See You at (Social Media) Breakfast!
If you’re in Boston, I hope you’re going to SMB8 in the morning. I love me a good Social Media Breakfast. Will I see you there?
Mornings are tough. I might make this face at you.
Buzzing Bees, Events, Social Media | Comments (5)Video Pearls of Wisdom from the Pub Club Panel
I managed to capture a video at the end of the Pub Club “Buzz Word: New Media” panel on Wednesday night, and I wanted to share it with my readers. Brian Reich set it up, asking the panelists what PR pros should read or sign up for as a final word of advice. The speakers took the prompt in different directions, and I think there’s some good insight here.
Adam Ritchie thinks you should compare your company’s blog to industry leaders’ blogs and take a look at what’s missing or where you can learn from best practice examples.
Mike Volpe thinks that beyond reading something or signing up for something, every company should blog. He thinks if your company can’t blog, there’s something wrong because you should always have something interesting to share.
Patrick Richardson recommends that PR pros use the Internet as the marketing research tool it is. As he said, your customers are out there, opting in to conversations about your brand. His advice is that using RSS feeds is a great way to listen to these conversations and learn about your consumers.
Mark McClennan feels that too many companies are mute, but that the bigger challenge at this point is too many companies are also “blind and deaf.” There are effective, free ways to listen to and learn from all the things people are saying about your clients online. He also highlights that there are tons of PR pros sharing insight and information on the Web, and it’s important not to overlook these conversations as well. His parting words: You gotta listen and you gotta see.
Also, I won a copy of Brian Reich’s Media Rules. Share in my glee!
Five Plugged-in Dudes Get Fired Up About New Media at Pub Club
Before I headed over to the Publicity Club of New England’s “Buzz Word: New Media” panel tonight, I thought to myself, “When are we going to be able to stop calling this stuff ‘new’ and what kind of marketing/communications world would we live in that could allow that to happen?” Since you’re reading my blog right now, you’re probably at least somewhat technologically inclined, making you about 17 gazillion light years ahead of the average anyone. We tech/media geeks forget that too easily. I’m sure all the panelists would agree that we have considerable work to do before all this “new” stuff becomes widely adopted and understood. That said, I think moderator Brian Reich (EchoDitto and author of Media Rules) and panelists Adam Ritchie (Adam Ritchie Brand Direction), Mike Volpe (HubSpot), Patrick Richardson (Schneider Associates) and Mark McLennan (Schwartz Communications) gave their audience a push in the right direction.
One of the gems that stood out to me (besides the chocolate-covered raisins in my dinner package, mmm) was the discussion around being “on message.” Mike really hit the nail on the head as he explained that there’s simply no such thing as the crafted, corporate message working anymore and that “the message” is what people are saying, regardless of what you put in a PR plan or what your client’s legal team approves. I really liked that Mike took this idea one step further to say, “If you don’t like what people are saying, YOU have to change something. You have to change what YOU’RE doing if you don’t like what people have decided the message is.” I’m a firm believer in this concept, and it pains me when I hear stories about clients pulling their hair out over “this” vs. “that” word choices and ignoring what’s really being said about them on the Web. You don’t own your message, so listen to the people who are creating it and respond and collaborate accordingly.
Another key takeaway from the night was the discussion that social media tools and tactics aren’t always right for every client or in every situation. As much as we get excited about this stuff and see the value in bringing it to light for our clients, there’s no merit in rolling out a Facebook campaign or a YouTube contest if it doesn’t make sense for the goals you’re trying to achieve. The panelists mentioned that while Facebook might work for getting in front of college students, some almost-100 percentage of students also look to and trust their university papers for news. And let’s be real–no one is hosting an event with panelists getting fired up about how awesome newspapers are and fresh ways to use this sweet PR tool, but it’s good to remember that a little traditional/new mix-n-match can be the magic potion for meeting client objectives and achieving success.
