Executive Summary: Next Practices PR Conference

Executive Summary: Next Practices PR Conference
August 6, 2013, Westin San Francisco

 

8 Essential Skills Communicators Will Need to Thrive in 2014 and Beyond
Speakers: Greg Swan, SVP of digital & interactive Weber Shandwick; and Darrel Ng, public relations director, Anthem Blue Cross

  • It’s a mistake to think that all positive press is created equal. You need to figure out what types of positive press drive what your goals are.
  • What type of message does your company need to be successful? Pitch those stories.
  • Understand how your company makes money and use that knowledge as a compass for your PR campaign.
  • "Renaissance man” shouldn't be a dirty word: The lines between PR, marketing and advertising are blurring more and more every day. Collaborate and repurpose other departments’ content.
  • Knowing how to write is a crucial part of PR: It takes a talented writer to communicate a meaningful message in a short burst. Whether it's 140 characters or 140 words, you need to know how to be an effective writer.
  • Don't be afraid of change. The industry is changing and will continue to do so. Embrace it.
  • You need to have diverse interests and aim for multiple viewpoints and talents when building your team.
  • Master PowerPoint.
  • Unplug: Idleness is part of the creative process.

Media Relations Next Practices
Speakers: Julie Inouye, head of product PR, LinkedIn; Aaron Sherinian, VP of communications and public relations, United Nations Foundation; and Jon Swartz, reporter and tech team leader, USA Today

  • Get a 360-degree view of the reporters that you're pitching.
  • There's no need for cold calls. Ever. They've become irrelevant.
  • Engage with reporters in public forums by sharing, “liking” and commenting on their articles.
  • Spend time offline engaging with reporters. Make a coffee date and get to know them on a personal level.
  • Don't forget that we're all human. Journalists are going through the same thing that you're going through. Show how you'll behave in a difficult environment: It will give journalists an idea of how awesome you'll be in a non-pressurized situation.
  • Newsrooms have changed, and on many occasions, PR people are the global correspondents now.
  • It's not about the online metrics alone; it's the about the offline metrics, too.
  • Journalists want to know what people are talking about. You should go to the people who you want to serve first, before going to media. Talk to people before journalists.
  • You have to cultivate relationships with media ahead of the crisis.
  • Spin doesn't work. If you want to maintain a good relationship, answer the hard questions. Get to those answers first.

Secrets to Facebook Communications
Speakers: Morgan McLintic, EVP, Lewis PR; Haley Hebert managing director, digital marketing, LEWIS Pulse; and Dan Wire, social communications team lead, VMware

  • You've got to start out with a Facebook program that's going to accomplish something. You can't do Facebook for the sake of doing Facebook.
  • Engage with unhappy social users. Negative comments are going to hang out, front and center, on your page. Address it them as soon as possible.
  • The newsfeed redesign means that, as a company page, you now have to start producing a large variety of content.
  • Prepare for Graph Search. It's only available to limited Facebook users, but it's going to roll out fully soon, and have a mobile version.
  • Familiarize yourself with the EdgeRank Checker, Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm.
  • Understand the value of apps. You can do different things to accomplish various goals, but apps are a great way to aggregate content and run marketing campaigns. That said, make sure you work with a preferred marketing developer.
  • One quick way to get more visual content on Facebook for a client is sync up the Instagram page.
  • Facebook from a B2B perspective can be a surprising winner.
  • Post multiple times a day. Think of Facebook as a daily strategy: Once you open the floodgates, consumers expect daily content.
  • Facebook is a multi-team effort. Work with marketing, PR and a variety of stakeholders. Schedule weekly calls and quarterly “touching base” meetings to see what's working and what's not.

Tell Brand Stories With Video, Pinterest & Instagram
Speakers: Tim Baker, VP, digital strategy, MWW; Matt Rozen, group manager, corporate social media, Adobe; and Jessica Henry, director of marketing and public relations, Not For Sale

  • Most creative content on the Internet is coming from Vine. Download the app and look at the content channels.
  • Put a face behind the name of your social managers: Humanize your brand. It creates a one-on-one connection.
  • Engage with users by showcasing your achievements creatively.
  • “How to” content is a great way to engage on video channels.
  • Adobe is one of the top three brands on Instagram. The platform perfectly aligns with the brand's objectives because it allows us to humanize the company.
  • Provide a behind-the-scenes look of your company if the products you're selling aren't exactly sexy (like software).
  • Social isn't going to work on its own: It's a continuous process.
  • 70% of users on Pinterest employ it to find things that they want to buy.
  • Telling a good story on Pinterest isn't just about what your line of work is. It's the fringe elements of who you are and what you do.

Tap Into the Power of Content Marketing
Speakers: Sandy Malloy, senior information specialist, Business Wire; Jess Clifton, SVP at Edelman Digital, Edelman Digital; and Amanda Mahan, creative director, digital, The Clorox Company

  • To be really good at content marketing, you need to think like a media company. Some specific insights into that include having an always-on mentality; being relevant to someone—some segment of the audience—specific all of the time.
  • There are five archetypes of content marketing. They include curated content, which is pulled together by you and deemed of most value to the audience; co-created content, which is done either by you in collaboration with the audience; original content—that's content created by you; consumer-generated content, which is done by consumers without your involvement; and sponsored content, which is essentially paid advertising.
  • Based on the above principles, you need to have a playbook that will:
    • Adapt your brand identity for digital and social.
    • Understand your audience in ways that allow you to create a relevant and effective strategy.
    • Establish goals, determine an approval process and engage with the team, and set performance metrics.
  • The demand for content grows every day.
  • A content strategy is critical because it helps us figure out what to write about and what not to cover. 
  • A content strategy exists at the intersection of what a brand can credibly offer and what consumers find valuable.
  • Strategy "inputs" include defining the audience's online search activity, channel preferences and content selections, plus how the audience is interacting with the brand. It also includes an evaluation of that the competition is up to.
  • Strategy "outputs" include what areas are uncovered that the brand can credibly "own."
  • From there, you establiish a granular approach to the types of content matched to knowledge of audience lifestyles, product information and category position, plus addressing specific approaches for the various social networks. 
  • PR pros ARE the original content marketers!
  • It can't just be "content creation." It has to be "content strategy."
  • Content needs to be optimized for findability.
  • Similarly, visuals enhance "likeability."
  • Multimedia drives engagement.

