5 Key Takeaways from PR Camp New York |

PRCampNY10

On November 20, 2009, more than 100 PR and marketing professionals participated at the New York debut of PR Camp New York (www.prcampnewyork.com) at the 92 Street Y in Tribeca. The goal of the one-day event was to share experiences, address problems and identify strategies to tackle social media issues that are facing PR and marketing professionals.

Here is the first of five key takeaways from the day’s discussions:

1. Social Media Cuts Across The Enterprise

Social media has gained wider acceptance, but internal debate on how to structure our account teams delays progress. In the words of Jonathan Kopp, a session moderator and global director of Ketchum Digital, the digital space is still “a swamp of budget and authority confusion and competition between marketing and PR functions on the client side and between interactive, advertising and PR firms on the service side.”

PR has a ways to go. Internally, PR has yet to resolve issues surrounding its own positioning and integration. Should firms market themselves as PR agencies that do social media or social media agencies that do PR? Should we create separate social media plans or PR plans that include social media?

But selling social media internally can’t just be about generating coverage, comments and downloads. It has to have broader value across the enterprise.

David Berkowitz another moderator and senior director at 360i has it right. The most successful social media strategists are those best equipped to communicate with their customers and key constituents, handle customer service issues, tap it for research and development, mine it for its HR/recruiting potential, and use it in other ways that can fundamentally impact their organizations.

Take Frank Eliason at Comcast. He and his team have generated a great deal of positive PR by successfully using Twitter (@comcastcares or http://www.twitter.com/comcastcares) to elevate Comcast’s commitment to customer service. Similarly, Ernst & Young has used its Careers Facebook fan page to get the message to recent graduates that the accounting firm is forward-looking place to work.

Social media presents an opportunity for PR practioners to extend their mandate and identify new revenue opportunities that don’t merely replace traditional media with new media.

Let me get back to you.

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