“Brook” lives in New York City and is a Jr Art Director. She loves to share knowledge, help and inspire others who want to be in advertising or any other creative industry. Her motto: Juniors Unite! Dear Brook Blog was born with one mission: A Junior in Advertising helping other Juniors in Advertising. Here is a post she wrote just for our BG readers…

Plan your next move.

Whether you’re looking for your first job or looking for your next job, there’s a lot to take into consideration before you make that decision. Most of us juniors are so in a hurry to get a job that we overlook some things. Besides the obvious things to consider (salary, size of the company, position…) There are three not-so-obvious things you cannot forget about: Technology, Talent and Tolerance.

When I was in college, a wise creative director introduced me to Richard Florida’s work and research. He wrote this book called The Rise of The Creative Class. Richard says that in order for a place to be considered creative, it needs the 3 Ts: Technology, Talent and Tolerance. Later, I discovered that the 3 Ts are particularly important in the Ad business and I think if you learn that early on, you’ll have a clearer idea of where you want to go next.

Technology:

Why? Because it’s the future. By staying educated about what’s new, you’ll one day be able to almost predict the future of technology. That ability alone will set you apart from many.

Same goes for the agency you’re heading to, you need to make sure the work they do is current and fresh. That will tell you how savvy they are and how well they will receive your crazy and cool ideas. The only way to learn new technologies is if you’re surrounded by them.

Talent:

First, let’s talk about you. You need to find what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about and work hard at perfecting your talent.

Your next agency needs to be able to see and recognize your talent; otherwise it’ll go to waste. Your boss should be nurturing and someone who will help you get better at what you already love to do. It takes talent to recognize other’s talents.

Plus, if you’re surrounded by talented people, you’re more likely to learn and develop new talents along the way. Wouldn’t that be nice!

Tolerance:

To me, this one is the most important of the three. No tolerance to diversity, mistakes and different opinions is the worst, I tell ya. First of all, whoever says that you cannot make mistakes is wrong. People who make the most mistakes, usually learn faster and are generally more daring – which is good – you should be daring. You should be different. This business is all about standing out. You should feel free to be your unique self because guess what, the more diverse the agency, the better work they produce.

Most agencies love juniors because they have a fresh view of the world. Their inexperience can be a breath of fresh air to the agency. Now, that’s where you want to be.

Some agencies on the other hand, don’t want you to experiment or make mistakes, they want you to simply follow the rules and do as they say. If you sense that, move on and don’t look back. But remember that wherever you end up, work super hard and give it all you got. Always.

Another thing to keep in mind when interviewing somewhere is that they’re not only choosing to hire you but you’re also choosing to share your talent with them. You might be an inexperienced junior but the first years of your career can make it or break it. Choose wisely and don’t settle.

Steve jobs said it best: “ Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become. You’ve got to find what you love. Don’t settle.”

Brook

Lisa Margolin-Feher is owner of Margolin & Associates, a public relations and marketing consultancy in Solana Beach, CA. Her expertise is in helping clients improve their business by creating clear, compelling communications. Learn more about Margolin & Associates by visiting their blog.

Five Best Practices for Effective Internal Communications by Lisa Margolin-Feher

A strong internal communication program, if done properly, will inform, motivate and influence your workforce. That influence translates into real profit as employees drive your brand forward in their dealings with customers and other stakeholders. Wouldn’t everyone like to be more like Zappos, which was a run-of-the-mill shoe retailer before exploding into an internet powerhouse? It wouldn’t have happened without the motivation and loyalty of Zappos’ workforce.

Here are the top five best practices in creating effective internal communication to motivate your employees:

1. Take Internal Communication Seriously. Communicate to your internal audience with the same zeal, care and creativity as you do your external audiences. Your internal communication department should include expert communicators who understand the corporate vision, and can create and deliver messaging in a compelling way. The head of this department needs frequent access to the lead communications executive or CEO. Your internal communicators will use the same practices to create effective communication as your external ones: high-level planning, compelling strategy and tactics, and consistent messaging. The result will be professional level communication that will move the needle.

2. Be Consistent. Every communication vehicle available to your business must be used to communicate the same consistent messaging with frequency. Your internal communication experts will create messaging based on the corporate vision and disseminate it frequently and consistently across all available platforms: intranet, newsletters, emails, voicemails, videos, facilities signage, employee meetings, etc. The internal communication team should be the clearinghouse for all of the above.

