I knew that my first job out of college wouldn’t be my last – however, knowing this doesn’t make it any less weird. Most people, at some point, change jobs. The days of the “lifer” are over, and most often, the younger you are, the quicker you move. However, I knew that I couldn’t leave before I felt I had made a significant impact. I needed to know, in a sense, that my work here was done. When I did begin to feel that I had contributed all I was meant to, I knew I had no choice but to move on.
I’ve always called work in the non-profit sector a “good karma” job. I may be barely paying the bills, but at the end of the day, I knew I made a difference. Unfortunately, the non-profit field isn’t always presented as a career choice in colleges and universities. My education, in particular, taught me that I was to take unpaid summer internships in the city (LA, Boston, New York – take your pick), then take an entry-level position at a communications agency in that same city.
I, however, fell into a different track. After an internship at a local non-profit, I began to consider the benefits of getting paid to do something personally fulfilling and beneficial to the community at large. I was fortunate enough to get hired at that same non-profit after graduation, and have been there since (that is, until this Friday).
Non-profit work needs to be presented as an option to graduating seniors. It is clear that there is work to be done to improve this world. I know, I know, the job market, the economy, the lay-offs, the budget cuts, etc. etc. As far as I can see, it’s no worse than the corporate world. Sometimes it’s even a little better.
Non-profits are usually (I venture to say “always”) under-staffed and short on resources. A recent graduate can take advantage of this – I was able to get my hands on projects that were clearly outside my job description, but great resume-building experience. I dabbled in event planning, PR, marketing, campaign execution, social media, finance, strategic planning, community relations and design – all experiences a corporate position would not have afforded me.
Now, after this life-changing, amazing experience, I’m officially ready to move on to something new: the corporate world. One friend accused of me going to the “dark side.” Not true. I can continue giving back, just in a different sort of way – I’ve gained the knowledge, resources, and most importantly, the drive to make it happen. Yes, I’ll be working in a for-profit environment. However, I will be working for a company that values volunteerism, philanthropy and community as much as I do. It was extremely important to me that I found a company whose values mirrored mine – but only because of my non-profit experience. (Two years ago, I would have said yes to Altria.)
See you on the dark side.
Let’s do a little math. (I know, math can be scary for us PR folks. It’s nothing but simple addition, I promise.) Take the number of your facebook friends and add on your Twitter followers. Now add your LinkedIn Connections, everyone in your Outlook contacts, and your cell phone address book. Now, presumably there’s some overlap, so cut that number by about half.
You’ve probably heard of Dunbar’s number – the maximum number of stable, social relationships a human can maintain. The number most often thrown around is 150—meaning humans can have 150 relationships in which he or she knows who each person is, and how that person fits in with their social circles. Chances are, that number you came up with from my not-so-scientific formula above is far beyond that. If you are close to 150, all I can say is, you’re either really, really picky about who you connect with online, or nobody likes you. If it’s the latter, I’m sorry for pointing out your unpopularity.
So how do your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections fit in with the concept of Dunbar’s number? Not very well, as far as I’m concerned. There comes a time when you reach maximum capacity as far as the ability to check every status update and tweet, let alone interact with each of those individuals. After all, I follow @ConansSquirrel on Twitter, but I can’t exactly brag to anyone that I’m BFF with the squirrel in Conan O’Brien’s backyard.
I use social media for a lot of reasons, but at the end of the day, Twitter doesn’t pour me a glass of wine and let me bitch about my day or drive me to work when I’m having car trouble. So here’s a bit of motherly advice: don’t forget your Dunbar number, and the people that actually fit within that realm.
You can not create a viral video. The act of trying to make a video viral automatically disqualifies it from ever truly being viral. User-created (read: not corporate produced) videos are made “viral” by those millions of people who busted up over Gary Brolsma’s “Numa Numa” video, watched in disbelief as Chris Crocker had a mental breakdown in support of Britney Spears, and may have personally identified with the Star Wars Kid…and then passed those videos along to their friends.
Marketing departments can absolutely create videos that have the qualities of popular viral videos, but that doesn’t make them viral. When your marketing department creates a video that’s funny, seemingly unplanned and purposely amateur in appearance and quality, it’s not viral. If millions of people see it (largely due to a sophisticated SEO plan and money to back up its promotion), it’s still not viral. It’s just popular (but usually not even as popular as real viral videos).
Just remember…we see through your fake viral videos anyways. And it feels cheap. Stop trying to dupe us and state the obvious: that you’re trying to advertise to us. We’re used to being advertised to; it doesn’t offend us. What offends us when you try to convince us that some one “just like us” made the video, instead of a multi-national corporation with a 10-person marketing department, a flip cam and 2 weeks of research and development behind it.
