Archive for Public Relations
Here are my five favorite uses for Twitter:
1. Spend too much time browsing the tweets, retweets and links shared by the hundreds of PR pros I follow
2. Get breaking news updates from tweets of news services/media I follow
3. Spend too much time browsing links to blogs on a wide variety of political, cultural and personal interests topics and opinions (this feels something like scanning magazines in the grocery check out line)
4. Spend too much time on a mental break browsing the tweets of celebrities, professional comedians and other off-beat characters whose tweets I follow
5. Participate in chats
These are probably all pretty self-explanatory (and obviously time-consuming) ways to use Twitter, except for possibly the last one: participating in Twitter chats.
Recently a few colleagues have given me "the look" when I mention how great I think Twitter chats are. I think some people have the impression that Twitter chats are an even more intense version of Twitter, with lots of chatter. But participating in an organized Twitter chat is different from regular tweeting that references a specific hashtag. In fact, the chats are usually highly organized. The ones I′ve participated in all have a moderator, and sometimes a special guest (e.g. an expert on the chat′s current topic). Questions or topics are determined ahead of time (you can submit questions via the moderator) and then controlled by the moderator. Shonali Burke explains Twitter chats and what makes one good in her excellent blog.
If you work in PR and are active on Twitter I highly recommend looking into these chats:
#journchat, created by @prsarahevans takes place every Monday at 8 pm ET and explores the impact of online communications and new media with 200+ journalists, bloggers and PR professionals participating each week.
#soloPR, which was created by @kellyecrane as a way for Solo PR pros to share tips, stories and insight on PR and working independently. It′s held Wednesdays at 1 pm ET.
#measurePR, recently started by @shonali and held bi-weekly on Tuesdays from 12-1 pm ET
#PRStudChat, a monthly Twitter chat moderated by @dbreakenridge and host @valeriesimon that is designed to bring together PR students (that′s where the "stud" comes in), professionals, and educators for conversation about PR, as well as learning, networking and developing mentoring relationships.
#pr20chat, a discussion of where PR is heading, led by @bethharte, @jgoldsborough and @prtini, on Wednesdays at 7 pm CT
You can find other chats on TweetChat or through this spreadsheet that Robert Swanwick created.
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. Learn more her here.
I work in PR and my family has no idea what I do.
I′ve heard my parents accurately describe the company or clients I work for but they have a hard time articulating what I actually do for these organizations.
I used to joke about this when I started my career. I was working for a high-tech PR agency and the trade jargon was difficult for even those in the know to follow. It cracked me up to imagine my mom telling her friends that her daughter "announced the beta of version 8.0 of a front office software platform. She′s drafting the briefing books now for some desk-side media one-on-ones"¦"
The problem is that I can′t explain what I do either! Fortunately I′m not alone. Nearly 2,500 folks have proclaimed on Facebook that explaining what we do is tough for us PR people.
I can′t tell you how many holiday gatherings I′ve been to where different relatives have asked me if I′m still writing for the paper. (I did have a college internship at a newspaper nearly 20 years ago.) More often than not, I just say yes.
My elementary school aged kids are genuinely interested in learning what I do, and I′ve taken pains to explain my job accurately to them. The jury is still out on how successful my explanations are, though. I overheard my daughter′s friend say that her mom drew the picture in a particular magazine (the friend′s mother works for an ad agency) and my daughter replied that her mom knew the person who made the magazine. Our conversations are similar to the one David Moye had with his daughter when she asked "Daddy what′s PR?" although they sometimes take a hysterical turn after we discuss how manipulative the media can be.
Usually I adapt my job description based on how interested the person I′m talking to seems to be and the types of questions they′re asking. I don′t think I′ve ever described my job the same way. When asked what I do for a living sometimes I talk about the purpose of my job, e.g. shaping a brand, influencing demand, generating leads, and sometimes I talk about the actual activities I did that day, e.g. writing a press release, calling the media, tweeting. Of course, everyone tries to understand my work in terms they can relate to and sometimes the conversations end with "so could you help my Uncle Rick with PR for his auto body shop?"
I′m still looking for some new answers to give my mom. How do you describe your work in PR?
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. Learn more her here.
My business partner, Jolie Downs, at Paradigm Staffing wrote a guest post for Mike Schaffer's blog for HAPPO. I like to think of her as the "Queen of the Interview Prep." See the full post on Mike's blog.
