Karen’s Public Relations Blog

I have written numerous blog posts of how public relations professionals can use social media in their profession as well as in the classroom.  From implementing a Facebook page to the free Internet phone service Skype – each has their benefits and unique features.

Skype has been wonderful in bringing in leading researchers and scholars in the classroom for my students in Public Relations.  However, there are other ways that professionals can use Skype in their business and profession – like conducting televised interviews on specific subjects.

My Skype interview on Social media

I had the privledge of being on Matt Bise’s show Port City Live this past week talking about the risks and benefits of  social networking.  I first talked to Matt via email when he asked me about Skype after seeing my blog post on how to use Skype to bring in guest speakers into the classroom (here is the link to my blog post about having Dr. John Cacioppo come via Skype to my class last year).

I was very excited and honored to be on Matt’s show – this was the first time that I used Skype to be interviewed, and it was a wonderful experience for me. Kristin helped me pick out an appropriate interview outfit and setting up my lighting in my apartment for the interview.  It was absolutely great!   I got a chance to talk about some of the challenges and opportunities that are out there in using social networking sites, and how people can be proactive in managing their reputation by setting up their own personal blog, web site, and having a balanced presence on all of these social networking sites.  Here is the link to the interview that I did for Matt Bise’s show Port City Live.

I would like to thank Matt Bise for inviting me to his show and everyone at WLCNTV.  Thank you very much again for this wonderful opportunity!   Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen

I have told my students as well as others that I have met through my guest lectures and other professors at the University of Tennessee that it is very important to have an online presence, especially in this tough economy.  There are so many advantages that you will gain if you are active online and having a hand in multiple sites from Twitter to Facebook to having your own web site.  My web site has been running now for about 15 years, and yes – it has gone through some major changes (it actually started off as a Val Kilmer fan site ) but it transformed into a virtual platform for me in high school where I used it as a recruiting tool for college coaches in track and field to show them who I was as a student-athlete.  It paid off for me and established my online reputation in the track and field community.

Now as a doctoral student and retired athlete, I am using my web site and blog to talk about issues that are important to me in public relations and social media, as well as sharing with my family, friends, and colleagues what I am doing in terms of research, projects, and conferences. Also, another benefit of having a web site and online presence is that you never know what job opportunities you may get with it.  Being online and reaching out to future employers is key in today’s time – people are actively searching for information about others and at the same time, these individuals are trying to separate themselves from the other potential candidates.  Social media allows you to do just that – if you have the skills, knowledge, and experience of operating online – you are in a very good position to get future job opportunities.

So, my recommendation would be for you all is to set up a personal web site to manage your reputation, set up a blog where you can write about issues and topics that interest you, and have multiple profiles on these social networking sites.  The key is that you want to have a balanced presence on all of these sites – these profiles should reflect who you are as a person and professional.  The key is to be consistent!

Hope all is well and have a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen

Trust is definitely one of the key characteristics that public relations professionals want to have among their key stakeholders and publics when they are working and practicing in the field.  If people do not view you as a credible and trustworthy source of information, they will either go somewhere else for their information, or their perception of you will not be as positive. With social media and people getting online to get their information, public relations professionals not only have to look at their messages that they are communicating, but how to present this in a way that builds trust.

Mashable had a great post on the elements of trust on social media and presented a few recent and interesting case studies that involved how corporations are trying to regain trust in their brands after a crisis.  The two key examples that were presented were Domino’s after the YouTube crisis in 2009, and the recent incident with Southwest Airlines and director Kevin Smith. Both companies had to respond on social media, and they had to be aware of what their stakeholders wanted to know and what would be the best approach to use to communicate their side of the story.

In other words, we as public relations professionals make sure that we conduct thorough research to determine what are the elements that makes someone trustworthy, and how we can strategically apply this with social media.  There are many research opportunities in this area, so this is very exciting for the public relations field.  Hope you all are having  a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen

During my time at Tennessee, I have been exposed to various perspectives from different scholars and researchers on how they view the Public Relations discipline and profession.  Some think that it is the organization that is in charge of controlling the message towards specific publics, while others feel that the focus is on the meaning and dialogue between the public relations professional and its stakeholders, and that the best arguement wins in the debate.  On the other hand, there are some scholars that feel that Public relations is all about relationships built on trust, committment, and transparency to name a few.

However, there are some that feel that storytelling is at the heart of what we do in Public Relations.  We do present our client’s perspective in our  messages when we communicate to our audiences, and we do the same for our stakeholders to our organization.  These stories frame our perceptions and view of the world from our perspective.

While I agree that we do communicate and frame these perceptions in our messages to our audiences and it contributes to the overall foundation of the profession, I believe that public relations professionals do more than just tell stories.  We need to look at other aspects besides the message that we are communicating – like who is communicating this message, the overall atmosphere and environment that our client is involved in, and other contributing factors.

With social media for example – yes, there is a lot of discussion that is emerging among key stakeholders and people have the opportunity to present themselves and share their views and thoughts on given issues.  However, we need to look at what are the factors that are contributing to these discussions.  Future research needs to be conducted to explore this phenomenon further by using both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

These are just a few of my thoughts on the subject.  Hope you all are having a great day.

Best Wishes,

Karen

Social media is still in the early stages and certain issues are just arising in public relations academic and professional circles.  One of the issues that both of my students in my PR Cases class as well as in my online PR class for West Virginia have been actively discussing in class is the role of social media and how it has changed the public relations profession.  When you think that everyone can be online and manage their reputation effectively and present themselves in a professional manner to their target audiences – there are many opportunities that arise with this new technology.

However, like all new things, there are always issues and challenges that need to be addressed.  For example, what is the impact of social media in a crisis situation?  What skills and techniques do PR professionals need to know when they are out on the job market?  However, a hot topic that is being talked about in PR is the issue of privacy – how private are we when we are online?  What are the proper measures in making sure that the information we are presenting to our “friends” stays with our “friends?  There are no set rules right now in terms of privacy – but it is a topic that we need to be talking about in Public Relations – both in academic and practitioner circles.

Thomas Baekdal makes an excellent point in his article on the issue by stating that you are the only person that can decide what to share. I agree with this… to a point.  We do have to be aware that anyone that has a phone or camera can take pictures of others and post them online – so a best practice would to always be aware of what are you doing, what you are saying, and how your actions and behavior reflect your reputation both online and offline.  My grandfather said that it is best to have one set of manners – and this applies to online and offline behavior.  If people are consistent with how they act online and how they interact with others in real life – all is good.

Of course, this issue is not just important to consider for individuals, but for companies as well.  I am amazed whenever I go on Facebook or Google and these sites know EXACTLY where I am when I am signed in. These companies are using social media to track what their customers (and other stakeholders) are doing to learn more about what are the issues, interests, and characteristics of these individuals in their online behavior to name a few.  Mashable had a good post that discusses this very issue, and made some good suggestions on how customers can protect their privacy online and on social media.

In summary, we are living in an age where people are making decisions based on information that is presented online.  If you are posting information that is not professional or damages your reputation – you have to be aware of the consequences. Be proactive in being your own PR person in managing your reputation and being aware that what is online can be viewed by the public.  There really are no private settings on the Internet.

Hope you all are having a good day!

Best Wishes,

Karen