Meaningless was the focus of Pastor Evan’s sermon today at Northgate. As always, he delivered with intoxicating energy and abundance of humor we’ve come to know and love. Fire hydrants suddenly have new meaning – you had to be there to understand.
Sunday Sermon “Meaningless” with Northgate’s Pastor Evan.
So why meaningless and on a day of remembering? Meaningless is what we call walking through life longing for material goods, wealth and tangible possessions never feeling fulfilled when, in fact, all we need to fill our cup is God’s good grace.
This brings me to my focus on today’s inspirational post. Being the impatient driver that I am who poorly planned her morning commute to Church forgetting to take into consideration the bumper to bumper traffic as folks make their way to Remembrance Day parades, I found myself rather irritable behind the wheel attempting to dodge every backed up lane along the route. On this drive, not even Sirius XM’s The Message could stifle my growing angst.
And for what purpose was I behaving this way? Meaningless. My reaction to a situation outside of my control was meaningless. The only thing I could have changed was to leave the house earlier. Even still, had I arrived late there would be no crashing of lightning bolts from the heavens expressing the Lord’s dismay for my tardiness. Fortunately, that’s not what He is all about. He meets us where we are at and takes us beyond the superficial to a life more meaningful filled with purpose.
A moment of silence after the singing of O’Canada could not be more timely – a much needed chance to reflect and, as my mood changed, I reminisced on many aspects going on in life today. The events that transpired this weekend, my colleagues in uniform, my father and his father, both who served. I reminisced about my granddad’s medals. The ones I had packaged up among other precious items and shipped off to my brother in Thailand never to arrive in his hands or be seen again. Material things that thave so much meaning but, in the end, is meaningless because we can never hold them in our hands again. But what we do have are the stories that, to the best of our memory, tell of their value measured in events, sacrifices, triumphs, accomplishments,and many other milestones in a career. I have two medals although I will never wear them to a parade or display them in a frame. It’s not my style.
But my medals tell stories. Journals tell stories and are a blessing to share years later. My mastery journal will one day be looked at by someone, perhaps my daughter or her children. Perhaps me as I look back at this journey.
Getting back to the point of this journal entry as it relates to mastery, I came to a realization that at almost the age of 50, I need to get comfortable with my lot in life. And it’s a good lot. I have freedom and in such a wonderful country in the world to live. My health and that of my family is great. We have all the check’s in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs box checked off. But there is more. There’s an uneasiness stirring inside and I pushing me toward a higher calling. This Master’s degree is only a stepping stone. I have not found my greater purpose, but I could not be more consciously aware of it without the enlightenment from reading Mastery by Robert Greene.
Our great masters – Benjamin Franklin, Abert Einstein, Marcel Proust, and many more -achieved some of their most profound work and best discoveries later in life. Those years of dedicated practice connected to their sense of destiny landed them to greatness. Therein life can one find meaning. It’s a perfect marriage of spiritual connectedness with a physical activeness of the brain which stimulates our creativity, allowing us to feel alive but belonging to the great whole.
May today serve as a reminder to walk this path with patience. It’s not a sprint and there are no detours.
Lest we forget.
Ah yes, the colourfully adorned cenotaph following the parade in the Town of Comox. I took this in the quiet aftermath of all the traffic commotion earlier.
It’s hard to pen this final journal entry of my last month of studies at Full Sail University. I’m consumed with a bittersweet feeling of accomplishment met with great trepidation and a little discouragement.
Looking back at the first month when I mapped out my goals for the final thesis, I realize that I am no where near reaching those lofty goals. The objectives didn’t quite line up with reality. A new, streamlined and intuitive employee website has not yet been tackled, although the current antiquated system still works. I never apprenticed under Fox & Bee, and our Human Resources and Information Technology team and I still have to sit down together to develop a strategy for an intranet site.
But, so what?
Let’s consider what I have accomplished. To begin, I will reiterate the first line on my slide (above): Protect the school district brand by improving the employee experience.
Many years ago, while working at Vintage Wings of Canada (http://www.vintagewings.ca) my boss would always say, “Begin with the end in mind,” as a reminder of the mission, the vision and our purpose to those we served. The purpose was not just to restore vintage aircraft to airworthiness condition. The purpose was to celebrate aviation history through the stories of our war heroes. The hangar in which the business of refurbishing old fighter aircraft took place became a living museum of memories. Retired pilots would visit with their children and grandchildren, walk the hangar floor and reminisce. Many cried. The hangar became a safe haven for aviation veterans to pour out their hearts and their hurt with deeply hidden stories of a time in history that, today, we shall never forget. Begin with the end in mind.
