PRSA Midwest District shines in Chicago

For two days in July, more than 150 public relations professionals and educators from nine states gathered in the Windy City for the 2012 Midwest District Conference.

Hope Bertram of Digital Megaphone, Dan Skinner of ConAgra Foods and Caleb Gardner of Edelman Digital discuss blogger relations at the 2012 PRSA Midwest District Conference.

The conference, which was held at the Water Tower Campus of Loyola University, started out with a talk by Al Golin, founder of GolinHarris. Golin shared stories from his career, including the key to long-term relationships (keeping them current and not taking them for granted), the three Cs that he looks for in job candidates (current, creative and curious), and ethics (“In the good old days, ethics wasn’t different – people just didn’t get caught.”)

Next, attendees learned from two crisis communications experts:  Jack Yeo of MSLGROUP Americas and John R. Brooks, APR, of North Park University. They focused on eight laws of crisis communications:

1. Protecting reputation is not about the crisis, but rather how you handle it;
2. Be aware of the world around you;
3. There is no excuse for not planning;
4. A swift response is required;
5. Understand the impact of today’s digital democracy;
6. Always operate with transparency;
7. Never stand alone; and
8. Never forget to rebuild.

Yeo and Brooks offered numerous case studies along the way, and encouraged attendees to be among the 54 percent of companies that are prepared for a crisis.

Several breakout sessions throughout the day provided attendees with plenty of choices. Topics for the breakouts ranged from community engagement to personal brands to mentoring, measurement and more.

The afternoon closed out with a talk on transparency from Andy Shaw, president and CEO of Better Government Association, and a media panel with three journalists from Chicago. The media panel included strong opinions from Robert Feder of Time Out Chicago, who said, “Because of social media, we don’t need you, and you don’t need us.”

On the second day, Mary Henige of General Motors started out the morning with an overview of her company’s approach to social media. Breakout sessions followed on a variety of topics including:  mobile communications, social media, ethics and transparency, employee engagement, media relations, and blogger relations.

The second day closed with a power-packed panel featuring representatives from Google, Twitter, and Facebook discussing what’s new at their networks.

The conference was preceded by a Midwest District Leadership QuickStart. QuickStart attendees were treated to an intimate session with Cheryl Procter-Rogers, APR, Fellow PRSA, who shared her insights on leadership and innovation.

PRSA Midwest District Conference attendees raved about the conference and shared their excitement for what the 2013 conference will have in store.

Lee Odden Optimize book review

With "Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing," Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing has delivered an important text that covers the breadth of search engine optimization and social media with a dose of public relations.

Odden divides his book into three phases that take readers on a journey of optimization success:  planning, implementation, and scale.

Near the end of "Optimize," Odden provides probably the most concise summary of his book:  "Your journey through this book has taken you from creating a road map and strategy at 30,000 feet to diving deeply into a sea of specific tactics, ranging from persona development to keyword optimization to social networking."

That's precisely why this book is so darn useful. Wondering where to start in the SEO process? Odden answers. Curious about appropriate keyword placement on a web page? Odden goes into great detail. Interested in measuring success? This is your book.

Odden covers just the right number of topics and provides real-world examples and statistics to demonstrate how to succeed in marketing online.

He ties together optimization, social media, and content marketing to provide the reader the complete package in one book. Highly recommended.

P.S. For those in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Odden will be having a book launch event on July 25.

Cyberbullying: how bullies have moved from the playground to the web

Source: Accredited Online Colleges

Summer's here!

This week marks the first day of summer. What are your plans? Here are some suggestions for public relations professionals to make the most of summer:

• Network. In Minnesota, summertime means relaxing by the patio. . .or on a rooftop. In fact, Minnesota PRSA is having one of its Meet & Mingle events this Thursday on the rooftop of OLSON's new building.
• Attend professional development events. Summer provides the best weather for a road trip, so consider traveling to Chicago for the PRSA Midwest District Conference. There will be speakers from many well-known Chicago companies, plus you can get in some sightseeing while you're there.
• Recharge. Spend some time outdoors and think about your long-term plan. By reflecting and recharging, you'll be ready to get back on track.
• Read. While there's time for mindless fiction, also take time for some books to develop yourself professionally. The book that I'm currently reading is "Optimize" by Minnesota's own Lee Odden.

Enjoy your summer!

The changing MO of the CMO

"To say that Public Relations should report to Marketing is blasphemy," said MaryLee Sachs, founder, CEO and CMO of Changing MO LLC, in a recent speech at the Public Relations Society of America Leadership Rally.

