Diversity and New Pros: Asian-Pacific Americans in Public Relations

ResizedImage378296-Screen-Shot-2014-04-01-at-11.41.34-AMThe following post is part of the ongoing series on The Edge, dealing with diversity and new professionals. This post is in honor of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month from May.

In my experience, I haven’t seen many Asian-Americans in the public relations field.

In the past four jobs I’ve had, there has only been one other Asian-American (other than myself) in two of the four companies. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 7.3 percent of Asian-Pacific Americans held roles in the combined fields of marketing / advertising / PR in 2011. It is slowly on the rise, but we definitely still have a long way to go.

It can be difficult working in a field dominated by other races, but it is all about how you make the most of your experience. You may feel isolated at times, but my advice is to be proactive.

PRSA is a great resource. Last year, they established an initiative aimed at attracting ethnically-diverse young people to the PR profession. This program will include a video series, student guide, mentoring program and an Ask an Expert series. It is important to reach out to college students to start the recruitment process early, but it is equally important to see an increase of diversity at the top. This program sounds like it will touch individuals on both ends.

Other groups like the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) are great if you’re looking for an Asian-specific professional group. NAAAP also has local chapters where you can attend events and network with people in your area. This organization is dedicated to developing and advancing the careers of Asian leaders.

A lot of Asians immigrate to the United States in pursuit of the “American Dream” and I believe that’s what my parents did. To give me the opportunity that I otherwise would never have. I’m grateful for that every day. When I see an increase of Asians in mainstream media (Fresh Off The Boat – I’m really excited for this!, Korean Food Made Simple – I’m hoping to try some of Judy’s recipes and let’s not forget #LINSANITY!), I am hopeful. One day, we will no longer be the minority.

 

​​lmoon_headshotLeah Moon is a 2008 graduate of Ohio University. She served as the National Chair of the New Professionals Section in 2012 and on the Board of the Dayton Chapter for the past two years. She is the Social Media Coordinator at Ashley Furniture in Florida. Follow Leah on Twitter @starmoon or email her at moon.leah@gmail.com.

 

PRSA New Professionals Week: New Pros Tweetchat Recap via Storify

Today, the New Professionals Section hosted a tweetchat to celebrate the second annual New Professionals Week. We discussed resumes, portfolios, LinkedIn and more. In case you missed it, see below for a recap via Storify! Thanks to our programming chairs, Elizabeth Rhoads Greenaway and Brendan Hughes, for hosting.

Back to PR School: Experts to Follow for Continuing Your Education

Career expert Peter Weddle advises job seekers to always work on their career fitness. We expect it of ourselves and so do our employers. Just because new professionals are no longer in school, doesn’t mean you can’t take some time this fall to go back to PR school and learn more about the burgeoning industry to which we belong.  

To be a successful public relations practitioner you need to know everything from social media, search engine optimization, reputation management, marketing and more. But how can you be all things to all people?

The Internet is a never-ending resource for newsletters and blogs to help you (and to help build Klout scores!). Many industry experts will place their presentations on Slideshare. The following are my favorite newsletters and experts to follow: 

  • Lee Odden (TopRank Online Marketing) – SEO is not just about finding the keywords that yield the most traffic. SEO is about using relevant content to attract your specific audience. Temper this in with social media and its rapidly changing venue and you need expert advice to stay ahead of the curve and to keep impressing the boss. TopRank Online Marketing produces an e-newsletter chock full of guidance and success stories written by Odden. When your employer asks you to write web content or an SEO-optimized press release, Odden is the man you want to follow on Twitter. Subscribe to TopRank’s e-newsletter, and your knowledge will soar.
  • Deirdre Breakenridge – If you haven’t been asked already, it’s only a matter of time before your employer expects you to write a social media plan. You will need to know how to set goals and use the best tactics (measurable ones) to best help you meet those goals. Following Breakenridge on Twitter and seeing what she’s pinning on Pinterest is a great start. When you are on a job interview, you want to show your potential boss you can hit the ground running. You may even consider doing a mini social media plan for the interview. You will stand above the crowd.
  • Peter Weddle and Weddle’s E-newsletter – To survive in the workforce today, being qualified is not enough. You need to be what Weddle calls a “career activist”. A recruiter, HR consultant and business CEO turned author and commentator, weddle knows what it takes to keep growing in the field. His favorite term is “work strong”. Subscribe to his e-newsletter and you’ll not only learn as a job seeker, you’ll gain knowledge from an employer perspective as well. One of his many books, Recognizing Richard Rabbit will change how you think about your current and future career.
  • Recruiting Trends – My dear friend and expert recruiter Sandy Charet of Charet & Associates always mentions the very difficult job recruiters have. They not only have to review resumes sent their way, but also need to constantly comb through LinkedIn to find the best “passive job seekers”. They are completely overworked and need to process a voluminous number of job orders within superhuman deadlines. A recent study showed that recruiters decide within six seconds whether a resume winds up in the “yes” or “no” pile. Therefore, it’s key to understand where recruiters are coming from. If you understand the pressure they are under, it will change how you approach them when following up after they have sent you on a job interview.
  • FINS Newsletter – While the advice may not be tailored directly to public relations, there’s a multitude of career and resume advice on this Dow Jones career and employment website. Their topics have universal appeal regardless of your career specialty. It is one of the best places to read about writing your career story, the 25 toughest companies for interviews and facing feedback from your employer.
  • Mashable – If you are just beginning in your career, you want to know who the heavy hitters are in making news and headlines. Mashable not only covers major technology trendsetters, it will help you show potential employers that you’re fully up-to-date understanding the challenges in the business world.

