Inside PR – Weddings, Tech laggards and Twitter

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In this week’s episode of Inside PR, Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and I talk about Mark Breslin’s wedding in Los Angeles (listen and you’ll see why it’s relevant to Inside PR.) We also discuss the still uneven embrace of social media by communications pros. And how could we get away without discussing Twitter’s ongoing status of the social media tool for … not everybody.

And a comment from Bob LeDrew re our discussion of Prince’s statement that the Internet is over.

You can listen to the podcast here:

Inside PR 2.12 [ 24:43 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Social Mediators 9: Promoting a book with social media

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Recently, Terry Fallis found both of his novels – the Leacock Award winning The Best Laid Plans and the soon to be published The High Road – in the top five of the iTunes Literature podcasts. In this week’s episode of Social Mediators, Dave Fleet and I talk with Terry about how he and his publisher, McClelland & Stewart, are using social media to find and cultivate a fan base for Terry’s novels.

Also up for discussion this week: Social media adoption still isn’t universal among communicators.

Do you think social media is just a niche expertise or should it be a core skill set for all professional communicators?

Inside PR 2.11: Consolidation in the social media measurement business & the inevitability of disclosure

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In this week’s episode of Inside PR, Gini Dietrich and I talk about summertime and the PR business. Is it cyclical. Does it have to slow down. What can we do to make best use of the slower summer days? Maybe close the office early every Friday?

Is summer slower at your company? What do you do to keep busy? To keep staff morale up? We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below and we’ll use it in next week’s show.

We also talk about the acquisition of social media metrics company Sysomos by Marketwire, the latest in a series of social media metrics industry consolidations. I regularly use Radian6 and PostRank and think that social media metrics are a core tool for the new PR. Hopefully, consolidation will not stifle innovation in this area.

I also get a chance to make the point that organizations attempting to move opinion online should be transparent and disclose their interests from the outset. The recent controversy over the failure of the groups behind the Balanced Copyright Website to declare themselves underlines that, sooner or later, you’ll be forced to disclose who is behind online campaigns.

And, how could we close out the show without a quick pass at Prince’s statement that the Internet is over. Heck, after 30 years in the music industry, Prince still has us talking about him. So, I’m game to listen to what he has to say.

You can listent to all of our Inside PR musings here:

Inside PR 2.11 [ 23:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Inside PR Shownotes

0:28 Joe opens the show.

1:50 Joe talks about the summer slowdown.

6:12 Joe asks Inside PR listeners if summers are slower at their workplace and what they do to manage the lighter workload while keeping morale high.

7:10 Joe talks about the show’s first topic: Sysomos’ recent acquisition by Marketwire. He mentions a recent post by Dave Fleet about other social media monitoring tool acquisitions over the past year.

8:30 Gini talks about the various social media monitoring tools her business uses.

10:10 Joe shares his favourite social media monitoring tools.

17:12 Gini talks about Prince’s outrageous comment “The internet is over”.

21:45 Joe wraps up the show.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Yasmine Kashefi.

A Birthday Buss for Canada

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Today is Canada’s 143rd birthday. Happy birthday Canada!

I’m a proud Canadian. I love this country.

Canada is a place of small cities and large towns. Even today as a country of 34 million people. We look one another in the eye when we walk down the street, and we’re not afraid to smile in recognition.

It’s a place that allows me, my family, my friends, my neighbors to live the life that we want. It’s a country of peace and tolerance.

I don’t know anyone who owns a gun.

Canada is a country that celebrates diversity. I grew up assuming that people would come to Canada from around the world and they would continue to live and celebrate their unique heritage and culture.

Our Charter of Rights has embedded our freedoms in our Constitution. Thank you Pierre Trudeau.

Thanks to our British heritage, we have a Parliamentary system of government. Not perfect, but perhaps the best system of government. And in Canada we’ve turned minority parliaments into working governments.

We live next door to the United States. I grew up with a front row seat on the great American adventure. Thanks to our access to U.S. media, I shared my American friends’ experiences, their fears, their successes. Like many Canadians, I feel very close to America and Americans. But I’m also conscious of the differences. I like and respect everything that’s great about the U.S. And I always hope that Americans like us. Because, when the elephant rolls over, the mouse…

Here’s to the CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. You give us a window on our own experience.

In Canada we have the metric system. And car speedometers that display both miles and kilometres. Because we do love to take vacations in the United States.

Hockey! Our national sport (Well, not quite. It’s officially lacrosse, but who wants to quibble.) And don’t forget the Canadian Football League (they never will in Saskatchewan)

Canadian spelling. Let’s always remember that neighbour has that “U” in it.

