#PRStudChat January 19th Special Announcement

January 19^th from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. ET is our #PRStudChat session, which will focus on a hot topic that’s weighing on the minds of many executives: the social media policy.  Our discussion will cover everything from team development (who is responsible for policy creation) and the important areas to be addressed in a policy to how policies should be guiding employee social outreach and participation.  Our special panel of experts, joining us that night, include Diane Gomez (@gomezdm), PR Manager at the Public Relations Society of America, Jeffrey Esposito (@jeffespo), PR Manager at Vistaprint and Ryan Gerds, Public Information Officer at Munroe Regional Medical Center (@munroeregional).

For those of you who don’t know our special guests, here’s a little background information on each panel members:

Diane Gomez:

Diane Gomez has been a PR Manager with PRSA since 2007. She manages PRSA’s communication strategies and programs, including identifying communication needs, developing PR plans and pushing out communications, as well as managing media events. She currently directs social media efforts, including developing PRSA’s social media strategy and policy.

Diane brings a wealth of knowledge to PRSA drawn from more than 20 years experience in writing, editing, public relations and coordinating special events, as well as graphic design, where she has received multiple awards. She has worked primarily in the public sector, with industry experience in higher education, transportation and associations.

Jeffrey Esposito:

Jeff Esposito is a public relations manager at Vistaprint, a leading online provider of professional marketing products and services to micro businesses. He is responsible for the day-to-day management, development and growth of Vistaprint’s social media properties and campaigns.  He is also active in a number of other communications areas for Vistaprint, including marketing communications and PR.

Ryan Gerds:

Ryan Gerds, APR is the Public Information Officer at Munroe Regional Medical Center, a 421-bed hospital, in Ocala, Florida.  He has been with Munroe Regional since February 2005 and is responsible for the public information office overseeing public relations, media relations, community relations and internal/external communications for the medical center.  Prior to joining Munroe Regional he spent six years working in professional baseball with the Tampa Bay Rays, as a media relations assistant, as well as with the Birmingham Barons and Charlotte Knights where he served as the Media & Community Relations Director.

Since moving to Ocala, Ryan has joined numerous community boards and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Florida Public Relations Association as the Vice President of Member Services.

We are very excited to hear our experts’ responses to the following questions:

• Who did you include in the social media policy building process (from other depts. in addition to PR)
• Do you have an internal policy for employees and an external policy for the public?
• Did you policy include a statement on employee’s personal use of social media?
• Do you feel that your organization’s current policy guides employees?
• What are the issues or areas that need to be discussed in a social media policy?
• When building a policy do you have to take your industry into consideration?
• Do you think a policy should be more legal, middle of the road or a total people policy?

Of course, we look forward to hearing insight from our community of educators, pros and students that night too.  We hope you will join us on the 19^th to learn more about social media policies, which are a critical component of an organization’s social media program.  If you have any questions that you would like answered, please feel free to post them to the #PRStudChat LinkedIn Group.  Hope to “see” you on the 19^th!