Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional [Paperback]

Deirdre K. Breakenridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0132983214 | ISBN-13: 978-0132983211 | Edition: 1

In Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional, social marketing pioneer Deirdre Breakenridge teaches and demonstrates the eight new skills and mindsets PR/marketing pros need to build brands and engage customers in a social world. This concise, action-oriented book shows practitioners how to systematically expand their roles, improve their processes, and sharpen their strategies to engage with today’s more sophisticated and socialized customers. Drawing on her extensive client experience, Breakenridge helps you respond to consumers who demand control over their own brand relationships… marry communications with technology more effectively, and become your organization’s go-to resource on social technology decisions… reflect social media realities throughout your policies and governance… generate greater internal collaboration, eliminating silos once and for all… listen to consumers’ conversations, and apply what you’re learning… build communications crisis plans you can implement at a moment’s notice… develop profound new insights into how consumers construct and perceive their brand relationships.,. practice “reputation management on steroids”… take the lead on identifying and applying metrics… and much more. For all PR, marketing, and communications executives and professionals; and for students intending to enter these fields.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Foreword by David Armano, EVP of Global Innovation & Integration for Edelman Digital, and author of the Logic + Emotion blog

“The desire to be strategic about social media and PR is no longer enough--these days you must first master the eight new PR practices laid out by Breakenridge. If you want to sit at the social media strategy table, then read this book. Better yet, make sure you share it!”
--Charlene Li, author of Open Leadership and Groundswell, Founder of Altimeter Group

“Never before has a book explained how PR is evolving like Deirdre Breakenridge’s Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional. The industry is in turmoil, as the digital era begins to settle and PR is looking for a home among marketing, content, and social media. Breakenridge breaks down eight areas to focus on for both career and business growth, including research, reputation, collaboration, and most importantly, measurement. It’s a must-read for any PR practitioner, no matter level or expertise.”
--Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich, Inc., founder of Spin Sucks Pro, author of Spin Sucks, and coauthor of Marketing in the Round

“I believe that any organization with strong values can succeed in social, and the book Social Media and Public Relations explains how in thoughtful (and necessary) detail. Anyone who tells you social is easy has not done their homework, and understanding the wealth of information in this book will keep them from failing the final exam.”
--George Faulkner, Social Brand Engagement Program, IBM

In Social Media and Public Relations , PR veteran Deirdre K. Breakenridge presents focused, actionable best practices for every PR pro, marketer, and strategist: the eight social media skills and mindsets most tightly linked to success right now. Drawing on her unsurpassed experience counseling Fortune 500 companies and other top organizations, Breakenridge shows exactly how to engage today’s sophisticated, socialized customers. This concise, fast-paced book reveals how to integrate social media and PR with other key business functions. Breakenridge helps you:

•    Expand your strategic role: Become the go-to social expert
•    Develop, coordinate, and curate content from all your sources
•    Demolish silos and generate deep internal collaboration
•    Systematically map your audiences’ connections
•    Listen and respond to customers accurately, transparently, and immediately
•    Practice “reputation management on steroids”
•    Don’t just “tolerate” metrics: Drive them
•    Avoid disaster: Build proactive crisis prevention plans that work

About the Author

Deirdre K. Breakenridge is Chief Executive Officer of Pure Performance Communications, a strategic communications and technology consulting firm in the New York Metro area. A 20+ year veteran in PR and marketing, Breakenridge has counseled senior-level executives at Fortune 500 companies.

As a five-time published author and entrepreneur, Breakenridge travels worldwide, speaking to corporations and associations on the changing media landscape and the integration of public relations, marketing, and social media. She is an avid blogger at PR 2.0 Strategies and the cofounder of #PRStudChat, a dynamic Twitter community dedicated to educating PR practitioners, students, and educators. Her other books include Putting the Public Back in Public Relations; PR 2.0 New Media, New Tools, New Audiences ; and The New PR Toolkit .

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (April 27, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132983214
• ISBN-13: 978-0132983211
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.4 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Management > Social Media for Business
  • #87 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Public Relations

More About the Author

Deirdre K. Breakenridge is Chief Executive Officer of Pure Performance Communications, a strategic communications and technology consulting firm in the New York Metro area. A veteran in PR and marketing, Breakenridge has counseled senior-level executives at Fortune 500 companies.

As a five-time published author and entrepreneur, Breakenridge travels worldwide, speaking to corporations and associations on the changing media landscape and the integration of public relations, marketing, and social media. She is an avid blogger at PR 2.0 Strategies and the cofounder of #PRStudChat, a dynamic Twitter community dedicated to educating PR students, professionals, and professors. Her other books include Putting the Public Back in Public Relations; PR 2.0 New Media, New Tools, New Audiences and The New PR Toolkit.

Deirdre's blog is PR 2.0 Strategies at www.deirdrebreakenridge.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Textbook for PR / Marketing Students July 4, 2012

By Lisa Shea HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I think the most important thing to realize about Social Media and Public Relations by Ms. Breakenridge is that it is specifically meant for people in the PR / Marketing field who are looking at their social networking job options. The book lays out eight types of jobs that deal with PR, Marketing, and social media. It gives details on each job so those heading out into the job force can think about their options. It's not meant as a primer on social media.

