Lindsay Olson

From Birth to Beyond: Raising a Social Media Program

This is a post from PR columnist, Alison Kenney.

At a recent social media seminar I attended the moderator closed the session by asking the panelists what stage their social media programs are in. For answers, he gave the following options: infancy, adolescence and adulthood. The choices suggested that social media programs are meant to grow and evolve.

For instance, if your social media program is in its infancy, this could mean that you’ve begun building it and are working to attract followers and “likes.”  You may have built a Facebook page, developed a blog, started a YouTube channel, used Slideshare to share presentations, claimed a Twitter ID name or started a group on LinkedIn and started curating your followers. If you’ve done this and are wondering “what’s next?” Lee Odden offers some food for thought in his blog post “Five Ways to Electrify Your Social Network.”

The adolescent social media program is one that isn’t afraid to experiment and take risks, probably because it has developed a sense of what it takes to keep an audience engaged, established savvy listening techniques and makes use of advanced measuring tools. Sometimes this is also the stage where social media experiments are abandoned.

Adult social media programs have the wisdom and experience gained from a period of experimenting and can look at the program in terms of its business value to the organization. Social media programs in adulthood are mature enough to understand that trying too hard to shape social media doesn’t work; it’s most important to be authentic. Organizations experienced with social media also use it at multiple points in the organization to enhance sales, HR, customer service and other functions beyond marketing.

Valerie Maltoni, who blogs at ConversationAgent, wrote awhile ago about the lifecycle of a social media program and described the types of actions that resulted in higher and lower levels of buzz and engagement. Maltoni’s post is interesting because it infers that the effort you put into your social media program is not constant and ongoing but rather waxes and wanes over time.

Hmm…I wonder what retirement will look like?

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

When to Say No to a Job

Originally posted on US News & World Report: On Careers – When to Say No to a Job

Interviews aren’t solely for the sake of the company—they’re intended to help the job seeker figure out whether the company is a match for them, too. And while most of us can’t afford to be too picky in this economy, if you interview for an opportunity that doesn’t feel right, listen to your gut.

Here are a few tell-tale warning signs about a potential job, ones that might set off that gut reaction:

1. The position has been filled multiple times and nobody has lasted more than 18 months. High turnover is a sign of multiple issues. It could be poor compensation, a negative work environment, little opportunity for growth, or often times, a bad manager. If you’re spending eight or more hours a day at work, you need to like most of the people you work with.

[See 21 Secrets to Getting the Job.]

2. You’re treated poorly in the interview. Were the interviewers prepared for the meeting? Were you left waiting for an unreasonable amount of time? Were you in asked to go in for day-long interviews and never given a restroom break or offered a drink or lunch? How a company behaves in the interview process is a clear sign of what it’s probably like to work there.

3. You’re asked by the interviewer to give confidential information about other companies or people. An interviewer may come right out and ask you to divulge information that you know you shouldn’t share. Don’t be tempted by such requests. Prepare for how you will deal with these situations in advance and you should be able to handle it gracefully. Acknowledge the request and the confidentiality of the information and back it up with something you can share because it’s public information. A reasonable person should understand and respect your reluctance to share proprietary information. If the interviewer continues to push, you’re probably dealing with someone who doesn’t adhere to ethical business practices.

4. You’re given a project that could be used for the company’s benefit—even if you didn’t get the job. Unfortunately, this happens too often. A writing test, a portfolio sample, a request for references, a walk-through of previous marketing/staffing/sales/etc. plans, even a mock assignment are normal requests to evaluate your skills for the job. Depending on the company, you may be asked to take a personality test and submit information for a formal background check. But a request to develop original, ready-to-use content for the company is not acceptable. Keep those ideas to yourself and spend your time looking for something more solid and with a company who will respect you and your ideas.

[See When to Ask for a Raise.]

5. The hiring manager has unreasonable expectations. Check the job description, twice. If this is a new role, it’s important to ask questions about the expectations. If the duties seem like something only a team of six could handle, you’ll need to bring it up. The company could be clueless about how much one person can realistically handle.

6. Salary doesn’t match the skills required. Your decision to take a position shouldn’t be only about the money, but you should receive a fair wage for the work performed. You have to consider the long-term benefits and not just short-term gain. However, a company offering a salary way off the mark is a sign of how they value their workforce. If they are cheap now, they are probably stingy on promotions and raises.

It can be difficult to be picky when the economy isn’t offering many jobs to choose from, but in certain situations, it may be smarter to pass on a job and wait for the right opportunity.

Spring Cleaning

This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.

This weekend I cleaned out my office. Or should I say, “this weekend I threw out my office”? Because by “cleaning” I mean that I weeded out tons of old paper files and re-filed them in my recycling bin and shredder. The whole process made me wonder if it’s possible for P.R. people to work in a paperless office.

Here’s what else I learned:

When it comes down to it, there’s very little that can’t be filed electronically. With this in mind, I filled five recycling bins with old paper documents.

What can’t be stored electronically?  My notebooks, for one.  I take notes the old-fashioned way and write them out (vs. typing) in school notebooks.  I tossed about a dozen old notebooks (some went back almost a decade), but keep any that relate to a current client. Looking back at the ideas I had and the notes I took is helpful in understanding the evolution of a P.R. program and planning for the future.

Sometimes I keep things out of nostalgia. Like other mementos, the paper documents I keep remind me of work I did. For no other reason, I’ve kept documents pertaining to work I was really proud of and other documents that help me associate with people or a client that I want to stay connected to.

I also keep paper versions of things I’ve received in non-electronic format, like receipts, interesting brochures or important snail mail letters. I have a good scanner, but it seems easier to just drop the receipts into a file folder or to call attention to a special event by putting its documents in their own, carefully-labeled place.

I also learned that the term ‘paperless office’ was a publicist’s slogan, intended to describe the “office of the future.” It started as far back as 1964; an early prediction of the paperless office was made in a Business Week article in 1975. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

Now it’s time to make sure my digital files are in order…and backed up!

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.