All Posts By

Marijean

Jun 07
Love0

On Mistakes, and the Benefit of Learning from Them

By Public Relations

Mistakes.

If you can’t admit you’ve made them, you don’t belong here. I’ve made a lot of them; some of them real doozies.  I’ve come  to appreciate the benefit of mistakes; that for every one I’ve made, even the ones that harbor deep regret, I’ve learned, and become better for the experience.

A while ago I watched this video and became captivated by Kathryn Schultz’s topic: read Why Being Wrong is Good for You. I think this is the kind of lesson we all need now and again; and even if we already know it, is worth the regular reminder.

Communications — the industry in which I work — would not exist if it weren’t for mistakes — misunderstandings, missteps (intentional or not) by corporations necessitating public relations strategy, major snafus discovered and shared by media and social media that can make or break a brand’s reputation. I should be grateful for mistakes! Much of what I do centers on keeping clients from making them, or helping clean them up when they occur.

James Dyson, famed innovator and vacuum cleaner mogul shares his story of the 5,000 mistakes he made before creating the Dyson vacuum that took his name to the top of the industry.

If you’re brave enough, tell me in the comments about a mistake you’ve made, and learned from.

While you eat your lunch today, (come on, I know you’ll be at your desk munching on a sandwich), watch the following 10 minute video. Diana Laufenberg teaches us how we learn from mistakes, and why it’s important.

Jun 06
Love0

Scales, at Last, Tip Colleges and Universities into Social Media

By Social Media

This week, our youngest child graduates from eighth grade, goes on to high school and has nothing to do with us again till she’s thirty. As a graduation gift, she asked for a guide to colleges and universities so she can begin planning her future. You know; the future that’s still four years away. She’s a planner, that one. Since we have done this dance before with an older child, and due to the work I’ve done with universities providing public relations, marketing and social media support, I’ve kept close tabs on what online tools and communities are available for those beginning the search and navigating college admissions.

A tool I like a lot and our daughter spent hours playing with yesterday, is the college search query from College Board. Quiz-style, the user selects parameters important to them, e.g. public, private or no preference; distance from home; academic programs and more. The more strict you are with parameters, the narrower the results (our daughter had to loosen up her demands to get a few more search results).

We’re obviously a few years away from it, but I’ve been delighted to watch schools progress in their use of social media for admissions information. I did a very thorough review of college admissions blogs for a client at one time; the practice of engaging online has been widely adopted since then, to the benefit of students, parents and the universities themselves. Check out the Top 50 College Administration and Admission Blogs to get a sample of what’s being done.

My only hope is that, as our daughter begins to really focus on a smaller handful of schools, those she’s most interested in will have easily accessible information, clean websites and strong managers of social communities, available to engage with us and provide the answers we seek. I’m certain if that’s not the case, my frustration will influence her choice of colleges.

Cav Dog at UVa Photo Credit: Jeannine Lalonde

No post on this topic would be complete without a mention of Notes from Peabody: The UVa Admission Blog created, maintained and updated with humor, style and consistently helpful information by my friend Dean J and her trusty sidekick Cav Dog. Notes from Peabody has existed since 2005 — long before most universities recognized that blogging was a valid way to communicate with prospective students. I applaud Dean J. for getting out there ahead of the pack and for keeping up with an excellent blog for longer than it takes a student to earn a degree.

 

Jun 02
Love0

Where Social Engagement Meets Medical Needs: 7 Ways Health Systems Can Help

By Social Media

The last two weeks of my life were shanghaiied by a medical issue that resulted in two unsuccessful procedures followed by full-on surgery. I’m recovering. A week post-op I am back to work a few hours a day — a full day if I’m feeling up to it — but definitely sidelined for awhile. I considered it a big accomplishment when I moved from the bed to the couch as my station for the day.

I’ve been grateful for my social network keeping me linked to the outside world and have been able to keep up reading, if not my writing. (There’s something about painkillers that makes it tough to string two coherent thoughts together into sentences and I have found myself stopping in the middle of a thought and completely losing the train . . . )

I found, as I was struggling with symptoms and the very quick looming prospect of surgery that I relied on a variety of online resources. Tools and platforms offered by hospitals, a strong social network, message boards created by those who had undergone the same surgery and even an online tool developed to allow friends to coordinate meals for my family for the next few weeks were all extremely valuable.

It was work to find these resources though — work I didn’t always have the patience for in my uncomfortable state. It got me to thinking about social strategy for health care, something I’ve done often and at a higher level, advising corporate leadership that yes, social media is important. (It’s amazing to me, but maybe not to you, that health care has had a hard time adopting social media while the patients of health care have gone ahead and created platforms to use on their own. It just goes to show you; when patients have needs, they’re going to get those needs met, whether they’re endorsed by health care professionals or not.)

