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7 Tips to Boost Your Twitter Followers

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The more Twitter followers the better. The more followers you have, the more likely your tweets will be seen. These 7 tips will help you gain followers on Twitter:

1. Post engaging content, such as links to articles, videos, photos, etc.
The world does not care what you had for lunch or when you are going to bed. Post information that you find interesting and you think others would find appealing too.

2. Retweet and @reply often.
No one likes when people only talk about themselves, so why would it be any different on Twitter? By retweeting others you are saying that their content is worth sharing. By having conversations you are engaging with your followers to create a personal connection with them.

3. Use tools like Crowdbooster to determine the best days and times to tweet.
By tweeting when your audience is listening you are more likely to get retweets and therefore have your message spread.

Crowdbooster Screen Shot-Best Times to Tweet4. Include your Twitter handle on business cards, your email signature, your blog, website, etc. Link to it anywhere you can.
People can’t follow you if they don’t know your Twitter Handle so make sure it is widely available.

5. Upload a picture of a person, not a logo as your photo.
Only spammers still use the egg as their photo. People want to see who they’re connecting with. Even big brands like @Mashable have a photo of a person and not a logo. This leads to my next point…

6. Create a custom background for your profile.
A twitter background is a great place to include a logo, additional URLs, and anything else that won’t fit into a  140 character Twitter bio. If you have a graphic designer who can create a custom Twitter background, awesome, but if you don’t, there are tons of free tools available. For example, we are currently testing TwitBacks.

7. Run a contest.
Everyone loves free stuff, whether it’s a t-shirt or a download of an e-book, you can’t lose if it’s free! No one wants to “buy” followers, but holding a contest every so often is a great way to reward your current followers and attract a few more.

Bonus Tip: Don’t use auto-bots to direct message new followers!
This is annoying and many people will unfollow if they receive a message from a robot.

Any other tips or tools you want to add to the list?

If you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to be a guest blogger, ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

Tornado’s Winds Whip Up Volcanic Search Results

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Tornado in Springfield, June 1 2011By John J. Garvey

Who would have thought that my digital “15 minutes of fame” would come because of a tornado passing right by my 24th floor window?  Tornadoes just don’t happen in western Massachusetts.  In fact, it took my co-worker Mary Fallon and I a few seconds to realize what it was despite its obvious destructive power. Once I did, and came to the conclusion that it was moving away from us, I snapped a picture and did what any other digital native would do. I posted it to Twitter.

Twitter is the same social media platform that I am always a bit squeamish about explaining to clients and prospects. It’s hard to say tweet or tweeted with a straight face in a business meeting. Every time I do, eyebrows raise and thought bubbles are suddenly very visible: “And this from man who calls himself a PR pro?” This is the same Twitter that only about 13% of online adults using it? It’s no earthling-eating Facebook after all.

Tweet I did and that is when the action started. This recent story in the Sunday Republican captures most of it – how national news organizations one by one lined up to ask permission to use my tweeted photo minutes after I clicked send. That’s just part of the story however. Sure CNN, ABC News, and in particular AP helped yield the seven pages of results now available through a Google Image search (“john garvey, tornado”). But it was the story itself and the resultant commentary on social media that quickly buried the needle on our search and social media intelligence software. In fact, the initial 10,000 results that came in on the keyword phrase “Springfield, MA” basically shut down our system.

One other metric, Google Trends, had the search term “Springfield MA” as the number one hot search in the entire US on the day of the tornado – a status described as volcanic. Now, to put that into context, “Springfield MA” finished ahead of Shaq, who had just announced his retirement: Ocotomom, whose doctor had his license revoked; and Anthony Weiner, who – well, you know that one. That is truly volcanic hotness. The peak for that hotness happened at 6 p.m. EST, about an hour or so after the tornado had passed.

Google Hot Search June 1, 2011 (Volcanic)In just 24 hours, we picked up over 6,400 individual mentions on social media alone and the search for “Springfield MA tornado” yielded close to 1.2 million results, including one funny video, in the weeks following the event. The volume of social media commentary remained incredibly high after the tornado as well: close to 5,000 mentions.

