Pioneering Online Public Relations with Elizabeth Albrycht

Elizabeth Albrycht and Eric Schwartzman chair the Digital Impact Conference in NYC for PRSA.
Elizabeth Albrycht and Eric Schwartzman chair the Digital Impact Conference in NYC for PRSA.

This is a conversation I had with public relations consultant and New Communications Forum Chair Elizabeth Albrycht about social media marketing and the impact of the web on public relations consulting.

Elizabeth and Jenn McClure produced the very first conference on the use of online technology for marketing and public relations. It was called the New Comm Forum. It was in Larkspur and many social media pioneers were there.

I actually launched this blog at the conference, and decided to start podcasting shortly thereafter.

More recently, Elizabeth and I co-chaired the Digital Impact Conference in NYC for PRSA and that’s where the picture above was taken.

SHOW NOTES

10:09 – Albrycht on the establishment of the first New Comm Forum and the rise of DTC communications in public relations consulting.

10:47 – Albrycht on this year’s upcoming New Communications Forum. 

11:26 – Albrycht talks about why blogs are important for PR consultants.

12:21 – Albrycht discusses her initial interest in blogs: “…this is something you can use to have a personal voice…” 

13:31 – Albrycht on the application of RSS for public relations consultants. 

14:24 – Albrycht explains RSS. 

15:35 – Albrycht talks about the challenges of distributing advertising via RSS.

18:07 – Albrycht explains how organizations can use blogs for public relations outreach.

19:49 – Albrycht on the status of the press release in the age of social media. 

20:49 – Albrycht talks about how the changing state of the press release will affect news wire services. 

21:52 – Albrycht offers her thoughts on Berkshire Hathaway’s purchase of Business Wire. 

23:05 – Albrycht talks about the value of the tech industry’s press release distribution services.

23:51 – Albrycht on why people often distribute press releases over the wire: “… it’s kind of knee-jerk reaction to put out a press release for everything…” 

24:44 – Albrycht explains social bookmarking and its effects in public relations consulting. 

26:44 – Albrycht talks about how bookmarking can be used as a bell weather for what’s popular online.

28:18 – Albrycht on whether the bookmark tool is sustainable. 

29:46 – On whether there are problems associated with bookmarking and tagging:  “…it seems very very chaotic but over time in fact you do have some very interesting ways that this stuff comes together…” 

32:23 – Albrycht talks about the public relations consulting industry’s need for both mediated and unmediated channels of communication. 

35:35 – Albrycht on what the mainstream media outlets can learn from bloggers. 

37:38 – Albrycht on the similarities and differences between public relations, marketing, and advertising: “…at the very highest level we’re all doing the same thing…” 

38:59 – Albrycht talks about what type of people will be attending the New Comm Forum this year. 

39:55 – Albrycht talks about the keynote speakers of the Forum. 

44:43 – Albrycht on having Europeans attend the conference: “…we have to remember the blogosphere and online is a global phenomenon…” 

45:45 – End.

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