February 16, 2012
FACT: I tweet a lot.
FACT: Half is personal, half is professional.
FACT: I don’t know if all the content I post is actually worth reading…(I’d like to think so, but I know that is not the case).
Well…of all Twitterers EVER (well…only 21,000 to be exact) 25 percent don’t think content is worth reading according to researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The three colleges surveyed Twitter users about how they perceive what they read in 140 characters. They created a website “Who Gives a Tweet?” and asked visitors to anonymously submit their tweets for feedback if they agreed to anonymously rate tweets of Twitter users they were following.
In late 2010 and early 2011, during a period of 19 days, slightly fewer than 1,500 visitors to the site rated nearly 44,000 tweets from the accounts of 21,000 Twitter users. To check out the stats and read some of the lessons for landing your tweet in the “worth reading” category, check out my post on the Borshoff blog. Do you agree with these nine lessons? Anything you’d add or remove? I think they nailed it!
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Posted by Jackie
October 18, 2011
There is a first for everything and today was a milestone in my professional career. I was asked to sit on a panel with other communications professionals at the 2011 Indiana Association of College Admission Counseling (IACAC) fall conference. It was surreal! For so long, I had been that person in the audience listening to other professionals talk about “dos and don’ts”, “How to’s”, and “Why this vs. that” for so long. Now it was my turn to share some wisdom.
The IACAC fall congress brings together all Indiana university and college admission staff annually. The conference is a three-day event and covers “hot” enrollment management/admission topics. The session I participated in was pretty unique because usually the sessions cover topics like financial aid, ethics in higher education, and admission information. Communication is a unique thing to colleges and universities. There are so many other things to think about that often, communication is not the main focus. My session dived right into it.
The session was titled ‘Strategies for Communication and Social Media in Higher Education’. Brilliant!
Not only was our session a hit, but I served on the panel with my own friends. My communications friends from Butler talked about tweeting/blogging and focus groups/researching in higher education (the dos and don’ts). My friend from the ICVA spoke about email/print communication tips. From the agency standpoint, I discussed social media policies and strategies and why both are crucial to have in any organization regardless the industry.
The audience was fully engaged the entire time and asked tons of great questions. Afterwards, several came up to thank the panel and shook our hands. It was so gratifying to hear that people valued what I said and wanted to integrate my professional advice into their communication strategies. That was the most rewarding part of the whole experience.
I must admit I was a little nervous going into the session. After all, 80 people attended! However, afterwards I felt great as the experience helped me become a better public speaker, too. Hopefully I can take part in more professional development opportunities in the future.
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Leave a Comment » | Communication, Social Media | Tagged: admissions, college, communication, higher education, IACAC, Indiana, Indiana Association of College Admission Counseling, PR, professional development, social media, universities | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
August 23, 2011
Five years ago, if you told me I’d be developing a Twitter ‘dos and don’ts’ list, I would have laughed in your face.
When Twitter first came out, I thought it was the stupidest thing ever. “What’s the point of a social media platform that is just a bunch of status updates?”
Little did I know the value behind the tool at the time. Now-a-days, I’m Borshoff’s Twitter Manager, a role I never thought I’d have, but welcomed with open arms.
Today, we posted my 15 Twitter dos & don’ts list to our blog. Check it out! What do you think of this etiquette? Anything you would add?
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1 Comment | Social Media | Tagged: communication, Dos and don'ts, Etiquette, PR, social media, social media manners, twitter | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
July 26, 2011
I recently became Borshoff’s Twitter manager at work. That’s right…it’s a real role. Role of a lifetime! I’m one of the masterminds behind the tweets (secret is out!) What this means is, not only am I responsible for my day-to-day account work, but I now HAVE to monitor my TweetDeck (I know…rough) every day, throughout the day, for tweets, RTs, Mentions, DMs, lists and more. I love it. It’s a great job for a Twitter lover.
Today, the @Borshoff account tweeted a link to an article published online by The Miami Herald that is definitely worth sharing. The article is aimed toward small businesses and helping them avoid making common Twitter marketing mistakes that may have consequences. However, after I read through the tips, I thought, “This is great information even for the average Twitter user!” Maybe not everyone cares, but it definitely is a nice guide to refer to for some of the “dos and don’ts” of Twitter. In essence, it’s proper Twitter mannerisms.