3. Align Communication with the Brand. If your internal communication is not effective, and you’re doing everything else right, it may be because your employees are living one brand while you’re trying to communicate another. Make sure what you’re communicating to employees fits the reality of what’s it like to work in, or be a customer of, your company.

4. Provide Ample Mechanisms for Feedback and 2-way Communication. This is one my client’s biggest priorities. They believe their communication is consistent, frequent, and reflective of the brand, but their culture and communication vehicles have not provided adequately for feedback. As a result, we’re implementing a robust two-way communication program that will help this client have a better understanding of the employee base.

5. Measure. As with any communication strategy, measurement is key. The easiest and most cost effective way to measure an internal program is to simply survey employees before and after communication, to determine if key messages have been heard and understood.

Back in January (seems like a long time ago), we held a one-day team building retreat with our friend Jeff Blum, Principal of TheTeamBuilding Company.

Team Building can be risky

We spent the day going through a series of exercises that taught us about teamwork and brought us closer together. We also spent a majority of the day laughing which was truly wonderful. All that oxygen! Here are some tips from Jeff on continually growing your team. Jeff’s advice is always spot on (he’s a former agency guy – he gets us).

Coaching Your Team Towards Greatness – Eight Simple Steps

By Jeff Blum, Team Facilitator

It would be wonderful if a one day team building event was sufficient to create the in-depth change in your group that you are hoping for.

Maybe the word miracle would be more appropriate.

Certainly, well facilitated experiential team building can be a powerful force that helps teams arrive at key discoveries and breakthroughs. However, effective team building needs to make the vital connection with the pulse of your team’s daily activity, its current objectives and immediate goals.

Experts say that 70% of the work we do these days is in teams and small work groups. If so, doesn’t it make good sense to regularly develop the best team skills possible? To improve the manner and the methods that can create the best collaborative work with steady effort?

Team building must be a part of the real time, day-in-day-out dynamic of the workplace.

So, team building ought not be confined to a singular event – but become a continual process.

Here are eight ways you can build a better team on a daily basis:

1.      Encourage and reward best practice team behaviors including: open communication, being accountable, meeting commitments, the willingness to engage in healthy conflict, reaching consensus and then cheerfully adopting the groups’ decisions.

2.      Model good team skills from your leadership position by being a good team player: listen effectively, delegate broadly and be willing to consider and accept the group’s direction over pushing your own dictates.

3.      Set up regular “Taking our Team Temperature” meetings. “What’s working?” “What’s not?” “What are we learning about ourselves and our team?” “What might we do differently?” “What’s keeping us from realizing our goals?”

4.      Use icebreakers to kick off meetings. This encourages playfulness, risk-taking and thinking creatively – all good team skills.

5.      Be willing to appropriately share some personal information about yourself. Ask the same of your crew. They will come to trust you and each other for displaying sincere vulnerability.

6.      Spend time brainstorming better communication methods for your projects. Brainstorm better ways of arriving at goals. Brainstorm everything. Brainstorm all the time. Encourage full participation. Ramp up the energy. Be willing to entertain even outlandish ideas so that great ideas have room to flourish.

7.      Debrief often, especially after a goal has been reached. “What worked?” “What might we have done instead?” “How can we avoid these mistakes in the future?” “How can we recreate this success?”

8.      Utilize a team coach or facilitator to work with your group on a periodic basis. The focus would be simply on the improvement of team skills. The best sports teams practice all the time. And, they all have coaches. Why don’t you?

Rather than thinking of team building as just a yearly event, you can create a solid team culture with your consistent daily efforts.

Improved team skills causes even a good team to work better together and become a great team, accustomed to regularly producing the very best of results!

By Guest Blogger, Natalie Wardel from the Metropolitan Transit System*

I think it’s safe to assume that no one likes to be stuck in traffic. I also think it’s safe to assume that not very many of us like change- especially when it comes to our morning commute.

When leaders from the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) decided to launch the $620 million “Trolley Renewal Project” to revive the 30 year-old rails from San Ysidro to Old Town, they knew strong communication was key to their success.

We knew that clear and succinct messaging about how the renovation was going to benefit commuters and what changes they could expect to their commute wasn’t just a critical component. It was the only way to gain a favorable perception among riders and tax payers. They also knew that the messaging needed to reach nearly 20,000 commuters of all ages.

