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PR+MKTG Camp Seattle

Dan Greenfield — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:27:00 +0000

PR+MKTG Camp (Facebook, Twitter) is coming March 3 to the Seattle Public Library. With successful 2009 events in Atlanta and New York, we will have camps in five more cities in 2010. In addition to Seattle, we will be in Chicago, Toronto, London and by popular demand, a camp again in New York. For more information about Seattle, see the registration page at Eventbrite.

One recent notable change is our new name. We were originally known as PR Camp, The new name, PR+MKTG Camp, reflects how social media is blurring the boundaries between PR and marketing. In addition, if PR+MKTG Camp has an agenda, it is to help align the two professions, create more effective account teams and serve the enterprise as the whole. That name reflects these objectives.

I am working with Dean Landsman of the Landsman Communications Group. We are already building momentum in Seattle. SMC Seattle is also partnering with us, given our mutual commitment to community building and social media.

Many of the moderators for the four different sessions are already on board. Here are some of the moderators who are scheduled to participate:

- Elliott Pesut – Campaign Management Specialist, Alaska Airlines

- Sean O’Driscoll - Co-Founder and CEO, Ant’s Eye View

- Buzz Bruggeman – Active Words

- Shauna Causey – Communications/Community Relations Manager, Comcast

- Colleen Moffitt - Founding Partner, Communique PR

- Anne Marshall – Director, Public Relations, Drugstore.com

- Kat Tillman – Senior Account Supervisor, Edelman Digital

- Jon Winsell - Strategic Services Director, Emerge Partners

- Renay San Miguel - Reporter, King 5 TV

- Maya Bisineer – Founder, Memetales

- Betsy Aoki - Sr. Program/Product Manager, Social Media, Microsoft

- Rod Brooks – CMO, Pemco Insurance

- Bill Hankes – Vice President, Corporate Communications, Real Networks

- Monica Guzman – News Gatherer, Seattle P-I

- Kenton Olsen – Manager, Digital Media, Seattle Seahawks

- Brad Nelson - Starbucks

- Wade Rockett - Digital Strategist, Weber Shandwick

- Tac Anderson – Social Media Director, Waggener Edstrom

- Laura Porto Stockwell – Senior Director, Digital Strategy, Wongdoody Communications

NEW ADDITIONS:

- Tom Biro - Vice President, Allison & Partners

- Greg Shaw – Director of Advocacy and Policy  United States Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

- Scott Porad – CTO, Cheezburger Network

- Ben Straley – CEO, Meteor Solutions

- Jeff Sandquist – Senior Director of Platform Evangelism, Microsoft

- Shannon Paul – Online Communications Manager, PEAK6

- Xavier Jimenez – Principal, Spring Creek Group

- Kevin Pedraja – Vice President, Sterling Communications

- Patricia Vaccarino – Managing Partner, Xanthus Communications

- Amy Bohutinsky – Vice President, Corporate Communications, Zillow

- John Henry Giddings – Director, West Region, PR Newswire

Agenda

8:00 AM - Registration and Breakfast

9:00 AM – Impact: Understanding how social media is reshaping traditional PR’s and marketing’s principal roles and core competencies

In this session, we examine the impact of social media on storytelling, relationship building, branding, conversations and transactions.

10:30 AM – Impact and Strategy: Aligning PR and Marketing

In this session, we explore how better alignment can improve outcomes. Discussions will focus on identifying common disconnects between PR and marketing, integrating account teams and defining performance metrics.

12:00 Noon - Lunch

1:15 PM –

Execution: Measuring Success

In this session, we evaluate different tools used to measure success, looking at such criteria as their accuracy, effectiveness, usefulness and cost.

2:30 PM - Strategy and Execution: Achieving Internal Buy in for Your Social Media Programs

In this session, we focus on defining ROI and how PR and marketing can set realistic expectations for achieving buy in from clients and management.

4:15 PM - Wrap Up

Sponsors and Partners

We are still looking for additional partners and sponsors for our event. We are grateful for the support of Social Media Club Seattle, PR Newswire and Emerge Partners for their support.

Let me get back to you.

Key Takeaways from PR Camp New York – Number 5

Dan Greenfield — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:33:48 +0000

On November 20, 2009, more than 100 PR and marketing professionals participated at the New York debut of PR Camp New York 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 fifth and final key takeaway from the day’s discussions:

5. What Generational Divide?

Generation Y differs in how it uses social media. They are more nimble, quicker, cheaper and gaining a larger share of the social media jobs. But attendees at PR Camp thought that Gen Y’s orientation and experience don’t give them a competitive advantage. Despite their age and orientation, they still need strategic direction that Boomers and Xers can provide.

Attendees at PR Camp remained divided over the importance of these tensions that exist across generations. Perceived or otherwise, these tensions need not be disruptive. In an open corporate culture, Gen Yers can serve as valuable instructors to foster greater social media adoption. Reverse mentoring programs can help reduce the cost of outside consultants, create a more collaborative culture and boost morale.

Let me get back to you.

Key Takeaways from PR Camp New York – Number 4

Dan Greenfield — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:33:32 +0000

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

4. What Interactive Marketing Can Teach PR

PR professionals usually focus on showing the clips, but the CMO and CEO of a company are not thinking about clips; they are thinking about the next step. What are the results after the clip?

