But using it well (and not annoying your connections) takes a little know how and some LinkedIn etiquette. I think no where is this more true that in asking for introductions.

LinkedIn allows you to reach out to people directly to make a connection (I always recommend adding a personal message about why you want to connect). However, using the “Get Introduced” feature, can help facilitate a connection and give you an edge.

So how does it work?

Start by finding someone you want to make a connection with. You can do this is many ways, but my two favorite (and most basic) are to a) search the connections of one of your contacts. If you’re connected to me, you have access to my 1500+ connections. You can sort by city (say you want to move to Los Angeles) or by company or a few other filters or b) search LinkedIn directly by name or company.

Look for second degree connections. That means just one person exists between you and them.

Recently, I did a company search for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. A lot of our grads work at WaggEd and it’s the largest PR firm in the northwest. In doing that search, I found an account director to whom I had a second degree connection. I found her profile interesting because we have so many students with an interest in event planning — and that’s what she does for WaggEd clients. Neat.

So say I want to get connected to Megan. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Click on the arrow next to “Send InMail” to get the drop down options. The first says “Get introduced.” Choose that option.

 2. The next screen will show you all the people who you and the desired contact have in common. Turns out Megan and I have several mutual connections. Choose the one that you think would be most willing to “put in a good word” for you. I chose my friend, Erica, also an account director at WaggEd. She and I did our undergrad work together in the SOJC and I know she’d be willing to facilitate this connection for me.

I started with a note to Erica about why I wanted to connect with Megan.

3. The final part is the most important. To make it easy breezy for Erica to forward my connection request with her own note, I finish the request with a note directly to Megan. Consider a mini cover letter. Why do you want to be introduced?

That’s it! Take a read through, do a final edit and hit “Send Request.”

Erica will get a notice in her inbox that I’ve requested an introduction with the option to forward or decline.

Have you used this feature of LinkedIn before? Any tips beyond what I’ve offered here?

In May of 2013, Disney announced that Merida from the movie Brave would become the 11th Disney Princess. As part of her coronation (an actual event at Disney World), Merida got a bit of a make-over. Apparently, she needed to match the other princesses in va-va-voomness.

The backlash was fast and furious.

One expert said,

“This one character may not do any damage to a girl’s psychological development, per se,” said Dr. Robyn Silverman. “But Merida joins a barrage of thin, sultry characters for girls, making her yet another facet of our sexed-up, thinned down messaging.”

Not even a week after she was introduced, the new Merida was quietly pulled from the Disney Princess website.

As of May 15, 2013, Disney had yet to issue a statement. But the decision to pull the made-over Merida and replace her with the original Pixar image, is an example of situational theory.

I am fortunate to have been able to grow my business in this community over the last 10 years. Through ebbs and flows, I’ve always been able to forge relationships with amazing organizations that have strong values and a solid commitment to our community. Together we’ve been able to do great work.

I’m equally, if not more, fortunate to have the opportunity to extend my capacity by joining a team of outstanding communications professionals. Led by Dana Turell (previously with CAWOOD, a local marketing agency) we are forming the Turell Group, a marketing, public relations and digital strategy agency.

Closing Verve Northwest Communications is a little bitter sweet. It’s been my “baby” for more than a decade… but I’m finding it more and more difficult to balance the business management side of the business with the ability to do what I love. I’ve known for some time that I need to make a change. I was waiting for the right change at the right time. This is it.

Doing great work has to be my priority. Whether it’s in the classroom or in my professional work. I love what I do. And I’m exceedingly grateful to be able to do it. Now I can focus more on the “doing” and less on the administration.

The Turell Group launches officially next week. We’re still working out the kinks of client agreements and office space and setting up new computers.

For all intents-and-purposes, little will change quantitatively; I’ll continue to teach at the University of Oregon and also serve as a client counselor & strategist. I’ll just be working under a different awning & have a rock star team behind me. Look for more news soon!

Plus, our offices have a killer view… (see photo above).

First of all, if you’re not up-to-speed on the disaster that Applebee’s created, this is an excellent recap. You should read it.

As in most cases like this, the variables are hard to track and you’ll find speculation and rumors galore (not to mention rantings and rationalizations). So, for the sake of my argument, let’s start with a basic assumption: the server violated company policy by posting the image of the customer’s receipt.

With that in mind, here’s what I see as the problems with Applebee’s responses:

• Firing people has a greater chance of making you look like a big, stinky jerk than not firing someone. This is especially true when the “facts” are in question and the violation is something that a lot of us have done (or can certainly understand why one would do so).
• Not having a crisis plan with a social media component is stupid. Of course, not having either a crisis plan or a social media plan to start with is also stupid. Considering the shallow, promotional blather on the Applebee’s Facebook Page prior to this incident, I’m guessing it had neither.
• The Applebee’s response on Facebook – from the contrite posts to the verbose comments to the time stamp of the responses (3 am? Drunk Facebooking anyone? This was an unfair comment based on time stamps reflecting time zone differences.) – violated social media management 101. But when you have no strategy and you don’t know how to talk to people, that’s what happens.