There were two main messages. First, the renovation will introduce new features to commuters, some of which included, low-floor trolleys, station amenities, closed circuit television and enhanced lighting. The second, and probably most important, is the temporary change to hours of operation of trolley stations during construction.

The objective was clear. Communicate ongoing, and sometimes daily, changes to tens of thousands of weekend commuters who are less likely to be regular riders, and also to the weekday riders who are dependent on MTS to arrive to work on time.

To achieve this, we devised an integrated marketing plan to include not only traditional marketing tools (outreach to community groups, direct mail to schools and churches, public relations, advertising, etc.) but newer platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Here’s how it went:

Two months before construction started, MTS made presentations to more than two dozen community organizations. A month before closures, signs were displayed at stations, and the information was available online. To spread the word even more, MTS and SANDAG hosted a news conference which garnered almost 30 mentions over five days from media including KGTV and the San Diego Union-Tribune. To support the education component we posted real time reminders and updates on Facebook and Twitter  to remind people of station closures.

One month into the Trolley Renewal project, construction is running smoothly and MTS hasn’t received any known complaints. Passengers have communicated their appreciation for the renovation and the lengths the two agencies have gone to keep them informed of changes in order to minimize inconveniences.

It’s become apparent to us that using more than one marketing tool to reach different audiences is important, and real time information is key when it comes to customer service and satisfaction. This is just one example of how a service which is used by so many San Diegans has integrated these tools into a cohesive plan.

Have you been impacted by the Trolley Renewal Project? How well do you think MTS and SANDAG are communicating? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

*Natalie Wardel is the marketing coordinator for the Metropolitan Transit System, San Diego’s public transit provider. She is also a good friend of Bailey Gardiner and an active participant of our Twitterverse.

*By Guest Blogger, Alan Cohen

“It is our choices that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

These profound words were uttered by a widely respected world leader – not a head of state, CEO or scholar, but by Albus Dumbledore, the head of Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a central character in the Harry Potter series, and a creation of the brilliant writer, J. K. Rowling.

This quote speaks to the idea that how we respond to situations says much about the kind of leader we are. It indicates that our actions are an expression of our values, and that our values reflect our true selves and who we want to be.

As an executive coach and trainer who works primarily with PR professionals, I’m always on the lookout for great examples of creative leadership, such as those demonstrated by the benevolent Dumbledore. Popular culture generally offers a multitude of amazing metaphors, principles and examples, which I love to explore and share.

The Harry Potter series, in particular, is packed with lessons to ponder.

A basic reason for my fascination is that I’ve been a Harry Potter junkie since the books came out 10 years ago. As a PR veteran, I marvel at how the brand has sustained the test of time and continues to grow but not saturate.

I also had the pleasure of being the Director of Publicity for the book series when it launched in America 10 years ago. Nurturing the phenomenon beyond imagination was truly the highlight of my PR career.

The lessons I learned came not only from the books themselves but from working on this remarkable series as part of a leadership team that embraced the challenge and stood together during an incredible, often stressful ride.

Here are a few of the great leadership lessons that can be learned from the books:

• Harry’s demonstration of humility; he’s reluctant to accept his greatness, but willing to use his strengths in service to others.

• Headmaster Dumbledore’s inspired leadership of the Hogwarts School, always encouraging each student to do his or her best and to tap into their own unique gifts and talents. Dumbledore was also adept at building consensus, being transparent, sharing good and bad news, and trusting that each student had the answer within.

• The superb teamwork of Hermione, Ron and Harry as they support each other through the most challenging times, always putting their friendship first and foremost.

• A clear, well-articulated vision and strategy (overthrow Voldemort!) was bought into. Difficult decisions were made accordingly and acted upon purposefully and speedily.

Beyond the lessons from the books themselves, there was much to be learned from working on the series with a superbly talented, engaged cross-functional team of professionals. At Scholastic, I was the first line of contact with J. K. Rowling. She is as wonderful a person as she is a storyteller and she was also a leader in the best sense – humble, charitable, focused and a true visionary.

Here are a few of the lessons I learned from working with her and the rest of the team:

• Believing in a vision, and not allowing ourselves to be distracted by naysayers or perceived limitations. Knowing we had a huge opportunity to turn the books into a mega-blockbuster franchise, we let nothing stand in our way.

