Pa-sghetti

First, Happy Valentine’s Day!! If you are not a fan of this day, just wear red and be happy. Red is a fun color.

Now, to my story. As I drove to work today, I passed a sign in front of an auto shop. The sign structure itself was one of those where you place plastic letters on the background, and when you run out of letters you get creative with the spelling.

The message on the sign said, “Wanted: Experienced Muffler”. Well, I was in hysterics because even though I knew what the message intended to say, it was too easy to delve into the different meanings. (Obviously, the shop had run out of letters and could not finish the message. At least, that is what I’m hoping.)

So, the lesson here for all of us is to ensure we think through what our message is saying to ensure that it is interpreted correctly.

What examples have you seen out there?

I’ve been away for a while, but what better way to start back up? Announcing a contest to win an iPod Touch! Check out Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim for details.

Some days I find it interesting when small things happen one after another. Then, when you step back and look at them as one big picture, you wonder if someone is trying to tell you something.

Yesterday, Ike Pigott posted his “Cold and Dark” quote on his blog, Occam’s RazR. Then, my desk calendar had the following quote from Diana Ross, “You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.”

So what? Well, when much in life is up in the air, it is easy to fall into self-pity traps. And that is no fun for you or anyone around you.

This same thing can happen to us as communicators. We are educators, cheerleaders, motivators, researchers, writers, strategists, journalists, and much more all rolled up into one being. That is quite a bit sitting on our shoulders.

There are days when the stars align and business clients listen to us and understand what we are telling them. But there are many more days when we wonder to ourselves, “why are we here?” or “my head really hurts from banging it against the wall repeatedly”.

These are the days when seeing posts such as the one from Ike or a motivational quote on a calendar give us the boost we need. We don’t stop educating our clients or encouraging them. We work to make things happen because we know we must do what is right for the business. We don’t sell our souls, but we do let our passion help us do our job.

I don’t know that I dreamed of being a communicator when I was a little girl. However, I have been fortunate to find a career path and fall in love with communications. And when you find something you love or find your passion, you do work to a different and higher standard; you do tend to make things happen.

Making things happen for the business (the right things, of course) and making things happen for yourself (personally or professionally) is, for the most part, in our hands as communicators. It’s not easy. (Insert joke “that is why work is a four-letter word”.) Yet those successes keep us going. Our creativity keeps us going. Our friends and colleagues keep us going. It’s worth the difficult discussions we sometimes must have with clients to make it happen and do the right thing for the business.

So, how are you making it happen? 

I have often wondered about this topic, and after reading David Murray’s Shades of Gray blog today, I thought I would follow up on his post, “Do People Hate Women?”. 

He offers up different bullet points but several of the comments caught my attention in that they pointed out a fact that affects women in any corporate culture.

Women are their own worst enemies in a corporate world. Why? We don’t mentor each other, or if we do, it’s very rare. We trust female colleagues less than we do our male colleagues. Why? Why do we not group together to help and mentor each other? Why in this particular instance do we stuff our nurturing instinct down into the bottom of our souls?

Have we succumbed to the idea that we must act like men to succeed? I’ve seen women who are very confident in themselves turn into spiteful spitfires when they see a younger colleague not dressed in what they consider a professional manner. I’ve seen steam come out of a female manager’s ears when her employee is praised directly.

What is it that causes women in a corporate atmosphere to ignore or ruin one of the best resources available to them?

 Your thoughts?

You know the feeling you have when you’ve completed a big report, proposal or project and turned it in for approval and/or feedback? It’s a combination of relief and anticipation, correct? Relief because that one part is complete; anticipation because you don’t know how it will actually be received.

Well, that is how I have felt today. The other day I wrote that I was sending out my first “social media release”. Today I did it. I think I agonized over it much more than was needed, however. Let me review for you.

I work in a specific industry and my company is a supplier, so I’m not looking to market the business products directly to consumers. I stated in my “First SMR” post that I had done my research regarding my targeted media and their corresponding blogs. After that post, I reviewed my audience again. I decided that the blogs were extremely similar to the printed pieces. I also reviewed the information on SMRs that I had compiled from Brian Solis. I was glad I did, as one piece from his May 1, 2007, post, “Social Media Releases - Everything You Ever Wanted to (or Should) Know” (link to his archives), jumped out at me. I was reminded that I didn’t have to embrace an entirely new format just yet. I could write my “concise, compelling” release and include multimedia elements.

With these two pieces of information in hand, I opted to go with the press release that included multimedia elements.

