The PR Warrior

Marketing Now Conference Mash-Up

I attended the Marketing Now conference in Melbourne this week. The event was organised by marketing and communications advisor, Siobhan Bulfin.

In true social media form, the conference was comprehensively tweeted (search under the #mktgnow hashtag) and blogged about by a range of participants. Here is the 'official' Posterous stream, courtesy of @Servantofchaos and others.

So for this post, I'm going to add a few bits and pieces that got my attention plus load you up with links - a bit of a mish-mash of stuff for the mind!

Speakers were Simon Young, Gavin Heaton, Laurel Papworth, David Armano, Jim Stewart, Darren Rowse and Stephen Johnson. They were all excellent, and each brought their own unique (and expert) perspective on marketing in today's social media age.

A HUGE hat-tip to the fabulous Yvonne Adele (@IdeasCulture) for the video interviews featured in this post - please check out Yvonne's YouTube channel.

Here are some points from Simon's presentation:

REVOLUTION = "The violent transfer of power and property in the name of an idea"

Meet 'Generation C' - not age-determinant but rather, based on shared digital experiences.

Blogging - the original social media - turns 10 in 2009.

Don't talk 'target audience' - use words like partners, fans, advocates.

LISTEN FIRST: be a consumer of content - then become a creator of content, a curator of content.

"As for the future, your task is not to foresee it but to enable it" - Antoine de Saint Exupery.

Southwest Airlines ---> even the engineers tweet!

Social media monitoring: look at using Google Alerts, Twitter Search and Social Mention.

Why should you listen to online conversations? Ensure relevancy, create leads, build relationships, support advocates, correct misinformation, spot opportunities and problems.

"Social media is not a campaign, it's a commitment" - Scott Monty, Ford.

If you want complete control, your circle of influence will be limited.

"Wake Me When the Data is Over" = good book on corporate story-telling.

Here are some points from Gavin's presentation:

The challenge = to constantly maintain and invigorate our online communities.

Six impacts of social media:

1. industry/subject experts coming under pressure from 'new voices';
2. emergence of new organisations such as Social Media Club;
3. social and legal norms;
4. multiple identities;
5. new forms of language;
6. educators being pressured to prepare students for the new world.

DUNBAR NUMBER = 150 (i.e. the maximum number of people with whom you can have ongoing relationships).

SOCIAL OBJECT = emotional context around which your story can be told.

AUCHTERLONIE EFFECT = the way of understanding the story behind the social object.

Online drives offline!

Share the message but 'own the destination'.

The new B2C = brand-to-community.

You are what you Google!

"Pungent granularity" = REALLY knowing your customers! (Walking a mile in their shoes).

Amplification vs shouting ---> there is a difference!

It's not about influence, it's about trust.

Participation + trust are intertwined.

Trust is the currency of the social web.

Here are some points from David's presentation:

"We're in the network economy" (currency = being connected).

"Get out of the spotlight!" - brand as facilitator (brands can help facilitate online conversations - for example, Best Buy IdeaX and Pampers Village).

Networks are fuelled by people's self-interest, and then tapping in to others...brands can benefit by putting these individuals on a pedestal ('MEconomics).

There is "intrinsic value in participation".

Beware of 'brand sorcery' (gobblygook brand speak).

''Corporate tone deafness' = not listening! A big no-no!

INTERACTIVE MARKETING = human-to-technology interactions; SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING = human-to-human interactions.

Building an online community: seeding, feeding and weeding!

When establishing an online community, be prepared for ALL types:

• legitimate complainers;
• competitors;
• engaged critics;
• flamers ("stirring the pot");
• troublemakers ("taking things to the next level")

Building blocks of a digital experience:

1. Useful (e.g. Craig's List)
2. Usable (e.g. Posterous)
3. Desirable (e.g. Apple)
4. Sustainable (e.g. Twitter)
5. Social (shareable, open, distributed, dynamic, collective).

A Look at the World's Changing Media Landscape

Here's an interesting, well-produced video that weaves together in narrative form an array of facts and statistics that demonstrates just how far the media landscape has evolved, with a focus on convergence and technology.

The video was produced by information design consultancy XPLANE for The Economist Media Convergence Forum, to be held in New York (October 20-21). 

Related videos: 

Social Media - Fad or Revolution?

Social Media is the New Punk Rock

Online PR is All About Community

Stripping Back PR to its Bare Essentials

Ask 100 people on the street what they think public relations is and you’ll get myriad answers (although I’m tipping most responses would be along the lines of “free publicity in the media”).

