AHA

We’ve been discussing the challenges being faced by traditional media for what seems like a very long time. The announcement that CanWest Global Communications Corp’s publishing division has been sold to Postmedia Network Inc., the organization led by Paul Godfrey and backed by U.S. private-equity player Golden Tree Asset Management among other investors, comes as no surprise.

In reading the piece in the Vancouver Sun, it is interesting to note that the new owners say they are going to “pursue an ambitious ‘digital first’ business model.” Godfrey said that he “would expect most reporters are going to carry video cameras so they can put their stories on the Web immediately, to cells, iPhones, and social networks.”

That will change the cycle of news to immediate. For communicators, it will also change how we pitch media. Traditionally we would have approached a print pitch differently, now the pitch blends print, image and video and will include a hook that focuses on the social networking side of coverage. At least, that’s how we’re approaching it. I know that for some, it feels like more work has been put on the plate of PR and communications – for our part, we’re pretty excited. Not to say that there won’t be challenges, but we get to be a part of the biggest shift in how we do our work since – well, since PR became more than running events and planning parties. There’s opportunity here people!!

What do you think? Are you ready for the brave new world where several mediums blend and we get to participate in a shift in how news and events are covered, when it comes to our organization and clients?

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There is a great blog post on the Webbiquity blog that focuses on the questions to ask when you are developing a social media strategy. It says to “think like a reporter” and that’s good advice.

As a former reporter, I would like to add one more question: How? Once you go through the 5 Ws, then you have to ask yourself how you are going to achieve this. Defining a strategy and a plan is crucial, but you have to develop one that works for your organization. You need to make sure that you have the resources and the support necessary to execute, otherwise it’s just a really great plan that sits on a shelf or in a drawer.

How are you defining your social media strategy? Can you clearly answer the 5Ws and the H?

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There is a good video presentation by Todd Blecher of Boeing on Vimeo. He references Star Wars and Obi-Wan Kenobi to showcase how Boeing evolved their social media outreach from “snoringly” boringly technical to real, authentic, interactive and (oh my gosh!!!) personal.

You have to get through some ads and sales stuff to see the video. It’s worth it to see how a highly technical BIG company grew into an effective approach to social media.

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At AHA, we’re big fans of Danny Brown. He has a great blog post that lists 52 Cool Facts About Social Media. We don’t want to steal Danny’s thunder – and we do want you to check out his blog…but below are just a few of the cool facts:

  • There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
  • The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events.

Is your organization on Facebook? Should your organization be on Facebook? Have you looked at the challenges and opportunities for your organization on Facebook?

  • Twitter gets more than 300,000 new users every day.
  • There are more than 600 million searches on Twitter every day.

Are you monitoring Twitter, even if you aren’t actively tweeting? Is Twitter of value for your organization? Are employees of your organization on Twitter in a personal or professional way?

  • There are more than 70 million users worldwide on LinkedIn.
  • 80% of companies use LinkedIn as a recruitment tool.
  • LinkedIn receives almost 12 million unique visitors per day.

How can your organization benefit from using LinkedIn?

Danny tells us more about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn as well as a few other stats and facts that are very interesting. This post helps put social media use into perspective…it’s worth a read.

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