Last week I facilitated a roundtable discussion in Brisbane for the Queensland chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.
Topic for the evening was 'Communicating in a Hyper-Connected World'.
We had a solid turn-out, close to 20 people (that's all the boardroom venue would hold). Discussion was a bit slow to take off but once everyone realised they faced similar issues and challenges, participants freely exchanged views, ideas and experiences on what it was like to communicate in today's marketplace.
We didn't just discuss the social web either. I think professional communicators have probably had a gut full of debate on 'the tools' themselves (Twitter, Facebook etc).
Rather, the conversation settled around major themes emanating from the new media landscape and what they meant for PR and communications people.
Here were some of the points discussed:
- CONSUMER ACTIVISM – power to the people!
- YOU ARE THE MEDIA – every brand can now be its own TV network, radio station & online magazine
THE RISE & RISE OF THE MULTIMEDIA MICRO-STAR – influencers are everywhere!
'PUSH' GIVES WAY TO 'PULL' – traditional media's relationship with the social web
WHOOOSH! THE '5-MINUTE' NEWS CYCLE – 24 hours is an eternity in cyberspace
'NICHE-IFICATION' & THE RISE OF COMMUNITY - explosion of niche communities of interest
HUMANISATION OF THE BRAND – people do business with people
TRUST IS THE 'NEW BLACK' – the 'secret sauce' for today's brand communicators
In coming weeks I intend squaring away individual posts on each of these themes.
I look forward to continuing the conversation with the Brisbane IABC event participants as well as anyone else in marketing and communications interested in this space.
Photo courtesy @SusanLambe
