Tag Archives: social media

That Awkward Personal Branding – Improving your LinkedIn Profile

Gone are the days of anonymity, to be successful in 2018, you have to embrace personal branding. I’ve had quite a few people ask me for help with their LinkedIn profiles. They have asked where to start, what to do and what to say. The exchange generally begins with reluctance to include a photo and is followed by a hesitation to post projects or examples of their work. As for the summary statement, well that conversation usually requires a strong coffee or glass of wine.

Given the number of tools, hints and prompts LinkedIn gives to users to enhance profiles, I’ve often wondered why anyone would have an incomplete or weak profile. But after years of giving advice (solicited and otherwise) I realize it all comes down to personal branding. People want help because it’s weird tooting your own horn in public. It’s not so much that the concept of personal branding is new as much as it’s new to most of us. Hollywood stars, corporate leaders and political candidates to name a few, worry about personal branding and so they should, but the rest of us? Well, we may want to maintain our good reputations but we never had to take out an ad to do it and it feels weird, awkward…like bragging, but with more reach.

In the past, resumes were generally discreet documents. They were shared with potential employers and human resources employees, they weren’t posted for just anyone to look at. Now we have LinkedIn and it can provide far more information about us than any resume ever has. What’s more, potential employers are eating it up. HR professionals will often look at your LinkedIn profile before they even consider looking at your resume.

It’s also where colleagues go to find you. Unlike Facebook, there’s no awkward role confusion. I don’t generally want to talk about my weekend with my LinkedIn contacts. So, when people ask for help with their LinkedIn sites, they are generally looking for the public relations support that used to be the purview celebrities.

Clever photographers have figured it out and will offer suggestions to clients for the perfect LinkedIn photo. Automated graphic design companies are offering the use of programs that can transform all that information into a poster, which can be added to your profile. Perhaps it’s inevitable that communications people would start to assess and suggest how to achieve a better digital persona. In any case, I would suggest this:

Be honest: The same rules apply to LinkedIn as apply to resumes, times ten. If you include false information on your LinkedIn page, someone, somewhere will spot it and talk about it. I’ve had no less than four people approach me about a particular persons “inaccurate” LinkedIn page. I use the word inaccurate, they used words like, liar, faker, self-centred, conceited, who does that jerk think …well you get the picture. That can have a serious impact on your reputation, the very thing you are trying to protect and promote.
Provide brief descriptions of your roles: Do include a brief description of the jobs you held. Titles can bear little resemblance to the work we actually do. For instance, one of my old titles was Senior Director Communications and Relations. If I asked fifty people to tell me what they thought I did, I’d be lucky if I only got back 50 descriptions and amazed if any of them actually resembled my job.
Use the summary to differentiate yourself: Do take the opportunity to use the summary option. It is a chance to share a little about your personal style and your intentions, not to mention a great opportunity to make the different pieces of your background come together. This is your chance to define yourself in a few words.

Feel free to take a look at mine, it may actually prompt me to update it.

Engage with peers and potential clients: Engage in some of LinkedIn’s communities or groups that fit you. Aside from expanding your professional network, and accessing useful information, you will meet some amazing people.There is more to personal branding than LinkedIn. It’s an easy and obvious tool, but consider making it a gateway to other things like personal projects, blogs/websites, PowerPoints, YouTube offerings, your imagination will provide the limits.
Don’t be shy: My best piece of advice is, don’t be shy. There are no prizes for the most modest LinkedIn page and no potential or current employer, client or colleague is looking at your profile to see how mediocre you are, so take the opportunity to shine and show your best sides. Showing your best includes always taking the time to be polite on LinkedIn’s various communities.
Ask for advice: If it feels really weird then ask a friend or colleague to help you fill it out so you don’t let unhelpful modesty get the best of you. Don’t forget to look to LinkedIn itself for best practices and tips. There are professional services like storeylineresumes.com who can help you with your resume and your LinkedIn profile.

Above all, think about the old Dove commercial slogan, you’re more beautiful than you think.

Communications

9 Ways Social Media Does Good

Debra Yearwood

We regularly hear about the destructive power of social media. There’s no doubt that it can create a variety of problems, but social media also has a positive side.

