Tag

Marijean jaggers and social media

Apr 03
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What Has LinkedIn Done for You Lately?

By Social Media

Individuals and companies struggling with the plunge into the social media pool can consider this: try LinkedIn first. LinkedIn is a business network, first, foremost and always, and for the uninitiated, the perfect place to establish a social network for business growth that is easy to understand and not overwhelming.

LinkedIn is a constant resource for my business. Here are just a few ways I’ve used it in the last week:

  1. I connected with client contacts so they can have access to my network as second degree contacts
  2. I’ve reviewed who is interested in my profile, to see if there are any likely warm leads to whom I should be conducting outreach
  3. I researched client prospects and their businesses and sent messages to individuals I want to meet
  4. I posted news from my own company, as a way of sharing our growth and capabilities

LinkedIn is a very useful business tool — for companies that are not otherwise engaged in social networking tools at all, it is absolutely necessary to take advantage of what LinkedIn has to offer.

If we have a working relationship and we’re not already connected on LinkedIn, feel free to reach out: http://www.linkedin.com/in/marijeanjaggers 

Mar 28
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Amy Eastlack joins the Jaggers Communications Team

By Communications, Jaggers Communications News

I am beyond thrilled to announce an addition to the Jaggers Communications family. You might know her from SuzySaid in Charlottesville or as a television star on C’ville Plugged

Amy Eastlack

Amy Eastlack

In, a segment that aired for more than a year on CBS-19, WCAV.

She’s Amy Eastlack, my good friend, a fantastic writer, a social media engagement specialist and the newest member of our team!

Amy has devoted her time to developing business and personal relationships in our community. Her background spans environmental health, health care, retail marketing and nonprofit work, making her experience a perfect fit for our business growth model. Her involvement locally has given her a broad network of contacts and numerous followers in the social space. Having her join the team just makes good sense! (Plus, it occurs to me just now that she’s the fourth team member with roots in the Midwest. We’re good old common sense, down to earth people at Jaggers Communications from a land where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average,” as Garrison Keillor would say).

Amy will be providing support in client web monitoring, content development and plan management.

Please join me in welcoming Amy on board and say hello when you see her around Charlottesville!

Dec 13
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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.

Dec 01
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Business Blogging: Are you Overthinking it?

By Communications, Social Media

Blogging for and about your business is more important now than ever. And yet, businesses are still struggling not only with the execution, but the concept. 

Here are some of the hangups I hear from clients roadblocked by blogging fear or misunderstanding:

  • We don’t have a consumer project, so it doesn’t seem like anyone would be interested in reading what we have to share.
  • Doesn’t it have to be personal? We don’t really want to share our dirty laundry online.
  • What if we are boring?

Telling the story about your business and what you do is valuable to your community, no matter what that community is. They self-select into your content, so don’t pre-judge by saying that people who read blogs are only interested in consumer products. You may discover much more about your audience and your business by the community that emerges around the content you share.

Being personal doesn’t mean airing dirty laundry. Being personal means being a real person, using language that is down-to-earth and spin-free, sharing a bit of yourself that underscores the fact that you are a real human being behind the brand. (Someone just walked past me wearing swishy — snow?– pants and those awful Five Fingers shoes. Distracting! — See? I’m a real person with really distracting co-workers, just like you.)

 

You can’t be boring if you’re not boring yourself. If YOU find your business and what it offers exciting and you share your passion for your topics, that will be evident to your audience. Feel free to mix it up now and again — be creative — be funny — but above all, be yourself, and quit overthinking it.

 

Where do you blog? Please feel free to share your blog in the comments for the Change the Conversation audience to enjoy.

Nov 29
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Social Media: Providing Valuable Content or Just Over-sharing?

By Communications, Social Media

It’s a really fine line sometimes, the balance between over-sharing company news and content on social platforms and making sure you’re providing value to your audience. It’s the difference, I think, between selling and telling your company story. It’s hard for a lot of individuals representing organizations to make this distinction. One way to keep this practice in check is to constantly ask yourself what value you’re providing your audience with the information you choose to share.

Your content may be leaning to the “too self-promotional” side if every link you share is to content of your own creation. Try to share others’ content at least a third of the time. Another self-check is to see how often your tweets are @ replies or RTs. Ask yourself a few questions:

  1. Are you engaging in conversation with your readers by replying to comments or tweets?
  2. Are you commenting on others’ blog posts?
  3. Are you facilitating introductions within your network to help others build business or find opportunities?
  4. Are you teaching a skill or sharing information to others’ benefit?

It’s easy to slip into the habit of traditional marketing tactics and resort to selling . . . focus on providing value, instead and watch relationship development grow and improve.

(Thanks to Rusty Speidel for the inspiration for today’s post. Read Rusty’s thoughts on social media fatigue, and what communications professionals should do about it.)

What are some ways you keep your commitment to providing value, rather than just self-promotional content, to your audience?