My Experience with AdWords

I saw something today I never thought I would ever see. Check this out:

Yes, I bought some words. AdWords, that is. This is how Google makes a lot of money. Because I work in sales at The State News, I recognize the huge value in this product. AdWords isn’t intrusive – it simply shows up on the right side of the screen when you search for something on Google.

This is great for those people who love stats, but AdWords doesn’t allow for traditional branding. To me, it skips that whole creative branding process that I believe is essential for a company to connect with an audience. However, revenue for AdWords continues to increase while the rest of the advertising industry continues to suffer. Where will things be in a year? Five years? It’s a tough questions but nonetheless important for those getting into advertising, marketing and PR.

Anyway, I found the product useful. I did see some traffic increases, but not any comments from new bloggers. Although I would love to see a million people reading my blog every day, I would rather the blog be useful to those looking for advice. I think I have some work to do on targeting and it will take some more exploration on my part. There are many ways to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck. Google does a really good job explaining everything here.

Here are my search terms:

I thought about using “super fly” as a search term just to see what would happen, but I realized that there are probably many more ads that are willing to pay more per click than my offer of $0.15. Hey, I’m a broke college kid, don’t make fun of me.

In case you can’t see, here’s my ad. Now I know how my clients feel when they place their first ad in our paper.

Filed under: New Media Drivers License, Professional Development, Social Media, adwords, blog, google, personal branding, seo, stats

Being a Career Strategist

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard a trend from multiple recruiters and professionals concerning what they look for in a prospective employee. More than just having internships, demonstrating the right skill sets and showing a professional attitude, it’s important to remember the difference between strategy and tactics. In your own career, you can show employers that you are a strategist, which is more important than just contributing to the tactics.

So, what’s the difference between a career strategist and a career tactician? Here’s what a career tactician does in college and in their early career:

• Makes a list of internships to complete
• Plans their class schedule to fulfill all requirements
• Has a portfolio full showing different things they can do
• Goes on a study abroad to have international experience

Here’s what a career strategist would do in the same situations:

• Keeps internship and career options open, but keeps in mind how it will help future roles
• Takes classes that supplement their career interests, not just to get the credits done
• The portfolio shows they were part of a campaign and contributed to the success of it
• Studies abroad and is able to “unpack” and apply their international experiences

There are plenty more, but what it comes down to is being able to see the big picture of what you’re doing and why. If you are a strategist, you can answer why, when, what’s next, was it successful and what would you have done differently. It’s also important to remember that you can be a leader no matter what company or organization you are involved in.

I think it’s a good idea to take a top down approach to college vs. a bottom up approach. That is, keep in mind what you want to do upon graduation and then find the best things to fill in the gap of that goal and where you are now. If you want to go into PR, a good idea would be to have different internships that emphasize different things.

If you don’t know what you want to do when you graduate, you can still be a strategist. Your goal of what you want to do upon graduation will still require general skill sets that you can enhance with collegiate experiences. Personally, this is where I’m at. I know I want to do PR when I graduate, but where I want to work and with what kind of company… I’m not set in stone. I still know what I need to work on and improve, so I am still able to be strategic.

After you have created your top down plan, it’s a good idea to micromanage each step. When you earn those internships and leadership positions, don’t come in with a checklist of things you need to have. You should approach everything like a sponge – absorb as much information as possible and look at your projects from the big picture prospective. When you’re assigned to write a press release, you shouldn’t just do it. Ask why you’re writing the release and how it is important to the client. The Career Strategist blog has some great posts that talk more about preparing for a strategic career.

Seth Godin wrote a great post on the difference between strategy and tactics. He even says the right strategy can make any tactic work. So, when you’re planning your career, make sure that you know where you want to go and that you’re taking the right steps. Look at the big picture of what you want to accomplish in your early career that will propel you forward.

So, are you a strategist? Any tips or advice on how to become one?

Photo by soccergoalx on Flickr.

Filed under: Internships, Professional Development, Public Relations, career, college, goals, Internships, professional, Public Relations, seth godin, strategy, student, study abroad, success, tactic

My New Blog Reads

As if I don’t read enough I did some searching around for some new reads. I think that subscribing to a bunch of PR (or whatever industry you’re looking at when you graduate or currently work in) is great, but finding content that is related to your industry is just as beneficial.

