Author Deirdre Breakenridge, Geoff Livingston, Sarah Evans, and Mark Drapeau will be presenting tomorrow on the panel Become a PR Influencer to Drive Business Value at the PRSA International Conference in Washington, DC. I caught up with Deirdre today, check out what she has to say about tomorrow’s panel:

Next week the District of Columbia will be crawling (more than usual) with communications professionals, publicists, crisis comm experts and the like as that New York-based Public Relations Society of America brings its International Conference to Washington, DC.

Clearly I am excited to attend the PRSA International conference this year. For one, it’s in my city, so no traveling. AND I still get to make it home post-sessions to tuck my kids into bed. For two, it’s chock full of friends, mentors, and others whom I admire. I am excited about sessions by fellow DC PR pros Andy Gilman of CommCore (celebrating 25 years in business this year), James Walker of PR Prescriptions, Heathere Evans Keenan, Robert Udowitz and Ms. Measurement herself, Shonali Burke. And for three, I will be attending the conference on behalf of Mopwater PR + Media Notes, covering the confernece as an official blogger.

In addition to my DC locals, I will be able to hear presentations by my friend and mentor Deirdre Breakenridge, and the always informative Lee Odden of Top Rank. The last time I heard both of these two phenoms speak was at the Vocus Conference in June, which was also (lucky for me) right here in DC.

I’m not saying I won’t travel for a conference, but when the conference comes to your doorstep, what could be better?

Here are  my must attend panels and sessions. Clearly I won’t be able to attend them all, since several are occurring during the same time slot.

Beyond Solo Consulting: How to Effectively Build an Work with Project Teams, Subcontractors and Staff

Location: Monroe

Jamie F. Meredith, chief executive officer, The Meredith Group, Inc.
Katie Coates Ageson, APR, president, PR Projects
Heathere Keenan-Evans, APR, founder, Keenan PR, Inc.

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How do you seek, secure and develop successful business partnerships with other local or regional independent practitioners? How do you take your practice beyond your four walls? A panel of successful independent practitioners examines best practices for an effective business model using project partners, subcontractors and support staff. Walk away with tips on business expectations, mistakes to avoid, how to find good partners and how to work together.

Framing Messages to Drive PR and Client Communications Goals

Location: Columbia Hall 3 & 4

Andrew Gilman, chief executive officer, CommCore Consulting Group

Crafting clear, direct messages is more important than ever in today’s increasingly complex world. This messaging workshop defines how to frame a message, a common tactic in the Washington political world. Learn the “Haiku” messaging approach to media communications, crisis response and important public presentations. By combining facts, data, and visual, memorable information, you will craft clear messages that resonate immediately and appropriately with each medium and audience in real time.

Socially Diverse: Engaging with Diverse Communities Online

Location: Columbia Hall 10

James Walker, editor, PR Prescriptions

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Embark on a journey through social media — both the blogosphere and social networks. Explore the findings of the presenter’s six-month journey through social media, during which he engaged with active members from several online communities. Gain understanding of how to identify, analyze and engage with active participants of diverse communities and social interactions, and also learn how to create a social media home base from which all online activities can operate. Find out how to create a sustained online presence, and continue to develop relationships. The knowledge and insight gained from this session will prove invaluable as you move through the process of brainstorming, pitching and execution.

Advance Your SEO Skills With Social Media Optimization

Location: Columbia Hall 3 & 4

Lee Odden, chief executive officer, TopRank Marketing

Social media and search engine optimization (SEO) present the most significant opportunity for public relations and communications professionals to master the search and social Web. In this information-packed workshop, learn essential skills for planning social SEO in order to increase reach and engagement. Practical tactics for optimizing blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will be discussed. Also, learn about free and low-cost social SEO tools that will help you implement and measure success.

