Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Two months ago, I did the unthinkable for a college student: deactivated my Facebook account. I am not shunning the social network because I don’t like it, as several young people recently discussed in The New York Times. And I am not going offline because there is anything particularly incriminating on my Facebook page.
What makes me uncomfortable about the tool is that I have actively used it since my freshman year of high school, beginning at age 15. It occurred to me that my page now groups all of the thoughts that my teenage self deemed relevant to the Internet community onto the same page that I currently use as I enter my professional life. I am nine months away from college graduation, and the idea that an Internet record possesses a detailed span of my life, visible to all my online connections, from age 15 and onward into my professional life and career is daunting, and, well, just plain weird.
The Internet has provided us with many new forums to engage, but for my generation, it has over- simplified communication. Work, school, and family identities are mulched into one page—a page that has existed since early high school for me and many of my peers. Google+ did attempt to mitigate this problem with “circles,” and Facebook has come out with similar privacy settings—but the idea is still strange. As I grow older, and my identity changes, my Facebook history still exists, available for my entire online community to see.
However, Facebook is an important tool to have in both your professional and personal lives. It helps you connect with old friends, peers, and colleagues—the ultimate, easy networking tool. This has led me to the conclusion that, following my well deserved break from Facebook (I’ve been on it for six years), I am going to make a new account. After all, it is about time that my online image was refreshed—my teenage self has no place in my upcoming world of job interviews, graduate school preparation, and nine to five business days.
If you are thinking about following in my footsteps and starting over, or just taking a break, Facebook offers two strategies: deactivation and deletion. Currently, I am part of the deactivation club, but if I really want to start over, deletion is next on my Facebook agenda.
Deactivation
What to know: Deactivation, according to Facebook, keeps all of your information stored online. However, it is inaccessible to your Facebook friends. No one can search you, and no one can look at your profile or photos. Some information, such as messages you have sent, will still be visible to others. The most important aspect of deactivation is that all your information is stored, in case you decide to return to the service.
How to do it
- Click the account menu at the top right of any Facebook page
- Choose Account Settings
- Select Security from the left-hand menu
- Click on “Deactivate your account”
If you want to reactivate your account, all you have to do is log in to Facebook, and your page reappears.
Deletion
What to know: Permanently deleting your account is more drastic than deactivation. Once you delete your Facebook account, you will not be able to access it again. Furthermore, any personally identifiable information is removed from Facebook’s database, such as an email or mailing address. However, remnants of your Facebook activity may remain, including messages you have sent. Images might remain on the Facebook server, but it is no longer linked to your name, and is inaccessible to other users.
How to do it
Deleting your Facebook account is more complicated than deactivation. Follow these steps:
- Close your accounts at any website that you use Facebook to log in to. For example, Pinterest, Stumble Upon, and many other websites allow you to log in using your Facebook account. If you log in to any of these accounts for 14 days following deleting your Facebook, your account will be reactivated.
- Go to the Facebook Deletion page and click “Delete My Account.” You will then be prompted to confirm this decision; click “Okay.”
- Do not log back into Facebook for the next 14 days, or it will reinstate your account and you will need to start the process over again.
**Note: You are able to create a new account within the 14 day period, so if you are deleting your account to start a new one, you do not need to wait 14 days.
If you are just entering the professional world, and think that your Facebook could use a fresh start, these tips can help. In PR, we constantly emphasize how important maintaining a professional online persona is—don’t forget to extend this thinking to your personal social platforms.
Public speaking is a skill that every business professional should master. No matter if you are presenting to your company, pitching a new business or giving a keynote speech, you want your audience engaged and you want to persuade them of your message.
We’ve previously written about the importance of body language when delivering a speech or presentation, but it goes beyond your physical delivery. You can be the most dynamic speaker, but if your presentation doesn’t pack any punch, you’ll likely fumble.
In a recent article, “5 types of evidence essential for persuasive speeches,” Matt Wilson shares the five things that will essentially beef up a speech. We’ve included them below, along with suggestions from our past experience. When I begin a speech I like to open with one of the following and pepper in the others throughout.
- Statistics. Statistics help validate a claim and can help captivate an audience. However, the statistics have to be used correctly. Too often, people select startling statistics, yet provide no context. You need to properly explain the statistics and make it applicable to your audience. For example, 12 percent of woman will develop breast cancer. It is much more effective to make it relatable. If you look around the room, one out of eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. You should also be sure to represent statistics accurately – numbers can often be manipulated to help support your point, but doing this could have devastating consequences and hurt your credibility.
- Quotes. Using quotes can simplify your message and leave a lasting impression on your audience. Select concise, memorable quotes from experts or well-known names, but don’t overdo it. You want a few select quotes that help deliver your message. For example, if you are giving a motivational speech, you could use a quote from Walt Disney: “All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.”
- Analogies. Analogies can be a way of bringing your speech to life. They should be clear and compelling and help the audience understand the message. An analogy is a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based. For example, in the movie Forest Gump, Tom Hanks says, “Life is like a box of chocolates.” He uses this to describe how unpredictable life is, because “you never know what you are going to get.” For more tips on how to use analogies, read our previous post, “The Power of Analogies.”