Here’s what I came up with and recommend all of them.

The White House Blog. Democrat, Republican… or anything else… you should be reading this. With the new administration’s apparent commitment to transparency and ethics (woo hoo!), one can hope that this blog is going to be used to promote what is actually going on in Washington.

PR Watch Blog by the Center for Media and Democracy. I wrote in my last post about how it’s important to learn from the critics, and I also found out that they had a blog. Check it out.

SPJ Blogs by the Society of Professional Journalists. You’ve got to give SPJ credit for their Code of Ethics. It’s the second result when you search “code of ethics” on Google (a lot higher than PRSA’s code) and they talk about relevant things in the media industry.

Flacker – A Digital Public Relations Weblog by Young PR Flack. This blog offers an interesting perspective on the field and provides some pretty solid content.

PR Works by David Jones of Hill & Knowlton. The thing that sold me on this blog was their video on how the Flight 1549 Wikipedia page updated over 90 minutes. There is also plenty of other worthwhile content, so definitely subscribe to this one.

Learn It, Live It, Love It – the PR book club. Yes, we have plenty to read with work and class, but this is a fun way to network and learn. While I might be one of the group managers and a little biased, we’ve got some great things going on with this. Check it out.

I did some searching with the Google Blog Search, as well as Alltop and Technorati. All are great places to search for topics, as well as clients, future employers and yourself.

Anyone else have any good finds recently?

Filed under: New Media Drivers License, Public Relations, Social Media, alltop, blog, google, pr watch, Public Relations, search, technorati, white house blog

Google for Students

Sometimes, I imagine my life without Google. And then I realize how dependent I am on Google – if it’s going down I’m going down with it. As students, Google really does make our lives easier. Literally everything is at our finger tips and we should know how to maximize usage on their products to improve ourselves. Personally, I have found that Google makes things simple and easy to sync with the rest of your life. I can’t recommend it enough, if you can’t tell.

After creating a Google account here (be sure to use something along the lines of your name, both for credibility and SEO’s sake). Here’s a list of the things Google offers you should be using, both from experience and recommendations:

• iGoogle – This is your home page. You can add different widgets and sync many of the features listed below to this page. It’s a nice first page to look at when you get online.
• Gmail – The Web mail of Google is my favorite Google product. You can fetch mail in other inboxes to use one tool for your multiple accounts, as well as chat, label, and store at your pleasure.  I also use Gmail as my to-do list; that is, I keep only the e-mails I need to deal with in my inbox and archive the rest (archiving is not deleting – click on “all mail” to see your archived messages or simply search for it). Oh yeah, your inbox is huge. Like really, really big. Don’t worry about filling it up any time soon.
• Google Reader – Much more than a tool for news junkies, you can use Google Reader to keep on top of the news, your favorite blogs and even the occasional random feed. If you’re new to blogging, I recommend Alltop – it’s a great place to get started and check out topics that interest you.
• Google Alerts – This alerts you, either by e-mail or through your reader, when a phrase you select lands anywhere from a news article to a blog post. I recommend using this in two ways. First, it might seem ego-centric, but put a Google Alert on your name. Have this one e-mailed to you so you can know if something is being said about you. Next, put some Google Alerts on the companies you want to work for. I would recommend subscribing these to your reader so you can peruse these at your own pleasure.
• Google Groups – If you’re in a student organization or you want to keep in touch with friends, Google Groups is where it’s at for you. You can chat, create pages and make your group look fancy.
• Google Calendar – I’ll be honest, I don’t use this application. I have my physical planner that I wouldn’t know how to live my live without it. However, I’ve heard great things about this easy-to-use app. You can also sync it with your mobile phone – it doesn’t get much better than that.
• Google Analytics – This gets to the advanced stuff, but you can put a code on your Web page or blog and Google Analytics will show you various statistics on your site usage. Just so you know, visits measures how many times the Web site was accesses, unique visitors measures how many different computers accesses the Web site, and page views measures the total number of pages served to a visitor. The more page views per visitor, the more useful your site.
• Google Scholar – This is the Google search entire limited to scholarly sources. I’ve used different research tools that MSU has to offer, but honestly, Google Scholar is a lot easier and quicker than anything else. I’m not sure if it yields quite the same content, but this should do the trick for a quick citation on a paper you’re writing.
• Google on your phone – to die for. I got this on my BlackBerry and it’s done everything from saved to ruined my life. Yes, Google Maps has saved me when I have no idea where I am (this happens more often than I like to admit), and yes, I”m addicted to my crackberry. But hey, I’ve got a world of knowledge in the palm of my hand it’s been more helpful than anything.

