You took on the Power150 from ToddAnd, great. Now you've made it a list subject largely to the whims of Technorati and other tools that have no accountability to the community they purport to serve. You have an awesome group of professionals lined up in pecking order, which is really not a reflection of their skill or specialty.
You are content to have the link back to the list and your site at their blogs, when present, and occasionally blast offers and pitches to them. In my experience, you don't answer emails, either. Isn't this sort of 1.0-ish? I'm not even the first one to point this out.
I think that with greater power, comes greater responsibility - and visibility. You have the Power150 - nominally - the 150+ bloggers on the list still have their own power. Would you want your list to be a "check the box", "see and be seen", "been there, done it" list? Or would you rather it become a place where you help make connections? Can we make it interesting? Can we animate things a little?
How about we make it a conversation? Don't just manage - create, invent, mix things up, lead. Don't sell - ask, organize, open up, listen, explore, take some chances. As a publication, you are in the content business. Are you content to let so much great content go unseen and unused? There is a much greater opportunity there - that of context building.
Let's take for example the fact that probably not all marketers on that list know each other. Isn't this part of what you document companies should do with social media? A list is a list is a list. It means nothing without the people making it come alive. Help it along, think hub and comma, more than period, "and/and" more than "either/or". See if any of these thoughts appeal:
- Start actually reading and commenting on the blogs you list.
- Link to those blogs when you write about something in your publication that is topical to them - surely there is plenty of great content there.
- Copy Guy Kawasaki (in spirit). How is it that he came up with a widget so people in Alltop could stream topical content on their sites and you didn't? (That is a rhetorical question.)
- Give opportunities to all the people on the list to do something with AdAge - guest post, interview, do a podcast, a vCast, figure out the "what".
- Use Twitter to expand your circle. How about adding a Twitter link to the list for those bloggers as well? Isn't micro-blogging becoming popular?
- Bring in non marketing people to talk about customer service, operations, delivering products and services - that is marketing.
- Promote good work by any of the bloggers on that list. You'll be able to do that when you read and comment.
- Guest post at the blogs on the list and send real opportunities their way - Stumble, Digg, bookmark on Delicious.
- Organize meet ups, conferences, round table discussions, opportunities for you to be out of the office and with the community.
- Try new things, test them with the community, refine, repeat.
- Reach out in person - yes, I know some of the writers know some of the bloggers. How about opening the circle wide?
- Connect the dots for the community, show patterns, stories, trends.
What else? What kind of opportunities are there? What possibilities could be awaken with a little bit of creativity, curiosity, and care? Social media is not about the tools and neither is marketing. If you accept the fallacy of that narrative, that whatever a broken Technorati, Alexa, etc. and their bots say is valid, you accept the fact that "advertising" as a push technique works.
Good execution is hard. It takes work and commitment. If this is just a game, can we see a little love for the game?