Comments on: Dear PR: It’s Not You, It’s Me

By: kellybriefworld

kellybriefworld — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:02:25 +0000

Lots of corporate IT departments are asking themselves whether or not to block social media (aka Enterprise 2.0) applications like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc. What they often don’t realize is that they can safely enable these applications through the use of smart policies. That way employees can take advantage of the benefits of these powerful platforms, while risky or counterproductive features can be selectively blocked! Palo Alto Networks has put together a great whitepaper to help you understand how this new firewall technology works. It’s called “To Block or Not. Is That the Question?” and you can find it here: http://bit.ly/d2NZRp. Let me know what you think…kelly@briefworld.com

By: Brad Marley

Brad Marley — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:32:01 +0000

PR and social media, while they may overlap from time to time, are still two different animals. In the traditional sense, the goal of PR is to drive coverage for our client/company in the media. Period. Sure, the reporter who wrote the story might tweet about it after the fact, but we're more concerned with seeing the story. No matter what, there will always be a place for cold calls and media list editing. That's just how it works. If you don't like, well, I can't say that I blame you.

However, where social media and PR can live harmoniously is in the house of created content. There's a shift happening where we are seeing PR rely more on creating their own content to push out across their in-house social media networks, rather than pitching the story, staffing the interview, and waiting to see the final result. While it's my experience that negative stories are few and far between, there's always that anxiety around how our story will be represented.

Just because most PR professionals have Twitter accounts doesn't mean they fancy themselves social media professionals. But you're right in that the lines have blurred, and maybe not necessarily for the better. I think over time, as more social media specific positions are created, will we see a distinct difference in responsibility. But for now, as we still get a grasp on social media, it will just sort of fall to the PR person.

Sorry for the long comment.

By: mikeschaffer

mikeschaffer — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:17:19 +0000

Has Facebook created an "UberLike" button yet?

I recently left a traditional PR career after 7 years to go full-throttle in social media. Cold-calling, list-generating, event-planning...see you later. I enjoyed every second of it, but it was time for me to move on.

However, the big caveat here, is that I truly believe the background in more conventional communications greatly prepared me for the next phase of my career.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the rest are all tools. Knowing how to use them is great...but the SKILL is knowing how to communicate. That's what's sticking around forever.

By: Janet Aronica

Janet Aronica — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:05:32 +0000

Great post as always, Lauren! I had a great conversation with a Boston Biz Journal reporter last week regarding PR. He solidified a lot of things that I already knew, which was mostly the amount of research and calculation that is necessary for good PR. Switching from the agency to an in-house marketing position, it's been interesting for me to see how marketing money is spent and I've developed a better sense of compassion for the pressure clients were under–along with a sense of curiosity about what the best business structure/strategy for a PR agency really is…

By: Rich Becker

Rich Becker — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:01:10 +0000

Lauren,

What a fun post. Certainly, it's always more fun to build consumer or customer relations without the skepticism of the media (and they have skepticism for good reason). Well, we can hope the remaining professionals always remember that you don't always have to call a reporter because you have an agenda.

Best,
Rich