Why do Marketing Execs insist on the creation of “viral” video anyways? Instead, what you should focus on is producing quality material (funny optional, poignant works well, too) that will enable your consumers to connect with your company in a meaningful way. A great example is Coca-Cola’s Happiness Machine. It’s an obvious advertisement for Coca-Cola, but will leave you smiling.
I’ve been seeing a lot about the disappearance of online privacy lately. Everyone’s been tweeting (and complaining) about @pleaserobme (whose account has been suspended to strange activity). People are reconsidering Foursquare.
Really? Don’t we already know this?
Remember Kindergarten, when you were told not to talk to strangers? (Sorry, I had to.) Well, we’re all old enough to talk to strangers, but we still need to be careful. Over-sharing is the new black these days, and I’m not always sure it’s to anyone’s benefit.
Let me start by staying I. Do. Not. Care. that you’re at Joe’s Java Shack or on the corner of 5th and South. What am I supposed to do with this information? Chances are, we don’t live in the same city, and if we do, I’m not going to stalk you out and meet you there. I know, I know—so unfollow you, right? Done. (I may have already done so.) Foursquare users, I have nothing against you, but I just don’t get it. Maybe someday, like hating on sushi and Blackberrys, I’ll eat my words. Somehow I doubt it.
There seems to be this phenomenon of perceived audience versus actual audience for information shared online. I have to remind myself of this every time I sign on to Facebook and post a status. It’s not just my real-life friends (perceived audience) who are going to read it. My boss, my grandmother, kids I don’t remember from high school, and totally random people who apparently thought my profile picture wasn’t too offensive-looking may also see it (actual audience).
Yes, there are privacy settings. Yes, I have them set meticulously. But nothing posted online is ever completely private. Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V people. It’s that easy.
Similarly, I have to remind myself when I’m on Twitter that this information will be shared with THE WORLD (even though 99.9999% of the world doesn’t give a damn). Quite frankly, I don’t want the whole world knowing where I am at all times. I’m cool with a little mystery. My former roommate used to go on excursions all the time without telling anyone, and while it bugged me as her roommate, I understood the need to go off the radar for a little bit.
My rant boils down to this: if you wouldn’t tell that creepy looking guy who hangs out in your parking lot at work, maybe it’s best not to post it online. You’re allowed to talk to strangers now, but in the words of Spider-Man, “with great power comes great responsibility.”
If you’re a new visitor to my blog, welcome! If you found yourself redirected here from my “old” blog, PRreaction, thanks for coming over.
I decided to take my blog in a new direction for a couple of reasons: first, because my friend decided to buy a server and offered to host it for free (a sort of “duh” decision if you ask me) and second, because I wanted something that more accurately reflected my personal voice and creative process.
My original inspiration; photo via imgfave.com.
I’ve had a problem with the name “PRreaction” from the beginning. It was intended to mean my personal reaction to PR stories. But on a broader scale, public relations isn’t about reacting to external forces. Research, event planning, campaigns, crisis communications…it’s about knowing your industry, and having a plan in place if something does happen. So with “PRreaction” on the outs, I started brainstorming other names.
Those who have seen my desk know that I heavily rely on sticky notes to get me through the day. These perfect little square pieces of paper become phone messages, to-do lists, ideas, reminders, and…blog topics. I came across a photo of a post-it on a mirror one day, and it became obvious that I needed to do something with my sticky note habit. So with each blog post, you get to see the inspiration behind it via post-it. I’m warning you, it may not be pretty—but it will represent who I am as a person, a professional, and a *somewhat* creative person whose artistic talent rarely extends beyond stick figures.
Meanwhile, make yourself at home—follow me on Twitter, set up an RSS feed, or check out some of my older posts using the menu at the top of the page. And as always, your comments and feedback are welcome.
I recently attended an incredibly eye-opening program on internal social media policy, and I have to tell you, it wasn’t for the nervous nillies (dare I say weak-hearted?) managers out there who wish they could outright ban employee social media use. Get this: a lawyer—from a reputable law firm, with an “Esq.” after his name, and no, he hasn’t appeared in any “Heavy Hitters” commercials that I know of—advised NOT to outright ban social media. Can I get an #OMG?!
Social media in the workplace is a messy issue, but fear of the unknown should never dictate office policy. An organization that does not educate its employees on the risks and rewards of social media and encourage responsible usage is doing itself a huge disservice. This is particularly true when the organization itself has a Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook account of its own. Why should outsiders follow, watch or comment when internal employees aren’t allowed to?
