It feels like yesterday when Angela Hernandez (@angelahernandez) asked me to contribute to her blog interview series, “Is PR Right for Me.”  What blossomed out of a blog post is our dynamic PR community, #PRStudChat.  Valerie Simon (@valeriesimon) and I are both happy that our community, which is dedicated to collaboration and educating students and PR professionals, has grown from a few to over 1,100 people (according to the @PRstudchat profile and number of followers). Hundreds of PR enthusiasts routinely participate in the monthly conversations creating more than 1,000 tweets in each hour-long session. Within this active community countless professional and personal relationships have evolved.

The very first #PRstudChat took place on August 19^th 2009. With our one-year anniversary quickly approaching, we wanted to do something really special by inviting a guest that everyone would know; someone who has made an incredible contribution to learning and collaboration. We’re honored to have this extremely busy social media professional and Internet entrepreneur join us on August 25^th at 8:30 p.m.  Our special guest is Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales), founder of Wikipedia!!

I met Jimmy a couple of years ago when he interviewed with me for my book, PR 2.0 New Media, New Tools, New Audiences. I was so impressed with his contribution to communications and the story of Wikipedia.  Jimmy joins us to answer questions about social media, collaboration and how PR professionals can participate in Wikipedia (the right way).

We’ll have more information shortly on the details of the session and more about the questions we will be asking.  For now, please help us spread the word that Jimmy Wales will be our #PRStudChat special guest for a super special one-year anniversary celebration!

There were three special Graduation Speakers who took part in the celebration and I want to not only thank them personally for their participation, but also highlight their great advice.

First, @laermer, @PRsarahevans and @BrianSolis, thank you for your contribution to our #PRstudchat graduation.  Your words of wisdom were deeply appreciated by our community.

Here’s what our Graduation Speakers had to say:

@laermer:

Believe in your own abilities. A lot of people think somehow others will ‘notice them’ but you have to show em. #prstudchat

Q3 Take a break from work every day. Even if you don’t think you need it. (Like a cleaning at the dentist==yearly.)

@PRSarahEvans:

The best advice I received as a new pro, “work like you’re not afraid to be fired.” I’ve kept it w/ me .. #prstudchat

You are not lesser than anyone in an organization because of experience. You bring valuable skills, creativity and promise! #prstudchat

@BrianSolis:

The distance between who I am & who I want to be is separated only by my actions & words http://bit.ly/a3tMKn #PRStudchat

I, too, offered advice to the students and it was short and sweet, although I have a lot more to say.  My tweet said:

“Listen, learn and practice, then give back to the community!”

This little piece of advice is what I’ve done throughout my entire career (even as student and then as an intern).  Let’s start with “Listen.” My very first mentor talked to me about listening.  He said, “If you listen long and hard you will do very well in this business.” Of course, we talk a lot about listening today in the social sphere and it’s tremendous importance. But, when I say listen, I mean to all types of conversations, everywhere and in every situation. I started to hone my listening skills early on by writing everything down in company meetings, during phone conversations and when interacting with clients (I had a yellow pad and/or a notebook practically attached to me).

I found out quickly that listening takes time and requires great skills. It’s true that we only retain a small percentage of what we hear. I believe that sometimes when we think we’re listening, we’re really thinking about the next thing that we want to say or contribute to the discussion.  Once that happens, we automatically stop listening.  Hold that thought, wait and listen some more. It’s only when you are really listening that you can offer advice.  You must have a complete picture in your mind and it has to match what’s being said, with all the pieces to analyze, in order to solve a challenge.  If we only listen partially and then act too quickly, our solutions may end up purely reactive and temporary.  Sometimes listening means sitting back and connecting the dots.

Listening also means “hearing” when no one else is paying attention. There were times, in the past, when I would be in a meeting and an executive would go on and on about a topic.  Other employees would joke, “How many times are we going to hear this?”  I figured out that if I could find the meaning in the repetition, while others were complaining (doodling or planning their shopping lists), then I would pick up some valuable knowledge about that executive or the message that he/she was really trying to get across to the team, even if it appeared repetitive. Note: The executive suite is looking for real listeners, who can interpret and solve their issues.