- Examples. Using examples to illustrate your point can go a long way. It is especially effective to take examples from current trends or events, or from prominent figures or movies. Using examples provides people with another angle at which to view your point and can help clarify complex ideas.
- Stories. Stories help to keep your audience entertained, but will help persuade your audience of any point you are trying to make. People are typically more comfortable telling stories to a friend off the cuff. This relaxation helps connect with the audience. If possible, share stories that come from the heart and resonate with you and the audience. For example, if you are giving a speech to generate donations and funding for a race raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, share a personal story about why this is important to you. What got you interested in running? Has someone in your life been touched by the disease?
By adding these techniques to your arsenal while delivering a speech, you’ll be positioned for a successful delivery. It is harder to poke holes in a persuasive speech that has any of these elements to back it up.
What do you like to include when delivering a speech?
For those who regularly follow our blog, you know that one of my favorite topics is creativity. I have a personal interest in learning about creativity and how to foster it. So it was with enthusiasm, that I listened to an NPR interview with Jonah Lehrer, the author of a new book entitled, Imagine: How Creativity Works.
The book explores the process of creativity in the development of new products, song writing, poetry and much more. It is a wonderful read because of the stories Lehrer shares around particular innovations and breakthroughs and how they came about.
Imagine focuses on the process that leads to moments of creativity in which a new product such as Proctor & Gamble’s Swiffer, for example, is conceived. Chemists with the P&G spent many long years and millions of dollars trying to come up with a new cleaning solvent for folks mopping their floors. Finally, the company decided to outsource the problem to Continuum, a design firm focused on discovering new services and products. The folks with Continuum concluded if the chemists with P&G couldn’t solve the issue then maybe the answer wasn’t a chemical issue and they began studying how people clean floors. By conducting hours of research the team eventually came up with the idea for the Swiffer.
Lehrer explains in detail the upfront work – which is often arduous, painstaking and tedious – that often needs to happen before a breakthrough like the Swiffer can occur. He shares insight into when and where breakthroughs take place and addresses myriad other factors surrounding the topic such as the link between depression and creativity, collaboration and creativity, and the peak age for creativity.
This book shed new light for me on creativity. I highly recommend Imagine if you’re interested in the topic and want to learn more about how innovation takes place. If you don’t have time to delve into the 256-pages, then I recommend listening to the interview with Jonah Lehrer that aired on March 12, 2012 on Fresh Air.
As a marketing professional, it can be tempting to hop on the bandwagon of popular trends or memes that are hot with consumers. For example, because of the wild popularity of the release of the Hunger Games movie, a popular nail polish brand named China Glaze released the “Capitol Colors” line of polishes. A new Warner Brothers Green Lantern animated series debuted last month, so now McDonald’s is offering Green Lantern action figures in their Happy Meals. During October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month many brands including Yoplait and Conair promote special pink-colored products and packaging.
Oftentimes, aligning your brand with a popular trend can pay off in a big way. But is it always a good idea? This practice of co-branding can speak volumes about what your company values, so it is important to be thoughtful before associating your brand with the latest fad. Below are a few questions to consider if you’re thinking about jumping on a trend bandwagon.
- What is the underlying reason I would want to align my brand with this trend? Perhaps you’re looking to increase awareness of your brand or increase sales. Either way, you should ask yourself what your business objectives are before participating in any sort of cobranding to ensure your actions will benefit the business in some way.
- What does this trend say about my brand? Aligning your company with a trend can mean a lot more to your audience than you might realize. If you established a close partnership with an infamous brand, for example BP, right after the oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the partnership won’t make your brand look very savvy or culturally sensitive. Make sure you are aligning your brand with other brands you support, and be prepared to explain why.
- Is this trend affiliated with a worthy cause? Cobranding can be a great tool to improve or enhance your company’s corporate citizenship reputation. By affiliating yourself with charities or wellness campaigns that support the greater good, customers will likely respond in a positive way. But make sure you aren’t just “using” charitable partnerships – align your brand with causes your company truly believes in.
- Will this trend have staying power? Because of how quickly information is distributed online, memes, or internet fads, can appear one day and be considered “old news” the next. Before aligning your brand with a fad or trend, consider the lasting (or not-so-lasting) implications the co-branding might have for your company. Jumping on trends quickly can demonstrate agility and modern thinking, but without staying power, aligning your brand with memes might not be worth the investment.
- Am I going to alienate portions of my target audience? Think about which portions of your target audience will respond to trends. If your sales demographic targets males ages 18 – 35, aligning your brand with Twilight might not be a great idea because the trend appeals mostly to teenage females. If you take a stance on the upcoming presidential elections, you may alienate your customers whose political opinions differ. Make sure you are considering your whole audience before jumping on a trend.
By asking yourself these questions before participating in the latest consumer fad, you can make sure you are making a smart decision for your business and for your customers. What other questions do you ask yourself before aligning your brand with the latest trend?
