The “revelation” could not be further from the truth, and the blog post the agency shared, “Death to the QR Code,” is so off-base that it had to be written to generate comments and new readers (aka “link bait”). If you read the post, scroll through the comments as well. Either way, it got me to thinking about all of the other declarations of death in our industry:

The press release is dead – this one’s been going around for a while. Kent State Professor Bill Sledzik traces one of the earlier proclamations to 1979 in this post. The reality: there is a new role for the press release; sloppy usage by clueless PR people is the real problem. Social media is dead – Google (or “Bing”) that phrase and you’ll find post after post informing us SM is over. Twitter is dead – #exaggerations anyone? Facebook is dead – a meme resurrected this month as Google+ hit the scene; and, of course, Google is dead. As I said, anything to generate comments and links!

“We spent the morning working with neighborhood residents, representatives of community organizations, volunteers from schools as well as individuals and Greater Baltimore AHC, Inc. staff,” said Susan J. Anthony, partner with Sawmill Marketing Public Relations, headquartered in Baltimore.” We picked up trash, mowed grass in the common areas of the neighborhood and other similar tasks before enjoying a cookout together.”

This was the first year for the Barclay Greenmount Spring Sweep. Greater Baltimore AHC officials said that they are considering making it an annual event.

About Sawmill Marketing Public Relations
Sawmill Marketing Public Relations is a Baltimore PR firm and social media marketing communications agency established in 1995 specializing in the development and execution of marketing public relations programs as business development strategies for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and professional services clients. The Maryland public relations company specializes in social media, traditional media relations, media training, and crisis communications. For additional information, visit www.sawmillmarketing.com

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Rather than debate the merits of the decision to claim rights to the word and the way the restaurateur went about defending her point of view, look at how PR missteps and social media are intensifying this storm.

Many people continue to say “any publicity is good publicity.” BP doesn’t think so, and the owner of this restaurant (and gift shop and festival) surely won’t believe it when this fiasco eventually fizzles out.

The mishandling of the news led to a spoof Twitter account, boycott the restaurant Facebook page, blog posts, newspaper comment section posts, a protest and a string of critical Yelp “reviews,” all within hours of this firestorm. Fanning the flames even more, the restaurant’s graphic design (and presumably not PR) consultant weighed in with a profanity-laced post (click on comments to find the one from “springray“) that went viral, while a rejected Yelp review found a new life and many more eyeballs on countless blogs.

In the meantime, Buzz is dying to hear what counsel the unidentified “publicist” referenced in The Sun‘s column offered when the the idea to trademark “Hon” was discussed!

Back then, we didn’t quite know what to call it and wound up with the moniker “Social Content Integration.” Now everybody calls it Social Media, but we like the original name and that’s what it still says on our agency materials. Since the beginning, we’ve never viewed social media as a separate strategy or tactic. Instead, we believe it should be integrated with traditional communications and that the emphasis should be on solid and authentic content and not on automated or gimmicky Facebook or Twitter promotions that someone sitting in a back office passes off as “engaging in a conversation.”

However, that was then and this is now when integration has assumed a new and powerful role in maximizing the benefits and values of social media campaigns with traditional marketing communications ones. As many of us know, this new role for integration has expanded far beyond messaging to now include how, when and what social media and traditional communications tools are used and their exact purpose in the campaign.

We all have much to learn about how best to creatively and strategically utilize (or not) integration and to then share our knowledge with our clients so they can reap every possible benefit from it.

Recently we met with a prospective client whose business is not a tech oriented one. Imagine our surprise and delight when he indicated his interest in our help to integrate the social media tools he was already using by weaving the fingers of his hands together — the sign language of integration!

Fortunately, Facebook has a process for dealing with that pesky issue of trademark infringement. If you – or your client – believe that Facebook is indeed catching on but discover that someone already established a Page, there’s somewhere you can turn to claim your rightfully trademarked name. Go to Facebook’s “Report an Infringing Username” section to “request removal of an unauthorized Page” and you should be on your way to claiming what’s rightfully yours.

Oops, my bad.

I recently bumped into an acquaintance that I hadn’t seen in  months who explained her absence by telling me how consumed she is with the ongoing woes of the company she has been with for nearly 15 years.  The shining example of these woes is the dramatic drop in headcount since the first of the year.

Later that day I tweeted about this update using  “local,  one-time high profile, fast rising firm’”as the descriptor of her company. I hit “update,” never giving the tweet a second thought, other than it was more substantive  than “…can’t wait for this day to end” sort of post.