I approached my studies the same way I approach my new position with Comox Valley Schools, to tell the brand story in a meaningful way to help forge relationships with constituents, build trust and garner greater support for public education than previously experienced. Begin with the end in mind. My communications efforts centered around celebrating student success through telling the story of all the important factors that make it possible – the teachers, administrative clerks, principals, technicians, custodians and education assistants. Each play a key role in the delivery of education to students. But who in our region truly knows what amazing work is taking place in the classrooms and the hallways and throughout the 23 learning learning facilities? I saw my role as the guardian of the school district story.
The lines between my profession as a public relations practitioner and my education as a graduate student in public relations are completely blurred. My learning journey came to work with me everyday, much the same way as my job came to the online classroom with me everyday. They became one in the same. Graduating feels as though I am saying goodbye to part of me. Graduating also comes with a renewed sense of self worth.
My final thesis will be posted on my website, mggcommunications.ca, as an addition to my online portfolio and will serve as a reflection of my entire year’s work. I may refer to it from time to time, or draw attention to it in pursuit of a new vocation. I haven’t yet decided where to go. Do I stay in my comfort zone and continue working in a role that brings me great satisfaction but little respect, or do I go back into consulting with a whole new set of tools in my P.R. Toolbox? Maybe it’s time to teach or perhaps put it all down and pick up where I left off in my book five years ago and publish the darn thing!
Close to 30 years ago, I graduated from military college full of energy and enthusiasm, eager to take on the world. I graduate November 1st a more reserved individual with a nagging uncertainty whether my learning journey will be good enough to pursue a new pace of employer. This year, I turned 50, a very humbling stage to arrive at it life. Who hires a 50-year-old full of ideas but maybe too much experience? I remain cautiously optimistic.
At this crossroads in life, I will do what my heat tells me to do. Rest with it for a little while. and see what doors might open serendipitously in the weeks and months to come.
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
– Feature image source: Reuters Plus, 2019, March 13.
I’m a link junkie, I admit! Rarely will my content strategy be solely based on simple words on a webpage. I leave little gems of additional information and trails to other suggested readings in almost everything I post. It’s my way of validating the content and reinforcing its purpose with credible industry resources or influence marketers’ viewpoints to demonstrate to my audience that I’m not making my content up. It has meaningful relevance. Question is, does it work? Does it achieve an objective? Is anyone really paying any attention?
The Online Media Room (OMR) took me on a journey to seek and find answers to these three questions. All references assigned in the readings state one thing, begin by knowing your audience. It brought to light a better understanding of why we created a buyer persona during Market and Consumer Research Analysis. This fictional representation of the ideal customer for my capstone project client, Comox Valley Schools, should be at the heart of all content strategy decision making. Content, I learned from the reference material, including Hubspot, should answer their three questions before it answers mine:
What are the problems?
What does she need most?
What information is she searching for?
To find the answers involves a bit of guesswork, at best, without credible survey results. Then it struck me that I have at my disposal a plethora of answers right at my fingertips. In my role as Manager of Communications for my client, I visit schools and classrooms often. Educators frequently ask for a story to be covered or to help spread information about an initiative throughout the community. Extending theses staff interactions by an extra five minutes, I can find answers to these questions.
Furthermore, with the launch of the Comox Valley School podcast, I can turn these questions into compelling content in each episode and share with the internal and external audience. By using a marketing and storytelling strategy, I am, in fact, conducting valuable research and gathering some very insightful results. Alas, my made-up representative suddenly isn’t such a mystery to me anymore.
Here’s a concrete example to demonstrate why beginning with the audience in mind can enhance and improve a content strategy. Let me share my recent experience in creating a monthly newsletter for my client. The newsletter is a compilation of school district announcements, school stories and a brief summary of the Board Meeting highlight. The first issue, which I have conveniently linked in this journal post will hit the streets Monday, September 30th. Included in the content is a fairly significant announcement from the Superintendent about a funding initiative for collaborative learning. Educators were initially notified about the program by way of one single email. Should this email be overlooked in the mountain of email correspondence and notifications staff received daily, educators might miss out on a very advantageous and lucrative professional development program. Worse, efforts to improve the organizational culture can be lost by not going the extra mile to ensure staff are receiving relevant and meaningful information that matters to them. The goal of the P.R. practitioner’s internal communication strategy, after all, is to improve the employee experience in the aim of recruiting a coalition of brand ambassadors.