As many PR professionals and marketers may agree, the ability to prioritize multiple assignments and stay on track with a myriad of projects requires strong organizational skills. Recently at Communiqué PR, we started utilizing Smartsheet.com for our project management needs and to facilitate online collaboration.
Introduced by the Bellevue-based company in 2006, Smartsheet.com is an online tool for tracking any type of work. Whether your focus is in marketing, sales, human resources or project management, the Smartsheet project management and collaboration tool can help. Every Smartsheet account is unique and secure. It provides a workspace whereby information can be imported and shared (by invite only) with an unlimited number of people whether they are inside or outside your organization.
For instance, we use Smartsheet.com on behalf of one of our clients, Verdiem. All of our current PR activities are listed by task name and include the anticipated start and finish date as well as who they’re assigned to. We have access to the sheet, which was created by our client, and the PR team in the U.K. also has access to the sheet. This enables us to see the status of particular activities and ensure we’re not duplicating efforts.
We have found the tool to be incredibly helpful, straightforward and convenient. We use Smartsheet for synchronizing the development of press releases, projects for clients, case studies and tracking speaking opportunities. With its Excel-like appearance, it is fast and simple to update and we can update it from any computer with an Internet connection.
As you can see in the image, everything I need to stay on track is in one space, at my fingertips. Each day I use it, I need my notebook less and less. Here are a few other noteworthy reasons why I think Smartsheet.com is especially helpful for PR teams and marketers:
- Project planning and task management: Users can conveniently monitor progress of projects from any computer, tablet or smartphone with an Internet connection. This feature is great for off-site meetings since we can literally take our work materials with us. The grid and calendar views, under the toolbar ‘view’ button, provide flexibility in monitoring personal progress. I feel more confident and focused with project planning and setup because I can see all of my deadlines displayed on one spreadsheet when I am in or out of the office.
- Version control and collaboration: Smartsheet assists us with collaboration across organizational boundaries. For team efforts, Smartsheet helps with version control, preventing replications, saving time and energy. As mentioned above, we can also collaborate with clients.
- Easy to use templates: There are a variety of Smartsheet templates to choose from, depending on the task or team objective. For instance, those interested in marketing or project management can chose from project tracker, issue tracker, event management and marketing department goals templates. These templates are motivating as they visually conceptualize the status of any project as well as future steps needed to reach end results and due dates.
- Goals: One of the main appeals of using Smartsheet is its goal-oriented interface. With timing of the essence in PR, social media, marketing and event planning, managing work from an omnipresent, cloud-based platform helps us keep sight of what we wish to achieve. Additionally, there is a discussion box where users can add notes at the bottom of task lists and chat about desired objectives and outcomes.
This tool is integrated with other technology partners including Google Apps, Box, Salesforce, Zimbra and Amazon web services. According to Smartsheet.com, the award-winning tool is trusted by more than 10,000 subscribing organizations in more than 100 countries. These numbers are not surprising considering the numerous customer success stories that the company has posted on its website.
If you are managing a team and looking to improve collaboration and coordination, we highly recommend checking out Smartsheet.com.
With so much content and information being shared on the Internet today, visuals are regularly used to captivate and engage readers beyond the written word. In addition, the speed at which information is now being shared is reshaping how we absorb media. For example, take the rise of Pinterest, the online scrapbook of images which are often sourced from various media stories and blogs. According to comScore as reported by TechCrunch, “Pinterest just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other standalone site in history.”
There is no doubt imagery and video have the power to engage and entertain us, and the ability to educate and influence. One visual in particular – the infographic – offers a great way of looking at information in a compelling and digestible way. We have talked about the rise infographics on our blog before and why organizations should consider harnessing the power of these visuals.
I recently did some additional research about how to create a compelling infographic for a project we are working on with a client, and came across some interesting – and fun – tools to use.
- What About Me? If you’re still not convinced how infographics can communicate complex information, try this free infographic generator from Intel to create a “colorful snapshot of the most fascinating subject in the world – You!” This tool allows you to create infographics based on your Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube activities, categorizing when and what you post on all three networks, and even evaluates the average tone of your messages. Once complete, you can download it to share via your social media channels.
- Wordle. Wordle is a “toy” created by Jonathan Feinberg that generates word clouds from text that you provide. By entering in a bunch of text or the URL of any blog, blog feed or web page with an Atom or RSS feed, you will get a word cloud featuring the words most prominently used in the source text. Words with greater prominence will appear differently than those that do not. You can even modify your cloud with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The word cloud featured in this post is created using the Communiqué PR blog.
- Creately. With this free tool, you can create a diagram or flow chart for anything from a database diagram to a family tree. When you start, you simply select from a number of diagram types and can either create your own from scratch or select a template to use. You then add in your data to create a professional-looking visual to use however needed. Apparently this tool also promotes greater collaboration among teams, which I will need to check out further for our own use here.
Naturally, there are a number of tools and resources available to help you get started in creating infographics. What tools or tips have you found helpful when creating infographics? Have you found information is grasped more easily when conveyed in an infographic?