Noted :: What’s Your Digital Impact?

Last week I attended the the PRSA – Public Relations Society of America – Digital Impact Conference in New York City. It was a two-day conference, but I only attended the first day. Although, with two keynote speeches and over 15 different breakout sessions to choose from, the day was jam packed with information. Topics ranged from tapping into the power search engines to insights on new and emerging trends in social media, and content creation to mobile marketing integration.

There were over 200 people in attendance at the event, the majority were public relation professionals that handled both the social media and public relations at their company/agency/organization. It was interesting to hear the questions, problems and solutions that each person had – each was unique to their organization, whether it be a non-profit, the healthcare industry, a large retail store or a small agency. I also found it interesting that one of the most vocalized problems was actually getting the “creatives” together with the public relations professionals to work through strategies on social media and PR campaigns. We definitely don’t have that issue here at Element but it was interesting to hear that larger brands can struggle to bring everyone together as a team.

I learned a lot of information on new and emerging trends as it pertains to mobile marketing, public relations and social media. My plan is to take some of the larger topics {and more interesting topics} and make full blog posts for you wonderful readers out there. Stay tuned! For now: here are a few key take aways from the array of breakout sessions:

1. Knowing the “pain points” of the companies or prospective client is just as important as knowing their goals and objectives. For example, what are the concerns of the company – cash flow, revenue, staff efficiency? In knowing these pain points, it will help you produce content that’s relavant to target that audience.

2. The content you’ve already created is valuable! We all strive to be content creators – but what percentage of that content gets viewed? Take a topic that you’ve already created content for and break it down into multiple pieces of content. For example a white paper can turn into a blog post, which can turn into a video, which can turn into a press release. Use what you’ve got – you worked hard on it!

3. Sponsored Posts/Articles should not be ignored. Although most clients still feel as though social media and public relations initiatives should be “free,” sponsored posts and articles are becoming the new trend and they are becoming the “new economic reality.” The thought process behind sponsored post is that PR and social media professional should focus on more of what we can control and less of what we can’t (traditional pr vs. sponsored postings). It’s also important to note that sponsored posts aren’t completely taking over – there should be a blend between earned and content and paid content.

4. Google + shouldn’t be ignored. Although as a social media network it’s received a lot of negative feedback – Google is still the most powerful search engine out there, and that shouldn’t be overshadowed. It’s really an important tool for SEO purposes and increasing your rank on the popular search engine.

5. One phrase that really stood out to me during a session about using your own website as a content hub was “your outreach is critical to expanding your network but don’t neglect home base!” We’re constantly updating our own website and looking for new ways to drive traffic back to our home base. From your blog to social media, to the actual design and functionality, it’s really important to not neglect your own site {even while your working on your clients!}.

oh and a quick #6 – summer in New York City is hot, but still beautiful – and is much more interesting to look at then the inside of a hotel conference room. I took a quick stroll down the block past one of my favorite landmarks – Radio City and then snapped the interesting new 100 graphic that’s taken over the windows in Grand Central to celebrate its centennial.