All of these tips are a good refresher for anybody in any industry preparing for an interview.
Arrive early: Arrive five to ten minutes early, but not more than ten. Hiring managers are taking special note of when you arrive and getting there early sends a message of strong interest and professionalism.
Chemistry is everything: You wouldn′t be interviewing if you weren′t qualified. It′s not the most qualified person that gets the job, it′s the person who is the best interviewer and shows the most excitement about the opportunity. This is even more important during this downturn. Hiring managers have experienced an endless string of candidates who want a job, any job. A company wants to find someone who is excited about their opportunity and their company. You must be able to articulate why it is you find their position interesting.
First impression: Within the two first minutes you walk in the door, the hiring manager will make a quick decision on whether or not they are going to hire you and the rest of the interview will be spent justifying that decision.
There are simple things you can do to create the best first impression. You may think these should all go without saying but candidates make these simple mistakes every day.
- Dress to impress. Always wear a suit or other appropriate/impressive outfit to an interview. It shows your interest and professionalism. Studies have shown that 84 out of 100 executives admit that their companies have rejected applicants based solely on how they were dressed.
- Avoid strong cologne or perfume.
- Turn off your cell phone!
- Stand up and greet with a smile and a firm handshake.
- Make direct eye contact while talking, smile often during your meeting and keep your head up.
- Avoid nervous gestures — clicking a pen, fidgeting with your hair or in your chair, etc. You want to convey confidence, self-assurance and professionalism.
- Many hiring managers are very friendly and easy to speak with so be careful that you don′t become overly familiar with the employer and share information or stories that are not appropriate for the interview process or do not justify your cause.
Accomplishments: Have at least five accomplishments that you can discuss in the interview process. Remember that the hiring manager is scared of making a hiring mistake. Your job is to reduce his/her risk. Give information that provides assurance that you can do the job, that you are interested in the job and will fit into the company culture. Do this by giving your "accomplishment" stories telling about situations where you applied your skills required for this job.
Format your accomplishments in three parts.
1. This is the problem I was trying to solve or the goal I was trying to reach.
2. This is specifically what I did to solve that problem or reach that goal. Remember they aren′t interviewing the "we" on your project.
3. This is how it directly benefited my client, company, or team (i.e. major hits, increase in sales/exposure, under budget, ahead of schedule, award winning).
Research: Do as much research on the company as possible. Do they have a company blog? Has anyone on the executive team published a book? Find articles written about the company or by company employees. Learn as much about the clients you may handle. There is nothing worse than not knowing about the company. Hiring managers are turned off by questions from candidates that could have been found easily on their website.
Be prepared for standard questions:
- Tell me about yourself. Remember, they want to know about your professional history, not where you were born or where you went to high school. (Yes, many people have started their answer from birth).
- When asked about your long term/short term goals or what you are looking for in your next opportunity be very specific about what you want and make sure it is in line with the opportunity you are interviewing for. You want the company to be able to see you working in their organization five years down the line. Too many people have interviewed with a PR agency and told the hiring manager that they saw themselves going corporate within five years. Immediate reaction by hiring manager — Next!
Always ask good questions: Asking smart questions shows your interest and your intellect. Hiring managers are turned off if a candidate asks zero questions. Make sure to ask the questions that are important to you so you know whether or not the position is right for you.
Ask questions about the company: Everyone has different things that are important to them, so ask what you need to know. You could question them about their business model, previous growth, future growth, strategic initiatives, advantages over their competitors, challenges in growing their business, philosophy on training and much more.
Ask questions about the position: I think these are the most important as the answers the hiring manager gives you are exactly what they are looking for. Make correlations between their answers and your own experience. Be sure to ask questions so you can find out what problem they are trying to solve by making this hire. Ask them about their current projects, future projects, what they expect you to accomplish in the first six months, and most difficult aspects of the position. Most likely you have had experience with what they are trying to do and you can highlight specific accomplishments that will be of most interest to the hiring team.
Ask questions about the hiring manager′s background: Find out how long they have been with the company, why they chose to work there and why they stay. This will give you an idea of why they like their job and the culture within the company.
Avoid the "what can you do for me" type of questions: Be careful not to interrogate with your questions. Keep a nice flow of conversation.