Here’s to our weather. Only in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, can I awaken to a sunny July 1 Canada Day morning and discover that the temperature is 12°C. You’ve got to love living in a country where you can get any or all of the four seasons on any day of the year.

Most of all, I love the people of Canada.

I’ve been fortunate that my work has required me to travel extensively. And wherever I go in this great country, I feel welcomed by other Canadians. Friendly, peaceful, happy people.

July 1. Canada Day. A day to count our blessings. A day to celebrate all the things, large and small, that make our country great.

Happy birthday Canada!

Social Media, the G20 & our view of the news: Inside PR 2.10

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In the next few days, both Canada and the United States will be celebrating our National Holidays, on July 1 and July 4 respectively. And these holidays fall only a week after the G20 summit of world leaders held this past weekend in Toronto.

So, it’s not surprising that Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and I found ourselves focusing in this week’s Inside PR on earth-moving news (yes, we had an earthquake in Canada too!), including the G20 Summit and the view that social media, especially Twitter provided of this event.

In a nutshell, the social media coverage was visceral, diverse and community-oriented. Traditional news media, on the other hand, while capturing pictures of the street level action, had a near monopoly on coverage of what went on inside the secure perimeter of the actual G20 Summit.

Does this highlight a limitation of social media? People can’t cover what they can’t get access to?

Listen to the complete Inside PR Podcast

Inside PR 2.10 [ 22:42 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Thanks to @michael_kerr @hummingbird604 @SeanMoffitt @digitaljoy @dereklothian for suggesting the topics for this week’s podcast.

Shownotes prepared by Inside PR Producer Yasmine Kashefi

0:27 Martin opens the show.

2:17 Martin tells us how the G20 impacted his move to the new energi PR offices.

3:46 Joe paints a picture of what the G20 was like over the past weekend in Toronto and introduces this week’s first topic: the G20 and social media.

6:36 Joe points out the limitations of social media during the G20.

12:51 Joe wonders why the G20 organizers failed to incorporate elements of social media to inform the public during the talks.

14:53 Martin introduces the second topic: how social media is breaking “news” before traditional media.

18:18 Gini explains how it is difficult to determine what is and isn’t credible on Twitter.

21:18 Martin closes the show.

Dragon Dictation: a Must-Have App for the iPad

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I’m dictating this blog post directly into Dragon Dictation for the iPad. I’m not writing it. I’m saying it. And Dragon Dictation is transcribing it for me.

When I’m done, I’ll simply send it to myself and paste it into WordPress.

A great application!

If you’vew ever had trouble priming your writing, this application is for you.

Dragon dictation. A must-have app for the iPad.

Sent from my iPad

Want to see Dragon Dictation in Action? Watch this video of me recording this blog post.

One final note. If you look closely on the text on the video, you’ll notice some differences. Yes, I edited this post, just like I edit every post. Dragon Dictation is great to get your ideas out. But you’ll still want do an edit both for flow and minor typos.

Taking The High Road with Terry Fallis

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Terry Fallis‘ story started out the same as that of almost any other unpublished writer with a first novel. Pitch it to every publisher he could find – and be rejected by every one. And it could have ended there – as it does for most first time writers.

But Terry knew something about social media. And he decided that, if he couldn’t get his book to readers in the traditional way, he’d try to get it to readers in a totally different way. He’d read a chapter a week and distribute it as a podcast on his Terry Fallis blog and via iTunes.

And that’s the way The Best Laid Plans found an audience. Via social media. Virally. One fan at a time found it, liked it and passed it on to friends.

Some of the people who heard about the book and read it were on the selection committee for the Leacock Award. They liked it. In fact, they liked it so much that they nominated it for the award. And in a true Hollywood ending, Terry Fallis’ The Best Laid plans won the Award in 2008. And then traditional success followed. He picked up representation from one of Canada’s leading literary agents and a traditional publishing deal from one of the country’s most prestigious publishers, McClelland & Stewart.

Well, Terry’s back with a sequel, The High Road. And he’s persuaded his publisher, McClelland & Stewart to test his approach again to see if lightning will strike twice. This is a first for a Canadian publisher. And I’m sure that others are watching closely to see whether podcasting the book in advance of publication will lift sales.

This week’s Inside PR, features an interview with Terry about how he and McClelland & Stewart are using social media to promote his book. Following the interview, Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and I talk about Terry’s experience and whether it can be more broadly replicated.

Listen to the episode:

Inside PR 2.09 [ 29:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here are the complete Inside PR show notes, prepared by our producer, Yasmine Kashefi.