What’s a mention you might ask? Here are a few random samples:

RT @nytimes: A Tornado Is Reported in Springfield, Mass. http://nyti.ms/lC8BRu

@feliciaday Hi Felicia, would you like to send your love to community in and around Springfield, MA?…

Well damn. As if my old home didn’t have enough problems. RT @science: Tornadoes strike Springfi…

(We have about 4,997 more.)

Even more amazing is our analysis of where these mentions came from. While you would expect the top states to be in the New England area – and, in fact, MA, CT, and NY are the top three. Wrong! Our analysis shows that after our fellow neighbors in MA, CA was commenting the most about the tornado, followed by NY and CT. It appears that that Whitey Bulger was not the only MA expat hanging out in the Los Angeles area at that time. We have no evidence of him tweeting, however.Tornado Map Overlay

Conclusions?

1) I am no longer squeamish about saying Twitter, tweet, or tweeted around adults. In fact, I have let it be known that I actually am a Twitterer.

2) As proven through this experience, Twitter is a great way to get information and share information.

3) For those of us in the digital communications business, Twitter and social media are very important channels to use to connect with media quickly.

4) Social media essentially makes the response time for crisis communications zero. Media are monitoring these channels and as soon as a negative post goes up, it is in their hands.

I don’t care what the other 87% of Americans think – they are missing out and I have proof. Also, compelling news travels and gets shared. Creating compelling, share-worthy content is the goal. Sure, a tornado on a rampage in New England is pretty compelling, but then again, most of us do not need 1.2 million search results either.

Final note: There was nothing funny about this tornado. Mary and I had front-row seats to the destruction and have seen up close the damage, devastation, and despair.

Thank you to Laura Chechette otherwise known as @GarveyComm for helping me pull together these statistics.

Media Links:
Pew Internet Research Twitter statistic
Sunday Republican Article, Springfield tornado photo storms around the world
Google Image results for “John Garvey, Tornado”
Google Hot Search results June 1, 2011
Flickr photoset of GCAI tornado images

How Twitter is Becoming Part of TV on #TheVoice

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Although I’m not normally a fan of reality TV or singing competitions, The Voice on NBC has gotten my attention because of its use of social media, and Twitter in particular. When I watch the show, instead of a bowl of popcorn in my lap, I have my Macbook open to Twitter so I can interact with the show’s contestants, coaches, and viewer’s all over the country. By following the hashtag #TheVoice I can see what other people are saying about a singer’s performance or the ridiculous outfit that a coach is wearing and add in my two cents.  The show goes a step further by incorporating viewer’s tweets into the show live with the “V correspondent” Alison Haislip. Alison reads tweets on air as well as asks coaches and contestants questions posed on Twitter. If a tweet isn’t read it still has the opportunity to appear on the bottom of the screen.

In this video interview, Alison Haislip, talks about her strategy and how she tries to get fans to interact with the show.

The article, The Voice: How a TV Show Became a 24/7 Social Media Conversation, from Mashable explains why this show is different than anything else on television right now. Here are a few highlights from the article as to why this kind of integration with social media could be the future of TV.

  • “70% of the tweets about the The Voice include the hashtag #TheVoice, a “phenomenal” rate that a Twitter spokesperson says is an “industry high,” said Nicolle Yaron, the show’s supervising producer.
  • “During the show’s first live performances, every contestant, coach and team trended,” said Andrew Adashek, the show’s social media consultant.
  • “When Team Christina performed ‘Lady Marmalade,’ the Facebook Page gained nearly 10,000 likes within a few minutes.
  • The Coaches tweet live throughout the show as well as the contestants. The coaches twitter handles are below if you would like to follow them and get in on the action next week!

If you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to be a guest blogger, ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

P.S. In case you were wondering I’m voting for Javier Calon, @Javstwtr, to win it all! Who will you be voting for?

Share Buttons: Are They Worth it? Find Out In This Week’s Social Media News

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AddThis

Sharing information online is now easier than ever before because of share buttons. These buttons aren’t just there so you can “like” the picture of your newest baby cousin, but they can also help increase traffic to your website and result in a profit for your company.

This article By The Numbers: How Facebook Says Likes & Social Plugins Help Websites explains why having the ability to share your content through social media is imperative. In case you still need convincing, check out this stat from the article; “The average media site integrated with Facebook has seen a 300% increase in referral traffic.”

