I was thrilled when Lisa Byrne’s DC Event Junkie profiled the DC Flacks Two Year Anniversary happy hour. The feature brought us several new members and tons of exposure on Twitter. Who could ask for anything more? So, when a Washington Post photographer decided to cover the event after reading about us on Lisa’s site, it was a double bonus! Thank you, Lisa, for enabling this fabulous coverage of DC Flacks’ second birthday:
DC Flacks Two Year Anniversary featured in The Washington Post! (September 3, 2011)
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Oh, sure, it’s been two months since my last post, but I’m back with all kinds of fabulous news! For starters, it’s time to welcome Tallahassee to our Flacks family!
That’s right: Tallahassee, Florida, public relations, communications and new media pros now have a no-pressure happy hour of their very own. And my Best Friend in the Whole Wide World, Rachel Davis Cone, is the hostess!
Check out the #TallyFlacks and please help Rachel spread the word. Besides, when it is too freakin cold in DC to be social around January and February–and if we have been nice to her–maybe Rachel will let us relocate DC Flacks to Tally for a couple of months. Just a thought.
Thinking about starting a Flacks Meetup in your town? Check out our Flacks affiliations page; and don’t hesitate to email me (Margie @ flackrabbit dot com) if you need help or a pep talk!
Are you a member yet?
If you know (or ARE!) a young woman in the DC-area who is making stellar contributions to the communications field, Washington Women in Public Relations wants the world to know her, too! Nominations are open for the 2011 WWPR Emerging Leaders Awards.
As a WWPR board member, I’m co-chairing the second annual ELA’s. If you know a deserving flack, please tell me about her! And of course, self-nominations are welcome!
Here are the rules:
- Candidates must be female professionals between the ages of 21-35 as of June 3, 2011
- Candidates must work in one of the following disciplines: Media Relations, Crisis Communications, Event Planning, Social Media, Website Communications, Strategic Communications, Community Relations, Internal Communications, Speechwriting, Public Affairs, Marketing Communications, Government Communications, Investor Relations Communications, Consumer/Lifestyle Communications, Branding, and Writing/Editing
I’m looking for the best of the best–will you help me find her?
{I can always depend on Joe Flood for informative, succinct guest posts. In his most recent FlackRabbit submission, Joe shares some marketing tips for all you creative, self-promoters out there.}
Last year, I published a book. Murder in Ocean Hall is a mystery set in DC about the death of the world’s most famous oceanographer.
Since then, I’ve experimented with social media to get the word out about my first novel. It’s been an interesting experience, one that has taught me a lot about product marketing in this consumer-driven age. Doing it yourself, without a staff or budget, helps you learn marketing tools in a very hands-on fashion.
Here’s what has worked for me:
Facebook – The most important audience for a new book is the author’s friends and family. Facebook is the ideal tool for reaching them. I promoted the book when it came out and at other key points spurring sales. My FB marketing has been simple – I’ve used my status update to tell people about my book.
Kindle – One surprise is that I’ve sold as many Kindle copies as print ones. The Kindle copy of my book is $2.99 (versus $9.99 for print) and people can buy it instantly. Also, Kindle owners seem to read more books than most people. Read More…
On Monday, January 24, 2011, one of my favorite DC Flacks members, Tod Plotkin, is hosting a day-long conference here in Washington, D.C. I’m going and you should, too. What’s Next DC promises a lean, mean, highly-relevant communications conference experience. View speakers and an agenda here.
Here’s the official word from Tod:
“There are no sales commercials masquerading as presentations here, or sleepy Q & A sessions where only 1 of 8 questions apply to your business. What’s Next DC is about brainstorming, case studies, energy, networking, strategy and – best of all – personalized solutions to your company’s most important challenges.
By jamming as much information into the day as possible. We’ll have floating experts in a variety of fields available, so if you hear something you like and want to bounce ideas around right there on the spot, you can! We’ve scheduled group brainstorming/strategy sessions and niche learning sessions where you can discuss your areas of interest and expertise. There will also be an area dedicated solely to networking all day long.”
I’ll be one of those folks he mentions that will be floating around to help you brainstorm timely and effective PR strategies right there on the spot.
On Monday, August 30, DC Flacks joined forces with Washington Women in Public Relations to toast the one-year anniversary of DC-area PR and communications pros meeting up, talking to strangers and sharing beverages! More than 85 folks came out to Cedar in downtown DC to celebrate, greet new faces and present the DC Flacks Perfect Attendance Sash to the one and only Joe Flood. He’s only person besides me to attend every Flacks happy hour:
Photo credit: Dave Newman/GroovySoup
View all the photos here and be sure to check out this fun video, courtesy of Vocus, our DC Flacks sponsor:
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Introducing Dallas Flacks
Congrats to my friend Rebecca for founding the new Dallas Flacks Meetup! If you know a public relations or PR pro in the Dallas area, tell’em to join the group and mark their calendars for the first happy hour on September 28.
Nashville Flacks first Meetup a Tremendous Success
If you declare it, they will come! Congrats to Jena, Mary Beth, Rob and Cindy on their first–and fabulous–Nashville Flacks happy hour! View the photos here. And if you are a Nashvegas PR pro, join the group and attend their next event on September 27.