0:23 Martin opens the show.

2:50 Joe mentions that Terry Fallis’ book podcast has made it to number one on the iTunes literature podcast charts.

4:03 Joe interviews Terry about how he used social media to promote his two books.

13:00 Martin, Joe and Gini comment on how innovative Terry was with his approach to social media to promote his book and himself.

19:00 Joe presents this week’s topic, recent developments in social media. He starts with the YouTube news feed and how citizen journalism has changed how news is defined.

24:21 Joe adds that the move toward government 2.0 has been gaining momentum and cites the Australian government’s Gov 2.0 as an example.

25:53 Martin introduces a new closing segment, the round up.

26:12 Gini kicks off the last -30- segment on Inside PR.

28:14 Martin wraps up the show.

Inside PR 2.08 – I'm up in the air + Social Media Trends

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I missed the recording of this week’s episode of Inside PR. Both Martin Waxman and I were en route to Regina, Saskatchewan for the Canadian Public Relations Society‘s national conference. However, my plane developed mechanical problems (thankfully, while it was still on the ground) and I was still up in the air at recording time. So, Martin and Gini Dietrich went ahead without me. That’s one of the real benefits of three co-hosts. We can still have a discussion if one of us misses a recording date.

Inside PR 2.08

Inside PR 2.08 [ 22:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Inside PR Show Notes

This week on Inside PR, Martin and Gini discuss trends in social media.

0:30 Martin opens the show.

2:10 Martin mentions that Joe was unable to join them this week, and that they are presenting at the CPRS Conference in Regina, Saskatchewan.

3:10 Martin addresses listener comments from last week, the first from Ed Lee, congratulating Martin on the merger.

4:08 The second listener comment comes from Rob Jeanveau about the jeans issue that Gini brought up last week.

7:01 Martin introduces this week’s topic: 5 social media trends. He kicks off the discussion with the first trend, video.

10:00 Martin introduces the next trend: search.

13:42 Martin and Gini discuss the next trend: location based applications.

16:30 The next trend discussed is mobile payment applications.

18:58 Gini discusses the importance of the last trend, social media policies.

22:00 Martin wraps up the show.

Thanks to our Producer, Yasmine Kashefi, for preparing these shownotes and the great work she does producing and publishing Inside PR.

Social Mediators 8 – What do you want from a conference?

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It’s conference season. And we’ve all gone to conferences that we loved – and conferences that we hated.

In this week’s episode of Social Mediators, Terry Fallis, Dave Fleet and I discuss what makes a good conference experience – and what can ruin a conference.

One good idea and I’m happy

I don’t just attend conferences because I love Las Vegas hotels (I don’t) or seaside resorts (I do.) I take time out of our schedules for much more practical and worthwhile reasons. I want to hear from leading edge thinkers and network with others who share common interests.

I’m happy if one simple need is met: I want at least one good new idea from each speaker. If I get that, the conference is worthwhile. If not, I’ll exercise the law of two feet and head out to do some work.

So, I’m easy to please. Give me great content and I’m a happy camper.

My personal hit list

Now to the other side. Things that detract from the conference experience. As a frequent conference attendee, there are some things that really bug me.

1) The conference within a conference. By invitation-only dinners and get aways for speakers and sponsors that are obvious to paying participants. We pay good money for a conference. We don’t want to feel like second class participants.

2) The conference with an unstated agenda. The worst of these are conferences that bring business together with government. You can get the feeling that you’re merely a prop in someone else’s GR campaign.

3) Panellists who think that they’ve given value merely by showing up. Conferences like SxSW which use a panel picker have seen a real slide in the quality of many panels, as a noticeable number of panelists seem to place their greatest effort into campaigning to be selected, not in preparing their presentations.

4) The biggest annoyance of all: Product pitches from sponsors who become speakers. When I speak, I rarely mention my company name. I’m there to educate, not to do a product pitch from the stage. And I don’t expect others to abuse their time on the stage.

And what about you?

What makes a conference a good experience for you?

What are the things that detract from the conference-going experience?

How the other 1% live – a look inside the Governor General Suite

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On Friday, I wrote about how Fairmont had given me a really special experience when they upgraded my room at the Fairmont Royal York from a standard room to the Governor General Suite.

If you’ve ever wondered how the other 1% live (the 1% that definitely does not include me under normal circumstances,) I recorded a brief video tour of the Governor General Suite to share with you.

Click on this video, lean back and experience what one of the G20 leaders will go “home” to after a hard day sorting out the global banking industry.