On May 14, the Chapter held the 2nd annual Social Media Summit. More than 200 attendees from all over the Boston-area PR community attended.
The sessions, split into sections on Content, Engagement, and Measurement - three pillars of any social media program - showcased a variety of case studies and thinking from leading local brands as well as bloggers (in the case of one panel). We have gathered slides from some of the presenters here: http://slidesha.re/16wNzAP .
How far have local PR professionals come in accepting social media? During the course of the day, the event hashtag, "#PRSABOS," became a nationally trending topic on Twitter (see evidence in the photos below), and reached a potential two million people on Twitter.
Rather than try to boil the entire program into a blog post, we thought we would distill the day into some of the more interesting points raised throughout the half-day program:
From the opening keynote by Karen Raskopf and Jessica Gioglio of Dunkin' Brands:
- PR pros are uniquely qualified to lead social, because they understand the need for conversations, and are good at localizing content (from the opening keynote by Karen Raskopf of Dunkin' Brands).
- Experiment with the new platforms like Instagram and Vine, but make the business case first.
From the panel "Creating Content":
- Statistically, you are more likely to become a Navy SEAL than to click a banner ad (John Mataraza, Digital influence Group)
- Treat social media like a news bureau; hire journalists and keep editorial calendars (Corinne Kovalsky, Raytheon)
- Companies can have many social media channels, but need one central planning strategy: a "hub and spoke" model (Thom Lyltle, EMC)
From "Driving Engagement"
- Social media is not a silo, but exists throughout the organization (David Oksman, Life is Good)
- Take advantage of opportunities to help customers online (even if they are adult film stars), and let them advocate for you online (Jeremy Warnick, LoJack)
- New platforms can have unexpected uses- Stonyfield uses the music service Spotify to create a playlist for its brand (Chandra Carson, Stonyfield)
From "The Brand-Blogger Connection"
- Don't pigeonhole bloggers- they often cover multiple topics (Charlene DeLoach)
- 40% of bloggers surveyed say the piches they get are not relevant (Cindy Meltzer)
- Bloggers don't use only blogs, but multiple channels for sharing content (Jodi Grundig)
"From Measuring Impact"
- Know what the numbers mean and sum up your metrics reports for the C-Suite (Jessica Payne, PAN Communications)
- People spend too much time on influence scores like Klout. "Don't believe the hype" (Kathy O'Reilly, Philips Healthcare)
- There are a variety of tools for measurement and monitoring. Find the set that works for you. Ken Burbary keeps a wiki listing many resources at http://bit.ly/16xvv9U (Dave Armon, Critical Mention)
Below, we used Storify to compile some of the reactions, content and Tweets shared by the attendees. Find more at the "#PRSABOS" hashtag.
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