K Street Cafe

Now that the first two months of the new year are behind us, I thought K Street Café readers would be interested in some articles on the outlook for the Public Relations, Advertising and Public Affairs industry in 2010. Some of the articles survey the PR or advertising industry nationwide, while others are focused on the DC market specifically. All the articles are helpful for understanding the state of affairs for the specific corner of the world we operate in. (more…)

I recently gave a lecture at American University’s Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute on how to use social media and other online strategies for advocacy. You can watch it here.

It took a recession, but resumes finally are receiving renewed scrutiny. The ability to embellish and obscure shrinks when one out of every six workers is under or unemployed. More than ever, recruiters want to see accomplishments, not responsibilities; numbers, not adverbs. (more…)

GOP Leads Media Charge (The Hill)
Republican’s social media agendas are becoming prominent in state elections and daily constituent outreach efforts.

Members Grapple With Media Trends
(Roll Call – subscription required)
House members are still trying to figure out how to effectively use new media to streamline internal communication as well as amplify their message to the public.

In case you missed it, the Hill ran my column “Promoting a Cause Through YouTube,” about the State Department’s use of social media as a powerful diplomacy tool used to promote democracy around the world.

Much can be learned by studying State’s Democracy Video Challenge user generated content campaign.  Launched last year, the Video Challenge invites citizens worldwide to submit videos completing the phrase “Democracy is…”  The campaign had more than 900 video submissions and was successful in engaging the public through social media.

The Democracy Video Challenge provides many good lessons for advocacy organizations trying to recruit and mobilize supporters both here and around the world.

Yesterday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Communication Center hosted a panel discussion on calculating your ROI for social media campaigns. I was fortunate to join three terrific panelists presenting at the event including Adam Conner from Facebook, Laura Howe from the American Red Cross, and Paul Argenti, a Professor from Dartmouth. (more…)

Over recent months, more and more advocacy organizations have started capturing testimonial footage from their constituents and producing short feature videos highlighting priority advocacy issues. Videos can be a powerful tool to deliver highly personalized messages to the Hill and can be easily leveraged through YouTube, Facebook and other social media sites to virally generate attention for a cause.

One recent example is from the American Academy of Dermatology who just launched a moving video about their Camp Discovery program for children with severe and chronic skin diseases. Please take 5 minutes to watch the video. Click here. (more…)

By Shellie J. Edge

That’s the very question I asked myself when I started a new job where many of my clients are actively involved in various social media networks. Although I’ve been in the public relations industry for more than 10 years, I still consider myself young and hip… or at least I’d like to think so. I have a Facebook page, subscribe to the hottest RSS feeds and even know a little about Twitter.  I was even inspired by what President Obama’s team was able to do with social media during his campaign last fall.

So what’s all the buzz about? Why should we care about social networking? And why should we encourage our clients to take advantage of the potential of social networking? I think we should care for several reasons. (more…)

While I enjoy many of the topics people tweet about—Redskin updates, fashion reviews, restaurant suggestions, and a recent dinner conversation between M.C. Hammer and Robbie Van Winkle (A.K.A. Vanilla Ice)—my favorite tweets come from policy makers. However, while some have learned the art of brevity by using 140 characters or less, others take three tweets to get their point across—the technological equivalent of a filibuster.

(more…)

Cross-posted on e.politics

At a New Organizing Institute presentation this week, former Obama new media director Joe Rospars (last seen in the pages of e.politics talking about the importance of good content to the campaign’s work) made a really significant point — his department was NOT a part of the campaign’s tech team. Instead, it was coequal with communications, field/grassroots, finance, etc., and was in fact just as much a client of the technology folks as, say, the press team was.

(more…)