Although Facebook and Twitter share buttons dominate online the Google +1 button that debuted in March is starting to make some noise. Last week it started to appear on various websites such as Mashable and the code is now freely accessible to anyone who wants to use it. The article Google’s +1 Button Challenges Facebook’s Like Across the Web explains the impact this new button could have on sharing online.

If after reading about the benefits of share buttons you want to add them to your own website, we recommend AddThis. After registering (for free) you can add just about any social media share button to a website, blog, email newsletter, and more. AddThis is constantly updating and adding new services. For example they’ve already added the Google +1 button to their service. What makes AddThis our share button of choice? It gives analytics for shares, clicks, top services, the ability to track trends, and more.

If you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to be a guest blogger, ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

Where To Find Information About New Social Media Trends

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Kevin Curley, Social Media Specialist Christian Science Monitor

Kevin Curley, Social Media Specialist Christian Science Monitor

This week’s social media news comes to us from Kevin Curley, Social Media Specialist at The Christian Science Monitor. He directs the social online engagement strategy for CSMonitor.com, the web version of The Christian Science Monitor. Kevin’s main focus at the Monitor has been to build a loyal audience utilizing email newsletter campaigns and traditional social media platforms.  We asked Kevin where he looks to find the latest social media news.

Q: What sites, books, twitter handles, etc do you read and follow to stay current on the most recent social media trends?

It’s funny to hear people talk about social media trends when I go to conferences or meetings that focus on online marketing. The speakers seem to focus on talking about the cool social campaigns they ran for some big name company with a $500K budget. Then I say I’m from a newspaper and that I was wondering what they can recommend to help me drive more fans. I hear, “buy Facebook ads for a targeted audience,” reach out to “digital influencers,” “have a contest and raffle off something big.” I sit back and get a good chuckle. They never ask, “What type of community do you have?” or “tell me more about what you’re trying to achieve.” It’s always these cookie-cutter approaches. If you’re outside the retail/consumer-based world, social media gets tricky – mainly because we’re not selling a specific product.

But there are a few people who get it. Here in Boston, I like to keep up on what the Hacks/Hackers Meetup group is talking about. A lot of the thinking is big picture, but the best part is the networking – it can always lead to collaborative thinking opportunities. Doug Haslem (@DougH) seems to have a good grip on what’s happening in the social media marketing world. As everyone knows Mashable.com is a great resource for any business trying to do social media without a dedicated staff or budget. I subscribe to a ton of newsletters, but I really like the content sent out by MediaPost. With anything, you have to be aware of your surroundings. At the Monitor, I try to think less like a marketer and more like a reader- go figure. I try to think about the tools I would like to see when visiting CSMonitor.com, and then come up with strategies to meet those needs.

Staying up on trends is great, but what’s trending doesn’t always work for our audience. The web readers that flock to Mashable.com are not the same readers that visit CSMonitor.com every day. I would say the most important thing to remember is always keep your audience in mind. Often, simply by showing the personal side of your organization can go a long way with your fan base, and that doesn’t take a big budget or creative messaging – just a genuine interest in their needs.

If you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

Want To Stand Out In The Social Media Crowd? Build A Community Of Loyal Readers

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Kevin Curley, Social Media Specialist Christian Science Monitor

Kevin Curley Social Media Specialist Christian Science Monitor

This week’s social media news comes to us from Kevin Curley, Social Media Specialist at The Christian Science Monitor. He directs the social online engagement strategy for CSMonitor.com, the web version of The Christian Science Monitor. Kevin’s main focus at the Monitor has been to build a loyal audience utilizing email newsletter campaigns and traditional social media platforms.  We asked Kevin a few questions about online newspapers and the social media platforms he manages.

Q: How do you think online newspapers will function and fit in, in the future?

I wish I had the answers. From our standpoint, readers’ access to mobile technology has dramatically revolutionized the way we think about news consumption. No longer can we brag about the number of foreign bureaus or correspondents we have on-the-ground. These days, anyone with a smart phone can break news when and where it is happening. But covering newsworthy events goes way beyond just snapping a photo, uploading it to Twitter, and writing what you saw. That is where newspapers fit in the mix. Both have a role in media, but different roles nonetheless.