The first five mistakes to avoid are:
- Not following properly
- Not using direct messages correctly
- Not thanking followers personally
- Not properly maximizing your free Twitter real estate
- Not keeping it real (huge!)
These are tips I will aim to avoid not only from the @Borshoff account, but from my own as well. (@jkoumpouras…follow me!)
Check out these five tips and the remaining 10 from the original article, HERE. Props to The Miami Herald for the great advice!
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Leave a Comment » | Social Media, Work | Tagged: Borshoff, marketing, mistakes, PR, responsibility, small businesses, social media, The Miami Herald, tips, TweetDeck, twitter | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
February 10, 2011
Today was just like any normal day at Borshoff. I arrived at work, got my coffee, checked an over-flowing e-mail inbox, prepped for a client meeting, booted-up TweetDeck and communicated with my colleagues about different tweet ideas for the day. But then, IT HAPPENED. A change in TweetDeck. Usually when sending a tweet, if you go over the 140 character limit the text turns red. This lets the typer know they are crazy for thinking that tweet would be less than 140 characters. Now they must revise (aka-shorten it up)! But today, the text box turned gray…
A learning experience for all! Check out my blog Dabbling in Deck.ly on Borshoff’s website. It explains everything!
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Leave a Comment » | PR, Social Media | Tagged: Borshoff, Deck.ly, microblogging, PR, PRSA, TweetDeck, twitter | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
January 10, 2011
Did you know…. 80% of new jobs come through direct networking?
Now, you can use Facebook to see who your most connected friends are.
Just when you thought Facebook would stop changing for like two seconds, Zuckerberg comes out with something new. I think we all saw this coming — LinkedIn on Facebook, or as Facebook calls it, BranchOut.
BranchOut is a new application on Facebook that helps you expand your career network. But this network can include everyone you possibly know on Facebook; everyone. Just like LinkedIn, on BranchOut you can search for jobs and connect with your friends (who also have the BranchOut app). You can send messages, upload your resume, and even endorse others.
According to the BranchOut folks, “every time a Facebook friend joins BranchOut, you see where they used to work, where they work now, and where their friends work.” This may sound great, but to be honest, I’m not sure if I want everyone and their mother’s nephew’s cousin knowing my career business. I would rather have the ‘say’ on who views my profile and who doesn’t. Yes, this may limit my networking span, but when I’m ready to search for a job, then I will be more open.
Though I am a part of the BranchOut community, I think I will leave my professional networking to LinkedIn where there is a more secure profile and I get to decide who views my profile and who does not. Don’t get me wrong, I applaud Facebook for trying to do, well…everything. But, there is a place for fun and a place for business. LinkedIn is all business.
What do you think?
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3 Comments | Communication, PR, Social Media | Tagged: BranchOut, business, career, Facebook, LinkedIn, networking, PR, professional, social network | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
January 3, 2011
Helloooooo 2011!
I welcome you with open arms. With a New Year comes New Year’s resolutions. Along with personal resolutions, this year I also created work-related public relations resolutions. You can read what my five PR resolutions are on Borshoff’s blog.
Now you will know what my PR resolutions are…what are yours?
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Leave a Comment » | Communication, PR, Social Media, Work | Tagged: Borshoff, communications, community, networking, new year, PR, PRSA, Public Relations, resolutions, social media, twitter | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
October 19, 2010
Continuing off last week’s blog, here are more social media terms to help young PR professionals communicate effectively about social media.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM) — A form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, SEM methods include: search engine optimization, paid placement, advertising and paid inclusion.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — The process of improving the volume and quality of traffic driven to a website from key word searches on Google and other search engines.
- Social Bookmarking — A method for Internet users to store, search, organize and share Web pages with others. Delicious, Digg and StumbleUpon are examples of social bookmarking sites.
- Social Networking Sites — Large sites that host multiple communities comprised of people with profiles who have similar interests. These sites offer a place where people engage with one another online and share content. Example communities include:
- Facebook — An online community for people to connect or reconnect with others. Enables people to share videos, pictures and information about themselves.
- LinkedIn — A professional online community used to network with fellow professionals.
- MySpace — A site where people can meet others with similar interests, creating online communities by sharing videos, photos and personal information.