Everyone’s a Journalist: Beyond the Beat

Location: Georgetown East

Johna Burke, senior vice president, marketing, BurrellesLuce

The fast-changing media landscape is simultaneously creating challenges and opportunities for public relations professionals. One of the most profound changes is a reconfiguration of the journalistic ranks — while the number of journalists at traditional outlets shrinks, the journalism “community” grows. Thus, PR practitioners must identify the most relevant influencers in both traditional and social media. Gain useful tips and tools, understand the importance of nano-technology and learn best practices for managing evolving media relations.

Strategic PR for the Travel/Hospitality Industry

Location: Monroe

Craig Rexroad, president, BLAZE PR
Karen Gee McAuley, executive vice president, BLAZE PR

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As the hospitality industry continues to face a recession and consumer expectations are still demanding, success is no easy feat. By identifying a client’s business objectives and barriers, public relations professionals can lay the strategic groundwork for excellent representation in the hospitality industry. Discover strategies that get consumers to continue to spend. Also, learn how to develop opportunities and tactics that make a client’s business objectives attainable, even when their dollar is down.

Hosted by the Travel and Tourism Section.

Become a PR Influencer to Drive Business Value

Location: Jefferson

Deirdre Breakenridge, president, executive director of communications, Mango! Creative Juice
Mark Drapeau, Ph.D., director of innovative social engagement, U.S. Public Sector Division in Washington, D.C. Microsoft
Sarah Evans, founder, SevanStrategy
Geoff Livingston, co-founder and CMO, Zoetica

With changing media landscapes, shifting consumer behavior and rapidly advancing technology, the role of public relations influencer, who drives business value, is critical. To facilitate strategic communications and engage with the public to drive brand value, today’s PR influencers go beyond the role of communications facilitators, and into the realm of listeners, conversationalists, market experts, sociologists, Web marketers and customer service representatives. This panel of PR influencers discusses this new role and its responsibilities, and how PR professionals are taking the lead in their organizations and social communities. Learn how to become a part of the conversations that lead to best practices in managing reputations and increasing brand awareness. Also, gain insight into how to build strong relationships, and convert friends and followers into loyal customers.

Measurement in the “Age of Now”: A Common Sense Guide to the Business of PR

Location: Monroe

Shonali Burke, ABC, principal, Shonali Burke Consulting

The explosion of social media has shined a new light on the measurability of our profession. However, many practitioners still put far too much emphasis on the tracking and measuring of outputs, not outcomes. In this session, you will receive an overview of how measurement has and has not changed, and the most practical way to tackle it. Learn how to identify what key performance indicators (KPIs) are, and how to connect your efforts to your organization’s KPIs. Also, learn how to measure successfully on a budget.

Building C-Suite Trust Through News and Social Media Monitoring ROI

Location: Cabinet

Jeff Trexel, chief executive officer, Infoition News Services
Linda Odorisio, vice president, U.S. Communications, CGI Group

Savvy public relations executives earn C-suite trust by spending dollars on actions that boast a clear return on investment (ROI) and align with business objectives. Join session presenters for an interactive dialogue on news and social media monitoring ROI. Launch points are data collected from five Fortune 500 corporations and a best practices case study showing what is working inside a multi-billion dollar corporation. Learn how to earn C-suite trust, or risk being ignored.

How to Do a “Really Goode Job” of Creating Brand Awareness

Location: Monroe

Caroline Shaw, senior vice president, communications, Jackson Family Wines
Adam Beaugh, director of social media, Jackson Family Wines

When Murphy-Goode Winery suffered from low brand awareness and sluggish distribution, it reached out to the burgeoning millennial generation — wine consumers between ages 21 and 31. The “Really Goode Job” campaign was initiated, inviting the public to apply online for a job as a highly paid winery expert, charged with reporting on “the wine country lifestyle” via social media. Gain an inside look at the makings of this unprecedented brand-awareness campaign.

