New York

About this Social Media Week Guest Blogger: Dani Klein is Founder and Blogger at YeahThatsKosher.com, Founder/Consultant at SocialCity Marketing and Social Media Director at StandWithUs. You can follow Dani on Twitter @YeahThatsKosher.

Packed into a bar near Times Square, #SMPR kicked off on the 1st night of Social Media Week in NYC. #SMPR events, organized by Elliot Schimel (Director @ Source Communications) & David Teicher (Social Media Manager @ McCann Erickson), are for Public Relations professionals using social media. This event involved a panel of PR professionals, and included plenty of time for professional networking, which was appreciated by all.

[Check out the video interviews with some of the panelists & attendees]

Moderating the panel was Leslie Campisi, VP & Partner @ Affect Strategies. The panel consisted of 5 PR professionals:

• David Teicher, Social Media Manager @ McCann Erickson
• Alex Payne, Digital Media Coordinator @ MWW Group
• Danielle Mancano, Account Manager @ SHIFT Communications
• Allison Martin, Assistant Account Executive @ Zeno Group
• Keith Trivit, Account Executive @ RLMPR

Here are some snippets and quotes from the insightful conversation that took place:

Working with Clients:

David: Clients don’t have accurate expectations of Social Media or set goals; people need a reason to be engaged.

Keith: Social Media takes time, work, and effort to implement; Clients want to jump right into Social Media … important to slow things down.

Alex: “Viral” has become a dirty word.

Danielle: Small client marketing budgets are now given Social Media, however clients often lack goals; important to listen first and pay attention, followed up with action; bloggers need something tangible to write about.

David: Use an app like CoTweet to manage a Twittering team for a client. Social Media can be used as a way to respond to Customer Service issues, Sales requests, or for the Marketing team to pitch a product.

Apple / iPad:

Group: Apple is unique in that it could be hush-hush about their products. Apple’s quietness took its toll with the launch of the iPad. >> Apple’s PR team operates in stealth mode. >> AT&T 3G networked mentioned and criticized for poor service. Why use AT&T again for cellular coverage with known issues?

Great Quotes:

David: Anyone can be the editor of the NYTimes because of our potential reach. Being timely is key in the digital world.

Keith: PR is not rocket science, it’s common sense.

Keith: Treat consumers like real people.

Crisis Management:

Danielle: PR + Social Media can protect brands’ corporate image. PR agents: Finger must be on the pulse at all times. Be there before the crisis happens.

Alex: PR teams should be anticipating issues, not responding frantically.

Danielle: People will be talking about your industry or brand with or without your involvement.

David: Have upfront protocol to anticipate as much as possible.

Video & PR:

Since the panel spent most of the time discussing Twitter & Facebook, I asked a question about the use of video within Social Media PR (I used Gary Vaynerchuk’s example of Domino’s Pizza dealing with a video PR crisis in 2009)

Keith: Video pitches / press releases tell a story and give personality to the story.

David: Videos can position a client as an authority. Example: Home Depot has “How-To” videos. Videos give a face to the faceless organization.

Danielle: Video testimonials help build a community organically. Can be educational for consumers.

ROI:

Allison: Pizza Hut hired a “twintern” (Twitter intern) to give a young voice of the company on Twitter. The company received many placements and the company gained 12k Twitter followers as a result.

Alex: Use Google Analytics for micro-sites. On Facebook, measure # of engagements, # of fan growth, and # of status updates (for pages exceeding 10k fans).

Danielle: Check # of RTs, “Likes”, Comments, to create your own metrics.

David: ROI has always been fuzzy, especially with traditional media. After a specific campaign ends, is there still buzz about it? Are people still discussing the campaign? That’s a good way to measure if you’ve been effective.

As you can see, lots of topics were covered at this insightful panel discussion. I am looking forward to the next #SMPR event in NYC!

Dani Klein regularly vlogs for JewishTravelTV (YouTube Channel)