Continuous Improvement Process: One of the most interesting aspects of social media is that it behaves like a continuous improvement process. The algorithms of social media are always assessing and adjusting, which means that as participants we must continuously adapt. Whether it’s changing the interfaces we use to access our favourite sites or changes that make businesses rethink their approach social media keeps us on our toes.
Brainstorming: Looking for a solution to a problem? Try engaging online. Social media is one of the few places where brainstorming actually produces a number of innovative ideas. In addition to the many useful blogs on an array of issues, there are also many brainstorming apps.
Measuring Progress: Social media comes with an array of metrics. Even in its most passive form, it tells us who we are connected to and with whom we have interacted. For business, it produces metrics that can measure performance and it never stops changing those measurements in a continuous effort to better measure.
Free Advice: Not sure what to do next? While everything you find on social media isn’t necessarily helpful or accurate, there is a lot of good and useful information. There are also lots of people who are happy to share their experience and advice at no cost. LinkedIn’s professional groups are a great resource when you are looking for advice or suggestions and the same can be said for Facebook social groups.
Tribes: Social media allows people with similar interests and values to meet and exchange ideas. No matter how unusual your preferences, you can generally find someone online who shares them. For some people, their online friendships are often the only ones in their lives that are supportive, creating a necessary lifeline.
An Equal Playing Field: Social media allows individuals to have a voice as powerful as large corporations or governments. This has gone a long way towards improving customer service and making large and small organizations more responsive. While it may not always work for everyone, it has gone a long way towards building powerful platforms for the little guy.
Better Informed: While mainstream news on traditional platforms like print, radio and television are good at sharing those things the majority of people are interested in, it can ignore critical information for minority communities. Social media allows alternative voices to be heard. It also allows us to focus in on those news stories we care about the most.
Social Awareness: Social media is amazing for gathering and coordinating support in times of need or crisis, like during natural disasters. It is often the first place people go to find out how loved ones caught in disasters are doing.
Keeps Us Safe: Social media is a great tool for focussing attention on organizations or individuals doing harm. Social media was used to bring attention to and undermine the power structure of Joseph Kony. Social media can also help authorities to track and find criminals, such as the Boston Marathon bombers who were identified through posted images from the day of the bombing.

Related Articles:

5 Lessons on Advocating with Social Media

Communications, Government Relations

5 Lessons on Advocating with Social Media

Debra Yearwood Leave a comment

I initially wrote this post back in 2013, but a number of factors made me think it was worth another look.

The election of Donald Trump and his love of Twitter
The creation of “alternative facts”
Concerns about fake news and
Facebook’s algorithms

If you’re wondering about the last point, then consider that your newsfeed on Facebook is based on what you have liked in the past. This means that all you will see are the opinions that agree with yours. Facebook is working to adjust this, but its worth noting that as brilliant as we may be, alternate opinions are important to have a realistic and balanced view of the world.

Social media has changed the way we communicate and the way we advocate to the government. Messages placed online become living entities fuelled by others. The popularity of these communications tools provides every Canadian with an opportunity to not just express an opinion, but to be heard by thousands of others and possibly generate support for their perspectives. This opportunity has not been lost on legislators and political candidates who quickly created their own profiles in an attempt to reach broader audiences. The challenge, of course, is that like all communications tools, you have to use them with care. Social media does not mean accuracy or the use of facts. It also does not need you to keep a message moving once it starts to roll.

In 2008 when the federal government announced Bill-C-51, which had the stated objective of modernizing 50-year-old health legislation, no one really expected anyone beyond health professionals and other healthcare stakeholders to pay much attention. Instead, what seemed like an army of angry Canadians rallied around concerns that the new legislation might limit the availability of certain herbal remedies. Communications grew so vociferous and hostile so quickly that the movement became a testament to the effectiveness of social media.

Concerns about the Bill came close to hysteria in some instances. One website claimed that the new legislation would give the government the right to invade homes and remove materials without the need for evidence or a search warrant. Another site warned Canadians that a police state would result from the implementation of the legislation. The Health Minister, who was initially dismissive of what looked like a small group of misinformed people, found himself having to explain and defend the Bill in the press and on the Health Canada website.

So while all this people power sounds like great news for the average citizen, you might also want to ask who started the commentary on the Bill. There are no assurances that blogs or the information posted on social networks will be accurate or honest. There is also nothing to prevent people with a specific agenda from generating misinformation or confusion around a given subject.

Lessons Learned

Always take into consideration who is active on the websites you use as resources.
While blogs and social media sites represent a great communications opportunity, they also carry with them significant challenges and some pitfalls. Know who is talking to you and to whom you are talking.
Consider the strengths and weaknesses of different social media sites and use the ones that best fit with your objectives, audience and your time. Once you engage, stay engaged.
If you use social media, do so with the understanding that it requires your full attention as a communicator.
Social media is not a billboard. People can not only react to it, they can take over your message. Sometimes that’s a good thing, so don’t try to control it, but do try to respond immediately when they take your message in the wrong direction.

