Why a digital bootcamp?
Bootcamp? What for?
My friend called me up the other day to invite me to a party on Saturday. Instinctively, I asked: “What are we celebrating?”
The truth is we can’t plan a party, an event or a campaign without a clear intention and purpose to guide us.
Our purpose in creating the Edelman Digital Bootcamp was clear: Educate students in social media techniques.
Why?
Simply put, we believe in Web 2.0. We believe in engaging in the conversation and getting back to what public relations was designed to do: build relationships.
Beyond these warm and fuzzy ideals, the fact remains that more and more practitioners are using social media tools in their practice.
A recent study of PR practitioners in the Atlanta area found that 41% were using blogs as compared to a the national average of 9%. Increasingly practitioners are adopting more tools into their practices. The same study found that on average agency practitioners have adopted about 8 different social media tools for their campaigns.
Sure, an increasing number of practitioners are diving in to the Web, but studies state there are still many who feel overwhelmed by the increasing amount of tools and the effectiveness their uses.
What all of this research translates to is that there is clear opening for this generation to make a mark (and get hired!) in today’s PR industry. Practitioners appreciate the opportunities that social media presents but they need help putting it in to effect.
We want to help students to be the vital key in helping practitioners to ingrate social media tool efficiently and ethically.
We hope you’ll join us for the hands-on social media training conference.
Tags: digital bootcamp, edb, edelman, new media, pr, pr students, social media, ugaedb08, web 2.0