Having recently returned from a meeting with my very smart IPREX partners from around the world, I’m slightly overwhelmed by my TO DO list and all of the insights we shared on the digital universe.

One of our speakers, Paul Mabry, CEO of Vintank.com, a B2B site for wineries, emphasized the force of Social Media throughout all areas of business – HR, marketing, advertising and especially customer relations. Mabry’s contention is that brands are transforming into media companies as they tell their stories through multiple communications channels.

According to Mabry, we are doing business in the “most consumer-powered time in history.” The Customer is in charge. They have all purchase information on the phone in their pocket as well as an immediate way to share their delight or disappointment with a product or a brand. As Mabry points out, “It’s the ME in Social Media.”

The numbers supporting this observation are staggering. Facebook now has 845 million registered users (that’s an increase of 45 million since the first of the year) with an average of 130 friends each. They average 40 visits each month and spend an average of 23 minutes each visit with 200 million visits made on a mobile device daily. More than 30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook every month.

The numbers drop off significantly after the powerhouse Facebook but they still reflect the growing power of the online community. LinkedIn, the giant for business communities, has 150 million registered users including 2 million companies.

Twitter has been coming on strong in the past year with 127 million users, 13% of the online population.  Even TV news programs encourage immediate dialogue through their Twitter hashtags.

Pinterest, the newest darling of the online sites, has 21 million unique accounts and growing, especially with crafters, cooks, DIY, fashion and media.

You Tube, the largest broadcast channel in the world, boasts 4 billion videos viewed daily, with 800 million unique users per month.  Currently 70% of views are coming from outside the U.S. – an influential network for any global company.

Beyond the force of the numbers are four over-riding concepts to guide all social media efforts going forward:

• Photos — The new timeline on Facebook and the rise of Pinterest reflect this important trend.
• Video — You Tube started it, but now videos are embedded on websites, blogs, Facebook, etc.
• Mobile — Have a smart phone or tablet?  Enough said.
• Integration — Messages must be broadcast throughout all communities.  It’s not enough to publish a website, you have to integrate at least with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to push your message out and drive your consumer in.

For more fascinating facts and pointers to maximize the online opportunities, check out the recent JSH&A presentation on “Let’s Get Social.”

One of my favorite things to do is read blogs. I truly value bloggers’ opinions and honestly think they have some the best real-life experiences, advice and reviews to offer. I wanted to share a few of my favorite blogs with you:

1.  SingleDad.com - This dad-driven site launched back in 2007 and offers a slightly different perspective from the more common mom blogger scene. Blog creator RJ offers a comprehensive resource of advice and tips (along with some pretty amazing videos!) all stemming from raising his three kids as a single father. The blog is constantly refreshed with new content and offers an array of helpful and insightful information for any parent. Want more? Be sure to check out his newest endeavor, CookLikeADad.com which offers recipe and meal ideas.
2. Resourceful Mommy - The personal blog of Resourceful Mommy Media founder Amy Lupold Bair, this blog offers a variety of cherished family memories, parenting advice and exciting product reviews and giveaways. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Amy over the past several years and can honestly say she is one of the most wonderful women I’ve met amongst the vast blogger community. She has a true passion for what she does and it shines through in all of her posts. If you like her blog posts, then you may want to check out one of her famous Twitter parties (which she invented in 2008) by following her #ResourcefulMom.
3. Rockin’ Mama - This California-based, savvy mom blogger started blogging as a way to share the experiences of raising her son and ended up with a very successful blog that has become a must-read! Her posts cover family outings, tips and ideas for fun children’s activities and smartly written articles that address real-life issues for moms. I run into the site’s creator, Caryn Bailey, every so often at blogger conferences and she is even more fabulous in person than she appears to be in her blog. If you have an eye for green-friendly items, she also has some great perspectives on environmentally-friendly items and activities.
4. Fab Find Foodie - This mother of two girls celebrates her passion for all things food and kitchen-related by blogging (and I’m happy that she does because it’s one of my absolute favorite food blogs!). I find that I have a lot in common with her as I too love to cook but often get bored with the same meals, so I always like to spice things up and try something new. I also like that she is a fan of kitchen gadgets and includes reviews of them every so often (indoor electric kitchen fryer anyone?). I have three drawers FULL of kitchen gadgets and gizmos at home and am always looking for more fabulous little time-savers to add to my collection. If you’re looking for some advice in the kitchen, this might be the blog for you!

