PRos in Training

Category: Social Media

  • My “Social” Resolutions

    This morning I left a comment on a blog that I’ve been reading for a long time, but never commented on. That made me think that I should really leave more comments on blogs. I love it when people comment on my blog … one thought led to another and here’s a list of my “social” resolutions (I’ll spare you the “eat better” and “exercise more” resolutions).

    • Leave more comments on blogs. I read hundreds of posts a week, it should be easy to leave a few comments, right? I always want my comment to be valuable and add something to the conversation. For me, that means just taking a few minutes to pause and think about my response… chances are I have something to say. Cool Cat Teacher has some good tips for commenting.
    • On a similar thread, initiate more conversations on Twitter. People are smart and I don’t use that @ sign nearly enough to either tell them or to learn. Some ProBlogger Twitter tips here. Also check out TwiTip, a new blog devoted to Twitter.
    • Post here and on my agency blog more regularly. I ask my students to post twice a week, I should be able to do the same. Find 40 tips to creating killer content here.
    • Find new voices to read. I need to trim the fat from my feedreader and look for new voices to add to those I currently read. Chris Brogan had a great post this week of list of eight marketers to watch gave me two new ones that I added to my reader.
    • Be a resource across all social media platforms. I think I do a pretty good job of creating good content here, but I can always do better and I can be more consistent across platforms, including Twitter.

    How about you? Any “social” resolutions?

  • My Life is an Open Book

    My Life is an Open Book

    I made this comment at “Meet the Faculty,” a class brand new graduate students take to learn about faculty expertise in the school for things like thesis and dissertation committees. The discussion was around using social media in classes and specifically how I use these tools to facilitate discussions and relationships between students and myself.

    My core point was this: If you don’t want people to know about some facet of your life either a) don’t do it or b) don’t put it online. Your online “life” is an extension of your personal brand, for lack of a better phrase. If I put it online, then I’m ok with you knowing that bit of information and it’s in sync with my professional and academic “image.”

    If you can’t be transparent, I tell clients, then you need to make changes in the way that you do business.

    I think there’s this part of some students that feels like social networks should afford some sort of privacy – that facebook is a social space to share experiences and memories and not for potential employers (or professors) to get info about you. I’ve talked before about this orientation. I guess I hate to be the party pooper – but um… too bad.

    So, while my life is probably more open to students than some would be comfortable with, for me, it’s ok. I enjoy sharing my life with my students (past, present and future) and my colleagues. But my digital footprint is well scripted and the parts of my life I choose to share with all my “friends” and “followers,” including students, is very intentional. It’s not fake – it’s intentional.

    Anyone who follows me online in any venue (facebook, twitter or this blog) can be assured that you’re getting the real me. It’s the same me you get in a class, or a meeting or as an old friend. But you don’t get to know things about me that I choose to keep private.

    What do you think? If you’re a student, do you enjoy connecting with professors online? If you’re a prof, what do you think?

  • Hey Newbies! Step Up to the Mic

    School’s back in session and we all survived week one. I know I have some new readers and I want to encourage anyone who has not to join PROpenMic. Seriously. All the cool kids are doing it.

    About PROpenMic:

    PROpenMic? A metaphor. Step up and speak your mind. Our goal is to be the social network for PR students, faculty and practitioners worldwide. We are ad free and nonprofit with an education focus. Already, we have members from over 40+ countries and 140+ universities worldwide. Meetup and share. From future internship & job searches to discussions about class projects and activities … PROpenMic is your network for connections and learning. Ultimately, the network is about you helping others. Our focus is to help students & faculty explore answers to their questions with a perspective from around the world. Enjoy!

  • OMG What Do I Blog About?

    OMG What Do I Blog About?

    I had a discussion last week with a few of the students who were in the summer PR Writing class. We talked about what they learned over the summer and what they could expect in Advanced PR Writing and other courses. One of questions they had was: what do I blog about??

    You’ll get lots of ideas from your feed reader. Listening is a big part of blogging. But… here are some more ideas off the top of my head:

    1. Take the day’s lecture from a favorite class and post a reaction to it or an opinion about it.
    2. PR advice for topics in the news: read the paper (you’re doing that anyway, right?) and post some advice for organizations making headlines in your community.
    3. Advice for junior students: share your best advice for succeeding in a course.
    4. Most surprising thing you’ve learned today
    5. Review a book.
    6. Profile a blog that you enjoy. Include favorite posts and what you’ve learned.
    7. Profile a blogger – many bloggers will answer interview questions via email. Ask things that students of public relations will be interested in. (bonus: networking!)
    8. Write about a new cool Web 2.0 gadget and it’s implications on PR. You can find a huge list at Go2Web2.0. Just pick one and review.
    9. Review a podcast. Find the PR podcasts here.
    10. Talk about the internship/job search process regardless of where you are in it. What are you doing to prepare for your next step.
    11. Interview a recent grad who landed a job and learn about the process they went through. (bonus: networking!)
    12. Profile a PR agency.
    13. Tips you learned from volunteering/interning.
    14. Talk about the results of your research or term paper. Summarize what you learned and link to the full paper.
    15. Relate a non-PR class to what you’re learning in PR.
    16. Create “best of” lists with links to other resources: Best Posts of the Week, Best Writing Tips, Best Personal Branding Advice.
    17. How have you changed (or not) your Facebook presence and why?
    18. Wish list of PR or social media books that you’d like to read.
    19. Break down a PR plan and explain the parts in your own words. Find some examples to illustrate!
    20. Discuss why you like or don’t like a particular campaign or brand.
    21. What do you find surprising about public relations?
    22. Why I should get a Google phone. (Just making sure you’re paying attention)

  • How to Blog, Comment & Manage Your Brand (A Brilliant Presentation!)