• Each team member had a say, so ideas came from all levels, and creativity was encouraged and celebrated. The diverse talents of the team aligned to create better marketing, operations, publicity – and sales.

• Egos (for the most part) were checked at the door. The amazing books created an opportunity to excite millions of youngsters about reading. We stood in service to the books and to our customers (and, in doing so, grew a very profitable business).

• Leadership was collaborative. We supported and challenged each other. We celebrated successes and treated mistakes as opportunities to learn and do better the next time.

Reflecting on my experience with Harry Potter helps me clarify what some of leadership’s most important talents are, from all members of a team, regardless of position.

Leadership is like Harry Potter’s magic… It is elusive, and awe- inspiring. It is thrilling to experience. And, believe it or not, we all have the power to create that same magic if we dare to tap into our own unlimited potential. Remember, leadership is a living, breathing part of you, and it’s action, not just knowledge, Be willing to challenge your current thinking pattern, perceptions and behaviors to find new ways to lead.

In the words of an ancient sage, “Who is wise? He who learns from all people.” Harry Potter included.

Alan Cohen is the President of Acts of Balance Executive Coaching. If you’d like to hear more from him, you can download his free report, “The 12 Essential Talents of PR Leadership.”

San Diego imports more than 80 percent of its water. This means that water travels up to 400 miles so that we can flush our toilets.

Talk about waste.

I grew up in Oregon, where the only water supply issues we faced resulted from too much of it falling from the sky.

Now I live in San Diego, an arid region that receives less rainfall in a year than Oregon can see in a month. And the interconnectedness of our world helps me understand water issues happening across the globe. I realize that even though I’m not drinking the water directly from the creek in my backyard, I am still very fortunate to have access to clean water that is conveniently pumped directly into my house.

As I read in the news that water shortages will be the world’s most pressing problem in the next decade and Blog Action Day brings to light that 4,500 children die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities, I wonder what San Diegans are doing to lessen our need for water from the Colorado River and San Joaquin Delta.

Here are five things to consider:

1.     Do you have grass in your yard? Fifty percent of San Diego’s water goes to residential use, and 60 percent of that goes to landscape irrigation. We live in the desert—green grassy yards aren’t natural. Consider the use of native plants, which are beautiful, and need very little water.

2.     Do you let the shower run while you lather up? This is about as wasteful as using drinkable water to flush our toilets. Imagine if we didn’t transport water across state lines so that it could magically flow from your showerhead. If you had to hunt for your own supplies here in San Diego, how differently would you bath?

3.     How do you wash your car? We have many options in San Diego, including waterless car washes and those that recycle wash water. If you insist on washing your car at home, use a nozzle and wash in the yard. The grass, roots, dirt and rocks will naturally filter harmful elements to prevent them from flowing into our ocean, and it doubles as a watering session.

4.     Do you wash vegetables and fruit? Instead of washing them under running water, wash them in a bowl filled with water.

5.     How do you water houseplants? Try using the leftover water from washing your fruits and veggies. Or capture water that you let run when you’re waiting for it to get hot.

I’m not asking residents to feel bad for our lucky disposition in life or alter our daily habits to the point of causing discomfort. I’m simply asking you to evaluate how you use water and whether you treat it like the scarce natural resource it is. We’ve been so fortunate with our convenient water supply for so long, we are out of the habit of thinking about how we use it. Let’s all find easy ways to conserve water and still live our lives to the fullest capacity.

Jamie Ortiz is the Communications and Marketing Director at San Diego Coastkeeper, the region’s largest environmental organization working on inland and coastal water issues.

Here is the deal.  Social Media is an undeniable force.  Is anyone even talking about anything else?  Nope, not really.

I went to a Competitive Edge luncheon today where a panel of tourism industry experts regaled us with “How To Operate In the New Norm”.  They talked about team building, communicating with your employees, looking toward the future, networking in industry groups and…You guessed it, Social Media.  I could sit here and list off a handful of examples where I attended a luncheon and was lectured on the importance of Social Media.  I won’t bore you with the details, I think you get it.

