Welcome to May The Schwartz Be With You, our web log (“blog,” for short) featuring news and commentary about the public relations and communications industry, the business world, and other odds and ends that we think readers might find interesting.
In conceptualizing our new website, this blog was one of our earliest priorities. We wanted to create a digital community for businesspeople, communications professionals, and members of the media. Part social experiment, part sounding board, our hope is that this blog will become an online forum for people with similar interests.
A recent survey of public relations professionals published by PRWeek, a leading publication for the PR industry, found that 67% of respondents plan on expending “much more” resources on digital marketing in the coming year. This is a predictable number given that the internet and new media are fast-becoming the mediums of choice for news consumption, social networking, and even commerce. Let’s face it: if you’re not going digital, then you’re going the way of the dinosaurs.
But here’s what’s shocking: the same survey also revealed that while 75% of PR industry CEOs use new media and social media in their personal lives on a regular basis, only 18% of them said their companies have used these mediums in communicating with their target audiences (clients, prospective clients, journalists, etc.). As a growth-oriented firm in what seems to be a backwards-looking industry, we’re bucking this trend.
Over the past year, we’ve successfully incorporated new media strategies into client campaigns, and we’re encouraging clients to embrace new, digital-based methods for reaching out to their audiences. Granted, there’s still a lot of ground to cover in this constantly-evolving sector of communications, but we feel we’re making significant progress. This blog is a big step in the right direction, so let’s get to it.
For starters, some basics: if you’re wondering where the name for our blog came from, then you’ve probably never seen the movie Spaceballs. In this comedic parody of Star Wars, actor/director/writer Mel Brooks plays a character named Yogurt (a caricature of Star Wars’ Yoda). In classic Brooks fashion, Yogurt departs each scene uttering “may the Schwartz be with you,” a nod to Yoda’s indelible line, “may the force be with you.”
Second, the bloggers revealed: Blog entries may be posted by anyone at Schwartz Media Strategies. We each have a unique outlook on various topics, and our hope is that over time, you’ll get to know us through our posts. I encourage you to interact with us and share your feedback, which leads me to…
The importance of interaction. Blogs are digital communities; without the participation of our visitors, we’re basically reducing what would otherwise be an online dialogue into a one-way conversation. Comment on our postings. Share your own opinions. Join our conversation.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let the blogging begin…
-Aaron
No comments:
Post a Comment