Journalists offer depth, context and hopefully, an unbiased perspective – at least that’s what we strive for at the Monitor. I don’t see this changing much in the future. What will change is how we consume news; print vs. online, tablet vs. phone, audio vs. video, etc. I think everyone is trying to figure out what works best, but I would put my money (like so many others) on a multimedia mobile approach; way beyond the iPad.

How will online newspapers function in the future? Anyone can follow trends, write a blog post and ride the wave. But, in my opinion, you have to build a community of  loyal readers to stand out in the crowd. Take Slate.com for example. There you have a site with a relatively small number of unique visitors/month (7.5 million) compared to the enormous number of page views/month (80 million). They follow trends, create great content that readers want, and according to Quantcast, average more than 10 pages per unique visit; i.e. extreme reader loyalty.

I would bet that in every board room of every major news organization, whether television, radio or online, big people with big titles are coming up with big ideas that will  transform their traditional old-school news site into some attractive multimedia landing page for a younger, hipper audience.

My role, is to help this new audience connect deeper to the Monitor community through our social media activity.  By creating a community of engaged readers, we’re hoping they will become CSMonitor.com brand advocates; distributing our content to a larger audience – specifically their friends and family.

Q: How do you manage a Facebook page with over 25K fans and a Twitter account with 9,500+ followers?

Christian Science Monitor Facebook PageManaging Facebook is easy if you set the agenda or tone right away. Fan pages that let the fans dictate the tone can get out of control; its like having your pets sleep on the bed with you. At first, it may be cute, but after awhile, they run the show and you end up not getting any sleep.

When I started the Monitor’s FB page in 2008, I set community rules that stated “no ranting, no name calling” and that the page reflected the mission of the newspaper, “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” Even as the number of fans increased, and with only one full-time staff member monitoring the fan page, the community has continued to be free of ranting – most of the time.

We engage with our readers, uphold the community rules, and most of all – try to create an environment where people feel comfortable offering their opinion. We feel its necessary to show a personal connection with the fans. We’re not perfect, some people get upset when their comment disappears, but overall I’m happy with the community we’ve built. The last time I looked at our Insights, out of the 25K, 85% were active, and we’re averaging about 4,000 interactions a month.

On Twitter, I would say I only invest about 5% of my time managing the account. With an organization trying to do more with less, we realized we can’t invest the time needed to make Twitter a big player for us. We do highlight our ‘Top RT’ers’ and ‘Top Influencers,’ but we don’t seek out influencers – it’s just not our style. In fact, we know that by being a trusted news source on Twitter, we’re the influencer.

Like most news organizations, the bulk of our referring traffic from Twitter comes from readers utilizing the share tools on our website. Looking ahead, we’ll try to expand those opportunities and really try to improve the user experience on CSMonitor.com. There’s probably more we can do with Twitter; Huffington Post, CNN, Mashable.com, and the Daily Beast are always leading the charge – but they’ve got the resources to pull that fancy stuff off with ease. I need to get a couple 100K more page views from Twitter before we start considering it a big player for traffic.

Next week Kevin will tell us where to look online to find the most recent social media news so stay tuned!

If you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

Social Media In Ireland: Twitter, Smart Phones, The Next “Big Thing”

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Eoin Kennedy

This week’s social media news has a special St. Patrick’s Day twist because it comes to us from across the pond written by Eoin Kennedy of Dublin, Ireland.  Eoin is the Associate Director at Slattery Communications, where he heads up their digital offering Engage Online. Eoin has 15 years of experience in corporation communication with multiple degrees in public relations and marketing. He was an associate lecturer in Marketing with NCIR, a lecturer on Irish Times Digital Diploma in Digital Marketing, and the list goes on. To learn more about Eion’s experience read his LinkedIn Profile. Eion is also active on Twitter and writes his own blog, Thoughts on Communications in Ireland. He has a deep interest in social media and how it impacts public relations which is why we’re so excited to ask Eion a few questions.

