The point is that pretty much any business whose description includes the words “firm” or “agency” now needs to claim that it has “real-time marketing capabilities” in order to win the interest of big-name clients. McCann Erickson, for example, named its new social media-only division “McCann Always On”. The “RTM” phrase doesn’t just apply to agencies that label themselves “ad” or “marketing”, either — PR wants to “own” social media too, remember?

The problem is that the whole phenomenon just isn’t that simple — and it’s not too terribly revolutionary either. Explaining that to clients, however, may be a bit of a challenge.

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.@scopemouthwash We see a trend here.Get on it, Scope! #ScopeBacon #mmmmBacon

— Charmin(@Charmin) March 28, 2013

Our point isn’t to criticize either of these accounts, which are great (Charmin, for example, does potty humor quite well). It’s just to show that social media is an ever-evolving experiment and that social teams and clients can’t expect every single tweet to be a big hit. There’s plenty of room to test the waters as long as you stay on-brand — and therein lies the challenge.

Here’s the bacon mouthwash video for fun:

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The premium cable giant, which brought its social operations in-house in 2007, chose 360i to create campaigns designed to stir the buzz among fans online. The agency’s team will rep HBO at the same time as the folks at Campfire, the NYC firm responsible for creating several innovative fan engagement campaigns on the channel’s behalf. According to an internal release, Campfire’s latest work for HBO involved the second annual “pledge your allegiance” campaign promoting the release of season 2 on DVD this February.

Click through for a case study video of the release date event, complete with awesome ice sculpture:

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Can tell I like chocolate abit too much when I’m following @kitkat and @oreo hahahahahah

— LauraEllen (@Laura_ellenxx) March 11, 2013

Kit Kat saw an opportunity and grabbed it two days later:

The fight for @laura_ellenxx‘s affections is on. @oreo your move #haveabreak twitpic.com/cb1g84

— Kit Kat (@KITKAT) March 13, 2013

That evening, Oreo came back and killed it:

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We must bring balance to the Force. #Sequester #JediMindMeld twitter.com/whitehouse/sta…

— The White House (@whitehouse) March 1, 2013

Hey Oreo, looks like the folks in government know a thing or two about “real-time marketing”. And yes, the “mind meld” URL does link to a page detailing the President’s deficit reduction plan. The team may not have been as quick on the draw as Han Solo or the cookie guys, but they did paint their sci-fi critics as “a bunch of stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerf herders.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The problem? On Twitter, at least, the content felt more than a little forced. We get it: spontaneous humor and topical commentary is hard; you really can’t fake it. Some examples:

We’re just saying: if we were nominated & had to remember a speech, we would probably write it on a #GalaxyNoteII. #GalaxyAtWork

— Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) February 24, 2013

Samsung tried hard to be on top of things but mostly came up empty-handed.

Congratulations to Christoph Waltz. #oscars twitter.com/StellaArtois/s… — Stella Artois (@StellaArtois) February 25, 2013

Not quite relevant to the brand, is it? continued…

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RT @jeep: You’ll never catch @50cent ridin in a Dirty Ass @jeep !!!! #ForDaLuLz #FreeJeep

— PRNewser (@PRNewser) February 19, 2013

This afternoon, reports and tweets named MTV and BET as the latest victims of the hacker wave. One problem, though: they were faking it.

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Kelsey is a speaker, entrepreneur, and Internet enthusiast. She’s a chief development officer for a diverse website portfolio, where she runs the content development strategy and execution for several websites.

Thinking on your feet is essential for any PR pro. For example, consider the NFL Super Bowl XLVII ads. When Oreo leveraged a current event the second it happened, it resulted in a free to low cost campaign that earned nearly 15,000 re-tweets and more than 20,000 Facebook likes.

The catch is, in order to be on top of these current events, sometimes you need to be plugged in. This quick line of communication and organization depends largely on people moving quickly with technology. Below you’ll find ten mobile apps that will help you become a PR champion on the go.

1. LogMeIn (iPhone) LogMeIn Ignition (Android)
Mainstream media stories don’t usually coincide with your 9-5 job–some big events will end up happening while you’re off the clock. This is why it’s important to be able to plug into your office computer even when you’re not behind your desk.

The LogMeIn app offers free remote access to your desktop so you can open files, check your email, run programs and stay productive from your mobile device or any computer over the Internet. The LogMeIn app has the same encryption used by online banks, so you don’t even have to worry about security issues.

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Don’t say we didn’t see this coming…

We have a very strong feeling that someone called the heads of Poland Spring‘s PR and marketing teams around 11 last night asking “Are you guys gonna Oreo this one or what?!?!”

