One key thing to avoid: heavy-handed social marketing efforts that blow up in your face, e.g. this one: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/12/22/f... . Community operators are usually savvy people, not to mention a portion of the membership in any community or social network. Sneaky strategies are almost always outed eventually, and any gain is short-lived.
Roger
Zach Dunn
· 10 months ago
As the need for social media for success increases, I think PR agency will be best suited to bring on people who can focus on it exclusively. As you pointed out with pitches just "hoping for the best", people have to actually care about the media they are involved with. Bring people on who live social media, not just read about the benefits of twitter in the latest magazine subscription and repeat it to a client inquiring.
Kristin Maverick
· 10 months ago
Totally agree Zach. These "evangelists" offer new perspective to traditional PR methods that many agencies engage with on a daily basis. This year will be interesting as more people realize this point and hire these so-called "experts."
Matthew Knell
· 10 months ago
I think the role of a voice or a brand in terms of social media can be owned by a number of different people. When I helped to start the JetBlue Twitter a year or so ago, I came from a technology background, but had an emphasis on communicating what was necessary. Morgan (@MHJohnston) had even less of a PR background, but he focused on managing the customer (which he continues to do today). The absolute definition of PR and CRM is changing, and morphing as the needs of the customer and their communication channels continue to evolve. For now, I think people who speak on behalf of a brand, PR or otherwise, need to understand their brand, understand the always morphing "rules of social media", but do not necessarily need from a PR background. With the risk of "oversimplifying", I just look for people who "get it." Doing the right thing for a brand is much different than doing the right thing for an individual.
All Comments
One key thing to avoid: heavy-handed social marketing efforts that blow up in your face, e.g. this one: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/12/22/f... . Community operators are usually savvy people, not to mention a portion of the membership in any community or social network. Sneaky strategies are almost always outed eventually, and any gain is short-lived.
Roger