Tuesday 29 November 2011

Evaluating your Online Presence

Micro-communications, in the form of social media, present possibly the only true two-way communication source for a PR practitioner. Crucially, social media channels have changed the way individuals communicate, and this means increased transparency for tomorrow's graduates.

According to Facebook, there are more than 800 million active users, and more than 50% of these log in each day. On average, more than 250 million photos are uploaded every day (and considering Facebook are automatically assigned intellectual property rights over these photos, it's scary to think how quickly Facebook alone could build an online profile of any individual...)

Googling yourself may seem voyeuristic or egotistical, but its the first place to start in understanding your online presence, and you can bet any media-savvy employer will also make this their first port of call.


Google Search for my name - show's mostly Twitter and LinkedIn profiles

So, here's a few pointers on evaluating and smartening online presence:

1. Consistency - making your 'online brand' work for you involves maintaining a consistent feel across all channels, much how an organisation has a company house style or corporate logo. Using the same username 'laurenvhockey' on Twitter, LinkedIn and for a Gmail address means I'm easier to search for, you won't get be confused with other Lauren Hockey's (although there aren't that many) and it also looks neat on business cards and a CV. In the same way, using the same profile picture reassures people that they have located the right individual. I've kept my LinkedIn, Twitter and G+ profile photo matching deliberately - as G+ is still an emerging platform, and as Twitter users begin to filter into my circles, seeing my mugshot assures them that they've landed in the right place. I've always kept Facebook that little bit more personal, and so my profile photo may be different - but my privacy settings are tight and I wouldn't accept a friend request from a potential employer (assuming they were a total stranger and not a 'friend'). That doesn't mean I'm careless with Facebook though - which leads on to the next point...

2. Beware Carelessness - I've always viewed Facebook as the more personal channel, where I interact with uni friends on a more informal basis - but that doesn't mean I'm careless. Information posted online is, in effect, available forever, and posting offensive comments or even ones that imply laziness could go against you if a potential employer see's them. Ensure privacy settings are tight, or better still, don't post it in the first place. If you're worried photographic evidence of your weekend antics might incriminate you, change the settings so that you have to review each photo before it appears on your profile. (Or better still...don't get into the situation in the first place..!)

3. Be Concise - keeping your Twitter bio or LinkedIn summary short and punchy will maintain an employer's interest; rather than waffling about your personal qualities, briefly state your experience and interest. Including a comical reference, especially on Twitter, provided it's not offensive, will also show you don't take yourself too seriously.
In the same way, Tweets should be interesting and to the point. I admit, I've used Twitter to vent and occasionally make a mundane observation about mince pies or the weather; interspersing these with knowledgeable, engaging and thought-provoking Tweets, be it links to articles/blogs, or your comment on the day's news stories, will show you can balance life and work perfectly.

4. Follow the right people - if you use Twitter in a professional capacity, or one that's intended to enhance your career prospects, you're better off following industry bodies or associations than keeping up with what Lady Gaga had for lunch. Showing an enthusiasm for the industry means you may even get a follow back - which can make all the difference, meaning your name may come up if someone they know is recruiting.

Performing a Google search of your own name at least once a month - or more frequently if you are actively job hunting - and adhering to these rules will ensure you don't fall into the common trap of TMI (Too Much Information).

Saturday 19 November 2011

Bridging the Divide

My dad doesn't know what a QR code is. In fact, I was at pains to explain to him what Twitter was over a full English breakfast last weekend. As a salesman stuck in the 20th century, I'm still not sure he understands the benefits of using an online channel to communicate with your audience - he's not even late to the digital party, he didn't get an invite.

But I think this little gadget, from JC Penny in the US, might just begin to bridge the digital divide that separates the likes of my dad and digital natives. Both novel and gimmicky, the QR code that allows you to record your own voice message to accompany your gift will also mean those with relatives in far-flung corners of the globe can add a personal element to their present. As Clay Shirky proclaimed "technology increases the fluidity of all media," and this example demonstrates just that. First we had Friends Reunited, and now the use of Facebook for keeping in touch with loved ones is common practice. Gadgets that play to people's emotions, especially during annual holidays (and launching it during the most commercial of them all wasn't a bad tactic) can make the difference between those that will adopt the technology and those that will be alienated by it. What remains to be seen is whether JC Penny and the like can successfully market the product outside of annual holidays. My guess is if they generate enough interest and 'buzz' this time around, then this idea is likely to run and run.



Thursday 10 November 2011

Platforms, channels & Internet Agency

The radical change in the digital landscape brings a new approach to PR - where once organisations "had the impression that they had control of what was said and believed about their activities" (Phillips, D. and Young, P. 2009, p7) the very advent of the World Wide Web means information can not only be taken out of context, but can, and will, be interpreted in new ways. Hours of carefully crafted statements and slogans are being turned on their heads as they appear alongside the very item the statement was trying to deflect attention from. In this sense, the Internet can be considered as an 'agent' - the idea that it facilitates the changing of information as it it passed from one person to another. The role becomes two-fold, as we can also consider that Internet agency allows us to find things out - your dream employer's email address, for example. Before, it would have taken more than a person's lifetime to make a pencil from scratch, but with Internet agency, you can share knowledge instantly, and so that pencil becomes a more viable option.