1.       What is the most brilliant use of Twitter and/or Facebook that you have seen employed by a SMB recently?

Finding truly brilliant examples is difficult within Twitter and Facebook but there are lots of examples of Irish companies using the platforms in very effective ways and leveraging real business opportunities.  It is also a highly subjective exercise so instead of trusting my own judgement I crowdsourced some opinions of fellow Irish Twitter users.  The results were interesting and although they included some self promotional responses they uncovered some interesting examples. The short list included:

GoHop
Coffee Shop 3FE
Lake Hotel Killarney on Facebook
Car Spare Parts Mick’s Garage
Jameson Whiskey
Various Diageo Brand Guinness
Smirnoff
Captain Morgan
Renvyle House Hotel
Italian Restaurant – La Cucina
Burrito Restaurant – Burrito Blues
Business Support organization – Business Start-Up
Ethical Online Shop – Coze De Roze
Entrepreneurship Support – Social Entrepreneurs Ireland
Media Buyer – Media Works

Childrens Waterproof Online Clothing Store who have won numerous awards – Puddleducks Twitter and Puddleducks Facebook.

The hospitality industry generally scores well in use of twitter and social media but the one that was references most was Irish Weather Online with their use of Twitter.

The service earned its stripes during particularly bad weather in December in Ireland with timely and accurate weather reports.  It was not the only weather service during that period and they was plenty of collaboration of fellow twitter users sharing stories and warnings but the consistency won them great praise.  To me this reflects the characteristic of good Twitter and social media use in that they are highly focused, very time sensitive, engage/converse a lot and reach great heights in a short period.  Within social media great heights can be reaches but maintaining attitude can be very difficult.

The list above is not exhaustive but Plenty more great examples at Brendan Hughes Blog and Your Social Monitor Ireland.

One voluntary project we are involved with at the moment is an attempt to harness Irishness and affinity to Ireland through a Shamrock Urself .  Driven by social media enthusiasts its objective is to give a sense of unity in troubled economic times.  Many of the best social media projects take this form of using collective goodwill rather than straight forward commercial exploitation of the platforms.

2.        How will the rise in adoption of smart phones impact PR in the near future?

Smart phone adoption in Ireland is reasonably solid but not near global penetration levels.  One piece of research by Return2sender show that one-fifth of Irish adult population owns smartphones with the expected smartphone ownership to grow to 1.5 million by spring 2011.

  • 256,000 people own an iPhone in Nov 2010 – expected to reach 630,000 by end of 2011
  • Some 8.4 million apps have been downloaded by almost a quarter of Irish consumers, with half a million people downloading them on a regular basis.
  • One-third of these apps were paid and two-thirds of them were free. Music and games were seen as the most popular apps.
  • Men were the most dominant in the Irish market – 64pc of smartphone owners were male and 59pc of people who download apps were also male.
  • Broader Smartphone adoption breaks 50% in November 2010

There a number of ways that the smart phone will impact PR including:

–          Content filtering based on user preferences online means that news is delivered to user tastes – our choice of media will change and we cannot guarantee outreach to audiences
–          Need to ensure platforms, sites, apps are optimized for mobile use
–          Need to generate timely and consistent information and news on the move rather than traditional media peak times.
–          Need to have capability to build and create mobile video content
–          Skimming of storing by users and rapid sharing
–          Social TV (see below)
–          Need to build location based offerings and promotions
–          Additional social media activity
–          Increased posting and photo uploading sharing by consumers – positive and negative.  Organisations with physical premises could benefit greatly by user generated content but it bring adherent risks.
–          Increased need for continual monitoring as comments, posting from smart phone can arise at any time.
–          New tech that will change mobile behaviours – RFID and NFC.  This could impact from registering to events and ability to seamlessly purchase using smart phones.

In general peoples relationship with their smart phones is extremely personal.  This allowed better one to one relationship but access is guarded more carefully by users so there is a need to exercise caution in this approach.

3.       From a PR and small business PR and marketing perspective – what is the next “big thing” on the horizon in IE/UK/EU?

PR as a discipline had always sought opportunities in new communication modes and in theory as owners of messaging should always be deeply engaged in all communications.

PR practitioners will continue to look at ways of harnessing social media and there will be increased use of SEO PR especially as the number of traditional media outlets drop.  Search will continue to be important and an increased importance will be put on areas like article links with large traditional media website than the traditional press cutting.