Related Articles:

9 Ways Social Media Does Good

Uncategorized

What Does the Future Hold For Communicators? A Look At The Jobs of Tomorrow

Debra Yearwood Leave a comment

This is the time of year that we tend to spend doing two things, we reflect on the year that has been and we make promises about the year to come. Since the stats are against us keeping our New Year’s resolutions, can I suggest instead that we think about the possibilities the future holds?

When I consider the future of communications I get excited about being in this field. It is a sector that is growing and blossoming and the biggest challenge facing most communicators is the ability to keep up with the changes. Of course even if you keep up you have to be able to discern between what’s worth learning and what can be ignored. Not as easy as you might think when new tools are constantly being added to the mix and when platforms that you’ve never heard of become go to destinations virtually overnight.

All of these changes mean the very nature of our jobs are also altering. We can all expect that our future jobs will look very different from what we do today. Just as authors now have to exist in a virtual world and communications means having dexterity in social media, we can expect to see changes across many different sectors as we all become more virtual. To satisfy my curiosity I went to the internet to look at ideas and I brought some back for you to consider. What’s interesting is that some of the “future” jobs I found are things that people are doing today. The future is now.

Avatar Manager – This individual designs and manages holograms of virtual people. Yes, that’s right, your personal brand will be a lot more complex in the future and your avatar will be the single strongest element of that brand. Imagine the nightmares that would follow if your avatar was hacked?

Digital Architect – In this profession you design the settings where virtual retailers will sell their goods. Rather than having consumers scroll through uninspiring pages of images, they will instead be able to “visit” virtual stores whose ambiance will matter as much as it does now, more so in fact since you should be able to achieve any setting you like in a virtual world.

Digital Media Planner: This position already exists but perhaps hasn’t been fully flushed out into an individual job in most organizations. This is essentially a high-tech version of a media buyer. This individual scans the internet and determines what ‘s hot with who and what sites would represent good opportunities for clients. They decide what kind of ads and what sites will best use your Internet advertising budget.

Personal Brand Manager: I thought these guys already existed and in Hollywood they were called agents, but it seems this future professional does more than sell your talents. The PBM will develop and manage your personal brand so that your avatar says does and looks just right and so that the only side of you that’s seen in the virtual world will be a good one. This may require deleting bad internet press or drowning it in good positive stories about you. I’m pretty sure these services are for hire today.

Social Media Strategist: This position is similar to the digital media planner, but is related to the thinking behind the decision to purchase. The SMS helps organizations to develop a following on growing and fast changing social sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Although this is still predominantly an outsourced service, larger organizations are seeing the benefit of hiring in-house specialist to create everything from buzz about product to ad campaigns that are intended to be viral.

Web Analyst: This role is an expansion on the marketing role that already exists today but will become more important going forward. Since a lot of what organizations do in the virtual world is intended to drive consumers to their websites, it follows that you will need someone to look at the behavior of consumers once they get to your site. A web analyst will use customer information from the visits to your website to predict trends. This will allow you to build better informed advertising and communications strategies.

Omnipotence Delimiter: I personally think this one may be needed by some of our political figures right now, in fact I can think of a mayor who may be in need of these services. The OD’s job is to rein in our belief that anything is possible and we are all-powerful.

What do you think? What jobs does your future hold? Do you think these jobs are likely or that they already exist?

Communications, public relations

Going Viral, It’s As Easy As 1,2,3

Debra Yearwood 30 Comments

If you were tasked with the job of making an organisation’s message go viral, what would you do? Where would you start? I was wondering just that the other day, it’s something I think all marketing professionals wonder about and we’d all like to see at least one campaign go crazy (or if we’re honest, all of our campaigns) but the truth is, the fastest way to have a campaign go viral is to take your time.

There is nothing I find so frustrating as people talking about delivering a social media campaign without planning, investment or consideration. It makes me groan and my frustration grows because it is based on a misconception that often plagues communications and marketing professionals, the idea that social media is easy and that success is just around the corner if only the marketing manager knew what they were doing.

The truth is successful social media campaigns rely on the same three things that successful traditional media campaigns required. They just happen to be three difficult things for most businesses to deliver. Let’s look at some campaigns that have worked and try to determine what might have pushed them from just viewable to viral.

