It’s December and we’re ringing in the Holidays at #PRStudchat! Growing together over the past 2+ years, we’re like one big family and it’s amazing how much we’ve shared together.  On December 21, 2011 at 8:30 p.m., get ready to share some more. Our Holiday Twitter chat session will give PR professionals, students and educators a chance to discuss with friends “a few of their favorite PR things …”

Here is what we want to hear from you that night:

Q1. What are your favorite PR tools/services?

Q2. What are your favorite books?

Q3. What are your favorite classes?

Q4: What are your favorite PR communities … online and off?

Q5. What’s your favorite PSA (favorite Social Good campaigns/hashtags)?

Q6. Who are you favorite PR industry leaders/role models?

Q7. What are your favorite conferences?

Q8. Do you have a favorite portrayal of a PR Pro on TV or in the movies?

Q9. Do you have a favorite current Holiday campaign?

Q10. My favorite part about being a PR pro is …

We’re also taking this opportunity to invite the other PR Twitter communities to join in our December Holiday chat, to make it a more of a Holiday Mixer.  So, if any of the other PR communities want to participate in the festivities, please send @ValerieSimon or myself a note. We’ll add your hashtag to the communications moving forward and also promote your participation in future articles and blog posts.

We’re really excited about our Holiday celebration.  It’s a special time with special friends. We want to celebrate all of you and the tremendous support you’ve given us through out the years.  We look forward to a dynamic discussion filled with “a few of our favorite PR things.” Of course, if you have any ideas about your favorite PR things that you want us to discuss on December 21^st, please feel free to post them on our LinkedIn Discussion Group.  Hope to “see” you on the 21^st.

A Little More About PRStudChat:

It began with a simple question asked by Angela Hernandez, then President of PRSSA at Central Michigan University (CMU). “Is PR Right for me?” A follow up blog post by PR 2.0 expert Deirdre Breakenridge inspired a series of direct messages on Twitter between Breakenridge and fellow PR industry pro, Valerie Simon. This was an important question and one that should be explored beyond one student or one blog post. Why not build a community to help students across the country, and even the globe, learn from the experience and perspective of industry professionals… A community where everyone can learn and grow together. Read more

On October 19, 2011, at 8:30 p.m., #PRStudChat will hold its annual “Back to School Night” for our students, educators and professionals.  The session will focus on PR education and the ever-changing learning environment.  Students will get a glimpse of what’s being done in other classrooms and professionals will get a full view of the current academic environment.

We’re excited to announce our panel of professors who will be joining us that night:

Stefan Pollack:

As president & chief financial officer of The Pollack PR Marketing Group, Stefan plays an integral role within the agency. His responsibilities include management of client services, new business development and financial planning for the agency. Stefan also oversees and directs media relations, social media and outreach programs on behalf of several clients in various industries in addition to leading the agency’s professional service firm practice.  He is the Immediate Past Chair, Americas Region Board of the Worldcom Public Relations Group and is an Adjunct Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. Follow Stefan on Twitter @stefanpollack.

Stefan was recently interviewed for an Examiner post about Success in the Public Relations Classroom and beyond.

Amy Sauertieg: 

Amy Sauertieg joined the faculty of Penn State Harrisburg in Fall 2010, where she teaches course in Public Relations, Event Planning and Public Speaking. She began her career developing and marketing entertainment vehicles for such companies as Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods and Anheuser-Busch, and has been a marketing and public relations executive in a variety of industries, including television, economic development and social services. Previously, she taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology (SUNY) and Marymount Manhattan College. Amy is a member of the PRSA and is a board member of Healthy Media Choices. She received her BFA in theater from Boston University and her MA in media studies from The New School.  You can follow Amy on Twitter @asauertieg.

Amy was recently interviewed in the Examiner regarding the Academic Perspective.

Kirk Hazlett, APR, Fellow PRSA:

Kirk Hazlett, APR, Fellow PRSA, is Associate Professor of Communication at Curry College in Milton, MA, where he teaches undergraduate public relations courses, oversees the public relations concentration, and serves as Faculty Adviser for the Curry College Public Relations Student Association. In addition, he is Lecturer in Communications at Regis College in Weston, MA, where he teaches graduate communication courses and serves on the College’s Graduate Communications Advisory Committee.  You can follow Kirk on Twitter @kirkhazlett.

