Deirdre Breakenridge

There’s a little song I learned back in Girl Scouts (yes, I was a girl scout… rocked the cookie sales, horrid when it came to crafts!). Make new friends, but keep the old. One is sliver and the other gold.

Here’s a special video announcement on #Chatmixer that will take place on Tuesday, March 9th at 8:00 p.m. EST. Looking forward to chatting with all of the different Twitter chat communities!

Years ago, before I started my own agency, I worked for a pharmaceutical consultant conducting business research and then later developing marketing and PR programs for his customers. At the time, one of my main responsibilities was a report that provided monitoring and surveillance for pharmaceutical brands. It was, and still is, a tough competitive landscape. We kept our clients abreast with a monthly snapshot of their industry, with respect to the drug product pipeline, stock market expectations, industry trends, market issues/concerns, and insight into latest information delivered at pharmaceutical industry conferences.

At almost every meeting, I’m asked a familiar question: Why aren’t companies participating the right way in the social media landscape or why do they take an approach that leads to confusion, miscommunication and sometimes too much loss of control. Here’s my simple answer. For the first part one of the question, companies are not listening, so they really don’t know what’s being said about their brands or where there is opportunity for them to become a valuable resource in a social networking community.

I had the pleasure of visiting Tallahassee this week and speaking to the members of the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA). This was my first trip there and it was a memorable one. From the beautiful buildings (especially the old Capital building and Florida State University) to the hospitality of the people and the friendly welcome, I have a new appreciation for Tallahassee. Another unforgettable part of the trip was the professionalism, energy and forward thinking of the FPRA.

I recently posted a blog regarding my participation at the New Jersey AdClub’s Career Day at Montclair State University on April 7, 2009. I discussed how overall I thought the day was educational, fun, friendly and provided students with useful information to take with them after college. However, I did notice that many of the questions that they asked as well as some of the questions posed by my fellow panel members were indicative of traditional PR, media relations and publicity.