Who Gives – Humour and the Unexpected

This little gem doesn’t hit the really BIG numbers, but for a relatively inexpensive charitable endeavor, it has managed to capture a fair bit of attention with over 10,500 views and earned traditional media coverage as well. What’s it’s most notable selling feature? A rabbi in a dress of course.

This charity video poses the question, “Who gives?” and then shows Rabbi Avrohom Zeidman performing as a series of characters who run through every imaginable excuse for not giving. Within one week of being posted the 2-minute video played well over 7000 times.

Blendtec – Something You Always Wanted To Do

Blendtec’s, video campaign poses the question, will it blend? What follows is a series of ridiculous items that the blender is challenged to blend. These YouTube posted videos take the premise set out in the old Ginsu knives commercials and add power and imagination. Smartphones, lighters, boron steel and super glue are all put to the test. These videos have gotten millions of views and make up the backbone of Blendtec’s advertising campaign. The geek factor is high, but you can’t look away.

Old Spice – Surreal and Funny

The Old Spice commercials are among my favourites. These beauties were popular on television, but they exploded on YouTube with each video getting millions of views.

Not only do the videos use humour to deliver their message, but as the main character moves smoothly from one ridiculous accomplishment to another the viewer is left laughing and a little bewildered. The best part of these ads is that, like the Axe deodorant ads, they appeal to a younger demographic making them fodder for shares, likes, posts, memes, and quotes.

Although these campaigns each achieved different levels of popularity they do share some things in common. They are quirky, they show imagination and they have broad appeal for a younger demographic. The reality is that for most businesses a successful social media campaign sits closer to the first than the second example, a million views is far from the norm. Even with the accessibility afforded by social media, generating the kind of widespread attention, it takes to be massively popular generally means that you are playing off of traditional media sources, as well as, social media.

Going viral relies on having at least two of the following factors in place, time, money, and creativity. If you don’t have the money, then you definitely need to take your time and show creativity. One social media king we can learn from is a young man originally from Sweden who goes by the name, PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg). He usually posts two videos a day and is also active on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. He has more than 56 million subscribers on YouTube, and every video he posts generates millions of views. He’s funny, always irreverent, unexpected, creative, appealing to a younger demographic and most importantly, he is very, very dedicated. He started posting videos in 2009, but it was not until 2012 that he really hit his stride.

Have you ever had a campaign or post go crazy? Do you have any viral ads or videos that you love? What do you think it takes to make a campaign go viral?

Uncategorized

How Do You Find Opportunity?

Debra Yearwood Leave a comment

When I wrote about personal paradigms I explored what causes us to sometimes get preoccupied and blinded by our own perspectives. When I wrote about change, I spoke about how we might manage it, but how do you work to shift your paradigm so that you can manage change? How can we step outside of our perspectives enough to even know that we are being blinded by them?

As noted in my post, The Forever Footprint, I don’t have a natural love of social media. My transition has been a gradual one. My reluctant engagement started because I could hardly be a communications professional and put my nose up at social media, although you might be surprised to see how many communications people do. I also had a team that was only engaging in social media peripherally. We were crazy busy and social media took a lot of time. It’s deliverables were not always clear and certainly not immediate, so it was easy to ignore. It was also clear that by letting it slide we might be missing opportunities, so we held our annual strategic planning session and determined that we would each tackle a platform. The next six months were interesting to say the least as we each struggled to manage our regular communications duties and embrace this new realm. The articles about social media were interesting, the platforms, well they were another thing all together. They were inconsistent, they were finicky, and they clearly had different strengths, benefits and weaknesses. It was a bit crazy.

Communications has always been a gradually changing sector. Print advertising offered opportunity and hung around for a while before radio ventured out and gave us something new to do. We had time to grow and adopt to radio before television made its way onto the scene. We had years to figure out television and we played happily between the three mediums for a long time.

Then the explosion occurred. The platforms started to appear, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, StumbledUpon, YouTube, Reddit, Google+, Triberr, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine and on and on they go. It’s little wonder we wanted to back away slowly. Where to start? What to do? Every week it seems like there is a new and better way to engage in social media. I was giving a presentation the other day, Social Media 101, and one of the participants hadn’t heard of LinkedIn. I almost giggled, my relief was so great. It wasn’t just me, it really was crazy out there.

So how did I get from not wanting to engage to giving advice on social media? Curiosity. Curiosity will get you past all of your preconceived notions, your impenetrable paradigms and your reluctance to change. Cultivating a curious mind is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. Your curiosity will facilitate professional and personal growth. If you’re in any industry that requires you to engage the public, then feeding your curiosity will provide you with a wealth of opportunity. Even if you like your isolation, unless you are interested in being nothing more than still, curiosity can be satisfied through reading and watching.

