February 3, 2009
By Todd Defren

Dear CEO,

I am really happy to hear that you’re getting excited by the concept of social media. There’s no question that the principles of social media—in short, embracing a candid and ongoing dialogue with users—constitute an unstoppable trend.

Meanwhile, the tools of social media (blogs, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.) are becoming ever more important components to the marketing mix.

The fact that you want to get personally involved bodes well for your company’s chances of successfully navigating these unknown waters.

I can understand why you, as a CEO, would be interested in “joining the conversation.” It’s an interesting conversation: After all, it’s a conversation about topics of interest to you and to your company, and the people you’ll interact with will self-identify themselves as being interested in what you’ve got to say.

And, for what it’s worth, here’s some more good news: It takes a lot of talent to rise to the CEO spot; you need to be confident, charming, smart, and articulate—and these are excellent qualities in a blogger, too! Done well, your foray into blogging will afford you both personal satisfaction and bottom-line results. So we’re off to a good start.

So, umm, how do you really start? How do you get started blogging, and do it well? Let’s avoid the technical requirements (you’re the CEO, you’ve got people who can figure that stuff out!) Instead, let’s focus on creating the right mindset.

First off, you need to explore your motivations and time commitments before you consider a dual career as a CEO-blogger.

Too many would-be CEO bloggers treat their new toy as little more than a weekly newsletter: a way to broadcast their thoughts, rather than a way to create a dialogue. These execs expect that simply because they are the CEO, people will be magnetically drawn to their words. But then they are crushed to see “Comments: (0)” after each post and their acknowledged industry expertise in the “real world” not reflected in their wan “Technorati Authority” ranking.

And then they give up, pooh-poohing the ballyhooed blogosphere as they munch on sour grapes. Because they couldn’t tame the blogosphere, they lose interest.

Now, all other blog-related projects at the company become suspect—after all, if the CEO couldn’t hack it, who dares think that they could do better? And thus a company loses a golden opportunity to engage with its customers and prospects.

Click to read the whole post…

January 20, 2009

BOSTON, MA -

NEWS FACTS

– SHIFT Communications announced today that it has been selected as the PR Agency of Record for Powered, Inc., an organization that delivers comprehensive ROI-based social marketing programs that drive conversations between consumers and brands. Powered’s customers include companies like HP, iVillage, Atkins, RadioShack and Sony.

– By providing marketers with one source for results-driven online communities, content strategy expertise, robust analytics and strategic program management, Powered has evolved online community development into social marketing, giving its partners everything they need to build rich, long-term relationships with their target audiences.

– SHIFT was chosen for its deep knowledge of and participation in the social media space, placing it in the best position to create greater awareness of Powered and its services.

– The SHIFT team will focus on increasing brand visibility by providing strategic counsel, social media consulting and aggressive media relations execution.

QUOTES

– “With business units converging across the Web, almost all marketers are aware of social marketing, and interest levels in its potential are at an all-time high. However, the actual understanding of the various types of social marketing and community programs is all over the map. Marketers need help determining what will work best for their objectives. We are looking forward to having the SHIFT team help broaden the awareness of social marketing initiatives and making organizations understand the true power behind their customer base.”

– Aaron Strout, VP marketing, Powered, Inc. — click for The Engaged Consumer blog

– “With its impressive client roster, Powered is positioned for recognition in a market — enterprise social media solutions — with no established leaders. We plan to help turn Powered, with its social marketing approach and deep bench of executive talent in the management team, into an acknowledged market leader.”

– Todd Defren, a principal at SHIFT Communications — click for Defren’s LinkedIn profile

Click to read the whole post…

By Aarti Shah
January 5, 2009

NEW YORK: Virgin Mobile has named SHIFT Communications as its AOR. The agency will focus on broadening the company’s message to fit with the current economy, as well as promote its expanded offerings.

Virgin Mobile offers prepaid and pay-as-you-go cell-phone coverage, but the company added post-pay service after it completed its acquisition this past August of Helio, which included its product offerings like Ocean, as well as its almost 200,000 customers.

SHIFT, which was expected to commence work on the account January 1, will assist Virgin Mobile on three major challenges facing the company. Among them is changing the perception of prepaid cell phones in the consumer marketplace, according to Jayne Wallace, VP of corporate communications at Virgin Mobile.

In addition, the agency will be tasked with maximizing Virgin Mobile’s social media opportunities and raising awareness of its post-paid cell-phone offerings.

The company’s previous messaging carried an anti-contract sentiment, but it will now emphasize that consumers can have any wireless service and on their own terms.

