PR 2.0 Panel at #IMS09

I had the honor and the pleasure of participating on a panel at the Inbound Marketing Summit (#IMS09) in Boston on October 7, 2009.  I joined several colleagues including Jason Kintzler of PitchEngine (@jasonkintzler), Melanie Stachowiak of MarketWire (@melaniestack), Paul Roetzer, PR 20/20 (@paulroetzer), and David Weiner, PR Newswire (@davidweiner) to discuss the state of the PR industry and PR 2.0, with a strong focus on the value of the news release vs. the Social Media Release in a changing Web 2.0 world.  Well suited for this discussion were panelists from two PR agencies, two wire services and the founder of a Social Media Release platform and social network that enable PR to effectively package stories with social content.

The panel was moderated by author David Meerman Scott (@dmscott) who recently wrote World Wide Rave and who is also the author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR.  David did an excellent job guiding the discussion and really kept the conversation interesting and interactive between all panelists as well as the audience through a good Q&A session at the end.

I was more than fired up for this discussion when I heard the presenter two sessions prior to mine discuss a slide with the headline:  PR is dead.  His comments inspired me to discuss how PR is quite alive and how social media is helping to reinvent our industry and improve our reputation as professionals.  Some thoughts from the panelists and a few key takeaways are paraphrased to the best of my ability below:

PR 2.0 is a new approach.  PR over the years has been equated to media relations, which is only a small part of the function of public relations.  Typically in PR, we are accustomed to working through a credible third party endorser (the media).  Today, PR 2.0 allows brands to connect with new influencers and their customers directly through the use of social media.

The news release is a tool in the PR kit and it is written in the AP style format. A Social Media Release (SMR) is a communications tool that allows a brand to tell its story through multimedia, links, and social media sharing tools.  It was also added that a true Social Media Release is housed on a blog platform and does not cross the wire like a traditional news release or a multimedia news release.

A news release will never be a social media release.  No one likes to write a news release and no one likes to read them either!

Although we were taught in PR to write a release to resemble the story that we wanted to read, somehow brands got used to crafting their messages with spin and hype.  These messages come from the top down and are not meaningful to the market.

Stories should be customized and a bottom up, listening strategy helps the brand to identify what kind of information needs to be shared with its customers and other stakeholders.  There is no more mass communication or broadcast messaging in the social media landscape.

You can listen through the Conversation Prism, which is the universe of social networks.  Every social network has a key word search where you can listen, observe and identify what information is related to your brand so that you can formulate a strategy for social media communications.  If you’re listening you do not have to pitch.

With respect to the question about the best kind of content to use to tell a brand’s stories, video unanimously was mentioned as a powerful resource.  VNRs tell a more visual and compelling story.  However, it has to be the type of video content that is engaging and valuable to the audience (long drawn out speeches from the CEO may not be considered engaging).

Just like any industry, you will find the PR professionals who uphold the good principles of communications and those who are the dreaded PR spammers frequently called out by bloggers and journalists. Social Media allows us to change that reputation and to move the needle forward the right way.  We have the opportunity to become influencers and champions and not just handlers and facilitators.  Through social media we can listen, educate and provide valuable information that people want and will ultimately request from us.

With respect the new FTC blogger guidelines you’re always going to have agencies that just naturally do the right thing and show full disclosure.  On the other hand there are those that will never abide by the rules.

I’m sure there are many other valuable thoughts and key takeaways that I may have missed in my recap.  So, if you were at #IMS09 or you have a few thoughts on your own to add to this topic, please feel free to share!

The panel was moderated by author David Meerman Scott (@dmscott) who recently wrote World Wide Rave and who is also the author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR.  David did an excellent job guiding the discussion and really kept the conversation interesting and interactive between all panelists as well as the audience through a good Q&A session at the end.

I was more than fired up for this discussion when I heard the presenter two sessions prior to mine discuss a slide with the headline:  PR is dead.  His comments inspired me to discuss how PR is quite alive and how social media is helping to reinvent our industry and improve our reputation as professionals.  Some thoughts from the panelists and a few key takeaways are paraphrased to the best of my ability below:

PR 2.0 is a new approach.  PR over the years has been equated to media relations, which is only a small part of the function of public relations.  Typically in PR, we are accustomed to working through a credible third party endorser (the media).  Today, PR 2.0 allows brands to connect with new influencers and their customers directly through the use of social media.

The news release is a tool in the PR kit and it is written in the AP style format. A Social Media Release (SMR) is a communications tool that allows a brand to tell its story through multimedia, links, and social media sharing tools.  It was also added that a true Social Media Release is housed on a blog platform and does not cross the wire like a traditional news release or a multimedia news release.

A news release will never be a social media release.  No one likes to write a news release and no one likes to read them either!

Although we were taught in PR to write a release to resemble the story that we wanted to read, somehow brands got used to crafting their messages with spin and hype.  These messages come from the top down and are not meaningful to the market.

Stories should be customized and a bottom up, listening strategy helps the brand to identify what kind of information needs to be shared with its customers and other stakeholders.  There is no more mass communication or broadcast messaging in the social media landscape.

You can listen through the Conversation Prism, which is the universe of social networks.  Every social network has a key word search where you can listen, observe and identify what information is related to your brand so that you can formulate a strategy for social media communications.  If you’re listening you do not have to pitch.

With respect to the question about the best kind of content to use to tell a brand’s stories, video unanimously was mentioned as a powerful resource.  VNRs tell a more visual and compelling story.  However, it has to be the type of video content that is engaging and valuable to the audience (long drawn out speeches from the CEO may not be considered engaging).

Just like any industry, you will find the PR professionals who uphold the good principles of communications and those who are the dreaded PR spammers frequently called out by bloggers and journalists. Social Media allows us to change that reputation and to move the needle forward the right way.  We have the opportunity to become influencers and champions and not just handlers and facilitators.  Through social media we can listen, educate and provide valuable information that people want and will ultimately request from us.

With respect the new FTC blogger guidelines you’re always going to have agencies that just naturally do the right thing and show full disclosure.  On the other hand there are those that will never abide by the rules.

I’m sure there are many other valuable thoughts and key takeaways that I may have missed in my recap.  So, if you were at #IMS09 or you have a few thoughts on your own to add to this topic, please feel free to share!