Christopher Penn, Eric Schwartzman and John Wall present a special mash-up episode of Marketing Over Coffee and On the Record…Online about online PR, social media communications and the upcoming Digital Impact Conference in NYC April 30 – May 1 organized by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).
Show Notes:
1:07 – Digital Impact Conference co-chair Eric Schwartzman on how this year’s event is designed to equip public relations professionals with the knowledge and tools to advocate for PR-led social media communications.
2:56 – John Wall on Korn Ferry CMO Don Spetner’s upcoming presentation on the skills public relations professionals need in the current job market, and Christopher Penn asks about the state of PR job market.
3:44 – Eric Schwartzman shares where the job opportunities are for PR people and what types of jobs recruiters are still trying to fill, according to Don Spetner.
4:23 – John Wall asks what percentage of a public relations program should be digital, and what part should be old guard.
4:43 – Eric Schwartzman on the downside of being an early adopter, and his view on where PR practitioners who can’t communicate autonomously online and who don’t develop new media communication skills may be headed.
5:15 – John Wall and Christopher Penn discuss the importance of keeping track of everyone you interact with through social media, and whether or not PR is making use of the same tools as marketers to build stronger relationships with larger networks via the web.
7:42 – Eric Schwartzman on the economic drivers that lead to PR shoot gun distribution tactics, and his discussion with PR Week editor Keith O’Brien about whether or not this will change anytime soon.
9:19 – Christopher Penn on the importance of building your own personal network and making sure you don’t mismatch communications and contacts.
10:12 – Eric Schwartzman talks about the new Toyota online pressroom that iPressroom recently launched for the world’s largest automaker so they could live stream the reveal of the new Prius at the Detroit Auto Show to the news media, automotive enthusiasts and the public simultaneously, in their own, branded online newsroom.
12:14 – Christopher Penn wonders how organizations are going to acquire the necessary content creation skills to populate their online newsrooms with compelling content and Eric Schwartzman predicts where companies may find them.
12:51 – Eric Schwartzman on the hidden risks of using Web 2.0 services like YouTube, Blogger and Facebook for organizational communications campaigns, and where he thinks market demand for new media services will come from.
13:56 – Eric Schwartzman talks about the online newsrooms his PR software as a service company iPressroom built for UCLA, which is more than just a media relations resource, and the online newsroom iPressroom built for Target, which he says demonstrates best practices for online PR.
14:23 – John Wall talks about Tom Smith, author of “When We Start Trusting Strangers [PDF],” who will be flying in from London to present a special session with all kinds of valuable, quantitative research on why new media communications should play a role in any integrated marketing or public relations plan.
15:04 – Christopher Penn on the market dynamics of social media communications and why you can’t cost effectively generate your own momentum. For listeners with no macroeconomic training, he recommends Economics for Dummies.
16:22 – Eric Schwartzman on why PR is more about what you do then what you say in the digital age of transparency and authenticity. He discusses the challenge of confronting serious product or service issues with communications alone, citing examples from Comcast and AOL.
17:01 – Eric Schwartzman on how commonly asked questions at his New Media PR Boot Camp training courses led to the idea to invite Trend Stream CEO Tom Smith to present at the Digital Impact Conference in NYC.
18:39 – Eric Schwartzman on super influencers online, word of mouth marketing, and the dangers of judging new media by old media standards.
19:52 – Disney’s podcasting strategy, and why Duncan Wardle says he considered their initial 80,000 downloads a success, despite the fact that the reach of mainstream media dwarves that number.
20:57 – Christopher Penn on the multiplier effect of social media, and how an online newsletter of a blog can reach much further than you might think.
21:31 – Search engine optimization expert Lee Odden, Edelman futurist Steve Rubel, social media expert Brian Solis and many others will also be presenting their latest findings and on best practices for new media communications at The Digital Impact Conference April 30 through May 1 in NYC.
22:14 – Eric Schwartzman on why online newsrooms, email newsletters and search engine optimization are the meat and potatoes of online PR.
23:34 – The Digital Impact Conference as an opportunity for social media PR gurus looking for new business, and for public relations pros looking to develop new media communication skills.
24:24 – Christopher Penn on the digital marketing opportunities social media presents public relations agencies.
25:10 – John Wall and Christopher Penn talk about their session on avoiding PR disasters, which will be presented with Eric Schwartzman at The Digital Impact Conference.
27:42 – End
Eric Schwartzman (@ericschwartzman) is the founder of online newsroom software as a service provider iPressroom (www.ipressroom.com), and creator of the New Media PR Boot Camp, which has been attended by more than a thousand public relations and marketing executives from the private, public, government and nonprofit sectors. In addition to advising clients on best practices for online newsroom design, deployment and management, Schwartzman offers a portfolio of new media training courses to accelerate the acquisition of social media communication skills.