The release itself had its traditional headline, but then I added three key bullets about the product itself underneath the headline. Then came four paragraphs, which included a quote from a VP. Next came the multimedia elements: link to the product marketing web site; links to the three product data sheets; and an end-use application picture. Next was a link to the business home page, followed by the boilerplate and contact information.

Now, I’m quite aware that some people may ask if this is really a social media release. For some companies, this may be a standard template for their traditional release. But for my company, I’m on the cutting edge.  Our releases have always been in the traditional format. The process has never changed: write it, have it approved, and then email it, submit it to the wire, and fax it to the local media. This time, though, it was built with both the traditional and new business audiences/technology in mind.

While I wait to monitor pick-up, what are your thoughts on this first dive into the pool?

Today is the day. I’m putting together my company’s first social media release. It won’t be perfect in that we don’t have RSS for our corporate site and other things like that. (Don’t freak…it’s baby steps with my company.) The reality is that I experiment on a small scale and then come back with a successful business case.

I’ve been doing my research and have read quite a bit on this topic. So much information is out there. Brian Solis has quite a few great posts on the topic on his blog, PR 2.0. 

 I also have the now infamous SMR template from Shift Communications.

I’ve researched the media we work with and found their blogs. I’ve read what their blogs are saying about the industry, what they deem is important to report, etc. I know the traditional media outlets my business targets, which, conveniently, includes the bloggers I am reaching out to. The news section in our web site is basically a template, but I have faith in my abilities to manipulate it to achieve an interactive space.

I’ll keep you posted.

This has been quite fun to watch. Jeremiah Owyang had a hot post on his blog today titled “Some Conversations Have Shifted To Twitter”.

In his post, he discussed how Twitter is a top referrer to his blog, “Web Strategy By Jeremiah”, how he uses Twitter, the research his colleague, Peter Kim, has done on Twitter, as well as who Twitter is for and who it is not.

At the end, he invites you to follow him and he’ll follow you back. He’s had over 200 comments as of this writing, and they all threw in their Twitter accounts to follow and be followed.

I’m fascinated to see what Jeremiah is going to do with all of this information and excitement he has created, as I am sure he will gain some key insight, which he will then share, and this is why I titled my post as I did - in a very friendly gesture.

I joined in the fray and am now receiving notifications of new people following me. I am sure they are all nice, but I’m curious as to why they are following me. In Jeremiah’s post, he has examples of why to use Twitter, and he does specifically mention social media/marketing, but I’m not seeing that in all new followers. I’m not complaining. I’m an adult. I’m just curious and am looking at it from a different angle.

I’m sure though, that Jeremiah will be offering very interesting learnings from this, his “Twitter experiment”, and I look forward to them.

The other day I read Ike Pigott’s post titled “Online Friendships”. (This post is on his site, Occam’s RazR. (It’s a must-follow!)

His post was in response to Wendy Harman’s post “Online Friends”. Her site is wharman.

I started thinking because the other day, I wrote a post titled, “Does Social Media Make Job Seekers Too Casual?”

I know, I know, you are thinking, “Are we there yet?”  Yes, we are reaching the point of this post.

We all have friends who have been with us in all the good and bad times. The ones that we share our secrets with, grew up with, survived high school or college with, etc. They are the people that know us better than we know ourselves sometimes. While one piece of how we stay in touch with them may be via email, we know them personally, visit with them and know all about their lives.

With social media, there has been constant discussion regarding what does being a “friend” online really mean? Are they numbers in Facebook or MySpace? Or, are they potential contacts on LinkedIn? Or, do you consider them professional colleagues? Acquaintances on a high level?

I’m relatively new to social media. I participate heavily on MyRagan.com and have met great communicators who have experiences and knowledge that have helped me with my job. I have shared mine with them. And, I have met four colleagues that I do consider friends and I’ll be meeting them in person in May. I consider them friends because we now talk more off MyRagan.com than on the site. And we talk about everything under the sun, just as we would if we all lived in the same neighborhood.

I consider Ike Pigott a friend and a mentor. We’ve blogged, emailed and yes, we have spoken on the phone. It’s always been at a high level, but he is helping me become a stronger blogger and knows that I, in turn, will some day help someone else in some way.

There are other people I follow on Twitter, and many blogs that I subscribe to, but I wouldn’t put them in the friend category, online or otherwise. I wouldn’t want them to be offended, but it’s because I respect them that I don’t casually assume they are my best buds. I know they are friendly as they always respond to my questions or general notes/comments, but I think I’d still label them as either a professional colleague or acquaintance.