Remember, when paradigms in the world around you shift, past success means nothing. You could be ruling the world as the best advertising rep, but when social media shows up, if you don’t jump on board, your past success will be irrelevant. You’ll be left behind. You could be the best author who ever lived, but if you want new readers, then you have to exist in the new places. You have to open yourself to the possibilities. When paradigms shift, history doesn’t matter. It didn’t matter that PC dominated the landscape when Apple introduced the iPod.

If you want to know where the new ideas are happening, they are far away from where it’s safe. They are out on the edges where curiosity flourishes and the imagination is in charge.

How do you keep yourself open to opportunity? Have you ever found yourself fighting against something you later embraced?

I’m looking for your communications stories. Have you ever had something go horribly wrong or amazingly right because of a little communications? Please share your story here as a guest blogger. For more information, please see my post, Everybody Loves A Good Story.

Management

Getting Your Focus Back – Is Closer Clearer?

Debra Yearwood Leave a comment

Last week I went out with one of our nurses as she did her rounds visiting clients in their homes. It was a welcome change from what I had been doing, which was planning, printing, publishing, policy, and promotional work to mention a few of the things on my list. Don’t get me wrong, I love the tools of my trade and looking at website design, branded items, radio scripts and social media can be fun, but it has to be connected to something. For work to be meaningful it has to be purpose driven. Getting closer to one of my clients, that nurse and consequently her clients, was a wonderful way to bring another important “p word” back to my work, perspective.

So this week I’m back in Ottawa and while I battle everything from old trade booths to persistent computer issues, my perspective has altered somewhat. The urgency is gone. It’s hard to get heated up about a booth display or a missed meeting with a publisher when you compare it to folks who are trying to ease pain or make someone’s passing a little more comfortable. My tasks will still be waiting for me when I get up tomorrow, so I’ve got to be patient with the resources I have and understand that what gets done, gets done.

I don’t believe I’m alone in getting distracted, it’s easy for anyone to get preoccupied with the tools of their trade and forget about what they were supposed to be doing in the first place. Whether you are a writer who has been spending too much time managing social media, an artist who has been chasing exhibit space or a CEO trapped behind a desk, it can be easy to forget why you do what you do. When you remain removed from the frontline of the activity or more pointedly, when you forget your reason for being, you risk not just losing site of your objectives, but the joy of your work.

Does it feel better to get closer?

The Proximity Principle in social psychology informs us that we tend to form relationships with those in close proximity. It remains true even in the context of social media. Most people interact online with people they already know. The proximity principle also shares another tidbit, proximity may mean that we learn that the people close to us have traits we detest, in those instances, then familiarity breeds contempt. These are not earth shattering revelations, yet they are an important feature of life that many of us lose sight of over time. I am pleased to say I know who my neighbours are, but how often is that not true? The artificial distance we can place between those close to us and ourselves can mean that we have a difficult time interpreting our reactions and relations with the people around us. It can also make us misinterpret the relevance of those people in our lives.

Do we get better by being closer?

As I have noted before in this blog, I don’t believe that working in an office makes me more productive. I can be effective or inefficient anywhere, it’s a question of focus and motivation, but I did wonder about what that physical presence might do to us and really what were the pros and cons of proximity. What numerous studies have shown us is that their is a “social facilitation” effect. Co-workers will become more loyal to one another and are also more likely to help each other out. When people work in front of an audience or co-workers, even if their tasks are unrelated, their performance changes. They are more alert, faster and more motivated. That is, they are all of those things if they are working on familiar tasks. If they are working on something new or difficult, proximity negatively impacts adoption. The presence of others when managing a new task can be distracting and stressful. It can increase inaccuracy and raise physical symptoms of distress.

What do the Proximity Principle, social facilitation and finding joy in work have to do with each other?

1) Getting closer to your audience/clients will reveal amazing things about your work and your focus.

Proximity to clients can be invigorating and bring into sharper perspective the reason why you do what you do.
If getting closer reveals that clients are exhausting and pull the energy from you, you may want to rethink the context in which you work or focus on the tools. In either instance, you will want to position yourself closer to where you find the joy in your work.

2) Clients are not the only ones to influence your focus. Co-workers will affect your relationship with your work.