So, there you have it – how you should be maximizing all of Google’s capabilities. Google offers so much more than what I put on this short post and I recommend trying out a little bit of everything. The best finds are often the ones that get the least coverage.

How else do you use Google? Do you have anything to add to this list?

If you’re looking for more information about all Google’s apps, check out their how to site.

Filed under: New Media Drivers License, Professional Development, Public Relations, Social Media, Uncategorized, alltop, gmail, google, google alerts, google apps, google reader, students

Learning from the Critics

I don’t remember exactly how I came across this Web site, but I did last night. It’s called PR Watch and it is run by the Center for Media and Democracy. Here’s how they describe their organization:

“The nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda, and by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism, media ‘of, by and for the people.'”

Ouch.

Then there’s this video featuring John Stauber, co-founder of PR Watch, who makes the argument that PR = Propaganda. Watch it here.

Double ouch.

I respectfully disagree for plenty of reasons, but that’s not why I’m writing this post (I’ll be writing posts on this later). After searching through the site and reading what they have to say on some different PR companies and campaigns, it’s easy to throw it away as garbage because we’re on the other end of the spectrum. I’ll argue that it’s important to listen to what they have to say in order to improve the industry.

So, as PR practitioners and students, we can take this in one of two ways:

1. Do any combination of: whining, blaming, disagreeing, fighting, etc.
2. Respect their opinions and move forward.

I’m thinking the second choice is a little better. The Ogilvy PR Digital Influence Blog has a post on how to deal with negative detractors in the social media sphere, and it’s pretty applicable to this situation. Here are their steps with my additions:

1. Always say thank you. I like that they point out what they think is bad PR and bad ethics. It’s great that the industry is held accountable to PRSA’s Code of Ethics.
2. Address the issue. Let’s acknowledge the faults and see what we can do to make it better in the future.
3. Correct any misinformation. Opening channels of discussion to see what’s wrong and talk it out. I like to think that #journchat on Twitter is a 3-hour Dr. Phil episode that occurs each Monday evening where PR practioners and journalists talk about improving relations. I also think PRSA (and PRSSA) and SPJ should work together on this, too, as each both have ethical codes.
4. Be transparent and honest. Even more important is regulating and enforcing these ethical standards.
5. Opportunity is knocking on the door – it’s the future of the industry. Educating young PR professionals and PRSSA members on past mistakes can help make a better future. Teach us to take the right path for our careers.

I’ve found that you can learn the most from your critics. I’ve also learned that you can never learn enough. I’ll be perusing PR Watch and use it a guideline of things not to do in my career. Whether it’s accurate or not isn’t the point.

What do you think of PR Watch? Do you think it’s accurate? Can we learn from our critics? These are questions you should answer – here and in your career.

Filed under: Professional Development, PRSSA, Public Relations, career, center for media and democracy, code of ethics, critics, ethics, feedback, pr watch, prsa, PRSSA, Public Relations, spj, twitter

PR Book Club

A couple of weeks ago, Rachel Esterline sent out an idea on Twitter she had about a PR book club. I’ll be quite honest – I need to read more books. I read books for class (most of the time), subscribe to way too much on Google Reader to feed my news junkiness and make time to read The State News in print every day. But I don’t pick up too many books.

Thus, the PR Book Club for students and professionals begins. (We’re looking for a new name and we’re looking for suggestions!)

