Consumer generated and social media are becoming ever more important to public relations practitioners, the companies they represent and their clients’ customers. Because of the large amount of theory and debate surrounding this topic, PRSA Boston is offering this panel discussion to help you cut through the clutter and add valuable tools to your PR tool chest.
2/26/2007
6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Newton Marriott, 2345 Commonwealth Ave., Newton, MA
Here are some quick recaps of the three break-out sessions at the end of the last event:
1. Dave Quigley took notes for Steve Garfield’s group. The overarching question in this group was: Why isn’t video everywhere? The answer: the perceived technological hurdle. Of course, we found out during Steve’s presentation that it’s really not much of a hurdle–Steve showed how easy it is.
Another important topic was genuineness of presentation: you try to fake it, you’ll get called out. (But sometimes it can be so negative it’s positive.)
The group also talked about Chris Heuer and his mission–our commitment to social, community service came out as being very important.
Folks were blow away by Stickam’s self-broadcasting model–a whole bunch of live video feeds, including a Russian girl papier macheing at 4am.
Finally, be very careful about how much you divulge about yourself, and what’s being written and said about you. Classic example: AOL’s customer resignation audio, which went viral and spilled over into video and MSM:
2. John Johansen took notes from Larry Lawfer’s group. The focus of this discussion: “customer first,” especially when it comes to video: it’s a great opportunity to allow customers to talk to their customers. A lot of companies use video for lead gen, to get new clients. When this is the case, make an investment into the production values: there’s a place for amateur video, but many reasons to look professional.
The video price point is coming down significantly. It’s easier to track results, set up custom referral forms, track conversions, and integrate into email campaigns and even trade show presos.
Finally, the group touched at the end about business and viral. You don’t have to tap into the viral side of video to use video–it depends on your audience.
3. Adam Zand took notes for Jason’s non-profit group discussion. Jackie Lustig shared some successes W2 Group has with the One Laptop Per Child community building effort they supported.
One point brought up: It’s great to go off to Nigeria, or other exotic points on the map, and Larry’s numberss were right on, but it doesn’t have to be Hollywood quality productions for the nonprofit sector. There are so many good causes, and plenty of production studios willing to support them (if you can connect with the right person, like Matt Lauer who donated use of the NBC studios). Allen from HomeInc talked about community and disability profiles: they started out with DVDs, but wouldn’t it be so much better to put it on email. At the end, the group looked at the adoption of technology, how to get these resources to underserved communities.
The group focused on how to give access to communities in need. Deval Patrick and his videocasts/podcasts, for instance–how will disadvantaged folks be able to access these? A couple examples given were Malden Access Television’s rebroadcasts, and the Timothy Smith Network’s attempts to bring in computer/media labs to schools in Boston. To sum up, non-profit is a perfect environment for video, but still are roadblocks.
Okay, it was an obvious and well-used title (not to mention somewhat inaccurate). But with the amount of interest expressed at last night’s Boston Social Media Club event on the subject of video, you’d think it was true!
Rich Wadsworth of LP&P kicked things off with some great statistics on video usage, and introduced our three presenters.
Steve Garfield talked the group through how to make a videocast–it’s really easy to do! Larry Lawfer of YourStorys reminded us that just because it’s easy to do doesn’t mean we should do it. And Jason Alcorn of Mindshare gave some great insight into how video is being used to capture attention around important issues and causes of the day.
The turnout was great, and our hosts at Lois Paul & Partners were very gracious in opening up their beautiful offices to everyone.
We have some video and audio captured, which I’ll be putting up over the next few days–be sure to check back regularly!
Thursday is turning into a big social media day: The Public Relations Society of America is hosting a teleseminar on social media at 3pm. For more information and to register, go to https://www.prsa.org/PDseminars/DisplayEvent.cfm?semID=136.
The Boston Social Media Club event schedule is taking shape quite nicely. Our next meeting will be on February 8th at the offices of Lois Paul & Partners in Woburn–networking starts at 6pm, the program will start at 6:30 as usual. The topic: video’s ascension in the social media world. A rough agenda is available online: I’m pleased to announce that Rocketboom contributor and prolific blogger/vlogger Steve Garfield will be able to join us to talk a little about his latest projects, the future of video, and some of the great things happening over at Boston Media Makers.
See you there, and be sure to register now! And thanks to Rich and the rest of the folks over at LP&P for helping make this third SMC Boston event possible!
UPDATE: Larry Lawfer of YourStorys has also agreed to join us and talk a little about the business aspects of video. This will make a very well-rounded session on video and social media!
Several folks from the Boston Social Media Club will be attending the upcoming MIT Enterprise Forum’s 2007 Winter Conference on Feb. 7th, which will focus on Web 2.0. Maybe we’ll see you there!
Just like the Second Thursday is quickly becoming a social media tradition, the First Sunday of every month is already a strong tradition. At 10am on those first Sundays, the Boston Media Makers group gets together. If you’re producing content or want to learn more about this area beyond what you’re getting at the our Social Media Club events, I encourage you to pay this group a visit. Their next meeting is February 4th at 761 Centre Street in JP.
