Takeaways from the PRSA Boston Social Media Summit

Last Tuesday, my colleague Katherine and I attended the PRSA Boston Social Media Summit at Bentley University. We returned to the office with pages of notes (and we did plenty of live-tweeting) – here are a few takeaways that stood out to us.

From Karen Raskopf, Chief Communications Officer @DunkinDonuts
The rules of traditional conversation apply to social media. Great conversationalists are authentic, engaging, entertaining and funny, but not inappropriate. Instead of monopolizing the conversation, they listen and they encourage other voices. If you consider this conversational common sense, why should your brand behave any differently online?

Four Media Pitch Pitfalls From a Former Journalist

Two months ago, my career did a 180-degree turn.

I left my job as a business reporter and joined a PR firm. While I was excited by the opportunity of digging into a new profession and all the challenges that come with it, I dreaded the inevitable jabs about going to the other side of the broadsheet.

Before I started, I had a feeling that one of the toughest parts of my job transition would be pitching my former friends and colleagues. I was right. Initially, pitching reporters has been a bit surreal. Suddenly, my new reality is that rather than screening dozens of pitches a day for the occasional newsworthy gem, I’m on the other side, trying to catch the attention of reporters, hoping that they’ll bite on one of my ideas.

Seven Things You Need To Know About BuzzFeed

At the White House correspondents’ dinner, President Obama said, “I remember when BuzzFeed was just something I did in college after 2 a.m.”

Indeed, while the website founded by MIT grad and Huffington Post co-founder Jonah Peretti is 7-years old, until recent months, BuzzFeed might have been something only college students were reading at 2 a.m., searching for LOL cats and photo bombs that they could share on Facebook.

But all that is changing and it feels as if suddenly, BuzzFeed has all the media buzz.

Here’s why:

1. Propelled by high-profile news events such as the Newtown shooting and Boston Marathon bombings, the site seemed to intuit exactly what readers wanted during and after the crisis and its content was even more viral than usual. In January, the site had about 30 million unique visitors. In April, that number had spiked to 65 million uniques. The New York Times’ website has nearly 29 million monthly uniques.

Boston PRoud: An Evening to Raise Money for the One Fund Boston

It’s not often that you see competing PR agencies come together in the same room, but now is the time…and there has never been a better reason.

On May 29, InkHouse will co-host a fundraiser event for the One Fund Boston at the Back Bay Social Club. You are all invited! Nineteen agencies from the area are joining forces to host the event – each pledging $750-$1,000. Cost of admission is just $20 – with 100 percent of the proceeds to the One Fund, so purchase your tickets before they sell out: www.eventbrite.com/event/6513749801#

New Faces at InkHouse

We’ve been adding new clients, and to keep up, we’ve been searching for Purple Squirrels.

We’re growing quickly and to do that, we’ve had to pivot just as quickly to adjust to new technologies and the fast-moving media landscape. This isn’t easy, and it requires employees who are not just like us. We look for good writers, big thinkers and hard workers who know the difference between hard work and good work. We rely on their new ideas and new perspectives.

We’re so excited about the new group of people joining InkHouse – they bring a unique mix of backgrounds, talents and personalities, and we have no doubt that they will make a positive and lasting mark on our growing agency. We welcome:

Growing and Blooming: New Clients Fuel InkHouse Growth

It’s been a busy early 2013 at InkHouse. Last week, InkHouse was named a Pacesetter by the Boston Business Journal for the third year in a row, coming in as the 18^th fastest growing private company in Massachusetts. More importantly, we were thrilled to see Boston Police Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald offer the opening remarks, which were concluded by a long and heartfelt standing ovation. We’re also proud that we were among the 500 audience members who helped raise more than $76,000 for One Fund Boston that morning. Thanks to the Boston Business Journal for making it possible!

Our growth continues with a strong roster of new clients that are poised to place big stamps on their industries. We are thrilled to welcome new clients:

How to behave on social media in the wake of a tragedy: Ask yourself these questions

In the horrifying moments after the Boston Marathon bombings, after ensuring that everyone we knew was safe, we told all clients who might have scheduled tweets to shut them off. Some of them already had and some were shocked that it took almost 20 minutes to finally stop the process.

Thankfully, having a business Twitter blackout has become standard procedure during any crisis because a brand’s social chatter – even if it’s not self-promotional – seems wrong when people are trawling for vital information about breaking news. Going silent is the digital equivalent of giving a fire truck the necessary 500-foot perimeter to do its job. Get out of the way of the #disaster hashtag.