GoPro makes the world’s most versatile cameras, think IMAX quality footage with a camera so small you can wear it on your wrist or mount it on a helmet.

Photo courtesy of dailypicksandflicks.com

I get to learn from an amazing team of people, including the founder of the #besomebody movement, Kash Shaikh, delve deep into all things adventure sports and work at the cross-section of three personal passions – sports, social media and technology.

GoPro’s roots are in all things action sports like surfing, snowboarding, MotoX, etc… but their vision is SO much bigger. I love this quote from Nick Woodman, the creator of the camera’s and CEO, “You are the star of your life. Live a big life!” GoPro is all about empowering all of us to share our life’s stories and moments that are most important to us. Whether it’s your first skydive, your first 5K or your daughters first time swimming underwater; GoPro is here to help you cherish and share that memory. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Seeing as how I will be managing their social media communities, I figured I better pass along some ways to join the conversation, see tons of pics and video, enter to win products giveaways (they happen literally everyday) and learn the latest news and info (like the release of the Wi-Fi BacPac and Remote)

• Like GoPro on Facebook,
• Follow GoPro on Twitter
• Subscribe on Youtube
• Check out tons of images with the tag #GoPro on Instagram

This is a dream come true and I can’t thank all of you enough for being a part of the experience.  To everyone who helped me achieve this new goal and advance my career to the next level, I truly appreciate everything.  Life is crazy and awesome all at the same time. It’s been a wild ride so far, now it’s time for the next adventure and I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

The event started with a panel discussion with 3 Cincinnati PR professionals with varying backgrounds and levels of experience discussing the things they wish they would have known early on in their careers. To see the highlights from the event check out my storify post from the luncheon.

After the panel discussion students were able to shadow the area’s top professionals to get a taste of what the “real world” is like.

As the Cincinnati PRSA New Pros committee chair I had the opportunity to recruit and pair these students and seasoned pros together for the job shadowing portion of the day. Throughout the pairing process I was surprised by the varying degree of responses I received from each student. For some students I felt like I was pulling teeth to get a response for an event that could land them a job. Needless to say, I was a little surprised.

Fortunately, to counterbalance the lack of responsiveness from some students, there were tons of students who were on top of their game. One of these students was Rachel Drakulich (@RachDrakulich) from The University of Dayton. Rachel  stays kind of busy being the President of UD’s PRSSA, the Marketing Team Leader at University of Dayton Recreation Complex and being the Assistant to the Office of the President at Sinclair Community College; all while taking a full load of classes.

Because I was a bit surprised by some students lack of interest in Pro-Am Day, I asked Rachel to take a minute and share her experience. If you’re a student considering participating in Pro-Am Day, or other networking opportunities with professionals in your area, take a minute and check out what Rachel had to say about her Pro-Am Day experience: (Thanks Rachel!)

In May I will graduate from the University of Dayton and I am also the outgoing president of UD’s PRSSA chapter. Prior to attending PRSA Cincinnati Pro-Am day for the first time ever, my expectations were relatively high based on other professional networking events I have attended in the past. Throughout my time as an undergraduate I have come to understand the power of networking and the importance of learning from experienced professionals. This rang true during my whole Pro-Am experience.
I was fortunate enough to enjoy a delicious lunch with two of Northlich’s employees, Jessica Kelly and Kate Bebee. During lunch we talked about their past experiences and how they ended up in Cincinnati, my future plans after graduation, and started following one another on Twitter! As the luncheon ended, I had a stronger sense of pride for the public relations field based on the panel discussion.
Jessica and Kate then took me to shadow Northlich. The other employees welcomed me with warm smiles as they showed me around the office. My favorite part about the whole day was listening to Jessica’s and Kate’s experiences and what they have learned in their few years out of college. They shared the mistakes they experienced as interns, the hours spent working on events, doing their first cold call to a reporter, yet it was all worth it for the satisfaction when they saw their first hit in the media.
Overall, the scope of information I gained from Pro-Am day exceeded my expectations. I am a strong advocate for events such as Pro-Am day because of the benefits and experiences members of both PRSA and PRSSA receive from one another and the relationships that blossom as a result.

Check out this quick video produced by the agency (Smoyz) who managed the campaign.

Obviously a super smart, well executed campaign that tapped into the passions of their consumers. According to the numbers, they had tons of interactions and reached a lot of consumers.

Why It Worked

As I mentioned earlier, Pinterest is all about creative inspiration. Kotex did a great job of joining the conversation (not taking over the conversation) by enabling these influencers to share their own creative skills with their communities.