Using Social Media for New Business: How One Agency Increases Revenues and Profits, Despite a Down Economy

Location: Monroe

Indra Gardiner, chief operations officer, Bailey Gardiner

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How do you get consistent referrals and an active new business pipeline, even in a down economy? Hear how one agency treated itself like a client with aggressive branding, community outreach, public relations and a social media program. View examples of how to layer online and offline efforts for maximum exposure. Walk away with actionable programs and recommendations to increase visibility, grow a new business program and use social media for new business development.

The New Global Order: Gain Insight Into Key Drivers on the Global Business Front

Location: Lincoln East

Paul Taaffe, chairman and chief executive officer, Hill & Knowlton

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The rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRICs) and sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) has implications for brands, community brands and country-of-origin brands. Explore changes the global business landscape has undergone in the past several years. Learn about the rising influence of the Eastern and Southern regions of the world, and connect the changes to the world of communications. You will outline the top five 2011 predictions for this new global order and gain insight into key drivers on the global business front that can be applied to clients or companies.

The New Rules of Media Relations: Pitch Overworked Journalists and PR-Averse Bloggers, and Come Out Unscathed

Location: Georgetown East

Michael Smart, national news director, Brigham Young University

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As bloggers are developing a reputation for impatience, with an aversion to public relations pitches, how do you earn credibility-boosting coverage in key outlets? Come ready to work and learn techniques that build relationships with journalists, rather than annoy them. Receive four specific templates for e-mail subject lines that work, and learn the correct way to pitch by phone. Uncover six ways to frame your otherwise routine information into newsworthy stories, as well as the key differences between pitching traditional journalists and bloggers. Also, explore new ways to measure pitching success.

The Word-of-Mouth Confessional: Lessons Learned in Creating Brand Movements

Location: Jefferson East

Geno Church, word-of-mouth inspiration officer, Brains on Fire

“Generate buzz.” “Go viral.” “Tweets and fans.” While these phrases are commonplace within the marketing stratosphere, many organizations still struggle with how to incorporate these tactics into a results-driven strategy that truly connects a community of brand ambassadors. Get a revealing look at results and methodology behind case studies from successful word-of-mouth movements, including the new Best Buy Musical Instruments (MI), the Colonial Williamsburg programs and the award-winning Fiskars Brands “Fiskateers.” Learn how to identify your own brand story and connect with a community of true brand ambassadors. Discover the difference between passion conversations and product conversations.

Just in case you missed the article on Mashable that featured a couple of choice quotes from me,  you can read it here:  The Future of Public Relations and Social Media.

The article was fairly  expansive so if you don’t have time to read the whole thing, take a look at this jaw-dropping case study.   INgage Networks used social media to save hundreds of thousands of dollars:

INgage Networks‘ Corporate Communications Manager Kathy Saenz explained how her company saved $270K in expenses via social media. They had previously paid $250K annually for an external PR agency, and $20K in events budgeting for venue, traveling and promotions expenses. They saved all of that money by bringing their PR in-house and focusing on social media. Instead of running large events at expensive venues, they now run webinars. Of their latest webinar, Saenz said, “It was a targeted B2B audience we wanted to reach; [we] broke record attendance numbers. We didn’t have to pay for anything as a result. Great exposure and big money saved.”

During my opening presentation I talked about how you can create content for your tweets-the kind of content that will eventually lead to twinfluence. Here are a few things that I really wanted to touch upon.

Evergreen Tweets

I briefly described the concept of “evergreen tweets” as being tweets you can pre-schedule to communicate more about what you do and position yourself as an expert. (If you don’t already schedule your Tweets, try co-tweet for scheduling). While you can go the route of scheduling greeting tweets “Good Morning, Good Night, Hope you’re Having a Great Day” you can take this evergreen concept further by asking yourself a few simple questions.

What is it that you have expertise about? What topic do people seek your advice for on a regular basis? What topic are you so passionate about that once you start talking about it, you can’t shut up? This is your content sweet-tweet spot. Develop your evergreen tweets from here.