The “Learn” part of my advice for the Class of 2010 is what I call “the climb.”  If I can offer any advice here, it’s don’t neglect that climb. There’s a reason why your supervisor wants you learn the ins and outs of day-to-day PR life or the nitty, gritty details of a new office software program (even if it appears to be mundane or busy work) or why that same supervisor sends you whitepapers and countless documents for you to review.  Soak it all up and learn as much as you can. There’s also genuine logic as to why junior people start with research and monitoring (this used to be compiling the clip books) and helping with news releases and media alerts to hone their writing skills (of course, not the fluffy releases, but the really good stories). Your higher ups are not trying to punish you (whether it’s a manager or an executive), when they want you to know everything about PR.  It’s the climb that teaches you and prepares you for everything that you’re about to experience.

I’ve always believed that you have to experience and master something yourself before you can teach someone else. When I put the pieces together about my own climb, there was a reason I enthusiastically set up our small NYC office every morning, before the executives arrived. I’m thankful that my office manager showed me what to do because I knew exactly what to do when it came time to run my own office, and when I had to show someone else.   So many want to race past the climb to advance to a higher level, to take part in the strategy and present at the big client pitch.  Whether it’s climbing the corporate ladder or moving up in rank at your agency, I still believe that it’s critical to learn all the steps in between and experience what you are going to be managing and/or supervising in the years to come.

The “Practice” part of my advice will never stop in your career. As PR is constantly changing, you always have to roll up your sleeves to be a part of the team to embrace a client’s challenges (getting involved in an account way beyond just the strategy and planning).  The opportunity to practice every moving part should never leave you.  Although you will grow in your career, with new approaches and the blending of PR, social media, marketing and Web, you may find yourself in the “trenches” with the team more often.  This enables you to move to the next part of my advice, which is the “give back the most updated information to your community”.  If you don’t continually experience all of the changes (especially the technology), and how they affect your client’s as well as your own brands, then how do you know what really needs to be set in place to be successful in today’s marketplace.  By continuing to practice the very latest techniques (and I do mean by doing it yourself and working closely with your team) you will stay on top of your game and always be a valued asset in your organization.

Lastly, my advice focuses on giving back to the community.  As you reach new PR heights, reflect on all of those special professionals who have helped you and in the spirit of community, and for all that you’ve received, take the very same approach.  As you get, always give back, and the cycle will continue with someone else.

I wish all of the graduates the best of luck in their PR endeavors!  Do you have any more advice for the Class of 2010?

The event took place at De Unie, a lovely café and restaurant with a personal and intimate ambiance. The night started with a meet and greet with the audience followed by my presentation, which was held in a theater located directly behind the lounge. It was such a wonderful experience to discuss the industry with my Dutch PR and communications colleagues.

My presentation covered the state of PR, focusing on the following topics:

• Moving from PR 1.0 to PR 2.0 and the major differences
• How to tell you business story in today’s changing media landscape
• Building relationships with new influencers is key, including A-list bloggers, Tastemakers, the Magic Middle and with consumers
• The PR 2.0 approach and the do’s and the don’ts of social media outreach
• The next wave of technology
• 10 tips for PR 2.0
• Helpful resources (my favorite books, resources/tools and blogs)

The evening concluded under the lights with Jody, Jos and myself sitting in three chairs on stage participating in a lively Q&A session.  At one point, the audience joined in on the Q&A discussion, going beyond the three of us, and the individual who asked the question (similar to what happens in our social networks). I thought the audience provided fantastic information; they were engaged and it really felt as if a new community started from this very special event (and perhaps the conversation will continue on the event hashtag, #AEW09).

@jodykoehler, @josgovaart and I came up with an idea to give away three books to the people who asked some of the best PR 2.0 questions.  So, congratulations to @javerver, @rnaat and @YvonneVB for your thoughtful questions.  Coopr will be sending each of you a signed copy of my book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.

Here are the questions and my answers:

1.  My company, MTV, is social networking.  What can the press department do to help?

This was a great question and very common in organizations. There are often times when the social media effort of the entire company takes place with certain groups participating and perhaps other groups not as active.  Social media affects many different areas from sales and customer service to PR and marketing. And, different groups should be participating for different reasons.

In the case of the PR department, it’s so important to be listening and connecting through social media for a number of reasons.  PR people can be actively monitoring the social media landscape and engaging in conversations that are relevant to MTV, for brand awareness and reputation management, as well as editorial opportunities and new influencer coverage.  For instance, there are plenty of journalists, as well as bloggers, in the long tail of the web looking for stories and the PR department needs to follow and interact with these influencers.  It’s really important to listen, identify and observe the conversations, whether they are on Twitter or another platform, and then have the PR team engage by offering helpful information about the brand/programming and building relationships with the people who will then, in turn, discuss the MTV brand within their communities.

