Valley PR Blog

Just suck it up and accept Web 2.0!

By Charlotte Risch on November 28th, 2007 In Social Media

I attended the lunchtime seminar put on by PRSA today about Web 2.0 and Social Media and left there more annoyed than enlightened. Don’t get me wrong…it had nothing to do with the presentation by Casey DeLorme, but the reactions from some attendees.

Maybe I am just an open person, but if you want to be a part of the conversations and what is going on in the world today, especially if you are in PR, you have got to start educating yourself and getting into social media, such as Myspace, LinkedIn, RSS Feeds and blogs.

Myspace, my friends, is NOT just a place for teenagers and internet predators. Its a great way to meet other like minded folks, find old friends/family and just spread the word about what is going on. I use my bulletins on myspace and facebook to talk about my client’s latest promotions all the time (free press and great word of mouth). I have reporters and producers on there who read them too. And, this sounds morbid, but if I died unexpectedly, you have all the photos and info you need to share with others and a place to leave your respects.. LOL.

Seriously, though, to just sign up and get a myspace page is the easiest way to start out and learn about social media. After I started playing around with myspace, I learned about blogs and commenting and how to pass along videos and the basics of coding. I now understand how to set up a link to a site or person I am referring to after blogging here on ValleyPRBlog. :) I still have a lot to learn, but at least I am playing along. To think that everyone is going to know your business is ludacris. You are still in control of the message you are sending and portraying. We control messages all day in PR. Thats our job.

Ok, beyond the rant…I did learn some things I would like to share with you all.

1. “Web 2.0″ is not an actual “thing”. Its a marketing term.

2. Google makes their money off of Ad Words. Check it out if you haven’t already–I guess you can name your price for pay per click ads!?

3. PR people need to be well versed in editing, video and audio…because its the future and the future is now. Perfect example is YouTube. I used to think I was “unique” because I could edit my TV promos on an AVID…now, anyone can download editing programs onto their computer and create with video, fonts and sound.

4. www.diigo.com is a way to collect, share and interact with others about everything being said about you or a client online. It goes beyond “bookmarks” and lets you put a virtual sticky note on the pages you view….make notes about your thoughts at that moment when you clicked on it, etc.

There was a lot more shared at this event…more than I have time to blog about right now, as I need to do some work and connect with a peer…. See ya on Facebook!

Comments

Great post! These are the same people I can’t wait to see in 2-3 years, when newbies and tech support are running social media communications instead of them. And their print ads are failing to get traction and their old-time press releases are falling on deaf ears.

Get off your AOL dial-up and get on the bus, people. Or, don’t…it’s better for all of us reading this blog.

I find most people/clients- surprisingly, even design firms to be wholly undereducated about social media (and the design firms are the most dangerous, since they’re the first stop for most small businesses in terms of websites and marketing).

Its not enough to just be excited about social media, you have to understand its purpose and then the strengths and weaknesses of each service in the social media universe.

As it happens, I think f*ckingmyspace (sorry, can’t seem to call it anything else) is a miserable example of social media gone wrong. Other than bulletins and good SEO, it has no redeeming value. Where’s the interactivity? Pages exist, that’s it. The new interface is a bit better, by allowing you to see that a friend has updated their page, but so what? I want to know HOW they updated it. As for bulletins, the more friends you have, the less potent your bulletins.

I am far more interested in facebook, which studies show is for a more affluent, educated base (infact, f*ckingmyspace has been referred to as the trailer park of social media). And the facebook app does what myspace never can- allow almost anyone with basic programming language skills to take a campaign virally. Not just an alert though…. actual calls to action!

While twitter seems to be a fabulous service based on its ability to go direct to cell phone (which has endless value when your target is teens- who do NOT check email accounts, but receive their entire world via mobile or sadly, F*’ingmyspace), it doesn’t have enough traction to be valuable yet. It also suffers from the same problems as f*ingmyspace bulletins. Too many, and the follower is likely to turn the service off.

Sure, a blog can help your SEO, but the days of it magically building you a community are over. There are just too many…. only a multiblog has that power anymore, IMO. Blogs that are not selfcentric, but networkcentric are going to be the most successful in the near future.

In the end, web 2.0 isn’t about “social media” as much as its about people getting only the information they want, when and how they want it. Design will take a backseat to information as people will bring in those streams they want, seeing it how they want via rss on a widget, without ever even visiting the page or service.

But here is what is missing from the conversation that I see most people having about social media. Its not gum. You can’t just throw up a page to see if it sticks- merely having a facebook page will not replace having a conductor with a brain behind the campaign. You’re still going to need to be able to write cohesively, and to figure out how to creatively engage social media to an endpoint. How do all the pieces work together?

Meanwhile, I predict that in five years, as people reach an oversaturation point being pinged all day with information, that print and the lo-fi approach will make a comeback. Isn’t a key to good PR is to be doing what no one else is?

As a Baby Boomer who wants to get results, (Hate the term social media, or blog. It is all Internet - hate fractionalizing things. Is it R&B, Pop, Rock, Soul, Detroit, Rap? You get the picture. Music and Internet. Keep it simple.) you need to have your own Web presence (Chester Burger advised me of this when he was 93, and if you don’t know who Chester Burger is, get out of PR, P-L-E-A-S-E), a YouTube presence, at least a myspace page. Check out Aly and AJ’s or Glass Heroes myspace page. The new Scottsdale hot spot, Taste, is depending on MySpace to build its reputation - and succeeding beyond expectation.

As a former writer for the music trade publication Billboard, I feel sorry for the artists who depend solely upon their record label to get them airplay - are you listening Jordin Sparks? Bands have built national recognition through MySpace and YouTube.

For further reading, check:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/phoenixopinions/articles/1106phx-kelleher1107.html

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/phoenixopinions/articles/1129phx-kelleher1130.html

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