If you were a business owner/consultant and I was your PR person, I would advise you to decide on a goal for yourself of your business, then craft your tweets to reach that goal. Brand yourself through these tweets and stay on message. Want to brand yourself as a writer’s coach? Craft and schedule a series of tweets about what makes writing better.  Want to position yourself as an expert on personal finance? Write and schedule a series of personal finance tips with your own unique twist.

Types of Evergreen Tweets

• Quotes (Be sure to attribute correctly. Use the Twitter handle of author when possible)
• Industry Know-How
• Professional or Consulting Tips
• Links to articles that aren’t time-sensitive

Time Sensitive Tweets

These can be the easiest tweets to create, but also the trickiest if you want to do them right. These include links to breaking news articles, event updates, links to registrations for upcoming conferences, etc. Responses to @mentions on Twitter would also fall into this category. You don’t want to get too far behind before you respond to those. But the “what I’m doing” tweets are also time-sensitive and are a great opportunity to tell people what you do and what you’re great at doing. Instead of telling us about the great breakfast sandwich you just devoured, why not tell us about the social media policy you’re putting together for your newest client, or the color consultation you’re doing for your new client.

You: Wrapping up this a #socialmedia policy for a great #nonprofit  organization in Colorado.

Your Audience: Social Media Policy?  I didn’t know you did that. I think our organization needs one…

Integrating Your Blog

Most bloggers use Twitterfeed or some other linking service to link their blog feeds to their twitter accounts so that once a new post is up, it automatically goes out as a tweet. So whenever you write a new blog post, you’ve got a new tweet. However, if you’ve been blogging for a year or more, chances are you already have a ton of evergreen content that you can schedule and tweet  from your archives! The 6 Tips for Responding to HARO Queries post never seems to fail to inspire. And unless HARO ceases to exist, it’s timely.

How do you create your content for Twitter?

Need help managing your twitter accounts? Try Social Media Management Tool – Sprout Social Want more advice on using social media for PR? Order your copy of the Mopwater Manual.

Here is a snippet from a presentation by former print journalist and now Morgan State University professor Allissa Richardson about online media. Richardson is explaining to a roomful of journalists how to live blog their news. When blogging, Richardson warns, you will encounter your audience in real time. No lag time for the letters to the editor; your critics will show up in the comments. So how do you deal?

One way to deal is to press the delete key. Especially if, as Richardson puts so eloquently, “you don’t want that type of drama on your blog.”

But this brings up a great issue: is digital media delete media? Is it necessarily a good thing to be able to erase the negative comments that we don’t wish to see? I know we all have spam filters on our blogs for people selling products, etc. But what about real people who post comments that are simply opinions contrary to our own?

Politico columnist Patrick Gavin brought this up during the PoliTwitch event back in May. (at 3:35 in the clip)  Since he runs a political blog, he uniformly receives a bevy of partisan comments, so many that he almost doesn’t read the comments on the blog.

But what do you think about digital media, negative comments and the delete key? Should negative comments be kept as a part of the story? Or should digital media journalists and bloggers have carte blanche to “police” the comments?

And another point: Do you consider the comments a valuable part of the story?

So if I still haven’t sold you on my beloved Foursquare, check out Wall Street Journal reporter Lee Hawkins with Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley as they take a walk around Cooper Square and the East Village in New York City.

Crowley shows you how he uses his own social media service, some of his favorite hangouts and how he believes Foursquare is making unwieldy cities like the Big Apple easier to navigate and enjoy. (I agree.)

Check out the tip for Luke’s Lobster from “Baratunde T.” that shows up in the post. That has to be none other than Baratunde Thurston. Random!

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Social media brings people together. And conferences do, too.

I met a Mopwater PR + Media Notes “fan” today during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in San Diego today. My heart’s all gooey. I love meeting Mopwater PR + Media Folks.

How did you find Mopwater PR + Media Notes? I’d love to hear your story.

