Check out my latest presentation at AEJMC 2012 in Chicago.
Hang on for upcoming reviews of additional books as well. I've been vacationing from blogging this summer but not reading! Coming soon: A review of Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
In the mean time:
http://www.slideshare.net/klcolley/best-practices-in-student-media-marketing
Showing posts with label public relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public relations. Show all posts
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Community Relations Ranks at the Bottom for Higher Ed PR
http://chronicle.com/article/Understanding-the-Public-in/48999/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
The previous article, Understanding the Public in Public Relations, is from the Chronicle of Higher Education. It focuses on a portion of public relations at universities that gets short shrift: community relations.
Now how, you ask, does a university located in a community ignore the community? Well it isn't a matter of ignoring. It's more a matter of taking for granted.
Throughout the history of higher education, institutions of learning have depended on the support and finances of the local community to fulfill their missions. Without the local community, these institutions wouldn't have become the Harvards and Yales and even the University of fill-in-a-name. Instead, they would have withered away and died.
In the early going, even Harvard had problems staying afloat, relying on the generosity of the local community, and some benefactors from throughout the United States, to pay faculty, provide books and provide students...
So why is it that universities have taken their communities for granted?
Well, like any good relationship, if you're in it long enough, you begin to relax. You begin to count on the person on the other side to just be there and to just be. That's when you begin taking the relationship and hence the people for granted.
I'm not saying that all universities do this. I'm saying that it's easy to do this in a longstanding relationship. But when new people move into an area, they don't understand how the university did whatever it did. They expect a certain level of attention, and when they don't get it, problems arise. Here's when you should focus on community relations--before this happens.
Public relations is supposed to be about building and maintaining relationships. Community relations really focuses on this more than many other forms of public relations, which is why it's so important. And while we have a tendency to just take that relationship for granted, it does require work and maintenance.
So PR folks in Higher Education, when was the last time you asked your neighbors what they think of your university? Maybe it's time again.
The previous article, Understanding the Public in Public Relations, is from the Chronicle of Higher Education. It focuses on a portion of public relations at universities that gets short shrift: community relations.
Now how, you ask, does a university located in a community ignore the community? Well it isn't a matter of ignoring. It's more a matter of taking for granted.
Throughout the history of higher education, institutions of learning have depended on the support and finances of the local community to fulfill their missions. Without the local community, these institutions wouldn't have become the Harvards and Yales and even the University of fill-in-a-name. Instead, they would have withered away and died.
In the early going, even Harvard had problems staying afloat, relying on the generosity of the local community, and some benefactors from throughout the United States, to pay faculty, provide books and provide students...
So why is it that universities have taken their communities for granted?
Well, like any good relationship, if you're in it long enough, you begin to relax. You begin to count on the person on the other side to just be there and to just be. That's when you begin taking the relationship and hence the people for granted.
I'm not saying that all universities do this. I'm saying that it's easy to do this in a longstanding relationship. But when new people move into an area, they don't understand how the university did whatever it did. They expect a certain level of attention, and when they don't get it, problems arise. Here's when you should focus on community relations--before this happens.
Public relations is supposed to be about building and maintaining relationships. Community relations really focuses on this more than many other forms of public relations, which is why it's so important. And while we have a tendency to just take that relationship for granted, it does require work and maintenance.
So PR folks in Higher Education, when was the last time you asked your neighbors what they think of your university? Maybe it's time again.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Getting Enmeshed in the Web
I just finished an article for PR Strategist co-written with Dr. Amy Collier. The article was about using wikis in public relations, and we are the experts.
Here's the funny thing: I just began working with wikis, and public relations isn't my first profession in mass communication. I'm a trained reporter and editor. So how can I write this article and be considered an expert? Well believe it or not, it's all about community.
In the Parker J. Palmer book that I'm reading, The Courage to Teach, Palmer talks about how getting enmeshed in the web of life creates community. He also talks about how we can only create knowledge or truth in this community-like setting.
For me that means, I can wallow around in the world of wikis, and with the help of my co-author, Dr. Collier, I can discover truth--in this case how to use wikis in public relations.
When I've wallowed around in the world of anything on my own, I've found it difficult to make connections with truth or knowledge. There's just too much out there for me to discover and make sense of on my own.
