Yesterday was the big day. The PR + Social Media Summit at UW-Whitewater. Apologies to all my Twitter followers who were annoyed by my frequent #PRSMS updates.
Overall, I thought the summit was very informative and provided some great networking opportunities. My one recommendation for next year is to supply extension cords and power strips throughout the conference rooms. Those of us using laptops were forced to either drain our batteries, or sit on the edges of the room in search of an outlet.
My favorite presentation of the day was from Paula Berg of Southwest Airlines. Paula told the story of Southwest’s journey into social media and provided some very valuable case studies. Here are a few takeaways from Paula’s presentation:
- Where social media is concerned your first job is to listen, second is to engage and third is to address criticism.
- Southwest started the “Nuts About Southwest” blog by handpicking 30+ employees from all different departments. Southwest let their employees blog as often as they wanted and encouraged them to blog about things they were passionate about.
- Once Southwest added more valuable content to their blog (photos, news, podcasts) page views rose.
- Southwest's blog proved to be a great resource for conducting focus groups. A blog post about their open seating policy resulted in hundreds of comments. Most praised the company for its policy and gave them the courage to stick it.
- Rapping flight attendant video resulted in coverage on Oprah, CNN, Tonight Show, etc.
A little while later it was my turn to speak. I must admit, I was a bit nervous because it was my first opportunity to speak to a group that large, but thankfully it went well. (Thanks to Al Krueger and Ann Knabe for inviting me to speak.)
*Photo courtesy of Abigail Lynn (@justabs06)
During my presentation I discussed ways to create a successful online brand by merging your professional and personal identities. And yes, I also discussed my brief moment of so-called "fame" from February.
Other great presentations from yesterday include:
- Bringing it all together for PR + Social Media Success, Al Krueger and Sara Meaney of Comet Branding
- How Social Media is Impacting Job Search, Jeff Carrigan of Big Shoes Network, Abby Gutowski of VisualCV.com, Joyce O’Brien of Laughlin Constable and Briana Rygg
- How Harley is Revving up Engagement with Social Media, Randy Sprenger of Harley-Davidson
I am told all the presentations will be posted online within the next couple weeks. (I will link to them once they’re up.) If you are interested in learning more about the PR + Social Media Summit, Abby Gutowski has also posted an overview here.
What were your thoughts on the summit?
EDIT: To view photos of #PRSMS visit http://bit.ly/c3DQs. To download videos and audio of Southwest Airlines and Harley-Davidson's presentations visit http://itunes.uww.edu.
“I am out here for you. You don’t know what it’s like, to be me out here for you! It’s an up at dawn, pride swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about. Ok? Help me. Help me, help you. Help me, help you!” – Jerry Maguire
Sound familiar? Admit it all you agency folks, at one time or another you have felt like Mr. Maguire. Sometimes, despite our best efforts we simply can’t deliver for our clients because they fail to give us the necessary information, access or help that we need.
Most of the time our clients are great, but we’ve all had to go back to a reporter to cancel an interview or miss a deadline.
To those who work client side, here’s a quick plea from your agency friends (and I do mean friends).
Please:
- Return our calls
- Answer our e-mails
- Take the early morning interview
- Send us the information you promised
- Show up to the meeting
- Seriously consider our expert advice (That is what you’re paying us for, isn’t it?)
Because honestly, we’re doing it for you.
A lot of people have asked if I’m planning to go to grad school lately. While I applaud those who have chosen that path (and there seems to be a lot of people my age who have) there are several reasons why I feel it’s just not right for me.
- It's all about the money.
Many people I talk to say grad school is their back-up plan in case they lose their job. Maybe I’m a cynic, but I don’t see how this is realistic. Most 20-somethings already have a hard time managing student loans, car payments, cell phone bills and let’s not forget, credit cards. Grad school is expensive. The economy is bad, and let’s face it we’re getting paid crap. Grad school doesn’t seem like a smart financial decision. - Who’s going to hire me?
Before you start lecturing me on all the professions that require a Master’s degree please, read further. I understand some professions require a higher degree of learning. Doctors for instance, but I’m working in the ad and PR agency world. In my world, a Master’s degree means my employer has to pay me more than someone else at the same experience level. Employers are trying to keep costs low. If it comes down to two people with the same level of experience and similar backgrounds… Sorry, but I think the bachelor’s degree gets the job. - What’s the value?
Again, while I applaud those with Master’s degrees, I simply fail to see the overall value. For PR professionals in the corporate or not-for-profit world a Master’s degree might be useful. For PR professionals on the agency side, I think an APR accreditation is more valuable. By now you may think I’m just lazy. That’s not true. I simply would rather work towards my APR, and be recognized by people in my industry than an educational institution. And yeah, it doesn’t hurt that an APR is much less expensive.
I’m sure there are many arguments that can be made on behalf of grad schools everywhere, but for me, getting a few more years experience and becoming APR accredited is of greater importance.
As a side note, if you really want to feel awful about the money you’ve “wasted” on college read this article from Gawker, “College: Waste of Time.”
Do you agree? Disagree? I’d be interested in hearing what others think on this topic, especially if you work in upper management. Which do you value more? A Master’s degree or APR? Who are you more likely to hire?
Apologies for missing my weekly post again. A busy work week and the second wedding in two weeks kept me busy.
