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Ilina Ewen – Super Marketer, Blogger, Mom – a PerkettPR Interview, Part 2

Today we continue our interview with Ilina Ewen, where she takes us beyond her blogging to share her thoughts on everything from big brands and social media to her perspective of the “social media scene” in the Southeast region. She talks a little about her company, iFactor, and how she helps companies define strategies and tactics to ensure that key audiences “digest what we’re communicating” – and how they “spit it back out.”

“Social media is still media – it’s not anything new.” Watch the video to learn more, and be sure to check out Part 1 of the interview if you haven’t seen it yet.

Thanks again to Ilena for sharing her time and insights with us – and you!

NOTE: We continue our interview series of influencers, media and entrepreneurs across industries such as tech, fashion and healthcare. If you have an interesting subject for us to consider, please email blog [at] perkettpr [dot] com!

Ilina Ewen – Super Marketer, Blogger, Mom – a PerkettPR Interview

Recently PerkettPR had the pleasure of sitting down with Raleigh-based blogger, entrepreneur, mommy, foodie and wife, Ilina Ewen. I met Ilina within only a few weeks of my move to Raleigh, NC. She and I first connected on Twitter (@IlinaP) and then met in person shortly thereafter at a local TweetDiva event – and the rest is history.

Ilina is a firecracker. That is the word that most use to describe her. She is the definition of a straight-shooter and that is what I love about her. Your classic Type-A, she is a self-proclaimed ‘neat freak’, die-hard Democrat and mother of two boys. In her ‘spare’ time Illina runs her own marketing company, iFactor, and also finds time to write for multiple blogs including Foodie Mamma and Deep South Moms and is a regular contributor to WRAL’s GoAsk Mom column. Talk about an effective multitasker!

In this first of a two-part series, Ilina sat down to talk to PerkettPR about her gritty – and sometimes controversial – blog Dirt and Noise.  In this interview, she shares background on what inspires the content for her blog, what postings garner the most attention – both positive and negative – and offers sound advice for others who are thinking about dipping their toe into the blogging pool.

Persuasive Picks for the week of 05/17/10

selling_sm PR Responsibilities | Selling Social Media
Ashley Wirthlin and Frank Strong offer up Part one of a multi-part series on PR responsibilities. This first post dives into the challenges PR firms face when adding social media to their roster of client services.

10 Ways to Improve Your Work-Life Balance
Inc.com shares 10 tips for web-workers that come straight from many CEOs who have mastered the balance of work and play.

Lessons of Hope: How a Blog Can Change Lives
Veronica Jarski from MPDailyFix shares this inspiring story of a blogger who transformed her simple blog into a thriving and active global community that helps enrich the lives of others.

Facebook’s new functions (and how to leverage them)
This iMediaConnection guest post from Doug Akin provides an nice overview of many of the new functions that are available to help leverage Facebook for your company and brand.

Google TV and the Re-Structuring of the Web
Kristen Nicole gives an overview of Google’s upcoming GoogleTV offering and what it means for both consumers and companies alike in this guest post on the EverythingPR blog.

Whiny WashPost Reporter Makes His Point: Respect the Genuine Article (Or, Is Gawker Destroying Journalism?)

Okay we’re not Gawker but I couldn’t resist using the headline that Ian Shapira, a reporter for The Washington Post, suggested to them for a story he wrote about how outlets like Gawker are killing journalism.

Aptly titled, “The Death of Journalism (Gawker Edition),” Shapira writes about how he was at first elated when Gawker, “the snarky New York culture and media Web site,”  blogged about his story in that day’s Washington Post. However – after showing the coup to his editor who replied, “They stole your story. Where’s your outrage, man?” – he began to grow more and more “disenchanted with the journalism business.”

In an effort to not also steal and reprint Shapira’s story, I’ll just link to it for you to read in full. The reason I mention the story here is that, as PR professionals, it’s important for us to pay attention not only to what reporters are writing and working on, but what they are facing in their own industry. (Shapira’s lament on how long it took him to research and write the article, as compared to how long it took Gawker to write their synopsis of it – and what the income for such a Gawker reporter is – is particularly interesting.)

work-hard

As our own industry has been under fire lately, so too has that of the media – one of the biggest and most important constituents to a PR professional’s job. We need to pay attention – the transparent nature of the Internet – particularly digital content and social media – is shifting the careers of both journalists and PR executives, and it will be interesting to see where we all end up.

In fact, another recent example of this shifting landscape came in the form of  YouTube’s “News Near You” – explained in this New York Times article today. “News Near You” allows news outlets that have signed up with YouTube to post news packages and split the revenue from the advertisements that appear with them. 

If you’d like to further explore the topic of journalism’s shifting landscape (in particular, of course, “how Gawker is destroying journalism”), Ian Shapira will be online to chat with readers at 11 a.m. Tuesday. You are invited to submit your questions before or during the discussion.