It’s Friday.  After a long week of dealing with colleagues, managing your clients, setting the monthly budget, and doing your weekly timesheets, the last thing that you’re thinking about is securing a placement in the New York Times.  While that would be ideal and on any client’s wish list, it’s surely not on your list of things to do on a Friday afternoon.  After all, why pitch on a Friday when you can wait till Monday? Reporters are probably on deadline or just checked out.  If you’ve thought this before, then let’s change your mindset here.

Several Fridays ago……

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Editor’s note: In celebration of Black History Month in February, PRSA invited prominent public relations professionals to offer their views and ideas for achieving greater racial and ethnic diversity in the profession as well as what Black History Month means to them.  A compilation of previous PRSA Black History Month blog posts can be found here.

“Diversity” Media – Yes, this is a real term that folks use in the PR industry. There’s nothing really wrong with the label – per say.  I often find it comical when professionals say that they are having a hard time reaching or connecting with this group on behalf of their clients. 

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Editor’s note: This is the 4th in a series of 12 guest posts from industry thought leaders predicting key trends that will impact the public relations industry in 2013. Hosted under the hashtag #PRin2013, the series began Jan. 7, 2013, with a compilation post previewing all 13 predictions.

Continue reading " PR’s Mandate in 2013 "

2013 is the first year since 1987 with four unique digits, but will it be as unique as its numerical configuration? With that question in mind, we once again bring you our annual PR industry prognostications.

This year we feature contributions from 12 creative thinkers who represent various facets of the PR industry. We asked for their insights into the trends they believe will fundamentally change the PR industry in 2013.

Below is a compilation of the thoughts of our first five contributors. Their full blog posts, and those of the remaining eight contributors, will appear throughout the month of January.

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The unforeseen ease of sharing content at what seems like the speed of light has been made possible all thanks to social media. In 2012 alone, we’ve seen brands dragged through the mud, increase awareness of campaigns, and gain/lose political support. We’ve become so accustomed to socializing via social media channels that we can’t even remember how we functioned before social media revolutionized the way we interact, engage, and share.

PRSA’s “Friday Five” post — an analysis of the week’s biggest PR and business news and commentary — explores the intentional use of social media by organizations and people to rally a conversation, good or bad. Once that conversation takes off, you have officially gone viral and there is no telling where that conversation may be headed. This week we will look at the positive and negative effects of social media sharing. We will also look at two entities that went viral as a result of social media, KONY 2012 and Greg Smith’s resignation letter in a New York Time’s Op-Ed.

It Helps Us Create Everything…Good and Bad (socialmediatoday)

Five early adopters Brad Pendergraph, podcaster, blogger, and manager of consumer digital & social engagement at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Sarah Weinstein, director of music video and content at The Matrix, Noel Hidalgo, director of emerging technologies at the World Economic Forum USA, Steev Hise, new media artist, filmmaker, and activist with a passion for social justice and the environment, and Craig Hickman, tennis blogger and contributor to the Huffington Post, have joined forces to create a video series that reflects on the delicate balance of positive and negative in a world increasingly influenced by social media. This video series explores the changes in technology, knowledge and the social fabric of the Internet.

Continue reading " Friday Five: The Viral Nature of Social Media "