Although we don't feel right divulging their name for competitive reasons, we do want to share that a leading global PR agency has partnered with our Modern Media Leadership Institute to deliver social media training to approximately 150 of their public relations professionals from seven international offices. We worked closely with their Human Resources to determine specific training needs and competencies, and customized the training programs for the public relations teams and management. If you are tasked with social media training for your organization, we customize training and fee structures for large-scale training initiatives, or provide corporate training group fee structures for our public workshops.
We have expanded our social media training programs with the launch of the Modern Media Leadership Institute, dedicated exclusively to the professional development of communication practitioners and business leaders. MMLI will be the hub of all our social media training programs and, to our knowledge, these are the only courses of the kind today. The curriculum has been developed over four years of conducting workshops and training sessions for dozens of organizations and with thousands of professionals. We have posted the full 2009 schedule of courses and class details at the dedicated MMLI site. Our classes are one or two-day intensive workshops in computer-equipped learning centers so that participants learn social media tools and experience social media engagement hands-on. Our workshops are not a typical conference with speaker presentations. These are instructor-led learning workshops, limited to 20 participants per class. We offer a full fellowship for each course to qualifying non-profits.
Multi-Day Courses Include Social Media Integration, Ethics, Social Media Relations, Crisis Communications and Other Tracks
Anaheim, CA - MarCom:Interactive, a new media communications consultancy, announced a series
of single and multi-day courses designed to educate professional
communicators on the benefits and potential dangers of social media,
including blogs, citizen journalism, virtual worlds and more.
These are enterprise-level courses
intended to teach the practical skills necessary to communicate in
today’s networked world – a world in which everyone can be an
“information producer” and interact with brands and products.
“Social media
is taking a powerful place in the practice of professional
communications,” said Linda Zimmer, CEO of MarCom:Interactive. “This
demands new competencies and skills for the communications
professionals who are on the front lines – and it demands that an
organizational culture be cultivated that is steeped in the new
communications modes and models.”
The courses are focused on “developing competency in social media while
building institutional culture and memory around its implementation and
best practices,” Zimmer said. She added that while the courses are not
focused on the technologies of social media, using social media tools
is tightly integrated with most all courses.
Course participants will learn how to:
--Recognize and incorporate social media opportunities for their
company or clients
--Strategize successful social media programs
--Execute social media using best practices and accepted ethical guidelines or regulations
--Gain skills at finding and engaging various audiences within social media environments
--Manage reputations, feedback loops and social media connections
Most courses are taught at an introductory level though advanced
courses are also available. Courses are held at client locations or at
one of MarCom:Interactive’s conveniently located, computer-equipped
corporate training centers throughout the United States.
Information about specific courses and costs are available online. Or call MarCom:Interactive at 714-283-6205, or e-mail your request to teachme@marcominteractive.com.
About MarCom:Interactive
We are a modern media company specializing in Internet communication
and emerging media. Meeting your marketing goals and your audience’s
modern communications expectations and requirements is our primary
specialization.
We are experts in the ways today’s consumer approaches and responds to
marketing – both online and offline. We know what this new generation
of the Web (“Web 2.0”) requires. This drives our approach to
everything we do, from communications strategy and viral (“word of
mouth”) marketing to how a web site should look and perform. We help
our clients communicate through words, design, intuitive navigation and
strategies that begin with their ultimate goal in mind.
MarCom:Interactive principals Linda Zimmer and Gary Goldhammer have 20
and 17 years, respectively, of interactive communications experience.
Clients include major technology companies; health care companies and
health-related non-profits; industrial manufacturing; travel &
tourism; consumer marketing; and financial services companies, among
others.
MarCom: Interactive is based in Anaheim, Calif., with clients throughout the United States and Europe.
Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE), the world''s largest online moving community, turned to MarCom:Interactive to support the company's national marketing efforts with blogs, online word-of-mouth and other "social media" strategies.
Move's blogging community includes sites and stories focused on city life, local neighborhoods, home ownership, renting, renovation and related topics. In addition to creating content and generating site traffic through organic linking programs, MarCom is also helping Move reach out to recruit "Citizen Journalists" to write about their cities and what it is like to
live there, and what people moving to the area should know about.