The book is broken out into eight sections, one for each job category, and describes what traits and skills are necessary for that type of job. For example, one category is crisis management. The chapter discusses how social media can be used to handle a crisis and techniques that work or don't work.

As you might guess, most of the information is most applicable to a fairly large company. A small one-owner website probably doesn't have to worry about developing a social media policy and having a dedicated person handle that. Still, there are tips in here that anybody can use. PR is no longer about top-down one-way communication. It's a communication between a company and its stakeholders. Change is the new constant. You have to repeat any message 6-7 times before it sinks in with listeners.

Much of my issue with this book has to do with its layout, and with some of its content. Let's start with the layout, since that should have been fixed by the publishers and it's hard to fault the author for that.

The author includes a "Social Media Strategy Wheel" graphic early in the book with no explanation at all. The wheel has multiple layers on it. The innermost core is Research. The first layer around that is Objectives, Goals, Budget, and Audience Profile. Then the next layer out, with certain components overlapping certain components of the first layer, is Tracking & Monitoring Strategy, Distribution Strategy, Content / Communications Strategy, Measurement Strategy, and Engagement Strategy. The finally is an outer layer which exactly matches this middle ring, just with the items changing purpose slightly. So the outer ring that goes with "Tracking & Monitoring Strategy" is then "Tracking & Monitoring Software". I'll try to load an image to help this make more sense, since it is so key to the book and its issues.

So you see this wheel, and are confused by it, and you're told to look it up in the Appendix. The book really should have described this key wheel right then, so it's in the reading path, vs making you flip back and forth when you're just getting started. But even worse, you go to the Appendix and they barely describe the wheel. And they start giving the few descriptions they have before they show you the wheel. So even in the Appendix you're flipping back and forth to try to figure out what they mean.

Then you get to Chapter 1 and they show you the exact same wheel again, now with a #1 (for the first type of job area) in the center - and that's it! Is the #1 supposed to be meaningful? Are they saying this wheel applies to the first job type? There's no context for the graphic. When you get on to the second chapter, on Internal Collaborators, now the exact same graphic is shown with a #2 in the Budget area as well as the center. Aha!! Maybe that means something. Maybe it means that Internal Collaborators have to worry about budgets. But why wouldn't other job areas also have budgets? There's no description, no help. For a graphic that is so central to the book, they do a poor job of making it have meaning.

And also, the ring setup seems to be arbitrary. The budget wedge is attached to measurement strategy and content / communications strategy - but is NOT connected to tracking and monitoring strategy or software. Surely software is a key area that budgets are important?

In general the use of this wheel seems confusingly laid out and poorly described.

The same issue with "here's a graphic - now go to the appendix to find the details" mis-layout also applies to the elevator speeches for each job. The elevator speeches - the 30 second summary of what each job is about - are GREAT. But they're buried at the back of the book! We could have used those summaries in the actual chapter they apply to - probably right at the start of each one - to get the summary of what that job was about. Then we could delve into the details.

So those are the layout / design issues. Now, here are the content issues.

First, I have issues with any author who quotes Wikipedia, which this author does several times. Wikipedia is a third party source. Go to the direct source! Tell us what Wikipedia is quoting instead.

The author holds up Kodak as a shining example of success, when they are used in most of my courses as an example of a business unable to cope with change.

She says, "most executives are aware of the excitement and potential of Google+ brand pages" - huh? Most tech writers I follow are wondering if Google+ is even relevant any more a social network. I'm not sure that excitement and potential are words I'd be using with them.

She indicates one has to pay for WordPress templates. Not true at all. Most people I know code their own, and it's quite easy to do. I've done it for all the sites I run.

She states, "you can never overcommunicate". Again, not true. Every communications class I've taken has warned about crossing that line to where people tune you out as being noise. You absolutely CAN overcommunicate. You need to maintain that fine balance of sending out enough message to be heard, and not so much that you get blocked.

The book could easily become a five star book with some proper polishing and editing. I don't feel it is at that stage yet. Yes, some information in here is helpful, such as the repeat-messaging statement. But other messages could be quite harmful if followed, such as bombarding a message out. This book is supposed to instruct people new to social networking on their options. It needs to make sure that everything it states is clear, easy to understand, and accurate.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fine Print July 12, 2012

By Michael Beloved VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I would call this a zoom on the fine print of Social Media and Public Relations. So much has changed in the past ten years for the individual and for the larger community as a whole. Computers are designing how we interact, what job we get and who will off that opportunity to us.

Much of it is really an expansion of human social reltionships. This is described in detail in this book with simple wording which carries profound meaning. This is like the rear-view mirror to show everything that is hidden or might be overlooked as one makes the transition from non-digital to digital way of interacting with the community.

Falling behind? Business taking a dip? Uncertain about where you are going in cyberspace? Feeling vulnerable in reference to your tech savy competitors?

Read this book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars States the obvious November 20, 2012

By candykean VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this book didn't tell me much. As a novelist, I've been dragged into using 21st Century social media such as twitter, facebook, reddit (if only they'd quit telling me I don't my own password) and google plus. This book apparently is addressed to Public Relations professionals. So I picked the wrong "try this item for free via amazon vine" book. Even so, it seemed to be superficial, and to state the obvious. Why buy a paper copy of a book if you can get the same information online?