Twitter seems to be growing extremely fast– and it seems that everyone is on! From USC Football Head Coach Pete Carroll to Anna Wintour of Vogue to my parents! Dad has used his Twitter account to share with many of his followers his fabulous recipes and Mom uses Twitter to discuss current biopsychology trends with her collegues and students.
I joined a couple of months ago and I use Twitter for various activities. Twitter is another great social networking web site that gives people many opportunities to network and communicate strategic messages with their followers (aka target audiences). Followers can range from professionals working in the Public Relations field to fellow Ph.D. students to scholars in the PR.
So, how does reputation management and public relations fit into Twitter? Well, there are many ways that businesses, public relations professionals, and even students can use new social media technologies into their daily lives. You are able to share stories that interest you, update your status on what you are doing, what issues you are interested in, and what events you are planning on going to. Here are some of the ways that you as a PR Student, professor, and PR professional can manage your online reputation by using Twitter:
- Designing a personalized template for your Twitter page: The point about having a good online reputation is to make sure that you have balance. You want to present yourselves in a professional, up beat, and engaging manner with your followers and other publics. Having a personalized template on Twitter is a way to show people who you are as a student, professor, or PR professional. Personalized templates can range from including pictures of family to having your university logo. But the key is to make sure that it is unique and that it represents your personal brand. 🙂
- Sharing intriguing and relevant PR stories and issues with your followers: Twitter allows its users to share links and stories with their followers. In a business that thrives on knowing what is going on in the business sphere and up and coming trends– it is important to share this information with everyone in a timely manner.
- Connecting with other PR students: Twitter is a way to connect with fellow PR students by networking and sharing information about events, issues, and current trends in the industry. Like Facebook and PR OpenMic, Twitter is a great source to network with fellow PR students and future leaders in the PR profession. It is also a way to bounce ideas with fellow students about research ideas and campaign proposals. 🙂
- Communicating and engaging students outside the classroom: Twitter is a tool that professors can use in and outside the classroom. From sharing links of stories to posting information about their classes to their students. The main point is that Twitter brings learning not only in the classroom, but outside the classroom as well. A professor that does this very well is Robert French at Auburn University. Check out his blog and how he is incorporating Twitter activities with his students in their PR class. Wow, this is a great learning activitiy and it also allows students to interact with social media in and out of the classroom– very cutting edge! 🙂 Keep up the great work!
Hope that this helps! 🙂 To sum it all up– we as PR professionals are in a profession that thrives on incorporating strategic communication messages in innovative ways to target our publics. Plus, it is a great way to network and learn a new form of technology! Have a great day! 🙂
Best Wishes,
Karen
0 Comments