2.  I do public relations for a police department and was wondering who from the department should be blogging?

I thought this was an excellent question.  I mentioned a personal example of my brother, who is the Chief of Police in the small town in New Jersey, where I grew up.  I discussed how it would make sense for a Chief of Police to be building community online through social media outreach because it mirrors his responsibilities offline.  My brother is very active with various organizations, constantly attending affairs and working with groups in the community.

I was also very pleased that there was significant audience participation on this question.  @AmazingPR was able to help with the answer. He stated that it’s important to think out the “why part” first.  What is the purpose of the social media communications (the objectives) and then it’s easier to determine who should participate.  I agree and think that’s great advice.

3. How do PR Agencies add value through Social Media because Social Media can be best done from within an organization?

This is definitely a key question asked worldwide. The PR agency adds value as we help our clients with the strategy and planning behind the social media programs, which includes the monitoring/listening, channel or distribution strategy, strategic communications/content, as well as determining the type of engagement and measurement of the desired behavior.  Agencies can also help their clients with blogger relations, brand reputation management in web communities and at times, damage control.  We should also continuously counsel brands on appropriate communications strategies and be proactive, not waiting for issues/concerns to arise in the social sphere that will affect the brand.

In public relations, we have always worked to build relationships with groups and we will continue to counsel our clients on the best ways to foster and maintain better relationships and community building in the social sphere.  Because of social media, we’re more involved and integrated into customer service, web and viral marketing, and we are viewed as social media listeners and conversationalists.  Social media, although can be done internally by the client, is a team effort and the PR agency can be a strong part of the team.

Traveling to Holland was a fantastic experience and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many interesting professionals.  Practicing PR is both exciting and challenging all over the world and it’s very interesting to learn and discuss the various global challenges with other professionals.

Thank you, Coopr, Bijl PR and the many Dutch PR professionals who participated and contributed to the success of the Coopr PR 2.0 launch event.

Each report took almost a month to compile. I would finish one report and have to move quickly to the next’s month’s findings.  Among the many parts of this report, I used to analyze the market, travel to conferences, scour publications and interview numerous people.  I really can’t say that the information was at my fingertips and it took some leg work to uncover the most relevant industry information for the report.

Today, it’s a different story. Brian and I discuss in our book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, that you need to listen to engage properly with your customers and other stakeholders.  The same holds true with competitive information; you need to listen with your ear to the social media landscape to see what’s going on with competitors in the marketplace.  Information is being shared on trends and shifting landscapes and company performance.  This is in real time and on a daily basis.

We just walked a client through an exercise to illustrate how their competitors are participating on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (which are among the five top social networking sites).  We had previously provided them with a snapshot of where they should engage, using the Conversation Prism and Conversation Workflow Approach.  However, it was when we illustrated how their direct competitors were engaged in communications in some of the largest social networks that they were ready to listen closely. They knew that they could no longer sit back as a spectator in the social economy.

It’s fairly simple to uncover information in a social network.  You can search to see if there are conversations around competitive brands and to evaluate what those brands are doing with respect to engagement.  We did our searches using keywords, whether it was a competitor’s brand name or product/service.  We also looked to see if any relevant trends were being discussed by the competitor.

As you go through this exercise, there are a few questions that you need to answer for your client, as you evaluate the information you uncover on competitors:

• How is the competitor engaged in social networking activities?
• What social media and PR 2.0 tools and resources are they using?
• Is the competitor communicating as a thought leader, customer service representative, news or informational source, or as a helpful resource to a community?  What is their overall strategic approach?
• Who is communicating on behalf of the competitor? An executive, communications professional, community manager, a customer service rep or a member of another department? Is the competitor being transparent?
• What type of conversations are taking place? Positive? Neutral? Or negative? You can map this out in a matrix.
• Do you see a strategic thread of communications across all of the social networks or is communication not concentrated in any one area?
• Is the community embracing the competitor and has the competitor’s influence grown, for example on Twitter, with respect to their influence, generosity, clout, signal and velocity.  You can use Twitalyzer to research this information.

There are only a few of the many questions that need to be answered so that you can help your client to identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Challenges (SWOC) in the marketplace.  It’s imperative to understand this information before you launch your marketing and PR programs.