The types of blogs that will be launched in the coming weeks and months include:
More social media and "Web 2.0" marketing programs are planned in the coming months. More information about MarCom:Interactive is available here -- and check out our modern media page for descriptions and explanations of the latest modern marketing trends.
About Move:
Move(TM) (NASDAQ:MOVE), the world's largest moving community, provides home buyers and renters with the real estate and community information, and professional connections they need before, during and after a move. The Company operates Move.com(TM), the most comprehensive real estate search site for rentals and homes to buy and REALTOR.com(R), the official Web site of the National Association of REALTORS(R).
Move also operates Welcome Wagon(R), a 78-year old neighborhood expert that provides new movers with valuable and comprehensive information about businesses and professionals in their new communities. Move.com is the official new homes Web site of the National Association of Home Builders. Move also operates Moving.com, SeniorHousingNet(TM), TOP PRODUCER(R) Systems, FactoryBuiltHousing.com and Homeplans.
MarCom:Interactive's public seminar series returns to Southern California with "Finding Your Modern Audience in Today’s MySpace, Mobile,
On-Demand, Always-On World." This essential day of professional development will be held Tuesday, Oct. 24, in Long Beach, CA. Get the details and register now, seating is limited.
The Seminar
The New reality is that the media is in the hands of anyone and everyone. Established media is losing audience as audiences shift to newer forms of "communal" media.It is vital for every modern organization to be aware of the seminal shifts in information flow and to learn how to make them work for you.
To be relevant – whether your audiences are internal or external;
consumer oriented or business-to-business - you must reach audiences in
the ways they are living, working and communicating today.
This professional development seminar will show you concretely how new media forms and new audience behaviors are affecting your business.
This one-day multimedia seminar will:
- be a fun, immersive, inspiring, eye-opening, working, practical day;
- put you “in the know” to the new reality of audience behaviors and what is happening in media and communications;
- provide you with blog and social networking best practices, practical suggestions, confidence and ideas;
- show you specific examples and concrete case studies of the good and the bad; successes and failures in modern communications;
- alert you to where you or your organization may be exposed to risk and how to mitigate it;
- tell you the “must-haves” for every modern business communicator and give you five tools to take back to the office and put to work;
- show you how to be relevant and build modern communication strategies that work;
- help you meet and manage the challenges of the new media landscape.
Registration inlcudes:
- Full day of immersion and learning
- Access to practicing consultants
- A personal 45-minute consultation
- Continental breakfast
- Wireless Internet access
- Tools and resources to take back to the office
- A free non-public blog for experimenting and learning in MarCom:Interactive’s client BlogLab
- Buffet lunch and all-day snacks & refreshments
- Parking
Bring your laptop and do it hands-on, on the spot!
Note: This is a day of professional development
for learning and inquiry. While you will be introduced to available
resources and tools, see them in action and get detailed instructions,
this seminar is not a vendor presentation or product demonstration.
Learn more or register now!
Public Relations
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The business, communications, sociologic and economic, implications
of Second Life and other virtual worlds crossing over into Real Life
(SL into RL) are vast – and we are inviting other business
communicators to explore the implications of virtual worlds on
marketing, media, journalism, communications and information sharing by
joining SL Business Communicators.
What is Second Life? It’s
a virtual world -- just one of several virtual worlds where people
live, work, play and socialize. You adopt a persona (an avatar), visit
places, join groups, earn in-world money, buy products and services,
and attend meetings. It’s not fringe, it’s not online gaming, and it’s
not to be ignored.
Some fascinating work is going on in Second Life. Museums are being built, real life businesses are offering virtual products there, and media in all its forms is being published. The Second Life Library 2.0
project, driven by the Alliance Library System in Illinois, is in serious
work mode building a virtual library, exploring how library services
and information dissemination might be needed in virtual worlds by
“virtual people” or real people operating in virtual worlds.
Fascinating and impressive work being done by fascinating, impressive,
visionary people.
Our SL Business Communicators charter is “to explore the
culture and potential of Second Life for business communications and
information dissemination.” We’d also like to act as a resource group
for communicators new to Second Life.
