While I found the entire day to be insightful, a few of my favorite presentations included Chris Barger’s ‘From Planning to Execution, the Story Behind GM’s Social Media Success,’ Jess Berlin’s ‘From Cirque du Soleil to American Eagle Outfitters: A Social Media Comparison’ and Augie Ray’s Glimpse Into The Future of Social Media, which LC’s @SarahVanElzen wrote about here.

A few key takeaways:

• Don’t feel like you have to come up with a really big idea. You often find that the simplest ideas take off + drive engagement. (via @AlKrueger)
• Redefine “influence” – treat everyone as if they have thousands of followers on Twitter / friends on Facebook. You can have the most impact in the small communities. (via @CBarger)
• Shift from “Big” to Local >> Less expensive, less national push, but more directly effective. (via @CBarger)
• Listen more than you talk, answer more than you promote and above all provide value. (via @CBarger)
• Make ALL your content searchable – but more importantly, shareable. (via @CBarger)
• Unexpected happenings can become the best part of your social media campaign – leverage them. Example: American Eagle’s “Denim Song”  (via @JessBerlin)
• GET TO KNOW THE PEOPLE THAT LOVE YOUR BRAND! *all caps is necessary (via @JessBerlin)
• What can your brand offer that users didn’t already know? Offer your social communities exclusive content. (via @JessBerlin)
• The sharing economy is about to explode. Old: they sell, you buy + own / New: they own, you rent / Future: you own + rent (via @AugieRay)
• Be real. Advertising cannot save brands that are inauthentic. (via @AugieRay)

Want more? All of the speaker’s presentations are available on SlideShare. Check them out here.

Did you attend PRSMS last Tuesday? I’d love to hear your thoughts + key takeaways @ckostrivas

This is even more true in The Age Of Engagement. A recent Google study puts the number of daily conversations mentioning a brand in the US at 2.4 billion. Social media only makes reaction travel faster.

Brand managers should take note. Will those conversationalists be talking about how they were delightfully surprised, terribly disappointed or something in between? A likely influencer of their tone is where they started. Expectations matter.

Framing your brand in an aspirational way is great because it increases “interest in.” Framing your brand in an aspirational way creates a risk that “satisfaction with” will decrease. With 2.4 billion conversations happening daily, balancing the two is critical.

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

One startup that’s caught my attention is the freshly released social start up, WhereBerry. The brainchild of Nick Baum and Bill Ferrell, former Google techies, seems like it could have a fighting chance.

Most social networks capitalize on what we’ve done in the past or what we’re doing now. The logical next step is for people to share what they want to do in the future. WhereBerry, which opened to the public last week, allows people to post activities they want to do… someday – from restaurants they want to eat at, to movies they want to see, to places they want to visit – people can organize and store their desires in one convenient place, turning the familiar “bucket list” virtual, and most importantly, social.

As a society of “dreamers” it is in our nature to make plans and set goals. As a rising society of “sharers” it is in our nature to broadcast these plans to friends. WhereBerry seems to have what it takes to capitalize on these popular behaviors. But it is at a fragile and vulnerable state in its growth, where important decisions can either make or break its success. I believe that if they can successfully accomplish the following, they could in fact be the next big thing:

1. Community & Groups: With the rising popularity of social networks, we not only want to share, we want to be part of a community or group. What users of WhereBerry are going to want next is the ability to join together with others around entertaining, thrilling, educational and delicious activities. Providing users the ability to share plans with smaller, private groups will not only be a feature users are interested in using, but will allow the application to spread virally as friends plan together.
2. Sharing on Steroids: The sharing is currently very straightforward: add to your list, post to your wall, see your friends’ to-dos in your feed, etc. WhereBerry should evolve the “share factor” by using a more complex formula – connecting people who have similar interests, presenting users with to-dos that seem to match with their trends (and location), suggesting plans their friends have, and more. The key is, users want the service to do the work for them and provide them with value they wouldn’t have on their own.
3. Competition and Achievements: Based on your bucket list and the items you accomplish, users should be able to achieve recognition or status for their completed tasks (e.g. Advanced Foodie, Dare Devil, Movie Buff, etc.). This brings a level of competition to the utility and drives participation, stretching users to try more and more – and therefore use the social network more.
4. Businesses & Brands: Selling this idea to brands by presenting the benefits to their business and getting them involved will provide substance to network by providing users with recommendations, deals and rewards, and will be the push to eventually turning this start-up into a money maker.
5. Continuous Evolution: WhereBerry needs to pay close attention to analytics, use, feedback, and the industry as a whole to learn what users want. They need to quickly evolve, adapt, grow, simplify, and integrate in order to meet users’ rising expectations.