There are many developments on the horizon or currently par boiled but developments will be rapid due to the speed of innovation but also the degree of competition between SEO companies, ad agencies, hybrid consultancies and web development companies, all looking to own this space.

Some of the immediate ones are

  • Increased use of multimedia content and its generation
  • Building of large social media databases and communities that can be utilized to evangalise on brand behalf
  • PR companies grabbing increased SEO and online advertising budget
  • Online response timing will continue to be cut shorter
  • PR companies themselves investing in life streaming and greater transparency
  • Blogger relations and online planning will become a normal part of PR life
  • Increase focus on creative online solutions and pure social media/digital campaigns
  • Organisations will invest further in online reputation management and online crisis management
  • This will be the year of Facebook places and geo locations services

One of the big development I think the industry is relatively unprepared for is the rapid emergence of 24/7 PR.  The evolution of social TV, whereby people discuss, comment and share what is happening on TV is a growing phenomenon.  On a personal side it is a superb addition to TV viewing and equivalent to sharing the couch with a huge variety of people.  It makes life as a channel hopper even more distracting and results in even better dialogue as people are discussing live issues rather than from memory at the water cooler the next day.

As usual technology evolutions will be key to moving this from niche to mainstream.  Using a PC for social TV is clunky, lap top less so, iPhone or smart phone even less and iPad a much more enjoyable experience.  Even with all these devices the level of social TV is pretty small and confined to short comments , conversations and observations on talkshows and current affairs programmes but it  also extends to soaps.  However the advent of internet enabled TV along with enhanced cloud services and the inclusion of movement sensor technology such as Microsoft Kinect will change all of this.   These technologies changes will change a trickle to a flow and a flow that the PR industry looks unprepared for.

Consider the difference between a few avid twitters commenting on a news piece versus the unstoppable gush of the total TV viewership in pure numbers terms.

In the not too distant future instead of a multitude of devices we will have one extremely large screen with a ultra fast internet connection.  All photos, games, documents will be accessed in the cloud rather than the current collection of PC, DVDs, Games Consoles etc.  People will become familiar and comfortable with using the TV for things other than watching programmes.  Similar with current gaming with the Xbox Kinect manipulation will be through the person themselves.  A simple wave will bring up a menu, a hand pointing in mid air will reveal a key board.  The senor will interpret these movements so the person needs not move from the seat.

Now consider a company you represent is in the middle of a crisis that is airing on a current affairs programme.  Imagine ,if at the wave of a hand, that the thousands of viewers were able to pull up all their social media properties, blogs and websites.  Imagine the level of live tweeting, retweeting, @comments, Facebook tagging, Linked In searching and flash mob organizing that could be done from ones couch.

Imagine the levels of comments on a company’s Facebook page, the searches on executives and the posting of video comments (which the Kinect would easily allow), the parodies of performances, the volume of emails to company contact, texts and calls to spokespersons mobiles and rapid Infographics generation.

This potential flood cannot be dismissed or ignored until the next day so the ability of PR companies to monitor, interpret, engage and respond in a 24/7 basis could be something very real in the short term.  There are lots of implications of this from rapid messaging development, large scale online planning , monitoring and online activation.

What is certain is that technology advancements will happen and bring smaller scale online activity to almost mass medium level.  The PR industry needs to be ready for these changes and able to help guide organisations through the maze – otherwise there are plenty of organisations on the sideline waiting to eat its lunch.

Hope you enjoyed this special post, if you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

The future in social media is sharing experiences-Brian Solis Video Interview

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Brian Solis is described on his website as being “globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media.” He is Founder and President of Future Works, an award-winning digital and social media agency in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. We at Garvey Communication love to hear what he has to say about social media and where the industry is headed so we wanted to share the wealth and post this video interview.

If you liked what you saw and want more watch this video of Brian talking about “social currency.”

If you have suggestions for future Social Media News posts, want to ask questions or share thoughts, please feel free to email me. Thanks! – Laura

3 Perspectives On How Social Today’s PR Graduates Must Be – Part 2

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Views from The Student, The Pro and The Professor

Last week we discussed the “must have” social media skills a graduating senior needs to impress PR employers.  This week’s Social Media News, is part 2 of our 3 part series, and addresses how those graduates will use social media to find a PR job. GCAI tapped three people for their perspectives.

