Strive Notes

Last Friday morning saw me reluctantly drag myself out of my lovely, warm bed in the Isle of Man at 4.30am to venture all the way to Manchester for the ‘Don’t Panic: Your Guide To Social Media’ conference. Just a hop, skip, a car ride, plane journey and a train ride later, I rocked up at the very posh Bridgewater Hall looking very tired and in desperate need of coffee!

I have to say, I never in my lifetime thought I would find a good enough reason to get up at 4.30am, but I can say with conviction that now I have. I’m not exactly a social media novice, I have Facebook, am on LinkedIn,  recently started tweeting and I manage the blog for The Smooth Group, but I certainly have a lot to learn, and that’s what I did at the conference.

The resounding messages of the day were, first off, don’t believe the hype. Social media ‘experts’ have been telling us for a while now that social media will bring about the ‘death’ of PR and traditional forms of media. In reality, what we have is a kind of radio, TV situation. TV did not kill radio. Most of us probably listen to the radio on a regular basis whether it’s driving to work, at work or singing to ourselves in the mirror while we get ready to go out.

Likewise, social media has changed the way people receive and share information, and it will continue to do so, but traditional communication methods will not die out just because something new has surfaced.

Marshall Manson from Edelman, aka Wallmart guy, also offered some reassurance to the technophobes among the PR world saying ‘technology isn’t important’, this was a message that was reiterated throughout the day.

Most social networks are built around shared interests. Communities are built through the participants working together to solve problems. Identifying the appropriate formula is the important part. This can then be applied to the platform of the moment that is appropriate to reach your audience.

Another recurring message was there is no such thing as a social media expert. Social media is something that unpredictably changes and evolves on a daily basis and those who claim to be an ‘expert’ simply don’t understand its nature.

The final thing was that social media isn’t something that just happens. It has to have purpose, objectives and be part of a strategic communications plan. Similarly, building relationships in very proactive. Your audience won’t come to you, you have to find them.

There were also some handy tips for those starting out such as the stages of social media and how to improve your position on Google. But my guess is those of you reading this post are already pretty wise to these kind of things so I won’t go into detail. If you’re not, get your hiney to the next Don’t Panic social media conference!

My highlights of the conference were:

1. Frank PR’s brilliant drench viral e-mail.
2. Microsoft Ireland’s Tom Murphy’s ovely Irish accent.
3. Meg Pickard, online editor guardian.co.uk delivered a purely charismatic presentation on how the evolution of social media has changed, not killed, publishing.
4. A personal greeting from Stuart Bruce during his presentation.
5. Last, but certainly not least, I finally met fellow University of Sunderland alum Stephen Davies . My college tutor had raved about Stephen for three whole years, so to finally get to meet the man himself was like running into a celebrity! And a very handsome one too

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