New York Internet Week is upon us again, and Kaplow’s Kdrive social media team (@chaimhaas @rgedarov @beasocial @whoaadreambig @badashdesigns) have been busy attending as many events as possible.

On Monday morning, I attended a panel hosted at the Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea titled, “The Social Media Simplicity Toolkit: How to Avoid Over Complicating your Brand Online”.

The panel consisted of Stephen Zangre, Manager of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook; Jared Feldman, CEO & Founder of Mashwork, a social media listening software solution; Myles Kleeger, General Manager of Strategic Brand Partnerships at Buddy Media; and Chris Phenner, Vice President of Business Development at digital advertising firm TBG Digital. Karen Robinovitz, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer at Digital Brand Architects acted as moderator.

The majority of the interactive discussion focused on brand presence on Facebook. Here are a few of my top takeaways from the discussion:

1. Less is More

All the panelists agreed: brands that keep things simple garner the most engagement. “More complicated is not the best course,” Zangre said. He noted than a simple, sharable consumer experience is often better than an advanced, complicated custom application. For contests, promotions and sweepstakes, the lower the barrier for entry is, the greater the engagement from consumers will be.

Kleeger also reinforced that brevity is aligned with success. In a recent study conducted by Buddy Media, Facebook Wall updates that were under 80 characters in length received 27% more engagement from consumers.

2. Don’t Sell, Engage

“Hard selling is a big mistake,” said Zangre. “Brands, it’s not all about you here [on Facebook].”
Brands have to give their target consumers something useful and interactive to continually win over their attention on the platform and hopefully turn them into brand advocates. Brands should be cultivating relationships with their consumers, not barraging them by simply broadcasting only self-serving messages.

Feldman put it best with an interesting quote: “You don’t follow a comedian’s page because they are funny – you follow them because you want to laugh.”

3. Know Your Target Audience

The inevitable question of “how does my brand get more Likes” was asked. Phenner, a self-professed ‘Likes arms dealer’, discussed how knowing who your audience is and what their interests are is key. Research is paramount. “Know what the people you want to target are interested in, and then give it to them,” Kleeger added.

4. Be Able to Answer the Question, “Why are we on this Platform?”

It sounds like a simple question, but many brands jump into Facebook and other social media platforms (due to hype, because their competitors are there, because they saw an article about it) without being able to answer, “What does your brand want to accomplish by being on Facebook?”

The answer can vary widely based on the brand’s greater business goals, but there needs to be a clear underlying purpose for that brand’s presence on a social media platform that can then be measured against. All the panelists agreed that brands need to have goals and a comprehensive content strategy that caters to those goals before their Facebook presence even launches.

Kaplow is a proud sponsor of Columbia School of Journalism’s first “Social Media Weekend.” The event, which takes place May 13-15, is a full weekend of workshops, panels and keynotes to help journalists, media professionals and others better understand social media.

The weekend, coordinated by Professor Sree Sreenivasan (@sree) and a group of attendees of his social-media classes (including Ada Chan @adakchan, Eliza Cooper @elizain140, Karen M. Sieminski @kmsieminski, Emily Miethner @emilymiethner, Melanie Huff @mghuff, Liz King @lizkingevents, Marny Smith @marnysmith, Patricia Kitchen @PatriciaKitchen, Liz Borod Wright @Travelogged, among others) will bring together some of the biggest names in every form of media: Social, Mobile, Local, Video, Traditional, Nonprofit and much more! The focus will be on the editorial, creative and business sides of social media.

In addition to panels and workshops, there will be a continuous group of Social Media Doctors offering social-media makeovers, tips and feedback in one-on-one and small-group sessions. Whether you’re seeking a nuanced assessment of your social media presence or just need someone to explain the basics, they’re here to help.

Tickets are available for individual days or the full weekend and can be purchased here.

In November, Liz Kaplow, CEO of Kaplow Communications, received the 2009 Women of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts of America.  Kaplow’s relationship with the Girl Scouts has since grown, and today Kaplow excitedly welcomed 20 Girl Scouts of New York City into the agency.  Gold Award and Scholarship Award winners from across the five boroughs were invited to participate in a Day at Kaplow to learn about public relations and communications.

The day began with an introduction from Liz Kaplow and CFO Evan Jacobs.  Liz explained the functions of PR and shared her story, as well as the history of Kaplow.  Receptionist Tori Reitz led the girls on a tour of Kaplow, in which they stopped at the beauty, technology and lifestyle practice groups for an overview of our client work.