In a flash, I received a DM (direct message) from @robterry26, associate editor/Web editor of the Baltimore Business Journal, asking me for details about that tweet, including the name of the company. Then, and only then,  did the reminder light bulb go off in my head that Twitter and other social media tools are all about conversations!

Also, this tweet could have had serious consequences.  However, the information was accurate, verifiable and caught the attention of a good reporter who knows the source of it as well as the value of the information he was handed.

In addition to being reminded that Twitter is all about the conversation, I hope this also serves as a an elbow in the ribs to think before I tweet and then think again before I hit “update.”

Surprisingly, one of the “expert” panelists was passionate about her insistence that the candidate had the “right to post photos of herself with a drink in her hand” on Facebook without any spillover to her professional standing!  Further, this is the same  counsel that she offers her clients:  professional uses of social media tools are separate from those for personal uses and should not be connected.

She is indeed correct that she has the “right” to post anything about herself that she cares to on any social media tool she wishes. However, she is incorrect (and perhaps also naive) to expect the viewer/reader of this information to categorize it as exclusively personal with no correlation to her professional reputation.

The history of traditional mass media and now social media is replete with examples of people’s professional lives being played out in the public limelight – because they chose to or because they didn’t realize the line separating personal vs. professional is blurred at best.

I urge this panelist as well as those in the seminar audience  to use the power of social media tools to their utmost advantage but to do so with the full and complete understanding that there is no “vs.” separating “personal” and “professional” in social or traditional media.  Ever.

So, what is the source of this week-long stew, you ask?  Try the one-track June 12  BlogPotomac when at times, watching the flickering laptop screens was more interesting than listening to what was coming from the stage, with the exception of Shel Holtz and Ford’s Scott Monty who each offered valuable insights on their views, uses and thoughts on all things social media today as well as in the future.  Thank you guys.

Overall the day for Buzz was relatively low energy, low interest and low value – yes, even at $95.  An entire segment on personal branding? Come on. Others had a similar reaction, and it even carried over to the official Blog Potomac happy hour event.

As if to confirm this sentiment, event organizer Geoff Livingston announced that a third and final BlogPotomac will take place in October, and then five days later the Senior VP/Social Media at PR firm CRT/tanaka came out with this blog post with the headline: “Why a Final BlogPotomac: Social Media Really Is Dead.” Wow. Who knew?

Which got Buzz to thinking…as we see this shift to a new stage of social media with all the talk about ”rock stars” (yes, some actually say this!) and personal branding and how to handle this new-found ”fame,” why not develop and host a social media event that brings the conversation back to reality? Anyone out there want to join in?

And no, they didn’t talk trade shows, direct mail campaigns and press releases.

Try Facebook, Twitter and blogging strategies as the tools they’re focusing on, even if it’s to monitor what customers – and competitors – are doing, linking to, following and saying.

The Greater Baltimore Tech Council event, “Who’s Growing in 2009?” was emceed by Art Jacoby (in photo above, left)  featuring Tim Lorello, SVP and chief marketing officer for Telecommunication Systems, Inc. (also known as TCS), Michele Perry, chief marketing officer of Sourcefire, and Todd Johnson, president of Salar, Inc. (right). All three companies are in a strong growth mode, and marketing plays an important role.

But a pleasant surprise of the morning – at least for me – came when they talked about their use of social media and its emerging importance to their businesses. This was no social media how-to workshop where you’d expect that kind of talk. This was a business event and these unsolicited comments about social media’s value came straight from execs in the trenches.

Perry called this a time for “lots of learning and tracking…and numbers to watch” when it comes to social media, with time spent listening to what’s being said about Sourcefire and the industry. She also shared a powerful anecdote of the firm’s success with media interviews as a result of prompt response to Tweets by reporters needing sources for stories.  “It all happens within  half an hour,” emphasized Perry.

Lorello also acknowledged its importance and talked of winning awards, which leads to news coverage, which leads to results on the search engines, still the most important player in online marketing. Meanwhile, Salar, Inc. has a Facebook page (including pix from a recent Paintball outing) and a Twitter account, but the most efficient use of Web 2.0 tools are the industry blogs that have “10 times more credibility” than other sources, according to Johnson.

“It’s a wonderfully cheap way to market directly to our audience,” he said.

Before the Q and A session got underway, Jacoby, a notable business consultant, proclaimed that “social media is the next giant.”

Amen, Art.

P.S. Check out the blog post about the event written by Baltimore Sun tech reporter Gus Sentementes. It’s on his new blog just launched this week, BaltTech.