Looking at Social Networks: GolfingMyWay.com

Rule of thumb, one should never go into business with friends—Friends and business just don’t mix. This isn’t the case for three 21-year-old University of Oregon entrepreneur students. Jake Horton, Scott Rasmussen, and John Robinson co-founders and owners of GolfingMyWay.com, Inc. These young men believe that it is feasible to run a successful business with your best friends. With the launch of GolfingMyWay (GMW) BETA in mid-February, the site has acquired a following sole from word-of-mouth.

GMW brings a feeling of community to an individual sport. Users have the ability to discuss favorite courses, players, books, movies and video games. Also, they can compare clubs, share stories and tips all within one venue. This site helps to jumpstart a community conversation about a sport so many live, breath and dream about on a daily basis.

GMW gives young golfers a way to connect with one another. With the size of the golfing industry and the endless possibilities of social networking there is nothing but opportunities for these young men to take the basics of Facebook and Myspace and expand the features with GMW.

-My Swing: where users can upload a video of their swing and GolfingMyWay.com will outsource the video to have a professional critique the users swing.

-Pro Notes: enables users to stay connected with their pros and continue a conversation about tips they should continue to work at between lessons.

-In the Bag: feature allows users to highlight and rank their clubs, and leave comments.

GMW’s features such as In the Bag, Pros Notes, and My Swing will provide the technology to bring golf into a 2.0 world. The team is looking into patenting software, which will allow golfers to upload their score via mobile device while on the course. This device will reduce the use of paper scorecards by automatically uploading scores online to save golfers time, while also providing the ability to record a variety of stats for players to analyze where they need to work on their game.

With 42 million golfers nation-wide GolfingMyWay.com hopes to have eight to ten million users within the first five years of launching .

GMW hopes to change the way golfers not only play the game of golf, but how they communicate with one another and turn a individual sport into a group experience.

I’m so amazing I don’t need a Cover Letter

What is the point of sending a cover letter if I have an outstanding resume? Seth Godin explains why it is important to attach a cover letter with your resume. Why not have a cover letter? A resume consists of short but sweet bullet points of the type of work you’ve accomplished, but especially as a writer a resume gives you little to no justice in your writing ability. Use your cover letter as a blank canvas to market yourself.

Godin says, “I think if you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all.” As a student this strikes me as a sticky message, because most graduating college students are not that remarkable, so why be lazy and send just your resume. If you don’t have much experience you need to explain what experience you’ve had and why you’re qualified.

By including a cover letter with your resume you have the opportunity to further explain jobs, projects and accomplishments you’ve had along your professional and pre-professional career. With no cover letter you’re nothing but words on a page. Potential employers will simply toss your resume in the trash. When you have the ability to share with employers the details of jobs, you open their minds to your capabilities-take advantage of it.

If you feel as though you don’t need a cover letter because you’re resume says it all than you need:

• Stellar letters of recommendation
  
• A portfolio- which shows your capabilities in multiple areas
• A blog- which demonstrates your thought leadership in the field you wish to pursue

Without these key items you are in need of an outstanding cover letter, which explains why you’re better than the next resume in the pile. Never let your resume speak for itself, because you’re simply telling your potential employer you’re lazy and you like to throw amazing opportunities out the window.

I hope more graduating students who are applying for jobs will think twice before they send their resume with no cover letter.

Tweet Tweet Twitter Tweet Tweet

What are you doing? Can you tell me 140 characters or less? Try it on twitter a microblogging application. For those of you on Facebook it is much like a Facebook status. When I was first introduced to this application three months ago I didn’t truly understand the phenomenon of this site. Who cares what other people are doing, thinking or eating every waking moment of the day? I don’t have time to pay attention to random bits of information. People do everything from promoting blogs, suggesting resources, and talking about the book they just finished.

My instructor was shocked when she shared this application with our advanced PR writing class during our three week focus on social media. But soon I joined and became hooked. Soon after my classmates jumped on the bandwagon. After a video lecture from Aussie PR Pro and blogger Paull Young my classmates and I soon began following him on twitter and interacting with him.

Twitter became a great tool for us PR wanna-bees to ask questions and gain insightful feedback from the insiders. Soon other PR students from across the country were friending me and we were reading each others blog posts ( I even found my good luck charm Michael Allison) and we began friendly banter. I found that Twitter was a great way to have ongoing conversations and build relationships with PR students, Pros and get quick answers to questions and get pointers to useful links.