This week in links... A few quirky news stories, a letter of inspiration from Peter Shankman and the newest trends in marketing. Enjoy!
- RT @TDefren "I get around three to four pitches a day from PR firms and they all suck." (@modite - client) http://tinyurl.com/q3w5se
- @NewsHub That's hilarious. Couldn't they have just sent the poor guys home? :) http://tr.im/oBHG
- RT @streetzapizza Top Ten Businesses to follow - milwaukeeconsumer.com: http://tinyurl.com/ko5f4e
- 5 ways gaming can transform healthcare & wellness via @rohitbhargava http://tinyurl.com/ldakzw. - can't wait 2 see what other industries do.
- A letter to high school graduates via @skydiver. http://tinyurl.com/3kjqa6 (And a little inspiration for the rest of us.)
- RT @wausauherald Jail inmate smears a death threat to a judge, using his feces http://tinyurl.com/nk43j5 Ew!!!!
- The next trend in marketing - holocams. http://tinyurl.com/l6tnde
- This makes me think... Why hasn't Wisconsin struck a reciprocity deal with Ill. yet? http://tinyurl.com/l6or7l
A small blonde first grader glances across the classroom to catch a peak at the cute boy sitting a few chairs over. With a secret smile she looks down at her notebook and writes Mrs. Sarah Brenner.
Yes, that first grader was me. It was a simpler time when the thought of taking my future husband's name wasn't a question but a widely known fact. But you see I've grown up a bit since I was six years old, and now the issue of taking my husband's name doesn't seem quite so black and white.
Kathy Konrath wrote a great post on this subject on the Personal Branding Blog. While some men might roll their eyes at this "dilemma" I think it's something every 20-something woman should consider.
As a young professional I am working hard to get my name out there and become at least slightly well-known in the Milwaukee PR community if not the PR community in general. Honestly, I don't think it's fair to give up my name for traditions sake.
For the moment I plan to legally change my name when I marry, but continue to use my maiden name in a professional capacity. This way I can have the best of both worlds. Close friends and family will know me as Mrs. Sarah X. Meanwhile I will have the freedom to continue developing my personal brand in a professional capacity online and in real life.
This article on AgencySpy got me thinking today. With the invention of mobile phones with video cameras, YouTube and recording and editing software it has become increasingly easy for the average person to document their experiences with their favorite brands. We've seen this recently with the Dutch Heineken walk in freezer ad. (To view the original ad click here.) I'm still waiting to hear if this is for real.
And now we have this lovely ad for Trader Joe's or arguably the Palm Treo.
Not all consumer material is positive of course. The below Comcast video is enough to make any PR person cringe.
Even though some user-generated content is a cause for crisis communications I urge PR and advertising professionals to not take positive user-generated videos for granted. When a brand has consumers championing their product or service they should think of ways to leverage the attention. Maybe they would make good spokespeople? Heck, maybe they'd even do well in an ad? Perhaps you could use them to write a blog post on the company web site or become a regular contributor. There are lots of different ways to involve and embrace your brand ambassadors. Don't let them slip through your fingers!
This thing called the internet has turned our world upside down. In the course of a few years people have changed the way the work, shop and communicate. In this same amount of time businesses and PR professionals have been very slow to using this new technology and understand it.
Some people are still trying to convince companies to blog! As far as social media is concerned blogging is dinosaur. This is not to say that blogging isn't a useful tool. I'm doing it right now, but it is sad that our industry has been so slow to jump on this bandwagon. It is equally as sad that clients have been less than enthusiastic about these new tools.
Maybe it's the generation gap? Old people run the businesses and old people don't "get" new technology. How are PR professionals supposed to recommend new online tactics if they don't even know what they are? If they don't use them?
If this is the case why not appoint a millenial as your new Director of Social Media or Social Media Manager? Make it their job to investigate all these new tools and explain to you and your clients how they can be used and to what benefit.
If the generation gap is not the problem I urge you to find out what is. Everyone knows that social media is important. We owe it to ourselves, our profession and our clients to learn about it and use it correctly. Creating a Facebook group will not be right for everyone and it's our job to know that.
As the younger generation continues to enter the workforce they will want to be engaged on this level. I predict that PR agencies that do not use social media will not only fall behind and recieve less business but will also lose talent. I am happy that my agency is starting to embrace social media. In all honesty, if they didn't I probably wouldn't stick around long.
Those who work in public relations are constantly trying to form relationships and better relationships with journalists. As anyone who has worked in PR can tell you, there's nothing worse than cold calling a reporter.
That's why editorial calendars and services like Profnet are so valuable. I want to announce a NEW service that works like Profnet for FREE! HARO is run by Peter Shankman and has a membership of over 20,000 PR professionals and a growing number of journalists.
I have been part of the HARO "family" for a little over a month and can't say enough good things. Because the service is free more freelance journalists and boutique agencies are able to join. I am a Profnet member too and can safely say I get twice as many leads from HARO.
Peter has a policy about PR pitches that Profnet does not. If you provide a bad pitch to a source you are kicked off the list. This keeps HARO a credible source for media and a place they'll continue to go to for information.
The media on HARO include national morning shows, major newspapers as well as smaller media outlets.
If you are in the PR or media field I highly recommend signing up at helpareporter.com. You can also follow Peter on twitter @skydiver.
