Friday Five: PR Pros: Don’t Get Caught Up in the Monotony – Reassess and Stay Sharp!

As public relations professionals, it is our job to learn every new tool available to help build our professional prowess and develop the ability to mindlessly execute our new sets of skills. What happens when following a regular routine leads to commonly executed mistakes? Every so often PR pros need to examine their strengths and learn how to take their work to the next level by evaluating what has been done in the past and what can be done differently going forward.  

In this week’s PRSA “Friday Five” post — an analysis of the week’s biggest public relations and business news and commentary — we take a look at social media best practices, dos and don’ts, recommendations and other useful tips tailored specifically to public relations professionals and their day-to-day tasks. We also get a peek at the who’s who of the PR world – with accounts that every communicator should be following on Twitter. 

Avoid Social Networking Pitfalls: 4 Tips (Inc.com)

Inc.com contributor Geoffrey James discusses four possible social networking obstacles and tips on how to overcome them. Here are a couple of examples to help you keep your social media strategy on track instead of becoming another social media disaster.

1. Unclear ROI. While most companies have concluded that social media is worth some time and energy, they haven’t quite figured out how to show the activity’s worth it in terms of revenue. While the task of measuring social media may seem daunting, it is certainly worth trying in order to determine how social media efforts impact the bottom line. James explains that the best approach is for companies to “examine before-and-after changes in sales conversion rates and customer service expense.”
2. Rogue Employees. When social media initially became a priority for companies, only senior staff (that had been media trained) had access to social media channels. Today many of these channels have been opened up to a number of staff members, giving them opportunity to post something potentially damaging to the brand. To avoid this pitfall, there should be a specific, flexible set of employees granted access to social media channels. Companies should also appoint a department or administrator to monitor everything being distributed via social media.                                                                                                          

4 Secrets to Standing Out on LinkedIn (PR Daily)

Do you have a great LinkedIn profile or is it simply mediocre? PR Daily’s Samantha Collier explains that great LinkedIn profiles happen when people efficiently use the multitude of features that LinkedIn offers. LinkedIn is no longer solely for showcasing your name and profession. Users must now figure out better methods of engagement on the platform as well. Collier offers an abbreviated version of an article recently published on the LinkedIn blog. The article offers 4 ways to stand out on LinkedIn. Here is a couple to get you started:

1. Status updates. Sharing content on your profile at least once a week makes you 10 times more likely to be contacted by a recruiter. While content is key, make sure that you’re sharing quality information and remember to not over share. No one likes to be inundated by a single user’s updates.
2. Schedule. There are a number of professionals who don’t feel they have ample time to dedicate to LinkedIn. Collier recommends making a schedule and sticking to it. Choose a time of day when you can update your profile and make it a habit. Eventually it will become second nature.

10 Common Sense Social Media Marketing ‘Don’ts’ Some Brands ‘Do’ (Business 2 Community)

If marketing is your expertise, here are a few social media marketing moves to avoid. Don’t be found guilty of committing these social media crimes.

1. Don’t be pushy. Social media is about building relationships. Leave the hard sell in the past and instead develop good rapport with prospects, while offering a gentle nudge toward the product.
2. Don’t ask for like. Asking for likes may benefit your brand’s numbers but there is no advantage for your prospects. Avoid pressuring your audience and instead offer meaningful content that will lead to an authentic like and even a possible sale.
3. Don’t post irrelevant content. Post content that is actually related to your brand. Content that is not relatable to your audience becomes a major turnoff and your brand can risk losing fans over this. 

5 Social Media Metrics You Should Be Monitoring (SocialMediaToday)

While measuring the value of social media in important for any company, knowing what data to decipher and what data to ignore can be challenging. SocialMediaToday’s Jeffrey Vocell discusses five metrics that public relations professionals should be monitoring. Here are a couple of his suggestions:

1. Engagement. Vocell describes engagement as “one of the most critical areas of social to measure.” For brands there are different ways to interpret engagement depending on what platform the conversations are taking place. Brands should maintain a consistent message across all platforms while find varying ways to interact with fans, tweeps, and professionals contacts.
2. Reach. Reach is important because it allows companies and brands to understand the size of the audience seeing their content on all social media channels. Reach can be used in combination with other metrics to draw a number of conclusions such as the rate at which your audience is growing or shrinking.

#FollowFriday: 12 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts for PR Pros (PR News)  

This week PRNews gives a shout out to 12 noteworthy public relations professionals that we should be following on Twitter. Spoiler alert: PRSA made that list. Did you? Check out PRNews’ creative #FollowFriday.

Nicole Castro is the public relations associate at the Public Relations Society of America.