- Tag — A keyword or term associated and assigned to an item of content (i.e. blog post, video, photo, etc.). Usually added to an item of content to enhance search engine optimization and make it easier to organize and find. (Tags for my blog can be found beneath each post).
- Twitter — A micro-blogging community where posts, also called Tweets, are 140 characters or less.
- YouTube — An online site for uploading and discussing videos. Videos can also be embedded from YouTube onto other social media
Sources: ConverStations, The Buzz Bin and Wikispaces
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3 Comments | Communication, PR, Social Media | Tagged: communication, Facebook, Keywords, Media, PR, SEM, SEO, social media, Tags, terms, twitter | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
October 11, 2010
When you work in the PR field you have to keep up-to-date on your social media knowledge. This doesn’t mean just knowing how to tweet or having a Facebook page. Social media knowledge involves knowing the correct dialect and platforms to communicate effectively. This blog post serves as part one of two posts. The following is a list of common social media terms you probably hear often.
- Avatar — A graphical image or likeness that replaces the use of a personal photo in social media tools, such as blogs, social networks, etc.
- Blog — A website where an individual(s) provides entries or “posts” of any type of content from video and podcasts, to traditional text and photos in order to inform or create discussions. Posts are presented in reverse chronological order.
- Blogosphere — A term used to describe the totality of blogs on the Internet, and the conversations taking place within that sphere.
- Blogroll — A section on a blog where the author lists other blogs they read or that would be of interest to their readers. This section is usually displayed in the blog’s sidebar.
- Feed — The means by which you can read, view or listen to items from blogs and other RSS-enabled sites without visiting the site, by subscribing and using a feed reader.
- Feed Reader — An aggregator of content subscribed to by the user, so that specific content or search data arrives in their “reader.” Commonly used feed readers include GreatNews, Feed Demon, NetVibes and Google Reader.
- Flickr — Online site for storing, sharing and commenting on photos.
- Message Board/Forum — An online discussion site where people looking to discuss particular issues or needing support post messages on the forum or message board in hopes of gaining more information or starting a conversation.
- Microblogging — A form of blogging allowing users to compose brief text updates and publish them. These messages can be submitted and received by a variety of means and devices, including text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail, mobile device, MP3 or the Web. Twitter is an example of a microblog.
- Podcasts — Online audio or visual recordings syndicated on the Internet and available to download to portable media players such as an iPod.
- Really Simple Syndication (RSS) — A tool that allows users to subscribe to the content on blogs and other social media tools, so all content updates are conveniently delivered to them through a feed.
Check back next week for Social Media Lingo, part II!
Sources: ConverStations, The Buzz Bin and Wikispaces
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2 Comments | Communication, PR, Social Media | Tagged: comunication, PR, social media, terms | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
October 6, 2010
Choo Choo!
One of my Borshoff coworkers shared this Bulldog Reporter article with me today about the growing influence of social media (it’s always growing if you ask me) and need for PR practitioners to keep up. It’s a lengthy article, but she summed it up with three takeaways worth sharing with you:
- The use of social media at public relations and public affairs firms has jumped 12%-15% in the past year. Currently, the total percentage of work devoted by firms to social media as opposed to traditional media is 30% overall, and next year, the percentage will increase to an average of 42%. In a year or two, the percentage will be over 50%.
- PR practitioners — and firms in particular — must get increasingly up to speed to know what the online dynamic is all about and how to use it. They will need new skills because mastering this space is a lot more than just setting up a Facebook account — PR people need to know how to create online advocacy programs that address issues, marketing support initiatives that help to push products, and surveys that keep customers and others involved in what their clients do. Most important, they have to understand the need to create a strategic plan, not just throw stuff up helter-skelter like it is being done now by many firms.
- Some people are interpreting our prediction of the dominance of social media as an outright replacement of traditional media — that won’t necessarily happen, but social media will become the primary focus of PR efforts in the next few years, overtaking traditional media as the dominant focus.
I guess I better stay up-to-speed on my social media knowledge!
See the full article here.
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Leave a Comment » | Communication, PR, Social Media | Tagged: Borshoff, communication, marketing, PR, social media, traditional media | Permalink
Posted by Jackie
FACT: I tweet a lot.
