October 2009

We have regular production meetings at AHA and during today’s briefing, it hit me that public relations is a different profession today than it was even a year ago. Technology, specifically online technology, has changed how we do our job.

At AHA, we have always approached the publicity and media relations component of what we do much as a media outlet would. We have regular story meetings, we hold our ideas up to scrutiny and we review each pitch through the eyes of the specific journalist and media outlet that we are approaching. We have a focus on acting (as much as possible) like a newsroom would when it comes to clearly identifying the news value and the heart of the story before we take it to media.

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Brian Solis has a great blog post that showcases some very interesting stats about social media. It turns out that women rule when it comes to social media. I have only had a quick review of these stats and haven’t had a chance to look at some of the other blog posts and tweets on this topic yet, but there is a great deal of value in understanding not just who is using social media, but why.

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Arik Hanson has a good post on his blog that showcases nine great social media presentations for PR pros. There is a great deal of valuable information in these presentations and it’s definitely worth a read.

At AHA, we are often asked about social media and how it might work for an organization. Our answer is never “off the cuff.” Identifying whether your organization should participate in social media is a decision that needs to be based on knowledge and understanding of the organization’s objectives and goals. (We do believe that every organization should be aware of social media and know what is being said. You should be listening, even if you are not participating.)

The social media presentations listed on Arik’s blog are a good start to answering some of the questions that you may have.

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