The tech world today is a rough one to survive in, and the get-rich-quick theory very rarely applies. In 3-5 years we may see WhereBerry checking “10 Million Users” off their bucket list. Or we may be asking, “What’s WhereBerry? A new BlackBerry device?”

The Paragon Awards recognize outstanding work in public relations campaigns. Similar to the Oscars, these are the type of campaigns that make you laugh, make you cry, or in the marketing world, make you buy in.

Laughlin Constable is thrilled to have brought home not one, not two but three of these awards last night.

An award of merit was given for work on the Wisconsin Department of Tourism iPhone app launch. An advanced look at the app by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and well-planned distribution of a news release to select media helped make the release of the app a great success. Coverage in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Associated Press resulted in hits in ABCNews.com, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Times-Picayune and many more. The immediate result was more than 80 million impressions, $3 million in publicity and more than 2,000 downloads.

LC also snagged an award of merit for the 2010 Department of Tourism’s press kit. The team used sound media relations, creative ideas and strategic planning to develop a kit that generated significant awareness of all the unique events, activities and attractions in Wisconsin and ultimately, caught the attention of the media. Not to mention, it looked pretty cool (our designers rock). The team met with more than 25 different media outlets in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and Milwaukee and also mailed or dropped off press kits to 30 more outlets. Many of the reporters complimented the team for having designed such a useful and easy-to-navigate press kit and supplementary USB flash drive.

And finally, there was an award of merit for the social media successes for the Department of Tourism.  When the Facebook page, Twitter account and blog were initially launched, consumers flocked to the pages within minutes (okay, not minutes, but quickly). The 2010 summer campaign character Miles Feldspar was introduced on these platforms, and unique content, trivia questions, and giveaways followed. From its launch, the Facebook page has grown to over 24,400 fans, with the Twitter account at just over 2,000 followers. The blog has received over 64,181 views since its launch and is consistently a top 10 content section on TravelWisconsin.com.

All and all, it was a great night. While these are public relations awards, the effort on all three of these campaigns was agency-wide. Our hard work and dedication to our clients really paid off.  So now, after a night of celebrating, where’s the afternoon coffee?

The well-respected trio participated in a great discussion on what lies ahead in 2011, how their respective publications are adjusting in an ever-changing media landscape and how PR professionals can more efficiently work with them.

This post will touch on a few highlights and how PR professionals can stay on the media’s radar.

My guess is the points below will ring true with a lot of you or serve as a reminder on how to conduct media relations 2.0, but it never hurts to have a quick refresher. They don’t cover the entire discussion but cover segments I found particularly interesting. Without further ado:

• Embrace online exposure – The hard copies aren’t dead (publishers are nodding vigorously in agreement). But PR folks need to continue to counsel clients that online exposure is just as good as print coverage, if not better. Jim Nelson said the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gets as many as 2 million hits a day. That’s a big audience. Compare that to the print circulation of 183,636 during the week and 331,171 on Sundays. Between online stories, blogs, e-newsletters and live updates, there are plenty of opportunities to garner publicity.

• Think like a reporter, better yet a TV reporter – Think visually and for ways your story can have legs itself. How can you make this story more appealing, even if it isn’t for a TV station? Utilize those Flip cams and iPhones, and edit footage back at the office. Offer the footage to compliment your pitch or news release. Steve Jagler said it a number of times, “We’re a multimedia company now.”

• Have a spokesperson ready 24/7 – News moves fast these days. Really fast. The news media world is a competitive business and PR professionals need to be able to act quickly. Have a spokesperson always ready to speak on breaking news. Work with the media. Mark Kass said, “Our story will run whether you comment or not. You have to decide whether you have your say.”

