I recently attended and presented at the Social Media Conference presented by the Connecticut Valley Chapter of PRSA . Among the topics discussed at the conference was who should be the voice behind corporate tweets, the company itself or a company representative?
Several attendees expressed that hectic schedules often prohibit upper management from taking on the role of tweeting for their brand. This led me to question if these should be the people tweeting or if a generic account representing the brand was adequate. Continue reading →
“Sign me up!” were the words I exclaimed back in February when I found out the gym I was checking out allowed free guest passes, anytime, any day of the week. What a huge plus!
A few weeks ago, I walked into my gym with a guest. I hadn’t been in about a week and I was ready and raring to go. I told the girl at the desk I’d like to sign my guest in.
“Oh, you can no longer have guests for free during the week. Only weekends. It’ll be a $10 charge today.”
Recently, the PRBC crew had the pleasure of chiming in—as an entire group via Google Documents—on a series of questions regarding the blending of public relations and social media (one of my favorite subjects to discuss) on Lauren Fernandez’sLAF blog. The first set of questions dealt with what effect we all thought social media has had on the public relations industry.
You can read all of our responses here, but a comment by our good friend Jay Keith really sparked something in me. Jay was discussing his distaste for the exponential increase in so-called “experts” who are now online. Continue reading →
This week I sat down with Danny Brown, social media strategist for Maritz Canada, founder of 12for12k, and friend. Danny get’s his daily fix from little coffee shops like,Second Cup or Muddy Waters but says he really starts his day with PRBC’s e-mail updates. (Note: I quickly learned he’s a charmer). He boasts about being a geek and says his favorite pastimes are messing in WordPess or playing video games (sorry PS3 lovers, he plays on Xbox 360 or Wii). In addition to his Recommended Reading, you can catch Danny laughing to off-the-cuff humor blogs like F*ck You Penguin and his wife’s Just Kickin’ It. It was a real pleasure picking Danny’s brain for a little bit, and I hope this chat inspires you just as much as it did for me.
For those of you that read my last piece, I attended Jeff Pulver’s 140 Character Conference in Los Angeles. And while the action was flying on stage by day, it was sizzling by night. In both cases, the tweets were non-stop. Apparently, all 140 characters are still geeks at heart.
The first night there was conference-sponsored “cocktail” party at the Kodak theater lobby and then an informal after-party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel across the street. The cocktail party surprised everyone by being a cash bar, literally as their credit card machine was broken. They did furnish a few bits of cheese, crackers and a pile of hummus. The somewhat sparsely attended event did give me an opportunity to meet a Google Wave celebrity, Dr. Wave aka Gregory D’Alesandre. Continue reading →
I’d been bouncing around a post on this topic mentally for a few weeks, but as usual things get in the way. But when a post from superstar Chris Brogan declaring not content, but rather relationships “King” and a counter-post (though not referencing Brogan’s) appeared on Chris Illuminati’s blog declaring content King it was time to, as they say, open a vein and bleed on the page.
Declaring either content or relationships as King implies that either can stand alone. After all, in a monarchy the King rules — his will is law (and in some cases religious doctrine). This is certainly the exception, not the rule. It’s a triumvirate folks. Continue reading →
Editor’s Note: Believe it, or not, we do get letters here at The Club occasionally. This one was of particular interest, so after some tweaking we decided to run it as a post (with the letter writer’s consent, of course). Hopefully you’ll find it of equal interest.
Dear PRBC,
Growing up we are taught to distinguish right from wrong. When we’re young this is easy. For example it’s wrong to hit your friend if he steals your crayon. It’s wrong to cheat on your college final. But as we become an adult right from wrong is no longer black and white. We start to factor in consequences and how they may affect people, especially when it comes to our career. Continue reading →
In this age of social media, there are a few situations that every PR pro prays will never happen to them. One of the most dreaded inquiries that one can get from a client is:
“I was at a networking event the other night and I met a social media consultant. She said that we should really be on Twitter and that she would give us a session on using it for $2,000. Why haven’t you built us a Twitter page yet?” (Ok, so that’s probably second to “I want a viral video… you know, like the inmates performing Thriller.”) Continue reading →
If you’ve hung around the PR Breakfast Club for even a short amount of time, you know these bloggers subscribe to the “give more to get more” mantra. In fact, I’m amazed at how willing my “online” friends are to share information … give advice … lend an ear.
But, generosity doesn’t stop there. It’s heart-warming to see how many individuals are using their platforms to do some good. As the holidays approach, what’s better than social media for social good, right? Some recent examples: Continue reading →
Ok, so to address this first…maybe there is something to the whole women’s intuition thing…(touché Kate).
As many of you know, earlier this week my colleague and PRBC founding blogger Kate Ottavio posted a great article addressing the male:female ratio in our industry, noting it’s a great chance to meet a girl.
While undoubtedly true (have you seen the Male:Female ratio of the PRBC family and of our get togethers (and yes @dannybrown — it is sheer coincidence)) there is a definite chance to use this to our advantage gents. Continue reading →
I recently attended and presented at the Social Media Conference presented by the Connecticut Valley Chapter of PRSA . Among the topics discussed at the conference was who should be the voice behind corporate tweets, the company itself or a company representative?
This week I sat down with 