The focus of the newsletter turned from and exercise in gathering and sharing information to the user experience (UX). To be effective in communicating the collaborative inquiries program to educators, the newsletter needed to be linked to a place where the content, including application details and supporting background information, could be easily found and readily accessible. The content required its own webpage, so I created one on my client’s website using a unique URL redirect for easy identification of the material by the users and embedded hyperlinks throughout the text. https://www.comoxvalleyschools.ca/collectiveinquiryapplication/.
Morten Rand-Hendriksen summarizes the problem with solving content strategy dilemma correctly when he states in his Lynda.com tutorial that content is not just about creating messages, it’s about creating messages with purpose to give it the best chance of being heard and understood by the intended audience.
Reference
Goliger, S. and Hussain A. (n.d.). A practical guide: Building a killer content strategy. ContentStrategy_b662c9e9-0ac9-44ae-a0cc-7880511aca3c_1e1edd83-1221-46aa-9a74-ad66b07795ae.pdf
Protecting a brand name through internal management strategies is perhaps my strongest area as a communicator. Having studied Organizational Behaviour during my undergrad studies, I have been keenly interested in how leaders motivate employees to be brand ambassadors. Anyone who has studied Business and has had the good fortune of reading In Search of Excellence can attest, a good reputation begins on the inside.
Positioning an organization or an individual positively in the face of adversity with a proactive strategy is what I do best. As a young Public Affairs Officer, I cut my teeth on crisis communications during two extremely significant crises, the first a Canadian Forces Snowbird jet crash followed three months later by 9/11. Yet, as I progress through my career as a P.R. practitioner I am discovering another kind of crisis unfolding, which was emphasized in this month’s course, Reputation Mangement Strategies. It’s happening every day, often right under the noses of senior executives. I am talking about the erosion of brand reputation at the hands of staff and their poor customer care and service. Is it a lack of training, company ethics, the enabling power of social media that allows the consumer to rant or even embellish a complaint, or a combination of all of the above?
Go ahead, say it with me. “Serendipity!” The one common thread that weaves through my mastery journey has been this uncanny alignment of a situation that mysteriously occurs to reinforce my learning for each month’s course of study. August kicked off with a terrible hotel stay at the Best Western Dorchester in Nanaimo, B.C. A terribly inexperienced hotel receptionist made a gross error of assigning my family to a room that was already occupied, among other slip-ups. Disappointed in the experience, I felt compelled to leave a review on Trip Advisor, Google+ and Booking.com suggesting the hotel chain invest in quality customer care training if it truly valued its brand name in the hospitality industry. But that was not the learning. The learning came when I received an apologetic email from a member of the executive staff of the hotel chain offering gratitude for my sage advice. The response demonstrated that corporate staff does pay attention to brand reviews, which was a key lesson highlighted in Week 2.
August was also the month I took advantage of public transit and, to my delight, found it not only convenient but rather inspiring. In my community, BC Transit has mastered the art of customer relations on the frontline, with the bus drivers. Each driver I encountered has greeted me enthusiastically and engaged in casual conversation as commuters pop on and off the bus. There is a real sense of community. Conversations take place on our buses and often when I am riding, I will initiate a dialogue with a fellow rider. Relations with the public is what we practitioners do best. This leads me to my next point about engaging with constituents.
During Week Four I encountered negative sentiment from a student’s family member about my client’s on a community Facebook page. Had it not been for the keen eye of the staff who picked up on the rant the comments may have gone unnoticed because there were no direct mentions of the school district. Fortunately, I had recently created an infographic based on the United States Air Force Social Media Response Plan and put our uniquely tailored flowchart to good use. The correct reaction was to respond quickly and take the conversation offline, as recommended by Social Media Examiner, inviting the parent to engage in a dialogue with the school board about the situation. A dialogue did indeed occur and while a resolution is in the works, the individual posted again to the lengthy and very inaccurate conversation she had initiated from her complaint that the matter was being handled. The conversation suddenly ended. Now I ask, how hard was that?
Creating dialogue to establish relationships also presents an opportunity to learn something from the other individual or organization that you might not have previously known and provides each party to the dialogue a new perspective or richer understanding of a situation or decision. Turning to social media to voice one’s perspective without taking the time to gather correct information hinders positive relations. Negative electronic word of mouth can lead to an erosion of trust and the spread of misinformation and “have a negative impact on consumers’ evaluations of brands (van Noort. G. and Willemsen, 2012). My goal in this situation was to ensure the individual was not misled or become so distraught we would not gain her trust and confidence. The second goal was to educate the rest of the community without proactively engaging on social media as that could potentially go south fast and interpreted as being defensive, according to Jay Cooper of Campus Suite. To combat misinformation, a press release was drafted, shared with the media and online with a similar message embedded in a welcome back video created for Comox Valley Schools.
