Hoosier PRSA Blog

How Are You Using Social Media For Your Clients

Kyle Lacy is challenging the public relations establishment in his blog post, "The Failing Marketing and PR World." "I am becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of blog writing by public relations, marketing, and advertising firms in the city of Indianapolis and abroad," says Lacy, the owner of Brandswag. "The simple fact that a communications company is not in-tune with the changing landscape of the consumer driven world is troubling… to say the least." 

I'm not one to pry into your business. What you do is what you do. And how you do it is probably better than what I could do. You see, we've got a lot of seasoned professionals with long track records of success working in PR. They own agencies, work for non-profits, manage corporate communications. But Lacy isn't convinced we get it. "If there are any industries that should be on the forefront of social media and blogging it is the public relations and marketing worlds," he says.

While there are a few agencies experimenting with social media, I've talked with one agency owner about his effort, I don't see many of us embracing social media as tools of engagement. I wonder why that is?

Sure I see some Tweeting (here's my shout out to @KimJackson, @cdashnaw, @jmregnier and @chuckgose) Less we forget the Hoosier Chapter of PRSA tweets @HoosierPRSA. And @rmpuckett is tweeting too, as well as @Efriedland and @kjbonnell  Yes, there's more of you tweeting, but these were easier to find. 

Although many of us are tweeting among ourselves, how are we incorporating it into communication strategy for our clients? Let's take that and expand on it.

1. How are we using blogging and social media releases?
2. When was the last time we built a social media newsroom a la PitchEngine for a client?
3. What about blogger relations? 
4. How are we developing strategy that incorporates social media into larger communication plans?

Where I work, we're having a blogger summit in July. We're flying in 29 of the top bloggers in our industry. And we're slowly developing a strategy and some rules of engagement.

In his post, Lacy is fixated on blogging, pointing out, "YOU are the communications arm for major brands both large and small. YOU are driving them out of business because of your lack of knowledge pertaining to the changing world."

Is his a fair assessment? I pose the question to you.

July Luncheon Registration is Now Open

The Pinnacle Awards are finally here! Join the Hoosier PRSA chapter in honoring the 2009 Pinnacle Awards winners on Wednesday, July 8 at the Hilton Indianapolis.

Terri Stacy of WIBC will be hosting this year’s luncheon, honoring entrants in 19 different categories of programs and projects in the field of public relations. Come early for networking with some of the hardest working and most talented professionals in public relations and hear the details about some of the most innovative and successful communications techniques in the state. 

For more information about the Pinnacle Awards, please click here.

REGISTER NOW!

Date: Wednesday July 8 , 2009.
Location: Hilton Indianapolis, 120 W Market St (map/directions)
*Parking is available for FREE at the Hilton Parking Garage off of Market St. Parking Vouchers will be available at the registration desk.
If the Parking Garage says, "FULL" please pull up and tell them you are with  PRSA and they will let you park there.

Luncheon Schedule:
Registration and networking: 11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Lunch: 12:00 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Program: 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Cost: Member, $25; Guest, $40; Student, $18

Update your member profile and enter to win

Take a few minutes to help PRSA serve you better. Tell them your job title, organizational setting, industry and area(s) of specialization. That's it!

Each month, May through August, PRSA will randomly select five members who update their demographics information to receive gifts, including a $100 Amazon gift card and items from the PRSA Store. You could be a winner! 

Update your demographics information on MemberNet today. If you are renewing your membership by mail or fax, you also can update your demographics on the back of the dues invoice.

Wolfram Alpha: making the world computable

My brother-in-law has shared a gold mine for PR pros, who are expected to be expert researchers – and, if you’re like me, who like to use comparisons in your writing to catch your reader’s attention or to put information in context.

 

Now there’s Wolfram Alpha.

 

It solves math problems, figures out what the weather was on your date of birth, determines the third largest country in Europe, compares two books, creates a scatter plot for the correlation between GDP and railway lengths in Europe. 

 

It can tell you how many calories you’ll burn if you run four miles, based on your height and weight. It can tell you about carbon steel, analyze stocks, help you decide which mortgage terms are better and compare statistics of sports teams.

 

The speed and depth of information is mind-boggling. Watch the overview video before you do anything, so you’ll understand just what this system can do.

 

“We’re trying to take as much of the world’s knowledge as possible and make it computable,” says Stephen Wolfram, creator.

 

Go on, check it out. Tell the boss it’s research. Because believe me, you’re going to be using this site.

 

 

The Evolution of the Press Release

Comes today a dated -- nonetheless, apropos to our craft -- treatment of the social media release by Future Works, Brian Solis.

Press releases come in different flavors and serve different purposes. Well-written press releases are far from dead. In fact, when developed strategically, their opportunities, appeal and benefits are only expanding in conjunction with the groups of various influencers and consumers who rely on them for relevant information. Read more about the evolution of the press release as TechCrunch.

How is your agency using the new SMR?