham, and then a bunch of indies floating between 41-86. Anything below 40 was not listed…

Note 5-21. The list is now 11 due to an error. Alex Rudloff was an Orlando, FL guy.

1. Technosailer - 874
2. Chris Abraham - 191
3. Technosight - 86
4. Destination Creation - 67
5. Buzz Bin - 59
6. Presto Vivace - 56
7. Potomac Flacks - 53
8. Four Labs - 49
9. Maryland Media - 48
10. Mike-O-Matic -48
11. 21st Century Public Relations - 41

In the new media realm, Technosailer clearly is winning the DC world. Chris is a distant, but very respectable second. Interesting to see two Viget related blogs at #3 + #9. From the PR side of the block, it’s a three-way throw down between us, Presto Vivace & Potomac Flacks.

What amazes me is that there are so many great PR & marketing minds here, but these are the only top-ranked topical blogs in the region. There would likely be additional well ranked blogs based on PR, PA and blogging populations. I attribute this to many of the great minds dedicating their talents to political or social-issue oriented blogging.

At a cookout last weekend, I found myself defending blogs and instead stating the benefit they provide to a company. Some of our own clients like Reston Limo were used as an example, as well as Southwest Airlines recently considering changing its seating to assigned and the flurry of responses it got by putting it out there on the blogosphere.

As one friend was considering a blog for his company, another said what a “waste of time� he thought it was and who in the world has time to blog. He said with his normal workload and family life, there is not time to maintain a blog and there’s certainly not enough time to read one.

I begged to differ. Your company is missing a distinct opportunity to interact with its community through a more personal medium if it doesn’t. I was almost passionate about it. Â

The point is, two months ago, what a blog could or couldn’t do for a company escaped me. Moreover, I didn’t care. I didn’t read them and I certainly hadn’t written any.

Today, I write on a few blogs. And I read them to know what is being said out there. Yesterday, talking to my old editor from Pittsburgh, an old school newspaper editor, he flipped through some entries on the Buzz Bin. He doesn’t blog, he doesn’t read them and he’s a bit surprised that I’m writing them.

Truthfully, me too. But I seem to be locked into this genre now. And I kinda like it.

Just a quick tip for folks that are new to blogging and are looking to promote their new media initiative. There’s lots of information out there about how to promote within new media; and you should engage in them. However, promotion efforts should also include traditional marketing efforts. Afterall, they do target your community, too. If they’re curious to learn more, or want to engage in a relationship knowing about your blog provides a natural venue to facilitate this. But they have to know about it.

There’s a cliché in the advertising business that you have touch a customer seven different times (this number varies depending on the source) through a variety of mechanisms to get them to act. Regardless of the actual number, it’s important to note the use of different media forms to promote your social media effort. For example, several Super Bowl and Oscars ads in 2007 invited viewers to their web site, and in some cases the ads were selected or created by participants within the company’s social media community.

These advertisers know that social media users also access information through a variety of mechanisms so they communicate with their community through an integrated outreach effort. Some very simple, obvious ways via traditional tactics to promote a blog or other new media intiatives include:

• Email signatures
• Prominent link on main web site
• Email introduction to clients
• Provide links in newsletters promising related, value-added content
• Include URL in Business cards and stationary
• Include URL in ads
• Include URL in Brochures and collateral
• Include URL in media releases

Todd Defren has many titles: Father of the Social Media Release, Author of PR Squared and of course, there is his day job, Principal at SHIFT Communications. Todd took time to chat with the Buzz Bin about new media and the current state of the social media release. One great quote: “If a marketer is bent on ‘exploiting’ anything, it will likely bite him in the ass. That was ALWAYS the case, of course, but in the Social Media world, the difference is that you’ll be caught out more quickly, and the ‘punishment’ can be more harsh and more long-lasting.” Read on for more…

BB: Suddenly many corporate marketers are approaching social media as a new way to reach their target audiences. What do you think of this?

TD: I am in favor of marketers who are willing to experiment with this type of approach. I would only caution them to leave their own caution at the door: to engage you must fully embrace the opportunity to interact directly with customers.

This can be great, and get great results – if the product/service is great, and the outreach and participation (of the marketer) is candid and responsive. But the community can also be harsh and quick to judge and feels no compunction to always get the facts straight. That’s daunting to most marketers, as it should be, but I think that the plusses outweigh the challenges.

BB: What do you think of the terminology “target audience� versus “community?�

TD: I don’t get worked up about such distinctions. Life is too short to engage in semantic arguments like this one. ;)

BB: What will happen to marketers who try to exploit social networks?

TD: The easy answer is “You will reap what you sow.� If a marketer is bent on “exploiting� anything, it will likely bite him in the ass. That was ALWAYS the case, of course, but in the Social Media world, the difference is that you’ll be caught out more quickly, and the “punishment� can be more harsh and more long-lasting.

