Author Archive
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Earlier this week I was walking through the middle of campus with a scowl on my face. Not an I’m-in-a-bad-mood scowl, but a zoned-out/mind-is-elsewhere glare off into the distance. In fact, my eyes must have been cast downward because, in my peripheral vision, I see a man jogging toward me. He was clearly on a mission to get somewhere. As he approached, probably 10 feet from me, I looked up suddenly and made eye contact. “Great hair!” he said with a big grin. I didn’t even have time to respond, but smiled quickly in acknowledgement of the compliment. In that moment it struck me that as that man jogged toward me, I likely did not look very welcoming or approachable. And that moment was identical to millions of moments in my life. Except, now I have purple hair. So that man, the woman at the bank, the hygienist at the dentist’s office,... Continue Reading
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Wow! I actually had to stop looking at my feedreader. Way too much good stuff to share this week. Enjoy! What skills (tangible or conceptual) do public relations students need as they graduate from college? I asked this question on Quora, the newest shiny object that social media peeps are paying attention to. Check out the great responses I got back. And share your thoughts! Please, Facebook: Help shameless recruitniks help themselves by Andy Staples at Sports Illustrated. A tongue-in-cheek open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, asking for a Facebook shut down to save all those football recruits from themselves. An interesting look at college football and social media. The History of Social Media from Mashable I love infographics. This one is a timeline, going back to the first email that was sent. An interesting response post could be just to share your thoughts about how these tools have changed your... Continue Reading
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It’s that time again! My class of Strategic PR Communication students take to the water and launch their blogs. For many of them this term they’ve blogged before – although not on a topic of their choice, more of a multimedia journalism endeavor. So this is new territory! If you have a moment, take some time to read a few and say hello (what blogger doesn’t like comments?). Crystal Barce Katie Brennan Mackenzie Davids Nicole Hyslop Ayan Jama Caitlin Jarvis Andy Jenness Rachel Koppes Heather Lee Daniel McCrone Isabelle Morse-Dias Julia Neff Alaina Revoir Stephanie Sahagian As a bonus shout-out for last spring’s class & hopefully some inspiration for this term’s ducklings, here are my picks for “best of” from Spring 2011.... Permalink
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We’re back in session & Strategic Public Relations Communications is in full swing. As with previous term, my ducklings are embarking on an 8 week blogging adventure. I’m fully confident they’ll be remarkable. As part of that assignment, each week, I try to inspire them with some of my favorite posts of the week. I enjoy sharing new-to-them voices and new ideas and generally keeping them on their toes. This week’s links: What’s Your Social Media Personality from Sam Fiorella Oh how important it is that we think about how who we are online accurately reflects who we are. This post gives some good food for thought , especially as you’re thinking about launching new social media initiatives, on what are the elements of your social media personality. Assignment: Make America Passionate About Innovation from Edward Boches I love stuff like this. And when you get all growed-up and get... Continue Reading
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This post can also be found at the Lunar Logic blog. Lunar Logic is a web development firm in Eugene, Oregon. I’m working on a series of posts for my friends there and this it the first. *** If you’ve been pondering a social media strategy, it’s likely you’ve heard the advice to “listen first.” Lots of super smart people have talked about how to listen and monitor with blog post upon post that provides reviews of tools and links to resources. In fact, I’ll share some of my favorites with you. 13 Essential Social Media “Listening Tools” from Marketing Profs (free registration required) 25 Ways to Listen to Customers on Social Media from Social Media Today Wiki of Social Media Monitoring Tools What you don’t find written about much is what you should be listening for. Maybe it’s intuitive to some, but in my experience, once you set up... Continue Reading
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As the adviser for Allen Hall Public Relations, I spend a minority of my time teaching specific public relations skills. A minority would be an overstatement. It’s a sliver, a fraction… not much at all. So what do I spend most of my time doing? Mentoring and coaching students on how to be effective leaders, counselors and teammates. Every year we tweak and morph, change and adapt, looking for the key to creating strong foundations, building communications skills and prepping these young professionals to be strong leaders. Every year it seems we don’t quite make it… AHPR members are always awesome. ALWAYS. But I usually feel like there was more I could do. This year, I invited Corinne McElroy from Edge of Change to facilitate a workshop focused on the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book and assessment. I had the pleasure of being part of a workshop Corinne led earlier this year... Continue Reading
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Kelli’s Note: I am thrilled to host this guest post from Saramaya Weissman. Chicago is that city that ‘in another life’ I would love to live in. So proud of her for taking this chance and making it work! Saramaya is a 2010 graduate from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. She currently lives in Chicago and interns at Edelman Public Relations. You can reach her via Twitter at @SaramayaFaye. Exactly three months after I graduated from the University of Oregon I started an amazing and ideal internship at Edelman Public Relations in their co-global headquarters of Chicago. I’m SO thrilled to be here, but the job hunting journey this summer and figuring out “what’s next?” was no easy path. From a small town in beautiful north Idaho to wonderfully hipster Eugene, I was dying for a big city and had my eyes set on Chicago. After... Continue Reading
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We’re kicking off another year at the University of Oregon. I’m not teaching social media-focused classes this term, but I always encourage my students to tweet and use a hashtag for the course. This term you’ll likely see #J350 and #J453 tags from students. Because the classes aren’t social media oriented (although certainly infused), I don’t take time to “teach” Twitter. But I’m not under the illusion that it’s intuitive and doesn’t need to be demonstrated. It’s been awhile since a did a post with resources and tips for those new to the microblogging platform, so here you go! Some of my favorite resources on Twitter basics Twitter 101 for Business: Written by the folks at Twitter, this guide is a terrific how to on using Twitter professionally. For journalism students, you really do have to think about all social media in that way. You’re a professional communicator and all... Continue Reading
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I had the opportunity to chat with the staff of the Oregon Daily Emerald about how they can use social media for themselves and the publication.I borrowed liberally from a recent Mashable article, adjusted, modified and expanded it to provide a handful of tips for student journalists. I would preface all of these with the recommendation to sit down and spend a little time setting some personal and professional goals for yourself. Think about what you want to be known for and what you want people to remember about you. Knowing your goals will help you make intentional decisions about where to spend your time and energy when it comes to social media activities. Consider it a personal mission statement. Promote your content Use your social media network to promote your content. Post your articles/blogs on twitter, your links to YouTube videos on your Facebook page. As long as you’re... Continue Reading
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I’d argue that we all face ethical dilemmas every day, particularly in and with social media channels. They may be small (should I say this or that on Facebook) or they might be bigger (no, I can’t pepper the web with positive reviews of that client’s product or service). As you probably know, I’m working on a book with my friend and colleague, Michelle Honald. We’re focusing on the ethics of social media in one of the chapters. I’d love to hear your stories and examples of ethical dilemmas that you’ve faced working in public relations (or any type of communications). You can leave actual or hypothetical examples in the comments or email me. I’m not (necessarily) looking for case studies, I just want to make sure I cover the reality of ethical decision making for those of you working in social media. photo by yewenyi... Permalink
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