Conversation: Make sure you have a 50/50 conversation. Don′t be the one who does all the talking. On the other hand, do not talk so little that the hiring manager feels like they are pulling information out of you.
- Be sure to make answers clear, concise and to the point. I have had people not hired because they are asked a question, then they talk for ten minutes and never answer the question. Be sure to listen to the question and that you understand what is asked before answering.
- Don′t interrupt
- Negative comments leave a negative impression. Don′t make disparaging remarks about your previous employer, manager or co-worker.
Compensating Asset: When a hiring manager asks about a specific experience that you may not possess, you should always be honest. However, follow it up with an example of a time when you had no experience with something but went on to master it. Use this as another opportunity to share an accomplishment. This will leave the hiring manager with a positive thought rather than a negative one.
Strong close! It′s important that you let the people you are interviewing with know that you are interested. The number one reason people are passed on in interviews is this reason: There was no interest, no enthusiasm, no fire in the belly, they were flat, etc"¦ At the end of the interview with each person reiterate your interest and tell them why you think you are a good fit. Ask them what the next steps are. Where do we go from here?
Thank you note: Send a thank you note immediately to each person you speak with. This can be sent via email. Keep it short, sweet and to the point. Again, reiterate your interest and let them know you are looking forward to hearing from them. Be sure to make each thank you email different when sending to multiple people in one company.
Connect with Jolie on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter!
This is a post by Alison Kenney.
Career advisors will tell you about the value of creating a niche for yourself: it helps position you as an expert and helps you avoid being all things to all people or spreading yourself too thin. This maxim applies whether you′re in corporate PR, work as an independent consultant or are part of a department within an agency. But what if you don′t like the niche you′re currently in? Consider these seven steps if you′re thinking about breaking into a new niche:
Step #1: Articulate your reasons
Find other PR pros who work in the field you want to be in and shadow them or ask them about their work. Understanding the field′s requirements, the schedule and how payment and rewards work will ensure there are no surprises later. It will also help you visualize yourself doing the work and reassure you that it′s what you want to do. Being able to explain why you want to switch gears is important as it will help you convince others to take a chance on you even though you don′t yet have the experience. Before he became a top CNBC reporter Darren Rovell explored career opportunities in sports journalism. His journey included looking at where most sports journalists focused their efforts, getting advice on market opportunities from veterans and doing extensive research on the field (see step #7 below).
Step #2: Ask for help
Identify a few mentors who work in the niche you′re targeting and offer to take them out for coffee or lunch in exchange for advice on breaking into the niche.
Step #3: Look for pro bono opportunities
Pro bono projects, i.e. those done without pay, can help you get your feet wet, make some connections and build up your resume/credentials.
Step #4: Look the part
Your transition will go more smoothly if you look the part. Use your business cards, web site, blog and tweets to let people know you are focusing on a particular niche.
Step #5: Focus on what you can do
Just because you′re new to a niche, doesn′t necessarily mean you′re not qualified. Highlight the experience you have that is transferable. In other words focus on what you can do not what you′ve done. This WSJ installment of The Resume Doctor offers advice on what to emphasize in a career shifter resume.
Step #6: Network
Networking is good advice for all job seekers, but if you′re exploring a new field or niche look for groups, sub-groups or special interest groups (SIGS) that specialize in your chosen niche. Kristie Aylett, APR, a PR consultant in Mississippi (@krisTK) says, "Two resources I've found helpful: Linkedin for Q&A and Group Discussions and PRSA's Business Case for PR award summaries."
Step #7: Become a student
PR pros with niche experience are viewed as experts because they′ve built up experience and made important connections in that field. Emulate their knowledge by investing time in industry research: read relevant trade publications, subscribe to blogs and newsfeeds and look for classes that can help you get up to speed. Recently, the #solopr chat on Twitter covered this topic and shared this advice:
@shonali: I think like anything else, you have to educate yourself. Research, listen, watch, get to know people in that area.
@krisTK: Set up Alerts, RSS feeds for new industry. Identify the players, issues.
@luannsaid: I find bloggers to be the most insightfully passionate players in any industry. Follow key ones & you'll learn the issues fast.
(More excellent advice from the #solopr Twitter chat can be found here.)
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. Learn more her here.
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney.
The buzz around Apple's launch of the iPad last week was deafening. It eclipsed Toyota's recall announcement, Holocaust Remembrance Day and the President's State of the Union address (but was probably greeted happily by corporations with bad news to announce that day, e.g. Verizon's layoff of 13,000 employees).