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*Image Credit: Luxe Chronicles

I think I scare my husband.

Whenever we leave the house, I double and triple check my purse or Mopwater tote to be sure I have my iPhone, iPhone charger and, depending on how long we’ll be away from the house, my Flipcam and MacBook. I have to be equipped at all times because I never know what may happen once we step outside that door.

This is the mindset of the new PR pro-always ready for whatever may happen whenever it may happen and wherever it may happen. You never know when an opportunity may present itself.

Case in point, I recently attended a seminar on fashion and social media that was hosted by my PR pal James S. Walker. During the seminar, James gave a number of great ideas to enterprising fashion professionals (who are ready for whatever) to use social media to score traditional media coverage. I am sharing James’ advice in the video below:

I showed you the video for two reasons. One: James’ message resonates with this notion of leveraging the moment for public relations. You’re down in the Metro, interviewing people with your Flip cam or your iPhone and turning that into some sort of segment on street fashion. Two: I’m showing you how I was there in the room getting footage of James to share with you, leveraging the moment for my own PR. Since I’m in the business of highlighting the work of other PR professionals,  sharing new methods and giving you “tools for great PR”  one way I am able to do that is by leveraging the moment-being ready with my camera and recognizing when the information is getting good and knowing that you, the reader, would love to get the information, too.

James had no idea I was capturing that footage, but you should know that if I’m in the room and you’re saying anything interesting (at least in the realm of PR or social media), it’s liable to end up on one of my content channels

If you’re going to leverage the moment, you’ve got to be ready. You can’t ever be without your tools. Here are some of my tips for leveraging the moment for PR.

Get Equipped If you don’t already have a camera, a simple point and shoot is fine. You’ll need something that takes video (it need not be a Flip, although I am quite happy with mine) and computer software for video editing (I use iMovie). If you travel a lot, you’ll  need a reliable internet connection (I’ve been using the Sprint Overdrive and it’s great because it is a mobile hot spot that can accommodate up to 5 computers at a time.

ABC. Always Be Charged I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been equipped with a dead battery. But it’s bound to happen when you’re a heavy user like me. I’m always on my iPhone shooting photos and video, tweeting and Facebooking. Then there’s my MacBook. I’m editing videos and running multiple programs at one time so the battery takes a beating. So I try to keep my power chords with me and a power adapter for my car on hand in case I can’t find one in a room. Take a spare battery or scope out the outlet situation wherever you go.

Think Links. When you’re out there in the world, be in the moment, but always be thinking how can I turn this moment into a hyperlinked piece of content? Because at the end of the day, if another person online can’t link to what you’re doing, or retweet the link, the sharing stops. And that’s the point of leveraging the moment and making the web work. You have to make things easy for the next man to grab hold of and share.  So if you’re taking photographs with key people at an event, post the photos to your Flickr account. Or better yet, write a blog post, post the pictures and put captions naming the people in the photographs. Then tag the post with those names. If you’re capturing video, upload it to YouTube. Once you do this you have a link that you can shorten (use bit.ly) and share via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email or wherever. You can also embed the html code into your web site (on a side widget) or into a blog post to get multiple uses out of one piece of content.

Note: how many hyperlinks can you count in this post?

Share. Send. Immortalize Online. Once you have this awesome content shorten the link (the blog post or YouTube video) and tweet it, Facebook it, E-mail it, create a newsletter with it. Send it out into the world. Once you send your leveraged moment out into the online world, guess what? Your moment just became immortalized. Check back in one month, 3 months, or even one year. That blog post or YouTube video will still be there accumulating equity on the web.

Pretty cool, huh?

What are your favorite tips for leveraging the moment for PR?

How in the world do you get ahead and stay ahead of the social media curve? You’re using Facebook, maybe you’re on Twitter, and perhaps you’ve got a microblog on Tumblr or Posterous but other than that, how do you keep up?