• Look for unconventional opportunities – The Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee’s “Forty Under 40” annually honors 40 up-and-comers in the community under 40. It’s a great way to see who the new leaders are in the area. Mark Kass mentioned that they receive close to 300 nominations for the program. Tough odds, to be sure. However, he said they don’t just toss the 260 or so nominees that don’t make the list (yes, I can do basic math). He hands them out to his staff and has them hold onto them for potential profile pieces or to use as experts/sources down the road. Unconventional opportunity but a good one.

• Engage social media – All three editors couldn’t stress it enough. It’s happening and it’s here to stay. Get clients involved or be left behind.

So those are just a few of the nuggets I found interesting. Please share ideas and input below.

Here are the main concerns that I heard in class and the great ways that Laughlin Constable is using social media:

1. “Our leaders don’t understand the importance of using Facebook for our company.”
In many cases, social media tools like Facebook and Twitter have become the new website for companies.   More people are searching for you on these social sites more than they’re searching for your website.  It’s a great avenue to show the “real” side of your company.  I love that Laughlin Constable has two Facebook pages.  We have one site that focuses on the business side of LC, and another site that focuses on our work environment.  We’ve won many best workplace awards and we want to use Cool Jobs as a means to show potential candidates all of the fun things we do here.  Most interviewees tell me that they’ve checked out our Cool Jobs Facebook page and love all of the things we do for our employees. They can tell this is the type of environment that they’d love to work in.  What better way to showcase the workplace and let candidates see if this is the right fit for them?  I know this was one of the selling points when I did my research during the interview process.

2. “Why would you want to direct all candidates to your company’s Facebook page?”
This question was asked after I told the participants that I direct all applicants to our social sites in my regret email.  It looks something like this:

Please monitor what is happening at LC and thanks again for your interest in Laughlin Constable!
- Link up with us on LinkedIn
- Tweet @CoolJobsAtLC
- Like us on Facebook

We direct all candidates to these sites because we post all of our open positions on these sites.  The more people we have following our sites, the more word spreads about our open positions, the less we have to pay to post our jobs on recruiting websites.  Even if the candidate isn’t a good fit, that person may know someone who is a great fit and spread the word about our open position.  You never know who someone knows.  By the way, the instructor liked my answer to this question and told me I hit the nail on the head!

3. “One of the reasons my company won’t create a Facebook page is because they’re worried that someone will post something negative.  Aren’t you worried about that?”
To be honest, that’s the chance you have to take.   If someone does post a negative comment on your social site, don’t remove it.  The best thing you can do is respond to it in a positive way or ask the user to connect with you offline to discuss the issue further.

I love the fact that I work for a company that embraces technology and finds ways to use it to its advantage.  Don’t be afraid to explore social media and all it has to offer.  You’ll never know where you’ll find your next best hire.

While all those team building activities are well and good (in fact our bowling team puts up a pretty good fight), we wanted to take our camaraderie to the next level. So, we thought…what better way to do that than jumping out of a plane from 13,000 feet above ground level. That’s right. We’re going skydiving!

To top it off, we’ll be tumbling through the clouds with renowned social media enthusiast and avid skydiver, Peter Shankman.

In true LC fashion, we’ll be using social media to document every bit of our thrilling adventure. Starting with a video of the pre-jump jitters, you can take part in our journey by following #LCSkydive on Twitter and liking our Facebook page.

There are two key words in the last paragraph. Manage and respond. They’re part of the old school communication model and definitely part of the new school.

Social media, primarily Twitter and Facebook, has changed the way public relations professionals manage and respond to a crisis. It’s a critical part of planning now.

Sure, the fundamentals still apply and provide the foundation for responding and managing a crisis situation well. Social media adds another element though. Suddenly, employees, community activists and passersby, among others, can be sources of information for the media.

So how do you successfully incorporate social media into your crisis communication plan? And have you updated it recently to include social media? If you haven’t, now’s a good time to dust it off and give it a look.

