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Tweet Your Heart Out PR Pros

November 23, 2010 at 6:53 pm · Filed under public relations and tagged: , , , , , ,

If you asked me a year ago if I would ever join Twitter, without hesitation I would have said “No way, its unnecessary.” Ask me now as a soon to be PR professional and you will receive an urgent social media PSA brought to you by your’s truly, stating something around the lines of, “Twitter is one of the most valuable social media platform to be a part of. If you are not on these you are only hurting yourself.”

As fast as social media evolves, so are the ways of communicating. It is extremely important to use social media if you want to be a professional in the PR world. Not only does this connect you with other people around the world in the same fields of interests, but it also keeps you up to date with the breaking news and companies you are interested in.

Public relations is focused on building relationships (who would have thought?), so individuals need to be proactive on these sites and create those connections. You also want to make a presences amongst the publics and being apart of Facebook, Twitter and all of the other platforms allows individuals and organizations to do so. Going off of this idea, companies know the benefits of being on these sites and they need help to grow their numbers. This is part of a PR practitioners job, so live by the cliche saying, “Practice makes perfect.”

So people of the world, do yourself a favor and get involved with social media because it is here to stay!

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Do Yourself a Favor, Network.

November 3, 2010 at 1:02 am · Filed under public relations and tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Last week, I participated in the #u30Pro Twitter chat. This is a chat filled with professionals under the age of thirty. A lot of these individuals are savvy social media gurus mixed with a side of public relations and various communications personalities. The hot topic of the night was, drumroll please.. Networking! The big topics that were discussed were the “Do’s and Don’ts,” of networking events and the “How-to’s.” I received a lot of insight and opinions on the subject.

It seems the most important aspect of networking is the drive behind it. If an individual is not comfortable with putting him or herself out there, then more than likely a networking event is not going to be beneficial for them. Luckily for the shy guys, there are ways to ease the anxiety ahead of time:

  1. Network online. See who will be attending this event; break the ice online before you have to meet in person.
  2. Bring a friend with you. I do not suggest this, because the point of networking is to meet new people, but this may help you relax.
  3. Practice. As corny as this sounds, practice what you want to say. Go over conversation staters, so when it comes times for the real deal, you are ready!

Easier said than done, right? Some of you may be willing to break out of your shell and network, but don’t truly understand the benefits of this act. A blog called the Made Manual highlighted the Top 10 benefits of networking. A few of my favorite perks that were mentioned are: Being active,skills, reputation and support. These are just a couple of benefits that could send one up the career ladder thanks to the power of networking.

To all the social Sallies out there, remember to keep in mind, networking is a two way street. You need to give to get and vice versa. Do not swamp the conversation with your ego, check it at the door. Engage with your new contact and find out about them! Maybe you have a mutual contact, or the same interests. You want a genuine relationship so you can each use each other in the future. London HR Connection wrote a good post about the networking relationships one can make internally and externally not only for an individual, but for an organization.

So aside from all of the benefits that come from networking, why is this important to a person in PR? One word: Relationship. Most people will say contacts, but to me this just means this person is someone you met once and have not kept in touch with since. Networking needs to be more than that in order to be useful for a PR professional. These relationships can be lifesavers in the future. For example: Say you meet the head of a local publication. Years down the road if you stayed in contact and transformed that business card into a professional relationship, you could call on this person to help you publish your client’s news, while everyone else’s pitches go into the garbage.

If Baz Luhrmann wrote his hit, “Everybody’s Free” (To Wear Sunscreen) today, I think he offer his one tip that everyone should network! The ways of the world are changing, and with that you must too. So, Network, use Twitter and look up events in your city online. It is never too soon to get yourself out there! If you don’t, someone else will.

 

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To blog or not to blog? That is the million dollar question for PR practitioners.

September 9, 2010 at 1:48 am · Filed under public relations and tagged: ,

Photo via Kaushik.net

A public relations practitioner may stop and ask themselves, “Why should I blog and what is the point?

Well, aside from the ENORMOUS craze currently going on over social media, there are lucrative benefits for businesses to also participate.In a blog post I read written by the good the bad the and spin, it stated three reasons why it is smart for people with a career in PR start up a blog. The reasons are:

1. Blogs publish information in real time-Blogs offer a mechanism to respond quickly and affirmatively.

2. Blogs place information on public record- Blogs are one place to put information with a personal touch, rather than sending out a blast news release. Blogs, similar to direct email, are a tactic to target certain publics.

3. Blogs are cost effective- If used correctly, blogs can equate with the search engine ranking power of mass media outlets.

I think these are convincingly concrete answers for why people in the field of PR should blog. It cuts out the people in-between that filters and alters the information a PR practitioner wants to make available to the public. An article online written by James L. Horton best summed up the advantages of blogs in PR by saying, “Think of a blog as a low-cost and fast publishing tool that can provide an important dimension to an individual and/or organization in terms of getting news out quickly.”

Other than playing the role of a vehicle for fast and free publishing, it allows PR professionals to bring into play their most important factor, and that is the human factor. Mashable.com posted a blog entry about the emphasis of relationships between PR professionals and bloggers. The article focused that despite the changing medium for press releases, by directly reaching out to key media and influencers with whom we maintain relationships, we’re able to ensure their timely awareness of the news.

I feel that in the business it is extremely important to keep up with technology and communication trends because if you are not, someone else is.  If a PR practitioner is not taking the time to promote their clients and tie them with their publics, then they are not doing their jobs. Blogs allow for this exact interaction to happen!

Now remember, if a person in PR is blogging it does need to be professional and beneficial to their career.  Frequently people use blogs as personal journals, and I think PR professionals need to keep in mind that they represent other people and not themselves.

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