1. How Social Media is Changing the Landscape of Public Relations Presented By: Tracy Imm, APR Vision Multimedia Technologies, LLC www.vmtllc.com

2. Agenda A little history and perspective: Public Relations before Social Media (the game changer) Where we are today: How People Prefer to Receive Information Now Explosive Growth of Social Media Six Myths and Six Truths about Social Media Marketing How Brands Converse with Audiences Now What it means to todays PR practitioners: Possessing the necessary knowledge and skills to thrive Things you can do to gain knowledge and skills 3. Public Relations in 1987 No Internet No cell phones No laptop computers or Blackberries Relationships with reporters mean everything Be able to write a press release and get your company in the news (favorable coverage) Hope you never have to do major crisis communications 4. Public Relations before Social Media One Way (no dialogue): Control the message and medium, Create a static website (that does not really say anything) Issue press releases on your time (when you decide to interact with the media and customers) Customer service and marketing/communications are two separate functional organizations (Just coordinate) 5. How people prefer to receive information: Send me a note on Facebook or MySpace IM me Text me Blog about it and I will pick it up Call my cell Email me Call my office phone 6. Use of Social Media Sites Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project 40% 30% 2005 20% 2006 10% 2008 0% Usage Explosive growth in social media usage has forever changed the landscape of public relations, customerservice and business in general. 7. Six Myths about Social Media Marketing: Source: Business Week 1. Social Media is cheap, if not free. 2. Anyone can do it. 3. You can make a big splash in a short time. 4. You can do it all in-house. 5. If you do something great, people will find it. 6. You cant measure social media marketing results. 8. The Six Truths about Social Media :Source: Business Week1. While many tools come at nocost, effectively incorporatingthem into your marketingprogram requires skill, time andmoney. 2. Many people claim to be socialmedia gurus but hype doesntcompare to experience. 3. Social media can drive traffic ifpeople care about your brand.Otherwise, be patient. 9. The Six Truths about Social Media: Source: Business Week4. To be successful, you need astrategy, contacts, tools andexperience. A combination notgenerally found in-house. 5. Until you drive traffic to yourcontent, no one will know it isthere. 6. There are several methods tomeasure the effectiveness ofsocial media, including GoogleTrends, Twitter search, GoogleAnalytics, BackType andCompete. 10. What are we doing? Source: 2009 Forrester Research survey of IT executives in North America and Europe 91% read blogs, watch user generated video online or readsocially created content once a month 55% were in social networks 58% commented on comment in either blogs or forums 43% created content online 69% consumed online content for their jobs 29% were using social networks for work purposes 37% were reacting to work related content 27% were creating work related content 11. Best Practices in Digital Communications 1. Use technology to build a strong community aroundyour brand, 2. Market your products and services smartly throughonline communities Allocating the right human and financial resources to these endeavors. It takes people and money. 3. Monitor and track digital activity to measure youreffectiveness. 12. Top 10 Brands who use social media to engage with customers 1.Starbucks (#1 Facebook brand) These companies on average grew 18% in revenues 2.Dell over the last 12 months, compared to the least 3.eBayengaged companies who on average saw a decline of 4.Google6% in revenue during the same period. The same 5.Microsoft holds true for two other financial metrics, gross margin 6.Thomson Reuters and net profit. 7.Nike 8.Amazon 9.SAP 10. Tie Yahoo!/IntelSource:Altimer Group Study entitled Engagement: Deep Brand EngagementCorrelates to Financial Performance (you can download the report fromaltimergroup.com) 13. The Convergence of Public Relations, Marketing, Customer Service, Technology No longer can functions be silo organization Your communications strategy must support your business objectives Technology can be an enabler for your corporate message Your customer tells the world how they feel about your brand Creating a dialogue with your customers is your only choice Social media becomes another tool in your toolkit to support reputation management and customer service 14. So What Does All this Mean for You? 15. Todays PR Practitioner Command of basic communications skills to include both writing and oral presentations (not new) Possess the ability to pull together effective integrated campaigns and strategies (not new) Have a basic understanding of business principles (not new) Who is your ideal customer? What do you sell? Why do people or businesses buy your product orservice? How do you make money? 16. Todays PR Practitioner Expert in Use of Technology (new) Know the basics of Content Management Systems You will be managing content for Websites and Blogs 76% of all CMS run on 1 of 5 platformsDrupal, Wordpress, Joomla!, DotCMS, DotNetNuke Understand what best practices are for Search Engine Optimizationand Search Engine Marketing Now considered a basic requirement for some communications positions Knowledge of most prevalent Social Media Platforms Know how they can be integrated into a public relations campaign Know how to set up presence on major channels and how to implement viralcampaigns 17. What to do next Evaluate your current knowledge and skill level (in the areas of writing, technology, communications principles) Recognize what gaps you need to close Develop a plan for your professional development 18. Ideas for ProfessionalDevelopment Join and contribute to a professional association such as PRSA, IABC, AMA Do pro-bono work for a non-profit to get experience in both public relations and social marketing campaigns Create your own brand online with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter What do you want people to know you for? Recognize that employers research your online profile when making hiring decisions 19. Ideas for Professional Development Start your own blog Learn basic HTML Teach yourself basic elements of Open Source Content Management Systems Learn Search Engine Optimization principles and techniques used for Search Engine Marketing Take a graphic design course at a community college Experiment with some of the lesser known social media tools such as Digg, Delicious, etc. 20. Questions?timm@vmtllc.com 410.889.7770 x 214 443.562.4847 (cell)