After the New York Times appointed their first ever Social Media Editor – the reaction traveled through blogs posts and tweets, sparking an interesting debate. As outlined by MarketingProfs Michael Rubin in his post “Is the Social Media Expert Going the Way of the Dodo?”, the online conversation has shifted to a discussion not about how innovative the New York Times was for enlisting the help of a social media specialist, but about the future of the profession as a whole. Rubin answers his post question with a “qualified no” – the social media expert is not going the way of the dodo, and I definitely agree with that statement – but I do think that how we perceive experts in this space will definitely change. As essentially everything online starts to become “social” in some way shape or form, it will eventually be redundant to single out this particular title. We have to remember that social communities and networks are still evolving and for many brands and major organizations (including the New York Times) this form of media is still very new and in some ways very frightening. As time passes and companies learn how to feel their way through the landscape, develop company guidelines and policies relevant to this space, and grow more comfortable with changing consumers, the “social media expert” will eventually evolve (or perhaps devolve) into what corporations have needed and always will need – communications experts. The role will likely become an entire department dedicated to customer service, conversational marketing, and message distributors. Social media will be something all communications professionals and marketers will need to be savvy in – and when that day comes, there will be no need to single out who should focus on social media – because in short – they all will.

LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com promises to be “a destination site for the funniest stuff on the web, [with] original comedy brought to you by both our bloggers and the show’s writers, and of course behind-the-scenes stuff that you can’t find anywhere else.”

So far, the blog has some YouTube videos, a blog post about the bacon explosion (ew), and of course, show-related tidbits.  I love how they ask for viewer/reader feedback, like they did here with the Lick It For Ten: Lick What? post.  It’s a great way of engaging the audience and actually making them feel a part of the community and show.  Plus – if you have a segment that’s lame (or awesome!) you’ll know if you should nix it (or do more!)  It’s like a cleverly-disguised focus group complete with glasses and a moustache.

A blog that encompasses the whole “TV show blog” concept very well is VH1’s Best Week Ever blog, which according to Compete.com gets an impressive 377,000 unique visitors per month.  The blog is regularly updated with snarky and witty commentary on pop culture.  I have to admit I’m a regular visitor to the site – but haven’t watched a full episode of the show in years.  So maybe this is a case of a blog overshadowing a show and being too awesome for its own good.  Who knows. But let’s face it – you gotta give credit to a blog that has found a way to make Blingee appealing to an audience other than MySpace-lovin’, glitter-aficionado 13-year-olds.

If done right, LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com will be an entertaining extension to its late night TV counterpart.  People will check it at work and when they have down time while on the bus or waiting in line at Starbucks.  Plus – if people go there as a result of a cool blog post totally unrelated to the show and see – oh hey, Tina Fey is on tomorrow – they may be encouraged to tune in or DVR it.  Or do neither: the blog showcases full episodes.  Thumbs up to NBC!

Only time will tell if the Jimmy Fallon blog is worth visiting, but I did some detective work and found that two of the bloggers – Sara Schaefer and Cory Cavin – are both Best Week Ever blog alums.  So, I can only hope that the BWE brilliance will transfer over to the new blog – it would be like the BWE blog had an awesome baby with Jimmy Fallon.  Something like that.

The blogosphere is a seemingly never-ending space with many niche blogs, so here are a few quick “best practice” recommendations for blogger relations:

Research, Research, Research

· This may seem obvious, but make sure you read the blog.  Actually read it.  Read the blog entries, read the comments, read the bio page and even check out the blogroll.  This will give you a full sense of the blogger’s “beat”, personality, likes and dislikes and ultimately help you make the decision if this is the right blog to target.

· Participate in the blogger’s community.  This is a great ice-breaker for that first pitch.  It shows you have invested time with their blog.

Relevance

· Why should this particular blogger care about your pitch?  If you can’t answer this yourself, they probably won’t care.  If you can answer this, include that information in your pitch.

· Look at the previous blog entries and the categories of the archived items.  Does your message fit in with what the blogger has written about in the past?

Remember That Blogger ≠ Traditional Journalist

· Even if your message seems newsworthy to you, a blogger may not find it to be newsworthy.  Make sure your message fits in with the “beat” of the blog.

· Bloggers do not have editors or a staff (usually), so they write about what interests them, not just about current news.

Connect

· Gone are the days when you are often in the same town as someone you are working with, so connect with bloggers in anyway possible.  Utilize social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to take your working relationship to a more personal level.

Follow Up

· Bloggers are real people who are very busy, and often have full time jobs in addition to their blog.  By sending a simple follow up note, you are getting your message in front of the blogger one more time.  Following up once is enough to show you care about their opinion.

Stay Engaged

· Public relations, especially digital publicity, is about more than just pitching.  It evolves to a sort of customer service where you need to go back into the space to respond to people talking about your message.

Finally, assets like video and photo really help to grab the attention of a blogger.  If you do your research and get your video into the hands of a receptive, passionate blogger who wants to share your message, you’ll likely become a force behind that 80% statistic as well.

Blog Networks like Glam Media, b5 Media, Buzznet, and Mom Blog Network continue to add new niche blogs and communities to their roster, and blogs are popping up just to keep track.

Could this finally be the year that media, agencies, and brands welcome the motto “less is more” with open arms? Are marketers finally learning the value of finding and targeting the right online consumers as opposed to mass audiences with multiple interests?

The shift to the “few versus many” model was inevitable, but there is no doubt that the economy sped up the process. Shelling out millions on blanket media buys to reach the largest possible audience simply isn’t fiscally possible today. The concept of marketing on a budget really forced the industry to be creative with their tactics and media to be creative with their positioning. The result? Well, real results.

Websites, blogs, and communities that some of us have never even heard of are making an impact on campaign results like never before. The industry can no longer afford to judge a site’s influence and popularity by outdated metrics like website traffic or banner impressions. Let’s rid ourselves of the knee jerk reaction to spend all of our time, effort, and budget on iVillage, Myspace, and Yahoo! and start incorporating sites like I’m An Organizing Junkie, hi5, and Just Jared into the mix.

Who’s with me?