Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Film, TV, Studio, and Entertainment Publicists offer insider tips on Social Media

Social Media Workshop at ICG Union Local 600 auditorium.
Social media took publicists by surprise, providing immense opportunities and significant challenges for many publicists, who are still trying to figure out how to measure its success. About 150 PR Pros (about two dozen  sat on the floor, too) packed into the International Cinematographers Guild,Union Local 600 auditorium, Hollywood, CA. this month (10-21-11) to sort it all out.


A packed house at ICG Union Local 600 auditorium for the monthly EPPS media workhop

The seven member panelist included Dawn Wilcox, Allison and Partners, Tracy St. Pierre, NBC, Beth Braen, NATPE, Andrew Stachler, Warner Bros., Jenny Connelly and Laurel Whitcomb from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 
It was moderated by Rosalind Jarrett, the Screen Actors Guild Awards®.

Social Media brings more accountability, challenges and a lot more opportunities says EPPS panel of experts



Images by George S. McQuade III


One of the big concerns in social media is that business has only a small view of their social media marketing campaigns, and often have no clue of how something such as the rate of posting on Facebook might influence the amount money spent by first-time visitors. Or how retweets by an influential blogger might boost membership or awareness of a brand.

Panelist Dawn Wilcox told the crowd unlike a year ago, social media has brought more accountability. “It’s more challenging now, but it also now gives us the opportunity to be more strategic,” explained Wilcox.



Beth Braen, NATPE/Content First
One hot button issue is how to respond to negative posts or comments on Facebook, Twitter, company websites or articles Online in the comment section. 

Most panelists agreed you can not ignore them. Beth Braen, senior vice president marketing for NATPE said her nonprofit organization actually engages visitors, because "NATPE is committed to being a catalyst for the content revolution."


NAPTE not only engages visitors, but also encourages them to participate on their site.





Todd Beck, president of Beck Media and Marketing, LA agrees. He says don’t ignore the negative comments, but be careful responding until you’ve had a change to analyze the motive or the reason for the posts.


Sometimes he noted by taking the agitated visitor offline or sending them a direct email or twitter message you can diffuse the situation.




Vice President Andrew Stachler of Interactive Marketing, Warner Bros. says WB, despite cutbacks the motion picture studio is careful what they post, and he said WB recently put one person in charge of social media.


“Think of Facebook to be used as marketing, and using Twitter as a mini news releases,” Tracy St. Pierre told the EPPS crowd.


NBC’s Tracy St. Pierre has worked on everything from daytime, primetime and late night to specials and made for TV movies. She continues to oversee campaigns for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Whitney” and the midseason drama “Awake.”


Additionally, she works with her PR, marketing and digital teams at NBC to create and implement social media events for the network.

Panelist Dawn Wilcox, GM, Allison and Partners noted that Social Media has changed the demands for new hires at her firm. She said the technology has made a noticeable advancement over the last year.



The growth of social media community is important from likes and comments on Facebook to retweets and direct messages on Twitter or Google+. 


A large amount of user activity on your company website shows not only you can engage your audience off the website, but you also covert those users on a path you have total control over – your website.


Once you bring in customers you also need to be consistent, in aligning everything with your main goal- your revenue stream. The EPPS media workshops are usually held on the third Thursday of the month. 


For more visit: www.eppsonline.org.





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