I’m happy to see a brand in the right space, talking with the right consumers for the right reasons. Unfortunately, a lot of brands see the shiny red ball and want to go after it without thinking through why they need to be where they are.

The Next Level

Here’s my question though, now that Kotex has created this great community of women that are super stoked about the brand, how are they going to fan the flame?

Here are a few ideas that came to mind:

Social Good – Tap each influencer to find out what local charities they support that directly help women. After each charity has been identified send a creative inspiration kit that speaks to the mission of each organization. Each influencer will be asked to bring members of the women’s organization together to design something that represents the organization. Pictures are then taken and shared across their social networks. To give back Kotex then makes a charitable donation for each pin, share, tweet, Instagram.

Advisory Panel – Take a cue from Fiskers scissors and ask these influencers how each product can be improved. Consumers love to be heard and asking for their input is definitely a way for consumers to be heard.

I think one of the most important parts of a successful social media campaign is its ability to create real-life connections. Encouraging consumers to be a part of a real community is how you turn one time buyers into lifetime customers. I am looking forward to seeing what Kotex does to continue the conversation with the community they’ve created.

What are some ways you have seen brands continue to conversation with their communities?

Here are a few of the highlights of Lisa’s career:
-    Helped launch the first iPhone (and three subsequent models)
-    Established twitter.com/att and att.com/socialmedia
-    Sent AT&T’s first tweet and attracted its first 27,000 followers
-    Managed AT&T’s online newsroom and content strategy
-    Provided intranet counsel to AT&T, GM and Visa
-    Conceptualized and built AT&T’s “Twitter Tribe” ambassador program
-    Managed an award-winning AT&T Social Business Adoption employee campaign
-    Partnered with Panera Bread to execute a Mashable-recognized Pinterest strategy

Space is limited (there is a cap of 35 and 27 have already RSVPed!) so if you’re in the Cincinnati area RSVP by clicking here to RSVP on the Facebook event. Once you have RSVP’ed don’t forget to share the event with your Facebook community and tweet about the event using #CincyPRSA.

Quick Bonus: Click here to check out an awesome blog post from Lisa – Your Brand CAN Instagram

Be on the lookout for tweets and a recap of the event next Tuesday or Wednesday.

I wanted to share as much info as possible from the day. So in the post below I have taken screen grabs from my Tumblr account and posted them here in reverse order so you can pick up some nuggets of info like I did from start to finish. In the next day or so I’ll also be following up with a full recap so be on the lookout for that.

Without further ado… MobileX Cincy:

If you want to view my actual Tumblr blog you can give a click here: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/andrewatmobilex or for more tweets and comments check through my Twitter stream from yesterday here: @Andrew_ShipPR

What was your biggest takeaway? Leave it in the comments, would be great to hear from you.

Essentially MobileX is a one-day conference that is all things mobile. Obviously mobile is a pretty huge topic, so there are different “tracks”. I’m taking the marketing and social media track. Check out all the speakers I get to hear.

Hope you get a chance to follow along with me tomorrow. To learn more about the conference take a minute and check out all the info: http://mobilexconference.com/cincinnati2012/

**Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a bash session on Chipotle. I am a total brand advocate and probably eat Chipotle a little more than I should… **

As a social media professional I feel one the brand’s top priorities should be to surprise and delight their social media community. Normally Chipotle is great at doing this as evidenced through their Twitter handle and Facebook page. Unfortunately, this is a story of no such surprise and delight.

Sunday is Chipotle day at my house. Almost every Sunday I hit the local Chipotle for some Mexican food awesomeness. I usually get a burrito bol with chips and salsa. Per usual, on a recent Sunday I made my trek.

Source: chipotle.com

As I walked in the doors I checked in on Foursquare while being greeted by the sweet aroma of cilantro. Little did I know, this was going to be a Sunday to remember thanks for a Foursquare special. It was a simple check-in special for free chips and salsa with the purchase of an entree. BOOM! I was stoked for some free chips and salsa. Thanks to a simple Foursquare special (at minimal cost to the brand) they had surprised and delighted me. I was already thinking about what my tweet and Facebook status would be once I got my free chips and salsa.

Who doesn't love free chips and salsa?