Brand management is a never-ending task but need not be daunting. Going back to the experience on the bus, this month I also learned and appreciated how important it is to engage with constituents positively. Yet, until society recognizes the potential to solve matters without social media (that’s a whole topic onto itself), organizations will always have to be vigilant and scan the online environment for a potential crisis and be prepared to respond.
van Noort. G. and Willemsen L. (2012, August). Online damage control: The effects of proactive versus reactive webcare interventions in consumer-generated and brand-generated platforms. Journal of Interactive Marketing. Vol. 26 Issue 3. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1094996811000600
In this month, the ninth course in my master’s program, the journey was one of reflection, as well as learning.
Event Planning is not foreign to me. I have been heavily involved in event planning since my early military career. As an officer cadet at the Royal Military College (RMC), one of my several tasks in developing leadership skills was to plan a Halloween dance, including live musical entertainment. We called these jobs “secondary duties” and could not escape them, as much as we tried, in addition to our primary academic, military and athletic requirements. I don’t remember the work that went into coordinating and executing the event, but I do recall many late nights sitting in my dorm with by buds making posters and prepping decorations. The dance turned out to be a tremendous success and my classmates and I had a great deal of fun. At least the pictures tell that story.
Planning an executing an event successfully, like this RMC Halloween dance in 1990, works using the military acronym S.M.E.A.C. and leading a good team, not holding a gun to their heads! (That’s a younger version of me on the right.)Understand, being in the military, you learn early on there’s no such thing as failure. The fail-proof plan to lead and operate any tasking was to follow S.M.E.A.C. – Situation, Mission, Execution, Admin and Logistics, and Command and Control (or, Coordination). It is a tried, tested and true process that can lead soldiers into battle, build a bridge, dismantle a bomb, or plan a party!
Since then, I have planned and executed many functions using the same formula whether for a golf tournament, a centennial celebration, a milestone birthday party, or an airshow. But never would I have considered the process to be a science worth writing a how-to book. For me, to know how to plan correctly is to know how to survive. So admittedly, I was perplexed to understand why Event Planning was a required course for the master’s program.
But, here’s the reality. Communicators are the guardians of an organization’s brand. Brand management involves creating a level of stakeholder engagement needed to meet strategic goals. Events that bring stakeholders together be it internal staff or the external publics invite engagement, which can further enhance the brand. It makes sense then, when studying the intricacies of event planning through the lens of a P.R. practitioner, to appreciate the gains that can be made in building stakeholder relationships.
This period of nostalgia was also filled with many discoveries. I approached this course with a willingness to take my experience further and to step outside my comfort level. Creating a webinar certainly helped move the yardstick and, if anything, proved to be far more rewarding. Exploring the gamut of tools and resources available to execute an online event has enhanced my skills bringing me to yet another level of appreciation of what P.R. practitioners can accomplish today.
Gone are the days (or all-nighters) of poster boards, markers, glue sticks, ribbon, and sparkles. Now we have programs like Canva and Smore to reach out the audience to encourage participation. But there is one element critical to the success of any event that will never disappear and is perhaps the most undervalued component. It certainly wasn’t broached in this course, and, yet fortunately for me, was evident and highly emphasized in S.M.E.A.C – your people! Committees are the essential ingredient to any events as there are so many components to execute. It takes a team to pull off a successful mission and a great leader to not only lead everyone through it but to acknowledge, appreciate and recognize the effort.
Coming to the end of the Media Relations (MRL) course is bittersweet. I whispered a sigh of relief after uploading the zip folder of files that represent hours’ worth of rewarding work, the Media Kit and the Video News Release.
I have marveled throughout my mastery journey how incredibly motivated yet challenged I am with each course. This one was certainly no different. In fact, I would say it tips the scales for intensity. Nevertheless, I came to this juncture in my life and career purposefully to be tested and pushed beyond my comfort zone. A previous tenure as a reporter with a local community newspaper and a brief tour as a military journalism instructor for the Canadian Armed Force Public Affairs branch may have afforded me a solid background in journalism, working with reporters and understanding the demanding news cycle, but by no means did I think I could breeze through Media Relations. If anything, I approached the course with trepidation knowing that I would have to be mindful of both my course load and my job.