The Student: @stjackman
Stephanie Jackman, Intern at GCAI, completing a BA in Communication this year from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY
The Pro : @MFallon
Mary Fallon,  Media Director at GCAI and Isenberg School of Management at UMASS Amherst graduate, Google AdWords Certified, PRSA member for 4 years, has led seminars on SEO and SMO PR at UMASS Amherst
The Professor: @FvrythingPR
Dr. Daradirek Ekachai,  Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI

2) How can graduating college students use social media to find PR jobs?

The Student:
With graduation only months away, Twitter is one of the first resources I turn to when searching for career opportunities. Following Twitter handles geared towards entry-level job postings is easy to do, yet incredibly beneficial to my job search. By following thought leaders in the social media and PR industry I can engage in conversations, form relationships and show future employers I’m savvy in multiple social media platforms.

LinkedIn is another tool graduating seniors can use to enhance their job search. I’ve used LinkedIn to network with professors, find internship openings and participate in discussion forums. I think of LinkedIn as a virtual resume where each user has the ability to list past work experiences.

The Pro:
Students can use various social media platforms (including Facebook and Twitter) to follow companies they would like to work for and connect with people who work there. They can also post their resume on LinkedIn or upload a video version to YouTube. Overall, it’s important to show employers you have experience with social media, which means students should accurately complete their profiles and stay active on the platforms they are utilizing.

The Professor:
To me, it’s not so much how students can use social media to find PR jobs, but how they can use social media to get a PR job!

The obvious social media platform related to careers is LinkedIn, so that means that students must create and maintain a professional profile on LinkedIn. They can start growing their contacts and build their own network, start networking, and creating meaningful content to show future employers that they are capable and serious about their professional future.

Students also can use Twitter to follow professionals in their field, job sites, and companies that they want to work for.  It’s widely known that job recruiters search for job candidates, using social networking sites, and research candidates before the interviews. Students need to know how to use social media wisely, differentiate themselves from other job candidates in order to be a top contender in the job market.

3 Perspectives On How “Social” Today’s PR Graduates Must Be-Part 1

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Views from The Student, The Pro and The Professor

Obviously, Social Media has transformed Public Relations. Yet, are the PR factories (colleges and universities) cranking out graduates that are prepared to work in, or maybe even lead, this changed industry?  This week’s Social Media News is the first in a three part series that will answer that probing question.  GCAI tapped three people for their perspectives.

The Student: @stjackman
Stephanie Jackman, Intern at GCAI, completing a BA in Communication this year from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY

The Pro : @MFallon
Mary Fallon,  Media Director at GCAI and Isenberg School of Management at UMASS Amherst graduate, Google AdWords Certified, PRSA member for 4 years, has led seminars on SEO and SMO PR at UMASS Amherst

The Professor: @FvrythingPR
Dr. Daradirek Ekachai,  Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI

1) What are the “must have” social media skills a graduating college student needs to standout to PR employers?

The Student:
Being savvy in the realm of social media is no longer an added bonus, but a job requirement for entry-level PR candidates. The skill that will showcase graduating seniors’ expertise in social media is their ability to be engaging on these various platforms.  Mastering the writing technique it takes to be successful on each social media platform is key. Students must be able to use their writing skills to not only write an eye-catching press release, but an engaging tweet and Facebook post.

The Pro:
My top three are: writing ability, responsiveness, and curiosity. Whether a PR professional is writing a 400 word press release or a 140 character tweet, both grammar and writing come into play. When working in the social media world everything is in “real time” and students need to be able to analyze and respond to issues as they arise. Lastly, a willingness to learn is vital.  Students who are curious about social media and are constantly researching new platforms and methods will be the most successful.

The Professor:
Students should not only possess social media skills, but they also should know how to use them strategically, personally and professionally. They need to understand the sociology and psychology of social communication through social networks and know how to apply them in social media tools. They should keep abreast in current and ever-changing new media trends and be informed of latest research reports.

I also believe that they need to practice social media (Facebook and Twitter, mostly) regularly (everyday preferably!). Social media should be second nature to them and they need to know how to create content, engage and maintain their social relationships with their friends and followers.