On the Record...Online with Expansion Plus President Sally Falkow, APRP

Sally Falkow goes On the Record...Online with host Eric Schwartzman to discuss what public relations is, how new media technology is affecting the practice of public relations, and whether PR practitioners need to embrace new media tools.

Sally Falkow, president and senior web strategist of Expansion Plus, has created effective internal and external communication strategies for both large and medium sized enterprises for 25 years. Since 1999 Sally has translated her extensive experience in communication to the internet and is now recognized as one of the leading web site and internet marketing strategists in the U.S. Her main interest is in the shift in media consumption and how new technology is affecting the practice of public relations. Sally is certified as an Accredited Public Relations Practitioner by the Public Relations Society of America and has authored several books on website marketing strategies and the use of new technology in PR. She has lectured in Communication Theory, Public Relations Strategy and Consumer Behavior at the University level, and is in demand as an expert speaker on how online news, blogs and RSS are influencing online PR and marketing.

SHOW NOTES:

4:56 - Sally Falkow discusses the interest of the attendees of the Media Relations 2006 conference in new media tools.
5:58 - Falkow talks about the coverage of new media technology at Syndicate, the New Communications Forum, and conferences hosted by Infocom Group and PRSA.
7:42 - Falkow on why there is a lack of interest from the PR community in new media tools.
8:44 - Falkow on client perceptions of blogs, RSS feeds and other new media tools.
10:08 - Falkow on whether PR people's understanding of RSS feeds has changed over the last 18 months.
14:08 - Falkow talks about what public relations is and the history of the industry: "Our job is to establish and maintain understanding and good relationships with the various publics of the company...it's not called media relations, what we do is called public relations."
18:32 - Falkow on whether PR people are embracing blogging and other new media tools.
20:09 - Falkow talks about the impact of activity on the blogosphere on corporate reputation: "With Dell...really and truly if they have been watching the blogoshpere like every PR company should, it [Jeff Jarvis's complaint against the company] never would have escalated..."
26:40 - Falkow talks about whether PR people need to learn how to use new technology tools themselves.
29:37 - Falkow discusses a study conducted by SEO-PR about the effectiveness of wire services and their ability to search engine optimize.
35:47 - Falkow on whether it is important for companies to search engine optimize their press releases on their own websites. "Every single site that we've put an RSS feed on their news updates and press releases within three, four, five months, that page becomes the number one entry page to the site; that's the biggest way that people are finding their website..."
38:25 - Falkow talks about receiving a preview of her book The Power of Online Syndication in Public Relations, that she co-authored with Rok Hrastnik, at http://rss.marketingstudies.net/pr