PR Squared: Welcome to the World of "Influence 2.0"

As much as it pains me to admit it, there's more to the emerging communications landscape than the "PR 2.0" principles I espouse here. Public Relations is just one of many marketing elements being forced to evolve by the rise of Social Media.

One company that "gets it" more so than most is new SHIFT client, Jim Nail. Jim is a former Forrester analyst who now serves as Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at Cymfony, a market influence analytics company. I've been privileged to be able to contribute to Cymfony's new thought leadership initiative, "Influence 2.0."

The first iteration of this exciting attempt to help define and shape our brave new world can be found at Cymfony's re-branded blog, "Influence 2.0." From there you'll be guided to the first of several upcoming chapters of an Influence 2.0 e-book. Cymfony has a few more chapters in the works, but we're going to need your help to really make this puppy bark. If you are a fellow 2.0 geek, please visit the newly-launched Influence 2.0 wiki. We need your input!

But, before you hit the links --- maybe start here. (Look familiar?) It's a Social Media Press Release that Cymfony used to announce this initiative. It's also a good starting point to get a grounding in what Cymfony is espousing:

"Influence 2.0" identifies a shift in influence - the intersection of social and mainstream media - where consumers have increased control of content, breaking current models and forcing marketers to listen and respond to vast consumer audiences, not just talk to a limited set of mainstream media influencers.

Be sure to also check out the customized del.icio.us page that we'll be using to track the progress of the Influence 2.0 theme (RSS feed to the del.icio.us site also available).

Join the meme!

Tags: jim+nail, cymfony, public+relations, marketing, marketing+measurement, influence+2.0