I hope that you are all thinking about your brand’s competitors and how this information will help you with a better approach to your campaigns and also creates a stronger position for your brand.  The information is there in the competitive social landscape….you just need to listen!

Brian Solis and I discussed our book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.  We also participated in a chat session on how social media builds brand champions (both internally within your organization and externally in social networks).  Other sessions were how to build a Social Media Release, an integrated approach to emerging media and maximizing the value of your news from Twitter to Google.  The conference emphasized conversations and made its way to Twitter, via the #vocus hashtag. Among the hundreds of entries from the #vocus hashtag, these are just a few:

Vocus had a strong social media program in place and its outreach pre-conference included promotions with links to discounts for speakers to share in their networks.  Vocus sent out a news release through PRWeb and also developed a Social Media Release (SMR) with my agency, PFS Marketwyse.  We’re currently reviewing the results of the SMR, and will be reporting on the analytics soon.

The virtual event had one of the most impressive platforms that I’ve ever seen.  Created by On24, the virtual conference had the participants enter into the Plaza where a video automatically played, with the Vocus CMO, Bill Wagner, giving a welcome message.  Attendees could then enter into a Networking Café, a Resource Center to access documents/presentations or an Auditorium.  My favorite area and probably one of the most popular was the Networking Café.  In this area, attendees interacted in Group Chats and also Scheduled Chats.  My Scheduled Chat with Brian was very fast paced and we fielded a tremendous number of questions from interested participants.  There were definitely more questions than we had time to answer in our half hour chat session.

I guess if you’re going to have a social media conference, then you have to do it the right way.  Everything should be about social media, from the topics and promotion to the interactive environment and the ways people participate.  Vocus was very happy with its virtual event.  As a presenter, I’m still discussing conference topics and answering questions.  Now, that’s the true value of social media.  The conversations are only the beginning.  Relationships are formed, and moving forward there’s plenty of opportunity as a result.

Of course, you have to know when to use an SMR or whether or not another form of news release best suits your story.  Brian and I talked a lot about the various types of releases in our book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR.  Chapter 8 in the book was devoted to the SMR and other types of releases leading up to this new shiny object.  We touched on traditional releases, customer focused releases, SEO releases and of course SMRs.

I believe that the SMR is one of the greatest breakthroughs in PR because it really helps professionals to craft a better and more customized story for the people they we want to reach.  The SMR complements the traditional or SEO release by combining many the newsworthy facts with digital assets that are interactive and viral in a social community.  Of course, SMRs are not going to fix a poorly written story and they are definitely not about presenting hype, spin or BS in a new, cleverly developed template.

One personal example of SMR success was the launch of mine and Brian’s book.  By using this powerful communications tool, we could see the results instantaneously.  We were very pleased with how the SMR facilitated direct conversations through the many sharing tools offered in the template.

For the book launch, we developed the SMR through PitchEngine.  We also had a traditional announcement that was released by Pearson Education announcing that Putting the Public Back in Public Relations had hit the major bookstore shelves.  The SMR complemented that release and within minutes of posting it to PitchEngine’s PitchFeed, we could see the results; heavy traffic to the PFS Marketwyse website, a huge spike and direct book sales through my PR 2.0 Strategies blog.

Here are a few of the results.  Based on the average site traffic 30 days prior to posting the SMR our site, traffic increased dramatically on the PFS Marketwyse site, with a 433% spike in traffic on the day of the announcement and 1100% the day after.  You can click here to see the full case study results on PitchEngine.

With respect to sharing, we tracked the day we shared the announcement up to a week afterward on our book’s Facebook fan site and on Twitter.  We had 86% of our traffic coming from those social networks.  Only about 10% of the site traffic was from the traditional PR distribution methods.

The SMR is a great sharing tool to ignite conversations and to build one-on-one relationships.  Many of our initial conversations that stemmed from the launch release led to great opportunities including blog interviews, book reviews, radio interviews and numerous webinars, teleseminars and speaking engagements booked in 2009.

Of course this is only one example of the success of an SMR.  What are your experiences with the SMR and has the use of this communications tool been successful in your PR efforts?

