Old-fashioned PR with a web spice

Heather Yaxley has a great post on her blog about why Social Media isn't the be all and end all of PR.
I have to admit to moment of euphoria where my enthusiasm with the social media release tends to overshadow everything.
Today was a good counterpoint to that. Today was a good solid - traditional - grind of a day building up a media list of relevant journalists for a new client. Where I have bought in lists in the past for some clients, this time it is all handbuilt and checked with phone calls to the editors to check if they are interested - before the release goes out.
Although I haven't been able to get through to everyone and have reverted to emailing some of the really busy ones, it has been a good learning experience in an industry that I don't know well enough yet. Chatting to editors, if you can get their attention, is a rewarding experience and best done before the "are you going to use it?" phone call - which incidentally I hate (along with all other PR practitioners I should imagine).
While this part of the job hasn't changed for years, I did it by cross-referencing database info with internet searches, and logging the time and contacts with two different web-based applications. Which brought it home to me how social media really is important but still just one tool in the toolbox.

Taking web experiences into the social sphere

Just kicked off a very exciting web project with the International Business programme at Copenhagen Business School. What started off as a web writing project is developing into something a bit special.
Copenhagen Business School is one of the leading business schools in Europe, but hasn't always had the awareness it deserves. So, together with a group of present students, I'm working on polishing up the web site so it can attract the attention of future students.
From the initial chats we quickly decided that instead of just brushing up the copy we would try and incorporate external blogs, social bookmarking, linking and all sorts of web 2.o bits and pieces to give an idea of the life of students.
The CMS the site uses is a bit restrictive - but has a nice right-hand column that we can use to tuck away bits of code and links off the main site.
The idea is that the main site will carry much of the information needed about studying at Copenhagen Business School, while the outside links will be about the 'experience'.

Just so we don't get too cocky...

Social media releases - now in Denmark!

Enough talk, time for action. I've been following the ongoing discussion about social/new media releases for a while, but I thought it was about time to get involved. So here is the link to Denmark's first social media release for Velorbis bikes. Perhaps not the first - and I'd be happy to hear of others. Leave a comment if you know.

Its built up on the Shift Communications template using PRXBuilder (thanks to Shannon Whitley). I have tried to include as much as possible to try and make it as useful as possible for journalists and bloggers alike. That means links from the release to the Velorbis web site, YouTube video and links to pictures, others resources, blogs and articles.

It also has links to send the story to social bookmarking services and the most important - the opportunity to comment and take part in the conversation. It is social media after all.

It isn't the first I've sent out - the others were for another client, b2bCRM , but they didn't quite have the richness of detail of this one, but the next ones will.