Be alert to how you feel around co-workers. You may discover that what you like about your work isn’t the purpose, it’s the people. We form intense relationships with colleagues that can affect not just how we work but how we feel about our work.
The opposite holds true too. Your colleagues may make you less engaged. If that’s the case, a physical change in location may be all that’s missing to get your motivation back.

How do you get your focus back? Have you ever worked in an environment where you loved the people, but disliked the job or the other way around?

Communications

Saturday Morning Chit Chat, Taboos and other Psychological Blocks or 9 Tips for Breaking Them.

Debra Yearwood Leave a comment

I’ve been struggling the last few weeks with writers block…well more like writers distraction. If my Saturday posts were called Saturday Night chit chat I would have been fine. I just completed a ranty little post on sex and politics, but even I have to refrain from that kind of discussion first thing in the morning. I could have also shared my concerns over poor voter turnout, public disengagement, the unseemly relationship that sometimes exists between reporters and politicians and no I’m not skipping back to sex and politics, but you can see a certain theme emerging here. I have very definite political opinions, but I don’t see them as necessarily appropriate for public consumption or appetite. I have a taboo against writing too deeply on politics.

Taboos are interesting things. I know that some taboos find their origins in religion or culture and they can be good and bad. Clearly having a cultural taboo against randomly killing people is a good thing, but having a cultural taboo against girls being educated, not so much. What about personal taboos? Those taboos whose origins are more individual in nature? My own taboos around writing about politics is a good example. I have strong opinions in this area and while I would freely give advice on how to engage and even that you should engage, I hesitate to go beyond that because it’s part of my job to work with governments. Political people have a tendency towards paranoia (except people really are out to get them) and it’s easy to see yourself or your opponent in critical discussions, so I try to avoid misinterpretations by simply skipping those kinds of public exchanges. I also think that politics is one of the best dividers out there. Want to start a fight? Strike up a conversation about politics and sooner or later you’ll find something to fight over.

So what do you do when you can’t seem to write about anything but the very subject you’re trying to ignore? Back to writers block. So what I’ve been doing is writing the issue out of my system posting them on a private blog. I’ve also been exploring. Looking at interesting blogs, articles and books in hopes that something catches my attention. Right, everything has captured my attention. There isn’t rabbit hole I haven’t jumped through. A point of inquiry I haven’t followed and still no useful posts.

So I finally ended up treating myself like a client. I want my best advice on what to do to get past writers block. Here’s what I had to say.

1) Take a break. Step away from the project and do something else. Give your mind an opportunity to rest or shift gears. Sometimes the harder you push for a solution, the further you get from finding an answer.

2) Create an Editorial calendar. Now would be a good time to create an editorial calendar if you don’t have one and to refresh your existing one if you do. With the fall coming people will be attending conferences and getting back into the swing of things. What can you contribute that might help?

3) Turn off social media. The internet can be an amazing distraction. It may seem like a handy resource but it’s easy to get lost in all of the options it has to offer. Disconnect and see if that will help you to focus.

4) Get some alone time: People are wonderful, but if you are having a hard time staying on task then they are like moving, noisy shiny distractions.

5) Find another creative outlet. It’s obvious your mind is racing, so paint, garden, do something that gets the creative juices flowing but is unrelated to writing.

6) Do some physical exercise. The body and mind are connected. If you have been solely focused on writing, whether it’s writing your blog or other pieces, then you haven’t been exercising. The movement will help you to think better.

7) Research some outstanding questions. Get the answers to questions that have been plaguing you. What areas of communications, public relations or management would you like to learn more about? Do the research and share your findings.

8) Have a pretend conversation. Start writing as if you were having a chat with someone and see if the stream of consciousness that follows gets you going.

9) Ask others what they do to get their focus back. The issue may be writing for you, but it’s really a focus challenge. Find out how others have solved similar challenges and see if you can extrapolate from there to address your own challenge.

So, it’s Saturday morning and this blog post has been automatically posted because I am away at a cottage with no internet connections…I’m probably painting, but maybe I’ve gone for a walk with my husband to get a little exercise. I’ll write Tuesday’s blog in the car ride on my way back. 🙂

What do you do to get past writers block or other psychological hurdles? I’d like to know…really!

[polldaddy poll=7310841]

Our results from last weeks poll reveal that voters were not so keen on the idea of a glowing plant. Almost 37% called it a Franken-flower and more than 52% weren’t sure what to call it. A mere 5% thought it was a power plant and another 5% had other ideas all together.

