Presented to Clarion University PRSSA students by WordWrite Senior Account Executive Deanna Ferrari

1. The Changing Landscape of
Public Relations
Deanna Ferrari
WordWrite Communications

2. About me
• Graduate of Slippery Rock University (B.S.,
Public Relations)
• Board member of PRSA Pittsburgh
• Former Assistant Account Executive at
MARC USA
• Account Executive at WordWrite
Communications, Wexford, Pa.

3. How did I get here?
• Active at Slippery Rock -- lacrosse, PRSSA, editor
of department newsletter
• Took advantage of opportunities at school and
after graduation
• Networked and more importantly -- followed up
• Put in the time; a job search is a job itself

4. How can YOU get here?

5. Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8
Social Media Revolution

6. So just what is social media?
. . . A shift in how people discover, read and share news,
information and content
. . . A fusion of sociology and technology, transforming
monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many)
. . . The democratization of information, transforming people
from content readers into publishers
. . . Extremely popular because it allows people to connect in
the online world to form relationships for personal,
political and business use
. . . User-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated
media (CGM).
— Wikipedia.org

7. Facebook - then & now
College students --> High school students --> EVERYONE

8. NO

9. YES

10. • Twitter lets you write and read messages of up to
140 characters, or the very length of this
sentence, including all punctuation and spaces.
• The messages (also known as tweets) are public,
and you decide which accounts you want to
receive messages from

11. • Evaluate your online presence
• Give yourself an online “makeover”
• Un-tag, un-friend, and delete compromising
posts on Facebook
• Sign-up for free Webinars (PRSA, PRWeek,
Marketwire, etc.)
How to use social media to your
advantage

12. • Get LinkedIn
• Get a Twitter account
• Get an online business card (card.ly)
• Think about a blog
• Own your domain (KnowEm.com)
• Take it slow and don’t do it all at once
• Put it on your resume
How to use social media to your
advantage (cont’d)

16. Engage with other students and
professionals
• Twitter is the best way
• Join a chat
– #PRStudChat
– #Journchat
– Talk to others on Twitter on a regular basis -
retweet and ask questions
– Host a “tweetup”

17. How social media has changed
PR
Essentially, you can control if the message
is put out and what the message says…
…on the other hand, you have no control of
the message. But once it’s out there, it’s up
to you on how you step in, approach the
message, and what to say back.
It’s like PR 2.0

18. Social media is instant

20. Print is shrinking…

27. The viral video effect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0
http://www.hulu.com/watch/101187

29. Don’t forget the PR
fundamentals
• Engage
• Be a great communicator -- on and offline
• Grammar, punctuation, spelling = good writing
• Develop relationships with journalists
• Social media is simply a tool to facilitate
communication
• PR pros wear many hats
• Social media only comes full circle when it “comes
to life”

30. Questions? Additional
Comments?
Twitter:
@dferrari / @wordwritepr
Online:
deannaferrari.com / wordwritepr.com