“We are developing a new campaign and branding to be broad enough to encompass prepay and post-pay,” Wallace explained. “But prepay is still our bread and butter and we want to let people know that in this economy it’s a great alternative, not just a second-best option.”

Click to read the whole post…

By Todd Defren
December 15, 2008

Peter Kim, the former Forrester analyst, was kind enough to invite me to join several other smart folks in looking ahead to Social Media’s likely evolution in 2009.

“Community and collaboration are wonderful things,” he says. And then I realize that the 14 voices Peter’s lassoed into ginning up their ideas could’ve been 15, if Peter himself had hazarded some predictions! Crazy like a fox, that guy.

Without further ado, with true thanks to Peter, “fourteen great minds on social media have shared thoughts on what 2009 may have in store for us.” Here’s some of what they’re thinking:

“Although it is now cheaper to launch an initiative leveraging Web 2.0 technology - it requires qualified and passionate people to make them successful.” - David Armano
“You may not always start the year as a leader, but you can certainly finish it that way.” - Rohit Bhargava
“Intimacy touches emotion; emotion powers conversation.” - Pete Blackshaw
“Doors are going to close all over the social web. Why? Because the money didn’t come the way people thought it would.” - Chris Brogan
“The tipping point has not only *not* been reached, but could still tilt *away* from Social Media.” - Todd Defren
“There’s a lot of fixing that needs to be done.” - Jason Falls
“Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the ball.” - Ann Handley
“We’re going to develop a set of better metrics to help guide, direct and validate ‘commitment’.” - Joseph Jaffe
“The movement is rooted in a desire to have quality, not quantity, as people cocoon in the face of the economic crisis.” - Charlene Li
“After a pre-qualifying wrestling match…” - Ben McConnell
“These will be cumulative events and interactions that will build brand loyalty for the companies that pay attention to them.” - Scott Monty
“The recession will force revenue results out of social technologies.” - Jeremiah Owyang
“Companies that focus on earning love will thrive during hard times, and kick ass when good times return.” - Andy Sernovitz
“Suddenly, being Facebook friends with your mom will seem less ridiculous than following 4,000 strangers on Twitter.” - Greg Verdino

Click to read the whole post…

By Neville Hobson
November 7, 2008

Content summary: The live call-in episode on BlogTalk Radio. Panel discussion addressed the value public relations professionals bring to startups. The topic was a response to several posts dismissing PR’s worth, suggesting startup CEOs can handle their own public relations (the post by Jason Calacanis served as the focal point of the discussion).

Panelists included Rob Lane, CEO, Overlay TV; Katie Paine, president, K.D. Paine & Partners; Todd Defren, partner, Shift Communications; Sherrilynne Starkie, from Strive Public Relations; and Michael O’Connor Clarke, from ThornleyFallis Public Relations.

Click to listen to FIR Live Now episode…

By Lisa van der Pool
October 24, 2008

Looking to shave discretionary spending where he can, Jim Joyal, principal at public relations shop Shift Communications LLC, has drawn up a list of more than a dozen spending cuts. Among them, curbing corporate travel, paring back on outsourced IT services and employee expense accounts, shutting down two of the company’s printers to save on toner, encouraging staff to use porcelain mugs rather than paper cups and hosting a “more modest” holiday party this year.

Click here to read the whole article…

By Sarah Wurrey
September 26, 2008

For this episode of the Roundtable, my usual co-host Jen Zingsheim was out on vacation, so I needed two special guests to fill her venerable shoes. I am joined by Valeria Maltoni and Doug Haslam. Valeria, whose blog Conversation Agent is one of my favorites, is the director of marketing and communications at Sun Guard Availability Services. Doug, who is joining us on the Roundtable for the second time after serving as one of our first guests several months ago, is an Account Director at Boston’s SHIFT Communications, and blogs at DougHaslam.com (and naturally, Doug’s blog is one of my favorites too!).

Click here to read the whole article…

SAN FRANCISCO: Watercooler recently named Shift Communications its AOR to help raise its profile in the social networking space.

Created in 2007, Watercooler is a platform for sports and TV fans that allows users to access the application from social networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, and Friendster, so that the content created with one post is duplicated on all the user’s sites.

Kevin Chou, CEO of Watercooler, said that more than 20 million have downloaded its application or joined its communities, but now it needs to focus on a branding plan.

Click here to read the whole article…

Shooting down a launch. The highest-profile website launch in a long while was last Monday’s unveiling of Cuil.com (pronounced “cool.”) The new search engine was built by former Google and AltaVista engineers, who say it searches three times as many pages as Google. But by the end of the site’s first day, many bloggers and journalists seemed to have found something to dislike, whether it was a prominent site missing from a set of search results or Cuil’s propensity to match photos of one person with Web pages related to someone else. Public relations executive Todd Defren of Boston’s Shift Communications had some advice on how things could have played out differently.

