Social Media and Public Relations

Social Media + PR The College of Saint Rose June 1, 2010 Amy Mengel

About Me Head of Inbound Marketing for readMedia I got this job via social media! Founder of Social Media Breakfast Tech Valley, one of largest in the country Corporate Communication background, mostly manufacturing companies Bachelors in PR and MBA in finance Blog at www.amymengel.com

Communication is Changing Traditional PR model: Organization defines its key messages Reaches out to traditional media outlets via pitches, press releases with those messages Attempts to gain coverage in traditional press to influence public May create specific campaigns aimed at reaching an audience directly (e.g., special events) Predominantly one-way dissemination

Communication is Changing Social Media disrupts that model Media consumption habits are changing The web makes it easy to bypass traditional media and self-publish Audiences expect more genuine engagement from brands and orgs Access to global personal and professional networks means word- of-mouth is broader than ever before Social media easily enables two-way communication

Social Media Revolution Socialnomics: Social Media Revolution

Media & News Consumption 92 % of Americans use multiple platforms to get their news each day 60% get news from a combination of online and offline sources 33% of cell phone users access news on their mobile devices 75% of online news consumers receive news via email or posts on social networking sites 52% share links to news with others via email or social networking Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project

How is social media different? Communication expectations with audiences have changed Audiences want direct access – social media bypasses information gatekeepers Social media is personal, and it is personalizing brands and companies People want to do business with people they know and trust – social media is a way to build that trust Social media is real-time

Outcomes are different 15 years ago: Pitch story to a reporter via phone Story appears in a local newspaper, profiling a local business. Subscribers to the paper see the story. May tell a friend or two about the business. Rarely, a person may clip the story from the paper and mail it to a friend. Business owner may clip and frame the story to hang in their business

Outcomes are different Today: Send reporter a DM via Twitter or a Facebook message with your pitch, or a link Story appears in a local newspaper, profiling a local business. Also appears in the online version of the paper. Google indexes the story and the business’ name begins to appear in search results for specific keywords. Subscribers see the print edition of the story, but anyone can find/read the story online. People begin sharing the link to the story via Digg, Facebook & Twitter. Story gets emailed to friends. Business adds link to story to their website.

Outcomes are different 15 years ago: Crisis erupts at a business or plant Media on the scene are kept at bay Press conference held to give a highly crafted statement Information from the scene controlled Limited or no photo or video of incident is ever released Limited access to spokespeople from the organization TV news story later in the evening, newspaper story next day

Outcomes are different Today: Employees or community members instantly send status updates with what they see/hear Media on scene reporting in real-time Photo and video (sometimes live streaming) from the scene Audience posting to company’s blog or Facebook page asking for info People add hashtags to tweets to follow the event as it unfolds Audience demands real-time information Company may update Twitter or blog with details as they are known Instant news stories on the web Continued comments and interaction about the story as links are shared

Social Media = Reach Because it’s so much easier to share information, the possibility that news and content about your organization will be passed along increases greatly Good news and bad gets shared Target audience is much larger, and much longer (Google indexes web content forever) Word can spread like wildfire Networks are no longer limited by geography

Social Media ≠ Cure-all Still important to reach traditional media Much of what’s talked about on social media sites originates from traditional news outlets Local newspaper website still a key source of community information Social tools and preferences for them can change on a dime Remember MySpace? Facebook privacy concerns Know where your audience is online!

Skills needed for today’s PR pro Writing, writing, writing! Transmedia storytelling Building relationships Design and creative Customer service Basic programming and web tools Understanding of SEO Community management

Participate as a person first Familiarize yourself with social tools on a personal level before building social outposts for your organization Be comfortable customizing your Facebook profile and tweaking settings Participate/contribute to a fan page Create a personal Twitter account Develop a LinkedIn profile Comment on blogs or start your own Practice shooting/editing/uploading/tagging videos and photos

Integrating SM + PR Incorporating social media in media relations Finding and engaging reporters via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Commenting on news stories about or related to your organization (always identify yourself!) Leveraging earned media on social outposts Every time you pitch a story, publish a story Blog post, photo stream, podcast, video: create your own content Act like your organization’s own beat reporter Cover live events Create stories and content

Integrating SM + PR Where is your audience online? Choose your outposts carefully. Listen to determine what they’re talking about and interested in. The importance of content creation – PR pros now need to understand SEO Boost search rankings via blogging, Twitter, YouTube, other content Attract mainstream media to content Directly reach online audiences You need to be willing to give up some control of your message Create guidelines for the organization: how to respond? (e.g. Air Force flow chart)

Examples Content Creation Southwest Airlines BlendTec Graco Dupont Chemical Community Building Fiskateers Mad Men Yourself Starbucks Crisis Communication H&M Time Warner Cable Motrin Moms Nestle

Tools to get the job done Listening and monitoring Google Reader and RSS alerts Subscribe to blogs and feeds with information related to your org Create Google Alerts for keywords about your org Search.Twitter.com See what’s being said about your organization in real time SocialMention, Icerocket, Technorati LinkedIn Answers Niche-specific networks and forums

Tools to get the job done Content creation Blogging platforms: Blogger, WordPress, Drupal, TypePad Facebook groups, fan pages, or community pages Twitter for real-time status updates Flickr photostream Youtube, Vimeo, Viddler for video Slideshare, Scribd and DocStoc for presentations and documents Eventbrite, UStream and Livestream for events Digg and StumbleUpon for bookmarking FourSquare, Gowalla, Loopt for location-based social networking

Tools to get the job done Building a community Adding a forum to your site Niche networks like Ning Custom online communities Fiskateers, Legos Getting the word out readMedia for online newsrooms TweepSearch to find journalists and other influencers on Twitter

If you build it, they won’t come… right away Building a community takes time. Give them useful information and keep them engaged. Interact. Promote your content through social media channels. Be your own media. Traditional media is still critical – especially for local organizations. Discover and leverage what your most passionate fans are already doing. Always keep the organization’s goals in mind: WHY are you doing this?

Resources Blogs: www.socialmediaexplorer.com www.pr-squared.com www.altitudebranding.com www.davefleet.com www.marketingprofs.com Books Groundswell, by Charlene Li Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan Websites PR Daily (eNewsletter) Social Media Today SmartBrief on Social Media (eNewsletter) Alltop PR Mashable, TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb

Contact Amy Mengel Blog: www.amymengel.com Twitter: @amymengel LinkedIn: www.linkedin. com/in/amymengel Email: amybmengel@gmail.com Phone: 518-227-1210

Social Media and Public Relations

by Amy Mengel on Jun 30, 2010

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