Interactive Clinic: Manage an Escalating Crisis on Twitter
Speaker: Dallas Lawrence, VP, corporate affairs, Mattel Inc.

  • It's not a matter of “if”; it's a matter of “when” you're going to have your crisis. The speed at which things are happening today, you will have this moment.
  • Three key roles that social and digital can impact crisis relations: Instigator (never would have happened pre-social), accelerant (much more wide spread than pre social times); and extinguisher (how to use all of these tools to avoid a crisis or reputational threat, and effectively navigate through it).
  • Nobody cares about anything you post. Your tweet is competing with a billion others. In a crisis, the content we create has to be incredible compelling.
  • Avoid the information vacuum in a crisis by providing as much information as possible.
  • Don't respond to a damning YouTube video with a press release. Respond on the platform where the crisis is happening.
  • Know what you are talking about. When you blow it, own up to it immediately.

Anatomy of a Successful PR Team
Speakers: David Tinson, VP, integrated communications, Electronic Arts; Mitch Germann, SVP, Fleishman-Hillard San Francisco; Duke Indrasigamany, senior manager of integrated communications, Electronic Arts; and Charles Ka, director of digital communications, Electronic Arts

  • Combine two positions into the VP of integrated communications for success: head of product communications and direction of digital communications.
  • You want a team that can interact and engage with the news media, but also become content creators and drive social conversation.
  • Hire formal journalists to act as the editor-in-chief of an area of business. It's the content piece that is the thread between the two groups.
  • When you create content, make sure you can measure it.
  • Find people for your content team who are passionate about the space they are working in. They are personally invested; it's not work for them to look at it.
  • There are better ways of getting the word out than press releases. An animated infographic for Madden NFL generated 14 stories, more than 2 million impressions, more than 1,200 retweets and more than 20,000 Facebook “likes”.
  • Activating employees is a key part of sparking and driving the social conversation.
  • Leverage big data to learn about who your audience is and what they want to hear, see and share. Use it to better serve your consumers.

Top Apps & Tools All Communicators Should Use
Speaker: Kriselle Laran, senior account supervisor, digital, Zeno Group

  • Part of the PR gig is that we have to be able to handle a variety of different priorities. Flexibility and mobility are essential to managing multiple responsibilities.
  • There are more than 1.5 million apps between Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
  • You don’t always have to pay for a great app; many of the most useful apps are free.
  • Group apps to reduce swiping.
  • Top apps for staying connected: Cisco WebEx, GoTo Meeting, Join.Me, Google Drive, Box.Net, DropBox, Cision, DocuSign Ink and Bizzabo.
  • Top apps for staying organized: Remember the Milk, Trello, Fantastical, Evernote, PearlTrees, Pocket, Weave, 30/30, Harvest Time & Expense Tracker, Concur, Expensify and JotNotPro.
  • Top apps for finding your way around a new place: Waze, GoogleMaps, SigAlert, Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, Yelp, AroundMe, TripIt, Flympse, Rover and Flight Tracker.
  • Top apps for staying social: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Pinterest, FlipBoard, Hootsuite, SproutSocial, Yammer, Spreecast and ooVoo.
  • Top apps for staying informed: AP, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Pulse, Zite, Feedly, InstaCast and Living Earth.
  • Top apps for staying balanced: Spotify, Timbre, SoundCloud, Instacart, OrderAhead, TaskRabbit, MyFitnessPal, ESPN Fantasy Leagues, BuzzFeed, AmEx, Starbucks and SleepCycle.

Why Didn't I Think of That? 15 Unique PR Ideas in 30 Minutes
Speakers: Sybil Wartenberg, executive director, brand communication, Kaiser Permanente; and Amelia Burke-Garcia, senior director of digital media, Westat

  • Use video outtakes as exclusive content in social media. They're a fun, unique way to engage with your audience.
  • Partner with a media brand on a tweet chat. You'll be introduced to a new audience and a fresh perspective.
  • Use online platforms like MeetUp.com and Active.com to drive real-world action. Take the conversation offline.
  • Create a halo effect for your brand by not branding. Your company’s name doesn’t always have to be front-and-center to make an impact.
  • Use MemeGenerator.com to integrate popular culture into your own issues. It’s an easy way to connect the dots back to your brand.
  • Invite your customers to tell stories that showcase your expertise. It’s always better to get endorsed by someone else rather than tooting your own horn.
  • Passively manage your dormant social accounts.
  • Hold cross-functional daily huddles to break down silos. Other departments are a great source for repurposed PR content.
  • Integrate Vine into your gaming initiatives.
  • Use the speed-dating model for your live events. Keep people moving and engaged.
  • Widen your social media channel focus to include non-traditional sites like SnapChat, Pheed, and Reddit. Be where your competitors aren’t.
  • Create an online consumer group for perpetual crowdsourcing. No one knows what your consumers want more than the consumers themselves.
  • Involve your mobile team from the start to ensure your content is appropriate for mobile devices. Assume everything will be viewed on a smartphone or tablet.
  • Form an issues council to help identify issues early and mitigate risk. Be proactive about crisis management.
  • Identify niche influencers by reviewing other people’s blog rolls. See who is influencing your competitors.