The Wax Blog

If you noticed a lack of posts, I had a good reason. I got married.

(To the guy on the right, not Elvis)

These days it seems like you need to have a bumpit to create new words. Sarah Palin might refudiate that remark but I think Snooki and her guidos feel it’s high time to get some Jersey Shore lingo into the Oxford English Dictionary. Personally, I told someone I had spent considerable time catharterizing this weekend – not to be confused with being catheterized or jazzercizing – after getting dumped unceremoniously by a friend. (Note to readers – at this point I do not have a bumpit)

Snooki has a future as an English teacher

It made me wonder how words evolved in the first place. How did certain words become accepted into normal use and eventually accepted in the main dictionaries we all use?  Like humongous. Or ginormous, or a zillion. For example, Humongous is in the Random House Dictionary as (more…)

I thought I would bring back a post from last year – how many of you got “bad press” in 2010? Was it good for your company or not?

We’ve got a gossip columnist here in Minneapolis who  trashed me (in print AND on air no less) after which one of my clients called me and quoted George Plimpton – bad press is like bad breath, it’s better than no breath at all.

But is that really true? Since we were talking about bad publicists last week I thought I’d add my two cents on this topic. Most of us think of bad press as press where we are mentioned in a bad light. It’s really more than that and for PR 2.0 bad press can linger a long, long time. As I mentioned earlier, placements that make no sense are worthless for a brand. To me that’s bad press – my client paid for my time to make that placement so it’s money thrown down the drain. Remember every single mention can live forever online – in my book you have to avoid bad press like the plague.

So what exactly do I consider bad press? Here’s my list but feel free to add more. (more…)

I had a conversation with a fairly well-known mystery writer a few weeks ago talking about using social media to promote his newest book. His question to me was “Is anybody REALLY reading all these blogs?”

So when the topic of this #letsblogoff came up I thought it was a timely one. The answer I believe is that all blogs serve a purpose – but not necessarily the SAME purpose. I think of news sites like the Huffington Post and it’s obvious they serve the purpose of media 2.0. Many blogs, like this one for example, help draw attention to a particular company or service provider.  Some blogs provide a source of income and employment along with valuable content. (Think of Copyblogger) Others give voice to a community of like-minded people who may not necessarily be heard normally, like the Fatosphere And many are simply public diaries, fulfilling the need to express emotions and communicate whatever it is that writer is experiencing. Matt Logelin is a poignant example of one man who poured his grief and heart out online, finding solace and comfort in the process.

Many bloggers start writing with one purpose, or because they simply were told they ‘should’…and later on find the real purpose behind their blog and find the true inspiration to continue. There are others that never find their purpose and those blogs die quickly.

So do blogs really matter? As long as they serve a purpose…to the writer or the readers…then of course they do. And I ask you…What’s the purpose of YOUR blog?

Read what the other participants in this #letsblogoff think!

Enough said, right Bart?

Here’s how the advertising world really works.