James Walker, PR and social media pro over at PR Prescriptions has some thoughts.

When I first signed up for FourSquare, I didn’t really know how I could leverage it for PR. I got on there to try it because that’s what PR people do when we hear about new social media tools.

I got on Foursquare and started finding people to follow, but at the time there weren’t very many people in my DC Twitter circle on it so the pickings were slim. Luckily, Peter Corbett was on Foursquare, so I followed him and watched his check-ins around the city. There was one that caught my attention, and kept keeping my attention : Chinatown Coffee Company.

I am a coffee snob. So I thought to myself: How in the world was there a coffee place in the city (and apparently right down the street from my house) that was serving divine espresso, that I didn’t know about?! At the time Peter was the mayor of Chinatown Coffee, and thanks to Foursquare, I was able to get the exact address of the place, so one day when I was nearby I stopped in to try it out.

Can you say love at first sight? Done deal. Everything I have ever wanted in my neighborhood coffee shop, my needs all met in one fell swoop. Now, if you know me, you know that for me to say this is major. Let me break this down: minimalist, industrial decor. Locally-sourced dairy. Hawthorne bakery pastries (they always have banana nut muffins, even in summer). Limited seating for an intimate feel. Michele’s granola. Lattes and cappuccinos so perfectly sweet, they don’t even need sugar. A church pew as seating. Customers on MacBooks. Baristas you can talk to about stuff besides coffee.

Just to tell you about the quality of the people this place attracts, once after leaving a PRSA event, Deborah Brody and I went to CC to talk and have coffee, and after leaving we saw Jessica Yellin, a CNN Congressional correspondent jump out of a taxi and head in to grab her java to go. At the time, I was planning PoliTwitch, so I ran back in to talk to Ms. Yellin about possibly getting someone from CNN on the panel. She ended up helping me get Mark Preston, CNN’s political director to speak. And it all started in a round about way with Foursquare.

I say all of this to say, had I not been on Foursquare I may have stumbled across Chinatown Coffee on my own. But because Peter Corbett was the Mayor, it immediately had an endorsement by someone whose taste I trust. And I’m not talking taste in coffee. While that is important, Peter is a busy creative business person so anywhere he chooses to spend any of his precious free time (even if it’s to drop in to grab a cup of coffee) holds a tremendous bit of weight with me.

Think of this as network influence. You may not know of the best place to grab a bottle of wine, but if someone you trust who has great taste in wine endorses an establishment by going there repeatedly and saying how great the wine was, that’s probably where you’re going to go. And if you’re the owner of a wine shop, your job is to find those influencers–the people who know wine, love wine and are always talking about wine–and make sure they are coming to your wine shop, tasting your finest wine, and perhaps getting free bottles of wine. Maybe you need to throw a little private wine tasting just for your wine influencers just so they can check in on Foursquare and put you on the proverbial Foursquare map.

So if your business is NOT on Foursquare, you need to get on there. Because your customers are watching where their friends are checking in. And sometimes, your customers may randomly search for a place to eat or something to do by doing a random “places” search to see what’s nearby. If you don’t pop up, they can’t consider you. And you might be RIGHT under their noses. Just like Chinatown Coffee was  right down the street from my house, but it didn’t exist for me until I saw it Foursquare.

If you need help getting on Foursquare, finding influencers, connecting with influencers, setting up rewards programs or further leveraging Foursquare for your business, let’s talk.

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DC bloggers, social media and PR pros got more than a taste of SEO (search engine optimization) at Saturday morning’s Basic SEO for Blogs training hosted by Mopwater PR in Columbia Heights. Nakeva Corothers of Nightlife PR gave an outstanding presentation on keyword research, driving traffic, how search engines work, and how to write your blog titles to drive traffic to your blog.