While this Facebook post isn’t quite as quick or funny as the cookie company’s Super Bowl blackout messaging win, it’s still pretty good. More importantly, it adds fuel to the ongoing debate: How important will “real-time marketing” strategies be in the future–and what role will public relations play in their design and application?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

But they do address very serious matters, so we’re a little disappointed to report that the most buzzed-about moment of last night’s State of the Union events among pundits and legitimate journalists alike was the awkward water grab/sip in the middle of Sen. Marco Rubio‘s SOTU response speech. Still, this meme gives us a great excuse to bring up the importance of prepping clients for interviews and other live, unedited media appearances where they can’t ask for a re-take.

Of course your research must be thorough and the client’s speech must be flawless. He or she must be prepared to respond to any potential question, no matter how tough it might be (even if the response is a confident “no comment”). Finally, your client must be comfortable! A great, camera-friendly outfit won’t mean much if he or she is visibly nervous or jittery–or if a trusty water bottle is not comfortably within reach.

Seriously, who put the bottle so far away from the senator? Details matter! Now how did everyone deal with this little hiccup?

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Time to get your dunk on. #Grammys twitter.com/Oreo/status/30…

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 11, 2013

Did the Oreo team create this little nugget “on the fly” as well? How could they have known that JT would perform in a bow tie? (OK, maybe they watched the red carpet event or checked out the “Suit and Tie” single’s cover. Still very sharp.)

What do we think? Did Oreo just win social media again?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Yet, despite all this immeasurably positive publicity, Bey’s PR team didn’t feel like the next-day coverage was quite as “flattering” as it could/should have been. You’d think anyone would love a post like BuzzFeed‘s “33 Fiercest Moments from Beyoncé’s Halftime Show“–the page has 33 thousand likes, for God’s sake. But the singer’s rep wasn’t happy, and she quickly responded by calling and emailing the site to “respectfully” request that its editors remove or replace seven of the post’s 30 still shots.

BuzzFeed’s editors, clearly annoyed at this nitpickery, decided to highlight the anal retentive PR request by re-posting the email along with the very pictures singled out as “unflattering”. While the site “redacted” the publicist’s specific email address, the post includes her full name and company–so any haters with time on their hands can easily email her.

Our question for readers: Who’s in the wrong here?

Did BuzzFeed overreact by brazenly “shooting the messenger”, or should the PR team have expected this kind of response to a completely unreasonable request?

Whatever your opinion, we think it’s safe to say the move backfired.

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Need evidence? Here are our 10 favorite social media moments from last night’s big game.

1. Oreo’s on-the-fly branding spot: Is it obvious? Yes. But there’s a reason people are still flipping out over Oreo and 360i‘s incredible acts of branding.

Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

2. Budweiser‘s “Name that Clydesdale” campaign: This one was a slow burn strategy win. Bud was very wise to start the hype early by leaking videos and encouraging fans to get involved.

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Oreo tweeted the below message at 8:48 pm last night, just after the power went out in half of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. As of this writing, Oreo’s comical, lightning-speed advert has been retweeted over 14,000 times.

Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

So in a world of meticulously crafted, edited and reviewed Super Bowl advertising (like Oreo’s TV spot), how did the brand manage to get its incredibly topical message into the Twitterverse so quickly? Sarah Hofstetter, president of 360i–the agency behind the ad–explained, “We had a mission control set up at our office with the brand and 360i, and when the blackout happened, the team looked at it as an opportunity…Because the brand team was there, it was easy to get approvals and get it up in minutes.”

Other brands quickly followed suit with their own blackout-themed tweets, but none received the response that Oreo’s did.

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Today brings the tale of a rare, if lighthearted, social media misstep by Oreo. Yesterday the company’s consistently cute Twitter feed posed what could have been a great customer-engagement question: “Ever bring your own Oreo cookies to the movie theater? #slicksnacker”. This message, complete with too-cute hashtag, is both on-brand and a little naughty—nearly everyone has snuck food or drink into a movie at some point, right?

Good show, Oreo. But the social media pros at AMC Theatres noticed the tweet too—and saw an opportunity to poke a little fun. AMC’s feed re-posted the message, adding “NOT COOL, COOKIE.” Nice way to co-opt another brand’s style without really insulting or attack them. Oreo responded with “Fair enough, @AMCTheatres, but don’t hate the player, hate the game ”. A little cliche, but it will do.

This is a fun story, and it reminds us of the right way to do corporate social media: with personality. This little interaction made it very obvious that there are real flesh-and-blood humans operating these feeds, that they value audience interactions, and that the guys responsible for social media at AMC are on top of even distantly related trends. This might explain why AMC has nearly three times as many followers as Oreo, no?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.