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.

May 23
Love0

The Power of Going Unplugged

By Social Media

I’m taking a little time off, and for me, it’s important that that time include disconnecting from social networks and the internet, in general. Because my work is so intimately tied to platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, I’ve got to refuse to log in, otherwise risking getting sucked in to engagement that will take away time and focus on the task at hand. A client who is a small business owner like me advocated going without checking e-mail while I’m gone and, indeed, I’m going to attempt this. “You’ll hate yourself for it if you do,” check e-mail while away, she said.

What’s the task at hand? Total relaxation. An opportunity to rest and refresh. Time to celebrate friends and explore new places.

I’m lucky that I have a great team, people I totally trust to mind the store while I’m away. That, and trusted friends and family give me the peace of mind I need to shut off, shut down and just chill (hopefully there’s a beach in my imminent future). I am a big proponent of taking time away from work — I don’t admire the workaholic or the business owner who has “never” taken a vacation. Where’s the fun in that? I strongly encourage the people I work with to take time away, to value it and reap the benefits of it. YOU should do it, too!

I’ll be back with great stories of adventure and (hopefully) uneventful travel.

May 21
Love0

In Which I Cave to Oxford Comma Pressure

By Communications, Media

I was never an Oxford comma person. It always seemed superfluous to me, and my history as a public relations professional, which required writing according to A.P. Style, ensured that I was Oxford-comma free.

And then there was this:

. . . and a family dinner in which my adult son and his fiancé, my husband, and my 15-year-old daughter all ganged up on me and made the case for the Oxford comma. They were convincing.

In addition, this year, I started working with Rusty. He’s an Oxford comma guy. And unless I want to spend all my time editing out commas, I think I just need to move on and accept it.

Where do you stand in the Oxford comma argument?

 

May 17
Love0

Why Your Business Needs a Facebook Page (Even When You’re Sure it Doesn’t)

By Social Media

When businesses began to ponder whether they needed a website, the same conversations occurred:

  • What for?
  • Who is going to look at it?
  • We’re not a consumer business; Facebook doesn’t apply to us.

The same answers apply now as did then; when people go looking for your business online, you need to manage what it is they find. If people (and, as we know, they ARE) are spending time on Facebook, then you should be there. If your business has a page, you should spend the time needed to make sure it works well, looks OK (is your logo there? Is there a good cover image?) and has captured the page’s custom URL.

Get it done — it can be really messy if someone who is unauthorized does it for you.

May 11
Love1

Failure to Communicate Really Stinks

By Communications

At the end of the day last Wednesday, it was clear that our usual trash pick up wasn’t happening. An email from the homeowners association confirmed that a) our trash pickup day had changed to Friday and b) this would also be the quarterly “large trash pick up day.”

The HOA leadership had failed to get the newsletter with this information mailed before the change. The email user group delivered the information on Wednesday, while all of us dutifully had our trash at the curb. It was 89 degrees.

The HOA implored us to “tell our neighbors” since only about 50 percent of the community subscribes to the user group. A week later, it’s clear that neighbors don’t really talk to neighbors since about half of the trash cans were dragged to the curb two days early. Again.

A better approach would have been to:

  1. Send a postcard to each residence announcing the change at least two weeks in advance.
  2. Include the information in the newsletter and GET IT OUT ON TIME.
  3. Use the email user group to inform the residents of the change in advance, multiple times.
  4. Use the Facebook page (which exists and is under used) to communicate and capture those not paying attention to other channels.
  5. Post signage in the neighborhood.

All in all, this seemed to me like a terrific failure to communicate, and a stinky one at that. Now, to be fair, I’m not volunteering to help my HOA with communications, so it’s not fair for me to criticize too much, but if they decide to take my advice, I’d be really grateful.

 

May 09
Love0

Tom Tom Founders Festival Social Media Panel Tonight!

By Social Media

Tonight I’ll be taking part in a panel discussion: it’s part of the Tom Tom Founders’ Festival . Tonight’s event is focused on “Place Based Innovation” and the panelists will be talking about social media. I’ll be joined by:

The event begins at 6:59pm and is at The Gleason building in downtown Charlottesville. I hope you can join the discussion or engage on Twitter with the hashtag #TTFF. Charlottesville Tomorrow will be on hand to create a podcast of the event.