June was a demanding month for Comox Valley Schools. The Board of Education was working tirelessly with senior staff to complete the four-year strategic priorities plan while preparing for the superintendent’s sudden retirement and the transition of a new leader into his position. It was also a busy time for graduations and class celebrations as the school year came to an end. To say I was stretched in two directions is mild. It was a real juggling act, but I would not have wanted it any other way. I perform well under reasonable levels of pressure and the workload complimented each other. Comox Valley Schools was in the press at least seven times for various news and announcements over the past three weeks. It was a good month.
Grade 4 students from Courtenay Elementary presented to Town of Comox Council 12 June with a proposal to consider purchasing sea bins to collect marine debris and plastics and keep the waters safer and cleaner. Photo credit: Mary Lee
MRL exposed me to new concepts and gave me such an enriching education that will serve my capstone project client well – writing a news pitch and creating b-roll footage. I have developed two skill sets I was hoping for at the start of the master’s program – to film and to edit like a pro, and while my assignment in week four may not win any top awards or even top marks, the learning process was exhilarating. In fact, this morning I was eager to get out of bed to catch the early daylight, a beautiful time of the day for stills and footage, something I learned years ago on a photography course.
The highlight of the course was the affirmation that public relations practitioners are leaders in changing and controlling the message. I was pleased to have lead Comox Valley Schools through a sensitive story – sexual health – that, without my encouragement to pursue an interview, would have been ill reported by a community of naysayers. The assignment in week three, crisis communications case study and creating talking points and frequently asked questions, was timely and effective. The second highlight, capturing the right image at the right place and time and to have that image reproduced by the media for print and digital production. I am now looking forward in the very near future to see my video footage featured in all media outlets, locally, throughout the province and, perhaps, nationally.
There was a time, particularly during my fourth year Economics Class at RMC, that I despised statistics. My professor told us that if we were to pursue a career in business, which he prayed many of us would not (we were that inept), we would have to learn to love analyzing numbers to understand consumer behavior and market trends. I wanted nothing to do with it.
That has changed some twenty-some-odd years later. Following my recent experience with market data research and statistical analysis, I have a new found love for quantitative measurements that tell a story. In fact, I enjoyed the journey so much, I think I have a new calling in life.
Market Consumer Analysis is one course I will never forget for several reasons. First, the pace at which I had to complete the assignments was, by far, the most demanding. Second, this will go down in history as the course I studied the year I turned 50. Fifty! A number I cannot compute, speaking of “data!” I will get back to that later in this post.
MCA taught me to keep pushing through the seemingly impossible. What felt like an unattainable task turned out to be an eye-opening experience. I am not referring to the Call to Action promotional video or the 24-page long research report. I am referring to the primary research assignment. Conducting a major market study in under two weeks in hopes of gathering credible and viable data, for my capstone project was beyond comprehensible. But my militant side told me to hunker down and I map out a strategy. My strategy was simple, I needed data immediately and the best way to earn it was to put my thesis to work. My theory is that effective communications that invite employee engagement will increase an organization’s brand. If employees feel valued and respected, they are more likely to share in the brand story. So, I approached my survey candidates among the district using a very powerful tactic. I let them know that they were valued and appreciated by me and because we had a relationship, their contribution to my work was necessary. I was genuine, and the communication was open and transparent. Everyone I invited to take part in my survey was told precisely what the purpose was for. I needed them and they responded. In fact, I was welcomed with words of encouragement by some, which made me, in turn, feel valued and appreciated.
How cool is that? So, heartwarming that it eased the sting of turning 50. Yes, back to that ridiculous and irrelevant number. Here is was 50 translates into if you like statistics. For every birthday wish I received on social media, I donated $1 CAD (or, approximately 10 cents USD, kidding!) to Jack.org. A total of 150 wishes turned into dollars for a good cause. Three times the amount of birthdays celebrated in this lifetime, so far!
Jack.org supports mental health in youth. May was Mental Health Awareness month, in Canada and perhaps elsewhere. To raise awareness, our Jack Chapter in Comox Valley held at fair for all students and staff at G.P. Vanier Secondary, where the local chapter operates under the leadership of four senior students. Covering the story of the “fun fair” was one of my highlights this month as the communicator for Comox Valley Schools. It was also one of the highest trending social media posts on Instagram and Facebook – as my analytics tells me! See where I am going with this? To get out of my “woe is me” rut I needed to do something for others, albeit not wholly altruistic.