Awesome photo by Decoded Science, which has a nice recap, too. 

So, what should Applebee’s have done?

• Not fired the server. I’m sure the company panicked, was trying to “set an example” and any number of knee jerk responses. Likely the action was taken by the franchisee and not the company (indicating the franchisee experience with social media and access to it is totally divorced from the corporate presence), adding a layer of complexity. But not firing the server would’ve saved a lot of headache. 
• Issued an update early (as early as possible!) that said something like, “We value our relationships with our employees and our guests. We wouldn’t be here without them. We feel compelled to share our view on the photo shared by one of our servers. At Applebee’s, we’re committed to doing the right thing for everyone involved. We have apologized to the guest. In addition, we will immediately begin social media training with all our employees across every Applebee’s franchise, starting with the one in St. Louis where this occurred. We want our employees to be smart about risks not only to our business, but to their customers and to themselves. We also want employees who are empowered to share.”
• Created a social media policy, which could be shared on social media channels.
• Been transparent, authentic and, yes, human, in all its interactions.
• Followed up with social  media training and demonstrated the company’s commitment in tangible, visible ways. Like maybe sharing photos featuring and taken by employees?

By responding quickly and framing of the discussion, rather than letting it get completely out of control, Applebee’s gets to come out looking like the good guy instead of the big, stinky jerk. By treating everyone involved – the server, the guest, the Facebook fans – like people, the conversation would’ve stayed civil and “on topic.”

Taking a longer-term view, Applebee’s clearly had no social media policy that was relevant to employees, had very little strategy in place (how many photos of food & promotional nonsense can you post?) and does not appear to have a crisis communications plan that included social media.

As with most things like this, there were a lot of things Applebee’s should’ve been doing well in advance of any incident occurring to build goodwill and provide a culture in which something like this wouldn’t have happened (because employees understood their role) or if it did the company could’ve activated a plan to minimize damage and maintain relationships.

Come sit in the armchair with me and do a little quarterbacking. What would your advice to Applebee’s be?

Heather Cox was ESPN repoter the on-the-field reporter entitled to the (always riveting…insert eye roll…) post-game interview.

Some dude with the Rose Bowl (possibly part of the Rose Bowl’s PR team) was attempting to usher Standford’s Coach Shaw to the trophy presentation and, apparently, wasn’t aware of the post-game interview expectation.

The interview, part one, was a mess. Coach Shaw was being pulled in several directions. Cox looked like an amateur trying to control the situation and get her god d*mn interview (“Can we finish here…?”). Then as Shaw was pulled away, Cox’s mic was still on as she exclaimed, “Are you kidding me?!” It wasn’t clear who Cox was talking to – Coach Shaw? (rude) Herself? (understandable, I suppose) Her production team? The Rose Bowl dude? The American people?

Brent Musberger was left trying to explain, and cover for, Cox’s actions and attitude.

I appreciate that Cox was trying to do her job in a frustrating and chaotic situation. I appreciate that the Rose Bowl dude was not doing his job.

However, people don’t like to watch sausage being made. The viewer doesn’t care if there was a miscommunication (and honestly, probably doesn’t care if there’s a postgame interview). And, while pretty amusing, Cox’s outburst turned her interview into the story. In PR and Journalism, we don’t want to BE the story.

The interview, part two, reminded everyone of how boring post-game interviews are.

See the video at Bleacher Report.

What do you think?

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

It’s scary to make mistakes. We’re conditioned to seek the “right” answer (and quickly). Turns out, very little about life has a “right” answer. So be brave, get out there and “make glorious, amazing mistakes.”

What do you want to try this year? How are you going to push yourself?

Some suggestions to make the most of your winter break:

Update your resume (and LinkedIn). Adding new positions, editing based on instructor or professional feedback, playing with the layout and design… Your resume is in a constant state of change at this stage in your pre-professional career. Make sure it’s up-to-date. While you’re at it, update your LinkedIn profile and add some new connections.

Work on your e-portfolio. An online home for your writing samples and resume is a must. If you already have an e-portfolio, take some time to update the materials. If you don’t have one, this is a great time to start. Finding a platform (I like WordPress) and uploading your favorite writing samples is a good start.

Read. Pick up a PR, social media or general business book. Or update your feed reader and find new blogs to follow. Catch up on your PR industry news and trends while you have some time. Yes, you can even read some fiction for fun. It’s ok! This summer reading list is still pretty relevant if you need some suggestions for books. You can also use my public Netvibes dashboard for PR, marketing and social media blogs to read.

