You Can…

Supplementary post …

I mean seriously don’t be a ‘Twater’ .. it’s Friday, jam a little.

Mistah F.A.B. – Hit Me On Twitter

Last Post…

Since this is may be my last post *tear* I felt it should be related to our futures as we move on from Denel’s Social Media Seminar. For some of us it’s graduation, for others… it’s next semester. Since I didn’t really want to write about Shel Holtz’ Blog this week I had to think hard about what I should write about.

Maybe I should write about the great things I’ve learned like social media measurment from Martin Delaney or maybe how much we appreciated @cc_chapman’s help connecting us with his friend Julien Smith. Maybe I should say what a wonderful professor Denel has been to us, fair, understanding and tons of fun. I could do that and try to bring tears to our eyes but frankly I don’t think I’m capable AND it wouldn’t really be in the spirit of social media.

We’ve learned that Web 2.0 is about sharing not exploitation. We’ve learned that social media is about creating two-way dialogues and we’ve learned that we all have SERIOUS social capital and a really great network of talented and smart young women … and me.

I figure this post should be valuable if anything. I was considering posting some videos to make everyone laugh or a case study that we could use in the future but then I thought that would be a bad idea because this post still counts for marks.

So I’d like to share with everyone some things that I think are valuable, like cool ideas that may help you land a job in social media, or at an agency or whereever you think is cool. Hopefully these ideas will prompt you to think outside the box not only when it comes to work but to finding work as well.

Cool Idea Number 1. Make a Facebook ad about yourself!

Facebook has really, really, really targeted ads for really, really, really, cheap. How can you pimp this? Target the agencies interests, find out some of the interests of people in the agency combine that with a snazzy little ad such as REVOLVE SHOULD HIRE ME. With the right amount of research the right people will see your ads and at should least give you a look. Link that ad to a website, online CV/Resume/portfolio/blog/naked pics. Ok, Maybe not the last one unless you are looking for jobs outside of PR.

Check out the publicity this guy got for 98 cents!! http://www.pr-squared.com/index.php/2009/06/oh-the-targeting-well-see

Cool Idea 2. Design a HOT online portfolio.

The days of the leave behind are virtually over and the virtual leave behind is here. Can you design websites? Do you have sweet skills online? Make an online portfolio! Or … Are you like me? Do you lack the steez necessary to create your own website? No worries,  I bet you have a friend that have those skills and if you don’t you know someone who knows someone who does.

Check these online portfolios for some ideas.
http://inspiredology.com/online-portfolios-that-speak-for-themselves/
http://inspiredology.com/portfolios-2/

FINALLY

Cool Idea Number 3.

This isn’t really a cool idea more than it is something cool to consider. I’ve been searching and scouring the internet and seeing what sort of people have really cool jobs and seem to be making decent money doing it. As graduates and soon to be graduates from Mount Saint Vincent University, the unknown little blip on the side of the Bedford Highway, we are probably the most industry ready graduates in the country. I shit you not.

Between our education, work experience and  the attitude and comraderie this program instills in its graduates makes us more than  ready to become industry rockstars.

So, fear not graduates and soon to be graduates you will find jobs in your field if that is what you desire.  Despite recessions, despite increased competition and IN SPITE of swine flu. Allow your swag juice to drip freely on the floor because you’ve earned the right to.

That’s all I really have … I actually have more but I fear this may turn into a Molson commercial before too long.

Thank you Denel for a great semester, good luck grads and to my homies in the 3rd … do what it do.

Adieu.

Fundraising via SM

After reading Social Media ROI –  a calculator for not-for-profits, I was really interested in the tools that Rhodes recommended because I still have questions about the success of fundaraising through SM. We all know what ROI, metrics and measurable objective mean to organizations and those who work in social media. It’s the difference between what we do for a paycheque and a hobby. Since it’s beginning to become easier to quantify social media investment with tools like Radian6 and The Social Network ROI Calculator it’s also becoming easier to put a dollar value on what the work is actually worth.

But is social media the best avenue for fundraising? According to author and president of Community Driven Institute, Hildy Gottlieb fundraising through social media is not sustainable and tools such like ChipIn and Just Giving are virutal ‘begging bowls.’  However she does believe that there is a place for social media in fundraising. For instance generating awareness and driving traffic to your website or events. I agree.

This is where I believe social media is most effective, in creating awareness, reach and building communitiy engagement. The real power in social media is that it has the ability to generate interest and caring about initiatives. I think Twitter spamming and Facebook spamming isn’t as effective as people think.

I think before we go off trying to use social media to solve all of our problems we should stop and analyse what social media does best and where it has had its most success.

It’s Friday … laugh a little

Everything you need to know about social media. 

Shel Holtz on Social Media Campaigns

In a recent blog post by Shel Holtz called Organic Social Media vs Marketing Campaigns, he outlines what successful campaigns should and should not have.

