20: PR’s role in social media campaigns

This week, our guest is veteran PR professional Giovanni Rodriguez, co-author of a new white paper about the role of public relations in social media. The paper has stirred some controversy among PR bloggers who disagree with its authors’ findings.            

Among the surprises the research turned up are that PR people believe they’re competing with other marketing and even corporate disciplines to own the social media conversation and that new media may actually be weakening PR’s hold on its traditional function. Giovanni suggests there’s a bit of an identity crisis going on in PR as a result. Quite a few agencies have experimented with social media, but enough people are intimidated by the new influencers of social media that a debate has emerged over whether social media should be PR’s responsibility.

In reality, Giovanni says, social media relations isn’t all that different from media relations. You need to speak to the interests of the blogger as you would to a reporter. Public relations should really be about relating to the public, not just the media, and if PR professionals embrace the opportunity, their career growth will be enhanced.

Download and listen to the podcast now (18:10)

16. The ins and outs of social media marketing

This week, our guest is Maggie Fox, founding partner of Social Media Group. The year-old firm is exclusively devoted to helping businesses use social media platforms. It had immediate success, signing a deal within its first four months, and has never looked back. A successful campaign for Yamaha Motors involving a blog drew double the engagement of the nearest related Web property.

Maggie talks about the importance of choosing the right person for a social media initiative. She also describes the process of building a social media campaign, from the important initial listening phase to engaging with bloggers on their terms. And she talks about why tone and manner count and why marketers have to be ready to give up control over the message in order to really make a campaign work.

Mid-level managers already “get” social media, Maggie says, but executives still need to be convinced. Fortunately, the benefits are so compelling that the sales process isn’t too daunting.

Download the podcast here. (15:30)

13: How to get noticed at BusinessWeek

This week our guest is Jessi Hempel, Innovation Department editor at BusinessWeek. As a top editor at one of the most influential business publications, Jesse gets more than her share of PR pitches, and she shares her insight on what works best. Her new blog is already becoming an important source of feedback and advice on the topics he covers. A tip: she’s made several new contacts with PR folks posting comments on her blog. Tha’s a great way to build a relationship!

Jesse also talks about what works and what doesn’t in interviews with executives, how BusinessWeek editors are managing the balance between online and print reporting and the importance of blogs to her as an information source (she even reads them before The Wall Street Journal!). Listen in for this insight into the thoughts and practices of one of business journalism’s most prominent reporters.

Listen to the podcast here (right click to download): 19:20

9: The New Rules of Marketing and PR

In the first of a two-part podcast series, David and Paul talk with David Meerman-Scott, who has authored three books about marketing in the age of Web 2.0 and social media, including his forthcoming book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR which you can pre-order from Amazon. In this segment, David Meerman Scott tells how he has applied the principles he espouses in his books to win election to MarketingSherpa’s Viral Hall of Fame two years running. They also discuss the importance of search engine strategies to public relations and wonder why more PR professionals don’t consider the techniques that buyers use to find products and services when they create their press releases. PR isn’t just media relations any more, Scott argues. It’s all about taking the message directly to the customer. Why would you want to pass up such an opportunity?

Download the podcast here (14:40)

7: The changing nature of press interviews

The blogosphere was lit up with the latest scuffle over who is in charge of the interviewing process, with posts firing back and forth over how Wired magazine editors wanted to control how they interviewed its subjects. Should a source have a right to dictate how s/he will be interviewed (phone, f2f, email, or IM)? In our episode this week, Paul and David discuss the changing nature of press interviews and what PR people can do to stay on top of the situation with all these alternatives to face-to-face contact now in play.

Cheers to a very detailed commentary by Jeff Jarvis on Buzz Machine with plenty of links to the exchange of the various parties involved. Fascinating reading. Jeers this week to the computer trade press overall, where Paul find their eternal fascination with the latest bug-o-the-week not very productive.

Download the podcast here.

5: Scoring with product reviews – with guest Keith Shaw

In show #5, we’re joined by Keith Shaw, product testing editor at Network World and author of the popular Cool Tools column. Keith and David have been in the product testing business a long time and they share some of the best and worst of dealing with the PR community in this endeavor. Join us to hear how a product can make Keith’s coveted Cool Tools list and also what are some of the most irritating things companies do in pursuit of a review. In Cheers and Jeers, Paul praises the new social media press release while David bemoans the aggravation of the never-ending cycle of returned phone calls.

Download the podcast here (20:12)