As I walked through the line and added brown rice, green salsa, corn salsa, cheese and lettuce to my burrito bol I was actually excited to show the cashier my iPhone with the offer. When I got to the end of the line the cashier asked me if I needed anything else. With a big smile on my face, I told her I needed chips and green salsa because I checked-in on Foursquare and wanted to redeem the check-in special. Her response, “Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about. What’s Foursquare?” No more surprise and delight…

I explained what Foursquare was and showed her my phone with the special’s description. She told me to hold on for a minute while she went to get her manager. Her manager returned and didn’t know anything about the special or what Foursquare was either. Surprise and delight further crushed…

The manager was nice enough to honor the coupon and she then instructed the cashier to input the sale as a “comped chips and salsa”, therefore not entering the data that the chips and salsa were given due to the Foursquare promotion.

My Takeaways

I’m really excited to see Chipotle using Foursquare to add real value for users. Many times Foursquare specials require multiple visits to redeem, which don’t end up driving return traffic because they are often forgotten. I was also happy to redeem the coupon so easily through Foursquare. An instant reward for an instant action.

Unfortunately, the execution was lacking internally. Having worked with franchisees I understand communication can be difficult, but it seemed to be non-existent. I was still able to redeem the coupon, but I felt like I was inconveniencing everyone else in line because I had to make the cashier leave her station to get the manager. Furthermore, due to the lack of internal comm the deal wasn’t correctly entered into their point of sale system, making it impossible to show the redeemed number coupons for the initiative.

Once again, I don’t want this to be a tirade on Chipotle. I definitely think they are a forward thinking brand, and are doing the right things in the social space. However, examples like this show us all the importance of thinking through the entire process from strategy to execution.

I hope Chipotle will continue to offer deals like this, because they definitely will get to me, and other consumers, to come back more often. Have you experienced similar Foursquare specials mishaps?

As we all know, an occupational hazard of PR is never being able to take your “PR hat” off. This has even started to creep into one of my favorite pastimes, watching television. A product placement here, a really good 30-second spot there — that was the limit of brands joining the television experience. Now hashtags, GetGlue check-ins and live-tweeting are the next generation of ways for brands to reach consumers.

A prime example of this rise was this year’s Super Bowl. There 12.2 million social media comments, which was 6.8X growth from last year’s Super Bowl. The half-time alone was the 4^th highest entertainment Social TV event with more than 862,000 comments. Social TV is definitely on the rise and I am really excited to “watch” this trend grow in 2012 and beyond.

I think my affinity for watching television can be traced back to my childhood. When I was younger I lived on a street with lots of kids my age. My mom loved to cook, and more often than not there were a few non-Shipp’s at the dinner table. After dinner everyone usually headed down to the TV in our living room to catch one show or another. My early memories of television are of it bringing people together.

For the past 15-20 years, TV has gone the opposite way. As more TVs have become present in the home, many of us find ourselves watching alone. But, are you actually alone when you have your smart phone and laptop? Due to this significant rise in social media and multi-screen viewing of television, we are seeing a significant shift in the way television is watched. It is once again bringing people together.

I mean, check out these numbers according to a Yahoo! And Razorfish survey of U.S. adults

• 94% exchange email, send IMs, text, talk or social network while watching TV
• 80% are mobile multitasking while watching TV
• 15% are on their phones for the entire duration of programs

Many of us are tweeting, facebooking, checking-In and searching the web about the shows we’re watching.  We want to share our thoughts about these shows, and now television networks are starting to encourage the conversation. For example, shows feature hashtags in the bottom corner of the screen, which I’m sure many of you have seen. However, a few networks and shows are stepping up their game.

The Voice (NBC)

• The Voice has a social media correspondent that is featured during the show. The correspondent usually highlights viewer tweets in live-time pulling the viewers into the show.
• Each episode highlights tweets from the judges such as Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Christina Agulara during the show. As the show and contestants grew in popularity the show took it a step further and highlighted contestants tweets as well.

The Walking Dead (AMC)

• AMC has developed a talk show after The Walking Dead called The Talking Dead. This is a talk show with cast and celebrity appeances that is all things The Walking Dead. The smart social TV tie-in here is that viewers can post questions on the shows Facebook page or tweet questions to the show’s twitter handle @AMCTalkingDead. Additionally, the host of the show live-tweets with viewers after the show.

Suits and White Collar (USA)

• The #Suits and #WhiteCollar hashtag will periodically be replaced by a question during a pivotal scene in each episode, such as “What would you do if you were Mike?” (I mean who doesn’t love a good call to action?!

How Brands Can Get Involved

As I put my “PR hat” back on, I am blown away by the enormous potential for brands to utilize these conversations. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a lot of good examples.  Here are a few things to remember as you begin to brainstorm way to get your brand involved in the Social TV space.