In case you haven’t heard me ramble about this, one of the things I’m most passionate about is professional development. Yes, more reading on top of what you are assigned as a student or your workload as a professional (or sometimes both), but I think you can and should make time for this.

Here’s my current book list on deck, and hopefully we’ll get to some of these:

The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott. Although it’s part of my New Media Drivers License class, I’ve had this for a while, just haven’t had time to read. I started reading it yesterday, and it’s incredibly engaging.

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. This book has been recommended by me way too many times for me to ignore it.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey. This, too, is a book highly recommended by friends and colleagues.

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. This is the second book that’s part of my NMDL course. Anyone in the marketing field can use a refresher course on solid presentations. Working in sales, I’m excited to improve my presentation skills.

Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy. He does advertising, I do PR, but I think this is going to be a good one.

Rachel is heading up the group and is seeking interested members. Head over to her blog and comment to be part of something really awesome.

Filed under: New Media Drivers License, PR Book Club, Professional Development, Public Relations, 7 habits, advertising, book club, books, charlene li, david meerman scott, garr reyonlds, groundswell, josh bernoff, new rules of marketing & pr, ogilvy, ogilvy on advertising, pr, PR Book Club, presentation zen, Professional Development, Public Relations, steven r. covey

Fresh Start

I’ve been blogging about being a public relations student at MSU since August and I’m hooked. I’m learning a lot, and I hope channeling what I learn is helping you, too.

So, as I sit here in my “New Media Drivers License” class taught by Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital, I wanted to give my blog a fresh start. The students in the class will each be developing a blog, joining the social media conversation and learning how it’s changing the world. Here’s some more information on the course – it’s going to be great.

I have big plans for this blog. I want to have more guest posts on here from you guys. Currently, I’ve got some lined up so get ready for those. Also, I want to share more relevant information – not just my own. Eventually, I would like to create a tool kit for students starting off in PR. In the immediate future, however, I’ll be sharing what I learn as I go through this 10-week course. I can say with full confidence that this is the path public relations education needs to be taking in today’s day and age.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate your help in sharing and contributing, and so do the readers.

What do you think of my blog’s new brand? Any other suggestions?

Filed under: New Media Drivers License, Public Relations, Social Media, Uncategorized, blogging, derek mehraban, ingenex digital, new media drivers lecense, pr student, student

The Right Way to Take Time Off

If you had to leave work early today, could you leave and know that your stuff would be taken care of? What if you had to take tomorrow off, too? What if you went on a world cruise and took a week off? A month?

For the next two weeks, I’m going to be multitasking like I never have done before. During this time of year, I’m normally working at The State News, gearing up for another semester of MSU PRSSA and doing that whole school thing at MSU. At the end of my summer internship, I was asked to come back to John Bailey & Associates and be the NAIAS intern in between school semesters. Could I turn this down? Heck no. Can I stay away from my work at the State News for more than, um, two hours? Heck no.

Thus, I had a dilemma. I knew having two jobs was possible, but I also knew I needed some major help. After asking a co-worker and some major preparation, I’ve been able to stay semi-sane and still be able to stay on top of other things.

I’ve come up with four principles that have helped me have two jobs simultaneously. For those of you who have no desire to have two jobs, you can insert “vacation” or “personal time” where I love to express my workaholic tendencies.

• Delegation. Used correctly and properly, delegating tasks to the right people will not only take the load off your shoulders, but it will also have your co-workers learn and grow with you. Used incorrectly and improperly, you can seem like you don’t care about your work and will give it to whomever. Make sure you have a concise list of daily tasks that need to be completed and that it’s not too overbearing for one person. Interns – try to get your hands on some of this work! It’s a great way to step up and take on more responsibility.
• Communication. There’s some people that are out of the office and are out of the office. If you’re the second type, you better hope you have all your bases covered. For most people, it’s a lot more practical to be out of the office while still aware of what’s happening in the office. It’s important to respect the people who are back in the office doing your job. Taking 10-15 minutes out of your personal time to make sure they have a clear understanding of your projects and assignments can probably save them a lot of time. Keep lines of communication with the person that’s helping you out.
• Cooperation. Don’t be afraid of these new challenges – generally, you want to be the one that’s helpful in the office. It’s not always easy to take on new tasks, so do the best you can with what you’ve got. Reach out to the client and your supervisor – communication and explanation can go a long way.
• Return the favor. Show the love with a token of appreciation. Taking on a crappy assignment from your helpful co-worker is great. If you went on vacation, bring something back for that person and help them out with their work. Come up with some other creative ways to say thanks. Also remember to return the favor when they need help.

