At any stage of our PR careers, most of us have our eye on the next rung of the hierarchal ladder. Chasing after the next promotion isn’t the only reason we give everything we have to our clients, but let’s be honest, we didn’t jump into the sandbox to avoid building a castle. When I entered the PR world, I thought the clearest path to an upwardly mobile career was to raise my hand for every new project, taking on as much as I could. Taking this approach puts you in the position to be the one to secure that big placement, execute on a massive client program or contribute to a new business win. Of course all of these things make us tick, make us challenge ourselves and they’re viewed pretty positively by our bosses. Sounds like a pretty good plan, right? Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Are you a Twitter Snob?
The most fascinating aspect of Twitter is that you can literally find millions of different people with personalities that span the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. I love it.
One thing that I’m always keen on studying and writing about is narcissism and ego in social media. So I came up with a little quiz to determine whether or not you are a Twitter snob. Please keep score as you go along. Continue reading
HAPPO Days are Here
For any of you who missed Friday’s announcement, the next two leading up to what should be an amazing 4 hours on Friday February 19th.
This new project, spearheaded by Arik Hanson and the amazing Valerie Simon, this amazing project looks to put together job seekers with those with job openings. For the full background and inspiration, including inspiration from Dave Mullen, be sure to check out Arik’s post, linked in the first sentence. For those of you looking for the short version, and what you can do to participate in HAPPO day, take a look below: Continue reading
The Intrigue of Sports Villainy
We love our sports heroes. Oh, do we LOVE our sports heroes! Babe Ruth, Joe Montana, Magic Johnson, Roger Federer, Mia Hamm, Cal Ripken, LeBron James, Peyton Manning – the “good guys” of sports are beloved by fans and marketers alike.
These stars win championships (or compete for them every year), donate money, work in the community, sponsor brands – they do everything heroes should do.
Heck, Drew Brees has helped rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina with time, effort and money – and just last night brought the Super Bowl trophy to his adopted hometown. It didn’t complete the economic and social recovery, but it gave the city something wonderful to rally around.
But you know what? Continue reading
Are you done talking yet?
We all have that friend or colleague that will come in Monday morning, uber excited to tell you all about their weekend and you’re already cringing at the thought of it. It’s not that the story won’t be interesting. Perhaps they won a million dollars or got engaged. It doesn’t matter. Your friend can’t tell a story to save her life. In fact after she finishes the story, you’ll have aged about 20 or so years and forgotten what she was talking about in the first place. What does story telling have to do with PR? Well, everything. Telling a story, in my opinion, is very similar to pitching a story to media professionals. Continue reading
This Week’s Top 5
For those of you snowed in, or just bored over the weekend trying to play catchup on your PR Blogs, below you’ll find, in no particular order, PRBC’s top 5 posts of the week (by pageview) and a special video surprise from Mr. Schaffer.
FINRA Issues New Social Media Guidelines
A word of advice: I am not a lawyer. Nor am I a registered financial adviser. This is my opinion only and should be treated as such. For guidance, consult your legal counsel.
If you are in PR, IR, corporate communications or social media, chances are you’ll run into fun rules such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Regulation FD and FINRA guidelines. One of these things these rules have in common is that they are behind the times.
But the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has taken a pretty large step in modernizing the rules that financial services companies must follow while engaging in social media and PR. You can download the FINRA social media guidelines as a PDF. Continue reading
Small Potatoes Will Grow
As a small business owner, I see customer service from a whole new perspective. When I opened my business banking account, I received exceptional customer service – far better than I had ever received before. Now, it could be this particular bank’s branch, but the cynic in me thinks reps cater more to the business owners than the individual with a regular account.
Businesses tend to prioritize their customers. It’s not unreasonable to think bigger customers get better service, right? But, by providing less-than-stellar service to a smaller customer, are you assuming that that account will always be “small potatoes?” Continue reading
The Power of the Smartphone
People made fun of me for weeks, months actually. I was like the kid that never got those sneakers with the lights in them when I was in first grade. I’ve dealt with a lot of laughs and the brunt of jokes, but I finally did it. I said goodbye to the 2005 flip phone, and finally got a smartphone!
A bit overwhelmed, and a bit scared at first, I opened up the box to the Droid and got a little bit weak in the knees, started to drool, and then realized I had a lot of work to do and couldn’t touch it till that evening. After figuring it out how to turn it on, it was an amazing experience. Continue reading
Twitter you made a fool of me!
Wait, maybe I made a fool of myself.
January 13, 2010, Twitter users alerted their communities about an explosion at Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central Terminal was allegedly evacuated and shut down by SWAT teams. Subway lines, specifically, the 4,5, and 6 were completely bypassing those specific stops or shut down as well. I work in Manhattan and in relatively close proximity to the station. I have co-workers commuting daily through that station, and many others that use the 4,5,6 line to go home. This is what happened after digesting the “warning”: Continue reading