Lo and behold the return of the Bateman Buzz Meter, our ranking of recent newsworthy events based on PR and Social Media effectiveness. As always, please comment on any current news headlines or PR stunts you think are worthy of the Buzz Meter.

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As the year comes to a close and we reflect back, there’s no denying 2011 has been an incredible year for Bateman Group. The surge we experienced in the fourth quarter; however, has truly been unprecedented. Today, we publicly announced our selection as agency of record by three exceptional companies. These recent additions to our client roster include:

Qualys — Based in Redwood Shores, Calif., Qualys is the leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) IT security risk and compliance management solutions. Qualys solutions are deployed in a matter of hours anywhere in the world, providing customers an immediate and continuous view of their security and compliance postures.

Antenna Software — Based in Jersey City, N.J., Antenna provides mobile business solutions that enable enterprises to build, deploy and manage applications, websites and content across myriad devices for employees, customers and partners.

Sociable Labs — Based in San Mateo, Calif., Sociable Labs provides on-site social commerce solutions for online retailers to maximize social sharing, referral traffic and conversions.

We’ve worked hard over the years to maintain a client roster notable for its diversity — particularly in terms of geography and market position. These recent wins only enhance this by adding an early-stage startup and two fast-growing market leaders that hail from Redwood City all the way to Jersey City. At the same time, Qualys, Antenna and Sociable Labs will strengthen our sector knowledge in IT security, mobility and social commerce markets, respectively. Today we took another big step in our journey to national prominence.

A warm welcome to all three!

The Future of Media Round Up features the top articles and blogs curated by Bateman Group on issues and events related to the convergence of technology, media and communications.

Here’s our take on the most disruptive news, commentary and insights about PR and media from the months of November and December 2011. Please share links to other must-read articles in the comments below if you think we missed anything.

Required Reading:

Redefining Public Relations in the Age of Social Media, The New York Times – From Nov.21 to Dec. 2, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) sought submissions from public relations professionals, academics, and students and the public to help redefine what “public relations” means. The role of public relations has been significantly transformed by the Internet and social media. PR is no longer about solely managing the message. It has evolved to focus on facilitating the conversation between entities and their audiences. This why PRSA’s “Public Relations Defined” effort is calling for a “modern definition for the new era of public relations.” The last time PRSA updated its definition was in 1982. Interested folks can visit prdefinition.prsa.org to share their definitions.

Social Media Help Bosses Tell Their Story, Financial Times – More than three-quarters of the leaders of the 100 biggest US corporations do not have a Facebook page and only two CEOs use Twitter. But among twenty-something entrepreneurs running online companies, 100 percent are fully involved in the scene. The pros and cons aside, a strong reason to use social media is that can be the ideal platform for disclosing compelling stories that aren’t readily accessible to the public. “More practitioners in business should be out there describing their experiences and giving their opinions. It might help correct some of the misinformation promulgated by anti-capitalists, and the general skepticism about wealth creators expressed by much of the media.”

Occupy Movement Pushes CSR to the Tipping Point, CSRHub – The Occupy Movement is forcing banks to examine whether current  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts like philanthropy are enough. Facing the movement’s disastrous effects on client and employee loyalty as well as recruitment, financial firms are being pushed to seriously reconsider going beyond old-school deeds to show true leadership in “doing well by doing the right thing.”

Public Relations Won’t Fix Penn State’s Crisis, PRSAY (PRSA) – The multilayered Penn state crisis has raised a lot of questions and challenges around the university’s reputation. From a PR standpoint, “one thing public relations professionals cannot help people understand, and should never have to, are an organization’s moral and legal failings.”  PRSA’s own Keith Trivitt and Arthur Yann give their PR perspectives on the crisis and make the distinction that the crisis is a management issue and not a public relations issue.

Charlie Miller’s Punishment by Apple Tests a Complex Relationship, Huffington Post – Earlier in November, white hat hacker Charlie Miller’s relationship with Apple was damaged when the company said he violated the terms of his agreement after disguising an app to reveal a security flaw in Apple’s App Store. This incident reflects the tension in the partnership between companies and their security experts. Should flaws be disclosed privately to developers or publically? Bruce Schneier, a security expert, thinks that “if researchers don’t go public, things don’t get fixed…Companies don’t see it as a security problem; they see it as a PR problem. And if there’s no PR problem, it’ll never be a priority.”

Follow @BatemanGroupPR for more opinions on breaking news and issues.

It’s not a text book, but it should be. Going into my fourth and final year at the University of Oregon, I’ve read my share of textbooks, not all of them good. Famed blogger, speaker and marketing strategist, David Meerman Scott, wrote The New Rules of Marketing & PR which I have to say would be a great supplement to marketing or PR instruction.

For those of us who have grown up immersed in social media, some of what he encourages is intuitive, but a lot of it isn’t. We see public figures misuse social media on a daily basis, and we see our friends do it too. From marketing ourselves in pursuit of a job, to managing a corporation’s reputation, to communicating with consumers, Scott explains what’s necessary to be successful with PR and social media in today’s market (job or otherwise).

Without further ado, here are my impressions on Scott’s new book – from my perspective as a journalism student and two-time summer intern at the Bateman Group…

Favorite Part: “Social Media is a Cocktail Party.”