I’m not saying that I mastered this on my first try. In fact, this is pretty much a list of the things I should have done better during my two weeks out of one office and in another. But, on the whole, I’m able to keep up with two jobs, school and PRSSA mostly because my friends and co-workers have been helping out. I because I have a “support group” of sorts. My good friend and co-worker Gina is doing an incredible job of doing the crappy part of my State News job – scheduling, routing cards and solving production issues. She makes me look good to my clients. Thanks, Gina.

There’s probably some jobs out there that are individualistic in nature and don’t require team work, but I’m quickly finding out that what I’m doing is not one of those jobs.

What do you think? Any advice?

Filed under: Uncategorized, bailey pr, career, delegate, john bailey & associates, msu, naias, office, PRSSA, team, the state news, time off

Breaking Down the Walls

For me, 2009 is going to be a year of breaking down the walls. I’m talking about changing the traditional college paradigm that has resulted from the increasingly competitive job market. 

More then ever, students are pushing themselves through difficult curriculums, taking on leadership positions in student organizations and getting a job or two. The days of going through college and getting a sweet job are over. Hopefully there is no one out there that honestly believes that.

As a result, college is competitive and stressful. The college setting is meant to test and prepare us for “real world” situations, so the question then becomes is the real world as competitive and stressful? 

As students, sometimes we get caught up amidst the competitive atmosphere. We’re all competing for the top internships, the best grades and ultimately the best jobs. Too often we forget about our peers and their own professional pursuits. I was always taught to treat others the way I want to be treated. Just like in social media, cultivating relationships with your colleagues takes time and work, but it pays off in the end.

Here are my goals (note: not resolutions) for breaking down the walls this year:

• Build my network and share it. I love networking and meeting new people. My friend puts it best: “I can’t keep my PR legs closed.” This year, I want to connect the good people in my network with the other good people in my network.
• Improve this blog so that it does help people. I like to share what I learn, who I meet and new trends with you guys because I learn from you. I hope to continue to product worthwhile content and please let me know if I start going senile.
• Look beyond the short term and always look for the long term. Questioning old practices and replacing them with new, more effective practices is what I’m going for. 
• Connect Michigan PRSSA students with each other. I’ve been in contact with some really great people at other Michigan PRSSA Chapters and we all share in similar pre-professional pursuits, so why not help each other out? I had dinner with Jared Bryan from Wayne State University and Stephanie Scheer from Eastern Michigan University and I’m looking forward to working with them over the next couple of months.

This past year, a friend and mentor of mine, Jennie Ecclestone, who happened to be the MSU PRSSA Chapter President at the time, nominated me for a Central Michigan PRSA award. Typically, the award goes to a senior who has dedicated him or herself to their PRSSA Chapter and made a dramatic impact. Even though I and a couple other people nominated Jennie, her recommendation that she probably put a lot of time and effort into got me the award. This completely selfless action taught me more about leadership then any conference or book. Jennie was breaking down the walls and she will always have a friend and colleague with me. 

When it comes down to it, people make the difference in my life. I’m lucky to be surrounded by such dynamic, dedicated and funny people. They keep me sane and drive me nuts. But because they have help me so much in my career, I would do anything for them. Public relations and other industries are often based on who you know, not what you know. I hope I will be able to repay the favor to Jennie somehow.

This year, I challenge you to break down the walls in your own pre-professional career. Ask yourself, “why the hell not?” Value honesty and listen to your peers. And most importantly, don’t forget your friends and colleagues. 

Photo by rulosblack on Flickr. 

Filed under: Uncategorized, 2009, career, eastern michigan, goals, leadership, networking, PRSSA, Public Relations, relationships, resolutions, Social Media, wayne state