How #BSEO4B Came To Be

This workshop was essentially born after I heard an amazing keynote presentation by Lee Odden of TopRank Marketing during the Vocus Users Conference in June. Lee got me all fired up about search engine optimization, and shared a few tips after his presentation and I was so excited. Being the nerd that I am, I’d videotaped his keynote on my flip and uploaded the first 10 minutes to YouTube and posted it here on Mopwater. Nakeva saw the vide0, and commented on the blog post.

Fast forward to Digital Capital Week at the Media Bistro Social Times happy hour. I run into Nakeva and we start discussing, what else? SEO. In the middle of this jam-packed social scene, cocktails beer and whatnot, we’re totally NERDING OUT on the topic of alt tags and keywords. I immediately knew that she knew and understood the value of search and how PR pros must be thinking like search engines since journalists begin their stories oftentimes with search engines. I asked Nakeva to speak, Gia our intern began corresponding with her and the rest is SEO history so to speak.

Take Aways

If you weren’t at the presentation, you missed a great learning opportunity and some great coffee. But we used the hashtag #BSEO4B. Enjoy a few of these choice “Twitter Takeaways,” but be sure to search the hashtag on your own, and add your own SEO tips there as well.

@alexpriest Press releases should always be SEO’d too. Everything goes online. #BSEO4B

@jaywalk1 Quote of the day: “Title is your intro, your blog’s strobe lights. Subtitle is your blog’s red carpet.” #BSEO4B

@socialmediadc: Tips for bloggers. Link when appropriate to your competitors. Great for SEO. #BSEO4B

@ccooks3 Tagging metadata for photos is like having invisible keywords #BSEO4B

@misstorilynn The light bulb just came on. I know what my new blog will be about. Thanks to #BSEO4B for sparking that plug.

Additional Reading:

PR Pros Should Write for Search Engines

5 Ways to Repurpose Blog Content for SEO

After I made my last post, I realized why I’m just not excited about Social Media Day.

You know what it is? After participating earlier this month in Digital Capital Week, I’m kind of jaded. It’s going to be pretty hard to top 10 days of free in-person sessions that happened right here in the nation’s capital. It was incredible. So while one day is great (granted it’s happening all over the world, and live-streaming worldwide and people are tweeting, facebooking, digging, etc.) sometimes you just can’t beat a good, organized in person meeting of the minds.

But maybe that’s just me.

If you were wondering how you can get involved in Social Media Day as I was, here’s some insight from Mashable, the people behind the holiday here’s how you can participate (Keep in mind, they organized it, they’re promoting it, so take these ideas as their ideas. I’m sure there are ways you can participate and make Social Media Day your own!):

• Meetup Everywhere Mashable: Sign up to attend an event on the Meetup Everywhere Mashable.
• Watch the live streams worldwide: We’ll be updating throughout the day.
• Tweet: Use the #smday hashtag on Twitter. With so many participating, we should be a trending topic on Twitter on June 30. Also, we’ll soon be announcing a prize for those that tweet or post to Facebook.
• Add the Social Media Day Twitter theme from TweetyGotBack to your account in support of the day.
• Follow @mashSMday: Follow @mashSMday on Twitter for updates and developments on the celebration.
• Comment via Facebook: Go to Smday.com and leave a comment either promoting your meetup or tell us what you’re doing for your event.
• Upload to Flickr: Upload photos to Flickr and tag them with #smday.

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Social Media Day is here. I must tell you that I for one am a bit perplexed by this “holiday” and I’m sure you are probably surprised to hear me (Amanda Miller Littlejohn-who works at the intersection of public relations, journalism, marketing and social media) say this.

Perhaps I exist in my own little world where every day is social media day so the medium doesn’t need a holiday. But I sometimes forget that everyone doesn’t appreciate or use “The Twitters” as I do, so perhaps a holiday is in order.

Just a few questions:

Is the President observing this holiday? Are banks closing early? Will I still be able to get my latte?

