We all like to go after the “Social Media Experts” claiming there’s no way anyone can a) be an expert in such a new field or b) such a quickly changing field.  Beyond the semantics (“expert” vs. “experience” (as much as one can get), “guru,” “knowledgeable in,” “has an instinctive grasp of,” or my favorite undefinable (but likely true in some cases) “just gets”) there’s certainly something to be said for being able to use labels professionally which make us appear to have some higher level of comprehension in our field (and in many cases this is true).

Here’s the kick in the pants — PR pros, and other professionals in the related communications fields, don’t really “know” anything either when it comes to this stuff that a first or second year wouldn’t. Read the rest of this entry

As previously mentioned the PRBC group emails quite a bit throughout the day on a variety of topics.  Frequently they actually involve the blog – does a proposed post create a conflict of interest, upcoming events, discussing substantive PR issues for posts, etc.  And sometimes not so much.

Anyone who has to work as part of a team or committee, whether that’s an internal team or a team composed of a client, their internal PR person, the outside agency and frequently others (so probably all of us), has had to deal with various agendas and personalities at the table.  Each with their own goals, some necessary, others merely desirable. Read the rest of this entry

For those of you looking for some fun reading, or scrambling to catchup with this week’s fantastic PRBC posts — this week’s top articles (by pageview), in no particular order….

• 35 tips in 30 minutes (text edition)
• Christina’s Coffee Talk: Rob Guerrera
• The Fate of John Mayer’s Image
• HR’s Grasp on Social Media
• Storytelling Is At the Heart of Effective PR

Enjoy, see ya bright & early Monday.

As many of you know members of the PRBC group presented today at Ragan’s Social Media panel.  Below we share some of our thoughts on SM.  The names in parenthesis indicate who brought up the point.  Hyperlinked to their twitter account on the first use.

Diving Into Social Media

Before any company, agency, or professional decides to become involved in social media, there will no doubt be some basic questions that they want answered, or some background information that they would appreciate hearing.  The first group of points provide some helpful hints for diving into social media, whether you’re interested in using it for clients or becoming the resident thought-leader for your company. Read the rest of this entry

one post?  What the heck people?” Read the rest of this entry

For 90% of us, writing is the bedrock of our business.  Having a good vocabulary, being able to structure a sentence properly and persuasively, and adding that special je ne sais quoi to a piece we’re working on is invaluable.  It’s not about using big words—it’s about using the right word.  Some of the most evocative pieces of literature use very few “big words.”  Orwell’s 1984 and Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass instantly come to mind. Read the rest of this entry

In one of today’s posts Arik Hanson suggests conferences get more midlevel speakers. He notes about VIPs

“They don’t actually do the work. They’re typically brilliant people. Tremendous speakers. But, they’re not on the front lines. I want to hear from the folks in the trenches sometimes. What’s working? What isn’t? What surprised you?”

Ask and ye shall receive Arik….

In case some of you hadn’t heard, 7 members of the PRBC crew will be participating in the The 2010 Media Relations Best Practices Summit on March 3rd in New York City.

Some of your favorite PRBC family members Read the rest of this entry

For any of you who missed Friday’s announcement, the next two leading up to what should be an amazing 4 hours on Friday February 19th.

This new project, spearheaded by Arik Hanson and the amazing Valerie Simon, this amazing project looks to put together job seekers with those with job openings.  For the full background and inspiration, including inspiration from Dave Mullen, be sure to check out Arik’s post, linked in the first sentence.  For those of you looking for the short version, and what you can do to participate in HAPPO day, take a look below: Read the rest of this entry

For those of you snowed in, or just bored over the weekend trying to play catchup on your PR Blogs, below you’ll find, in no particular order, PRBC’s top 5 posts of the week (by pageview) and a special video surprise from Mr. Schaffer.

Read the rest of this entry

Over the last five months the PRBC founding members and contributing bloggers have had the absolute joy of bringing you nearly 250 posts on the things that impact all our lives — PR, Social Media and everything else that touches on the various communications arts we all get to call our day (and sometimes night) jobs.

After some thought, we’ve come to the realization that you, our devoted readers need more — more variety of specialty, experience, geographic diversity, and everything else that makes each of us, as a person and professional, unique. Read the rest of this entry