Social media has now truly entered the mainstream and organisations and businesses are embracing the very real benefits that platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and blogs provide to inform, listen and converse with audiences old and new.

The internet has revolutionised the way we all seek and share information and has acted as a catalyst for wide ranging social interaction and potential communication opportunities with individuals, niche audiences and mass markets. In a few short years we’ve seen the rise of social networking, hugely popular user generated sites and bloggers with the influence to make or break brands and reputations.

Strategic Social Media is the follow on conference to the highly successful Don’t Panic Guide To Social Media and features an all-new line up of expert speakers. The conference is aimed at senior communicators and will examine best practice in integrating social media into your communications strategy.

Delegates will hear inspirational case studies of successful online strategies from the public sector, politics, media and some of the hottest communications agencies in the UK. Speakers include -

Alex Aiken, Director of Communications and Strategy, Westminster City Council

Rob Brown, MD (UK) Staniforth

Simon Collister, Head of Non-Profit and Public Sector, We Are Social

Craig Elder, Online Communities Editor, The Conservative Party

Mark Hanson, Deputy MD, Wolfstar

Sarah Hartley, Guardian Local Launch Editor

Ann Longley, Digital Strategy Director, Mediaedge:cia

Sarah Lundy, e Marketing Manager, Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board

Martin Thomas, Co-Author of Crowd Surfing

Robin Wilson, Director Of Digital PR and Social Media, McCann Erickson

The conference takes place at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and refreshments, lunch and access to presentations are included in the ticket price of £195 + VAT charities rate and early booking before 16 November / £250 + VAT thereafter.

View the full conference PDF

With it’s sweeping coastline, Pennine hills and historic towns and cities, Lancashire has always held a special place in the heart of Northerners. There’s just such a variety of things to do and I guess that’s why tourism remains a major part of the county’s economy.

Social media is now playing a vital role in extolling the county’s charms and it was actually a conversation on Twitter that led to us being invited to deliver a conference on behalf of Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board, an organisation that really does understand and value the opportunities that exist to create a genuine dialogue with potential visitors from across the UK and around the globe.

Last Thursday we were at the stunning Towneley Hall in Burnley to manage a day of inspirational presentations and case studies for delegates including award winning accommodation providers, major attractions and other North West tourism organisations.

The day was chaired by the Tourist Board’s Sarah Lundy who’s passion for social media has helped shape their online presence to include a blog that expertly reflects all that’s happening across the county and a Visit Lancashire Twitter account that absolutely nails the use of tone and language to be both informative and often very funny.

We were also blessed to be able to attract some fantastic speakers for the event. First up was Rob Brown of Staniforth who opened the day with a scene setting overview of the impact of social media and later spoke again on the isssues of reputation management and the influence of holiday makers who are increasingly using the internet to research, book and discuss their breaks.

Mark Hanson of Wolfstar did a fantastic job of tailoring the possibilities of Twitter as an additional communications tool for tourism related businesses and the elder statesman of UK social media, Neville Hobson seemed to fire up the entire room as he focussed on the newly evolving business benefits of all things social media.

The speaker presentations were interspersed with case studies and Wolfstar’s Amy Johnston and Emma Gardiner of Go Ape reinforced the importance of nurturing an online audience and provided an insight into the blogger outreach programme they are using to promote their outdoor activity centres to relevant online infuencers.

Hetty Byrne of Forest of Bowland discussed a really cool model of aggregating news and information on their blog for the mutual benefit of smaller tourist businesses in the area of outstanding natural beauty. Wildlife and conservation figure heavily and they are focussing on developing conversations with a range of niche audiences within the wider nature / outdoor market.

We were really pleased to have Heather Price of SKV speaking about the thinking behind their multi award winning J’aime la Tour viral video for Blackpool and the unbelievable amount of print and broadcast coverage they achieved from what must be one of the cleverest and most uplifiting tourism adverts ever. Don’t take my word for it, have a look for yourself.

Our final presentation was delivered by Constandina Milios of Visit England, another organisation that fully recognises the significance of social media within their industry. Visit England were keen to support and be involved in the conference and Constandina provided an overview of their social media wizard, a simple step by step guide developed to help tourist businesses set themselves up on the various social media platforms.

Thanks to all our speakers, delegates and Ken and the team at Towneley Hall, it was one of those events that was truly a pleasure to be involved in.

Here’s Blackpool’s finest Section 25 with their proto house remix of Looking From A Hilltop.

Last Tuesday's CIPR Northern Conference was hosted by the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire group and reinforced its reputation as the hottest annual PR event in the regions. The conference took place in Leeds and attracted over 120 attendees from all over the UK to enjoy a mix of keynote presentations and essential workshop sessions.

The Financial Time's Mrs Moneypenny otherwise known as Heather McGregor of Taylor Bennett opened the conference with a fascinating insight into her role as a columnist and how best PRs can target her with potential stories and subject matter. Very flatteringly she also held up one of our new black Don't Panic folders and proclaimed its brilliance as a piece of branding that she would be taking on to the Conservative Party Conference later that day.

Our second keynote presentation was delivered by Home Office Head of Communications Yasmin Diamond who took time out from what is possibly one of the busiest comms roles in the country to join us. She was followed by John Neilson, Director of Group Communications for BAE Systems who's presentation was very aptly titled 'flying through the flak'.

Our final keynote was the inimitable Alastair Campbell, former Director of Communications for the Blair government who closed the day and debunked the notion of spin by reiterating the key qualities of effective communication. I know I shouldn't be surprised but he's also one of the most charismatic and pleasant people I've met. He also very kindly took the time to namecheck us on his blog!

Interspersed between the keynote presentations we offered delegates a choice of workshops with which we always strive to offer the best possible learning opportunities. Social media was ever popular with sessions from the excellent Rob Brown of Staniforth; McCann Erickson's Robin Wilson with his useful and very entertaining look at free tools for measuring the impact of online PR and newly appointed Wolfstar Deputy MD Mark Hanson who stepped in at the last minute to deliver a great session on all things Twitter.

Further workshop sessions included a presentation from BBC Radio Leeds Drivetime show producer Shahid Hussain; Beverley Tricker of award winning agency Tricker PR on achieving amazing results on small budgets; 'Meme Judo & Spin is Innocent, OK' from leading creative guru Andy Green of GREEN Communications; Sarah Knight of BJL with a busy session on social marketing; the fabulous Paul Willis of Leeds Business School on Credit Crunch PR and Victoria Tomlinson of Northern Lights on the art of Relationship Management.

The conference took place at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and we'd like to thank everyone at the venue for looking after us so well. We used the Courtyard Theatre and two breakout rooms all of which were perfect and delegates rated the venue and catering very highly. We'd certainly recommend WYP as a great choice for anyone considering staging an event in Leeds and big thanks go out to Penny and the events team for going above and beyond in ensuring the smooth running and success of the day.

A number of delegates blogged about the conference and you can follow these links to check out posts by Ben Cotton and Kate Hughes. There was also much use of Twitter throughout the day and you can view the complete feed on the hashtag #CIPRNC

Finally here's the Sporty one because I'm struggling to find appropriate song titles with the word Northern in them now...