(Live blogging from the PRSA International Conference in San Diego)
Last session of the day – and it’s a powerhouse panel with Deidre Breakenridge of PFS Marketywyse, Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR, Joseph Jaffe of Crayon, and Kami Watson Huyse of My PR Pro – and a late surprise addition – Brian Solis of FutureWorks
After a technology-glitch delay (somewhat ironic actually), Kami kicked it off. The hashtag for the workshop is #PRE in addition to the #PRSA09
Joseph Jaffe is self-named as the Chief Interrupter of Crayon (may have to co-opt that one)
So What’s Next?:
DB: Launching events in GoogleWave, collaborating in real-time. There are currently islands of social networks – so how do they communicate? 2009 was the year of the checklist – get your profile on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Think about the power of these islands/communities being connected. We’ll see a better consumer experience. We’ll see real-time pricing – tracking it as it fluctuates with the market. Brands will need to be focused on the sociology of social media communities.
JJ: The next big thing is ‘right now’. I’m annoyed with Twitter. We are dominating too much of our conversations with Twitter at the risk not utilizing what else is out there. People are living in the now, and want to connect with, and interact with brands in the now. I challenge all of you – instead of going back to the tactical level and going over your checklist – ask how you are hitting it on a strategic and cultural level.
BS: Twitter is nothing short of a cultural transformation – it is changing how people interact. I believe the true power of all of this is the human effort. At the end of the day these are all just tools – Twitter won’t be here in 5 years – but something else will be. As much as we talk about the future, today’s technology hasn’t even tapped into its full potential.
What’s Next for PR:
AH: What’s next for us is managing the continuum – how we anticipate the next thing that will come up when smaller clients are just grasping the current tactics.
DB: If you can’t understand the different stakeholders and what they need from you and how to be a resource – don’t bother to use social media to just push out your messages.
JJ: It’s unacceptable to set up the platform to listen to the conversations out there without the plan and the commitment to follow through. (You can’t be half pregnant. Got to be all in) And it’s not acceptable to put Twiterns in charge. If you are going to do it – do it properly.
BS: Who owns social media? Well, who owns email in your organization? Right now IT owns email, and IT is moving to take over social media. No one will ever own social media – but someone will have to be responsible for it. PR is a very social activity – and every department within an organization will at some point have to socialize. And they will have to be on point, on message, embrace the personality of the brand. PR has its biggest and grandest opportunity yet to have a more meaningful and valuable role in the organization than ever before. It’s our job to not only engage outwardly with communities – but help others within our organization engage with each other. Our job is to figure out how to be more valuable to everyone in our organization.
AH: The music industry is the ‘canary in the coal mine’ especially regarding behavior online. Had to lobotomize myself after writing press releases for years in order to engage with bloggers. I got spanked, and spanked hard, in public before figuring out and reinventing myself in order to be respected in the blogosphere.
BS: Listening is the thing that gives you all the answers. It is the listening that not only tells you how to respond and where – but if you are a human being, listening to people helps you gain empathy. That’s the biggest qualification for success in PR in the future – empathy to get you beyond pitching and understand how to communicate. (great comment via Twitter – we are taught to write and speak but there are no listening classes in schools.)
Before you come to the table as a PR professional you are a consumer first. Keep that in mind and think about what drives that part of you. Successful brands have to be not only transparent, but genuinely likeable and interesting and engaged.
JJ: The seeds of conversation are not magic beans. You don’t just add water to dollars and blogger outreach to create conversations.
Here’s the wowser of the panel (thank to BS for the laugh) – believe it or not, social media didn’t invent conversation. It actually existed before!
We now have the ability to better understand what perception looks like.
- Jess
On Ariel Hyatt’s comment about the music industry, if I’m understanding correctly without having been there – touché. There are certain industries that are consistently at the forefront of innovation and networking and music is certainly one of them. Take some enthusiastic musicians striving to get their music in front of as many people as possible and combine it with their creative abilities and desire to be true (to themselves, their music and fans), you have a recipe for a successful social media campaign. Honest, authentic, two-way communication with others.
On Brian Solis’ comments about listening – once again, touché. Interaction with customers, fan base, followers, whatever term you want to use, cannot be forced. Social media and one’s interactions are only as valuable as they are authentic. So while Joe Bloggs may have 5,000 followers, if those people don’t really care, then the fan base is useless. To tap into an old cliché, it’s quality, not quantity.
Comment by dangerready — November 10, 2009 @ 2:36 pm |