Category

Communications

Sep 11
Love0

Why “My Bad” Isn’t an Apology

By Communications

My favorite “my bad!” was from Cher Horowitz in the movie Clueless.

This post may not reach its intended audience. I doubt any of my regular readers commit this grievous error, but I have no doubt that they’re hearing it from others. Saying “my bad,” is not the same as saying “I’m sorry.” In fact, it’s more like saying “oops!” “My bad,” is completely insincere and flippant, but you know that, and never ever use it to actually apologize.

Here’s what I’d like us to do — let’s not continue to let “pardon me,” “excuse me,” “I’m sorry,” “I apologize,” devolve into “my bad,” permanently. Instead, the next time someone utters that phrase to you, just ask: “Is that an apology?”

Some language evolution can’t be stopped (see: YOLO, lolz, the verbal hashtag and more), but I think this one can. Don’t take for an apology what really isn’t.

Aug 29
Love0

Taking the Social Life Too Seriously

By Communications

I had a moment I’m not proud of last night. No, I’m not about to confess something awful, but I’m not happy about a reaction I had because of social media. I discovered, by accident, that a family member has unfriended me. And I cried a little. Not torrents, just a few tears, but it upset me. I mean, technically, I guess this person is a former family member, being the relative of my ex-husband. (I am recently divorced.) But I’m still in the stage of thinking of them as family and certainly, still, as a friend.

As soon as I had that minor meltdown, I staged an intervention with myself. SERIOUSLY, I said to myself, you care about what your connection is to another human being on FACEBOOK?

Naturally, I was right. Whether I’m connected to someone on a social platform or not does NOT define how I feel about them. It doesn’t color or shape how often I think of them, or whether I think of them with fondness or indifference. If someone feels the need to sever our ties on a social network, I think that is less about me, than it is about them. Whatever they need to do to manage their social life is fine with me.

What do you think? Does it matter to you when someone in your life unfriends you? How seriously should we take these online relationships?

Jul 30
Love0

Managing a Personal Brand

By Communications

5524408188_08c33f123c (1)When I’m not running a reputation management business, serving client needs in communications, public relations and social media, I do other stuff. Yes, I’m a human being. I live in a house, I have a dog. I am a mother. I have friends. I have blogged, personally, and in recent years, a lot about my hobby of competitive pie baking.

The pie baking has become a big part of my personal brand. People gravitate toward it. It’s interesting, in that not a LOT of people are competitive pie bakers, or even pie bakers for that matter. It’s easy to understand and it’s not particularly controversial. (Although, I’m told, some prefer cake.)

The “pie thing” is a good aspect of my personal life that I can share freely online. It’s not private, or so intensely personal that I’m not willing to let people know about that part of my “off the clock” time.

Once, in invaded a client conversation in a way that made me uncomfortable. Once. It was in the middle of a new business conversation with a potential client who, in one breath was asking for a proposal, and in another, encouraging me to bring a coconut cream pie to the meeting to win the business. NOT COOL.

It’s fun to go down the road of talking about pie, or what I do or am personally, but that can’t be a detour from the business at hand. While I am comfortable sharing the human side of me and my business, let’s stay on communications, or get back to it, while we’re working together.

I’m glad to have an outlet outside of work. Everyone should! But I’ve had to be careful not to let the “pie thing” overshadow what I do professionally.

Jul 29
Love0

Why is LinkedIn Important?

By Communications, Social Media

I’m asked often if it’s important to have a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn can be useful for a number of reasons: it can help you connect to others in your field; it can help you find new business opportunities or a new job; it can help you learn good business practices and social networking technique.

LinkedinimportantWhat you do with your LinkedIn profile says a lot about you as a professional. Other business people will go to LinkedIn to connect with you after meeting. Before that, though, some will Google you. What do people find when they search your name in Google? For me, an admitted high-producing publisher of online content AND the only Marijean Jaggers in existence, it’s surprising, even to me that the third result in a Google search of my name is my LinkedIn profile. It’s important because LinkedIn profiles show up for anyone who has one, in the Google search of their name. If it’s a clearly neglected profile, a nearly blank profile, or otherwise suffering (you have 14 connections? Really?) then THAT leaves a distinct impression on the person searching for you. If you can’t be found online, THAT leaves yet another impression.

What does your online profile look like? Are you happy with it?

Jul 22
Love0

How will you Learn of the Royal Baby’s Birth?

By Communications, Jaggers Communications News

By the time I hit publish on this post, the Royal Baby (RB) could very well have arrived. An event anticipated LONG before the necessary players were in place, it’s an international relief to have the news break.

I’m wondering how we’ll learn the news first. I would have said Twitter years or even months ago, but my own Twitter use has waned somewhat and I think I’m more likely to learn of RB’s birth on Facebook. It’s possible I’ll be out of the loop (shocking, I know) and a human in-real-life will share the news. They, of course, would have gotten it from the internet on a computer or tablet or from their smartphone.

How will you hear the news? If that little rascal has arrived, how DID you hear the news?

I’m eager to learn the name, also relieved that we’re not anticipating a little North, a Django or a Katniss. I’m pulling for a girl, personally. I’ll come back and comment on how the news was broken to me, if you’ll do the same.