This week’s PRobecast, Alison Raymond, Amy Krigman, Ann Dalrymple and Renatta Siewert talk the evolution of social media and what’s to come, facebook’s “dislike button,” Buick’s new image and more. Here are the issues we covered:

Social Media Revolutionizing Business/Customer Relationships – In this economy, most businesses – in all industries – have changed their business models. The “social media revolution” that has happened really force businesses to take a step back and see not only who their messages are going to – but the need to analyze what kinds of messages they are sending. While you can promote your business (sell) via these online channels, you also need to offer information of value – so you giving your audience information they want so they’ll continue to look at you favorably.

The Future of Public Relations and Social Media – Mashable recently ran an article discussing how social media is changing the face of PR. Press releases are now incorporating a social element with more links, video and audio – making these releases more interactive and interesting to editors. Even social media platforms in general have changed the way PR pros are “doing” PR – offering new platforms for PR pros to reach out to journalists, etc. While, we are embracing social media the best we can, we should also expect to see adaptations to these platforms to make using social media even easier. This would include, finding the right audiences easier, knowing what data to accept or reject, more aggregation, etc. What do you foresee changing social media-wise?

The Facebook ‘Dislike Button’ is a Scam – If you’ve recently seen in your friends’ status’ that they have a “dislike” button – do not click through. It’s the latest Facebook scam and it’s spreading rapidly. If you do click though and follow the installation process, you grant the app permission and it’ll run the same status on your page – and it could be charging you.

Is the Buick the Fastest Growing Car Brand in America? – Buick recently has changed their design and marketing plans shifting to focus their efforts on a new younger audience. Incorporating new social media strategies and with the launched of momentoftruth.com, Buick is really stepping up and trying to step back from the “grandfather car” image it previously had. In doing so, General Motors Co. sold 137% more Buicks in July of 2010 than it did in July of 2009. What do you think of this recent marketing shift?

JetBlue Passenger Goes Whacky, Causes Plane to be Diverted – Just after last week’s JetBlue flight attendant incident, an incident occurred on the other end of the spectrum – the passenger. A passenger was having an “anxiety attack” and started acting out, hitting and even spitting on a flight attendant. She had to be tied down to a seat until she was calm. What a month JetBlue is having!

What are your thoughts on this week’s topics?

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Technorati Tags: Buick, Facebook, JetBlue, Social Media

We initially had a couple technical problems in this week’s PRobecast, so this week is a bit shorter than previous weeks. In this episode, Alison Raymond, Renatta Siewert and Malinda Singh talk why PR firms need to be one-stop shops, the end of single-fee broadband, email stress and the value of social media. Here are the issues we covered:

Boutique agencies turn to social media – There was an article in PRWeek talking about how companies used to offer one or two services within PR and now it’s essential to be able to provide a full scope of PR – and in that includes social media. We discuss why as a PR firm, it’s important for us to be able to help our clients with every aspect of their PR needs.

Forecaster: End of single-fee broadband poses threat to Web video – With AT&T Wireless’ decision last month to put pricing caps on broadband use for new smartphone customers, this might be a trend that not only spreads to other wireless providers – but could spread to online video at home. How do you think this is going to affect consumers or even businesses if they put a cap on your internet usage?

Tech Stress: How Many Emails Can You Handle a Day? – According to a recent survey by Harris Interactive, the number of emails an employee can handle is 50 a day. Once this number is hit – it is said that the person’s productivity goes down. As a PR person, I know we definitely get more than 50 emails a day. Are you overwhelmed by email?

Forrester: If You Think Social Media Marketing Is Worthless, You’re Doing It Wrong – According to a report by analyst firm Forrester, many people are looking to see what type of ROI is coming out of social media. And if they don’t see a good number, they think social media is worthless. However, it’s not really the fact that social media is worthless, it’s how they use social media effectively is the problem.

Hope you enjoyed this week’s PRobecast and we hope you come back and listen in next week!

Please send us your feedback and if there are any issues that you would like to hear about!

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Today BP attached a cap to the leaking well, and now everyone is holding their breath to see if the device will actually work.

If it does work, certainly this will be a huge step in this disaster, and everyone involved can move onto the next phase, which is the continued cleanup of oil in the Gulf and the beaches, not to mention all the animals affected by the oil. But of course nobody really knows how long that will take and exactly how much money it will cost.

So many people have been affected by the spill and it’s disheartening.

(For a somber look at businesses affected by the spill, check out the latest slideshow in Businessweek.)

When all is said and done, BP will of course never be viewed the same way. It will take decades to remove the stain of this disaster. I wouldn’t be surprised if they change their name to try and start fresh. But seriously, who is going to believe a word they say? Least of all the residents of the Gulf coast, whose lives are forever changed.

Not that I could really stomach working with BP, but it would certainly be a very unique client to have. Would be curious to hear from other PR people what strategies you would undertake with this company as it works to rebuild itself. What would you do?

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