All Posts By

Marijean

Marijean Oldham (Jaggers), a social media specialist and public relations professional, is president and CEO of Jaggers Communications LLC, a strategic communications firm based in Charlottesville, Va.

Dec 18
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Beware the Overshare this Holiday Season

By Social Media

From time to time, I join my friend Coy Barefoot in the studio at Newsradio WINA to discuss the social media/media news of the day. In our last broadcast together, we talked a little bit about the holidays; how they’re often difficult for people dealing with grief. In this era of frequent self-publishing and access to larger and larger audiences, there’s a growing tendency to overshare on social networks. We’ve all seen it, and many of us have done it — posting overly personal thoughts without regard to the audience and the impact our words may have on others.

Listen to the broadcast here. 

Just a note of caution and a reminder that it’s possible to create a list for yourself, or establish a group of trusted friends so if you absolutely MUST post on Facebook how terrible your Christmas/New Year’s/Hannukah is, that your closest friends, the ones who can be relied upon to respond and to reach out with a virtual pat on the back, will only see.

In case you need a little help with this task, I’ve prepared a visual:

Toodle on over to the left hand side of your Facebook account when you sign in and select Create a Group. Choose the privacy level appropriate, then spend the next several hours pondering your very best friends. Feel free to edit the group once in awhile. I have several groups to suit several needs — and I’m always conscious of what I’m sharing with whom.

Do I mess up? Sure I do — I’m only human. But managing our messages to others is something we can all try to do better.

Dec 17
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Four Rules for Communicating in a Crisis: Handling the Aftermath of the Newtown, CT Shooting

By Communications, Crisis Communications

Schools and news organizations are struggling to manage communications following the tragic school shooting late last week in Newtown, Conn. We’re inundated with content about the shooter, the victims, and the ensuing battle over second amendment rights.  Friends finding the news difficult to handle are staying away from news sites, keeping the TV off and, let’s all hope, steering clear of Facebook.

If you’re in a role, however, that necessitates addressing this kind of tragedy (certainly school administrators, educators, leaders and managers of public, and presumably safe places and media) keep in mind these four guidelines for communicating in a crisis.

  1. First and foremost, express empathy for those affected.
  2. Recognize victims and those who came to their aid. At a moving vigil, our president read the names of the children killed at the elementary school.
  3. Affirm for the audience that steps will be taken to prevent this kind of incident in the future. Explain how that will happen or be addressed. Reassure the audience that safety comes first, and that the commitment to that effort is ongoing and strong.
  4. Make sure that resources are available, and how to obtain them is widely published.

These are four items anyone needing to communicate in a crisis must follow. Furthermore, it’s important to note that HIDING FROM YOUR CONSTITUENCY in the time of a crisis is perhaps the worst step to take. The NRA has taken down their Facebook page, rather than defending its position. 

Be available. Answer questions. Provide value.

Especially in a time of crisis.

Dec 13
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Pie Down Today: Marijean Jaggers vs. Baron Schwartz

By Communications

The other day, I was minding my own business, getting a cup of coffee on the downtown mall at Mudhouse. I ran into some friends, who introduced me to a fellow I later learned is the world’s expert in MySQL. Rather quickly thereafter, we followed one another on Twitter, and connected on LinkedIn.

(I have since decided that all new friends of mine will be pre-qualified by their Wikipedia entry).

By the afternoon of that very same day, my new friend had challenged me to a pie down. Which is today. (The first Pie Down was in 2009, when I challenged The Food Geek in the first-ever such event. The love of pie and the community that came together over a passion for flaky crusts and spectacular fillings led to the annual Charlottesville Pie Fest).

We’re looking for people to judge pie and enjoy free coffee today at 1:30PM sharp. For more information, to RSVP and gain location information, clickety.

Nov 29
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Lost in Translation: How Social Media Tenets Got Dropped Between Personal and Professional Use

By Social Media

I’ve been talking and writing a lot lately (here, and here, and here) about ways that businesses have dropped the ball using social media. Two major venues in my community have missed significant opportunities to manage their reputations, particularly on Facebook, in the last week. Both rely on fourth quarter revenues to, in some cases, make their year. One is a shopping mall, the other, a movie theater; both totally consumer-facing and consumer-dependent businesses.

There are three main attributes of social media that seem have to been misunderstood or left out completely when the use of social media transferred from personal to professional use.

 

  1. Social media’s strength is built on personal relationships; a business must also have a personal face and identified human beings behind the brand with which we (consumers) build relationships. No one builds a relationship with a logo.
  2. Transparency, availability and responsiveness are what have made individuals superstars in the social space. Those affiliated with a brand or organization have done that brand a great service by acting on their behalf in a public way. Even when the chips are down, and the face of the company is the one to take ownership of an issue, a name and a face acting on behalf of a company is much more respected and welcome than the nameless, faceless corporate messaging.
  3. The difference between social and mass media is that social media represents TWO-WAY CONVERSATION. In the age of mass media, such a thing didn’t exist. To treat social media as if it were mass media, by only broadcasting deals, offers, promotions and other self-serving content, is a sadly misinformed approach. Asking customers what they want, welcoming feedback and interacting with the public in the social space is the RIGHT WAY to manage your professional social presence. Always.