Please join us if you are interested in leading the way on exploring
and experimenting with media and information in virtual environments.
To join, once you are "in world," go to Find/Groups (on your menu),
search on “Business.” You’ll see SL Business Communicators in the
list– that’s us. Click on it, click Join Now and you’re in! We don’t
have a meeting center yet, but there are plenty of public in world
meeting places where we can gather from time to time. And just maybe
the group will decide to build a meeting center of the virtual kind.
Whether you decide to join SL Business
Communicators, please visit our blog where we will discuss SL in
the RL. We hope you join in and give us all the benefit of your thinking.
second life
PR
public relations
business
A national (United States) organization of public agency communicators recently interviewed us for their newsletter. For those just getting starting with blogging and who may be wondering what all the fuss is about, the following Q&A should shed some much needed light on one of the most significant changes in modern communications:
Q: What is "blogging" and why should Communications, Marketing & PR pros sit-up and take notice?
A blog - or weblog - is a personal, topical web site that is frequently updated. Corporate executives, public officials, journalists, marketers, freelancers, advertisers, politicians, and citizens of the world have taken to publishing blogs, moving them from personal journals to a modern, influential media form. But what make them so alluring – and powerful - are blogs’ social nature, their populist culture, and their immediacy. Blogs are seen as more “authentic” than content on static web sites. Blogs are interconnected and therefore create valued “trust networks.”
Blogs are a communications fact of life, an indicator of the sociological shifts in how people interact with each other in the modern world.
Blogs are also the new “power tool” in media relations. Journalists use blogs to find story ideas and conduct research – and you have the opportunity to interact with journalists via their blogs.
Blog content often shows up higher in searches. Because blogs are frequently updated, search engines favor them. And “Big Media” regularly report on what bloggers say.
Q: What's the greatest advantage to PR pros in utilizing blogs?
It’s hard to pick just one, but perhaps the greatest impact of blogging and personal publishing in general is the ability to bypass traditional gatekeepers and engage our publics in direct, open and honest communication. Blogs are unrivaled at connecting with your publics.
Blogs give us the ability to tell the story, be part of the conversation about the story, and become tightly integrated with the story. We don’t get pushed off the “front page” the next day – the story lives in blogs and online.
And with blogs you don’t just communicate, but you can listen and learn from the audience as well. Today’s communications eco-system is collaborative, social, and essential to being a well-rounded communications professional.
Q: How should public communicators incorporate blogging into their overall PR plans?
There are endless ways to use blogs, with the most important being to read and follow the blogs related to your industry or issue. Blogs are an “always on” microphone that allows you to listen, gauge opinions and identify potential land mines and diffuse them before they explode.
Blogs are a communications tool – so communicate. Use private, internal blogs to update your team on a project; create a “citizen’s” blog around a community issue; publish thought leadership articles to a blog to increase search engine visibility and distribution; and most of all, remember than you are doing “public” relations, so if your public is communicating on blogs, they you need to as well.
Q: What are some of the potential pitfalls in using blogs to communicate to wider audiences?
The one overriding pitfall seems to be negative comments. Negative comments will happen – whether they are on your blog or someone else’s. You can’t stop them but you can respond in real time to them, diffusing them, correcting them and not letting them get out of control through the greater rumor mill. Also, if you are available for the conversation you can be part of it. If you aren’t, it is happening without you.
Another potential pitfall is in pitching bloggers. You need to understand the culture of blogs in order to “pitch” successfully. Bloggers are social creatures and share everything – including bad pitches. A blog is someone’s personal “space” and even though they are authoring in public, respecting their space and time is vital. Read their blog – not just the most current entries – and understand their area of expertise and approach them with interesting and helpful information, not a story pitch. Develop a relationship through commenting on a few of their articles. And, whatever you do, don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t.
Finally, remember that things live forever online and in search engines. Unlike traditional print media where “words go to die,” blog entries and comments come up in searches as if it were today.
Q: It's estimated that every 10 seconds, a new blog is created in the U.S. When is too much information too much, and how will this affect traditional media and news distribution?