Each of the panelists also stressed the importance of practicing what you preach by being engaged yourself. I really liked what Mark said about “social media finally enabling PR people to do what we’ve been WANTING to do for 100 years.” We have countless tools and opportunities to connect with people, learn new things and share interesting content, so why are so few people taking advantage?
In the car ride home after the event, Pamela Seiple, Mary Sullivan and I got to talking about the connection between online and offline interaction. In my opinion, the Web has given us a digital reflection of how social relationships exist in real life already, which makes the transitions from online to offline remarkably fluid. Brian alluded to a PR team in crisis mode taking angry bloggers offline to talk about issues as possibly revealing a flaw or failure of new media. I have to respectfully disagree. (Or honestly, maybe I just missed the point? Brian’s a soft-spoken guy.) I think taking plugged-in people offline is just an extension of the way they’re able to socialize online, and vice versa. And when bloggers and tweeple congregate offline, they’re most likely still texting, updating Twitter, sending emails–still connected to their online interactions. The fluidity of online-offline social interaction is pretty sexy if you ask me. Engage me online, engage me offline and let’s talk about online when we’re IRL and real life when we’re online.
And let’s remember: most people who are participating in this social media and social networking stuff are into the idea of engagement. These people generally want to connect, so if PR people are passing up opportunities to form relationships with the people who are driving “the conversation” on the Web (and offline!) about brands, products, public figures, whatever–they’re pretty insane.
All in all, I feel like a lot of my values and ideas about social media and its marcom uses were brought to the surface and that the overall excitement in the room tonight was promising. Every day we’re takin’ this thing closer to the future.
What do you think, boys and girls?
Buzzing Bees, Events, PR Pros, Public Relations, Social Media | Comments (3)MarketingProfs Take Over Boston, Entertain Me at a Tweetup
A whole bunch of social media and marketing people converged on Boston over the past couple days for the MarketingProfs Business-to-Business Forum 2008. As usual in this city, there was a tweetup for the occasion and I had the pleasure of attending. Lots of familiar faces were at the Barking Crab (pronounced bahhkin krab) laughing, chatting, meeting, photographing, tweeting… you know the deal.
A few notes:
- Ann Handley is a riot. Ann, you are so much fun and I really hope we can “hook up” [her words, not mine!] in Boston sometime soon.
- I managed not to spill any beverages on Todd Van Hoosear. FTW.
- Chris Penn is pretty stealthy with that camera.
- We knew this already, but Brian Solis is a definite rock star.
- It’s impossible to talk with Steve Garfield and not smile.
- Rebecca “repcor” Corliss and Shelley “thespottedduck” Greenberg are aces at the buddy system. If you’re in Boston and don’t know these two, get on that.
- Dough‘s first day at SHIFT was a thumb’s up.
- The only person who loves hugs more than I do is Joe Cascio.
- Paul Dunay is not only a great client, he’s a down-to-earth master of conversation. Great to finally meet IRL.
- Rich Krueger is a hoot. What an energetic personality. Hello, new friend.
- Greg Verdino unleashed his tongue in public… again.
UPDATE: Big shout out to long-time SHIFTer and A-Team leader Catherine Allen, for whom this was her first tweetup!
Twitter may be broken 98% of the time, but tweetups always work.
(Photo by Chris Brogan)
Buzzing Bees, Events, Tweetups | Comments (2)Congratulations, Class of 2008
As I am scrambling to get my apartment looking like something resembling the word “clean” before my family arrives today, I wanted to take a breather and give a shout out to my fellow BU 2008 grads.
I’ve made some incredible friends over the years I’ve spent at Boston University. So many people have made me laugh, inspired me, challenged me and taught me new things since September 2004 when we all arrived in Boston to start the crazy chapter in life called college.