So one might think that Apple's PR team is exceptional and that they pulled an amazing campaign together full of extremely innovative tactics. Although I surely won't be arguing that Apple doesn't have some of the best PR pros around, if you look closely at the way they roll out new product news, you'll see that rather than pushing the envelope they are more likely to promote tried-and-true best practices:
Earn your audience: Apple'siPad launch worked (in PR terms, i.e. buzz, messages communicated, brand remained strong) because the company was building upon the successes of its previous product rollouts. Dating back to the Mac and as recently as the iPod and iPhone, Apple has earned audience recognition as an amazing product company.
Big brands must exercise control or risk missteps: We've seen this with Domino's Pizza and recently with Tiger Woods. As Joe Ciarallo writes for MediaBistro, "For all the talk how important it is for companies to be more open and transparent in this new media world we live in, Apple is one of the most secretive companies, especially when it comes to PR and marketing, yet it is also one of the most loved brands." The controlled campaign included an exclusive news scoop to a top-tier media outlet, the Wall Street Journal, which generated an incredible amount of viral buzz and was followed by a formal announcement event the next day.
How did Apple pull this off?: There is speculation that the exclusive was actually a controlled leak. Whether it was or wasn't, Apple's launch was a success because it relied on these best practices:
The best spokesperon ever: just try to name another business executive who is as universally recognized in such a positive way as Steve Jobs. You can't The aura and mystique that Jobs has developed lends itself to the sleek design and supernatural status of Apple's products too. Jobs is Apple.
Lead with PR, not advertising — Apple′s campaigns never mention beta cycles, prototypes or "vaporware." Their announcements include real news — "˜here′s the product, here′s Steve Jobs using it, here′s how/when you can buy it and how much it will cost.′
Give people something to talk about — not all of the feedback and early reviews of the iPad were positive, but there sure was a lot of it. The New York Times tracked Twitter traffic related to the iPad and reported a high of 2,200 tweets/minute. From controversy over the name, which some said reminded them of feminine hygiene products and which Fujitsu claimed it owned, to whether this marked a departure from AT&T's exclusive relationship with Apple and even whether the iPad would be around long before it was overtaken with Apple′s next revolutionary device.
After reading through all those bland and boring job ads, this round-up of creative and funny recruitment ads is refreshing to see.
See them all on Jacob Share's JobMob - 117 Funniest Creative Job and Recruitment Ads
Enjoy!
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney.
Tens of thousands of journalists, reporters and editors lost their jobs in 2009 — what does that mean for PR?
According to a September 2009 report from Unity, the news industry has shed almost 36,000 jobs since Sept. 15, 2008, and more than 46,000 positions since Jan. 1 of that year, with U.S. journalists losing jobs at three times rate of most workers.
One of the obvious implications of this shrinking media landscape is that there are fewer places and people for PR professionals to pitch, prompting some forecasters to herald a sea change in the PR profession. In other words, PR will cease to be a "media relations mill" says Doug Haslam who writes in his blog that:
Public relations agencies have actually made progress in scaling down the mass-spamming of media targets, at least in my experience (that′s not the same as saying it′s gone, of course). However, the reliance on media relations as the backbone of PR agency work seems to be getting its oxygen only from client demands to be in this or that publication. When clients deprive us of that oxygen, we will be freer (or forced) to pitch our talents in other areas: strategy, social media, content creation and other more creative, effective pursuits. I can say from experience that clients are already clamoring for more strategic counsel vs. more of the same ol′ media relations. That′s a great, early sign of what may come.
While some people lament the "old" way of doing things, most reporters who still have their jobs will tell you that they are working in a new environment with deadlines, formats and competition that didn′t exist a few years ago.
Waggener Edstrom′s digital consulting director, Tac Anderson, recently blogged about the pressure on reporters to compete with bloggers, which can result in "reporters writing re-tweetable headlines which are sometimes misleading or stories being written with unchecked facts and inaccuracies." Anderson says:
The big tech blogs like TechCrunch regularly race to market with sketchy information with an inflammatory headline knowing that Mashable, NextWeb, ReadWriteWeb, GigaOm, etc will all run follow on posts with even less facts. This results in the 1st article racing up Techmeme, Tweetmeme, trending topics, Digg etc and massive link juice and traffic. We′ve even started to see traditional media take similar "Digg bait" approaches and as their revenue and staff get even thinner you will see more of it.
