Shift Communications Todd Defron

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Social Media Changes EverythingTodd Defren, SHIFT Communications

Gravity Summit, Boston

Old Way: Media Relations

New Way: Public Relations

Mainstream Media Coverage Requires Heroic Efforts

• Traditional media struggling to survive • Fewer reporters = more competition for coverage• Traffic trumps everything

Now It’s a Free-For-All

Conversational Communication

Controlled Communication

Conversational Collaboration

ControlledCollaboration

Communication Collaboration

Collaborative

Controlled

Conversation

Parti

cipa

tion

Public RelationsPublic Relations

Public Relations

Advertising Advertising Advertising

original source: Richard Edelman

sees everything, so…

and,

EVERYBODY COUNTS.

PR Today?

• “(PR is) about frequently distributing relevant content via the right channels, to boost credibility and findability”

• How frequently is frequently? Every day.

• What’s relevant? What the community positively responds to.

• Types of content? Video, releases, widgets, podcasts, etc.

• Right channels? Where are your prospects? Go there.

• Credibility? PR accounts for over 20% of brand value*

• Findability? Welcome to the World Wide Web…*Context Analytics research

How Do Today’s Buyers Find You?

And:

Got Examples?

Vast in-house video library• repurposed• themed• calendarized• promoted

• Average 1,000 views/video• Top videos achieved over 200,000 views• Embedded up to 5X on avg

Go Narrow – Go Deep• Focus on Social Networks with most impact

― Twitter― Yahoo Answers― Amazon

• Structured Twitter approach led to a 50% increase in followers

• 7,000 tax questions answered on Yahoo• 100’s of attendees at nationwide tax tweetups• Digits content re-purposed and published

across blogosphere & mainstream publications

• Big boost in Amazon sales of TAXCUT software

Got Examples?

Got Examples?

Results:• 5,000 users embellished friends’ photos• Dozens of follow-on articles and blog posts led to a banner year for Movember

Strategy:• Reach out directly to users – bypassing media – by creating a Facebook app allowing users to “‘stache” their friends’ profiles

How do you get young people to care about Prostate Cancer?

Social Media: It’s A Lot Like Fishing

• Don’t try to use every shiny lure– What are prospects looking for? Where are they?

• Wherever the fish are, swim with them not against them– Don’t spam the Wall or Discussion Forums in a relevant FB

Group. Try reaching out to the Group Admins.• Don’t bore the fish

– When was the last time you watched a 10 min. YouTube video? How many 30 min. podcasts do you listen to?

• Don’t overfeed the fish– No one wants to hear from you 20X a day

• Don’t bring a lawyer into the rowboat– Avoid playing with worms

Conclusions• Mass Media is in decline

• You can find, listen to & interact • with prospects online

• You can reach the masses with • your own content, bypassing MSM

– Cheaply!– Where they are already hanging out

• If folks like your content, they’ll • pass it along, with their kudos

• This approach makes you credible • and findable by prospects

• Inventor of Social Media Release• Agency of the Year (07) • New Media Agency of the Year (08)• 85 employees (BOS, SF, NY)

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Thank You!

Todd Defren@tdefren on Twitter

[email protected] or 617-779-1853

www.shiftcomm.comwww.pr-squared.com