The [PR] agency should have insisted that Cuil slap “BETA” all over the site and any other outbound communication. I checked lots of different sections of the Cuil site, and never saw any hint from the company that they might not be ready for prime time. The messaging is marked by ambition and (in retrospect) arrogance. The agency should have enlisted the search community’s aid. There are plenty of search algorithm experts, [search engine optimization] experts, online marketers, etc., who might be willing to offer free advice for such an ambitious start-up. Taking on Google is a big, hairy, audacious goal: this community could have gotten excited about collaborating on something so audacious. This longer-term, inclusive approach could have cushioned the launch with some built-in compassion for the Cuil engine’s lapses.
www.pr-squared.com

Click here to read the whole article…

“The SEC is taking the right steps to embrace the new tools and services that reach people in addition to wire services. With the recognition of blogs as a viable form of disclosure, under certain circumstances of course, the SEC is officially recognizing Social Media and in a sense, socializing the rules associated with Reg FD.

Perhaps, the most significant change stemming from the new SEC guidance is that Web-based disclosure does not have to appear in a format comparable to paper-based information, unless the Commission’s rules explicitly require it.

This is music to my ears as it finally opens the door for the Social Media Release.

For a few years, Todd Defren, Chris Heuer, and I have not only defended and charted the opportunity for Social Media Releases (SMRs), but also fielded emotionally-charged questions from the financial and IR communities asking about whether or not an SMR would ever meet disclosure requirements for Reg FD, and without it, what good would it ever be…”

Click here to read the whole article…

“Mr. Penn, who isn’t looking for a job, got the idea for the social media résumé from Todd Defren of Shift Communications who created the social media press release, a template for a Web 2.0 news release that he made available free to others in the public relations industry.”

Click here to read the whole article…

Todd Defren created a collection of resources and posts for public relations 101. It encompasses social-media tactics, free online services that appeal to small businesses and creating a news release for an online community.

Scott Monty
relationship director, Crayon

Click here to read the whole article…

Innovation is essential for the PR industry as it continues its evolution. PRWeek profiles five agency executives whose ideas could have an effect far beyond the reach of their agencies

Todd Defren
Principal, Shift Communications

“Let’s screw up intelligently,” Todd Defren dares the industry.

Defren envisions a PR industry that is willing to take risks - and perhaps make some mistakes - to get things right.

I’d like to see us experiment more,” he adds.

And the industry may not have a choice. As media grow increasingly sophisticated, Defren believes bad PR - e-mail blasts, unsolicited attachments, and uninformed press releases - will disappear.

Click here to read the whole article…

With access to blogs, message boards and other media tools, consumers have ushered in the age of citizen journalism. They can report, critique and disseminate news and information, becoming an important part of the conversation.

That’s the premise behind the social media press release, which includes rich media along with text that targets consumers as well as journalists.

With the goal of making press releases more Web friendly, SHIFT Communications, a Boston-based PR firm, has designed a template that reduces the traditional text of a press release to bullet points while adding videos and links.

Click here to read the whole article…

SHIFT Communications, one of the fastest-growing national Public Relations firms, won THE coveted Stevie Award for being named Agency of the Year in The 2007 American Business Awards last night.

Hailed as “the business world’s own Oscars” (New York Post , April 27, 2005), The American Business Awards are the only national, all-encompassing awards program honoring great performances in business.

Click here to read the whole article…

 BOSTON: RealNetworks has consolidated its external PR capabilities by naming Shift Communications its US AOR.

Todd Defren, principal at Shift Communications, said the agency will be conducting traditional and social media programs for all of RealNetwork’s divisions including Rhapsody, RealPlayer, RealArcade, and Technology Products and Services—the company’s mobile division.

“We’re helping develop a blog outreach strategy, blogosphere monitoring, and advising them on how to best respond to comments and bloggers themselves,” Defren said. “We already help them set up the RealPlayer blog for the launch of the newest version of RealPlayer.”

Click here to read the whole article…

Who knows better than a marketer that the medium is the message? A midsize Boston PR agency, SHIFT Communications, has developed a press release made especially for the Internet. The impetus for this invention: Web 2.0, that second-generation wave of Net services that let people create content and exchange information online. To encourage PR folks to use these Web tools to get the attention of journalists and bloggers, SHIFT has developed a model for a “social media press release” …

…SHIFT Communications aspired to a launch event that would be the talk of the DEMO 2006 technology conference (in February), as well as both tech-oriented and mainstream audiences… The PR team spread the company’s passion to consumers using the media who had seen Pleo’s magic up close and personal throughout the process in a deep enough way to suspend their disbelief and make them product evangelists.