I think the reason why businesses have handled the transition to social integration so poorly is a lack of education and understanding of the tools and how they should be used. In some cases it’s arrogance, in others it’s the blind leading the blind.

I see a couple of scenarios; in one, businesses put a person in charge of social media who only knows how to use it personally. This is common when social strategy is left to the youngest person in the marketing department, or the digital native who has been using social media personally since she was a kid. Those skills do not automatically translate; just because a person knows how to write doesn’t mean they know how to write a communications plan. In the second scenario, businesses are doing what they see others doing, copying it or modeling the same online behavior, WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING IF ITS THE RIGHT APPROACH OR STRATEGY.

Of course both of these situations make me crazy. I hate to see any business, particularly small business, spending time or money without strategy, or not taking advantage of tools at their disposal, or seeking knowledge before diving in to marketing techniques they barely comprehend.

The public, particularly the users of social media, understand the difference and are quick to point out when companies are not following the rules of social media. They demand the kind of interaction they get personally from friends, even from a corporate level. It’s all personal to the consumer, and because of that, and the nature of the social space, all social strategy demands a personal approach.

Nov 28
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How to Create a Good LinkedIn Summary; Four Great Examples

By Communications, Social Media

I get that it’s hard to write a good LinkedIn Summary, but I also know what a difference it makes when someone has a good one. It’s easy to understand where they’re coming from, and the direction they believe their career to be headed. It’s nice to see what someone is about, what they want from connecting with others in business and what drives their ambition as a professional.

I combed my contacts for a few more good examples to share, since this post of other good LinkedIn summaries has gotten so much attention. I like the diversity among the candidates I’ve chosen below, representing engineering, software development, publishing and science-based business.

 

Brian Geiger uses a short and simple solution to the summary:

Project manager, systems designer, and developer on a variety of technical and creative projects and fields including video games, newspapers, and robotics. Interested primarily in making people the best at what they can be, from art and programming to learning to cook. Always looking for interesting problems to solve.

          Specialties

Finding clever solutions to complex problems in a variety of different realms. Using automation to reduce drudgery in employees work and enable them to do the things they do best. Completing projects.

 

Michael Prichard takes the third-person approach to the LinkedIn Summary, one which allows for cross-posting on several platforms:

Michael founded WillowTree Apps, Inc., a boutique apps and mobile web development company, in June 2007. WillowTree Apps is based in Charlottesville, VA and currently has an in-house team of 28+ including designers and developers. They have released over 100 apps and currently work with a wide variety of companies including Game Show Network, Johnson & Johnson, and the University of Virginia. WillowTree works with Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile 7 as well as Mobile Web technologies.

Prior to WillowTree Apps, Michael founded, grew and sold an email archiving software business and worked as a development consultant for many large companies including IBM, State Street, and Adobe. He has the unique ability to understand business needs, communicate effectively with executive management and then guide a group of technical staff to deliver an enterprise solution.

Jennifer Bryerton takes the first-person approach, and summarizes her career and aspirations:

For more than 10 years, I have been a publishing partner in Ivy Publications, best known for our Charlottesville Family Living magazine and website (formerly Albemarle Family). As a small start-up company, everything from editorial to putting magazines out on stands could be part of my day. Now, with a fabulously talented team of employees, my partner Robin Bethke and I are able to specialize more. As art director, Robin keeps our award-winning design strong while I supervise content including the work of our editorial team as well as advertising sales. I am a firm believer, especially with a strong niche like ours, that ads are content and we work for the best fit for readers and businesses alike. The quarterly Charlottesville Welcome Book has led us further into the tourism market with another hot and targeted niche magazine. Locally Charlottesville, a series of directories for Family, Home and Women, focuses on promoting the local businesses that make our area so unique. And our newest publication, the Charlottesville Welcome Book Wedding Directory, is a multi-media planning tool for destination weddings in Charlottesville. My background in education administration, as a teacher and as the owner of a consulting business, helps to give us an edge when we launch new projects, driving the company forward with research and enthusiasm. Robin and I are famous for having new ideas percolating and we look forward to implementing new design, editorial and even new publications and events in the years to come.

 

Crystal Icenhour takes an approach that blends the purpose of her company and statements about her professional goals:

Phthisis Diagnostics recently launched a novel nucleic acid extraction kit that is fast, easy, and simple. The E-Sphere Simple NA Kit takes the complexity out of extractions. http://phthisisdiagnostics.com

My professional goal is to develop business and scientific skills, bridging the translational gap between these two worlds. In Phthisis Diagnostics, my goal is to make modern, easy, and cost-effective diagnostic tests for a variety of infectious diseases. Long-term, these diagnostic tests will be modified for use in developing countries, resulting in a profound impact on global health.

Each of these provides a good example for you to follow when crafting your own LinkedIn professional summary.