But Twitter can be used for more than just an update on what I just ate. You can:

Promote your Blog Post: Reach out and grasp an new audience. Not all of your followers have read your blog. So invite them through a tiny URL link that twitter provides for you.

Get updated on Breaking News: There are multiple twitter clients such as twhirl , which allow you to access twitter from your desktop. You have the ability to upload via mobile device, which means someone on the East coast could inform me of the latest secrets of LOST before I view it!

Interact with Professionals: Many of the bloggers that I had on my feed reader before I began blogging and tweeting are on Twitter. Now I have access to them and have the ability to pick their brain. It’s also been a great way to get a hold of my PR instructor!

Conduct Research: you can pose a question and get a response in an instant!

List job Opportunities: There have been multiple PR pros that have posted job opportunities through their own firm or company, as well as passing along the openings they stumble across themselves.

Pass along resources: Among my new twitter friends and my classmates, we’ve shared application deadlines, and good blog posts on how to make a podcast. The passing along of helpful hints from one PR lover to the next is the way we will make this profession a step above.

I’ve found myself as a Facebook-stalking college student to be checking twitter more than I have been checking Facebook. But it has also been a helpful educational tool. My first real interaction with twitter was on Super-Bowl Sunday. I was only following about four PR pros, but it was more interesting to sit and watch what they were saying about the advertisements, than actually watching the advertisements.

There are many great ways to use Twitter other than finding out what you ate for breakfast. Come see what all the tweeting is about!

Email Etiquette

An email can make or break your credibility. If you’re a small business or a large business, without proper email etiquette no one will trust your product or service. With email being the main form of communication many have yet to be educated with the proper way to write emails.

I personally have been victim to reading a long painful email with poor grammar. Many peoples thoughts are in their heads and not in their fingers. This doesn’t mean you must be a good writer to be a good email writer, it means you may need to put some more effort into your daily emailing activity. Try to put the main point of your email in the first few sentences because many people are in a rush when reading and don’t have the time to shuffle through a bunch of 5 paragraph emails. Keep it short and to the point.

Brian Zafron gives some great tips on how to write a quality email. Many people find email an impersonal form of communication, which it may be, but it’s becoming the most common form of communication, so one cannot ignore the etiquette of a well-written email.

One thing to remember when writing an email is that your reader can’t hear you. So be aware of the tone of voice you are using, it may come off differently to your reader than it does to you.  Zafron says, “the quality of email correspondences has influenced the quality of relationships,”and I couldn’t agree more. Your laziness with writing says a lot about how how you could potentially act with a client in a relationship.

If you’re looking to do anything in our techno-world you must pay more attention to your emails, they aren’t just something something you can squeeze into your free 5 minutes. Take your time and draft and quality email.

A few words of wisdom for the incoming class of 2012

Each Tuesday at 7 pm I find myself dressed in business casual sitting with 20-25 other PR students discussing our clients and ways to improve our relationships. Each time our student run firm meets I’m so thankful I decided to apply and have had this opportunity to work with local non-profits and experience a small firm with account teams.

Freshman through junior year I always heard about the firm, but never thought I was ready or qualified at all. Little did I know I just needed an interest in PR and I would learn most of it along the way. There are many things I’m slowly learning I wish I knew when I first came to school. I wish there was a future version of me sitting on my shoulder directing me where to go and what to do. So here are a few tips for the incoming class of 2012 who are interested in public relations.

-         Take non-J classes. By taking courses that have to do with topics related to Journalism but are not in the school of Journalism or Communication will expand your knowledge of Journalism from the viewpoint of other careers.

-         Get involved in organizations. PRSSA is a great example. Your college campus should have its own chapter, but there are other ways to get involved such as in clubs and student government. These organizations always need help when it comes to public relations.

-         Apply for student-run firm. If your university has one, apply. And apply your sophomore year. The student-run firm always intimidated me, because I didn’t feel I knew enough. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t taken any PR courses you will learn through the experience of being a part of the firm.

-         Get an internship during summer vacation. The more experience you have the more you will learn. Learning the ropes of a firm will set you ahead of the rest of crowd.

-         Start experiencing with social media. There are many forms of social media out there (beyond Facebook). Try blogging, podcasting, twitter or ooVoo. These are tools PR pros are using on a daily basis. By reading blogs and listening to podcasts will help you to understand how to use these tools once you are our in the real world.

-         Begin interacting with PR Pros. This can happen through experiencing social media. PR pros are out there to help you succeed. Use them as a tool and as a networking connection.

These are six tips I’ve found useful during my senior year. I wish someone had told me these things freshman year because they would have helped me be ahead of the game come senior year. So I hope these tips help!