So, friendships are what we make them. We all meet new people everyday, whether it’s online, over the phone or through another person as we’re out and about. Some people we connect with; others we don’t. I’m not sure it matters how we meet our friends during certain times in our lives, as long as we know the difference.

Recently I spotted an online job posting that interested me. I brushed off my resume, updated it, and then composed a cover letter. I then opened my email and addressed the email as stated in the job posting’s directions. This was the moment that I then paused.

I thought, “Wait. Is this the correct way to contact this person?”. I didn’t know the answer.

Think back. At one time, we wrote our resumes and cover letters, printed them out, signed them in ink, and then mailed them in an envelope to the hiring company. Now many options are available to us. We have the Internet sites that make us aware of job opportunities based on the profiles we submit to them, such as monster.com. We have sites such as LinkedIn that allow us to “network” (in the hopes of finding a better job, if needed or wanted), and of course, we can go to a company’s web site and apply directly online by uploading our resume and cover letter.

Now, here is what I struggled with during my recent application process. As I prepared to cut and paste my cover letter into the body of the email, I wondered how to address the recipient. I struggled over using his first name only or Mr. So-and-so. Why? I struggled because as is usually the case, I don’t know this person. I don’t know this person in the sense that I have never met him in person.

HOWEVER, I feel like I know him because of the fact that I read his blogs, know people who read his blogs, know people who have worked with him, and follow him on Twitter. I’ve seen his picture.

So, in a different sense, I feel like I know him and because of the social media interaction, I almost went with a social type of introductory email. I didn’t. I tried to keep it more formal because I didn’t know who else was going to see this information and I wanted to make a good first impression.

(He did reply personally and was relatively social, so that sets a tone for going forward, if it goes forward.)

So back to my question up there as the title - does social media make job seekers too casual? Heck, does it make every new Internet encounter too casual? Sometimes I like to link to a great blog post and though I follow it, I always send an email to the owner the first time I use their blog in my post. I’ve done this several times now and each time, I am surprised how quickly and enthusiastically they respond. They don’t know me. Yet they encourage me and thank me. Is it better to continue to be polite versus just saying, “Hey, Joe!”, even when “Joe” says it’s okay?

I confess. I only scan blogs that discuss making money via the blog. However, an IBM commercial that is currently playing has me asking some questions about our use of Web 2.0 resources and the ultimate challenge that plagues us as communicators - persuading management that Web 2.0 is a good thing.

If you have not seen the commercial, it goes something like this (I could not find it online so it you’ve seen it, you will know that I am paraphrasing greatly):

A manager and an employee are sitting at a table while the employee is explaining his “avatar”. The employee gives the basic definition of an avatar and shows off his avatar on his own island. He then says those infamous words with a “c’mon dude” type of facial expression and tone, “It’s innovation”.

You then see the avatar of the manager walk up to the employee avatar and ask if the employee’s avatar makes real money or pretend money. “Because”, the manager avatar says, the point of business is to make real money.”

This commercial hit a nerve with me because 1) it’s creative and 2) it plays right to the heart of the matter for many of us who work in the corporate world. As communicators, we look at the business strategy, ask questions about objectives, work magic with no budget and find a way to get the right message out about the business in a way that is right for the business. And now, we have Web 2.0, which consists of some great tools that can enhance our plans and the messaging for our businesses, leadership, etc.

As with everything, there are, of course, hurdles and Web 2.0 is no exception. Two main hurdles follow:

- Leadership. They are afraid of not being in control. They don’t understand the tools. They don’t see how the tools add value.

- Communicators. Some of us foolishly go off and try to incorporate every trick in the book into our business communication plan. When following this route, we inevitably add credence to Leadership’s concerns.

The beauty of IBM’s avatar commercial is that it simply and realistically puts into play what can really happen when we as communicators think that just because we have the technology that management should just give us a green light. If anyone has been thinking that, I want to know what meds he or she is taking. If any communications plan or any communicator is not perceived to add value (and thus contribute to the making of real money for the business), management will see fit to show us the door.

I’ve been fortunate to start an internal business blog and host an external “special event” blog for one my business units. I have an internal wiki in the works. A podcast is in the near future. Avatars, however, are not. I think that business people, despite all of their gadgets, recognize that from time to time, going back to the basics of doing business in person is still one of the tried and true ways to earn success. And that is why each Web 2.0 tool out there is fascinating, but we need to ensure that we pick the ones that best fit our business versus playing the “me too” game.