So why am I blogging on this blog?  Well, I have been tasked with telling you, the fine readers of Don’t Drink The Koolaid Blog, how I, Megan Capizzi, convinced my employers that Social Media was an important avenue for Seaport Village to explore.  And to be honest, it was a gradual process.  The folks at Bailey Gardiner sat me down and said, YOU NEED TO WRITE A BLOG.  How awesome.  I LOVE reading blogs!  I was really excited about it. I could finally talk to the Seaport Village “customer” the way I had always talked to my friends and family about my job.  I would get to divulge the behind the scenes stuff!  What my favorite store was.  Where I liked to sit and people  watch.  My favorite lunch item at Edgewater Grill  (on days I’m not working of course) – coc0nut shrimp and a Mojito, in case you were wondering.  I was finally going to get to shout from the rooftops my love for Seaport Village.  And by shout from the rooftops I mean unleash my blogs onto the Internet.

Where I saw awesome opportunity and a two-way conversation, my company saw… well, a two way conversation.

Them: “What if they say something bad about our parking?”
Me: “Then I will remind them that we are the cheapest parking in downtown!  I will give them the parking tips they need to know!”

Them: “What if there is a complaint about a store?  And it is on the Internet for everyone to see?”
Me: “Then I will help right the wrong!  I will be the connection that that customer is looking for.  I can help!”

Them: “Are you sure?  You will monitor it…”
Me: “Yes! Yes! Yes!  This is going to be great.  Let’s give it a chance.”

And to their credit, they gave it a chance.  And from that, Boardwalk Betty was created.  Boardwalk Betty is Seaport Village’s social media persona.  She has gone on to create a Facebook, Twitter, Flickr & YouTube account.

I believe they gave it a chance because they believed that our product, Seaport Village, was and is a quality product.  We take pride in our little shopping
center on the water.  We want our customers to be happy.  And let’s get serious, our customers are vocal about what they like and don’t like.  Why would we not be a part of that conversation?  It is a privilege to be part of that conversation!

After everyone saw how wonderfully Boardwalk Betty and all of her blogs were being received- we were actually getting comments and feedback, hooray!- we moved into the Facebook and Twitter arena.  Similar apprehensions,  but there I was again, “People are talking about us!  People actually really love us!  Let’s make them love us more.”  These were my cheers when I put on my social media cheerleading outfit.  I wish I had a picture of that outfit, because it’s cute and cheery.  But that is beside the point.

Now, not only does the company allow me to “run with it” they are applauding my efforts.  They see the valuable conversations that are being had, the community that is being created.  On top of that, I encouraged our stores & restaurants to get on board.  We now have 14 stores on Twitter and 24 stores who have individual Facebook Fan Pages.  The conversation between the stores alone is amazing.  The cross promotion opportunities, endless!  Social media- undeniable my friends, undeniable.

So my suggestion to you, if there is apprehension in the upper ranks, ease ‘em in slowly.  Start with something that you have a lot of control over, like a blog.  You control the content and monitor the comments then hit ‘em with the big guns- FACEBOOK!  TWITTER!  The benefits are overwhelming and if done right the results will be undeniable.

PS- While I would like to take all the credit, I have to admit that Bailey Gardiner played a gigantic role in getting Seaport Village on board the social media train.  I owe them a million thank you’s for all of the support and guidance as we navigated this new and exciting territory.

Megan Capizzi is the Marketing Manager at Seaport Village in San Diego. A client of Bailey Gardiner’s for four years, Megan has overseen Seaport’s advertising, public relations and now social media campaigns.  She runs the Seaport Village Blog as well as their Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube accounts.

In my last blog post about selling creative ideas, I featured some of the tips presented by Sam Harrison in his presentation at this year’s HOW Conference.

This week, Sam offers more thoughts on idea selling as he gives advice on pitching unfamiliar ideas to clients in his very first guest blog post.

Our parents always told us to hang with a good crowd, right?

So apply this wisdom when presenting ideas – associate your concept with a successful, admired product or service.

Steve Jobs did this when presenting the iPhone 4 at WWDC a few weeks ago. He touted the phone’s precision by saying “its closest kin is like a beautiful old Leica camera.”

And when discussing the phone’s new display, Jobs said its text “looks like what you’ve seen in fine printed books.”

In my new book, IdeaSelling, I call this hitching ideas to stars, and I suggest using the technique when pitching ideas unfamiliar to decision makers.

For example, there was a time when our team wanted to sell high-end stationery and home-desk items using a magalog – a combination of a magazine and direct-mail catalog – with editorial content as well as products.