Prior to his move into academia, Kirk practiced nonprofit and government public relations and marketing for more than 35 years in the US as well as Asia. During his professional career, he managed communication programs for healthcare and member services organizations as well as the US Army and US Air Force in Vietnam, the Philippines and the United States. He also provided consulting services for both the Manila and the Singapore Red Cross.

Accredited by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Kirk a Member of PRSA’s national Board of Directors and has held leadership positions with PRSA Educators Academy and PRSA Northeast District as well as with the Boston and Hawaii PRSA chapters. He was inducted into PRSA’s prestigious College of Fellows in 2009 and is one of just two actively-teaching college professors in Massachusetts to have earned this distinction.

Kirk was recently interviewed in an Examiner post, where he shared his Advice for College Students and Professors.

Karen Russell:

Karen Russell is a PR professor at the University of Georgia and the editor of the Journal of Public Relations Research. Karen joined us last year for the October 2010 #PRStudChat Back to School Night. You can follow Karen on Twitter @karenrussell.

A few of the questions that we’ll be asking our panel of professors and our community members will be:

Q1. What are the most effective learning tools used in the classroom today?

Q2. What are your favorite books and why?

Q3. How do you collaborate on group projects (social groups vs. physical setting)?

Q4. How do you integrate internships into the academic setting?

Q5. PRStudChat PSA – What hashtag or social media effort would you like to share with the community?

Q6. What are you learning inside of the classroom that you can’t learn anywhere else?

Q7. What’s your favorite assignment?

Q8.  What professor(s) have influenced you the most and why?

Q9. What sort of technology would you like to see professors using in the classroom?

We’re really excited about our Back to School night session and look forward to helping students and professionals to uncover different ideas and techniques to use in the classroom environment. If you have any questions for our special guests, please feel free to post them on our LinkedIn Discussion Group.  Hope to “see” you on the 19^th!

A Little More About PRStudChat:

It began with a simple question asked by Angela Hernandez, then President of PRSSA at Central Michigan University (CMU). “Is PR Right for me?” A follow up blog post by PR 2.0 expert Deirdre Breakenridge inspired a series of direct messages on Twitter between Breakenridge and fellow PR industry pro, Valerie Simon. This was an important question and one that should be explored beyond one student or one blog post. Why not build a community to help students across the country, and even the globe, learn from the experience and perspective of industry professionals… A community where everyone can learn and grow together. Read more

A Guest Post By Valerie Simon

• 1990:  I want to go to a new restaurant. I open up the yellow pages, or a copy of a local magazine to find a seafood restaurant nearby. I call two additional restaurants for more information and reservations.
• 2000:  I want to go to a new restaurant. I do a quick Google search and find several Seafood restaurants online in my area. I check out three websites, choose the one I want, and make a call.
• 2010:  I want to go to a new restaurant. I post a status update on Facebook asking for recommendations. Within 30 minutes I have numerous suggestions from friends with comments telling me what to order and even where to sit. I go to the website or FB page for the phone number and call.
• 2020:  I want to go to a new restaurant. I get dressed, hop in the car and  say “Grilled Tuna – $18” into an app on my mobile device and local seafood restaurants immediately respond matching my price, offering discounts and an online tour of the space. I click on the restaurant and see the reviews from all of my connections who have been there. Another click and reservations are set and an online hostess directs me to the parking lot.

Traditional advertising was all about the brand. Today companies understand that it’s about the consumer, and that companies are only important in regards to how they can satisfy customer needs. Until now, the burden of research for a sales transaction has been primarily on the consumer. Assisted by advertising, sales teams, marketing material, websites etc., it has been incumbent on the consumer to seek out prospective solutions. But why?

New platforms like Zaarly, described as the “the ultimate demand engine” by co-founder Bo Fishback, are empowering consumers in new and exciting ways. State what you need, and let others bid for your business. Social platforms like Quora and LinkedIn make it easy to crowd source specific expert advice, and in doing so influence purchasing decisions. And every new customer is suddenly an “expert” with the ability to share his experience with the marketplace;  New research by NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company, notes that 68 percent of social media users go to social networking sites to read product reviews.