It's only through getting enmeshed in the web of community and depending on someone else to help guide my journey that I've encountered a little piece of truth and produced a little bit of knowledge. That's a pretty strong endorsement of collaboration from my perspective. And a pretty strong endorsement for seeking and using communal knowledge.
Here's the funny thing: I just began working with wikis, and public relations isn't my first profession in mass communication. I'm a trained reporter and editor. So how can I write this article and be considered an expert? Well believe it or not, it's all about community.
In the Parker J. Palmer book that I'm reading, The Courage to Teach, Palmer talks about how getting enmeshed in the web of life creates community. He also talks about how we can only create knowledge or truth in this community-like setting.
For me that means, I can wallow around in the world of wikis, and with the help of my co-author, Dr. Collier, I can discover truth--in this case how to use wikis in public relations.
When I've wallowed around in the world of anything on my own, I've found it difficult to make connections with truth or knowledge. There's just too much out there for me to discover and make sense of on my own.
It's only through getting enmeshed in the web of community and depending on someone else to help guide my journey that I've encountered a little piece of truth and produced a little bit of knowledge. That's a pretty strong endorsement of collaboration from my perspective. And a pretty strong endorsement for seeking and using communal knowledge.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
It's the community stupid!
Today, I've stumbled upon, and not using the social media tool of the same name, two articles about social media. One from Business Week http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090218_335887.htm that talks about the myths of social media.
Everyone seems to think that social media will cure their marketing or public relations ills. "Just join Twitter." "Get a page on Facebook, no MySpace, no both." "Start a blog." "Don't forget to put it on YouTube."
All of the advice in the world won't help according to another article from Bill Sledzik on his blog ToughSledding. http://toughsledding.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/are-social-media-changing-the-dna-of-public-relations-not-one-bit/
His contrarian view is that social media will not change the face of public relations because public relations isn't about the tools--it's about the relationships. In other words: It's the community stupid!
As communicators we often forget that what we are trying to do is create community through our communications. This is even more important in social media settings, known as groups or COMMUNITYs. Getting people involved is one thing, but keeping them involved is something totally different, and it isn't as easy as it looks!
So finally, I feel better! Whew. I was beginning to think that I had to implement all of these new social media tools in a campaign and make them work. Bill Sledzik reminded me that it's about the community, which means I can use whatever tools work for me to achieve that goal. Even if those tools are social media.
Everyone seems to think that social media will cure their marketing or public relations ills. "Just join Twitter." "Get a page on Facebook, no MySpace, no both." "Start a blog." "Don't forget to put it on YouTube."
All of the advice in the world won't help according to another article from Bill Sledzik on his blog ToughSledding. http://toughsledding.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/are-social-media-changing-the-dna-of-public-relations-not-one-bit/
His contrarian view is that social media will not change the face of public relations because public relations isn't about the tools--it's about the relationships. In other words: It's the community stupid!
As communicators we often forget that what we are trying to do is create community through our communications. This is even more important in social media settings, known as groups or COMMUNITYs. Getting people involved is one thing, but keeping them involved is something totally different, and it isn't as easy as it looks!
So finally, I feel better! Whew. I was beginning to think that I had to implement all of these new social media tools in a campaign and make them work. Bill Sledzik reminded me that it's about the community, which means I can use whatever tools work for me to achieve that goal. Even if those tools are social media.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The power of personal contact
In the past few days, I've been reminded of the power of personal contact--it can win friends, influence enemies, get you jobs....
In my perusal of the blogosphere and the internet, I was once again reminded of the power of personal contact this afternoon, and simple things such as saying thank you. http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=227
It's often these little niceties that we learned as children that will mean the difference between sustaining community after we've created it and making people feel as if they've been taken for granted. Don't let anyone in your community feel that way! Say thank you! And thank you for reading.
In my perusal of the blogosphere and the internet, I was once again reminded of the power of personal contact this afternoon, and simple things such as saying thank you. http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=227
It's often these little niceties that we learned as children that will mean the difference between sustaining community after we've created it and making people feel as if they've been taken for granted. Don't let anyone in your community feel that way! Say thank you! And thank you for reading.
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