Five Tips for Succeeding in the Scrollingverse

Having the Right Team is the New Million Dollar Budget

By Katherine Olstein

In the course of a wide-ranging discussion at the 2018 PRSA Tri-State District onference, a cross-section of PR leaders came up with 5 mindsets and tips for our changed media landscape.  

From left, Moderator Rob Longert, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Day One Agency; Chad Parizman, Pfizer, Head of Social Media and Digital Communications; Todd Ringler, Edelman, Inc., U. S. Managing Director, Media and Emily McDonough,  VaynerMedia, In-house Communications Director.

Tip #1 Aim for relevance and authenticity 

  • Play off the environment – what’s happening in the news and in society – as much as possible; marry larger ideas with your product and messaging;
  • Get your audience to “ladder-up” to your brand before hitting them with your pitch.

Tip #2 Get into the scroll of  your people
In the old days, your goal was to get the highest number of media impressions and tally them on a spread sheet; now it’s about telling brand stories on channels where  the audiences you want to reach are spending time.

Tip #3 Form Partnerships for Storytelling
Match the stories you want to tell with the unique voice and style of the media outlets your potential customers are reading and scrolling through. “Co-create” stories with reporters; discuss what you want and be flexible and open to input.

Tip #4 Be Unafraid to Experiment
Be in cutting-edge places when they debut, like Vine in 2013. Create a lot of small moments; lots of versions and pieces of content, and see what hits. You can’t tell in advance what’s going to work, so you have to try everything.

Tip #5 The Team You Need to Succeed

  • Multi-channel mavens
    who know how content and information are consumed on various platforms and
    are good at telling stories on them;
    understand the fine points of emerging sociologies such as the Instagram feed, Instagram story and IGTV
  • “Slashers”
    able to move nimbly among related skill sets
  • Hustlers
    who are curious;  get in there to solve problems; prove they can “jump on board and get up and running” fast
  • Risk takers
    willing to take a crack at whatever is needed to solve the problem and
  • a project manager who knows “what’s going on with the entire team.”

Key Takeaways:

  • Ability to completely scrap a plan with a smile on your face;  build a new one and make sure everyone’s on the same page;
  • Showing up and having fun;
  • Putting together a good team.

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