I found it interesting after reading a some posts critical of social media, specifically that social media isn’t conducive to campaigns. The idea that social tools should be integrated into business rather than marketing is an ideal I would like to subscribe to. In the interest of authenticity I think I would like to see an institution become more social rather than marketing to me via social media forums. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some social media campaigns (when they are done well)  but I would much rather see a company attempt to become the complete circle that our guest Ben showed us. Of course that is only an ideal.

What I’m learning now is that there are people who are online to simply uphold the reputation of their company and help people with issues or provide information, basically to make sure people are talking trash. This is transparent but not wholly authentic. At first it feels nice but something about it  feels unnatural, like the person who walks into your conversation laughing along with you but you don’t really know who they are.  

Ugh, I digress.

I’ll get back to Shel’s tips on effective social media campaigns. What makes Shel  an authority on what makes good social media campaigns? Well because he is the ‘division coordinator for the social media category of IABC’s international Gold Quill Awards.’

The most important factor Shel sites for a successful campaign is to ‘tap into a community with a call to action the someone would actually want to do.”  

Here are the other points Shel made.

Give people in existing communities something they’ll actually want to talk about

Provide a call to action that will be of genuine interest to those you’re trying to engage

Make it easy for people to share what you give them

Invite your employees who are engaged organically talk about the campaign

Listen to what people say about the campaign and make mid-course corrections

Be authentic. Yes, it’s a campaign, but it’s also interaction between your company and individual customer.

Hope this helps everyone planning their campaigns and strategies!

PEACE

Trackback http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/trackbacks/2909/

Second Life, Web 2.0 and Social Stratification

You Can Be Anything You Want! Except a Loser.

 

 

I’ve noticed a few posts talking about perpetuation of steretypes through Second Life and identity online and community interaction online. Which got me reading and got me thinking (in tangents) about something DeNel said about ownership of information. 

Web 2.0 is not revolutionizing community or interpersonal interactions at all. Oh sure it’s giving introverts the opportunity to feel apart of a community and to speak and feel comfortable in a setting of their choice. It’s also giving a forum for people to cheer, bitch or promote about their interests. But these forums DO exist in the ‘real world’  and they are available to anyone who choose to use them which is exactly the same as the real world.  So what does web 2.0 change? It connects the world to one another which is supposed to stimulate tolerance and understanding of culture when in fact it is just being used as an impirical device to enhance Western sprawl (sort of like urban sprawl only with Western ideologies). What does Second Life do that makes the real world so unappealing? I don’t know maybe Furry? 

This perceived freedom of expression and ability to socialize and create your own personal online identity is a big farce. Social stratification still exists and top down power structures are still operating and another thing … your ‘online identity’ that you have strived so hard to create across multiple platforms doesn’t even belong to you! Facebook owns your information, you can’t export your Twitter page or blogs or blog comments or LinkedIn recommendations to any one tangible ID that you actually own. Heck,  you aren’t even a REAL PERSON in Second Life. I mean the title of the program (Second Life) implies that you can create a second life which translates to (in my brain, at least) an opportunity to escape from all my faults in my first life and start new. 

But I’m not really escaping the things that I want to escape from because social stratification and capitialism are still dominant in the virtual world. For example, today in class Laura was chastized by a Second Lifer for not editing her skin tone and told her she looked like a ‘newbie.’ Smells like Alabama in 1943 to me. This sort of behaviour happens ALL OVER the interweb.  If you don’t ‘get it’ you will be mocked, insulted and ostricized for your ignorance. If you want better customer service you no longer phone the company, you bitch about them on Twitter and depending on how impressive your social capital is you can get the ‘executive treatment’. Poor grandpa is still stuck with the jerk on the wrong end of the ‘customer service line’ because he doesn’t get it. Web 2.0 and Second Life are manufactured in the real world by real people and therefore it is governed by the same social mores that we expect. This isn’t different … only in the way it is sold to us. 

So here is my idea for SL why don’t you try making your entire ‘world’ socialist, androgenous and ‘chat less.’ That would be something ‘different’. 

I’m feeling heated, how about you?

I must sound like a broken record

My first contribution to this blog talked a little bit about PR spam and entry level PR flacks ruining their reputation because of poor communication between Baby Flack and Mama Flack. Interestingly enough Shel Holtz ABC, a social media guru and all around PR superstar felt the same way for some time. What was his answer to this little issue?

The Employee Communications Manifesto Wiki. 

This wiki was created to help the entry level PR player gain some important knowledge of his/her field and not tarnish their reputation by ignorance. This document is also important for improving internal communications, as Shel puts it,

“…companies recognizing how inextricably linked internal and external communications have become to leaders like the CEO of Commonwealth Bank, who sees employees as a “secret weapon” with whom he can communicate, then turn loose to spread the message, it’s clear that internal communications is gaining a stronger foothold in a lot of companies.”