When it comes to measurement, PR can learn a great deal from interactive marketing; they are obsessed with measurement. They are transactional based and therefore do a great job in measuring direct impact. PR must embrace numbers and become metric obsessed. At PR Camp, less than 20 percent of the audience admitted that measurement was a top priority.

During my introduction I said social media is what plastics was to Benjamin Braddock’s generation in the movie The Graduate: hot, the future and for the young. But perhaps one of the moderators, Howard Greenstein, president, The Harbrooke Group is right. Perhaps statistics are the new plastic. Those who control the numbers control the power.

Let me get back to you.

Key Takeaways from PR Camp New York – Number 3

Dan Greenfield — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:55:33 +0000

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

3. New Metric – “Congagement”

PR Camp New York revealed we have not reached consensus on what engagement is and how to measure it. But one thing is certain: how we measure success is changing.

Clients and bosses still want placement in the Wall Street Journal, but increasingly we need to look beyond hits and impressions. Social media requires us to facilitate and track how people use the content we distribute. Links, retweets, downloads, comments and ultimately clickthoughs are critical performance factors because they measure engagement. Fostering conversations is still a cornerstone for PR, but we need to think more transactionally. In short, focus more on the actions that your efforts generate.

How do engagement and conversion relate to each other? Perhaps we should adopt a word suggested by Janine Gianfredi, marketing manager, Google and her breakout group: “congagement.”

Let me get back to you.

Key Takeaways from PR Camp New York – Number 2

Dan Greenfield — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:33:42 +0000

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

2. Social Media is Storytelling

It’s true that social media is blurring traditional boundaries and responsibilities. But put PR and marketing professionals in the same room, and it is clear that legitimate differences in expertise and perspective persist.

At its heart, PR is still about storytelling and relationship building. But where once there was a single messenger with a controlled message, we are now confronted with new ways to tell our story. Traditional press releases with a beginning, middle and end are just one tool in a communications arsenal. They are not going away, but we now must contend with blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. And there are plenty of other smaller or more narrow focus Social Networks or sub-nets (Twitter Lists) to consider for targeting the message.

The most successful practioners understand social media storytelling is not linear, is independent of news cycles, has multiple authors and resides on a variety of platforms. What we lose in control, we gain in distribution and engagement.

Consider Facebook. The average Facebook user has about 130 friends. Multiply those friends by the number of fans on your brand page, and you have dramatically increased the potential reach and power of your story. These friends are your network of potential storytellers. Their comments, videos and pictures are part of your story. The goal is to use these story elements in concert to advance your message and understand that your story will go in directions that you never intended.

Let me get back to you.

PR Camp New York: Storytelling and Measuring

Dan Greenfield — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:02:49 +0000

I am still recovering from Friday’s PR Camp New York. Check out attendee response on Twitter (#PRCamp). Good feedback only makes me want to do more camps next year. (Any recommendations for cities?)

I am putting together the notes from the discussions. Much was said about Gen Y, client buy in and alignment, but two topics stood out for me: storytelling and measurement.

Let the Numbers Tell the Story

It seemed clear from many in the room that storytelling (and message development) remain a key point of differentiation for PR professionals. We do it well, even as blogs, Twitter and Facebook transform the way we tell our clients’ stories.

Take the press release. It’s a time tested storytelling tool. But during the camp discussion, Chris Andrew (@chrisa270), vice-president-group director media at Digitas declared it dead. And Jonathan Kopp (@jonathankopp), global director at Ketchum Digital stressed the importance of the social press release. But a well written press release with a lead, body and conclusion is not going away. It still serves as a statement of record and required when the subject is material.

But no matter how well we tell our story, it is still hard to measure its value. PR continues to struggle with measurement. What are the best metrics for engagement? Are they any more meaningful and accurate than the old measurements? And what are the best tools to help us measure success? Many in the room seemed to need help in finding answers.

In many respects, interactive marketing does a better job in measurement. They have to. They are more accountable for click throughs and signups. Numbers rule their world. Messages rule ours. But I am not sure we want to cede this ground.

I think social media presents us with an opportunity to play a leadership role in a company’s overall marketing and communications strategy — if only we could demonstrate our effectiveness and deliver meaningful ROI.

It’s time that PR lets the numbers tell our story.

Peter Shankman leading a break out session on measuring success

Future PR Camps may take these topics head on. What does storytelling look in the age of social media? What is the best way to sell this new form of storytelling to clients? And how do we measure success? We started the process informally on Friday. It may be necessary to formalize the discussion.

It would be interesting to explore social media sites and ancillary data extracting tools. By testing these tools and developing standards to evaluate them, we will be better positioned to analyze:

- time spent on free vs. premium services

- risk associated with doing no social media

- what to do with the information

- the best distribution path for communication and reports

- geography and behaviors of your audience

- the value to your organization

- the ability to meet your goals

I believe this analysis is critical to better sell our social media programs.

Moderators present their recommendations

Word of Thanks

No event would be complete without the participation of moderators, attendees ,volunteers and of course a sponsors and partners. I would like to thank everyone who participated. But I would also like to call out Lloyd Trufelman, Bill Sobel, Dean Landsman, Howard Greenstein, Danielle Culmone and Mark Miranda for their help, insight and hard work.

Clients and Partners:

PR Newswire

Advertising Club of New York

Bernardo’s List

Gorkana

Landsman Communications Group

Social Media Club New York

Trylon SMR

212 New York’s Interactive Advertising Club

Let me get back to you.