How serendipitous! There’s that word again. What are the odds?
As I write this journal entry for my final assignment on social media metrics and return on investment (ROI), I can’t help but reflect on an event I attended early in the day. Today, a small collection of close friends, neighbors and family gathered for a celebration of life to honor a charming and incredibly articulate woman, Shelly Sanderson. Although my neighbor for seven years, I knew Shelly more in casual conversation. She succumbed to cancer after enduring through a hard five-month battle. I will miss our chats.
I reflect on the moment and remember Shelly as a metaphor for the quintessential qualities of effective social communication. No matter what the occasion of the encounter that brought me in contact with Shelly, she would always ask insightful questions and then take the time to listen. During one of the heartfelt speeches at the celebration, these admirable traits of hers were acknowledged, and I found myself smiling in agreement. True it was. Shelly, who spent a career in early childhood education, could cleverly weave together a tale by merely collecting tidbits of useful information and turn it into an entertaining story for her young audience. Shelly was the epitome of social communication.
Taking the time to listen. From all the assignment readings this month, social listening struck a chord the most. Social listening is that special skill that requires a bit of measuring to track a whole lot of deciphering to understand.
What are our customers saying about our brand and why should it matter? Brian Fanzo, a millennial social media speaker and founder of isocialfans.com, describes it as putting the social back in social media.
According to socialbaker.com, social listening is a key performance indicator (KPI) worth investing time in, if we truly want to build customer relationships based on trust and understanding. Relationships that enhance our brand, encourage engagement and build loyalty so that when things go south, our customers will step up as brand ambassadors and defend our name.
How do we truly understand our customers? The second most valuable skill I learned in ROI was how to optimize my website content with keywords and keyword phrases to reflect what the target audience is asking when they need answers to a problem. I went through my Wix-designed website to optimize content and felt like I had just cleaned out an overcrowded closet. The experience was uplifting, like weeding the garden only less arduous.
The third valuable take away this month was the enriching educational experience with Google Analytics. I walked through the two video presentations assigned in our reading step-by-step using my client’s website, Comox Valley Schools. My understanding of the data and how it contributes significantly to achieving business goals increased ten-fold.
Coming into this course, I had three objectives, learn how web content can go viral, figure out the best ROIs to track and learn how to interpret analytics to determine if my social media efforts are aligned with my client’s business goals.
After putting the pieces of the social media metrics puzzle together, it is evident that every topic covered during ROI will serve me well as a P.R. practitioner. All my goals on this course were met, and then some. However, the most valuable source of literature, the one that comes to mind as I envision myself standing in the office of my client asking for more resources to execute the social media strategy, is the assigned reading from Deidre Breakenridge’s book, Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional (2012).
Breakenridge explains the value of social media metrics quite eloquently in chapter eight, The Master of the Metrics. Specifically, the reference to outcomes, outputs and outtakes, the three measurements that are fundamental in the work of P.R. practitioners. The subtle reminder that these same principles, which I learned early on in my career, hold true today was encouraging. I now use this as a model to explain the role of a communicator to colleagues. When I do, suddenly I see the light-bulb go off, a rather refreshing change to the head-banging moments trying to explain the value of “communicating socially” with the audience.
Thank you, Shelly, for putting it into perspective. Let us not forget the art of listening.
During the first month of my master’s program, I identified three original expectations for the Innovative Public Relations Tools (IPR) course. They are:
Gain a broader understanding of which digital platforms are most effective for reaching different demographics.
Find the right tool or combination of tools to enhance internal messaging to keep the internal audience informed, appreciated and, in turn, boost morale.
Learn the art and science of digital storytelling to enhance my public relations objectives.
Innovative Public Relations Tools course goals were mapped out on my Mastery Journey timeline during the first month of studies at Full Sail University.
Three things I learned in IPR this month are:
Not all social media tools are alike. Gary Vaynerchuk makes this point very clear in his online marketing video. We must choose the right content for the context in which the information is being shared. We are disrespecting the audience if we do not.
Hashtags and direct messaging with Instagram are powerful techniques to garner the audience’s attention and trade expose.
The importance of a social media playbook and what components should be considered when creating one for a client to ensure brand consistency. A huge mahalo (yes, I was in Hawaii during part of March) to Professor Foley for sharing the Boy Scouts of America playbook. What a gem of a resource to use for creating a playbook for my client, Comox Valley Schools.
The information learned this month will help map out an internal communications strategy based on S.M.A.R.T. goals. All the lessons learned this month will help improve the social media strategy I developed for my client, Comox Valley Schools.
