It’s not social media if the rest of the PR industry isn’t socializing…
I joined Sally Falkow, a fellow Social Media Club member, and Eric Schwartzman, on the “Brave New World of Social Media” panel.
Topics included:
- How Will Consumer Generated Media (CGM) Change PR Forever
- How PR Can Tap into New Social Media Networks
In the middle of my presentation, I realized that the panel might have been a little ahead of its time. While many in the audience blog, many didn’t. And, just because many PR pros blog, it doesn’t mean that they fully understand Social Media.
All of us in the Social Media realm are flying so fast and so high that we are definitely soaring over everyone’s heads – not just at the conference, but everywhere. In all honesty, this was a very insightful week, and the conference was just the icing on the cake for this realization.
This week, I wrote a series of “How to Write Social Media Press Releases” (Article #1 and #2) which culminated in the transmission of an actual Social Media Release which announced the articles and a “how to write SMPRs” template. This was my way of trying to help the masses tap into the world of SMPR. I worked with the execs over at MarketWire, and we were able to get it out over the wire. But after this week, I have reached the conclusion that these articles also need perspective and the explanation of social media and the elements that make them social – and also why.
Christie Goodman captured it best in her post, “Questions About Using the Social Media Release Format.” It was definitely an eye opener. In an impressive move, industry leaders simultaneously jumped in to help out. Kudos to Todd Defren for jumping in to also provide some helpful explanations, in his post “Basic Answers to Some Basic Questions re: Social Media News Releases.”
Mark Goodyear also had a great post that attempted to help explain things a little better in his comprehensive article, “Social Media for Dummies (and Parents).”
What I’ve learned this weekthat we, as a community, need to help each other advance, while also helping everyone else “get it.”
I’ve proposed to Bulldog Reporter, and will also reach out to other organizations including PRSA,, LACP, PRWeek, among others, to work with the Social Media Club to host a series of day-long, maybe even two-day, conferences dedicated to explaining social media, one panel at a time. We can even have representatives from popular social networking and media sites on hand to answer questions, help set up accounts on-the-spot, and maybe even sponsor the events.
Here’s what I seewith everything relating back to how it benefits advertising, PR and marketing:
Session I – What is Social Media and Social Networking
Session II – What is Social Bookmarking
Session III – What is Social Photo and Video Sharing
Session IV – What are Social Content Websites and How Do They Work
Session V – What is a WIKI
Session VI – Explaining tags
Session VII – Distribution Channels, Wire Services and RSS
Session VIII – Blogs, Podcasts, Vlogs
Session IX – Social Media in Action
Session X – Blogger Relations
Session XI – Search and metrics
Of course there are a ton of other topics worth reviewing and considering. If this interests you, let’s talk. Maybe we can actually get this conference rolling.
For the complete slide deck from my presentation, jump to flickr.
For an interview that we did with Robert Scoble on Social Media, click here.
And by all means, run out and buy The Cluetrain Manifesto. It was published in 2000 and it predicted this shift and it explains, from a business perspective, the power and benefits of social media.
Also, many thanks to Greg Narain who helped me while we attended the Web2point2 conference in SF. Also, Giovanni Rodriguez, also helped me simply by publishing this brilliant post.
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Brian Solis is principal at FutureWorks PR, an award-winning PR and Social Media agency founded in 1999. FW PR bridges the communications gap between companies and their customers, and between products and their specific benefits for their target markets. Solis blogs at PR2.0, http://www.briansolis.com, and regularly contributes to many industry trades. He is also frequently quoted in articles relating to technology trends and Marketing/PR strategies.
