Social media is changing the rules of the PR game every day. An American journalist has made the bold announcement that he is only accepting PR pitches either via Facebook or in-person. All I know is that it’s going to take me a while before I master the social media release. Man, I feel like a dinosaur. 

I can’t remember where I found this, but I stumbled upon the Payscale Meeting Miser and find myself calculating the value of my time in meetings vs. the time that I should spend on actual work.

I’m a believer that most meetings can be trimmed to 20 minutes maximum. If every day could be run like a war room or press brief, we’d have so much more time to spend on outcomes.

Ouch.

I usually always advise my small business clients to try the earned media (PR) route before succumbing to an advertising budget. It’s more effort, but it can also yield greater results. The best use of time and money would be integrating both the PR and advertising campaigns so they’re in sync with each other. That would be a better investment, in my opinion. Save the advertising for when PR can’t or won’t be an option.

Last year, I listed Appalachian State University’s video as one of the worst recruiting videos that I’ve seen.  Sadly, I’ve now found two more than can top that easily. 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s recruitment video

Ernst & Young’s 4 minute recruiting video

Shame on Ernst and Young (!) – this video was not only baffling, but I can just imagine what the swaying staff in the background were thinking. It fails on both fronts – recruiting and retaining (would you want to stay at a company that quite possibly made it participation in this video mandatory? What do their annual retreats look like?).

As for the Pennsylvania video, words truly fail me on this one.

Disclaimer:  If your communication vehicle is featured in one of my Cringe-worthy Moments, I apologize in advance and hope that boomerang karma leads you to unearth some of my old communication samples to return the favour.