A recent L.A. Times story points out that it′s not just full-time media staff positions that are suffering: freelance writers are being compensated at obscenely low rates which is pushing a shift toward shorter articles with lighter fare. This trend can work both ways for PR professionals — sure, there are fewer opportunities to pitch your story, and it′s more difficult to track down freelance writers and stay on top of their current projects, but it′s also an opportunity for PR pros with strong writing skills to place bylined articles and contributed content.
However, Chuck Tanowitz at Fresh Ground Communications cautions us to remember the standards and editorial ethics we admire in old-school journalism as journalism becomes a state of mind and everyone is empowered to communicate.
The massive job losses also mean that tens of thousands of journalists, reporters and editors are looking for new jobs and many are considering or already have joined the PR profession. Reporters who take new roles as PR professionals, i.e. "hacks who turn into flacks," can offer great pointers to the rest of us, such as how to understand media hierarchy and determine the right points of contact, how to develop relationships with beat reporters, bloggers or other media "managers" and how to become better writers and story tellers. In return, it might be nice to help these reporters who′ve gone to the other side by showing them the ropes and explaining client service, budgets and PR′s role in the larger marketing landscape.
Alison Kenney is 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 can be reached at alisonkenney@comcast.net.
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney
January 1 brings out the optimist in all of us. It′s a time for new beginnings and fresh starts. For those of us who want to make a commitment to change in our PR careers, consider these New Year resolutions for 2010:
- Embrace technology: if you haven′t already, look for opportunities to learn about and use new forms of technology like podcasting, video, Flickr, Slideshare and more. Many of these technology tools are now easier than ever to use and can make a big difference is helping PR pros tell a story and/or spread the story to new or larger audiences.
- Get your creative juices flowing: great storytelling is critical to good PR. If your storytelling skills are getting stale, look for ways to bring them back to life. Build creative writing skills and bolster your vocabulary by joining a writer′s support group, stocking up on reference resources or reading work written by good writers (in any medium or industry). Likewise, think about learning some new presentation skills — through a personal coach, via an improvisation or acting class, or by gleaning tips online or through articles.
- Be social media savvy: if your idea of incorporating social media into PR campaigns consists of re-tweeting a client′s news, it′s time to spread your wings and learn about all the ways social media, online communities and SEO tools can enhance a PR program. Fortunately there are plenty of resources to help you get up to speed. Search Mashable for best practices examples and tips, sign up for a webinar from Vocus or HubSpot, attend seminars, association meetings or casual meetups and ask around to get examples of social media success stories.
- Get grounded with measurement: technology and social media are a boon to the PR toolbox, but don′t use them for the sake of using them. Make sure your PR strategies are in line with overall PR goals, which themselves need to be in line with your client′s or employer′s business goals. Clearly stated goals make it easier to come up with the right metrics for measuring success. This will be a hot topic in 2010 so look for lots of conversations about measurement in online forums and social media.
- Become a PR thought-leader, or at least join the discussion about PR trends: start by resolving to stay on top of industry news and developments. To get started, set aside time regularly in your schedule to stay on top of the news and to read what other industry leaders are saying. Technology makes this easy: you can subscribe to and scan blog headlines with Google Reader, get news alerts delivered with Google Alerts, set up lists of news headlines and PR pros on Twitter or TweetDeck. Use online communities to learn, too. Join a Twitter chat, answer questions on LinkedIn or participate in another form of professional online discussion.
Alison Kenney is 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 can be reached at alisonkenney@comcast.net.
With 2009 quickly coming to an end and some idle time, I've been thinking about my goals for Paradigm Staffing and for this blog in 2010. It's been a difficult year for many of us and I expect 2010 will treat us much better.
Despite the challenging economy, this year has been my most rewarding yet. I become a mother for the first time in September. I had an amazing and easy pregnancy. The support from the awesome team at Paradigm Staffing allowed me take the past few months to spend as a full-time Mommy and the smart group of PR and HR/search professionals I've been so lucky to work with volunteered to share their thoughts and time writing as guest bloggers here.
In preparation for the new year, I was looking through some of the posts written in 2009. In case you missed any, here's a short round-up of the top five posts this year according to page views.