    Corinne Weisberger of St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas designs a mean presentation. Content is outstanding and definitely worth a look (or two or three), but hello? the design is gor-geous! I have design envy. Enjoy!

    Blogging & Managing your Personal Brand

    View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: commenting identity)

  • Now That You’re Graduated… Which Social Network Tool Should You Use?


    The choices are numerous, and the opinions about which is best are diverse.

    LinkedIn: Touted as the “grown-up” MySpace, I’ve struggled to find a useful purpose for LinkedIn except to just build my list of contacts. There has been a rare occasion that I’ve used LinkedIn because I lost an email address… so I guess that’s good.

    Facebook: Not just for college kids anymore. I highly recommend making sure your Profile is up to date and you monitor your wall and news feed carefully. Lots of people are on Facebook now that it’s opened up to the general public. I read a great post here that got me thinking about how I could better use this resource.

    MyRagan: The PR social network, I think it’s got a lot of value, particularly in the forums and message boards. I’m not as active on it as I was initially, but on occasional login I see that the forums and message boards are extremely active. The site boasts more than 7500 members.

    Those seem to be the big three. Are there others you’re using?

  • Yes, Social Media is the Real World

    Some of the biggest PR firms (Fleishman, Edelman) and companies (IBM, MTV, Verizon, and Yum! Brands) are searching for social media managers. What, do tell, does a social media manager do?

    • manage and implement social media strategies such as social networking
    • manage a variety of content in a deadline-driven environment
    • understand and implement consumer generated media initiatives.
    If you consider yourself and expert and are thinking about a social media job, what do you need to know from your employer?
    James Durbin of brandstorming asks these questions of Fleishman-Hillard’s St. Louis office. Fleishman answers here.

    The job descriptions associated with “public relations” positions are changing. Are you keeping up?

  • A Web 2.0 World?

    Hat tip to Ashley.

  • Label it!

    I love labels. I dig categories. Classifications? Groupings? You bet.

    This is why I was so interested in Kami’s post about the seven categories of social media today on Communication Overtones. She has created seven neat categories to encompass everything from publishing platforms (Blogger, etc.) and social networks (MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn) to those with more “academic sounding” labels like democratized content networks (think Digg) and content distribution sites (like De.licio.us). Head over to Kami’s blog to check out the list.

    So I got to thinking about what tools I use and yep, most would cleanly fit in the categories that Kami has defined. The only thing that doesn’t fit is Stikkit.

    Stikkit is definitely social – although it’s by invite only. It’s just as “media” as Twitter. So I’m not sure where I’d fit it in. Maybe it needs a new category like Social Collaboration Tools?

  • Early Adopters are Not the Majority

    The Dells, the GMs and even the Marriotts are not the norm when it comes to corporate blogging. In fact, a small percentage of Fortune 500 companies have an external blog.

    Todd Defren at PR Squared posted recently about his chat with Fortune 500 marketers asking very basic questions about blogging. The good news, he says, is that they are interested and engaged… even cautiously experimental.

    Over at MicroPersuasion, Steve Rubel talks about the new Forester Research report from Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff called Social Technographics. Their research uses the analogy of the participation ladder that looks a little something like this:


    The majority of people are “inactives” (52%). This group does not read blogs, watch peer-generated video (YouTube, Google Video), listen to podcasts, use social networks (MySpace, Facebook), use RSS, tag Web pages, comment on blogs, publish or maintain a blog, upload video or publish a Web page.

    Borrowing a phrase from the diffusion of innovations theory, as public relations PRos, we understand that innovators and early adopters are not the majority of consumers (or clients or stakeholders). The category breakdown looks like this: (from Wikipedia, which does a nice job with these descriptions).

    • innovators – venturesome, educated, multiple info sources, greater propensity to take risk (2.5% of people)
    • early adopters – social leaders, popular, educated (13.5%)
    • early majority – deliberate, many informal social contacts (34%)
    • late majority – skeptical, traditional, lower socio-economic status (34%)
    • laggards – neighbours and friends are main info sources, fear of debt (16%)

    Early adopters are important for communicators to reach because of the “social leader” and “popular” ideas in the categories above. But the higher the costs (financial, social/reputational, opportunity), the longer it takes for an idea to diffuse. And really, participating in social media has a high cost.

    As you think about recommending social media strategies to clients in the future, or how to participate in them yourself, consider these categories (both Li’s and the diffusion categories). Based on where your audiences are on the participation ladder, what strategies and tactics will you need to use?

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