MaryLee Sachs, Founder, CEO and CMO of Changing MO LLC

It's a frequent question -- where should PR reside in an organization? Well, it depends. Sachs cited a Marketing 50 One report in which respondents said that PR should be:  (1) Under the Marketing department, (2) A split or dual report under Marketing and another division, or (3) Elsewhere, but aligned with Marketing.

Sachs pointed out that larger organizations' marketing groups have less authority over PR, because they are more siloed.

Next, Sachs addressed how reputation and brand are converging. According to her, there are three considerations to guide the way:

1. Macro-economic forces and industry-specific factors
2. Word of mouth gaining strength
3. A clear relationship between reputation and brand.

As reputation and brand are converging, major changes in marketing are taking place.

First is globalization. Either your company is global -- or you are competing against a foreign company. Second, marketers often are in charge of one of the four Ps (Promotion). (Product, Price and Place are the other three.) Next, the marketing funnel has changed (look at Sachs' Pinterest site for a collection of marketing funnels). Finally, chief marketing officers are needing to engage with new segments and targets.

Sachs, author of "The Changing MO of the CMO," quoted Beth Comstock of GE when highlighting the increased need for analytics:  "If you're a marketer who doesn't like data and insights, you're not going to have a very long tenure. You gotta love this stuff."

Even though Sachs said that PR should not report to Marketing, she wrapped up her presentation by giving advice to PR professionals wanting to take a more active role in marketing:  (1) Get experience in all forms of marketing and brand building, (2) Stake your claim in digital, and (3) Create big ideas.

Bing search engine goes social

In an example of the further integration between Microsoft's Bing search engine and Facebook, Bing now has gone social. (The video above provides a good overview.)

In essence, Bing takes the idea of asking friends for recommendations on things to its search engine.

In short, here's how the new tool, called Bing Sidebar, works:

• Be signed into Facebook, then go to Bing.
• In the upper right-hand corner of Bing, click "Connect to Facebook."
• Then you can post your search on your Facebook timeline, including up to five links, to ask for recommendations or thoughts from Facebook friends.
• Bing also will identify experts and enthusiasts who might know about the things you're searching for, and you can click a link to go to their website, blog or Twitter feed.
• The post can be deleted whenever you want.

As of now, to use the Bing Sidebar, you must be at least 13 years old, be a Facebook user, and live in the U.S. Here's a more detailed explanation of Bing Sidebar.

Facebook flu

I have written about initial public offerings of social media companies before, and the Facebook IPO confirms my thought that social media companies are not the best in which to invest.

In the Facebook IPO, several aspects went wrong:

1. A big customer wasn't happy. Just days before the IPO, General Motors pulled its entire $10 million advertising budget from Facebook. I have heard that Facebook's advertising department doesn't have the best customer service; now may be the time to improve it.
2. There were reports of insider selling. Apparently Morgan Stanley and other underwriters warned privileged clients that analysts had lowered Facebook's growth prospects. "This has proved the game is rigged," said Charles Geisst, a finance professor and Wall Street historian at Manhattan College, to the Los Angeles Times. "There's just too many questions about the integrity of the stock market, and I think people are starting to realize this -- individuals, at least."
3. The Facebook chief financial officer overestimated demand. David Ebersman, the Facebook CFO, increased the number of shares available for sale, which practically ensured that the shares would fall below the offering price of $38. According to Maxwell Murphy of The CFO Report, this may have a beneficial effect when the lock-up periods that prohibit early Facebook investors from selling stock begin to expire.



Performance of LNKD, ZNGA, GRPN, P and FB over past year.

4. There were technical trading glitches at Nasdaq. The glitches delayed trading in Facebook by 28 minutes. There was confusion about who bought what shares at what prices, and as a result, the estimated financial hit from Facebook among brokers is above $100 million.

Since the Facebook IPO was such a hotly anticipated one, something called the "Facebook Flu" has been spreading among other tech companies that were considering IPOs. Companies including Corsair Components and Tria Beauty have postponed their offerings because the Facebook debacle has truly shaken investor confidence in IPOs.

On a side note, the graph above compares the performance over the past year of LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD), Zynga, Inc. (ZNGA), Groupon, Inc. (GRPN), Pandora Media, Inc. (P) and Facebook, Inc. (FB). The only stock above a break-even point is LinkedIn, and it's not by much.