1. How Not To Ask For Help In a Job Search
2. Write an Attention-Grabbing Cover Letter
3. How To Answer the Salary Question
4. Tough Interview Questions and How To Respond
5. Do You Have a PR Personality? (guest post by Alison Kenney)
Chau 2009... may 2010 be even better!
This is a guest post by Kimberly Walsh.
I think it's pretty safe to say that the majority of people who graduated with PR degrees had to learn social media in the great educational institution of life. We've taken our knowledge of creating mutually beneficial relationships through two-way communications and applied it to the many online tools at our disposal.
I'm lucky enough to have landed my dream job. It combines my love of books and of connecting and communicating with people and bringing it all together through technology. It's also a job that didn't and truly couldn't exist before the advent of web 2.0.
My job is essentially running an online book club through Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Book clubs have long been popular in our culture, made even more so by celebrity backings like Oprah in the USA and Richard & Judy in the UK. It's so much a part of society that American network CBS even attempted a failed "reality" show Tuesday Night Book Club.
Anyone who's ever been a member of a book club knows the pitfalls. And that's usually finding the right fit. Some members are hardcore bookworms armed with English lit degrees, some join in order to simply have an adult conversation, while others are there just for the wine.
So, the question in an online version becomes: how to engage a wide audience? And by engage, I'm talking about our precious two-way communications, not just broadcasting opinions. Books aren't exactly niche marketing. Everybody reads. While an online book club (or any club for that matter) can't provide refreshments, it can provide a friendly setting for all manner of discussions. In fact, the virtual world is ideal for the book club format.
First, a little background about the program I'm talking about: Canada Reads started as a one week radio program where five celebrity panelists each choose a book to defend on air during the course of five days. If a book makes onto the show, the Canada Reads "bump" means an average sales increase of more than 1700%. That's second in influence only to Canada's biggest literary award, The Scotiabank Giller Prize.
The CBC Book Club was launched in spring of this year on the heels of a Canada Reads victory by journalist Avi Lewis who defended Lawrence Hill's Book of Negroes (printed as Someone Knows My Name in the USA). Incidentally, the book was recently named one of the top 10 Canadian books of the decade by Maclean's magazine.
With the advent of social media, particularly in recent years where the uptake by mainstream audiences of sites like Facebook and Twitter has influenced strategic communications and marketing plans, the opportunity for conversation is almost limitless.
Some takeaways from the online successes of these programs:
The golden rule of web 2.0 should be know thy audience. The bigger the audience, the more diverse their needs. You're simply not going to be able to force everyone who wants to participate into joining social media sites. Don't punish them for making that decision. Provide them with content in other ways. Use widgets to show them your Twitter stream. Hold their hands a little if you need to by posting how-to tips.
Not everyone is going to be comfortable with learning a new technology. Heck, you might even be nervous about it, too. Let them know they're not alone.
Let your personality shine. Your audience doesn't want to constantly be sold on an idea, product or service. Social media is the wrong platform for that. People want conversation with a real live human being who has opinions. Common sense and a smart code of conduct go a long way.
Content may be queen but a prime minister is needed to manage it. Post all you want, but know that there's such a thing as information overload. More importantly, don't make your audience work to find content. Information architecture are words you should get comfortable with but also think about options for sending out updates. It can be as easy as a well-crafted tweet with an appropriately shortened link, an RSS feed for updates, or a combination of options. Remember each user is different and will experience your content and site in a variety of ways.
Embrace change but know what your breadwinners are. It's all well and good to have a strategic communications plan setting out short- and long-term goals but social media is a moving target at times. You need to build in the flexibility to change with shifting interests in various platforms.
Take calculated risks. When those interests do shift to the next shiny web 2.0 tool, evaluate whether it's the right one for you before making the leap. At the Book Club one of the great value-added tools we added to our toolkit is CoverItLive for moderated chats with authors. Ultimately, it's a win in terms of bonus interactivity but it wasn't without a bit of sweat and elbow grease to get it just right.
What are some of your success stories in building online communities?
Kimberly Walsh (aka @AliasGrace) is a geek girl, bookworm, writer and PR thinker in one. By day, she works as a web content producer and social media manager for the CBC in literary programming.
This blog is to share my recruiting experiences and discuss thoughts on the job market, PR industry and technology.
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience.