Writer’s Block: It May Not Be All in Your Head (psychologytoday.com)
Writer’s Block (mysoscrawledlife.wordpress.com)

Communications

Tips For Planning a Media Event – Part One, Getting Ready

Debra Yearwood Leave a comment

Whether it’s your small business’ big event, your book launch or your community party, sometimes getting a little media coverage can make all the difference to your success. So what can you do if you don’t have the resources to bring in a professional firm or you’re simply not comfortable doing that? The best bet is to focus on your local media, they have a vested interest in hearing and telling local stories. Planning a media event, like planning a meeting takes work, but it can be done. The PR work can be broken down into three distinct phases, before, during and after the event…yup, that easy.

This week we’ll look at before the event, this part quite naturally takes the most time and effort on your part, but is critical to your success. Next week, we’ll explore during and after an event.

BEFORE:

1. What’s Makes Your Event/Product Special?

If you’re planning an event, consider what makes it appealing or think about ways to have fun with a traditional activity. On the night my organization’s CEO was to appear in an episode of Undercover Boss we hosted movie nights in various locations around the country. We treated it as an opportunity to reach out to our communities and have a little fun. The Ottawa activities started on Parliament Hill with a private viewing with senators and MPs and then moved to a local restaurant where we watched it with staff and friends on a big outdoor screen. The story got covered in various local newspapers and yet all that was really happening was an episode of Undercover Boss Canada.

2. Identify the media outlets you want to reach.

In order to reach the media, you need to identify the local newspapers, radio and television stations and create a contact grid of people at each of those organizations by calling them and asking them who manages the local news beat or if your news might more effectively fit into a local column or radio show, ask for the producer or their assistant. You can often find a media directory at your local library and that will save you a good deal of time. There are a number of providers who will sell media list, Cision’s global media database (formerly Bacon’s Directories) provides the full name of publications and contacts and of course there is always the local yellow pages.
Newspapers: Look for issue specific editors or journalists, community and calendar listings that you can then add your event to.
Radio: morning show producers and news assignment editors are good starting points. Many stations have community programs that announce calendar listings.
Television: Look for the assignment editor, weekend assignment editor and community event producers as good starting points.
Social Media: From creating Facebook Event page to tweeting throughout your event there are number of ways to not only promote your event in advance, but also generate chatter during and afterwards.

3. Choosing and preparing the right spokesperson for your event.

Choose your spokesperson based on their level of engagement on your issue and their role within your organization. They must be familiar with your issue and goals or they can end by making recommendations or comments that you can’t support and once its in the public domain it’s very hard to get it back. It is also best if they are articulate and poised. Too much passion on an issue can come across as shrill through a microphone.
Make sure that the spokesperson is well briefed on the potential issues that may surface. Practice possible questions with them and make sure that they have a written copy of succinct short sentences that he/she can learn to be sure they have an effective interview.
Practice, practice, practice.
Avoid putting spokespeople in situations where they will be easily distracted or may display behavior that will detract from your message. For example, a swivel chair for a sit down TV interview can turn into a joy ride and the spokesperson may end by swinging back and forth as they get excited by the topic. Waving hands can be equally distracting. Speaking with your hands is a natural human behavior, but gesturing too wildly will result in your hands being the star attraction of your interview.
A crisp white shirt can look great for a photo, providing the background isn’t also white, but it can create glare on camera. A shiny forehead will make you look like your sweating and that can be a seen as a physical response to lying. A small application of face powder can reduce shine (yes for you men too).

4. Prepare your press materials

Press materials are generally made up of a notice or media alert, the press release and background documents. The Media alert does exactly what is sounds like. It alerts the media that you will be telling them something of interest on a given day at a set time. The press release itself is the “news” item or the information you want to share and is given at the indicated time. The background documents are to provide reporters with additional information should they want to expand on your story or to allow them to learn more completely why your story is news. If you were a scientist and you broke the news that you had found fossilized people poop in America that dated back 10,000, 000 years ago, you would probably earn yourself some odd looks, but no coverage. If you explained that the earliest humanoids weren’t supposed to be around for another 4,000,000 years at the earliest and that the poop provided insight into the diets and habits of these unusual people, you might actually get a news story.

5. Distribute your press materials including a media alert, a calendar listing and a press release at least a month before your event.

The media alert should be used if you would like the media to attend your event and to conduct interviews with your spokesperson or others.
A calendar listing can come in different forms, local radio stations often offer a calendar listing of events, as do newspapers and local “what’s happening” online services. The listing should be used if your event is open to the public and you want to attract attendees.
The press release includes similar information as the media alert, but with more details, such as participating program objectives and quotes from spokespeople.

