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.

Aug 23
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How Cost Plus World Market is Using Pinterest

By Marketing, Social Media

I’m not a person who enters contests. That’s why, when I found myself spending an extraordinary amount of time entering a contest put on by World Market — with the chance to win just a $100 gift card, I took notice.

What compelled me to go through the steps necessary to participate? Especially because it was time consuming AND the payout is relatively small? One answer: Pinterest.

Part of it is professional curiosity to see how a consumer business is using Pinterest to host a promotional contest. Other than that, I like World Market — I shop there occasionally and am doing a little home and office redecorating — an extra $100 would go a long way! Not to mention, Pinterest is fun; it’s clear I’m not alone in this opinion as it’s the fastest growing social network to date. We can focus on the gender divide that says Pinterest draws many more women than men, and what that means for your marketing strategy, but if you KNOW your customer is female, why bother?

Are you using Pinterest for your business? Why or why not? Would you consider using the tool as a way to generate attention for your products and promote your brand?

Aug 20
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Visualizing Your Professional Social Network

By Social Media

My friend Rachel Brozenske of Allison Partners turned me on to a fun little tool: LinkedIn Maps — a visual way to look at your business network and examine areas for saturation, room for growth and the overlap or gaps among you and your business development team.

Here’s my map — clickety to see the BIG version:

That great big blue cloud represents contacts I have in Charlottesville, Va. — the place where I’ve been doing business since January, 2006. The big orange cloud on the right are my contacts and clients from the time I spent with Standing Partnership in St. Louis, Mo. Other clusters represent client contacts or contacts from employers past.

Get your own map, and learn a little something about the connections you’ve made.

Aug 17
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What Stonewall Jackson Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America Should Do Now

By Communications, Crisis Communications, Social Media

Yesterday, Rusty published a post about the Boy Scouts of America’s use of Facebook and a particular interaction that occurred on the Stonewall Jackson Area Council’s Facebook page.  The post, and the organization’s use of Facebook (as represented by the council) was a topic of discussion on Charlottesville — Right Now! with Coy Barefoot later that evening. You can listen to the audio of that broadcast here.

I don’t want to belabor the discussion about the inappropriate use of Facebook — i.e. deleting comments an organization disagrees with — rather focus on what we recommend the Council and, indeed, any organization finding themselves in a hotbed online do in this kind of situation.

  1. Establish a comment policy for the organization. State your intentions to delete comments that are defamatory, obscene or irrelevant (SPAM, for example). Post the policy anywhere online discussion could take place (a blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
  2. Train a spokesperson or team of spokespeople to handle criticism — or, indeed, any interaction online. They should understand the language used to describe the organization and it’s position/philosophies, or whom to contact internally to answer questions they cannot.
  3. Prepare for the worst: especially if you represent an organization that has any controversy associated with it (I’m not sure ANY organization is entirely immune to this.) Have the tough conversations about what your process will be in responding to critics, handling and correcting misinformation and dealing with issues online — and off!
  4. Don’t automate. Progressive Insurance is taking a lot of flack this week for being “robotic” and inhuman in the face of a crisis.  The lesson here is to treat your community with compassion and authenticity.

The online world is a brutal place to step out of line — thinking — as the Stonewall Jackson Area Council did — that Facebook isn’t the appropriate venue for discussion doesn’t mean the discussion won’t continue on that platform. Organizations cannot control the message; they can, however, control how they react to it.

Aug 13
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The 10 Critical Actions to Take Online When Searching for a Job

By Social Media
I always know at least three people looking for a new or different job. Sometimes it’s a shock to the person looking. They can barely get their bearings, never having expected to be in the position of “job seeker.” I’m keeping this list simple and manageable so anyone can dive in and take immediate advantage of the advice that follows:

10 Critical Actions to Take When Searching for a Job

  1. Google yourself. In fact, set up a Google alert so you know if anything new bearing your name is published. Can you find yourself? Do you like what you’re seeing?  Is it what you want a potential employer to find?
  2. Buy the URL of your name. I own www.marijeanjaggers.com — if your name isn’t half as unusual as mine, you may need to use your middle name as well.
  3. Put your resume on your website. What website? See number 2. (Domain name and registration will run you about $120 total for a year. Spend the money.)
  4. Blog a little. It’s important to position yourself for the role you want to assume. Write about your interests, your experience and what you enjoy about your chosen field. Feel free to be personal and write about your collection of spoons or your passion for skeet shooting. It lets the universe know a little something about you.
  5. Clean up your Facebook profile. If you’ve been a cussing, beer drinking maniac in your social network, knock it off and make sure you manage the privacy settings so no one can see your misspent youth.
  6. Get your LinkedIn profile ship shape. Here’s advice on how to do that.
  7. Start connecting online to everyone you know; DON’T publish that you’re looking for work in a public place; DO engage with others and individually share your interest in pursuing new opportunities.
  8. Create a Twitter account (please create a profile with a photo of you) and use it to begin following the businesses you’re interested in working for and others in your community that may be instrumental in helping you in your search.
  9. If the place you want to work has a Facebook page — LIKE it.
  10. If the companies you’re interested in have blogs, start reading them and leaving comments. Use your online footprint to demonstrate who you are and let your future employers get to know you a bit online.
Aug 09
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Social Media Success Story: Finding a Job through your Network

By Public Relations, Social Media

Our friend Kim Connolly, @cvillekim on Twitter, vice president of Marketing & Communications with United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area, wrote me an email with the subject line: My Social Media Success Story.

 

This is actually YOUR success story, too. I went to your get-together at Commonwealth Skybar in lieu of the first cancelled Meet the Media Tweetup event. While there, I struck up a conversation with a young man, John Kowalski @theoriginaljage and learned that he had just graduated from VCU with a degree in media and communications and was looking for his first real-world job to get him started on his career. There was something about him I really liked, and I wished that I had an opening for him here. I did tell him he should widen his search to include nonprofits because of the opportunity to be flexible and creative and not relegated to some cubby in a bigger organization.

I invited him to come by the United Way the next week and we talked some more. I sent him some nonprofit marketing job listings and then saw an opening at the United Way in Fredericksburg for a Communications Coordinator that listed all his skill sets. I also saw from their staff list that this position was the only purely marketing position there. I sent him the job posting and told him it would be the perfect starter position. He did apply and I called their president to encourage an interview. Coincidentally, she had his resume open on her desk when I called, and told me he was in her “maybe” pile, but based on my referral, she would include him in her first round of phone interviews. Long story, short – he got the job!

All because of Twitter, and because of your Tweetup, which started the ball rolling.

 

We LOVE success stories like this — thank you Kim and best wishes in your new job, J.J. — we’ll be staying in touch with both of you!