As much as I did not like Vanyerchuk’s use of profanity, I found his W.H.W framework (who we are, how we’re going to talk about it, and where we’re going to talk about it) to be a handy three-step guide that I will prove to be of great value in the future with my social media activity.
Another resource I discovered from the IPR reading material that will be of great value in my learning journey is the social media marketing strategy template and eight-step guide offered by Hootsuite.
The Nā Pali Coast, long revered as a sacred place according to local Hawaiians, can only be accessed by sea or by air, Forrthe adventurous, there is a challenging 11-mile trail that traverses lush valleys and rugged cliff edges. Whichever way one chooses to take in the must-see tourist location, the pristine beauty, which has remained untouched by modern-day human activity, will leave a lasting impression.
The serrated cliff edges of the Nā Pali Coast. (Photo: Mary Lee)
On March 26th, I experienced the coast for a second time. The first was seven years ago while vacationing on the island with my husband and daughter. I remarked at the time that I would do it again on a boat to get up close and personal with the land. During our helicopter tour in 2012, our guide and pilot, Justin, claimed that the Dalai Lama makes frequent trips to pray and meditate. According to legend, the earth’s spirits, our souls, enter and leave mortal life via this coastline.
I share my travel experiences to the coast as a metaphor for my life’s journey in recent days. The course this month, Innovative Tools for Public Relations, has been a period of deep reflection for me. While I appreciate the value of social networking in advanicng my profession, I am not entirely comfortable with the impact it has had on human interaction today. Relationships have changed and, while target audiences can be powerful influencers for a business, they can also be cruel and unkind. In my opinion social media encourages people freely texpress whatever they feel like with ill regard to the consequences. Thys is the behaviour that makes me want to pulled back on the social networking reigns and disengage but doing so would be career suicide.
On this trip to the coast, our family agreed to no electronic devices. The boat tour was a social media free zone. For an old gal who entered the P.R. profession long before Mark Zuckerberg cracked open the social networking Pandora’s Box, living without a device for a day would be refreshing. Could two teens girls (my daughter brought her best friend along on spring break vacation) survive the challenge? I’ll answer that further in this post.
(L-R) Gillian, my daughter and her best buddy Eden experiencing life the wonderment of the Nā Pali Coast on our boat tour March 26. (Photo: Mary Lee)
Over one hundred years ago, the last of the Hawaiian tribes left the Nā Pali Coast leaving behind a legacy of farming and fishing. In fact, the harvest during their period of living on the coast was so plentiful, other islands greatly benefited from an abundant supply of produce. I learned this and other interesting facts from our tour guide and boat captain, Pepe. It got me thinking about how the indigenous people were able to effectively promote their food export business in a region virtually isolated from the rest of the world. How did word spread about the abundance of rich fruits like bananas and pineapple and fresh fish including yellowfin tuna and ono? As I reflected on our rich history as a human race, I felt an overwhelming sense of melancholy. I longed for a time when life seemed simpler and technology was basic. There wasn’t a need for a hashtag to garner attention and trade exposure. Long ago, trade referred to the exchange of goods and services. Attention was garnered by word-of-mouth marketing and sharing compelling stories in a community gathering.
Our studies this month has focused on social networking – setting up profiles and learning to use each network effectively by creating unique posts suitable for that medium. Now before this course, I’ve known how to use social media and have quite effectively adapted with the changing communications landscape. It’s called survival. If you want to communicate with an audience, you must use the right tool for the job. Akin to the introduction of the telephone and its original party lines – a technology that has steadily evolved to the point now where so much of daily life exists on a device once designed strictly to make phone calls. As a society, we have steadily kept pace with evolution and don’t often stop to question its validity. Blindly we follow the herd. If the system is working and better than the last, we adjust accordingly.
Two of the assigned videos for this course caused me to pause and reflect. From the video, West and East, Cultural Differences we learn that striking differences between easterners and westerners. Eastern cultures consider the sum of all parts, so to speak, and don’t look at an object in isolation. Everything is connected to other objects as is the energy, or chi, between objects. The Na Pali Coast radiates a chi that I can only describe as magnificent. So powerful, in fact, that the first time I viewed it from the air, I was reduced to tears of joy and sorrow. So, it was no surprise that message in this video resonated with me and not for the lesson intended regarding communication, rather for the beautiful simplicity in which easterners see the world and value each component that makes up an experience.
