The WebPR+ conference has kicked off at a faster pace than the sleek Roadsters downstairs here at the BMW Pavilion at the Waterfront with the first of the day’s four sessions – a presentation by Sally Falkow entitled New Media Habits and New Technology Affecting the Practice of PR.

Sally was introduced by Louise Marsland, editor of Bizcommunity, who spoke briefly about how readers have become editors – and how today’s Internet era is one of the empowered individual.

Sally, an expert in social media (blogs/RSS feeds/content syndication) and Senior Fellow of the Society for New Communication Research, has been creating communication strategies for over 25 years and is now considered one of the internet’s leading marketing strategists.

“Taking my PR knowledge and moving it to the internet has been quite an exciting journey for me. I’ve taken on the role of e-vangelist to the PR industry, teaching people how to take what they know [about PR] and use it online. Many of the old rules apply, but many of them don’t – the internet is a new medium, we have to understand how it works for our audience,” she said.

To emphasise the fundamental premise of her presentation, Sally used a quote from the ITWEB Online Industry Summit 2007: “The shift of power is more dramatic in the media than in any other industry – the reader/viewer is overpowering the media.”

Sally emphasized importance of ranking well on Google’s results pages, and that business people should be aware of the fact that there are thousands of people online all the time who are searching for generic keywords directly related to their businesses.

“If you don’t appear at number one for your actual company name, go out into your back yard and shoot yourself,” she joked, with a significant element of sincerity. (Of course, there’s a less painful way of doing things: speak to Quirk!)

Sally continued her presentation by revealing a bit about the nature of the average South African Internet user, whose online behaviour is very similarly to their British and American counterparts.

“Only 7% of the population accesses the internet on a regular basis but this is a slice of the population that is economically activate and upwardly mobile – the slice that influences trends and brands,” she said.

“The biggest influence on our lives is consumer generated media – that is what has changed us the most. People who read blogs are very influential people, they are opinion leaders,” Sally said, encouraging bloggers to set goals for their blogs, and most importantly to build a community.


Next up, Quirk CEO Rob Stokes on Online Reputation Management.