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.

Jul 23
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Resetting the Boundaries Between Professional and Personal Lives

By Public Relations

I contributed Four Ways to Spark Blogging Inspiration on the Spin Sucks blog recently.  If you read it, then you know that one of my tips for refreshing your blog spirit is to talk to a kid.

I didn’t start out wanting to talk to the kid in question (my daughter, almost 15 — that’s her on the left in a typical pose) on this topic. Rather, I was talking to others about it on the phone and she overheard. I had a situation in which a business contact took a bit of liberty, crossing over into personal territory in what should have been a very business-focused relationship. It was nothing serious, but it gave me pause and was the reason for a few conversations that took place within earshot of my daughter.

She brought it up while we were in the car (and if you’re a parent of a teenager, you may have learned that those car trip conversations are sometimes the most meaningful you’re going to get). “Sounds like you need to reset your business boundaries,” she said with the wisdom of someone far older. She’s right, of course, and I’m making efforts to redefine those parameters and to be very clear about where they lie. Some people just need to be told these things flat out, apparently.

Since the overstepping incident, I’ve been very conscious of the separation between business and personal. It’s not always possible to keep them completely apart. I am good friends with some people with whom I also have a business relationship. I get uncomfortable, however, when a client prospect or new contact assumes a familiarity far too early in the relationship.

Has this ever happened to you? How have you handled it?

 

Jul 22
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WTF? Friday: Whining and Blogging Don’t Mix

By Social Media

Today’s post is brought to you by Ken Mueller, the owner of Inkling Media, a small Social Media and marketing company in Lancaster, PA. He’s quite possibly the coolest guy I know, and deserves a lot of pie.

I have a secret about MJ: she’s a whiner.

Just the other day she told me “if I ever say to you, ‘oh, I’ll just get up early and do it’, make sure I stay up late instead. I’m a pathetic morning person”

Well, as I write this, it’s Thursday night, and MJ just said to me, via g-chat, “You know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking I’ll get up early to write WTF Friday”

Now being the observant person I am, I realized this was a test. And thankfully I passed the test. Sorta. I responded, “I’m thinking that my very good and wonderful friend MJ should stay up and just do it tonight”. Her response?

She whined.

As in, “Wahhhhhhh”.

Yup.

And then suddenly, I went too far. I went from supportive Internet friend to enabler. I not only came up with an idea for her WTF Friday post (this one), but I offered to write it for her. Actually, I just started writing it while she was off getting pie. For her. Not me.

So here it is, a WTF Friday post about whiners who don’t want to blog, even though they know they should (that would be Marijean), and the importance of having others who hold you accountable (that would be me).

But seriously, having that community of people is important. Marijean and I both have others who push us and encourage us, and allow us to vent and complain, and in her case, whine. More often than not, she and I are the ones that hold each other accountable.

One of the keys to blogging is being consistent, especially when you have an anchor feature like WTF Friday that people expect to see.

Oh, and have I mentioned that Marijean and I have never met in person? In fact, we actually met online by accident. And yet we have been able to develop a friendship that allows us to push one another, and whole each other accountable with our work and blogging.

So what have we learned?

  1. MJ is a whiner
  2.  MJ gets pie. Ken works.
  3.  If you’re going to blog, you need to be consistent
  4.  It’s important to have others who can push you when you just don’t feel like blogging.

Blogging and Social Media are major commitments. You can’t just dabble. Make the commitment, and stick to it, and find others who can help you as you move forward.

Oh, and I wouldn’t mind a slice of Key Lime pie right about now…

 

Jul 21
Love0

Social Media Assignment # 11: Find Your Top 5 Ambassadors on Klout

By Social Media

Stop and think for a minute: do you know who your best customers are? Do you know who the ambassadors are — the people who are most likely spreading positive word of mouth about you, your products and services?

You’ve been using Twitter for business for some time, and have established a following. If you’ve been engaging with the community, you have, no doubt, attracted people who support you and share what you tweet. Klout is a site that measures Twitter influence, but it has additional business benefit. It helps you identify who on Twitter is most influenced by your Twitter feed and to learn their potential for carrying that influence forward.

Let’s take the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport Twitter feed as an example. @CHOAirport uses its feed to provide airport news updates, special deals and other information. The account is managed by the executive director of the airport, Barbara Hutchinson. In addition, posts to the airport’s Facebook page, managed by my firm and an airport employee, update the Twitter feed as well.

If we look at the top five people the @CHOAirport account influences, we see some strong relationships emerge.

I see myself at the top, and I should hope so, since the airport is a client! Second is Jeff Uphoff, an airport commission member, pilot and frequent flier. Jeff is someone who helps spread airport news regularly. The third is the local news weather team. The airport has a partnership with The Newsplex and hosts a weathercam that looks out over the runway.

Relay Foods shares CHO’s philosophy of  supporting local business. Allison Linney is a local business owner who flies frequently, always flies CHO, and enjoys spreading the word on behalf of other Charlottesville businesses.

At a glance, you can see the Klout scores of each of these ambassadors. When the airport shares valuable information via Twitter, these people often retweet that information to their followers. The sharing and number of people reached grows exponentially. It’s fast, effective and measurable.

Do you know who the ambassadors for your business are right now? Has it changed, or could it change? What are you doing to reward and reciprocate with those who participate in your community?

Jul 19
Love0

Crisis Planning: What Comes Before Blood on the Floor

By Crisis Communications

The Shark Attack photo by Kelsey Sparkle Rakes

My former colleagues at Standing Partnership have written some really good content on advising clients in a crisis. I particularly like Nick Sargent’s recent post providing tips for an effective crisis response video.

Another Standing alum, Mistie Thompson  has a saying about crisis work; it’s not a crisis unless there’s blood on the floor (or in the water, in the case of a shark attack).

Real PR professionals, the down in the ditches, get your hands dirty communicators love a good crisis; the messier the better. When Mistie talked about blood on the floor, it was simply that any other crisis was a cake walk; that the challenge of a situation where lives were at risk was the kind of communications challenge that really got our hearts pumping, our minds working overtime and our fingers flying across keyboards, crafting the right messages to alert, reassure and ultimately, restore order and reputations.

I freaking LOVE a good crisis.

That isn’t to say that I wish crisis situations on any client, ever . . . but when they do happen (and they will) the adrenaline rush coupled with my desire to think and move fast and accurately is the ultimate communications experience. It’s the PR person’s version of base jumping.

Crisis recovery doesn’t happen easily without prior planning; decisions can be made before any alarms sound. Messaging can be created well in advance of disaster. The communication contacts, stream and process can, and should be mapped in these, the quiet, uneventful days before the storm. Sure, it’s the less glamorous, decidedly less fun aspect of crisis communications, but seasoned professionals know that having these tools in place are what make the rush worthwhile. The planning process is the safety harness, the wire cage, the helmet and the flak jacket of public relations; critical for success, not to be neglected and the difference between business life and death when the blood hits the floor.