Expert Essentials: Brian Basilico

Last Wednesday in one of my college courses, Social Media Strategies, we had social media expert and published author Brian Basilico speak to our class over Skype about his new book,  Bacon Business, Sizzling Hot Recipes to Grow Your Business. His book is a 12-step process and is divided also into three parts: marketing trifecta, content creation tools and content distribution/delivery. Here are some of the best tips and takeaways I got from his presentation:

1. Businesses Can Have More Than One Audience

It is critical to identify who the target audience is and if there is more than one. The example Basilico gave was looking at a nonprofit. There are two main audiences who they really have to market too besides just those the organization may be trying to reach. The first is donors, and the second is volunteers. Each audience will be wanting different ways of communication and what is being communicated to them.

2. There Are Three Questions Being Asked When Looking at a Website

• Why am I here?
• What should I do?
• Why should I do it?

If you keep these three questions in mind, the entire layout of your website will be easier to determine because your goal will be to answer all three of these. Your content should answer these fairly quickly, and it is also important to remember to have a "call to action" on your site to make visitors interact. This can be anything from downloading a free sample to calling for a free (emphasis usually on free) consultation. 

3. Don't Underestimate How Important Analytics Are

According to Basilico, analytics are the "lifeblood" of understanding this whole system and how it works. You can't run a business without understanding numbers, and there are so many unique and new ways you can analyze your website or online platforms. One of the main ways is that they can help you measure what pages people are visiting on your website and how long they are even staying on the page.

To learn more about Brain Basilico, check out his website here: http://www.b2b-im.com 

Three Reasons Why You Should Participate in Twitter Chats as a Young Professional

It's easy to get involved with others on Twitter whether it's replying to someone's tweet or tagging them in a picture, but have you ever participated in a Twitter Chat as a young professional?

For those who don't know what a Twitter Chat is, it's a conversation revolving around a hashtag typically between a company and its followers. With the hashtag, you can follow the conversation and participate with both the company and others during the time the "chat" is happening.

Here's three reasons why you need to start participating in Twitter Chats as a young professional:

1. It Gets Your Name Out There

Your Twitter should represent your personality through your tweets, favorites, pictures, bio, picture, and FOLLOWERS!!! Follow those big companies you love that hold Twitter Chats then participate! You will slowly but surely get your name out there in the professional world and potential gain some followers along the way (hello fellow colleagues or employers)! Someone could also retweet something you say and allow for MORE people to see your name and professional insight.

2. You Can Learn A LOT

Most companies hold chats that answers some great questions or allow their followers to voice their feedback on certain things. For example, I follow the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) on Twitter and have followed many of their chats. I have already learned so much regarding the PR world or PRSSA just through reading these tweets from others and PRSSA.

3. Your Profile Will Look More Professional

I love to showcase my personality on Twitter through things like pictures from my life, Bible verses, funny jokes, you get the picture. But I also include retweets, favorites, and mentions all to people or companies within my profession to showcase my professional side on my personal account. It becomes difficult to take care of multiple accounts at a time, so don't be afraid to merge both your personal and professional world together a bit online. If you're worried about someone being irritated about you posting a link to a great PR article you found, you're probably following or being followed by the wrong type of people anyways.

Personal Social Media Strategy

The idea of digging into my social media accounts or maybe even social media past (hello embarrassing posts from 2009) is a bit of a scary thought, but a refreshing social media analysis is just what every person could probably use.

This blog is going to look at three different social media platforms I use consistently in my life (and all three are somewhat connected to one another): Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

1) Twitter
Tweets as of today: 18.8k
Following: 509
Followers: 897

Twitter is probably the platform I use the most often. Most of my followers are friends from all my areas of life (high school, college, church, ect.) but more recently includes some professionals and PR colleagues. I debated using this account more "professionally," but I showcase my humor and personality on here with some witty comments or retweeting things that may showcase who I am.

