DIY PR: Building Relationships and Making Contacts

This weekend I went to a great panel discussion & networking event on using social media for PR. Hosted by Smak and MassChallenge, the panel featured a number of PR and Media panelists — specifically, Kimberley Ring of Ring Communications; Steve Annear of the Boston Metro (he recently wrote an article about T the Musical!); Dave Gerhardt of Constant Contact; Santi DeOleo of Jam’n 94.5 (a local Boston station) and Modus Collection Clothing; and moderated by the Smak CEO Matt Hooper — giving advice and talking about some of their experiences on what works and what doesn’t. It was great meeting some more people in PR (among them, Peter Gett of Yodle, Inc.) and getting said advice, and the biggest takeaway for me was how important it is to build relationships.