Dress Down for a Hand Up!

by Kim Taylor

With so many worthy charities in our community, it’s difficult to pick and choose which to support.  But, sometimes you stumble upon an idea that’s almost too easy to pass up.

The Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida recently tweeted an idea that encourages companies to offer a casual day to their employees in exchange for a small donation.  And with the scorching Florida summer approaching, who could resist?

So, we’ve issued a challenge to all C&P’ers … break out your casual clothes … and your wallets.

Now through Labor Day, employees who toss a buck into the Piggy Bank will have the opportunity to trade their business suits in for a more relaxed look with all proceeds donated to the Coalition.

Another Newspaper Makes the Right Move on Message Boards

by Dan Ward

Kudos to the Northwest Florida Daily News in Florida’s Panhandle for addressing the concerns of many (myself included) about hateful message board comments that are cloaked in anonymity.

I was reading an article in that paper this morning, and saw this message to readers:

Reader Comments

From the editor: Many of you have expressed concerns about some of the harsh anonymous comments from readers. To remedy that, we are introducing new features. You can create your own blog, publish your news and share your photos with the community. Once you fill out a simple form and leave a verifiable e-mail address, you can set up your profile page. It will display all of your contributions and allow you to track issues and easily connect with others.

We want our site to be a place where people discuss and debate ideas that foster stronger communities. We built this for you. Please take care of it. Tolerate broad thinking, but take action against obscene or hateful material. Make it a credible and safe place worth preserving and sharing.

That last paragraph should be required reading for newspaper executives.

AIGA Re:Solutions Part 1, Building Your Presence Online

by Dionne Aiken

The Orlando chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) held their annual Re:Solutions Day Conference this past Saturday. The roster included professionals from different fields and backgrounds that covered a diverse array of topics. The Result: an engaging and enlightening experience with valuable and relevant information to benefit individuals, creatives and business professionals on a whole.

One of the speakers, Alex de Carvalho, talked about building your online presence and brand by engaging your online community and connecting with them through shared experiences. He simplified this process into a 5-Step Pyramid:

We took a very similar approach for this very blog which was recently honored by the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) with an Image Award, Judges’ Award and the biggie … a Grand Image Award.

When we started Taking Aim, we began to establish our presence by consistently blogging about relevant and insightful topics working to engage our readers and initiate online conversations. With each post, we began to build a following – and credibility – while establishing an online identity for Taking Aim.

We began with only 50 views a month almost two years ago.  Now averaging many, many more views than that per month, we’ve used it as a tool to build our online reputation, and in effect our authority and influence.

This formula for building your brand works.  Following these steps and connecting with your audience’s shared interest is the formula for success in establishing your presence online.

Stressed?

by Roger Pynn

A valuable tool for many a public relations campaign is the study. We not only learn a lot about a specific subject, we can use the results to position our client for their expertise in that field.

One conducted by CareerCast.com to identify the most stressful jobs proves the point.

When the study hit the media showing that people in the field of public relations are high on the stress list, PR people everywhere were tweeting away and sharing what appeared to be collective glee that finally their high pressure environment was getting some cred.

Of course, I’ll bet if police officers, commercial pilots, surgeons and taxi drivers were in my social media circles I’d have seen them chirping just as actively.

Just as interesting as the study and the outpouring of appreciation from America’s most stressed workers was the way CareerCast chose to describe the positions they studied … and, of course, the required links to CareerCast’s “job search portal” where if I’m looking to up my stress level I can find more than 1,200 openings for drivers.

My fellow PR peeps were described as people who “make speeches and give presentations, often in front of large crowds” and “some PR officers are required to interact with potentially hostile members of the media.”

Then there’s the #2 most stressed profession: “Corporate Executives.” CareerCast said “This highly competitive field requires detailed knowledge of the financial community, economic trends as well as technological developments and implications. Senior executives are expected to excel in many different fields at once, and face daily pressure to make far-reaching decisions that can affect numerous employees and their company’s bottom line.”

Now I’m really confused. Which am I? Upon reflection, I think I’ll stick with the seemingly unbearable pressure of making speeches, giving presentations and facing pesky reporters. I’m not so sure about facing the daily pressure of making far-reaching decisions.

One Little Win at a Time

by Roger Pynn

I like Chris Brogan’s perspective on victory.  It isn’t about the big wins as much as it is about the little ones.

Back in the rock ‘n roll days before the Great Recession, many of us had forgotten the importance of small wins but today with companies rebuilding from the ground up I’ll bet there are lots of folks who are grateful for even the smallest sign of market gains.

Sure, the market is back over 11,000 but there are still plenty of people who’d like a chance to make $11 an hour.