My advice is to start any Social Media campaign by listening and quietly participating (as a user, not a marketer): this is the best way to “find the line;� to get a true sense for community standards.

BB: What are your thoughts of the concept “participation is marketing?�

TD: I totally agree. Speaking as a consumer, when I notice that a company takes an active, helpful role in community interactions, I am impressed and more favorably inclined to their brand.

BB: As the original creator of the social media release, what do you think of the latest trend of traditional press release wire services evolving towards a social media release format?

TD: I think that this is a good and necessary trend. See this PR-Squared post for details:

http://www.pr-squared.com/2006/08/the_social_media_news_release.html

BB: Why are social media releases better for the current media environment?

TD: The strength of the SMNR is its ability to democratize access to the content and multimedia with which we tell stories on the web. Anyone can rip content from the SMNR and use it within their own publishing forum, as they see fit. This serves to widely disseminate news, and also gives consumers and publishers more input on the evolution of the newsmaker’s story and brand.

In addition, the SMNR creates more dialogue and context around each news item. Done right, the SMNR becomes a blog post, which lives on its own microsite, with moderated comments, trackbacks, etc. that show the interplay of the news with the news consumer.

BB: What has to happen for the social media release to become more widely adopted?

TD: Adoption by major brands as a standard vs. a test case. More case studies of success.

I think it will be a long haul, but ultimately all we are talking about is making the press release more interactive, “audiotastic� and “visualizzy.� It’s a way to disseminate and democratize news by taking advantage of web technology and multimedia… I’m betting on the SMNR’s eventual domination. Check out the Before and After (using the SHIFT template) at Belkin’s website.

Which release would you rather read? Case closed.

In the spirit of LComm client FortiusOne’s VC funding story yesterday, find below a heat enabled GeoCommons map of all the venture capital deals in the Washington area. It’s intersting to see the hot spots for start-ups. No major surprises, but a very cool map (right click on it to see a full-sized image).

Congratulations to FortiusOne on its $5.45 million!

Marshall Kirkpatrick is blogging about how to use social media for marketing purposes. His company SplashCast is doing a great job engaging with its community. “As a result of implementing this strategy before, during and after our initial launch, we had more than 1,000 publishers register for an account at launch, we doubled that in our first month to 2,000 and doubled it again in our second month to more than 4,000. SplashCast player loads are now aproaching 5.5 million.” Really, a great case study.

From Potomac Flacks: “‘He’s met with many thousands of ordinary people, presidents, prime ministers, patriarchs and popes. He’s been on Time’s list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People. He’s won the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s been savaged by Christopher Hitchens.’ Yet, he does not have anyone to handle his PR.” Who is this man? Why it’s the Dalai Lama of course.

Not a blog, but a great story on how Technorati is moving beyond the blogosphere. Check out Red Herring’s write up of Technorati’s new social media strategy.

Copywrite Ink details PR Newswire’s entry into social media tagging. Note all the wire services have some sort of tagging option for flacks trying to push into the blogosphere/social media. This was inevitable and maybe just the beginning of the industry’s evolution (see our entry on social media releases earlier this week).

Our Spin Thicket social network member and adult industry marketer, the Marketing Wh*re (sorry Gracie, we’re still rated PG) has an interesting post on how a bloggers next natural step is traditional media coverage.

Searchviews details Yahoo’s new “community” mission. “In Sum: Yahoo is most interested in social technologies - behavioral advertising, community learning, user-generated content, etc.” It’s about time. Yahoo! continues to unimpress me.

I’ve been with Sprint for 3 years now and have been satisfied with their service, never overwhelmingly brand loyal, but satisfied enough to renew my contract.

The other day I found in my mailbox an envelope that seemed to be handwritten. Looking at the return address it was clearly from Sprint.

Curious, I opened the envelope to find a cute, colorful thank you card. On the front it listed various activities in a given day:

• wake up
• text a friend
• have coffee
• call boss
• do some stuff
• take pics
• grab a bite
• change ring tone
• do more stuff
• get message
• have dinner
• call mom
• watch that show
• change ring again
• brush teeth
• sleep

On the inside was a message saying “Thanks for letting us be a part of your day. Just taking a moment to let you know that we appreciate your business.”

Thanks for brightening my day. It feels good to be appreciated.

Why does this campaign work? Two reasons:
First, it’s a thank you card. Sprint is letting their customers know they are appreciated (which is a great way to build brand loyalty).

Secondly, Sprint has subtly reminded its customers just how much they rely on Sprint’s service. Sometimes when services become part of our daily routine, they’re easy to take for granted.

With this gentle reminder, Sprint effectively made me just a little more brand loyal - which adds to my lifetime value. Who knows, maybe I’ll even tell a few friends about how appreciated I feel and based on my experience they will choose Sprint for their cell phone service.

Still, being the skeptic I am, part of me wonders if this is authentic. Could this be in response to the Washington Post article Geoff commented on last month?