Having access and knowledge of documents like this will put us ahead of the game by increasing our knowledge which in turn, improves our skills we have developed here.  Because of the extremely turbulent times we are currently living in, we only have our skills to fall back on and they better be in fine form because if we don’t know what environment we are stepping into, we are in a lot of trouble.

Think about this. “Once the recession passes, I expect internal communications departments to be staffing up, often with new-hires who have no background in the discipline to which they’ve been assigned. I also expect a lot of out-of-work journalists to find a home in employee communications.” — Shel Holtz

I want everyone in this class and program to become successful PR people because the more Mount grads in the PR community the better… for all of us.  We are going to be competing against savagely hungry grads and talented people from different industries when we get up on out of her. Use these sites, wiki’s to improve your knowledge and learn new skills and we can become leaders. Don’t wind up on the PR blacklist. 

Here is a network that might help us show how talented we are all and connect with others that are just as kick ass –> www.theleagueofkickassunder30.ning.com  then Add me as a friend.

MJ.

Crowd-Sourcing

 

Crowd-sourcing is like outsourcing but without any contractual agreements. Web 2.0 has given companies access to the collective intelligence of the Internet. Crowd-sourcing employs the vast expanse of the web through willing participants to help solve or contribute to projects, issues and research (environmental scanning). Imagine having access to millions of perspectives, ideas and part-time employees without having to pay for any of it. That’s the nature of crowd-sourcing in a business environment. The downside of crowd-sourcing for business applications are: people’s suggestions may not jive with your companies current economic or communication strategy, contributors don’t necessarily have any investment with the company or its strategy, poor quality contribution or no contribution at all.

There are also many other applications for crowd-sourcing content as well. For example there are many successful crowd-sourced news websites. The most popular website, Digg allows users to vote up and down content based on the community’s collective influence. Digg’s  front page is highly desired by companies and communications practitioners because of the influence of the community.  Articles that make the front page of Digg have been ‘dugg’  by users all over the Internet, meaning that users have voted positively for that specific article. News-makers, bloggers and citizen journalists can add a Digg widget to their website so readers can ‘Digg’ content from their blog. The idea is that only the best and most interesting news will make it to the front pages of Digg because of the voting system. However there has been extensive criticism of Digg’s voting method.

 Crowd-sourced news sites all have different methods of displaying, ranking and selecting content but the commonality is that the content is either user-generated or user-supplied. 

Other news sites mentioned in our index are:

Newsvine - It’s differentiators include a live feed of content and it’s user rating system called ‘Vinacity” in which users ear ‘branches’ when they display any of their six key values of content sharing. 

Mixx – It’s differentiators is the ability to choose categories of interest, your ‘Mixx.’ This allows for personalization of content consumption and community building with news-makers in your areas of interest.

Reddit – This site is basically resembles a Twitter stream full of links to content. The community votes up or down content they think is valuable or interesting.

Hubdub  - Lets users predict outcomes of topical news stories. Users get ‘virtual money’ and bet on outcomes. This site is pretty interesting and can be pretty useful for acquiring statistical data about how the community feels about certain topics. Not surprisingly, sports is highly favored on this site but there are also interesting polls on how much the dollar will be worth on May 22 and whether H1N1 will be upgraded to level 6 or downgraded to level 4. I find that information excellent for gauging attitudes but not entirely accurate.

Crowd-sourcing is classic web 2.0. It’s use can be very helpful or worthless depending on how you use it. Web 2.0 tools can help execute strategies but can not hold their own.

Thoughts?

Taweel Reading – Where Was the Essence of PR Lost?

 

The Essence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taweel’s paper makes the statement that although public relations and communications are constantly evolving professions ‘the fundamental essence of all good communications, however, remains unchanged.’ I’m sure we can all agree with that. However, there is a great deal of evidence that suggests communicators have abandoned that essence.

 

Additional Links

1Look In The Mirror

2 PR Spmmer BLACKLIST

3 The Anderson Effect

My question is: Where was the essence of good communications lost? Or perhaps the better question is when was it lost? As communications evolves online, whether we are leveraging social media as part of our communications strategies or we are practicing public relations and marketing via the internet, there is a disconcerting amount of poor communications practices happening in our industry. More poor than good, even experienced communicators are continuously failing at online communications and as the upholders of companies reputations we are doing a terrible job at upholding ours.

If the essence remains the same how has our profession fallen between the cracks? There are some great theories suggesting that entry level PR people responsible for writing press releases and getting their client some online ink are not properly trained by senior management or by their alma maters. These kids are under a lot of pressure to ’spread the word’ but in doing so have ignored basic elements of blogger relations and subsequently rejected the essence of ‘good communication.’  

Unfortunately in many cases senior management is unlikely to be skilled in effective online communication as well and may be more concerned with ROI than the entry level practitioners reputation.  Doing our job well requires not only a firm understanding of the fundamentals of our profession but  constantly putting them into practice. 

What does everyone think?