Building and maintaining customer relationships has never been more important. Earlier today, watching the trailer for Brian Solis’s new book The End of Business As Usual, I was reminded of the harsh realities companies are facing in a new digital culture. A failure to listen to the marketplace, can be fatal, as Katie Paine recently noted, in her analysis of the now defunct VMS.

With such high stakes what steps must brands take to leverage the listening power of these new tools to create and grow brand evangelists?

Strive not to sell products or service, but relationships. At the end of the sales cycle, what have you achieved? Rather than “Always Be Closing” the new mantra should be “Always Be Opening.” Social media presents new opportunities to engage customers outside of specific sales. Find opportunities to open the door for continued conversation and to stay top of mind. Seek to turn your customer into an extended member of your sales team, someone who will be quick to offer  referrals, testimonials, and honest market intelligence.

Location, location, location… The social universe is grand. Your budget and resources likely are not. Carefully consider where your customers/prospects live online, before investing time and money. Extend your search beyond Facebook and Twitter. Those in the fashion and beauty industry certainly want to consider Tumblr. B2B organizations should consider taking advantage of LinkedIn and SlideShare. Seek out the forums and active industry blogs where your customers spend time. And if you cannot find a specialized network meeting the social needs of your customers, consider whether you have the resources to build your own community. Mercedes Benz does, and welcomed their youngest customers into “Generation Benz”, a branded social network that allows Mercedes to interact with customers and solicit feedback.

Implement a social CRM program that puts the customer at the center of the organizations operations Rather than pushing messages to customers, use social networks as a means to listen and converse with customers Listening is not a matter of simply hearing words. Listening requires a concentrated method of digesting the information, and using that information to take action. As this simple example from Fed Ex demonstrates, a strong social CRM program can help you head off potential problems and improve your customer experience.  Identify how customer feedback will be quickly heard and managed by the appropriate member of your organization. How will follow up responses and communications be efficiently managed?

Be on a continuous quest to add value Allow your customers and the greater marketplace to guide you in identifying opportunities to pursue and vulnerabilities to address. Listen not only to those issues that pertain to your product or service as it exists today, but seek to understand the greatest needs and challenges of your customers and in the marketplace.

What will the next level of social media platforms offer consumers? And out of curiosity, how do you think you will go about deciding what new restaurant to try in 2020?

Valerie is an innovative developer of teams, communities, products and communications programs.  Formerly Senior Vice President, BurrellesLuce, Valerie has directed the implementation of new and upgraded services, planned and executed social media initiatives, and used social media to build relationships and sales. She has had the opportunity to work with a gamut of organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to regional hospitals and colleges to help integrate social media channels into existing marketing, communication and outreach programs and demonstrate ROI.  Valerie is passionate about the opportunity social media offers to build communities and business. Valerie is co-founder of #PRStudChat (PR Student Chat), a trending Twitter chat that brings faculty and students together for dynamic discussions with professionals and co-founder of HAPPO (Help a PR Pro Out), an initiative designed to use social media to leverage relationships and help facilitate introductions between employers and prospective employees. Connect with Valerie on Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+

I’m kicking off a PR guest blogger series on October 3, 2011.  Several of my blogger friends have offered to help out while I’m working on a new project, which I’ll be sharing soon.  I’m excited to announce the names of my blogger friends …

#PRStudChat kicked off 2011 with a new blog and the PRStudCast podcast series hosted by Harrison Kratz and Ashley Funderburk. Our Twitter community is growing, with over 2,100 followers and the last chat session on February 23^rd, had over 1,250 tweets with more than 240 contributions. Though the year is young, in 2011 we have already had more than 5,000 tweets from students, educators and professionals using our hashtag. Over the past few months we’ve been able to secure sponsors including SWAGG and Ruder Finn to help with scholarships for students and book giveaways. The enthusiasm from the community has been extraordinary and has resulted in a new student initiated Facebook Student Forum that has been extremely active among the students in our community discussing everything from resumes and job searching to LinkedIn discussions and recommended reading lists.

Valerie Simon and I are both thrilled with the participation and dynamic conversations we see on a daily basis.  We want to thank the #PRStudChat community for its dedication and support.  With so much potential for continued expansion, we’ve decided that it’s time to further #PRStudChat growth by assembling an Advisory Council to help guide our community’s efforts.  The council will be comprised of senior public relations professionals, each of whom bring more than 20 years of industry experience and leadership to our community.

