Social Media

We’re big fans of Chris Brogan. He has a down-to-earth approach to marketing and he isn’t afraid to say what he thinks, even if it isn’t the most popular opinion. He has an interesting blog post on location-based social media applications. This created a bit of discussion in our Vancouver PR agency.

AHA Take

Overall, consensus is that we can’t quite find the business use for these location-based social media applications yet. At this point, I can’t think of any of our clients that would benefit. We don’t have any retail clients at the moment and will look much closer at these tools when we do.

On Friday afternoons (especially in the summer), we like to slow down and engage in discussion on how we can provide additional value for clients through new approaches. We don’t bill this time to our clients, it’s just us taking something like Foursquare and having a brainstorm on how it might be used for a client. It lets us get our creative juices flowing and it lets us think out of the box – sometimes way out of the box!

There are times when this brainstorming leads to something that benefits a client and there are times when we just keep hitting dead ends. I think hitting the dead ends is valuable. Knowing what doesn’t work is as important as knowing what works, in my opinion.

What’s your take? Are location-based social media applications something you would use – either personally or professionally?

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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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