Click here to read the whole article…

…[Todd Defren, principal of SHIFT Communications and author of the blog PR Squared] notes that approximately 3,000 press releases cross the wires each business day, overwhelming editors who often discard these notices without ever glancing at their content… Defren developed a social media news release template to modernize press releases and increase their ease of use through five principles…

Click here to read the whole article…

…I contacted Todd Defren - since he’s the recognized expert on SMPR templates - and he offered this powerful thought, “It’s important to understand that the Social Media News Release is not intended as a replacement for the traditional news release. It’s an evolution. The SMNR’s core function is simply to allow creators of news to leverage the Web familiarity that is now ingrained in consumer audiences. With 50+ percent of consumers now creating and sharing content online (Pew Research), it just makes sense to democratize access to corporate news and multimedia assets to anyone (reporters, bloggers, laypeople) who might be interested, and, to create a forum for community and context that - to date - has been unavailable via old-world press releases.” Amen.

Click here to read the whole article..

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Offers Fortune 1000 a Trusty “Bridge to Social Media”

May 6, 2009

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Announces Digital Marketing Practice

March 30, 2009

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Adds Four New Clients in Boston and San Francisco

February 23, 2009

Social Media Marketing E-Book From PR Agency SHIFT Communications Offers Rapid Ramp Up for Marketers

February 11, 2009

PR Agency SHIFT Communications’ Principal Todd Defren Named One Of PRWeek’s ‘40 under 40’

December 8, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Adds Nine New Clients in Boston

December 8, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Tapped by Canadian Club and DeKuyper to Invigorate Brands with Social Media Strategies

October 27, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Promotes Julie Crabill to Vice President

July 24, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Promotes Amy Anderson to Managing Director, Boston Office

July 2, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Adds Four New Clients in San Francisco

June 10, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Refines Social Media Release Template with Conversation Aggregator, More Democratization

May 22, 2008

The Holmes Report Crowns PR Agency SHIFT Communications as “New Media Agency of the Year”

May 14, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Named Agency of Record for Six Sizzling Startups

May 1, 2008

SHIFT Communications Skyrockets to #26 in National Ranking

March 17, 2008

PR Agency SHIFT Communications Named Agency of Record for The Rubicon Project and Powerset

March 17, 2008

SHIFT Communications Announces Open House

November 2, 2007

SHIFT Communications Tops $10M in Revenues

October 17, 2007

SHIFT Communications Promotes Mandy Mladenoff to Managing Director, San Francisco Office

October 2, 2007

SHIFT Communications Wins Sabre Award for Advancing PR Industry

August 8, 2007

New Facebook Application, “Newshound,” Allows Users To Save, Share, Comment and Subscribe To News & Web Content

July 31, 2007

SHIFT Communications Rings Up Two 2007 Bell Ringer Awards

June 28, 2007

SHIFT Communications Wins “Agency of the Year” in 5th Annual American Business Awards

June 12, 2007

RealNetworks Names SHIFT as Agency Of Record

June 12, 2007

Travelocity Books SHIFT as AOR for Emerging Brands
May 14, 2007

SHIFT Communications Upgrades to New Headquarters
May 1, 2007

SHIFT Communications Wins Bulldog Award for Innovation of the Year
April 19, 2007

SHIFT Communications Debuts First-Ever “Social Media Newsroom” Template
February 5, 2007

Novell Names SHIFT Communications Agency of Record
September 1, 2006

SHIFT Communications Promotes Mandy Mladenoff to Vice President, Account Services
August 1, 2006

SHIFT Communications Releases Helpful “PR 2.0 Essentials” Guide
July 25, 2006

SHIFT Communications Wins a Bell and Three Awards of Merit at 2006 Bell Ringer Awards
June 15, 2006

New Media PR Bootcamp

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 to Thursday, April 16, 2009

Conference location:
Microtek-Chicago
230 W. Monroe Street, Suite 550
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 236-3811

ON-SITE SEMINAR

Are you ready to learn the ins and outs of blogging, podcasting, RSS, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, online newsrooms and other social media? Get a comprehensive overview of new media through easy-to-follow, step-bystep exercises designed to give digital immigrants hands on experience using new media tools and services, and digital natives a foundation of strategic knowledge to apply social media to organizational communications. Start at square one and get everything you need to develop and deploy new media and social media initiatives that deliver measurable results.