Research. Research companies you want to work for, who their clients are, what kind of jobs are available while you have time to follow the Internet rabbit trails (and have fun doing it!). You can find some tips here to get started.

Do some informational interviews. If you’ve done some research, reach out to people working in PR and set up a time to chat over coffee. Info interviews are a great way to network and get to know the industry. An oldie, but a goodie… this post gives some great advice for informational interviews. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to work in your hometown, you can always get out and meet some people. PR is a small industry and you never know where a chat over coffee will lead.

In case you missed it, the first was from KitchenAidUSA. It was tweeted the night of the first presidential debate.

The second was from StubHub (pardon the language). You can read more about this situation here.

Of course KitchenAidUSA and StubHub aren’t the first corporate accounts to have this happen (remember Chrysler?). What really stood out to me about both these tweets was this:

If you’re a company that’s hired someone who would tweet EITHER of these tweets (even on a personal account), you’ve made a bad hiring decision. Both of these twitterers used unbelievably terrible judgment. These are not the kind of tweets that should be sent out ever on a social network. Ever. Much less by someone who “does” social media for a living. The first error in judgment was KitchenAid and StubHub not taking their respective social media seriously and ensuring the people in place to manage corporate channels had the skills, sense of strategy and maturity to do so.

The second error in judgment was, of course, on the part of the individuals managing those accounts.

I’ve mistweeted from client accounts before, it’s pretty easy to do (and pretty easy to avoid). In each case for me, the tweet was not relevant to that client’s audience or the kind of content typically shared on that platform. But they were not offensive. Guess why. Because I do not tweet offensive things.

The mistweet issue is certainly one that, if you’re helping manage a brand account, you have to pay attention to. But I think the bigger issue in the KitchenAidUSA and the StubHub case was that the individuals responsible for those accounts showed a complete lack of judgment and shouldn’t have been in a position of responsibility.

No, I’m not suggesting that you have to tweet like you’re a corporate brand, but everything you tweet is part of your personal brand. And that should be just as important to you as if you were tweeting on behalf of a client or an employer. It’s through your personal brand that you can demonstrate your expertise, your professionalism and your good judgment. And it’s because you bring expertise, professionalism and good judgment that you’ll be a valuable employee. One that doesn’t tweet something that results in your boss having to apologize to the President of the United States of America.

As usual, a Chipism sums it up… In an interview last week, Oregon Ducks Football Coach Chip Kelly said this about Twitter (after the Washington State coach banned his players from using it).

What do you think? How do you think about your own presence on social media and how does that relate to managing a company or client account? I’d love to hear your experience.

Engage 2012 is journalism challenge that asks K-12 students from schools throughout the United States to create 2-minute non-fiction multimedia stories from their communities about one of six topics relating to the presidential election. These topics include:

• Voter Turnout
• Jobs & the Economy
• Education Reform
• Health Care
• Energy & Environment
• Immigration

We are currently in the process of securing a panel of well-known journalists and professors from journalism schools across the country to judge the entries. Winners will potentially be announced on ABCnews.com and CBS This Morning.

We are looking for public relations students from the University of Oregon to help us draft and implement a communication plan to publicize the challenge. The plan would incorporate traditional and non-traditional advertising and public relations strategies. Applicants must be self-directed and dependable, in addition to possessing strong writing skills.

This is a volunteer position and will last until January 31, 2012. It will require between 10 and 15 hours of work per week, although that will vary depending on the month. Most of the work will be done from home. Volunteers are also expected to attend project meetings from time to time.

You will not be getting paid to work on Engage 2012. However, you will gain experience in copywriting, public relations, marketing, and project management for a semi-high-profile journalism project.

You’ll also be empowering elementary, middle school, and high school students to share stories from their communities and become politically engaged on both a local and national level.

If you are interested, please send your resume or a brief description of your previous public relations experience to Maya Lazaro at mlazaro@uoregon.edu by Friday, August 24 with the subject header “Engage 2012 Volunteer.” Direct questions about the project to mlazaro@uoregon.edu.

Image credit: a4patil / 123RF Stock Photo

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest… social media tools are a ton of fun, but also have the ability to make or break your reputation. Even as a student, you have to think about what you’re putting out there on the Internet – after all, someday you want to be gainfully employed, right?

Managing Social Media (CIS 199) is a one-credit workshop that will help you understand the ins and outs of all the major social media platforms and how to use them effectively. We’re not going to tell you to stop being yourself or to self-censor to the point of being boring online, but we can help you figure out how to be smart about what you share and help you create a plan for yourself.

Through guest speakers, hands-on practice and lively discussion, you’ll leave this workshop better prepared to manage your own social media channels.

CIS 199

CRN: 42382

June 25 – July 8

Mon-Thur 11 – 12:20

About Kelli Matthews

About Nargus Oskui