TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More

Nominations Open for 2012-13 FPRA Leadership Team.

By Pamela Cox-Nulman, APR, CPRC

pamnulman@earthlink.net 

 

Looking for the right opportunity to share your knowledge, embrace new challenges and expand your leadership skills? Then you belong on the FPRA leadership team. 

For 26 years the Southwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association has served public relations professionals and the local community through professional development programs, community outreach activities and developing the next generation of communication professionals.

Our board of directors and expanded leadership team provide the direction and leadership necessary to insure our organization remains strong and is able to meet the needs of a diverse industry and rapidly changing marketplace.

Throughout March we will be accepting nominations for next year’s leadership team. Leadership terms run for one fiscal year, from September 1, 2012 – August 31, 2013. Contact Pam Nulman, APR, CPRC, nomination committee chair, or Jessica Clark, APR, president-elect, for more information and to find out how you can provide the leadership power to drive FPRA’s continued success.

Board Positions:

President-Elect

Treasurer

Secretary

V.P. of Communications

V.P. of Member Relations

V.P. of Professional Development

V.P. of Community Relations

Expanded Leadership Team:

Credentialing Chair

PRU Chair

Education Chair

Social Media Chair

Media Relations Chair

Newsletter Chair

Website Chair

Hospitality Chair

Programs Chair

Image Chair

Samantha Scott Wows at FGCU

By Brian Hamman,

brian.d.hamman@centurylink.com

Samantha Scott, APR took some time this month to present to the student chapter of FPRA at Florida Gulf Coast University.  She left the students with real world pointers and advice she's gained from her time as owner of Pushing the Envelope (PTE, for short).  Here's what the students had to say:

"Samantha's presentation at the 2/9/12 FPRA student chapter meeting at FGCU was extremely informative and helpful. The students have been raving about PTE's visit nonstop! As Gen Y-ers we think we may know it all about social media, but Samantha opened our eyes to certain outlets most of the chapter have never heard of before. We also gained new information about how a PR agency works, how to network (step 1- get a business card!), and how to better represent yourself using social media. As future PR practitioners, PTE's visit couldn't have been more helpful to our professional development."

-Ashley Lawrence, President - FPRA/FGCU student chapter

Social Media Corner: Measurement

How can we justify using social media is valuable? It's all about measuring your efforts, just as you would with a traditional public relations campaign.

By Samantha Scott, APR

samantha@getpushing.com

Metrics are a huge component of website analytics and they should be a primary component of your social media efforts as well. I like to use the concept of "spray and pray". This is the old method of marketing and advertising, really even communication - send the message to everyone, every way we can and hope it hits the target. Now, we can communicate with our employees, customers, prospects and others in very specific, direct ways. Measuring that communication will only serve to make it better.

So how do we do it? There are lots of systems you can pay for such as Radian6, but they are very pricey and often only applicable for large companies. If you don't fit that bill, then take a look at some options you can leverage on your own.

First of all, you have access your online activities - a social media communications audit of sorts. Make a list of every web/social presence you have. Once you have that, get a baseline for your audience size, activity and engagement. This will give you something to compare to next month, in 6 months, next year. Then, start measuring what you're doing and how it's affecting these components. Most of the networks have some sort of  measurement tool built in for businesses…

Facebook has Insights, which has recently changed. If you use Twitter, Hootsuite is a great management and measurement tool, while search.twitter.com can help with brand mentions. There's also overall social media/web presence measurement tools like Klout and of course, basic web traffic tracking on your website. The key is, keep a list of what you're doing and then watch the results - audience size, number of comments/likes, retweets, user posts, leads to your website, etc. Then you'll know if you're giving your audience what they want or if you might need to switch things up.

Resources:

• Social Media Examiner - 6 Ways to Measure your Social Media Results article http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/6-ways-to-measure-your-social-media-results/
• Klout - www.klout.com
• Google Analytics - www.google.com/analytics/
• Facebook Insights - http://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=insights
• Hootsuite - www.hootsuite.com

2012 Accreditation Study Sessions Begin

By Kara Winton, APR, CPRC

Credentialing Chair

The annual study sessions for anyone interested in pursuing Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) are about to begin. The first session is set for 6-8:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 in Fort Myers. We will be meeting each Monday through April 23, and it’s not too late to join us! The study sessions are free as a benefit of your FPRA, Southwest Florida chapter membership.

If you are ready to make this important commitment and work toward adding those coveted initials to your name, please email me today! Or, if you have questions and want to know more about the process, I will be happy to help you with that as well.