Rough Break for small business blogging…

After spending three weeks on the topic of social media, I’m sure you could ask any student in the public relations track at the University of Oregon “what’s a great way to get your small business brand out there and spread the word?” Their reply, “Start blogging.” Now this could be good or this could be bad. Bad? really how could this be bad?!?!

Todd Defren PR Squared blogger talks about how the plight of minor bad buzz for small business bloggers can throw them off the charts, out on the streets, and their product in the trash. The big news online the past week has been Targets response to a bloggers concern regarding an inappropriate advertisement. Targets response was that they simply didn’t interact with non-traditional media such as blogging and did not answer this blogger and faithful consumer’s question.

I don’t know where those PR people went to school, but it sure wasn’t Oregon. Obviously this was not the way to handle the situation and the blogger wrote about it, which is great if the blogger has a large readership.

Now imagine you’re a new business. You barley have a Web site up, and you begin joining the conversation and blogging. Now lets say the product you sell has a flaw. One of your consumers blogs about the flaw. With not much media surrounding your product when someone goes to google to search for your product, within the first few posts there is this negative blog. Though, this isn’t the case for Target. When you go to google the store, the negative blog will be hiding deep within the pages of google because there are more relative site than you tiny little blog complaining about the way you were treated by the PR people.

So can blogs hurt or help small businesses? It’s a ‘double edge sword’ as Defren says. It is definently something you want to bring up to your small business clients and write down the pros (benefits) and the cons of having a blog for your small business. It may just be that risk you have to take to get into the world of social media.

 photo: netream

The value of Transparency

In this Web 2.0 generation there has been a shift of power–Companies lose power and individuals gain it. The Web becomes the greatest word-of-mouth amplifier in history; consumers learn to trust peers more and companies less. This is where there becomes an apparent shift from secrecy to transparency. There is the old saying, “Loose lips sink ships,” this where employees of companies were meant to keep the happenings of work at work and not spill anything to competitors, or the government for that matter. Being transparent means owning up to the truth—this may hurt in the long run, but it also comes down to your ethics and integrity in the end. A company with an open door policy has the ability to promote good will through the sharing of information. And as a consumer this gives the sense of trust as the utmost importance in a relationship with consumers. In this day and age, your consumers are your biggest promoters and being transparent with them will only do you good in the long run.

I began to explore transparency more after we discussed IACC-Coach campaign in my Advanced PR writing class. This is an opaque campaign if you ever saw one. It’s frustrating to see this kind of a thing go on.

The one thing I will take away with my education is the value of transparency, and sending transparent messages to my clients. The more we explore this practice during the term, I’m beginning to realize the ability to remain transparent in your practices is a valuable skill to obtain.

 

Flickr Photo rgdaniel

What I’m learning WILL help me in Life!

I used to always ask myself whether or not the skills I’m learning in school will be of any value to me once I am out in the real world. After reading David Reich’s blog my 2 cents about whether or not knowing social media makes you a better job candidate, I now have better perspective on what to focus on during my remaining time in college.

Now, after settling on after college plans, the daunting task of job searching is glaring me in the face. Reich suggests that knowing social media tools is a plus, but what it really comes down to is your ability to write clearly and concisely. Reich believes this skill is acquired though studying how media stories are written, coupled with good on-the-job training.

Though employers look for writing skill, there is more to the job. Employers look for candidates with good ethics, which may come from working in smaller agencies. Smaller to mid-sized agencies work hard to help their junior employees dive right in to all aspects of the business, creating well rounded PR pros.

More tips:

• get involved with extra-curricular activities, such as working with college radio, newspaper, or helping with marketing for a student organization.
• start a blog. Blogging is a good way to refine and improve your writing skills, while also showcasing your thoughts and ideas.
• dive into all forms of social media. even if you don’t participate on a regular basis, your knowledge of the different forms will help you in the long run.
• Interact with professionals. PRos (as My PR instructor likes to call them) are a great resource, and they are more than happy to help point you in the right direction. — Using Twitter has been a great way to interact with PRos. When I have questions about social media tools I throw up a question and they help provide resources to answer my questions.

It’s nice to know that the skills I’m learning will the the skills that set me a part from other candidates. Have faith and confidence in your skills as  a writer and an active consumer and participant in social media.

Time Management: Another Lesson in leading

Have you ever asked yourself how some people are able to work so many different activities into their schedules while others barely seem to have the time to attend classes? are they smarter? Probably not. More organized? Probably. Better at managing time? You got it!