If the Internet is an agent, then there must be platforms and channels to enable its existence. A platform can be defined as the device on which we employ Internet agency; in the late 90's, the only platform available would have been your vintage box-looking computer, but fast forward to today and the list is endless - internet-enabled mobile phones, laptops, tablets, games consoles, sat navs, digitally-empowered TVs and MP3 players. Almost half of the UK population own a smartphone, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech (2011). Platforms are important for the simple reason that people use them to communicate. The idea of going to a library to research something becomes obselete when you have the power of Google in your pocket.
If the platforms are the hardware, then the channels become the software; the websites you visit, the blogs you visit, the emails you send and the social networks you use. If we consider just one channel alone, social networking, we can already note how PR has had to adapt to the rise in this becoming, for many, the preferred form of communication. And it's changing still - mobile phones that vibrate is a recent adaptation of vibration for communication, Kinect uses movement as language and avatars collect information and play it back to us. As David Phillips point outs, the only thing that holds PR back is "the need to understand these things, see the opportunity and adopt this different way of using PR creativity."

To explore internet agency further, we can consider the four elements that drive online public relations: transparency, porosity, richness and reach.

Internet Agency alone has a direct impact on transparency; if the possibility exists to interpret messages in a variety of different ways, then there is added pressure for organisations to be transparent (for more on transparency, see my previous post). 'Digital natives', or those who have grown up with and are most familiar with the online world, have become accustomed to a new level of transparency, and operate "under the assumption that everything they do will eventually be known online." (Brogan, C. and Smith, J. 2010).

Transparency itself comes about because of porosity - that is to say, that organisations are giving away information that they wouldn't have given away in the past. For example, we tell competitors the benefits of our products (though it is worth noting the exact recipe of Coca-Cola is still a highly-guarded secret). This information is spread about and made available to all, and 'leaks' out of organisations at a rapid rate, in the same way that 'gossip', be it emails, Instant Messaging and other online transactions, find their way into the public sphere. Porosity has seen the emergence of codes of conduct that dictate what is acceptable for those using these internal channels, and are a vital part of an organisation's PR toolkit.

Richness is the idea of adding value to your product or service, and making it niche; it is a PR practitioner's role to create rich content through words, pictures, videos, diagrams, voice and music. Through Internet agency, and utilising its main characteristic, its reach, organisation's can add richness through online communities. This may be in the form of blogs, wikis and forums. In addition, SEO will make such content transparently available, and can also increase reach in the same way that hyperlinks and offline advertising can.

So, what's the link? The Internet changes an organisation, forcing it to be more transparent and porous, and acts as an agent of change. This allows for rich content that will reach many, who will access these messages using channels on their platforms.

Saturday 5 November 2011

I've found my blogging mojo


Imagine my surprise when, in a break from writing a 2500 word essay on Clay Shirky's The Cognitive Surplus (read: procrastination), I stumbled across Behind the Spin's top 10 ranking of Social Students, to find yours truly at joint 8th position.

http://www.behindthespin.com/news/introducing-our-socialstudent-leaders

Having had the pleasure of Behind the Spin's editor Richard Bailey lecturing us during our second year of university, I was familiar with his magazine-style site, which caters for PR students and those starting out in the industry. I'd even seen his tweet the day before requesting BTS's readers to put forward their Klout and Peerindex scores in order that he could compile the Social Student rankings. I didn't give it a second thought - my fellow peers tweet, blog, write, debate, broadcast, argue, Facebook and G+ til the cows come home. Since I'd lost my blogging mojo and abandoned The Details in the Fabric, my fashion and beauty blog, in my placement year, and given that I've never been brave enough to publically put forward my arbitrary views on public relations on the Internet, I was sure I wouldn't stand a chance against the PR heavyweights that are the Leeds Met students, who seem to have made blogging a national past time.

I don't doubt for a minute that my 500+ Twitter followers isn't unrelated to the fact that I worked for the world's biggest car manufacturer on my placement year, or that at least a quarter of my followers are spam-sending companies vying for my attention. And I'm sure a further 150 of my followers are part of the fast-evolving cult that is beauty blogging, itself a small community of like-minded individuals who blog about their passions and are single-handedly changing the face of fashion and beauty PR as we know it.

However, my appearance amongst a list of pure PR talent has given me the confidence to believe that I do have a voice; that the range of channels available to us in which to express our thoughts on academia, on celebrity gossip, on last night's dinner and on Made in Chelsea is so rich and exciting that to ignore those 500 followers would be a bad move. Building relationships is fundamental in public relations, and engaging those who take the time to listen to you is even more crucial. My ideas might not be correct, nor agreeable to everybody that reads them, but becoming part of the conversation presents an unparalleled opportunity to develop these further whilst cementing relationships with potential future employers, even future employees.

"I don't need an introduction to you through someone else, and you no longer need one to me. We are all a click (or a pixel) away from one another. This means that building relationships and turning those relationships into an online community is more powerful and more important than ever before." (Mitch Joel, 2009)

Being the only student in the rankings without an active blog made me sit up and think - here's an opportunity - why aren't I seizing it? I think I may have my blogging mojo back. Watch this space.