Recent IABC/Toronto event provides insights into Social Media and the Modern Communicator

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Written by Maricel Dicion, Account Coordinator, Cohn & Wolfe. Maricel was the recipient of IABC/Toronto’s 2008 MAVERICK Student of the Year Award.

Facebook, blogging, Twitter, YouTube and other social media technologies have changed the relationship between communicators and their audience. To some, the world of social media may be daunting because it has created a whole new class of citizen journalists who have the power to push back, disrupt and publicly fact-check every statement and marketing spin spokespeople deliver.

But for the panel of leading experts who spoke to a crowd of more than 200 on January 29 during IABC/Toronto’s Social Media and the Modern Communicator event — social media, when understood and used properly – provides communicators with another channel to effectively deliver messages to people who are always listening.

Leading experts Michael O’Connor Clark, Vice-President, Thornley Fallis; Matthew Ingram, Reporter/Columnist, The Globe and Mail; Boyd Neil, Senior Vice President and National Director, Hill & Knowlton and Jen Evans, President, Sequentia Environics shared their wisdom, experiences and successes using social media.

Neil began the conversation by outlining some key points about social media that he believes communicators need to understand before diving in. Among the points, he noted that the culture of social media is more important than the technology itself.

“It’s about the relationship between the communities of interest and those who wish to participate in it,” Neil said. “If you think about web 2.0 only as a new place to insinuate your brand or to seed your product, I think you’ll eventually fall flat on your digital face.”

Evans also said that the audience, not the technology, is what should shape and define messages and how they are delivered.

“Understand where your audience is,” Evans said. “What are the tools that they use? Understand what they are looking for and need. Then deliver against both the media that they choose to operate in and the content needs that they have and start a dialogue with them around what they are looking for your company to do.”

Since the audience plays such a powerful role in social media, Ingram suggests that communicators keep an ear to the ground by reading, watching and viewing what the audience is posting. He says by doing, any potential problems, issues and opportunities can be spotted and dealt with on time.

“If you can spot those opportunities when they happen and find a way of reaching out and make an authentic connection, I think you’ll knock it out of the park,” Ingram said.

After each panelist provided the crowd with brief anecdotes about their experiences with social media and lessons they have learned, the floor was opened to the audience to ask the panelists questions. Audience members – from entry-level communicators to seasoned professionals – asked about how, when, why and what social media tools companies and organizations should be using. Though the answers to each of the questions differed, there was one thing that remained constant – the importance of the audience. One of the most important points attendees likely took away that night was: in order to successfully engage in a conversation using social media tools, you must listen and understand your audience to determine which tools to use and how to use them.

Now Available! Audio Webcast of IABC/Toronto’s Social Media and the Modern Communicator Session

More than 220 professional communicators attended IABC/Toronto’s sold-out session on January 29, 2009 titled “Social Media and the Modern Communicator.” This session featured leading experts on social media and public relations/communications:

• Michael O’Connor Clarke, Vice-president, Thornley Fallis
• Mathew Ingram, Reporter/Columnist, The Globe and Mail
• Boyd Neil, Senior Vice-President, National Practice Director, Corporate Communications, Hill & Knowlton Canada
• Jen Evans, President, Sequentia Communications

As a result of popular demand and CNW Group’s generous sponsorship support, the audio webcast can be downloaded for FREE. Listen to the audio webcast.

For follow-up tips, links and resources referenced in the session, see moderator Michael O’Connor Clarke’s Jan. 29th blog posting.

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