This seminar is offered in a Wi-Fi environment. Attendees bring their own laptop computers and follow along through a series of exercises using popular online social media tools and services. Learn the basics of keyword discovery and use your keywords to set up a new media monitoring dashboard.Launch your own blog, set up and integrate a Flickr account, embed YouTube vidoe clips and learn to install third party widgets. Get practical knowledge on how to leverage these tools for external communications.

You will learn:

When to blog, comment or listen.
The business case for RSS, blogging and podcasting.
How to integrate new media into conventional public relations campaigns.
The basics of search engine optimization (SEO).
Podcast development, production and distribution.
About video-on-demand and webcasts.
About social bookmarking and networking.
How to use Twitter to tracks news and build communities.

INSTRUCTOR

Public relations executive and new media pioneer Eric Schwartzman is founder and chairman of iPressroom, managing director of Schwartzman & Associates, and executive producer of the award-winning PR podcast “On the Record…Online.” He has nearly 20 years of experience as a marketer and a public relations practitioner, specializing in helping clients integrate all aspects of Web-based communications into mainstream public relations, corporate communications and marketing campaigns.

For more information, please go to http://www.prsa.org/.

The 5th Annual New Communications Forum

Monday, April 27th through Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Conference location:
The San Francisco Marriott
55 Fourth Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Now celebrating its fifth year, New Communications Forum is the premier conference that brings together thought leaders and decision makers to discuss the impact of social media and emerging communication tools, technologies, and models on PR and corporate communications, marketing and advertising, media and journalism, business, culture and society.

The Forum provides an in-depth, hands-on exploration of the future of communications. In its five year history, it has come to be known as one of the world’s leading conferences focusing on the latest trends in new emerging media and communications platforms.

NewComm Forum is a focused conference specifically designed to teach communications professionals the strategy and tactics to effectively utilize the power of new media and communications tools and trends.

For more information, please go to http://www.newcommforum.com/2009/.

The 2nd Annual Social Media for Communicators Conference

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 to Friday, March 13, 2009

Conference location:
Encore at Wynn Las Vegas
3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

The Social Media Revolution has arrived and it is here to stay.

Whether you’re new to social media or an early adopter—spend three days in the desert with leading social media thinkers, speakers and practitioners and learn how to:

Identify the right social media tools for your organization and avoid costly mistakes

Produce “reality TV-style” videos to capture candid, authentic messages which help your executives connect with employees

Build an online newsroom that will deliver your message and get journalists using your site as a source for news

Seamlessly add the power of social media to your traditional media efforts to effectively communicate during a crisis

Measure the ROI of your social media efforts to get buy-in from your execs

Bridge the gap between your employee publication and intranet—with great writing, photos, podcasts and videos

Finally answer the question: to blog or not to blog

Plus, take advantage of these conference extras: Add to your skills with two pre-conference sessions on videos done right and crafting a social media press release. And, if you’re just getting started in the Web 2.0 world, you can attend an all-day social media boot camp with technology guru Shel Holtz.

Make sure you don’t get left behind!

For more information, please go to http://www.ragan.com/.

South by Southwest Interactive Conference

Friday, March 13, 2009 to Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Conference location:
Austin Convention Center
500 E Cesar Chavez Street
Austin, Texas 78701

What is the SXSW Interactive Festival?
The SXSW Interactive Festival offers five days of panels, keynote discussions, Trade Show, and exciting evening events. Attendees benefit from hands-on, how-to training as well as long-term, big-picture analysis in an atmosphere that charges creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. More to the point, coming to SXSW Interactive is a great way to recharge your creativity.Where does the SXSW Interactive Festival occur?
Daytime panel programming (as well as the Trade Show & Exhibition) takes place at the Austin Convention Center (500 E. Cesar Chavez) in downtown Austin. Evening events occur at various nightspots around the city.Who attends this event?
SXSW Interactive appeals to uber-geeks and digital creatives who push the cutting edge of technological change. The event appeals to content developers, web designers, programmers, bloggers, wireless innovators, gamers, tech entrepreneurs, investors, and educators. Even if you are not a technical person, you will benefit from the outside-the-box thinking that thrives at SXSW.
What kind of topics are covered at the event?
Panel topics cover everything from web design, usability, and blogging to wireless innovation and new technology business models. Other panels focus on more general topics that are nonetheless relevant to the digital creatives who attend SXSW Interactive. Discovering new ideas that lead us to a better future is the underlying theme on all of this programming.

For more information, please go to http://sxsw.com/.