• Remember social is a party. Be a part of the conversation, but don’t dominate it.
• Give viewers something they can’t get anywhere else. Whether it’s a product giveaway, exclusive content, featuring a user’s tweet on your Twitter brand page or traditional website – make it memorable and talkable.
• Make sure the show supports your target. This may seem elementary, but it’s always worth reaffirming.

In addition to following the Social TV conversations on Twitter and Facebook, here are a few helpful resources you can leverage to become a part of the Social TV new trend.

• GetGlue – Think Foursquare meets TV. Users check-in to TV shows and are often rewarded with special badges. Users can comment and interact within the network as well.
• Mashable’s Weekly Top 20 TV Shows with Most Social Media Buzz Chart – A weekly roundup of the TV shows with the highest number of social media comments.
• SocialRemote.com – Lost Remote is a site solely dedicated to social TV coverage with lots of great info

Television has always had the ability to bring people together, just like me and the neighborhood kids when I was growing up. Combining that offline talkability with the immediate connection social media provides with your online community can generate significant social TV commentary. I predict that the sheer number of social media users talking about television presents a key opportunity. Brands that strategically interact with their consumers in the social TV space should reap big rewards in 2012.

From corporate branding to the dealership to Ford Credit, Craig and Ford are truly making Ford one of the world’s most social companies. Here are a few takeaways from his presentation.

A Big Social Media Budget (but it’s not all for what you think)

When it comes to Ford and social media a lot of the attention, and money, is centered around the Facebook exclusive launch of the 2012 Explorer or the Go Do Campaign that lives on Youtube. These were obviously some big budget initiatives that paid off in terms of impressions and website traffic. While he didn’t share those budgets with us, but he did throw out a budget number that surprised me.

Ford has a seven figure, let me repeat seven figure, budget just for monitoring. As any good social media strategist knows, it is all about the data. I was really happy to hear Ford put such an emphasis on monitoring and listening to their consumers. Kudos to Craig and the Ford team for spending the money to truly listen to their customers.

Taking it to the Dealers

As a result of their monitoring budget, Ford has learned a majority of the brand’s negative sentiment directly references a specific dealership, such as “Conin Ford has horrible customer service” or “The service department at Kerry Ford just ripped me off.”

To counteract that negative sentiment, and to encourage dealerships to get involved in the conversation, Ford will rollout more than 3,000 dealership Facebook Fan Pages throughout 2012 using partner Buddy Media. Content for these pages will be provided at the corporate level and monitored at the dealership level.

I’m glad to hear Ford has recognized the need for individual dealership pages that have a specific strategy. Working for a local auto dealership as a community manager, I know the value Facebook pages as well as other social media tools can provide.

What’s Next?

After hearing Craig’s presentation I’m definitely impressed with the steps Ford are taking. It will be interesting to see how Ford continues to bring the car buying experience to the social space.

Here are my three biggest takeaways from last night’s discussion:

There are lots of ways to get involved

Whatever time you have to offer, the chapter can use. To get involved right away there are multiple volunteer opportunities with local non-profit organizations. Peter Osborne our community service chair does a great job finding opportunities for PRSA members to use their skills to help these organizations.

In addition to volunteer opportunities members can join a leadership team committee. There isn’t a formal process to join a committee, all it takes is an email to an individual committee chair to get the ball rolling. Leadership team committees include: Social Media, Sponsorship, Blacksmith Awards, New Pros, APR, Newsletter and Media Day.

You get out, what you put in

I know, I know, this seems like a, “well, no duh” statement, but it is especially true with PRSA. As I mentioned in my previous points there are plenty of ways to get involved. Each of these opportunities is a way to strengthen your overall skill set and make you a more well-rounded pro. Additionally, by joining these committees you get the chance to meet a more of our chapter members, which is current more than 200 professionals strong. Our members are the undisputed PRSA leaders in the Cincinnati who are really, really good at what they do and are almost always willing to help, which leads right into my last takeaway…

PRSA Members are Friendly

All three speakers alluded to this multiple times during the discussion. If you have a question, all you have to do it ask. Whether it’s about about a job opportunity, career advice, or how to track down someone at one publication or another, chances are good someone else has been in your situation at one point or another and can offer some help.

Those were my biggest takeaways from the benefits and importance of being a PRSA member, what else do you have to add?

One last thing… As the Cincinnati PRSA New Pros Committee Chair I will be sharing recaps of our monthly events throughout the year. If you have any suggestions about speakers, topics or venues for future events I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.