Social Media Help Desk: Social Won't Kill a Crisis, but Lack of Social During a Crisis Will Kill You

Date: Wednesday, October 27th
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM CT (note your time zone)
Speakers: Valeria Maltoni, Doug Wick (moderator) and me (Aaron)

A PR crisis comes and goes without much warning. The 24/7 environment of social media networks is a perfect farming ground for these potentially uncontrollable situations. While most companies have a solid foundation for social media engagement, these guidelines do not provide an integrated strategy, capable of navigating the murky waters of a PR storm. When the storm hits, the customer dictates how much preparation and reaction time you have. This is the worst time to learn to deal with the situation.

Establishing an integrated social media strategy is the key to weathering these situations successfully. Join Valeria Maltoni, Aaron Strout and Doug Wick as they explore the foundations for planning ahead and preparing for a PR crisis. Valeria will spend 30 minutes discussing the crisis communication groundwork and remaining 30 minutes will be focused on you and your questions. By attending, you will learn:

• Why companies need to be involved and communicate early on.
• The steps needed to build a communication framework for your organization and weather a crisis in real time.
• How to keep your cool during a crisis.

You in? Sign up now. And if you want to ask questions ahead of time, feel free to leave 'em in the comments!

Surrounded by Smart People

This morning, we announced some very exciting news. Yes, Valeria Maltoni aka Conversation Agent (@ConversationAge on Twitter) has joined the company that I work for, Powered, as director of Strategy. In addition to being one of AdAge's top 50 marketing bloggers, we've added a witty, hard working brand marketer to a fold that already included a few smarties.

While I'll let Valeria's work speak for itself (she is a must read if you don't have her in your blog reader or Tweetdeck yet), you should also know about several other smarties we have at Powered. Some are pretty well known, others are "soon to be" well known. Here is a list of who they are and where you can find them on Twitter and in the blogosphere (alphabetically):

• Natanya Anderson: Fete & Feast (foodie blog) | @NatanyaP
• Joseph Jaffe: Jaffe Juice | @JaffeJuice
• Matt McDougall: Damned if you DOOGs (photog) | @DoogsATX
• Amadeo Plaza: Rock Me Amadeo | @amadeoplaza
• Jane Quigley: Virtually Social | @jquig99
• Bryan Stratton: StepChange Blog | @bryanstratton
• Jen van der Meer: Inhabitat.com | @jenvandermeer 
• Greg Verdino: GregVerdino.com | @GregVerdino
• Doug Wick: Powered Blog & DougWick.com | @DougWick

Yup, I'm pretty lucky. Now you know when you read this blog, follow me on Twitter or listen to my podcast that I'm just trying to keep up with my colleagues!

post script: I realized after I posted this that while the 10 people I highlighted will likely be happy for the love, the 70 other people I work with may feel like I'm slighting them. This couldn't be further from the truth. To clarify, I tried to call out people at Powered that were regular bloggers (I'm sure I missed a couple of folks). I have nothing but love and respect for the rest of my VERY smart colleagues.