Radio was too much information for some people. Then television was too much, and then the Web. Information has never been a problem for people – the real issue is how to manage and use the information contained in the “global brain.”
Blogs make finding, managing and disseminating information easier and faster than ever. You can subscribe to blog content and even specific words and phrases, and only the content you request appears instantly on your desktop.
Moreover, you now have countless new outlets and methods for pitching stories and reaching your audiences – journalist blogs, citizen publications, podcasts, video broadcasts and mobile phones. Best of all, you can also bypass the media altogether and reach people directly – today, you are the media. Q: What are some good resources to learn more about blogs?
A wealth of information on blogs, blogging, case studies and issues is at Global PR Week 2.0. We also recommend a visit to The New PR Wiki. This is a “meta” resource that will point you to many relevant and helpful resources.
Q: What's your bottom-line advice for communications & marketing professionals in terms of blogging?
In 1994, the World Wide Web was considered a fad. E-mail was a distraction. And mobile phones were just used for talking.
If you feel the same way today about blogs, stop. Communicators for the most part blew it when the Internet came of age because they didn’t take the time to understand its power and influence. Many communicators are doing the same thing now with blogs, opting instead for the online “comfort food” of static web sites, one-way communication and expensive press releases distributed on outmoded paid wire services. Statements such as “I’m too busy” or “I don’t need to know that stuff” are not merely excuses; they are inexcusable coming from professional communicators.
So our advice to you is this: Read blogs and other forms of online social media. Comment and participate. Take the time to learn and understand the fundamental shifts occurring in media and society, because to do anything less is to abdicate your responsibility as a communicator and purveyor of the public good.
Learn more about how blogs and other “modern media” are transforming communication at MarCom:Interactive.
Public Relations
media
PR
blogging
blogs
new media
social media
new media
rss
training
podcasting
rss
marketing
communications
modern media
marcom
WOM
Word Of Mouth
PR agency
marketing agency
consulting
blog seminar
blog relations
MarCom:Interactive's schedule of public speaking and private corporate trend briefings is heating up this summer, as more companies and public agencies are looking to and blogs and other social media to their communications programs.
Speaking engagements include briefings with several California cities and public agencies; a national meeting of public affairs and public information officers; and an address to the Event and Arena Marketing Conference June 8 in Miami, FL. PR agencies and corporate executives are scheduling private briefings to learn how to reach today's audiences.
Best of all, they are listening and understanding how today's modern media are shaping and changing communications as we know it. As Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems said recently, "Five or ten years from now almost every one of my peers will be a blogger. It's just a more effcient means of connecting with the marketplace."
Learn more about our private briefings or contact us directly for more information.
Public Relations
media
PR
blogging
blogs
new media
social media
new media
rss
training
podcasting
rss
marketing
communications
modern media
marcom
WOM
Word Of Mouth
PR agency
marketing agency
consulting
blog seminar
blog relations
Industry-First Training Courses to Cover Blogs, RSS and other New and Emerging Media
Anaheim, CA (March 9, 2006) – MarCom:Interactive, an Internet communications and emerging media consultancy, announced the launch of the industry’s first-ever hands-on training courses to educate communications professionals on the “Modern Mediasphere” of blogs, RSS, social networks and more.
The Modern Mediasphere Training classes, which will be held in 11 U.S. cities, are designed to get modern communicators up to speed on the latest media tools and technologies. The hands-on, instructor-led lasses range from “jump start” two-hour morning or afternoon sessions, to immersive multi-week courses on how to use blogs, RSS and other modern media as effective communications channels.
“There is a lot information ‘out there’ about these new tools, but there is also a great need to help communicators get involved and start using modern media in real, practical ways that get results,” said Linda Zimmer, CEO of MarCom:Interactive. “Our new training program is an extension of the public and private seminars we are already doing, and will allow us to work more closely with a wider range of communicators on creation, implementation and management of these exciting new mediums.”
Most classes are taught at an introductory level though advanced course are also available. Classrooms are equipped with computers and high-speed Internet access, and participants receive written as well as electronic guides and other information for continued learning.