In the first post of this series, I spoke about the changing form of communications into patterns, but to change the format also demands re-calibrating how communicators approach the marketing mix.

The fragmentation of media is complicating how marketers identify appropriate channels for brands to connect and communicate with consumers (aka fans). In recent years, marketing buckets have been segmented into four general buckets: owned, paid, organic and shared media. In addition, the type of media adopted has been defined by marketing disciplines. But as media evolves, the lining in between each bucket is thinning thereby leading the industry to a gigantic lump of marketing hodgepodge.

How should marketers think about the marketing mix in the future? Marketers have a habit of pulling out a sheet of paper or sticking to a whiteboard (yours truly included) and drawing lines on paper.  By doing this, a marketer’s thinking remains flat or 2D.

But what if marketers used more than one sheet of paper to delineate the different media segments, processes or approaches? We would end up with layers, like in a cake. It’s much easier to work with cake than with hodgepodge, agree?

Marketing Layers Defined

By changing the model to a 3-dimensional shape, it forces communicators to change how we think and find creative ways to connect the dots. One way to think about the new marketing mix is to segment media types through multiple layers (physical, digital, mobile, social and virtual/augmented layers), which might make it easier for various marketing disciplines  to leverage each layer in its own way.

The following maps out how I foresee the layer breakdown (so far):

Physical – Tangible forms of marketing (billboards, posters, t-shirts, etc.), the products offered and the methods that consumers receive both messages and products

Traditional – Although this group is adapting to the current marketplace and adopting new formats, Broadcast (television and radio) and print media (printed newspapers) comprise this layer

Digital – Online formats are dependent on screens to access information across the web such as news, ecommerce sites and online media. Websites and

Social – The destinations where people come together to interact with peers, family and the brands they trust.  Social channels are the places where interactions occur between brands and consumers.

Mobile – The ability to access a variety of media through the mobile web and apps is changing every aspect of communication, research and purchasing behavior.  Apps synchronize or mashup different technologies (aka APIs) to create more memorable experiences.  Finally, in near future commerce will be transformed with the ability to use mobile devices to pay for products and services.

Virtual/Augmented – The bridge between tangible, social and digital layers, which operates by using the lens of mobile gadgets and cameras in combination with emerging technologies, such as QR codes, near field communications and augmented reality.

Marketing Layer “Icing”  

With the complexity of thinking 3-dimensionally, we also need to consider how marketing layers creates a fluid experience.  A critical challenge for marketers is figuring out how to create seamless integration.  The answer is simple: messaging and design.

Consistent design maintains a seamless visual representation of the brand whereas messaging ensures the information being disseminated across multiple mediums is consistent throughout. To use the cake analogy once again, think of design and messaging as the icing, genache or jelly in between and over all different layers.  By combining marketing layers with design and messaging will create brand uniformity.

Think of it as icing on the marketing cake.

Image Credit: Idea Go

Meet Pitching Notes – a new online platform that lets PR pros rate and share personal experiences working with journalists, and in turn view others’ experiences. Think RateMyProfessors.com, but for journalists – or as a recent article in PR Daily puts it, the Yelp of the PR industry.

After a fellow staffer passed along the news, I knew I had to check it out for myself.

How it works: Once you set-up your free profile, you can instantly add your own experiences with journalists and access others’ experiences via the “Reporters” tab. When adding a new contact, you’re able to rate a reporter out of five stars in four categories: responsiveness, professionalism, amicability and overall rating. From there, you can see other PR pros’ similar ratings of a wide variety of journalists, and even search by most recent, highest rated or most popular reporters.

The good: Pitching Notes connects PR pros across all disciplines, giving you access to a wealth of knowledge and experience. How many times have you tapped a colleague for their contacts at a specific publication, or added someone to an agency-wide “Do Not Contact List?” Now with Pitching Notes, you can do the same with PR pros worldwide.

For example, let’s say one of a client’s target media outlets is Family Circle magazine. Instead of digging through Cision or FamilyCircle.com to find the best contacts to pitch based on your pitching angle, you can use Pitching Notes to see which contacts other PR pros have had luck with and which contacts you should stay away from. Thus, giving you a good starting point based on others’ experiences.

The bad: In general, the platform is extremely new and still working out a few obvious kinks. In addition to technical difficulties (like a random “ERROR” message here and there), the search functionality isn’t that great. However, I anticipate this only getting better with time as more contacts are uploaded into the system and the creators adapt the platform with increased functionality.