An employee misusing social media to the detriment of an organization is a staff issue, not an IT issue. The funny thing is, you probably already have a policy in place in the form of a code of ethics, standards of conduct, or some other HR document (which may be available on that thing nobody visits…the intranet, they call it?). If employees aren’t allowed to yell trade secrets or client information on the street corner, they aren’t allowed to tweet that information, either. When an issue does arise (because it will), what needs to be emphasized is the message, not the medium.
Examples I’ve seen of social media use gone awry are often the result of a misinformed or uneducated employee. An employer would do well to make it clear to employees that any public information on their social media profiles is public to everyone, not just their intended audience. This includes supervisors, board members, clients, donors, and future employers (and these days, who knows how soon the “future” may be). Just as an employee is expected to take responsibility for their actions IRL, they should be expected to take responsibility for online actions as well.
Or you could just tell employees that if they wouldn’t want their grandma seeing it (WARNING: may be offensive to some readers…and hilarious to others), maybe it’s best to keep quiet.
It’s been a while, but I have an excuse. Around Thanksgiving I decided to embark on the increasingly popular holiday tradition of getting a second job to survive the season (financially-speaking…emotionally, I was an overworked, overtired, stressed-out mess). Admittedly, choosing retail may not have been the smartest idea. But pulling 70+ hours a week made me realize a few things. Among them:
- I could never be a lawyer, a doctor, or hold any other occupation that required working extensive hours.
- Otherwise normal, rational people will turn hostile and belligerent in an effort to save a few bucks. And guess what? There’s a whole line of them trying to use 4 coupons at a time.
- Corporations do not always make it easy for their employees to provide consumers with the best service possible. Why? Because profit is still #1, and customer service will never take its place.
- Those people who stay home and shop online? One word. Smart.
- Minimum wage and a sick discount hardly make up for working the day after Christmas.
My last part-time job was for an energy drink company. I was paid $10 an hour to essentially drive around with my best friends in a cool car to hand out free product. There was minimal supervision and ample chances to screw around, but despite that, we always did a bang-up job. We loved and believed in the product, we felt lucky to have such a great job, and we clamored at the opportunity to perform outside our normal responsibilities. This is in stark contrast to my current part-time position, where minimal work is both tolerated and facilitated.
Why do these disparities exist? A couple of thoughts:
Orientation
…is way, way, way more important than anyone gives it credit for. Orientation is NOT the same thing as training. It’s NOT showing some one where the bathroom is, giving them a mug full of candy and saying, “Have a nice first day!” Effective orientation, as my friend puts it, gets new employees to “drink the Kool-Aid.” First impressions go a long way, and its your best shot to build a passionate, knowledgeable employee.
Training
…is the crucial step after orientation where you tell your employee exactly what he or she will be doing. For example, how to fold a sweater. I’ve seen managers skip or rush through training, and then wonder why their employees are useless.
Attitude of Upper Management
Complacent managers = complacent workers. It’s a simple equation. If a manager cares about the good of the organization, their employees are more likely to care, too.
Opportunities to Grow
It’s not all raises and promotions. It’s training opportunities, special privileges, invitations to otherwise closed-door meetings or an opportunity to develop a new idea. Managers know this, but they rarely actually do it.
Clearly, there’s much more to effective employee management than these four factors, but at the very least, it’s a good place to start.
Twitter cracks me up because I’ve found a lot of the conversation is centered around…Twitter. As if tweeting weren’t enough, we also have to talk about the fact that we’re doing it, how we’re doing it, how we can do it better, and how it’s going to change everything we’ll ever do for the rest of our collective lives. It’s gotten to the point where I consciously avoid tweeting about Twitter, just for a change of pace.
Having said that, I’m going to break my own rule and blog about it. Here’s the thing about social media: it is only a communication tool. Social media is not the message itself, but rather the mechanism for delivering a message. Not only that, social media is a tool for TWO-WAY communication. Which means, perhaps, that we should listen to our stakeholders and consumers as much as we talk (better yet: listen MORE than we talk).
The question that’s often skipped over when an organization makes the decision to jump on the social media bandwagon is WHY that organization should jump on in the first place. If it’s because everyone else is doing it, or because some Board member’s grandson is on Twitter and heard it was the next cool thing, then it’s not going to be successful. There has to be a reason for reaching out: to tell a story, spread a message, reach out to new audiences, connect with like-minded people or communicate with consumers.
After all, if you have nothing worthwhile to say, why would you say it to the whole world? No one sends out bulk mailings just to say “hi!” or writes press releases when there’s nothing to report on. The most intelligent communicators I know are the ones who keep their mouth shut when they have nothing to contribute.
