Strategically Communicating

So I know we have discussed this countless times in class, but I noticed that a lot of these points are important enough to be discussed in more detail. I came across this article when one of my fellow PR students tweeted about it, and I caught on to some new tricks to help brand myself and jump start my career path. I really liked how this article talked about making sure your “strategically telling the story you want to tell.” I think this is a good concept that every student should be thinking about, once you are able to communicate your story effectively to employers, you will be able to sell your brand based on what your good at (aspects of your story).

Step 1: Talks about being strategic. First identify yourself as an overlap between the person you want to become and the person employers are dying to hire. What a great piece of advice. Often we don’t think that those could possibly be two separate people, yet it’s more common than not to find the person we want to become does not have a clue how to interview well.

Then start your research and experiences early. I know a lot of this information is obvious to us as PR students but I wanted to take the opportunity to showcase this as an issue that many students aren’t thinking about taking full advantage of. This article also talked about finding the company website that you want to work for and take a look at what they are searching for in potential employees, then start your brand by becoming that person.

When it comes to getting experience, of course we search for internships and opportunities to work for employers who have a similar to the kind of atmosphere we would like to develop a career in, but how exactly do you get famous?

This leads us to

Step 2: Get Famous. This article defines branding yourself as getting famous, although I don’t necessarily agree that is the most important thing that a young PR professional should be thinking about, I do believe it’s a great way to jump start your motivation to become and influential. You can shine your name in a positive light on the Google search page by taking leadership roles, cleaning up your Facebook page, getting a LinkedIn account and beginning to blog, but my favorite part of this section was the ability to tell your own story to get you famous. Your achievements, goals, and experiences are all a part of your story, the story of your brand. The highlights that are in that story, is what is going to get your brand famous.

Have you tried using or heard of Groupon or Living Social? In a nut shell, these two websites offer coupons for stores in your local area at discounted prices. Some of these coupons are actually great deals and I recommend checking them out.

Do you know who else is starting this coupon phenomenon? Facebook. Of course Facebook is doing something like this. I bet Mark Zuckerberg is ticked he didn’t think of the idea first. Their version of the coupon site is called “Facebook Deals“. At the moment, they are offering coupons to a few cities but I have no doubt that this will explode.

What is Facebook going to do next?

It seems as though I am constantly having to re-do my privacy settings on my Facebook.  Month after month, a new update, a new agreement, a new something, effects the way my Facebook is presented to my friends, and the world. In the last year I have deleted about 200 photos, mainly photos from my careless high-school days when employment was just an afterthought, but today when your online presence is just as important as anything, making sure that my Facebook is completely private is something that I am constantly worrying about.

As many times as I check all the boxes that signify that only my friends can see my profile, there are so many ways for people to access it if they really want too. So why put these privacy settings up in the first place? To make users feel somewhat secure? Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook, Facebook takes up a lot of my time, but if we all know that nothing is ever truly private why do we continue to worry about what is on our pages, why don’t we just delete our Facebook’s? Time and time again I consider deleting my online presence, but never do I actually follow through.  I will continue to update my privacy settings, as long as Facebook continues to change them, but when will it be the last straw for users? With every privacy change, I loose a little trust in the site, so when will I finally get over collecting friends? I don’t want to delete something that represents me, but I also don’t want to have to continue to censor myself for somebody I don’t even know. It all comes down to how private a user truly wants to seem to the online world, and if they want those pictures from the weekend festivities up or not.

Here at the University of Oregon, I think it’d be an understatement when I say that Nike is a pretty big deal. In regards to updates in the world of Nike — as of February 2011, the business launched Nike BOOM, an iPhone application that syncs your music to your dynamic training workouts. Simply choose your favorite sport, type/length of training (such as intervals) and elite coaches and athletes of your choice will give you blasts of motivation when you need it most during your specific workout.

What’s even better is that the app is free! Nike has literally found every which way to integrate its brand into our lives and push us to “Just Do It.”

I came across a Wall Street Journal article the other day and was a little taken aback. On my iPhone, I often get alerts asking if I’d like to turn the “location” on/off when running an app, going to fandango, using maps, etc. I usually think nothing of this and simply click accept. However, after reading this article, I am now a bit skeptical about having the location option turned on.

Android and Apple phones regularly transmit locations back to Google and Apple servers, according to data and documents analyzed by the Wall Street Journal. According to the article, recent research found that an Android phone collected location data every few seconds and sent it to Google several times an hour. Apple disclosed that it receives this information about two times a day. Both companies state how users have the option of turning off location-based services and that any information that is sent to Google is anonymous and untraceable. However, many people are unaware that location-based services are turned on by default until a user manually turns it off. Also, certain features such as maps, do not properly work when location is turned off. Even more alarming is that recent research has shown that it can be traced back to the phone through a unique ID that is tied to the phone. Apple has not responded to requests for comments on these recent findings.

From now on, I am going to think twice about whether I want location services turned on when using my phone. Who really knows where information about where I am/what I am doing is going? If Google is regularly receiving this information, who else has access to it? Apple is only adding more fuel to the fire by not responding to requests for comments on the matter. If anything, this makes me even more skeptical to use location services.