Ask 100 PR professionals the same question and you might well get 100 different answers. Let’s just say our industry is somewhat divided on what PR is, or just as importantly, what it isn’t.

The goal of this post is to strip back and simplify PR and, in doing so, encourage debate and conversation about the discipline. 

Suffice to say, this post is my personal take on public relations. Is it a technically correct and theoretically detailed explanation of the discipline? Hell no, just an uncomplicated view of PR in today’s social media age.

FOR FULL STORY: click here

Content exclusive to Marketing Magazine.

Do NOT Hire These Five Corporate Affairs Managers!

As some of you may be aware, I run a strategy and communications advisory firm called parkyoung. My business partner - David Park (aka @parkpr aka 'Parky') - has just pulled off a ripper of a post on parkyoung's blog, 'In Brands We Trust'.

It took a bit of soul-searching by Parky, given he's a former senior corporate affairs advisor and he's now had to re-think and re-shape the boundaries of that particular profession.

 <--- This is Parky!

In this post ('Do NOT Hire These Five Corporate Affairs Managers!'), Parky has had to figuratively poke his former brethren in the eye.

Parky's epiphany came last Friday at the David Meerman Scott Social Media Masterclass (see previous post) - not that he wasn't heading well down the 'new' PR and the social web, but as Parky writes in his post:

"Two of his (Meerman Scott's) 'Rules of the Wave' drilled me. A double-barrelled blast that gave my few remaining templates a bollocking."

What were these two rules?

A. Nobody cares about your products (except you);

B. Lose control of your messages. 

With Meerman Scott's wisdom ringing clearly in his ears, Parky has reeled off five types of corporate affairs manager whom companies and organisations should avoid. They are:

(1) The Propagandist

(2) The Inside Centre

(3) The 'Why So Serious' (hat-tip to Heath Ledger's The Joker)

(4) The Big End of Towner

(5) The Super Strategist

Parky makes some good points. I recommend you check out the full post here.

On The Web, You Are What You Publish!

Leading business book author David Meerman Scott hit Australian shores last week for a whirlwind tour which included a guest spot at Social Media Club Sydney and a Social Media Masterclass in Melbourne.

I attended the masterclass event. WOW! You've got to hand it to anyone who can hold an audience for some 6+ hours as David did, plus socialise with participants for some time after that.

The session pretty much covered the expanse of content from David's two best-selling books - World Wide Rave and The New Rules of Marketing and PR. It was a highly practical session jam-packed with scores of examples and, although I've read a lot of David's work, it was great to immerse in and focus on social media from a PR and marketing perspective for such an intense period of time.

I think the secret to truly understanding social media is being able to 'join the dots'.

Social media is such a disparate beast, full of shiny new tools and tactics that people tend to get hung up on. To be able to see the bigger picture - both from a technological and societal point of view - and then integrate into an existing communications program is when a brand will truly experience the power and simplicity of what social media has to offer.

David dropped plenty of gems during the masterclass, but a couple of points stand out for me:

In order for a brand to gain attention, it can either:

• BUY IT - i.e. traditional advertising
• BEG FOR IT - i.e. media relations and editorial publicity
• BUG PEOPLE FOR IT - i.e. direct methods such as call centre activity.

Or, he says...

"You can earn attention by publishing your way in."

ON THE WEB, YOU ARE WHAT YOU PUBLISH. Make your brand stand out by producing remarkable content so that people come looking for you!

David's trip has been well covered by blogs locally. Here are some links I highly recommend you check out if you want to get a better handle on David and the new rules of marketing and PR:

The Week That Was With David Meerman Scott (by Jennifer Frahm, who organised the tour)

Dear Rupert, I Think I Want to Break Up (excellent piece by Karalee Evans)

The Power of Twitter: How a Tweet Led to a Week in Australia (David Meerman Scott's take)

Also worth checking out is the Twitter back channel populated by prolific tweeps @Karalee_ and @IdeasCulture - some great nuggets of information plus links etc (under the #SMOMMC hashtag).

* PHOTO: a panel was formed to round off the David Meerman Scott Masterclass; from left, David Meerman Scott, Kate Kendall (MarketingMag.com.au), James Duthie (Next Digital), the PR Warrior (parkyoung) and moderator, Gerry McCusker (engageORM).

* PHOTO: the audience listens intently to David Meerman Scott.