I make sure I NEVER retweet or favorite something with any foul language and/or images, and I tend to block accounts like that or unfollow friends who retweet vulgar things. One thing I stay keenly aware of is that even the tweet I favorite can be seen, and I'm even pretty specific on what tweets I continue to make public I like.

I do like the way I currently utilize Twitter to show bit and pieces of my personality, passions, and pictures I specifically choose to post. I try to post at least once or twice a day on here because of the fact Twitter won't always show tweets on newsfeed that were just tweeted but by popularity of the tweet or if that person tends to view your tweets I've noticed. I think it is professional enough to where I would not be embarrassed if a company was viewing my profile either.

2) Instagram

Posts: 308
Followers: 1,081
Following: 1, 013

I love that my Instagram connects to both my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I specifically chose certain pictures and filters to go on here and want to represent myself as genuinely as I can. One tone I choose to set is having a white border around all my pictures to make my background look sleeker on my profile page. I try to showcase my faith when I can and post many pictures with my friends and family usually with something positive or thankful to say. I also believe this account showcases my personality and warmth, and I would not mind a company viewing it.

I typically do not post on Instagram too often, but when the semester goes back in session I will probably post around twice a week. If I were a more well-known individual with more followers I'd probably stay more up to date, but for now I don't want to over-post.

3) Facebook

Friends: 1,442

Facebook is the platform I have used the longest. I created an account back in middle school, and I think it's best I don't dig back that far for some of the posts or pictures I may have put up. Looking at how I use it today, it's pretty much the same as Twitter to me. My cover photo is my family who's very important to me, and I try to stay on top of posting pictures while I'm away at school often (mostly for my mom).

Like Twitter, I make sure to re-share things that represent who I am, but with Facebook I will tend to add my two cents even if it's just a small comment. I do have a lot of old "friends" I could probably weed out who's content I don't like or agree with, but I typically don't post on Facebook "status" wise very often. I do go on at least to browse and like my friends' content on the daily and post some kind of picture once a week (even if that's just my Instagram one going through to Facebook or being tagged).

Introducing My Top Five Strengths

As junior year of college finally closes in on me, that means it's also time to reignite my blogging flame!

In my first post EVER, I introduced myself as a human and described a bit of what public relations means to me. Since the beginning of sophomore year, my life has RADICALLY changed (for the better thank goodness)!

I thought instead of re-introducing myself again on here I would describe myself through my top five Gallups StrengthsFinder results. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a paid test you can take where it will describe what your top strengths are in detail to help you better understand who you are and what you should do.

1. Woo
"Winning Others Over" is what WOO stands for. I'd like to think of this as the gift of persuasion. I love to talk to others especially new people CONSTANTLY...it actually gives me a bit of a rush. This also means I love to charm and get people to believe in what I believe in or be persuasive about pretty much anything really. The secret behind this strength though is that do those who have it use it for good, or for evil?

2. Futuristic
I love thinking about the future! I know, that sounds a bit weird to a lot of people, but thinking of what the future holds is almost like my "happy place." Encouraging others to have a better future and reach for their goals is really my main motivation behind this strength, and it also helps keep me motivated in the present working towards my goals in the future.

3. Achiever
Lists, goals, charts, bullet points, notepads, checkmarks. I am a woman who likes to get things DONE. Not only do I want complete multiple task a day and reach goals on a consistent basis, but it can actually drive me NUTS if I don't stay busy. Oh, and if I do something, it is ALWAYS done well. Which leads to my next strength...

4. Competition
So, this strength doesn't necessary mean I just like to compete in things and win (although yes, I do like that). To me, competition is more with myself in the fact that if I'm doing something, it will be done to its FULLEST potential and be the BEST quality. If you don't want to hire me already then my last strength will win you over for sure.

5. Communication
Not only am I a COMM major, but communication both from me to others and from others to me is something I thrive on! Clearly looking back at WOO I love to talk to people, but with this strength I really value the QUALITY of how I communicate. Whether this means having intentional conversations, making others feel good or just speaking properly, it's a big deal to me. This also means I really value others who value this strength and communicate well back with me.