Social Media Revolution and YOU!

As I reach my twelfth blog post, I couldn't think of a better way to conclude than with this video about social media and how it has literally changed the world.
Over these past eleven blogs, I hope to have not only shown the importance of social media in Public Relations but in your everyday lives.
It's time to hop on board or get left behind... enjoy!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8&feature=related

(Fun Fact: Some buses in Hawaii are called "Wiki Wikis" - "Quick Quick"!)

Social Media: Friend or Foe for Crisis Communication?

Once again, I'm relying on the insights of ragan.com to give me some inspiration for this post. This time the video touches on another area of PR that I love - issues management. It may seem crazy after all of the intense issues issues this semester but at the end of the day I can't think of another class where you need all of your key PR skills to be working together.

This video talks about how social media is posing a new problem for companies, corporations and business alike that don't have a viable crisis communication plan. What's happening to crisis communications is that social media is capturing the crises and posting them on the web faster than the official media sources can.

A clear, concise and well-communicated crisis plan can help to avoid the issues social media may cause. In the video they suggest using the Three 'P's for a crisis communications plan: Plan, Practice and Perform. Write a plan that will work for your company; have drills so that any problems can be ironed out before the crisis happens; and when the crisis happens, pull your communications strategies from your plan.

The video lists examples of how social media affects crisis communications and an example of crisis communication gone wrong. Click HERE to watch.

Utilizing lazy verbs does not facilitate strong writing - Confused?

In another insightful video post from ragan.com, I've found another topic to blog about - LAZY VERBS. From being in specialized writing for public relations for three semesters now, our class really has developed an obsession with words. It's really incredible how powerful the right words can be - and how disappointing it is when you see words fall flat. In the online world, words are at the core of making a first impression. Use the wrong ones and a potential employer may not even notice you (NYC? Am I using the right words?).

In this short video, Mark explains that these 'lazy verbs" - utilize, facilitate, optimize - could mean 30 different things or mean nothing at all. He explains that powerful words should be doing the work for you. Words create images and you want to put people right in the middle of your messages.

TEACH

LAUNCH

I bet you can visualize what each of these words implies - that's the point of using powerful verbs.

Check out the full video HERE and start packing a powerful punch with your verbs!

Dig your well before you're thirsty

On twitter, I follow Mark Ragan, CEO of ragan.com - one of my new favorite web pages. Ragan.com is a website for communicators of any shape or form. There are videos, articles, links to blogs - everything a PR student could ask for all in one place. I always find his tweets interesting and relevant to the current PR environment.

This time around, I found an interview that Mark Ragan did with Chuck Hester, a communicator and LinkedIn expert.

There are many really helpful hints that Chuck points out on how to maximize your LinkedIn account - here are a few that stood out for me.

- Community and connecting is what social media is all about. LinkedIn starts these connections and conversations. Use your current connections to help others and they may in turn come back and help you (Hello? NYC internship?).

- The old media relations rules still apply for LinkedIn - don't expect coverage from your conversations. It's about being a source not a nuisance.

- Connect with connectors. This couldn't be more true in my case. Through LinkedIn, my connection with the CEO at The Children's Museum has lead me to a conversation with someone who may be able to help me find my coveted internship... You better believe I'm going to keep up this conversation!

- Chuck explains that you should use LinkedIn to work like an information interview. Don't use LinkedIn like a job bank - sure it can help you connect with employers, but remember it's more about starting conversations than seeming needy. "Dig your well before you're thirsty"

Check out the full video HERE and see what useful information you can use from this interview!

Comedic Relief

I thought I would use today's post to provide a little comedic relief. As funny as some of these points are, there are hidden truths in each of the statements. While I'm completely obsessed and don't think I'll ever tire of social media, it's interesting to read why some people haven't jumped on the social media PR bandwagon. It sure is a disconnected connected world out there!

I found this list on ragan.com and I wish I could take credit for their wit.

25 Reasons Why We're Sick of Social Media...

1. We can now only communicate face-to-face with people in 140 character blasts.

2. It’s only a matter of time before those drunken office holiday photos surface online.

3. Keeping up with the Joneses is harder now because we have to keep up with the Joneses’ blogs.

4. Too many passwords to remember for each account.

5. We’ve got only six people following us on Twitter. Our self-esteem is at an all-time low.

6. Everybody seems to be talking about how great LinkedIn is for networking. The only people we know on LinkedIn are our co-workers.

