It didn’t take long to start talking politics at thePRSA 2010 International Conference: Powering PRogress in D.C. I mean, how can you ignore it when you’re in the capital of the United States? After taking a double-decker bus tour of the city (I know … but it’s my first time to D.C.), and experiencing the rich history, I was really excited to meet Jim VandeHei, executive editor and co-founder of POLITICO, and hear his take on the upcoming election. What I didn’t expect to hear was how socially savvy he truly was.
With a long-standing, successful career as a journalist at traditional publications like The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, VandeHei has since turned his efforts toward creating what some would call the dominant political news organization, POLITICO. VandeHei knows politics, there’s no question about it, but after sitting down with him for a behind-the-scenes personal interview, I can also say he knows a thing or two about social media marketing (not to mention, Vanity Fair recently named VandeHei one of the 100 most powerful Information Age thinkers for helping create the “model for the new media success story”).
VIDEO: My pre-Conference interview with Jim VandeHei
- Let’s talk about the forecasted media spend for the upcoming election. Will the dollars be spent in social media, or will traditional advertising prevail? Will Obama’s successful campaign influence the spending patterns for 2010? VIDEO
- With all of POLITICO’s recent growth (now nearly 200 employees), how do you scale your social media efforts and what social media policies do you have in place? VIDEO
- How has working at very traditional publications like the Wall and WP influenced your digitally-focused career at POLITICO? VIDEO
- What does the next year look like for POLITICO? VIDEO
Follow the PRSA International Conference conversation live at #prsa_ic.
Ashley Walters, manager, Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Empower Media Marketing, oversees social media planning and execution for a variety of CPG clients. Ashley contributes to Empower’s social-media-focused blog, “Social Study,” and is a board member for Cincinnati’s PRSA Chapter. Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn and follow Ashley on Twitter @Ashley_Walters .
For more coverage on the PRSA 2010 International Conference: Powering PRogress, visit PRSA Intelligence, follow #prsa_ic and the Conference blog.