Congratulations, my friends: Maria Thurrell, Vanessa Gerard, Tiffany Maykel, Pamela Seiple, Rebecca Corliss, Juliana Buendia, Pallavi Joshi, Maanuv Khurana, Shivna Vasavada, Ryen Robinson, Danielle Katz, Anna Rose Roisman, Ashley Haliko, Lauren Fox, Elise Kohen, Lexi Kalil, Liz Sicuso, Monica Derevjanik, Emery Markles, Allison Lavey, Natasha Patel, Cynthia Jorge, Amir Raed, Lara Quest Schmitz and countless others.
I hope the “real world” treats you well and you grab life by the balls every chance you get. W00t 2008!
Lez Get It Poppin’ at POPSignal
I’ll be at the POPSignal Party tonight at Tequila Rain in Boston with a few hundred tech rock stars. Let it be noted that I may or may not have a Flip and I may or may not get you on video. Looks like there’ll be a huge turn out, so here’s to a great night. See you there, Boston!
Buzzing Bees, Events, Tech | Comment (0)A Tiny Taste of PodCamp NYC 2.0, Amandalana Style
I met Alana Taylor, of Twitter song fame, on Saturday at PodCamp NYC 2.0. She whipped out her Flip and we made a moment. Check it out:
If You Can Make It There… PodCamp NYC 2.0
Sup friends? I’ll be at PodCamp NYC 2.0 on Saturday at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. I will probably want to capture you in some way. No, not in a trap, silly! But I’m gonna get you in a photo, video or Utter while we’re having fun at camp. Deal?
I’m looking forward to seeing a bunch of good friends and to turning some pre-lationships into REALationships this weekend. If you see me around, please say hello. See you there!
The Night Geoff Livingston Partially Took Off His Shirt
You’d think that a girl who just graduated from college would easily be able to out-party a bunch of seasoned marketing pros, right? Not so, my friends, not so.
Blogger Social 08 was a huge success. I only experienced the swanky Saturday night party, but as you can see from the hundreds of pictures, compiled HERE in the Blogger Social 08 Flickr Group, everyone had a great time all weekend long.
Between meeting new people, jagerbombs, the Beast, Joseph Jaffe’s nametag becoming even more famous than he is (if you can believe that), a moving moment when crayon and My ooVoo Day presented a check to The Frozen Pea Fund, fabulousness, devil horns, peace signs, prom pictures, Geoff Livingston showing off his “Chinatown Gang” tattoo and all the moments in between, the weekend was wonderful for all who had the good fortune of attending.
It was so nice to shake hands with and hug some of the people I’ve been getting to know online. All the “preunions” were great. Steve Woodruff wrote a great post today with his takeaway thoughts from the weekend. I agree with him–events like these seem to stir and inspire us, shining light on what we as a group can do with our media, networks and technology in the future. Steve sums it up:
The best thing we can do is what we’ve been doing all along – creatively collaborate, care for those in need, welcome newcomers, share ideas, and enjoy each other’s company. The “message” of new/social/relationship-driven media will spread of its own, because we now have the tools to billboard ourselves, our ideas, our collaborations – on an open stage.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success. I was honored to be in your presence and look forward to the next time we can all socialize in person again.
Photo credits: Matt Dickman
Buzzing Bees, Events, Social Media | Comments (7)Move Over, Paris.
This weekend, a group of socialites will take over New York City.
Blogger Social is this weekend! I feel like it’s the week before a high school prom. I’m excited to meet new people and see everyone all dressed up on Saturday. I’m looking forward to good conversation, lots of laughs and maybe even some dancing.
Be watching for tweets and photos of the festivities from all the 80+ attendees this weekend as we put Paris to shame.
Funny side note: one of my non-social media friends called me the other day to catch up, and mentioned she had seen my post about the Blogstring Tweetup and had followed the link to Blogger Social. I can’t adequately capture the tone of her voice when she said, “This might sound bad, but… aren’t bloggers supposed to be like, nerdy and unattractive? Why do all your blog friends actually look good?” I spent a few minutes laughing hysterically and just had to share that comment.