Time management is important to any person, but particularly to student organizations members and leaders. Involvement in extra or co-curricular activities means that in addition to classes, homework, meals, jobs, and socializing, another significant amount of time is taken up with organizational obligations.

Time management is a personal skill; only you know your peak work hours, your attention span, your eating and sleeping needs– which must be planned for. Finding a time management strategy that best fits your needs is important.

Follow what I call the Big Five:

1. Plan-Individuals who set personal goals have a greater chance of success. Create realistic goals, believable and achievable. People who set goals also evaluate their progress and make any necessary changes on a regular basis. So, if you want to better manage your time, your first step is to set the goals you would like to achieve, either for the semester, year or throughout your college career.

2. Assess- Assess how you currently use your time. You cannot make productive changes unless you know what areas need to be changed. Keep a log of your time and find the breaks in your day where you can make changes. Begin to prioritize your activities and work your way down your list.

3. Organize- Ideally, you should make a list each morning of everything that you need to do for that day. Some people find it more helpful to list their “things to do” in 5 to 7 day groupings. In this way they can plan for longer projects and get a better sense of their week. Whichever method you choose, keep in mind that everyone has good and bad days. Don’t hide if you don’t accomplish everything, just include the uncompleted tasks to your next day’s list and get them done.

4. Prioritize- After you have recorded these “things to do”, go over the list and rewrite in priority order which things you need to do at the top and less important/pressing tasks at the bottom. Keep in mind due dates, commitments you have made, and whether or not these tasks involve other people. How you choose to prioritize is a very personal matter. What is important is that you are responsible with your priorities. Review your personal goals-how do these priorities fit with your goals?

5. Schedule- The last thing to do is to take this list and begin to work these “things to do” into your schedule.Remember to leave room for breaks, socializing and those unexpected things that pop up. There’s no use making a schedule that is impossible to follow.

Try these suggestions, see what works for you best, and then be sure to integrate them into your learning lifestyle. Learning effective time management now will help you throughout your personal life and professional career.

Learn to say now. You will reach a point when there is only so much that you can do instead of burning yourself out or not doing quality work. Learn to balance how much you can do with what you need to do.

photo from flickr gamookie

How to successfully lead your peers

As a senior public relations student, active leader, and former Panhellenic Vice President of Recruitment for Greek Life at the University of Oregon I’ve taken on the role of team leader and manager of my peers in various situations. Along the way I’ve learned a few tips I thought I would share with my peers for when they take on this role. Whether it is during a plans and problems class, campaigns class, your account team at work, or a sports team being a leader can be a tricky task.

When I was in kindergarten I learned the concept of ’sharing’, now some of my classmates didn’t quite grasp this idea of sharing like I did. In team efforts you share your thoughts and ideas to accomplish a common goal. More often than not a team leader emerges to help guide your team on the right path to this common goal. These leaders have two choices, they can MANAGE the team or they can LEAD the team. This is a fine line and only few know how to truly LEAD a team to success.

When dealing with your peers, especially as students no one wants to admit that someone else is smarter than they are. So the leader needs to be aware of its member thoughts and feelings and follow these six steps on how to successfully lead your peers to accomplishing a common goal:

1. Gain Trust-you must show your team members that you are there to work with them.

2. Listen & Collaborate- Let your team members know their voice is important. That their ideas are valuable and you can work together to improve the path to your goal by working together. More heads are always better than one!

3. Avoid Micromanaging-As a leader, when you begin to micromanage you lose the trust of your team. You begin to take over their task and it becomes a one man show. This defeats the purpose of the team.

4.Direct constructive critisism toward your goal- If team members are off task or moving in a different direction come together as a group and define your common goal again. Never put down a team member but build off what they’ve done and find a way to move on from there.

5.Express Each member is vital to group success- Without the team you as a leader will be alone to accomplish this goal. Every person brings ideas, personality, and passion to your team. Without certain members you may not be able to move forward. Be a cheerleader. Let them know without them this project would not be happening

6. Communicate-Without communication your team will go no where. Your team must trust that they can come to you for help if they are stuck. Without communication the team doesn’t know if they are moving forward or standing still. Communicate the good and the bad. Each member must be knowledgeable about all aspects of your project.

You learn how to lead as you experience it. Leading can be intimidating because everyone is looking to you for direction, but turn it around and make it a group effort where everyone is a part of the process. When you are a successful leader it encourages others to do their part become a part of the team. For more information and leadership skills check out the resources from the Holden Leadership Center at the University of Oregon.