The second video, Online Marketing Rockstars Gary Vaynerchuk, was a disappointment. Vaynerchuk, in my opinion, is harsh, rude and unprofessional. Using profanity is an immature way to make a point. And yet, guys like Vaynerchuk are held in such high regard because of their social networking talent and ability to gain an impressive number of followers. In my view, social media has placed too much emphasis on winning popularity. Users are becoming obsessed with quantity and not the quality of false relationships in a false cyber world.
Ironically, after beginning my journal entry I came across an online article about Zuckerberg. Here in Hawaii, the state residents have referred to him as ‘the face of neocolonialism‘ because of lawsuits he filed against Hawaiians over his purchase of a 700-acre parcel of land in Kauai (Letman & Wong. 2017). How uncanny I should discover this information while vacationing here and feeling liberated from the artificiality social media creates in our lives.
So, how did two girls manage without their devices on a five-hour tour that included a snorkeling excursion? Swimmingly, no pun intended! The girls were awe-struck by the raw beauty of the coast. We saw wild mountain goats scurrying across a valley, witnessed humpback whales in a courting ritual and hovered in the refreshing waters of a natural reef admiring sea turtles. They couldn’t stop talking about the day and in such detail, restoring my faith in their generation. But, no sooner did we arrive back at the resort, they jumped back on their devices and started sharing the journey on social media. In all fairness, I am as guilty. I fell prey to the temptation to seek likes and followers. During our tour, I took some fantastic images on my Nikon camera as did my husband on his GoPro – the only two “digital” devices allowed. I may have sent out an Instagram post as well to showcase what we experienced. My motive was strategic and I used a fitting hashtag to garner some attention to the cause – #bekindtoouroceans!
Swimming with turtles is perhaps one of the most incredible euphoric experiences our family has ever had. Here is Gillian on our snorkeling excursion, part of the tour to the Nā Pali Coast. (Photo: Gavin Lee)
By far, the most enjoyable and fulfilling assignment in our Writing for Interactive Media was the Public Service Announcement (PSA). The process of scripting, filming scenes, and recording interviews were stimulating. More so, I felt alive in my creative space. The editing was simple and straightforward. The scenes fell into place exactly as played on the film reel in my headspace. I unleashed my “childlike spirit” all over again (Greene, 2012).
Interesting course this month. While I thought I was going to take a deep dive into Public Relations theory in today’s digital world, I found the content heavily based on practical exercises, and for which I have plenty of experience. The assigned readings reinforce much of what I already know. However, my background has primarily been in the public sector. Neal Schaffer’s Maximize Your Social was a worthwhile read and very comparable to blogs and articles I’ve combed through restlessness to keep abreast with the changing trends in PR, specifically in public education.
As a consultant in PR for more than 10 years, I have seen the introduction and implementation of digital media platforms long before companies like Hootsuite, Hubspot and Buffer came along. Before the invention of social media tools, these companies didn’t exist. Communicating digitally has given rise to new inventions, new instruction, and advanced tools to enhance the digital media experience even further.
The pace at which these digital platforms are developing is exhausting. One day shooting video on landscape setting is appropriate, the next day vertical is in, horizontal is out. Raw, authentic, unscripted video, contrary to the PSA, is cool, catchy and trendy. And that’s one of the biggest takeaways this month. Figuring out the language, style, and tone to use for social media and digital storytelling. It is quite an art. And if it weren’t for these social media expert companies, I might be somewhat naive and lacking in experience.
Late last month, I took part in a Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) conference. Among the presenters was a young employee representing Hootsuite who spoke on the topic of metrics and measuring ROI. I found her discussion informative, as well as reassuring since it will be the subject of an upcoming course in the Master’s program. More reassuring, fellow PR practitioners in attendance were frivolously taking as many notes as I during the presentation, excited to gain insightful knowledge from one of the leading companies in social media data collection. Whether a seasoned PR practitioner or a newly-minted one, there is so much to embrace and explore with the new way of communicating, and this workshop made me even more eager to jump in.
Still, while the art continues to evolve with the ever-changing trends, the very purpose of the public relations remains constant. Build and maintain valuable relationships with the public to garner support by managing the communications between the organization and its publics” (Grunig & Hunt. cited in Bowen et al. 2010).
Moving forward in my profession, I feel even more confident in upholding the virtues of the trade with my knowledge deeply rooted in the foundation of our profession. Equally, I have an inspired sense of direction in the tactics that keep the profession alive, relevant and necessary as traditional media struggles to stay alive. Change the narrative, lead the story. Become your own brand journalist. The PR occupation, indeed, has an exciting future.
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