Dec 20
Love0

Collaboration, Not Competition

By Public Relations

My friend Rusty Speidel wrote a post on my friend Gini Dietrich’s blog and used a  made up word: “coopetition.” Words like that make me itchy, but I’m letting that go for now to focus on the idea behind the word. Rusty’s post was in reaction to one by Gini that said, in part:

“Don’t be afraid to let the competition know what you’re doing. You’ll be looking forward and they’ll be scrambling to keep up. Blaze the trail.”

I began my career with a series of agencies in St. Louis, Missouri — all highly competitive and not terribly cooperative (with other agencies). It was the culture of PR in St. Louis (and likely, still is). When I moved to Charlottesville, I was introduced to a much more collaborative culture, at the convergence of social media culture influencing business practices. Since social media is so important to what I do, it makes sense that my business philosophy would be heavily influenced by it, but it also makes sense that I’m influenced by the culture of the place where I do business.

Each year, at a holiday party hosted by my friend Suzanne, we go around the room and say how we know her. I often say, “I am friends with Suzanne because she called.” On the surface, people would view Suzanne and I as “competitors.” We both have virtual PR firms located in the same city. We network in the same groups and connect in a variety of ways. We offer our clients many of the same services. When it’s a better fit for her business, I don’t hesitate to refer a client to Four Leaf PR, Suzanne’s firm. (Look at that — I just linked to a competing PR firm! Who does that?)

That way of working was a new concept to me in 2005. Now it’s like breathing.  Suzanne, besides being a mentor, a total rock star professional and a personal friend, has also had tremendous influence on my business philosophy.

I like this method of working in collaboration with others, of acknowledging differences in styles but not discrediting others’ work. It enables us to share ideas freely, establish trust and even rely on one another for backup when needed. (Who doesn’t need a little backup now and then?) We know each one of our firms isn’t the right fit for each and every client and interestingly, we have different interests in industries and rarely bump into one another as it is. Small town? Maybe. But somehow we’re able to all get along. Is that coopetition? Maybe, but I prefer to call it just being smart.

Dec 19
Love0

10 Ways to Use Social Media to Find a New or Better Job

By Social Media
  1. If you’re not already on LinkedIn, you definitely need to be. Linkedin is a business social network that allows you to connect to people you know. Fully take advantage of the free profile by entering all your professional information and enhance that with your interests and experience..
  2. Conduct a search for companies in LinkedIn you think you might like to work for by using the advanced search parameters, then look for contacts you have within that company.
  3. Review jobs posted on LinkedIn regularly.
  4. Send a message to your inner circle asking for help in finding a new or better job; ask for recommendations and introductions to valuable contacts.
  5. Buy your domain! You should own www.yourname.com
  6. Once you own your domain use it to host your resume and/or to begin blogging about your professional interests.
  7. Create a Google profile to help manage what people find when they search for you using Google.
  8. Use Twitter and LinkedIn to post status updates relevant to your industry.
  9. Make sure your professional headline in LinkedIn isn’t merely your title and that your Twitter bio reflects your industry smarts and career aspirations.
  10. Look for opportunities to network in real life while you’re networking online. Cement key relationships by meeting in person.
Dec 16
Love0

333 Reasons to Use Video to Market Your Small Business

By Communications, Media, Social Media

My friends at Nest Realty launched a video campaign “Live where you love; love where you live.” I was delighted to be included, along with other small business owners in Charlottesville, Va. including Liza Borches from Volvo of Charlottesville, Will Richey of Revolutionary Soup. The approach of featuring real people in a community to share the genuine stories of our love for where we live is pretty compelling. Take a look and tell me what you think — (by the way, 333 people have watched this video at this writing — all probably convinced to drop everything and move to Charlottesville, Va.

 

Dec 13
Love0

The Culture of Social Media without the Platforms; Mind = Blown

By Communications, Public Relations, Social Media

It’s a very busy time for my business and yesterday included a marathon of meetings right in a row (six!). Right in the middle, we met with a prospective client.

Now, Jaggers Communications offers the full suite of communications services from public relations to brand positioning to social media strategy, but often client conversations begin with learning about social media (it is a specialty of our firm). One of the people we met with shared his complete lack of use and knowledge of social media. He’s not engaged in any way online and hasn’t had an interest in doing so personally, even though he understands it’s important for his business to begin to seriously look at digital communications and how they should be used.

Then, he went on about his business philosophy, about how he prefers to serve clients, to interact with partners, to collaborate and nurture a culture of transparency within his organization.

And then my brain exploded.

Everything he said is exactly the culture that social media has established and worked to grow. It’s precisely where bloggers hoped business would evolve when it became impossible to hide behind a curtain of complacency. But it wasn’t the culture online that drove this man’s business values; it’s how his company has done business since the 1970s, long before blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

It was so refreshing, and so very exciting for me to meet with someone who “got it” before the technical aspects were even brought into the discussion. In fact, the words we use to talk about the tactics of social media are almost irrelevant. They’re tools to get us to the goals we make. The framework and quality are there; the genuine stories and rich culture exist; we have the honor of helping the business share them online.

Sometimes my work makes me giddy.