Senior Account Supervisor Blair Decemberle gave keys to success for communications, followed by Senior Account Executive Rob Gedarovich and Digital Consultant Adnaan Wasey unraveling the ins and outs of social media.  Next, the Girl Scouts learned about networking from Senior Vice President Chaim Haas.  The day concluded with a discussion about the importance of video in today’s culture moderated by Kaplow Vice President Dana Glaser.

Liz Kaplow, Evan Jacobs and the Girl Scouts

On a tour of Kaplow

Posing for a close up!

Liz Kaplow awards a Certificate of Participation to Girl Scout Rana Abdelhamid

Liz Kaplow and Girl Scouts with their Certificates of Participation

Every other Thursday night, a group of enthusiastic Kaplow employees gathers after work for conversation and knitting.

The Kaplow Knitting Club was founded by two veteran knitters, Senior Vice Presidents Stephanie Schwab and Danielle Arceneaux, who wanted to share their knowledge with excited, ready-to-learn beginners. The group enjoys teaching, learning, and challenging themselves with new projects.

Stephanie simultaneously juggles a variety of projects including slippers, an e-reader cover, and a sweater. Danielle is making way on fingerless gloves, while Senior Vice President Joanne Amorese, Strategies Coordinator Mandy Hjellming, and Jill Golden focus on winter essentials: hats and scarves.

We can’t wait to see what they make next!

At Kaplow, we strive to help our clients directly reach their consumers and change their brand’s conversation. Thus, we expanded our services to include video production and multi-media development.

Leading this new division is Dana Glaser, Vice President of Media Strategies at Kaplow. Glaser is an Emmy Award-winning former TODAY show producer.

Our services include concepting, storyboarding, research, script development and writing, videography/photography, graphic design, editing and cross platform distribution. Each video is customized with the intention of repurposing it for established media, social media and internal client corporate use.

We can produce:

- How-to videos
- Unscripted vlogs or casual videos
- Multi-media news releases
- Trade show videos
- Highlights or sizzle reels
- B-roll packages

Interested in learning more about our video production services? Contact Dana Glaser at 212.221.1713.

“I continue to be proud of the Kaplow employees because of their concern about issues around the world and their willingness to take action to make a difference.” Evan Jacobs, CFO

In wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Kaplow will be making a generous donation to the Save the Children Foundation to assist in their humanitarian relief. Kaplow will also match each employee’s donation dollar for dollar.

Save the Children strives to provide aid to impoverished children, many of which do not even have access to clean drinking water. Through its steadfast dedication, this organization has reached over 50 countries and given more than 10 million children the chance for an education.

Save the Children has been working in Haiti since the mid ‘80s and is committed to helping the victims of this week’s horrific earthquake.

Kaplow employees are rallying together to lend support and will continue to give back to those affected by the Haiti disaster.

“Our mission is to create lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need. With your support, Save the Children will ensure that children in need grow up safe, educated and healthy, and better able to attain their rights.”

By Mandy Hjellming

Kaplow has been selected as a finalist for the 2010 PRWeek Awards in the Best Use of  Audio/Visual category for its work with Skype.

Over 70 of the most-respected PR professionals in the industry gathered in December to judge hundreds of entries and named Kaplow’s project entitled Skype on TV: The Biggest News in A/V since the Satellite Truck as a top entry.

Not long ago, if a television news program wanted to show video of a reporter or guest on location, they sent out a satellite truck, paid up to $10,000 and waited for the truck to arrive, set up, and try to hit the satellite. Kaplow and Skype realized that Skype’s free broadcast-quality video calling was a perfect audio/video solution for broadcasters. Skype’s face-to-face video calling allows producers to show video and talk with reporters and guests from wherever they are in the world. In addition to the hundreds of local network news affiliates now utilizing Skype, other well-known TV programs that are using Skype include “Good Morning America,” “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here,” “Miss Universe Pageant,” “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?,” “CNN’s Larry King Live,” “E! News,” and “Fox and Friends.” Many programs have weekly and even daily Skype reports. “The TODAY Show” airs a half hour segment entitled “Money 911” every Wednesday, where viewers sit in their kitchens and living rooms and ask NBC’s financial experts for advice via Skype.

“A PRWeek Award is not easy to win, nor should it be. It is the highest accolade in the public relations industry, given each year to the best corporate, nonprofit, agency, and education teams, and the work that they produce. A PRWeek Award is a unique symbol of achievement and leadership, and immediately sets the winner apart from others” – Julia Hood, Publishing Director, PRWeek

This most recent accolade will join the list with Kaplow’s past PRWeek honors:

- 2009 PRWeek Award Finalist: Promotional Event of the Year, Target’s Bullseye Bodegas

- 2009 PRWeek Award Finalist: Best Use of Broadcast Program, Spin Master Bugsville Butterfly Treehouse

- 2008 PRWeek Award Winner: Global Campaign of the Year, Blue Planet Run Foundation

Winners will be announced at the PRWeek Awards dinner in March.