7. When we go to a networking event with human beings, we wear our name tag on our left-hand side and give a limp fish handshake. We’ve forgotten how to interact with real people.

8. We can't remember the last time we wrote a letter. It’s hard to remember how to hold a pen correctly.

9. Our grammatical muscles spasm when we use the words “Tweeted” and “Facebooked” in casual conversation.

10. Even though our co-worker is less than three feet away, we haven’t spoken to each other in seven months. Thanks, G-chat.

11. Since we’ve been doing so much typing, our fingers have mutated to the size of a Kielbasa.

12. We can’t tell north from south after we downloaded the Google Maps application on our iPhone.

13. We have nightmares about losing our BlackBerry.

14. People always want to know where we are, but last week we Tweeted during a colonoscopy.

15. We invited 651 people to a party. We got 21 replies. Only four showed up.

16. Like our relationship status on Facebook, we find ourselves saying “It’s Complicated” to every business situation that presents itself.

15. Life would be better if we could add five hours to our day. Not for time with our family or friends, but for spending more time on all the social media sites we’re addicted to.

16. We call all the time we spend on social media sites “networking” or “business.” Well, at least that’s how we justify it when we check and see who our high school sweetheart is dating.

17. We change our profile pictures, interests, and activities on Facebook at least twice per week. Perhaps we should change our religion status to solipsism.

18. We need to be instantly validated—we ate a tuna salad sandwich for lunch! Now, it’s time to blog about it.

19. We don’t bother asking our co-workers what they did this weekend. There’s no point—we read about it on Twitter.

20. Our social workload is rapidly becoming another 40-hour-per-week occupation. But this one isn’t paid.

21. Forget sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. Now it’s all about Twittering like crazy, downing nine Red Bulls and stuffing our face with Power Bars.

22. We’re more excited that we learned how to re-Tweet and reply on Twitter than we were at the compliment we got this morning from our boss.

23. Work now reminds us of the movie Wall-E: people moving around on hover chairs and communicating through computer screens in front of their face.

24. The only way we can start a conversation is by asking, “What Are You Doing?”

25. One of our Facebook “friends” asks us to write 25 Random Things About Yourself. We’re tired of typing after two.

Have what it takes?

As I continue to search for my dream internship in New York City (Hello? Are you out there?), I'm always looking for ways to help me stand out and keep my skills relevant and unique. I stumbled on this article from Edelman, an international public relations agency, (and definitely a company I could see myself working for one day) that conveniently talks about how to get hired at Edelman. The article provides tips on everything from resumes to education to portfolio perfection.

It's exciting to hear from an Edelman senior recruitment manager that what I have been preparing for my personal PR is all highlighted in her expectations. Once again what jumps out at me from the interview is the importance of having a strong online and social media presence.

Enjoy the article, study the tips and good luck on your own job searches!

Click HERE to read the full article.

Call the PR Machine

What caught my eye about this article is that it addresses the growing trend of big businesses and companies moving away from traditional advertising and moving towards new media marketing. In this article they refer to what I have called new media marketing as "earned media". What this means is companies that perfected the "paid media"(ads, billboards and print advertising) such as Disney and Paramount are now relying on free coverage in magazines, newspapers and blogs through PR expertise. Coming from a PR department, the same messages seem more credible than when they come from advertisements - the messages seem less loaded.

Once again this article talks about the all too familiar Facebook and Twitter phenomenon of "earned media". These sites have changed the game for big media outlets. Everyone is online and now business are signing on to where their biggest audience is.

Sometimes I think it's interesting to read about and follow how business are treating this new wave of marketing and advertising. When I first started using Facebook, I couldn't have imagined it would have turned into such a critical business tool - as I'm sure the creators couldn't have imagined either. While everyone is trying to perfect their "earned media" skills, I believe that we all still have to be wary of how far to take it. PR is still misunderstood with words such as flack, spin doctor and cover-ups, being used to describe our strategic skills and applications. Even with the proven success of earned media, we should be wary of where the line should be drawn for pseudo-events and staging silly stunts that will only encourage the stereotypes.

Universal's executive vice-president of publicity, Michael Moses, said it best,"You've got to remain responsible with your resources while continually finding new ways for your campaigns to stand out."

Check out the full article HERE