For example: if you tweet for a nonprofit, don’t tweet about how nonprofits can tweet effectively. Instead, use that information and…tweet effectively. Be the example. Nobody likes “that guy” who talks just to hear the sound of his own voice…so don’t let your organization’s Twitter feed be “that guy.”
I celebrated my birthday last week and decided it would be a good time to reflect on the past year—my achievements, obstacles overcome (or not) and lessons learned. For my sake (and probably yours), we’re going to skip the personal stuff and move right onto my professional life.
This past year, I’ve celebrated my one-year anniversary at a new job, survived (and hopefully will continue to survive) tough economic times, and learned more about the business world than four years of college could ever teach me.
In my reflection, I acknowledged missed opportunities, including the vast amount of information that passes right through me on a daily basis. I’m constantly reading articles online, but I almost always find myself saying, “I feel like I read something about that somewhere…” when the topic comes up in conversation.
I’ve made mistakes that I still sometimes make, like e-mailing when I should have called or failing to follow-up with some one who deserved my time. It doesn’t occur often, but it shouldn’t occur at all. My biggest resolution for my next birthday is to correct both of these missteps. One that will NEVER happen again: running through an icy parking lot in heels at 8:31am. And for good measure, one that probably will: forgetting to water my boss’ plants while he’s on vacation.
I’m proud of the things I’ve accomplished, both big (acing my annual performance review, managing my organization’s social media presence) and small (knowing how to fill out a Purchase Order). I may not feel older or wiser, but I do feel like an adult, or a “real person” as my friends say. I’m contributing a small, albeit important, portion of my salary to a 401K. My boss knows he can count on me to get things done. And at the end of the day, I’m confident in my ability to manage my life—with the necessary support from family and friends, of course (thanks!).
Looking back was also a good reminder to keep pushing forward. There are still things I want to learn—web design and HTML, for example. Or even how to properly operate my telephone. Speaking of which—all you Norstar users out there, does anyone know how to make an outgoing call while having some one else on hold? Given all that I’ve gained, grown from, and learned in the past year, I can only have high hopes for the next.
I’ve been asked to participate in a panel discussion about attracting and engaging the “40 below” board member and volunteer, and I thought this would be the best place to gather my thoughts. I have a lot of them on this subject.
First, let’s try to avoid generational stereotypes as much as possible in this conversation. I’m not entirely innocent from this, but it is something I am conscious of. Second, recruiting anyone for anything solely because of their age is wrong. Having a token board member for any reason—their age, race, gender, profession—is also wrong.
If its decided that having some “young blood” on your Board would bring in fresh ideas, rejuvenate current leadership, and challenge the status quo, great. But keep in mind that not all young minds can do that, and there are probably a number of 60-year-olds out there that can.
That being said, I wholeheartedly support the idea of having passionate, driven, connected people on Boards—no matter their age. So here’s the breakdown of getting some one like that who just happens to be below 40:
Recruitment
Recruit a 40-below board member the same way you would recruit a 40-above board member: use your existing connections to find and meet some one who would be a good fit for the organization. To build a relationship with that person, start small. Get them acquainted with the organization, its mission and its people by inviting them to help out at an event or join a committee. Actually listen to what they have to say about their experience. Explore their passions. Consider their skills and connections.
When making the ask, clearly outline the organization’s expectations. Is there a required financial contribution? Is there an attendance policy? Will they be asked to call donors or speak publicly on behalf of the organization? Then find out their expectations of the organization and board membership, what they’d like to see happen, and how they envision their involvement. (See my last post on creating mutually beneficial relationships.)
Retention
Do not, do not, do not treat a below 40 board member as the token “young” person. Don’t use the word “young.” Don’t ask them to be a spokesperson for their entire generation. Don’t just act like you value their contribution—actually value it. Treat their thoughts, questions, concerns, time and money as equal to anyone else’s.
Recognition
The best way to recognize anyone effectively is to ask them how they like to be recognized. Age isn’t the only factor in considering how some one should be thanked. It’s obvious and a little weird, but asking some one “How do you like to be recognized?” is important, particularly if they don’t like public thank-you’s or accepting gifts. Some board members would get a kick out of being photographed for marketing materials. Others just want a hand-written thank you letter from the ED every year. Better an appreciative volunteer than an embarrassed one.
I love that organizations are starting to recognize the value in having volunteers of all ages involved on a board level, including those 40 and below. Young people have the passion and ability to make meaningful contributions to their communities, and the organization that taps into that resource will be better off for it.