The role of the #PRStudChat Advisory Council member is to participate in monthly or quarterly meetings to brainstorm about #PRStudChat sessions and special programs. We would also enlist the support of the Advisory Council to help grow the #PRStudChat community by becoming more involved in our monthly planning and #PRStudChat discussions. Council members will serve a yearly term and new council member will be elected after each graduating class, allowing us to continue to bring fresh perspective and thought leadership into our community.

We have reserved one spot on the council for an educator and are hoping that YOU can help us to select this position. We are looking for an innovative educator who integrates social media into the classroom and can share their academic leadership with our entire community.  We would like you to leave a comment and share the educator that you feel would be best suited to help guide #PRStudChat this year.

We’re hoping that you will help us assemble our Council, so that we can continue the great momentum that #PRStudChat has experienced and to increase the activity in the future.

Thank you for your help and we look forward to your nominations!

A Little More About PRStudChat:

It began with a simple question asked by Angela Hernandez, then President of PRSSA at Central Michigan University (CMU).  “Is PR Right for me?” A follow up blog post by PR 2.0 expert Deirdre Breakenridge inspired a series of direct messages on Twitter between Breakenridge and fellow PR industry pro, Valerie Simon. This was an important question and one that should be explored beyond one student or one blog post. Why not build a community to help students across the country, and even the globe, learn from the experience and perspective of industry professionals… A community where everyone could learn and grow together. Read more …

I feel that I can speak from experience (and from the heart) on the topic of building a strong and supportive community.  Building #PRStudChat with @valeriesimon is one of the most rewarding initiatives in my professional career. Interacting in the community gives me the feeling of strength, knowledge, certainty, support, guidance, and friendship, in an extremely nurturing and helpful environment.

As we near the end of 2010 and celebrate our December session, the 12 gifts of #PRStudChat, I wanted to reflect on how we built this amazing network. Valerie and I only thought of the idea.  It’s our students, educators and PR/communications professionals, who have shared in the #hashtag discussion; they are directly responsible for building the community and for its continued growth.

Here are 5 reasons why I think our community grew to be strong and supportive:

1. Focus

Everyone knows that it’s a community of PR and communications students, professionals and educators.  We have maintained a strong brand identity which is clear and consistent across all of our platforms (Twitter, LinkedIn, PR 2.0 Strategies, The Examiner, PRStudChat.com). Each live session has a theme and purpose that align with our goal of helping to bridge the gap between academia and professionals in the PR industry.

2. Passion

The community is comprised of individuals who care and have a supportive environment in which they can voice their opinions. Our chats are lively, open, honest and filled with varying opinions.  I’ve seen professionals with years in the business tell it straight to students, and I’ve witnessed students disagree with professionals.  Of course, I’ve also seen many professionals who agree to disagree.  Our environment values different viewpoints and great new perspectives.

3. Networking

The community takes networking to the next level.  I’ve seen so many friendships develop over the past year and half. We all talk about how the virtual networking should lead to the physical meetings, and #PRStudChat is a very good example.  We’ve had our own tweet ups for members, but mostly I’ve seen people bond with other people, and meet on their own.  It’s always refreshing to see members inviting others to meet and get to know one another in person.  I always enjoy when I’m able to travel to different cities and finally get to meet my new friends IRL.

4. Development

#PRStudChat took a steady path to growth. We listened to the community and strived to identify special guests and programming that could help further their goals. We learned what resonated with the community and used those lessons to guide the development of the community. We managed our growth by focusing on Twitter and the LinkedIn Group. Valerie and I have supported those networks by posting information about the sessions on our blogs.  And, now, we’ve branched out to have our own PRStudChat blog with #PRStudCast co-hosted by students Harrison Kratz and Ashley Funderbunk.  You’ll also see some other folks involved in #PRStudChat in 2011, but I can’t quite disclose that yet. Just know that more news is in the near future!