The discussion began with a simple question: How does Social Media change PR?  I immediately discussed how the approach to communication changes and how Social Media allows us to have conversations directly with consumers and other important stakeholders.  It’s really the human conversations and connections that are so important (a one-to-one strategy rather than the broadcast messaging of the past).  It was very interesting to hear the reaction from my new friend who said, “I can tell you are a PR person because you have very ‘thoughtful’ answers.”  We discussed how social media and conversations are raw.  The blogosphere is filled with passionate dialog and flows with information.  I laughed and said, “Yes, I know, I’m working on my raw.”

The statement is so true!  As PR professionals, we are trained to think, be concise and thoughtful and give the “appropriate” answer.  Social media is the exact opposite. It can be very raw, which is representative of human nature and interaction.  It’s a challenge to work in an industry for 20 + years and to one day realize that the approach you took for so long has completely changed, as a result of the social media landscape.

But, in order for PR professionals to stay in tune with the marketplace, help their brands to achieve growth and to be successful in their own industry, they have to embrace Social Media.  It’s time to explore different approaches and get out of our comfort zones.  Now, I completely understand that there is a happy medium between the “thoughtful” PR answers and the Social Media “raw” of today.  We just need to find that balance and, then, Social Media will help us to truly connect and develop the kind of relationships with our influencers that we have touted for years.

Here are some photos from the book signing event.  There was no shortage of laughter and/or great conversations:

Getting Social IRL Pictures

I leave you with a couple of questions to ponder:  Are you getting the most out of Social Media and are you working on your “raw?”

From the insight and information gathered through engagement, the Research Librarian then helps to turn the feedback from dialog into action based initiatives for the brand. It’s critical that all of this rich information is shared with other areas within the company including sales, marketing, R&D, product development, customer service, etc. In some cases, the Research Librarian at the agency works with the Community Manager or Social Media Manager at the client company to filter the information into the appropriate business silos.

Research has always been a key focus in PR.  Beginning a campaign or program starts with the audit; a research approach to public communication that allows you to properly measure benchmarks of public communication with stakeholders and gauge opinions throughout an initiative.  However, in the social media landscape with the rate of the communication or conversations in numerous communities across the Conversation Prism, research must be at the forefront of communications at all times.  Long gone are the days of reactive PR, but rather, today, we embark on a proactive, outbound customer service communication approach that will prove successful in image and reputation management, relationship building, and even crisis communications.

If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know that I love to use comparisons.  I wrote a post regarding the responsibilities of a PR person 15 years ago versus today.  Well, I’d like to add to that post.  Here’s an updated look at a day in the life of a PR person (Jacqueline Dodd) as a Research Librarian.  Jacqueline’s work feeds our company with ongoing information so that we are able to engage in conversations, build relationships with influencers and provide better and more useful communication in our communities.

Here’s how Jacqueline describes role as a Research Librarian:

Approximately 50-60% of a typical 8 hour work day is spent researching and reporting on my findings in order to develop highly targeted strategies for both PFS clients and PFS as a brand.

Below are some bullet points on the research I conduct though out the day

• Industry trends, tools and news
  • Peruse online media industry websites and blogs for news and updates
    to identify industry trends or anticipate them. Topics include technology
    news, company financial statistics, movement in company management, mergers
    and acquisitions, product launches, etc.
  • Based on this information, I research the people, companies, technology,
    and products being discussed in the news. I then sign up for webinars,
    demos, search for related case studies and white papers, and any additional
    research that seems pertinent.
  • Peruse social networking platforms, Twitter, Digg, Facebook, etc.,
    for news and updates from industry people, colleagues, and other related
    media outlets
  • Read email newsletters from industry publications and web properties
• Research blogs/bloggers relevant to industry
  • Read blog posts based on relevant keyword searches
  • Develop/maintain media lists of targeted blogs & bloggers
  • Develop/maintain spreadsheet of related blog posts with interesting
    topics and share with team for commenting/blogger relations
• Editors/Journalists
  • Cision search to produce a list of targeted publications
  • Visit the list of publications’ websites and do keyword searches on
    related topics and read previously written articles to find most suitable
    contact
  • Once I have the right editor/journalist I go back to Cision for contact
    info should it not be provided on the publication website
  • Develop/maintain media list based on findings

In addition to what I’ve already covered, I also research industry events and industry awards.  This research would require visiting the event/award website, obtaining the submission requirements, and also a good tip is to grab the agenda from the previous year to avoid duplicating content, which can also typically be found on the event/award website.

The Research Librarian serves a valuable function in your company.  Is your PR department filled with Research Librarians?  If so, what are they doing?