Just a few doors down from the Kaplow office, at the Algonquin Hotel, thought leaders met for a panel discussion on Tuesday to discuss the changing shape of the media landscape. The panelists were joined by Kaplow clients, friends of the agency, influencers, and high profile journalists.

During the panel discussion entitled, Don’t Write Them Off, Television, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio Reinvented, Sree Sreenivasan, professor at Columbia Journalism School and social media guru, noted that in order to stay relevant today’s journalist must connect with audiences using an approach one of his colleagues has coined “tradigital.” He defined tradigital as a traditional journalist with a digital overlay. He also optimistically reported that the Columbia School of Journalism has seen a 40% rise in applications, even while the industry undergoes a drastic change.

Jean Chatzky, Financial Editor, TODAY Show is a tradigital journalist who has adapted a number of different platforms. In addition to her role on television, she writes a weekly newspaper column for the Daily News, monthly articles for More magazine and also participates in social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. She says she enjoys taking a multi-faceted approach to her work as it gives her the opportunity to “take a story that [she] is working on and incubate it, if it needs time to gather the right sources and put the package together.” On the flipside, if she has a breaking news story, she also has the ability to share that story right away using the internet.

Lesley Jane Seymour, Editor in Chief of More magazine, believes that the cluttered world of fashion magazines may consolidate, but as long as quality content remains and magazines offer something transformative, people will continue to purchase them.

Lincoln Millstein, senior VP-digital media at Hearst Newspapers, echoes Lesley’s confident attitude about the future of newspapers, noting that the doom and gloom story has been “oversold and overtold.” When it comes to newspapers building revenue, he suggests that media work “together as an industry” and follow the model provided by cable television, creating an environment where people solely gain access to content through subscriptions. He also notes that consumers view their news stories as a commodity, and “they will not pay for a commodity that is not highly differentiated.”

Alan Levy, Founder and CEO of BlogTalk Radio, stressed that “audiences are no longer sitting in front of tv or reading the paper… they are everywhere.” In order to stay relevant, the industry must make content available everywhere.

A Kaplow client asked the panelists about the role of the PR professional as the industry shifts, each of the panelists offered some of their insight on how the PR industry can continue to effectively deliver their message.

The optimism inherently present in the discussion’s title was reinforced by the remarks of everyone present. To hear the entire discussion, check out BlogTalkRadio.

Kaplow has been a partner to mark. from the day we launched the brand over 5 years ago as a network of young women who sell first-to-market, exclusive beauty products, fragrances and accessories.

So when mark. began planning its 2009 summer intern program — an opportunity for a coterie of its top college reps to spend a summer in-house lending their energies to key brand initiatives — mark.  naturally thought of Kaplow.

mark. selected intern Lauren Montemaro, a Quinnipiac University honor student, to spend her internship externally: she is based at Kaplow this summer.  Through this integration, Lauren has learned the mark. business from the perspective of an agency partner.

To give her fellow interns a glimpse into her experience, Lauren recently hosted the entire intern group for an in-depth look at the role of PR.  From Liz Kaplow’s industry secrets and insider insights, to special guest Jorge Ramon’s celebrity stylist tips on dressing for success in PR careers, the mark. intern team enjoyed an immersion into a day in the life of Kaplow.

mark.’s interns are already stars in the beauty business – and Kaplow is so fortunate to be a partner to their development.

Skype took center stage at the NAB Show in Las Vegas on April 21. Attended by broadcasters, media, entertainment and communications professionals, the show focuses on solutions for delivering the next generation of audio, video, and filmed content across multiple platforms.

Recently, an array of broadcasters have used Skype’s High Quality Video calling as an easy, low-cost means of gathering news.  Kaplow, therefore, arranged for Julian Spittka, a senior engineer on Skype’s audio/video team, to deliver a presentation at NAB on how any broadcaster can successfully integrate Skype High Quality Video calling into broadcasts and enhance their news gathering capabilities.

In addition to the presentation, Kaplow leveraged Skype’s presence at the NAB Show to announce the launch of a new informational microsite, where broadcasters can find information necessary for integrating Skype High Quality Video calling into programming.  Additionally, at the show Kaplow revealed that Skype HD video calling is now available for testing by broadcasters.

Show attendees got to see Skype’s High Quality video calling in action.  With the aid of Skype and Kaplow, presenter Thomas R. Ray, III of WOR-AM delivered his session remotely via a Skype High Quality video call.