To fund this high-end project, we needed to convince decision makers of its value, so we began by familiarizing them with the magalog genre. We created a glide path toward acceptance by hitching our ideas to stars. Before revealing our prototypes, we showed decision makers samples of successful magalogs, such as those from Patagonia and Neiman Marcus.

In a preliminary session, we walked decision makers through the catalogs, discussing product positioning, editorial slants and marketing techniques. We shared sales figures garnered from industry publications and our extrapolations.

These showings eased the eventual selling of our ideas. When we presented prototypes in following weeks, decision makers were already ramped-up on the nature and value of magalogs. All we had to do was show and explain our creative approaches.

If you’re facing the tough sell of an idea – especially an unconventional one – compare your concept to other success stories. You can look to stars from other firms or industries – or you can pull up a lucky star from your own past.

That’s what Stefan Mumaw of Reign Agency did when pitching aTV spots to a retail client. The concept revolved around a funny character that originally seemed far outside the client’s comfort zone.

“They were leaning toward a more familiar Nike-type spot,” Mumaw says, “something displaying the passion and athleticism of tennis players.”

To help overcome resistance to something less familiar, Mumaw brought in stars from the agency’s past campaigns. “We showed examples of ads that had stretched clients in new directions,” he says. “And when we discussed the financial success of those creative leaps, the decision makers agreed to do the spots.”

The next time you need to swiftly show the value of an uncommon concept, compare it to a success from another firm or your own hall of fame. Show how your new kid fits in with the cool crowd.

Sam Harrison is a speaker, workshop leader and author on creativity-related topics. His books include IdeaSelling: Successfully pitch your creative ideas to bosses, clients and other decision makers, IdeaSpotting: How to find your next great idea and ZING! Five steps and 101 tips for creativity on command. Visit his website for even more inspiration.

*This post is a guest post from Erin Serkaian, an associate at Reputation Partners in Chicago. As a fellow Pinnacle partner, RP and BG share best practices and ideas with one another regarding social media, crisis planning and corporate communications.

Social media strategy in corporate communications is similar to social media in consumer communications in many ways. At the end of the day, social media is just another “tool in the PR toolbox.”  It can be used to create online conversations, increase transparency, mitigate an online reputation attack and pump personality into a brand (like our client BOMA/Chicago has done with its Facebook page).

The key difference when talking about social media in corporate communications is an emphasis on an expanded audience. Corporate communications requires PR professionals to consider many different audiences, including employees, investors, business partners, and trade and business media. It also requires you to have to consider the type of information the audience wants/need and how they like to be communicated with.

Here are a few of the additional audiences that may need more of a focus in corporate social media program:

• Employees: Corporations generally have a much larger employee base, and therefore should consider using social media to communicate with them. These employees can be a company’s strongest group of evangelists, so engagement is critical. IBM has thousands of employee blogs related to every facet of its business. These blogs allow their employees to have a voice for IBM and empower the employees to share their area of expertise. Giving employees ownership increases their pride in their company and their role within the company.

• Current/Potential Business or Community Partners: With 70 million active business professionals on the site, Linkedin can be a strong tool for connecting with potential business or community partners. The platform allows you to reach out to people your corporation would like to work with via groups or introductions, and tends to have a much better result than cold calling or emailing. Companies can also use  a company blog to showcase positive, meaningful business achievements. Take McDonald’s blog dedicated to discussing corporate social responsibility. This blog boosts the company’s reputation as a good corporate citizen and business partner encouraging potential partners to get involved.

• Media: Hundreds of journalists and bloggers mine for story ideas on Twitter, as well as potential sources. A corporation should be “owning” its industry on Twitter by aligning and engaging with individuals who have a prominent share of voice, contributing to hashtag conversations, and posting links to company news and information.

• Investors: According to Brunswick Group, 50 percent of investors in the United States have used social media to research an investment decision. Cultivating relationships with influential financial bloggers will help draw positive attention to your corporation’s investment story. Sharing these positive stories on social networks, like Linkedin, can be beneficial as well. Then all the potential investors you are connected with will see the positive story in their news feed.

These are just a handful of audiences and tactics to consider when developing a strategy for social media in corporate communications. Each company has different goals, and needs specific social media strategies designed to energize and shape the corporate reputation.

How are you using social media in corporate communications?