Mel and Cochie’s favourite Social Media Expert, and author of Public Relations DISASTERS will be joining us to moderate the Q & A panel at the end of the Social Media Masterclass with David Meerman Scott. We take a few minutes to find out what’s on Gerry’s mind, and what he’ll be asking of the panel (David, James Duthie of Online Marketing Banter / Next Digital, Kate Kendall, Online Editor of Marketing Magazine, and Trevor Young, ParkYoung, and PR Warrior).
Gerry, you’re moderating the Q & A Panel at the end of the Social Media Masterclass day. What are some of the key topics you are interested in exploring?
Selfishly, because I implement social media campaigns as well as teach corporates about Web2.0, I’m especially keen to find out the latest tactics and techniques of securing ‘traction’ for online campaigns. Naturally, I’ll be pressing David for new, cutting edge developments on the evaluation and ROI fronts for online campaigners, too.
Your book Public Relations DISASTERS covered some examples of online impact in the section on World Wide Web, if you were to do a 2nd edition, might there be more examples? And which come to mind?
The book was first published in Jan 2005 Jen, which meant copy was lodged around July 04!! The media landscape has been transformed by Social Media in the last 5 years, and I’ve since been transfixed by tales of online PR disasters. A few personal faves must include:
- John Mackey’s misadventures as a pioneering CEO blogger
- Edelman’s early and abortive ‘fake blog’ for Wal-Mart
- Kryptonite locks reputational ‘unlocking’ via a customer with a ballpoint pen
- And the Scottish Labour PR guru who used his blog to defame his soon-to-be bosses
Unbelievable!!
Where do you see Australian businesses sitting in the global scene of social media marketing?
On the sidelines, more often than not.
Fear of reputational damage seems to be a big barrier to entry to social media marketing for many companies? What’s your perspective on this?
In all honesty, many of the fears are real. A lot of social media commentary is of the judgemental and detrimental kind (running the prdisasters.com blog, I should know!!) But taking a slightly longer-term issues and reputation management viewpoint, online is simply an area most companies need to be active in. As advertising and marketing dollars plus new generations of stakeholders migrate online, companies need to engage with them in the new ’stakeholder’ media and forums. I think there’s a strong case for entering the field cautiously, building rapport and trust with key online influentials and embracing a more interactive (and ideally rewarding) kind of relationship. Idyllic Jen, eh?
Ah Gerry, if we didn’t have ideals, we’d just be sitting on those sidelines – thanks for your time, we can’t wait to hear more from you and from the attendees on Friday week.