Current topics include “How to Setup, Publish and Manage a Blog” and “RSS: Getting Your Content to Your Audiences.” 2006 classes will be held at the following locations:
• Scottsdale, Arizona
• Irvine, California
• Denver, Colorado
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Chicago, Illinois
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Portland, Maine
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Greensboro, North Carolina
• Arlington, Virginia
• Madison, Wisconsin
Information on specific locations, dates and costs are available online. To get information or to register by phone, call MarCom:Interactive 714-283-6205, or e-mail your request to teachme@marcominteractive.com.
MarCom:Interactive also offers special tailored training courses, executive briefings and public seminars. Visit www.marcominteractive.com or call 714-283-6200 to learn more about the company’s full range of professional development services.
About MarCom:Interactive
We are a modern media company specializing in Internet communication and emerging media. Meeting your marketing goals and your audience’s modern communications expectations and requirements is our primary specialization.
We are experts in the ways today’s consumer approaches and responds to marketing – both online and offline. We know what this new generation of the Web (“Web 2.0”) requires. This drives our approach to everything we do, from communications strategy and viral (“word of mouth”) marketing to how a web site should look and perform. We help our clients communicate through words, design, intuitive navigation and strategies that begin with their ultimate goal in mind.
MarCom:Interactive principals Linda Zimmer and Gary Goldhammer have 20 and 17 years, respectively, of interactive communications experience. Clients include major technology companies; health care companies and health-related non-profits; industrial manufacturing; travel & tourism; consumer marketing; and financial services companies, among others.
MarCom Interactive is based in Anaheim, Calif., with clients throughout the United States and Europe.
Public Relations
media
PR
blogging
blogs
new media
social media
new media
rss
training
podcasting
rss
marketing
communications
modern media
marcom
WOM
Word Of Mouth
PR agency
marketing agency
consulting
blog seminar
blog relations
Anaheim, CA (February, 2006) – MarCom:Interactive kicks off its 2006 professional seminar series with “Blogs and RSS: What Are They Good For? A Practical Discussion and Demonstration of Blogs and RSS for Business Communicators.” This one-day discussion and hands-on demonstration will be held April 27 at the Hilton Executive Center in Long Beach, CA, USA.
Seminar Overview
You may have heard of blogs - and maybe even the powerful content syndication method called Really Simple Syndication (RSS). If you are like most marketing and communications professionals, however, you probably don’t know exactly what blogs are or how blogs and RSS are transforming every type of business communication.
Blogs are the Every-Person’s publishing tool and RSS is the juice that amplifies blog content. That means everyone can – and is – heard. At 100 million blogs worldwide and counting, this is a force to understand, implement and put to use in your communications, marketing and business.
Media, corporate executives, marketers, advertisers, citizens, freelancers and even brands are using blogs to build business and to “tell their story.” Are you?
It’s time to get in sync with your modern customers. You no longer find them – they come looking for you. And they are finding what they want in modern ways, using modern media.
What You Will Learn
- What are blogs and why they are so powerful and important in business, marketing and communications
- What is RSS and how it is transforming your e-mail, newsletters, media relations, your online visibility, and how it is affecting your search engine rankings
- How to use new modern media tools in media relations “beyond the pitch” and to promote yourself or your business
- What your peers are doing with putting blogs into practice and getting real results
- How to create your own blog and RSS channel
What You Take Home
- A CD-ROM with practical written guides and on-screen tutorials to take home
- Answers to “What is it good for?” and “What does it mean to me?”
Who Will Attend
Marketing and Communications Professionals; Executives; Product Development Professionals; and anyone needing to get in sync with modern communications practices.
Seminar Details
Date/Time: Thursday, April 27, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM
Location: Hilton Executive Center in Long Beach, CA
Cost: $495 per person; PRSA, PCE, and CAPIO members receive a 20 percent discount. Continental breakfast, a delicious lunch, all-day snacks and parking are included in the cost of registration.
Information/Registration:
Register online or call 714.283.6204. Visa or Mastercard accepted.
Please join us for this eye-opening and informative day – and take home tips and techniques you can put to work right away. Get in sync with the modern consumer and the Modern Mediasphere!
RSS
communications
modern media
marketing
technology
corporate
business
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