I will be celebrating, or at least circulating. Here are a few events in Washington, DC  that are on my radar:

Social Media Day Happy Hour with Sisarina/MetroMix/DCEventJunkie

Social Media Day is June 30 according to @Mashable so @Sisarina has partnered with @DCeventjunkie to bring you a fun evening at Science Club to celebrate! Gather your Facebook friends, your Twitter followers and your LinkedIn folks and come hang out with us for happy hour. Come meet your ‘friends & followers’ IRL (in real life).

RSVP & See Who’s Coming: http://socialmediaday2010.eventbrite.com/

WHERE: Science Club

WHEN: June 30 – 5:30-9pm

ADDRESS: 1136 19th St NW, DC 20036 (between L & M)

METRO: Farragut (or Dupont) – Red line

“TWEETUP” WITH THURSDAY NETWORK (HAPPY HOUR FUNDRAISER @ CHI-CHA LOUNGE)

Social media has changed our lives. It has not only changed the way we communicate, but the way we connect with one another, consume our news, conduct our work, organize our lives, and much more.

Join Thursday Network for a Happy Hour Fundraiser & Social Media Soiree’ !!! Here is your chance to meet your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, LinkedIn connects, and favorite bloggers IRL (in real life).

When: Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Time: 5:00PM – 8:00PM

Chi-Cha Lounge

1624 U Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20009

Suggested Donation: $10

*Receive 1 Free Drink Ticket with donation*

* Happy Hour Food, Drink, & Hookah Specials

*Proceeds benefit Thursday Network’s I EMPOWER Scholarship Fund*

To RSVP, please send an email to info@thursdaynetwork.org .Be sure to tweet   (@ThursdayNtwk).

Contact info@thursdaynetwork.org to RSVP or for more information.

“We’re just having a cup of coffee,” So says Margie:) That’s a quote from our last PR Coffee Meetup Tweetup at Chinatown Coffee back in March. Shameful, that we haven’t had a cup of coffee together in three months! Please know that dozens (maybe hundreds?) of cups of coffee have been had by Amanda in those three months since.

Anyway, during Digital Capital Week on Media 2.0 Day here in Washington, I (Amanda Miller Littlejohn) my new partner in crime (Gia Parker) and my PR pal and transplant from my hometown of Nashville (Margie Newman) will be hosting a casual coffee for communicators and media professionals to cool their heels between the morning and afternoon Media 2.0 Day sessions and before the evening’s events.

The event is free, but please RSVP to the coffee for media and public relations pros here, so that we can have an idea of who all is coming so we can prepare seating at CB. All details (time, location, etc. are on the eventbrite listing).

See you on Tuesday.

Follow Amanda on Twitter

Follow Gia on Twitter

Follow Margie on Twitter

The good folks over at the National Black Public Relations Society have invited me to present  their April Web Cafe Webinar, today from 12:30-1:30pm EST. My topic is Essential Social Media for Communicators, and I’ll be talking about the top social media tools you have to be using if you’re in PR.

I only have 4o minutes to talk so I will be talking about my top social media tools for PR and how to get the most out of them. Did I mention the webinar is free?!

Register here.

Here’s the PR for the PR talk, so to speak:

Essential Social Media for Communicators
How to Use Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter for PR

By now you’re using social media tools in your communications matrix, right? If not, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to leverage popular and inexpensive online tools to get the word out about your cause, gather valuable feedback about your brand’s reputation, and build relationships with media and your target audience. These days, everyone is online, so if you’re not, you will inevitably be left behind.

in this webinar, we will

• outline the basic tools you HAVE to be using for communications, and HOW to use them
• offer valuable case studies of organizations who are using social media effectively for PR
• show you ways to reach out to journalists using social media, and
• give you simple tools for measuring the reach of your social media program

If you’re on listening and on Twitter, use the hashtag #NBPRS

Please leave comments, feedback etc. about the webinar on the Mopwater PR + Media Notes Facebook Page! (And uh, can you become a fan if you aren’t already?!)