Crisis Communication Guidelines 2.0

1. Does your company/organization have a Twitter feed or Facebook page? If so, who oversees it and how do you plan on managing the flow of information? If the company/organization is not active on social media, it’s time to participate.
2. Who on the crisis communication team uses and is knowledgeable about social media? If there currently isn’t someone, a person needs to be identified to lead the effort.
3. What employees or staff members have Twitter accounts and Facebook profiles? It would be good to know in advance. Often, they can be sources of information for the outside world and you’ll want to develop employee/staff guidelines for a crisis situation, so the message is controlled, consistent and factual.
4. What reporters do you know that are using social media? What media outlets? It’s imperative to round up this information and connect with them so you can provide timely updates and know what’s being said about your brand and the situation.
5. Developments can happen fast in a crisis situation and often information is disseminated on-the-go. Are you set up to be mobile? A good starting point is to have a laptop, Wi-Fi connector and smart phone available. If you don’t have a smart phone, is there one ready? Is it loaded with the proper apps and addresses? Is there an extra battery and charger set aside as well?
6. Are you set up to share information online and via social networks? In other words, posting written and video statements to the company/organization website, a newswire, PitchEngine.com, Twitter and Facebook?
7. Are you optimizing your online content? It’s important that this happens and a skilled professional who understands search engine optimization assist with it. The better this is done, the higher up you’ll be on search engine result pages. Who’s your go-to person to accomplish this?

These are just a few thoughts for incorporating social media into your crisis communication plan. If you haven’t done it or have not reviewed your plan recently, there’s no time like the present.

What else would you add to this list?

The results? Well, beyond the large amount of publicity they gained through word of mouth buzz and coverage of their social stunt, “The brand increased its presence on the social site from around 600,000 fans, pre-Twitter-experiment, to 3.5 million by 2009′s end.”

Many corporations are calculated risk averters. Standards, rules, and processes are put in place to avoid any chance of threat, error, or failure – something that is most often associated with the “unknown”.  Social media – although having been around for a few years now – has a mountain of unknowns due to the transparency that takes place between consumers and brands.  I mean, what’s riskier than putting your trust in the hands of strangers – allowing them to push out messages you have no say over?

Apprehensive to abandon their control, many brands manipulate the medium to protect themselves from potentially harmful consumer messages. As a vehicle fully driven by consumer conversation and content, this ultimately stifles the potential of social media. Ironic how the piece of social that businesses are most scared of… is the secret ingredient that makes it so powerful.

It’s brands like Skittles who have fully embraced social media for what it is that are getting the most out of what it is powered to do. I commend brands like Skittles for their bravery. They put a trust in their consumers that few other brands have the strength to do.

If you’re a healthcare marketer who has boldly ventured into social media, you are certainly not alone. Out of about 5,000 U.S. hospitals, 441 are now listed on Ed Bennett’s blog on Hospital Social Networking. That’s up from 367 hospitals just one month earlier. Ed’s list is certainly growing, but I wondered, what are hospitals gaining—how many people are they reaching? So I checked in on several Facebook pages we surveyed in July, 2009, to see how their fan bases have grown over the last four months.

Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) July: 1,314 /  November: 2,248
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center July: 148 / November: 194
Cleveland Clinic July: 2,801 / November: 5,915
Innovis Health (Fargo) July: 35 / November: 287
Mayo Clinic July: 7,444 / November: 10,206
Scripps Health .July: 218  / November: 411
St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital July: 78,839 / November: 108,809

Big or small, national brand or community hospital, looking at this group as a whole, there are a few things I’d take away.

1. Be active. The fastest growing sites have lively participation and exchanges—not just announcements. Facebook’s Discussions tab is an opportunity to interact directly with consumers—both Mayo and Cleveland Clinic take advantage of this feature.

2. Be interesting, but don’t look scattered. It’s tempting to do it all: real time comments and responses, exchanges with experts and other patients, breaking news, video, graphics, photos and links. Mayo’s Facebook postings feature an expert with a short paragraph and a video link. A nice consistent way to call out the hospital “voice.”

3. Be yourself. Whether a hospital is a national icon or a local institution, your social media presence is an extension of your brand strategy, personality and objectives. St. Jude wants donations. Mayo wants to be more personal. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has a mission “to create a healthy future.” And you see it on their Facebook pages.

From an account planning standpoint, social media is a tremendous opportunity to listen to consumers, personify our brands and make even more connections. How many? Well, the answer to that changes every day.