3 Minds; 10 Questions. PRSA San Diego Presentation Jan. 27

“Where ya been?” you ask. "It's been since... August."

Right here, implementing and experimenting with exactly what I blog about. But I’m using an upcoming presentation as launching point for a new series of entries.

San Diego’s PRSA chapter invited me to facilitate a social media panel for their Jan. 27 meeting. Mighty broad topic. More than we can cover in the allotted hour. Working with the other two presenters, we figured out a way to prioritize and maximize our presentation time.

First, we’ve eliminated the facilitation role – dispensing with the time-draining “game show host” function and devising another means of keeping the discussion organized. It’s easier to show this than it is to explain it. You’ll just have to be there.

Second, we’re limiting ourselves to just 10 question. Each of us has both a traditional PR background and real experience developing and executing social media campaigns. Thus, we were able to agree on 10 high-level questions clients/organizations/companies ask us most often (or SHOULD ask most often).

1. To each panelist: If you came away from today's session having learned only one thing, what would you want it to be?
2. What efficiencies can we realize using social media that can help lessen our workload?
3. Where should we start? (How do we prioritize the various platforms?)
4. What if someone publicly criticizes us?
5. Who should be in charge? (Can't we just have the intern do it… they seem to be pretty good with computers?)
6. How does social media relate to our traditional efforts?
7. How do we engage in and manage all the conversations?
8. How do we measure ROI?
9. What are the demographics of social media?
10. How do we figure out what to say/decide what to share?

Third, we’re asking for your input: Are these the questions you want to hear addressed? What others would you ask? Is there a different priority to the ones listed here.

Don't expect us to agree on the answers. Just as with any other area of public relations, we each have different philosophies and approaches. But hearing these can better help you grasp the key concepts.

Conveniently, these questions give me an excuse to focus back on my blog for a while. I’ve been quiet here, but that’s because I’ve been focusing on helping clients and making presentation (twelve since my last post). That takes time, but it also means I’ve been knee deep in the muck of making social media work for clients. That’s what helped devise the list of questions in the first place.

Here’s an interesting note that I’ll theme on: Clients are struggling more with the fundamentals of traditional marketing tools—such as planning, calendars, and writing—than they are with the technologies of social media. The technologies can be learned pretty quickly. Using them in a strategic sense takes a bit more. In any effective effort/campaign, the two go hand-in-hand.

More on that in a moment.