Need a Social Media Makeover?

Last week, Valerie and I presented to OSU-PRSSA about managing and maintaining your online reputation. I just love working with this group. The students are all so interested and interesting. It was a fun talk, and the best part was all the questions we got at the end.

Here are a few highlights from the presentation:

Who is watching your online reputation?
Future employers tend to be the focus when we worry about this, but it extends much further. After you have the job, you need to continue to be proactive about maintaining a positive online image.

In our office, we investigate someone’s online profile almost weekly. If you apply for a job with us, join another department in our organization, give a presentation we attended, submitted a media inquiry, or talk about us online, we’ve probably done at least a superficial search of your online presence.

Where do they look?
When someone is looking into your online reputation, anything is fair game. More often than not, people put too much stock in their privacy settings. You have to assume, that even if your accounts are locked down, people will find a way to see what you’ve posted.

The most common and basic searches are going to include Google, a sampling of the most popular social networks and your open records.

What are they looking for?
Regardless of how it might feel at times, most people are not out to dig up dirt on you. (not that they won’t discover the dirt if it’s there to find)

What they are doing is: fact-checking your resume, looking to see if you are talking about them, getting a sense of how you communicate, and feeling out your personality.

The Case Study
Our wonderful intern Marissa Chavez volunteered to be our case study. She made a great example because not only is she well established online for someone her age, her profiles are squeaky clean. Valerie took the students step-by-step through an audit of Marissa's online footprint.

The Take Aways

• Establish a reputation. Chris Brogan has an excellent post on how to get started.
• Monitor. Start by Googling yourself; search the web, news and blogs. Run a Twitter search for your handle, and any terms you might be strongly affiliated with. Once you’re satisfied with the structure of these searches, set up an RSS feed to alert you to updates in the results.
• Maintain your reputation. Keep it clean; be honest and thorough. Watch out for controversial topics. Be active and interactive; and, use profiles and links to point people to the stuff (your blog, twitter, etc) you want them to see.

Measurement Mixer at Mickey Mantle's: Say that 5 times fast

Last night I hit my first IABC-OKC (International Association of Business Communicators) meeting. It was an after-hours event that combined both professional development and networking. Because as my friend Holley put it "Work isn't going to pay for us to just get together and drink beer."(Disclaimer-I went on my own dime)

I was impressed with the group. They were younger professionals, mostly 20s and 30s, very friendly and welcoming, and they all seemed very active. It's a much smaller group than my beloved PRSA-OKC, so I guess you kind of have to be active if you want to keep things going.

Our speaker, Johna Burke, seemed very knowledgeable and was really entertaining (which can be unexpected for someone talking about measurement). At the end of it all I was left feeling more like she'd given us a motivational talk about measurement rather than a tactical talk.

Measurement is something I think many in PR have a love-hate relationship with. We love to have it, but hate to do it. And really I think so much of what we do is very difficult to measure. We can write obtainable goals with measurable objectives, but often times I'm left feeling like we are forcing ourselves to measure indicators, not our true and secret goals.

Our true and secret goal is to foster strong positive relationships. It's a heck of a lot easier to measure attendance, click through rates, comments, donations, placements, use, sales, etc. These are indicators, sure, but are they really telling us what we want to know about our relationships?

I Heart My Public Library

As you may have guessed working in a library for 14 years has made me a big library fan, but it's not just my beloved OSU Library. My library-love extends to my awesome public library as well.

I serve on the Guthrie City Library Board, and our fantastic library director, Linda, ask the Board if we could share some info about a cool new resource at our library.

--Press Release from GPL---
Free Courses and Practice Tests Online at Guthrie Public Library

GUTHRIE--Improving the job search process, preparing for career certification, raising college entrance test scores and improving 21st century basic skills are all possible with just the click of a mouse at your local library!

Visit www.guthrielibrary.com and enjoy free, unlimited access to interactive skill-building courses in math, reading and writing as well as a broad range of practice tests based on official exams such as the ACT, SAT, GED, ASVAB, Allied Healthcare, Firefighter, Police Officer, Paramedic, EMT Basic, U.S. Citizenship, Postal Worker, Cosmetology, Real Estate Agent and Broker Exams.

This valuable service is available 24/7 from any internet-enabled computer—in your library, your office, and even from your home!

To find out more about how you can access LearningExpress Library, call Linda Gens, 405-282-0050 or stop by and ask any of your friendly library staff for more information.

The LearningExpress LibraryTM online learning platform provides more than 770 of the most up-to-date test-preparation and skill-building resources, helping both students and adults prepare for a wide range of academic and career-oriented exams as well as to improve basic skills in reading, writing and math. In addition, job-skills tutorials are available to assist in creating a great resume, expanding job search and networking skills, honing interviewing techniques, and improving business communications. Patrons also have the option of selecting from more than 130 e-book titles to help learners of all ages prepare for success. The innovative platform includes self-paced study, instant scoring and diagnostic feedback and can be accessed from any computer that has an Internet connection.

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A String Quartet That Rocks

I don't know what I was expecting when I finally got to see my friend Amanda perform with her string quartet, The Stringents. I'm pretty sure I wasn't expecting a selection of rock hits from today and yesterday.

The gals played Beatles, Coldplay, The Cure and Led Zepplin. They were even taking requests. They definitely rocked. And you need to go see them perform the next chance you get.

Moore War Run Number 1

When the WHS Alumni Association decided to host a joint 5K with our rival school's Alumni, I thought it sounded like a great idea. I also thought there is no way in hell I'm getting out there to run. Sorry guys.

I did show up at an ungodly hour (6:45 am!) to volunteer, though. And it was awesome!

I think it may have been the best volunteer experience I've had. I was told where and when to show up, and I got a reminder the day before. Once I got there, the gals running the show gave me instructions on what needed to be done. They doled out tasks one at a time, so it was easy to keep track and not get overloaded with information.

I got a t-shirt and lots of thank yous the day of and after. They even let me wear this nifty orange vest. How'd they know I love orange?


I want to say thank you to Kelly and Holley for organizing before and the day of. These ladies did an amazing job, and the first Moore War Run was a huge success in my opinion. We had more than 250 runners!

Back to School

Ok, so technically, I am not "back to school," but all the OSU students are. After 14 years of living/working/going to school on a college campus, I still love the start of the fall semester.

How could you not feel the excitement in the air. The start of fall term marks a new beginning for so many people and it always reminds me of my first week here on campus. It makes me nostalgic as I see all the new students navigating campus.

For a college campus, the start of term is a little like a second New Year. It's a fresh start for everyone: new students and returning students, even the staff and faculty. I love working at a place that has this kind of annual reset as part of the culture.

Homeless in My Own Home

This week John and I had a some construction project completed in our bedroom. Which means all week my living room has been filled with our queen size mattress, and all our bedroom stuff is piled high in the breakfast nook.

It's a little like being a house guest in my own home. I have no alarm clock and no nightstand. My routine is completely off. And the huge light-up Jesus cross across the street is keeping me awake at nights.

But it'll all be worth it tonight! Our bedroom has a beautiful new ceiling and all new grown-up bedroom furniture is being delivered as I type this. Tonight John and I have a date to assemble a bedroom suite. Pretty romantic, huh?

A spacious living room is dramatically reduced by a spare queen-sized mattress.

Where did all this come from? I had no idea we were hiding so much stuff in the bedroom.