1. Karen Freberg, Ph.D.

2. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Agenda for Presentation
• The field of strategic communications
continues to play an essential and changing
role in society, requiring the regular
reassessment of the education of future
practitioners.
• The demands of the current economy and the
ever-changing digital environment are
challenging practitioners and scholars to
constantly evolve their research and practices
in the discipline to meet the expectations of
their stakeholders.
• This presentation will discuss the past,
present, and future practices involving social
media and emerging technologies for strategic
communicators.

3. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Status of Strategic Communication
• Real-time communication and interaction
• Mobile poly social realities across multiple
platforms
• Age cohort differences among channels
• Brand & individual storytelling
• 24/7 connected and digital global society
• More memes & trends emerge every day on
social media
• Brands jump on board with these trends to
be competitive
• Harder to engage audiences, capture
attention, and create memorable content in
real-time.

5. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
reporters technology
1750s
1920s
1960s
public
advertising
word
of
mouth
pr
“Old” Strategic Comm practices

6. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
“New” StratComm practices
reporters pr, advertising, social insiders social public

7. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Where we are now in 2013

8. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
From Edelman Digital

9. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
What continues to be the same
• Objectives
• Environmental Scanning
• Audiences
• Influence and Persuasive Messages
• Integrated and Interactive Conversations
• Multiplatform and multimedia
• Measurement and evaluation

12. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Moving forward
• The fundamental challenge for most organizations is that
social media is one environment where
– messages work on a one-to-many, one-to-some, and one-
to-one scale across multiple technologies at the same
time in real time,

13. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
• Emergence of social engagement
– Continuous set of exchanges where each party is the
participant in the conversation and relationship.
– Helps build trust, credibility, and establishes a positive
reputation on the behalf of the brand or organization in
question.
– Engagements have to be relevant, timely, and be
personable for audience & community
Attention [short-term] + Sustainable storytelling
practices [long-term] =SUCCESS

14. BRAND
REPUTATION
LOYALTY
ENGAGEMENT
STORY
INNOVATION
RELATIONSHIP
COMMUNITY:
AMBASSADORS
& EMBASSIES

15. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Key opportunity

18. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Points to consider
• Real time strategic
communications focuses on
– Speed & Agility
– Compressing time to tie in brand
with news (newsjacking)
– Growing need to understand
power of real-time information
(ex. monitoring trends, issues,
conversations, mentions, etc)
– Engaging participation from
spectators & translate them into
supporters.

19. Real time
marketing
Engagement
Customer
Service
Storytelling
Product
Development
Social Media
Platform
Reputation
Training

22. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Real-time marketing
• Real-time marketing means
reacting in real, or near-real
time.
• It’s about relevant messaging
in the right platform at the
right time.
– This can be achieved in
social media by listening and
anticipating customer needs.

23. VISUAL
+
REAL-TIME
+
MEMORABLE
+
COMMUNITY
+
STORY

24. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Best practices
• Determine if audiences want
information in visual and
multimedia formats.
• Engage with community and share
options through other social media
platforms and communities
• Be consistent and timely with
updates in multimedia – as well as
measurement.

25. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
• Consider building and managing communities in real
time, focus on analytics, and create/curate creative
content that’s relevant and relatable to audiences.
• Consider multimedia outlets an extension to online
reputation for brand or individual
• Keep future trends in mind and determine what is the
next step for social media.
• Engage, Inform, Inspire, and be relevant.