6. Distribute press materials in a timely fashion.

Send out the calendar listing about a month before your event (many local newspapers have a one month deadline for submissions).
Media advisories or alerts should be distributed about two weeks prior to the event to allow for ample time to secure interviews.
Press Releases are for the day of the event.

7. Conduct media follow-up.

Make sure the media outlets received your press material and make yourself or your spokesperson available to answer questions about the event and offer interviews.
Be persistent, but polite.
Be sure to call the TV stations the day before and the day of to be sure your event is on their schedule. If a story falls through, they can look to the schedule and maybe decide to cover your event.

If you plan on filming or photographing participants, ensure that everyone you have selected for filming or interviewing has signed a release form. The form does not have to be complicated.

Have you ever been at a local community event that had great coverage? What made it appealing? Have you ever attended an event because of local news coverage? Have you hosted one that you thought was amazing?

Communications, Government Relations

The Fastest Way to a Politician’s Heart is Through a Camera Lens

Debra Yearwood Leave a comment

If politics were for wallflowers, government buildings would look like bungalows and politicians wouldn’t need to give speeches. So for the sake of simplicity let’s start from an understanding that politicians expect to be seen and heard. They would like it to happen at their convenience and on their issues, but they will adopt an issue if you capture their attention, if they can make it serve their needs and if they think it will have resonance with the public. This description may make them sound opportunistic, but keep in mind that as public figures, they need to be, well public. If you never hear from or see your legislator again after you elect them, then you might begin to wonder what if anything they were doing for you. Also keep mind that a representative in parliament who can’t seize an opportunity when one is presented isn’t going to do you a lot of good in the long run.

What this preference for press means for you and your issue is that you have to think of ways of making it sexy or at least ensuring that elements of it have broad appeal. While working in the public interest is a great starting point, it doesn’t necessarily capture headlines much less passing media interest. The media likes conflict, sex appeal, violence and sensation, or more to the point, the assumption is that consumers of media like those things. If you’re lucky on a slow Friday in the summer, you might get them to pay attention to human interest stories. Again, this isn’t a commentary on the personal peccadilloes of reporters, but a reflection of the corporate demands that now plague journalism and what you and I as a members of the public have indicated we are willing to pay for. This is what bumps online ratings, sells papers and raises television audience numbers.

So how do you make your issue interesting?

As a start test its appeal with family and friends. Do people start to glaze over when you tell your story? Do they get angry, do they laugh, sympathize? Do they appear shocked? If you can get a reaction from them that isn’t bored indifference you’re on the right track. If your audience is glazing over halfway through your story, then you might want to take a slightly different approach to telling it. For instance, you can take your issue and consider the worst-case scenario. What could possibly happen if nothing is done? What are the implications of leaving things at the status quo? Don’t stretch the bounds of believability, but try to follow through on what might happen if things did not change. Stir in a few experts. Consider the plight of those impacted and suddenly you have a news story. It also helps if you can think of a catchy way to express your concerns. The catchier, the more likely it is to end up as a sound bite on the news. This may seem crass, but it works.

Then of course there is social media. There are volumes written on the many ways you can generate attention on your issue by blending traditional and social media campaigns or simply taking the social media route. I would say though that unless you already have a strong online following or are about to start an active campaign to get that following, then you will want to look at blending. Although it can sometimes seem that anything can be made popular online from screaming goats to funny dances, it’s harder to do than it looks. It’s also true that not all coverage is necessarily good coverage.

Timing is also critical to the successful launch of a story.

Any number of things can obliterate a good story, from bad weather conditions to a single but memorable violent act. A sporting event that has captured the attention of the public can make your story go from leading to pleading for coverage. You can manage some things, like avoid launching a story around an important holiday unless you can tie your story to it. Elections are tempting times to launch stories too, but do it with care. If you cost a party a drop in the polls or even a temporary setback during an election campaign, they will remember you and it won’t be fondly. Take a look at the local events calendar, not just to avoid conflicting activities but to look for opportunities.

Whatever approach you adopt remember, media is a blunt tool.

There is little purpose in using the media strictly as a way of getting a legislator’s attention. If you use it, it must be with the understanding that you are trying to get a message out to a broad audience, including those who may disagree with your perspective.

Do you have any media success or failure stories? Any news you saw that you knew wasn’t true or received a revelation by watching the news? I’d love to hear your stories.

Above all, think about the old Dove commercial slogan, you’re more beautiful than you think.

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