Inside PR: 2.97: Jazzing it up NOLA style with Counselors Academy

This post was originally published on Inside PR 2.97.

Live from New Orleans… well live to tape – Gini, Joe and I are together at PRSA Counselors Academy’s annual conference for agency owners/leaders (and we all had our parts to play…). The theme is ‘Jazz Up Your Agency: Stylings from the Best in the Biz’ and we thought we’d recap our first day and a half. 

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We’re all in showbiz

I've been thinking about this for a while…In social media, we're all in showbiz.  

We have our stage, whether blogs, video or other networks. Our shtick, that is who we are, how we present ourselves and what we choose to do and say. And our audience (for better or worse).

We're out here singing our hearts out (or in my case playing recorder ) – in the hopes that someone will listen and connect.  Our interactions are public. And the accolades and (savage) critics are always lurking in the wings. 

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Sharypic: a real time online photo carousel at Counselors Academy

I first learned about Sharypic at the PRSA Digital Impact Conference, when Matthias Lufkens mentioned he used it a photo sharing platform at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

It's a new site and few people in the room had tried it. Joe Thornley set up a DI stream and we saw how well it aggregated Twitter and Instagram photos.

Now it's a month later and I'm in New Orleans for the start of Counselors Academy, the annual conference for PR agency owners/leaders. And we're testing Sharypic to visually capture our event with a live photo wall at the main sessions. 

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Irrelevance could be just around the corner

A friend of mine recently commented that he still doesn't get Twitter.  

I understand how he feels because I was there…many of us were when we started. And from trial and error and all the hours spent, we start to see the value – or don't.

But the flood of negative responses surprised me because you could see they were from people who'd based their opinions on things they'd heard or read. Not from a personal experience with the site.

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Morning dip – how I manage the social media overflow

I'm often asked how I find the time to what I do, which translates into: how I stay so active on social channels and especially Twitter and still get my work done.

A question for the ages…

It's not hard, really. But you have to make choices. 

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Google+ gets a new look for spring

It's not just haute couture models parading down the runway with the latest spring fashions.

Google+ has done its first redesign since launching last summer and my initial impression is that I'm giving this a plus one for the right direction. 

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Social network rush hour

For me, it happens everytime I tune in and it reminds me of stop and go driving.

I start by watching the stream fly by and then all of a sudden brake fast to find I'm at a standstill (and not just because I've moved onto another task).

Let me explain.

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Counselors Academy: a double major in business and PR

This is a slightly revised version of the message I wrote as chair of the 2012 PRSA Counselors Academy conference, which is, as I've said on a number of occasions, my PR highlight of the year. I've learned more about running a business, understanding people and communication industry trends and challenges from Counselors than anywhere else (including Mad Men ).

If you're a PR agency owner or leader, I'd encourage you to check out this year's schedule and join us in New Orleans. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or want more info. 

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Inside PR 2.92: Is it social media or social business?

This post was originally published on Inside PR 2.92.

We start with some exciting news about Inside PR’s new partnership with PRSA.  We’re heading to New York in early April to join them as the official podcaster of the PRSA Digital Impact conference.  They’ve got a great line-up of speakers and we’re planning to record a number of interviews with social media influencers that we’ll use on future shows.  Stay tuned for more details…

This week, we feature an interview with Giovanni Rodriguez that roving reporter Martin conducted at SXSW. 

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Are we in an era of PR crises?

Social media amplifies, the good, the bad and the PR crisis. It seems that every week some sort of issue percolates to the surface and catches our attention because of the combination of social media and an organization's failure to communicate.

I attended a Council of PR Firms panel on this subject at SXSW with industry leaders Gary Stockman, CEO, Porter Novelli, Bob Pearson, president, W20 Group, Melissa Waggener Zorkin, CEO, president, and founder, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide and Mark Stouse, VP and global communications leader, Honeywell Aerospace.  The group felt the last part of 2011 and early 2012 had more than its share of PR crises and looked at five high profile cases and whether or not the organizations involved used communications effectively to help resolve them.

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Inside PR 2.90: We indemnify you

This post was originally published on Inside PR 2.90.

First we mention for a new startup out of Toronto now in public beta. JugnooMe is a dashboard that helps small business owners figure out which messages to use on various platforms, how to schedule them and how to measure the results.  It also has a Social Advisor tool that acts like a virtual consultant and answers the question: what do you do next? 

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Forecast from my social media barometer

PodCamp Toronto is an unconference at its best – a volunteer planned two-day event every February on the campus of Ryerson University – where URL meets IRL with equal parts learning and socializing. The casual atmostphere takes you back to days when social media was mostly outside the status quo.  Of course PodCamp, like social media, is more mainstream but that entropic start-up energy is still very much at its core.

This year, I gave a talk called 'Social Media Barometer' – my take on some of the recent trends and changes happening in the social communications space. It's by no means exhaustive; more of a roundup of some of the developments and tools that have caught my attention recently.  And it's all new material, so to speak.

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Is PR going through the social media motions?

I recently wrote a piece for PR News Online about why it still feels PR agencies are missing the social media boat.  There's talk-sure, but not enough action (i.e. participation). 

Too many PR agencies are doing social media the way ad agencies do PR. Of course, I'm generalizing when I say this. But I've been in lots of meetings where ad folks equate PR with publicity—for the ad campaign.

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Social Media Week TO

Today Toronto and other many other cities around the world go social with the beginning of Social Media Week.

There are many great events to choose from and I thought I'd highlight a few I'll be participating in: 

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The Minority Report is here

Today's my birthday – I share it with Lincoln and Darwin. But I'm not writing for greetings (though they're always welcome ).  I'm posting because of the surprise good wishes I received from someone I don't know, but do see all the time.

Google.

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