SMNZ Presents: An Intimate Evening with Mashable and Voce Communications

Last night saw two of the best minds in the digital and social media game come together for an informal discussion on all things online media in Auckland.

 As a prelude to The Project [R]evolution Digital and Social Media Conference, an audience of the social and digital media savvy and curious gathered at an Auckland shared office space to share thoughts with Emily Banks, Associate Managing Editor at Mashable, and Christopher Barger, Senior Vice President at Voce Communications.The event format kicked-off with Emily and Christopher firing rounds of questions to each other in an interview format before the discussion rolled in to an audience Q&A session. The general topics of discussion focused on future trends in social and digital media, news cycles and how social media has impacted the way publications (like Mashable), brands and the public share and analyse news.Having a PR practitioner and Online Media Editor come at a discussion from different ends of the comms spectrum provided for some solid insight sharing in to how social and digital communications is changing the way audiences consume and interact with written and visual online content.A few key take-outs from the discussion included:Online Media and News is now a two-way conversation between readers and journalists – According to Emily Banks, for many online publications like Mashable, gone are the days when publications sat passively by while their online audiences debated topics in the webpage comment fields. In 2012, we’re seeing more and more journalists take part in readership-driven online discussion after a news story is published.Visual content is dominating online news media, but requires careful consideration by editors – A question from the audience sparked a discussion around how publications and media verify images and photos being shared across real-time platforms like Instagram and Twitter - a challenge for any publication seeking to deliver accurate and verified news and a real-time social world.Social Media measurement tools are making things easier for brands seeking “ROI” –  Christopher Barger provided his thoughts on how the evolution of social and digital media measurement tools (like Radian6) are supporting improvements in the way agencies and brands deliver value and measure real results.A brand blog should still remain the hub for online communication – While Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms can drive mass engagement for brands, Christopher Barger pointed out each social platform can only offer set of capabilities relevant to those specific to audiences. A well managed blog is still one of the best ways for a brand to house and share content with a range of audiences and across multiple social platforms.The ‘social media turf war’ is coming to an end – In more mature marketing environments, PR, advertising, sales, customer services teams (and other elements of business) are working more closely together to share and collaborate on social media programs and campaigns. According to discussion at the event, this change may mark a next stage in the way marketing and communications teams structure social media as a business division.The night was hosted by the team at Sharedspace who were generous enough to open the doors of LOFT503 – a very slick shared workspace indeed. A big thanks also goes out to Bill and the team at Porter Novelli NZ for supplying an steady flow of refreshments through the discussion and also Radd Nadesananthan of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, for getting the amazingly tasty Sal's Pizza.