Growing up in social media is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because it’s familiar and second nature; it’s a curse because it’s easy to forget the power of a tweet, status update or post. Scott presents a simple set of rules, a mindset really, to think about. He says that the social rules of a cocktail party are the same as those of social media. Some of the things he urges people to consider:

• Do you go into a large crowd of people, most of whom you don’t know, and shout, “BUY MY PRODUCT!”?
• Do you ask everyone for their business card?
• Do you listen more than speak?
• Do you try to meet every single person, or do you have a few great conversations?
• Do you avoid interaction altogether?

I find this are helpful things to keep in mind for those trying to dip their toes in the social media pool (a little late in the game) and those who forget about the power of social media.

One of my teachers last year surprised us all on the first day of class by presenting a slideshow of everything she could find about us online – one slide per student! Some were good, some were embarrassing and some were downright horrifying. If a few of these students had thought about Scott’s cocktail party analogy, our professor may have respected them a little more for the rest of the term. Then again, I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as a classy cocktail party in college.

What’s Missing: Cross-Platform Strategies?

One thing that I learned in one if my strategic public relations writing classes at the University of Oregon was how to write a Twitter pitch and search engine optimize a press release. While Scott does give tips to make press releases more visible to the average consumer and internet browser, he doesn’t address how to leverage press releases through social media channels and what the rules for doing so are. Since press releases are no longer meant just for the press (according to Scott), distributing them to consumers is that much more important. Scott espouses the importance for brands to participate where their consumers are participating, but didn’t offer enough practical guidance on how to make press releases more visible to consumers where they read news most, online.

I was also looking for Scott to provide a little instruction on how to make social media presence most productive. There’s not a PR or marketing professional in the world who doesn’t understand – at least on some level – the importance of social media. But with so many marketers still misusing Twitter, for example, what are some proven ways to improve engagement? Contrary to what some may think, you can’t just post a link on Twitter to draw followers in. A good percentage of tweets coming from organizations include a link; and not everyone clicks on every link. Creating an attractive pitch that tells your followers the news, why it’s important and lures them to click in 140 characters or less is no easy task, especially if you have complex news.

Overall Grade: A-

It was a great read. A little long, but Scott’s blogger-esque voice made it more entertaining than the typical run-of-the-mill textbook. Although he covers most of his bases, there are some things missing. I would definitely recommend this book to any professor, grad student or entry level coworker.

Today we publicly announced our selection as agency of record by NatureBridge, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco and the largest residential environmental education partner of the National Park Service. NatureBridge currently operates four campuses in Yosemite National Park, Olympic National Park in Washington State, Golden Gate National Park and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and each year serves more than 40,000 participants through field science, youth leadership and teacher training programs.

Environmental education is a pre-requisite for a sustainable planet, yet it continues to be misunderstood, underfunded and even ignored. This is especially true in our public schools where, much like the music programs our client Little Kids Rock aims to protect, hands-on nature and science courses taught out in the field are among the first to be cut. In response, NatureBridge has set ambitious goals to expand the program nationwide and inspire even more students in more places to become advocates for the planet.

This win is a key addition to our Green/Sustainability practice formed on Oct. 25, 2010 made up of companies, both for profit and nonprofit, offering products and services designed to protect natural resources and embrace the concepts of environmental integrity and social responsibility. The bi-coastal account team, consisting of myself, Tyler Perry, Shannon Hutto and Kathleen Stuart, will work closely with our fantastic internal contacts Susan Larson and Brea Jones along with a soon to be hired new PR director.

We feel very fortunate to be able to compete for and win accounts where the organization’s mission so closely aligns with causes and issues we as an agency (and individuals) feel so strongly about, namely managing climate change, living a more sustainable lifestyle and protecting the planet for future generations. Welcome aboard NatureBridge!

Today we publicly announced our selection as agency of record by Motista of San Mateo, Calif., an El Dorado Ventures-backed start-up focused on providing CMOs and marketers with a one-of-a-kind on-demand consumer connection intelligence solution.  With this win, we add another client to our growing Marketing Technologies practice made up of companies offering innovative products and services to CMOs and other senior marketers.

To quote our own Bill Bourdon, there’s arguably no other business function being disrupted more by technology right now than marketing. Our work on behalf of current clients such as Baynote and Recyclebank, as well as past clients like Passenger and BrightEdge, has made us acutely aware of the unique pressures experienced by senior marketing executives, regardless of the industry sector. We were immediately blown away by Motista’s vision and unique offering — a web-based application that delivers highly sophisticated consumer connection intelligence specific to brands, segments, competitors and industries and puts it directly into marketers’ hands.

Just by logging in to Motista, marketers can find immediate answers to questions, test and justify hypotheses; in addition to discovering and exploring new ideas — all on-demand, in real-time at the true pace of business. Powerful consumer connection intelligence marketers can start using right away, across all marketing programs, campaigns or strategic challenges, just by logging in. The potential impact of this cannot be overstated.

Unique technology, defensible IP, a real problem to solve — Motista has it all.  This partnership has gelled seamlessly, largely due to the efforts of the stellar team of Bill Bourdon, Lisa Melsted and Rod McLeod working side-by-side with our fantastic marketing contact, Paula Cavagnaro.  Now, if we could just find 30 or 40 more companies just like Motista…