5. Collaboration

Our community does not exist in a universe unto itself. We work with other industry chat sessions and organizations such as PRSSA to cross promote efforts.  One of the best ways to grow your community is to work with other groups.  We see this in the physical realm when PR associations co-host programs, partly to share the cost of the program, but also to network with new potential members.  #PRStudChat loves working with the other PR, social media, marketing, entrepreneurial groups.  Sharing programs, hashtags and finding cross networking opportunities is beneficial to all.  One of my favorite chat sessions was #ChatMixer, where many groups came together for an incredibly dynamic session.  We all met new friends and based on the numbers, our #PRStudChat community grew considerably as a result.

There are more reasons why #PRstudchat experienced growth and support and I hope that if you have any thoughts on the topic, you will share them! Most of all when I reflect on the success of the community, I know it’s the people; our members who tweet, blog and chat about #PRStudChat, whether it’s an organized session or not.

Thank you all, and we look forward to more growth in 2011!

As the Holidays are upon us and the year comes to a close…we’re thinking about those special people in our communities, the gifts they bring to us every day and how we can show our thanks for their support.  Valerie and I thought the perfect #PRStudChat Holiday chat session would be a discussion about the 12 Gifts of #PRStudChat.  We’re going to ask our community how these gifts have helped them during 2010 (at the same time recognizing those special people who help to deliver these gifts to us all year round).

Although there are many gifts a dynamic community offers, we narrowed it down to our top 12 and would like to share the 12 gifts of #PRStudChat with you.  On December 15^th at 8:30 p.m., we will be asking our community (who we consider our built in panel of experts) their thoughts on each and every gift:

Gift #12: Creativity. What inspires you? When/where/how do you do your best brainstorming?

Gift #11: Curiosity. What do you want to learn more about in 2011?

Gift #10: Organization. What tips do you have for staying organized?

Gift #9: Fun. How do you find fun in your job?

Gift #8: Time.  What are your top secrets for time management/ multi tasking?

Gift #7: Friendship. Can friendships emerge from professional relationships? How?

Gift #6: Opportunity. How do you create and make the most of opportunities (biz or personal)?

Gift #5: Listening. How do you become skilled at listening?

Gift #4: Learning. Where do you find learning opportunities?

Gift #3: Trust. Who do you trust? How do you build trust online?

Gift #2: Leadership. What are the most important traits in a leader?

Gift #1: Community. What makes an individual a valuable member of the community?

We are excited about our Holiday session and the 12 Gifts of #PRStudChat. We’re looking forward to hearing your insight about each gift and the people who have helped you to find these presents!

Valerie and I want to thank the #PRStudChat community for delivering these special gifts to us.  Hope to “see” you on December 15^th!

We announced the #PRStudChat Challenge on Wednesday, October 13^th when we asked our community to send us links to their favorite social media classroom projects.  There were so many great nominations and we want to thank everyone for their submissions.

However, we had to narrow down the entries to two finalists. It is my pleasure to announce their names:

Finalist #1: Karen Russell, PR Professor at the University of Georgia. Editor of the Journal of Public Relations Research. Here is Karen’s tweet to nominate her class project:

@KarenRussell collaborative lit review: http://bit.ly/9aT851; group SM book review: http://bit.ly/bW0l9Q #PRStudChat

Finalist #2: Barbara Nixon, Assistant Professor, Southeastern University; Adjunct professor, Georgia Southern University; teaches a variety of public relations and journalism courses, both online and face-to-face.  Here is Barbara’s tweet to nominate her class project:

@barbaranixon Link to all the blog posts / assignments for #PRCA3030 (Social Media for PR) from Spring 2010 http://bit.ly/a4kZcW Links to all my PR syllabi (etc) for the past few semesters at my Scribd account http://scr.bi/6Da9z4 #PRStudChat

We want to point out that all of the entries in the #PRStudChat Challenge were excellent. However, these two projects were especially interesting, as they took a holistic and integrated approach to using social media in the classroom. Of course we realize that both entries are from educators in Georgia.  We promise … no bias here, even though Valerie’s dad is a proud graduate from the University of Georgia, The Grady School of Journalism, Class of 1960

Please take a moment to review each finalist’s project one more time and then cast your vote.  The voting will begin on Monday, October 25^th.  Be on the look out for a quick poll that we’ll be sharing with everyone through our LinkedIn discussion group and on Twitter.

Let’s congratulate the finalists and wish them luck. And, we’ll be picking a winner by the end of next week!