I’m excited that today is the first day of class for my Saint Mary’s College of California PR class that I teach each year! We study real life publicity and marketing experiences. The goal of my class is for each student to understand that they can have a career in Public Relations or they can learn how to use PR to enhance their careers. Or both!
One of the assignments is to read one of two excellent books about social media. Here they are.
“Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies,” by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li. These two Forrester analysts give you the picture and especially how to really spend a big budget on social media. I’m not joking about this. Most social media strategies are based on spending tiny amounts of money. This book shows how big businesses can better use social media. Some of my students are going to work for large companies. I want to make sure they are armed!
Then, onto some really effective, hands-on strategies with “New Rules of Marketing and PR,” by David Meerman Scott. This is a book that I predicted a year ago would not seem dated in the near future, as so many business books do. And I was right! A year later, it’s still just as relevant as it was when it came out. And it’s one of the most sensible online marketing books I’ve ever read.
My thanks go to Meghan Overby, Saint Mary’s grad, for her help with all of this!
Somebody dropped a link to your website on Twitter and that is where I first found your site. I really like the stuff I have read on your blog and plan to keep reading when I find more time. Do you have a Twitter profile?
I was so excited to take this course! After listening to Prof. Erokan speak at the AMA club about marketing and PR last year I was very impressed with his credentials in the magazine publishing industry. I have always dreamed of working in that industry, and to be learning from a professor who is an expert in this industry makes me SO excited! I have already learned so much about PR and I cannot wait to learn more.
Also, I was overjoyed to learn that the Groundswell book is an option for outside reading, after having heard that it is the key to success for many businesses in conquering social media. The fast-pace dominating monster that is over-taking the world.
Can’t wait to learn more!!
-Jenn H.
I like this class because of how hands on it is. We are genuinely going out there and working with a real life client in order to understand how PR really works. It’s not like other classes where you sit there and take notes and think of the subject as something that a) you won’t encounter ever again or b)will only use later in the future. This class focuses on making it happen here and now, which is something that is both refreshing and exciting.