Overall, the concept is great and this is definitely a platform to keep an eye on. I look forward to Pitching Notes continuing to evolve as it really picks up steam.

Video content is fast becoming one of the most valuable and flexible online marketing assets that any company can own.

Reuters.com reported earlier this year, that video views on YouTube have increased by 25 percent in the past eight months, to an astounding 4 billion per day. YouTube projects that mobile video will generate 66% of all mobile data traffic by 2015.

Of course, video marketing isn’t a new concept. Remember b-roll and Beta tapes?  For years, companies have invested in corporate videos as powerful tools to inform, educate and entertain key influencers. But in the last few years, web video has really taken off – especially amid the evolution of the social media arena.

JSH&A’s video production partner, Thatcher Kamin of Taste Media Group, shared his thoughts with us about the importance of video messaging. Here’s a look at some of what he had to say.

JSH&A: What has changed over the last two years in terms of video use and distribution?

Kamin: As the social and mobile space continues to rise, the opportunity to educate, engage and entertain consumers with professionally produced video content has become a necessity for brands. Video not only helps share a brand’s story – whether one of quality and value or that rich in history and heritage – but also can complement a traditional press release with relevant content that media can easily insert into an online feature. Today’s public relations campaigns are capturing content for inclusion in social media news releases, digital properties, social media channels and more.

JSH&A: How important is it in today’s landscape to incorporate video into launching a brand, a product or a company?

Kamin: Internet users spend large amounts of time on video sharing websites. Whether they are viewing a comic video or researching a product or service, your company needs to be there. Studies show that by simply incorporating video onto your website consumers will spend more time engaging with the brand. To that point, Google and Compete recently reported that 39% of shoppers reference videos when researching a product.   

JSH&A: Given all the social media channels today, what are some steps that brands can take to create an engaging and effective video package?

Kamin: Like most communications programs, every video needs to start by identifying the story you want to tell. Once you identify the core message and story, the creative, social and production strategy will follow. A mix of owned, earned and paid media should be considered to capture the greatest reach. I also recommend partnering with an agency, such as JSH&A, that offers full-service video production capabilities. Having all video production managed from start to finish by one team is not only efficient, but also highly effective in delivering a strategic end product. 

After recently entering the world of smartphone apps via my new Android device, I was overwhelmed at the sheer amount of apps out there. Between password keepers, movie review platforms and the ever-popular Words with Friends games, I had no idea where to begin.

Especially as a PR pro, I found myself asking: what are the top go-to apps I should have on my phone? After a little digging and trials of my own, I’ve compiled the top five must-have apps for every PR pro:

1. TweetDeck – Link your Twitter, Facebook, Buzz and Foursquare pages all in one place. The best part? You can add multiple Twitter accounts! So, for example, if you’re responsible for updating your agency’s Twitter handle, you can have everything in one place.

2. Bump – Available for iPhone and Android, this app lets you to swap contact info, calendar, pictures, social profiles, apps and more by literally “bumping” your phone with another person’s. The information automatically transfers and is stored in your phone.

3. CardMunch – Although not yet in Android, this free app via LinkedIn lets you snap a photo of a business card and then automatically adds to your list of contacts.

4. Foodspotting – You’re on a business trip in an unfamiliar city and your client wants pasta for dinner – but not just any pasta, something unique like pumpkin ravioli. Lucky for you, Foodspotting gives you images of nearby restaurants’ dishes and rates them based on what other users have liked. Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to restaurant recommendation you feel confident they’ll love.

5. USA Today – It’s easy, it’s free and it will keeps us updated on the latest news and world happenings outside of our PR caves.

In the meantime, I’ll be enjoying my new Android Instagram app.

Happy app’ing!

Earlier today, I read an article by Alexandra Samuel of the Wall Street Journal addressing the importance of social media understanding among top-level executives. She stated that organizations that have the biggest positive impact from social media are those where the C-level suite is buying into the power of social media. While blogging, Facebook and Twitter may seem like another “task” for CEOs to learn, these platforms have brought new opportunities for conversation with key customers, employees and even industry colleagues. They bring opportunity to not only strengthen business, but for executives to demonstrate a stronger leadership position. Even if executives do not want to Tweet daily or engage a corporate blog, they can still use social media to become a better leader by simply monitoring and keep an eye on the brand and the current consumer pulse.

So tell us, how do your executives view social media? Has it been welcomed with open arms or does the launch of new platforms like Pinterest cause intimidation? Curious minds want to know.