Brogan’s reminder to “praise each little victory” and then move on is good advice.  I’ve found great satisfaction in selling to companies that need help but can only afford a little right now.  They’re going to be great clients … and one day hopefully they’ll be great big clients with our help.

Serendipitous News

by Dan Ward

Great column by L. Gordon Crovitz in Monday’s Wall Street Journal lamenting the loss of “serendipity” as more people make the switch from traditional media to online media sources, and no longer “discover” news that might be important to them.

As Crovitz writes, “While digital media have given us access to endless information from diverse sources, many of us focus our news habits on narrow topics and familiar points of view … In short, we have more information but less understanding.”

How true.  It’s so easy to customize news sources online that you can choose to receive only news on topics or issues that interest you. 

Learning more about things you want to know about is fine, but it’s just as important, if not more, to learn about the things you need to know about.  As Crovitz puts it, “how do you discover what you don’t know you want to know?”

That’s why, even as I complain about the changes at my hometown newspaper, I still read it cover-to-cover every morning.  If I filtered my news, I might not have chosen to learn about the coming wave of commercial property foreclosures, but I feel more informed having read about the issue.

The Social Media Quandary

by Roger Pynn

A post titled “I Hate … Facebook?” on FIRMVOICE, a blog from The Council of Public Relations Firms made me wonder whether communicators like me had the same reaction to television back in the days of its infancy.

If you believe Erik Qualman’s statistics, it must have been mesmerizing back in the 50s when, after only 13 years, television had amassed an audience of 50 million. Surely there were people who said “my God, we have to do something about this before people become addicted and give up fresh air and sunshine in deference to Edward R. Murrow.”

Do you think that somewhere during those 13 years public relations executives said “we’d better dump television … it is nothing but a fad?”

Yes, I’m sure there are people who hate Facebook. Some days I hate my second monitor and the combination of Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels I monitor there. But I’m learning to moderate their use and to manage the time they demand.

I’m sick of billboards, too, but eliminating outdoor advertising from a communications strategy might be a bit over the top. Facebook may go the way of MySpace … or it could be the new Google. The issue is connectivity … we are a connected society more than ever before and that isn’t likely to do anything but take giant steps forward. The key is to understand how people connect … the same way we learned how to track their traditional media habits.

Anonymity is the Pitts

by Dan Ward

I rarely find myself in agreement with Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts, though I do enjoy his columns, which regularly appear in the Orlando Sentinel.

Today, however, I nearly stood and applauded as he discussed the “cesspool” of newspaper message boards.  Pitts blames the promise of anonymity for the “crudity, bigotry, meanness and plain nastiness that shocks the tattered remnant of our propriety.”

Reminds me of a post I once wrote about online anonymity, and of how my partner, Roger Pynn, defined online message boards as the “sewer of the Internet.”

The message boards that follow stories and editorials in most newspaper Web sites provide some positive benefits … driving Web page counts that increase profitability for the newspapers, giving readers an opportunity to discuss the stories that appear and share their opinions, etc.

But by offering anonymity, rather than requiring posters to provide name and address as they would with a Letter to the Editor, allows for personal attacks and the spread of rumors and false allegations.  We tell our clients to pay little mind to these message boards because they tend not to hold much influence, but it can be difficult to turn a blind eye to personal attacks and insults.

Some initial message board responses to Pitts’ column provide evidence to support his opinion that anonymity should no longer be allowed:

“bushhater” in the Salt Lake Tribune: “But first, lets gather up all the Mormons and ship them to Iran. We all know they are responsible for everything evil. And they are soooo stupid, and vile. Everyone of them.”

“Universalgenius” in the Greensboro News & Record: “What a lousy commie loser. There he goes again. This braindead crackhead hetrophobe radical liberal pervert is at it again this time trying to control the internet and destroy the world of high tech with his facist ghetto low IQ mentality.”

“HigherPowered” in the Miami Herald: “Get some perspective, you whiny elitist. The 1st amendment is both a wonderful and terrible concept, and we all wish we could suspend it when it suits us, but it is a key part of our collective patrimony.”

While I am a defender of free speech, HigherPowered is mistaken in his belief that Pitts’ idea would “suspend it when it suits us.”  The First Amendment holds that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.  It does not require newspapers … private organizations … to provide a forum for anonymous hate speech.

Ending anonymity is the right thing to do if newspapers ever hope to elevate public discourse out of the cesspool.

P.S.  Not all hope is lost … some newspapers are already ending the practice of allowing anonymous posts, and a new online media company led by former Orlando Sentinel business columnist John Koenig is gaining notice as “a forum for civil debate on substantive issues.”

FloridaThinks.com provides original articles, commentaries and reader forums … anonymous posts are not allowed, and civility is required.  A civilized forum for discussion of serious issues?  That’s an idea I can get behind.