Being Cheryl: Social Media Marketing Strategist from Columbus, Ohio.

The PR 2.0 panel has been one of the most interesting to me thusfar at the Inbound Marketing Summit. Somewhat of a debate between the panelists, which made for a plethora of valuable information.

The panel consisted of Melanie Stachowiak from Marketwire, Paul Roetzer from PR 20/20, Dierdre Breakenridge from PFS Marketwyse, David Weiner from PR Newswire, Jason Kintzler from PitchEngine and was moderated by David Meerman Scott from World Wide Rave.

I typed these really fast, so they might not be 100% verbatim. Don’t sue me. I tried. Here are some of my favorite answers.



What is PR 2.0?


Dierdre: “PR 2.0 is a new approach in public relations. A lot of folks equate PR with media relations. It’s not. It’s about building longterm value for an organization through relationships and connecting them with groups. We’ve always done it through a third party and now we have this wonderful opportunity to connect with brands directly through social media.”

Melanie: “PR 2.0 is more about an integrated marketing plan. You can’t just send out a press release to send out a press release. There has to be a strategy. Whats my social media strategy, how am I reaching the media, what sort of marketing is behind it.”

David: “Everything changes but it doesn’t really change at all Everything is about relationships but you have new tools to establish and cultivate these relationships.”



The Dreaded News Release


Jason: “The audience that we’re trying to reach doesn’t want to read a press release… you have to create the content for the people who want to read it. You can’t create it with your message… you need to be sharing bits of your company and what it’s about. … and go where your audience is… you can’t make a press release social. It’s push. That’s not social media.”

David: People are sharing press releases… the press release isn’t social, but the press release is enabled for social media. You can click a button to send it to your own email, your own delicious, etc.

Jason: “The big difference: a press release is written in AP format. Do you talk to your friends in AP format? That’s not how we communicate. Even if you put a “Share It” icon on a press release.”



Measuring PR


Jason: “Metrics suck for PR. We should not be measuring how many people your press release goes to. The CEO wants to see a sentence in the New York Times. But is that one sentence in the New York Times selling your product or reaching your consumer? No, it’s just getting your brands name in the New York Times so the CEO feels good.”

Paul: “Before, we measured media impressions… ad equivilancy, the number of column inches versus how much that space would have cost for an ad… and then PR value- some multiplier of the ad equivalency, because it’s not paid content. It was a joke…. Now we measure inbound links, search engine ranking, lead and sales.”



My Favorite Quotes/Info


Diedre: “Now is a chance to change PR. It’s also about OUR brand as PR professionals. It’s being seen, not as the spammers or even facilitators, but as the influencers and champions. It’s going to take educaition, but if we stick with it and continue on this course of no more top-down messaging and mass broadcasting – this is about bottom-up strategy and listening – THAT’S where we’re gonna move the needle in the industry.”

Jason: “If there’s an easy button, don’t do it.”

David Meerman Scott “62% of the top 150 PR firms DO NOT have a blog on their main website.”

Dierdre: “If you can listen, you don’t have to “pitch,” because you’ll understand what people need.”

I’ll add my own thoughts in at a later time - but I wanted to get this out to you now! Time for lunch! Ciao.