A few thoughts on how hospitals and health systems can best help patients (like me! and you!) online:

  1. Make your site as easy to navigate as possible. And please don’t use Flash — those of us stuck in bed with an iPad will thank you.
  2. Make sure your search function works. This may mean getting rid of a lot of older PDF documents on your site that may not be searchable content.
  3. Include links to resources. I’m not sure you need to create all of the extra, beneficial platforms I found so useful, but linking to them in an easy to find place to benefit patients and their families would be oh, so kind and generous. These include . . .
  4. Links to or internally created blogs, message boards, Twitter chats and other two-way communication options for people with same symptoms or diagnoses to connect with one another for support.
  5. Provide a resource like http://www.takethemameal.com or just link to Take Them a Meal so patients have it as a resource. It’s become a common trend to coordinate meals for moms with new babies, but there are a host of other procedures that leave parents off their feet and struggling to maintain regular meals for their families.
  6. Make it easy for patients to activate their support networks with suggestions — maybe a checklist to help them quickly figure out the kind of help they might need, especially if they’re suddenly and unexpectedly taken out of commission (as I was).
  7. For people without a support network, (poor you!) links to resources for volunteer organizations that offer support and resources for the patient’s particular needs.

Since we’ve all been patients at one time or another, what have you looked for and found, or not found online from your health care provider? Is there anything you found elsewhere that you wished you could have found within your health system?

May 31
Love0

Five Lessons on How Not to Use Twitter

By Social Media

Editor’s Note: I’m recuperating from a bit of urgent surgery I had on Wednesday, May 25, 2011. While I’m resting, I’m going to republish some “greatest hits” from this blog’s archives. This post was originally published March 31, 2011.

I was absolutely stunned when, during a workshop I was teaching, I learned that a business owner had instructed staff managing the company’s Twitter account, to block anyone who wanted to follow the business on Twitter if they seemed irrelevant.

Huh?

I know that the business community is still trying to wrap its mind around Twitter and how it can be used in a business context. Above all, what I want to share is this: Twitter is a microblog — updates are like tiny blog posts of 140 characters or less. If that helps make sense of Twitter to your and your business then good; you understand that a blog is published for anyone to see and find via search engines and the idea of publishing in this way (0r on any social network) is to attract people who find you and your content of value.

As a short and sweet guide to what NOT to do on Twitter, I offer you the following five thoughts:

  1. Don’t block people following you unless they are obnoxious spammers (in which case, block away)
  2. Don’t sell, sell, sell, instead, take the time to engage in conversation with those who follow you and those you follow
  3. Don’t regurgitate endlessly; there’s a trend among some Twitter users to tweet quotes from others — ad nauseum! I don’t care if Oprah, the Dalai Lama or Jesus said it; I don’t want to read a stream of tweets that’s mostly “quotables.” That’s just boring.
  4. Don’t — for the love of all that is good and holy — use AutoDM’s, as my aunt would say, like they’re going out of style. There’s a time and place for auto response and this isn’t it.
  5. While it’s important to stay on message — and I fully support that if you’re tweeting on behalf of a business you need to make sure what you are publishing there is relevant — but for goodness’ sakes, pay attention to what’s being said in the stream of those you’re following and join the conversation. Don’t just push out your content — engage.

In case all of this still leaves you scratching your head in wonder, one last reminder: you’re there to discover and build relationships, not merely crank out content. Honor that.

 

May 26
Love0

Social Media Assignment #2: Show us Your Face

By Social Media

Editor’s Note: I’m recuperating from a bit of urgent surgery I had on Wednesday, May 25, 2011. While I’m resting, I’m going to republish some “greatest hits” from this blog’s archives. I hope to return fully rejuvenated next week.


I’ve been pretty adamant on this point because I believe in it so firmly.

It’s really important to show your face in social media. I see a lot of companies using a logo rather than an image of the actual person behind the tweets — I get that in some cases, there are multiple Twitter contributors to a single account. But often that’s not the case. So for single-user Twitter accounts, it is imperative to provide an image that reflects you; who you are right now (not as a four-year-old, as I am depicted to the left).

Here’s why this is important: when you’re meeting with someone for the first time, you are providing them a sense of comfort by allowing them to recognize you at first sight.

It’s not about you; it’s about what you’re doing for others.

If you’re squeamish about your own image, (trust me, I get it; I’m constantly fussing over bad hair or bags under my eyes) think about this: Roger Ebert lost his chin, jaw and, in fact the lower portion of his face due to cancer. He’s never shied away from showing us his face. If he can do it, well, come on!

Now it’s OK to be silly (see left) or seasonal (also left, at Easter) as long as it looks like you. My point here, is you do not need to hire a photographer to capture an image of you to use on social platforms.

However!

If you want to appear professional, if you want to look good, you should absolutely leave it to the experts and hire someone to give you a headshot you’re happy to share. Digital images can be captured in the dozens, giving you the chance to select from several “takes” — choose one you are satisfied with so that you will really use it everywhere you can.

Today’s Social Media Assignment:

Find or make an appointment to get that image of your face you’re happy to show the world. Wear something that doesn’t distract from what you look like; unless you wear a hat all the time (I’m looking at you, John Feminella), don’t wear a hat in the photo. The idea is to make yourself as recognizable as possible; it’s one of the best ways to really be human in your virtual social network.

Special thanks to Angie Brement Photography for professional headshots I’m happy to use!