While the list of resources is always growing, consider following these experts:

  • Eric Schwartzman – With Schwartzman, you learn about social media from A to Z. His knowledge will take you from the beginning of setting up your Twitter account to blogging and expertly tagging your digital content.
  • Dawn Edmiston – Recruiters not only want to know about your resume – they will research your professional online presence. Dawn is an expert resource. The most critical resource you have is your own branding. Dawn will help you take ownership of this.
  • Sandy Charet – We all know how important LinkedIn is to recruiters. You want to present the most professional and complete profile possible. Charet knows all the ins and outs of working with LinkedIn. 
  • Brian Solis – His conversation prism will graphically show you all the facets to social media. When setting up a social media plan, you need to know which tactics will work the best. However, how many of us really know all the forms of social media out there? Solis gives the best starting point by displaying all or at least most of the available forms.
  • Andrea Nierenberg –Networking is key to your career survival, but how do you approach someone? What do you do if you’re an introvert? How do I really use the “give to get” principle? Nierenberg’s thoughts and insights will help you network with results.

We also hope that you will read the 70+ articles on PRSA Jobcenter. Having a full range of job advice and resources will ensure a very long and very happy career.

 

Richard Spector is the manager of client services at PRSA.

Intro to Consumer PR by Mark McClennan, APR

Almost 20 years ago, Oscar Mayer crushed my dreams when it told me I didn’t quite cut the mustard to drive the 27-foot long Weinermobile. I was one of 36 finalists, but they chose only 12 to go hot-dogging around the country for a year.

I quickly recovered, joined a public relations agency and haven’t looked back since. For most of that time, I have been doing PR for consumer technology – everything from 3D game controllers and the first professional cyber-athletes, to online shopping, a free online dating service (you shouldn’t have to pay for love) and new forms of cash.

The realm of consumer PR is broad, and there are dozens of subspecialties within it. From beverage and restaurant PR, to music, technology, travel and consumer services, more than 70 percent of the U.S. economy deals with consumers. 

Consumer PR is a crowded field, and even with the social media explosion, you are fighting thousands of others for the same slice of attention. That, to me, is one thing that makes consumer PR so exciting. My day is one of non-stop motion. 

Every day is different, but it usually begins by checking my iPhone before I get out of bed to see the latest news and developments – spending time on Facebook, Radian6, Google+ and Twitter to see what I need to know. When I get into the office, I start juggling the demands of a number of clients and come up with creative ideas ranging from surveys and videos to analyzing Google Analytics and HootSuite metrics to see what is driving traffic to my clients’ websites.

The best part of my day is brainstorming with all the creative professionals at our agency. Just last week we came up with a city-by-city heatmap highlighting the worst cases of identity manipulation and a creative campaign for Comic-Con. What happens on a daily basis changes quite a bit. However, there are a few pieces of advice that I have found useful over the years. The following are four tips for new professionals looking to break into and develop their careers in consumer:

  • If you don’t love what you are doing, don’t do it: Find something else, both for your own personal satisfaction and because people that have a passion for their job will lap you and leave you in the dust. Every single day I am excited to wake up, see what has happened with my clients and their competitors and go to work with a great group of people.

  • Every opportunity is a networking opportunity – and I mean every place: Work, dinner, church, sitting in the airport or playing sports. Keep in mind, networking does not mean “What can you do for me?” Good networking involves helping others and making connections, just like investing in your 401k. At first, your network seems small, but if you keep it up, the beauty of compound interest gives even someone who is an average networker an amazing web of contacts and influencers in just five to 10 years. Don’t be intimidated just because someone has been doing consumer PR longer than you have been alive. You have a valuable point of view and experiences they do not have. Share it.Networking is also the best way to break through the HR roadblock and get an interview and possibly your dream job. Having a news snippet to share at the interview to show you have done your research is also strongly suggested.

  • Change is constant: With consumer PR, change is constant. You need to keep up on the latest trends. Ten million people joined Google+ in the first three weeks–is that something your company or clients should leverage? The only way to know is to try it yourself. This often means putting the time in after work. Just keep in mind, you need to look at things through your clients’ and your company’s eyes, not your own. This also means you shouldn’t be wedded to any one thing. Discussing a Facebook strategy is the wrong question. You should be looking at the social networking strategy. Facebook may not even be here in five years. 

  • Everything matters: As a consumer PR pro, you need to be a subject matter expert, but your subjects can be featured in everything from “Sex in the City” to USA Today; TechCrunch to “Captain America.” This means you need to keep up with quite a bit. Read constantly. You will be amazed when an obscure piece of knowledge helps you connect with a reporter or a client.

Consumer PR is a thriving, dynamic market with an opportunity for you to do whatever you want. If you have a goal – go for it. However, keep yourself open to new experiences. In consumer PR, you can be sure you will have a new challenge every day.

Mark W. McClennan, APR, is a senior vice president at Schwartz Communications, where he heads the research group and co-leads the consumer technology practice. In his spare time, he writes blog posts on how Dora the Explorer teaches you all you need to know about PR and does stand-up comedy.

Follow Mark on Twitter          Follow Mark LinkedIn

Creating a Blog Strategy that Works: 10 Tips for Company Bloggers and Teams by Crystal Olig

Blogging can be frightening because no matter the size of your organization, not everyone believes they are a writer. The allure of a brand-spanking new blog tarnishes quickly when everyone realizes you have to feed the beast.

As PR pros, we mobilize a company’s internal experts and find a way to help them turn their knowledge into dynamic and compelling content. Whether we write it, ghostwrite it or edit it, thoughtful preparation and tools go a long way. Here is a quick guide to creating a long-term strategy that works.

1.       Editorial strategy & calendar

Blog platforms today, from WordPress and Blogger to Tumblr and Posterous, are intuitive to use, and you can be up and blogging in a day. However, that day should include at least a basic outline of content areas of focus with a frequency goal – once a day, a few times a week or once a week, at minimum. Even better is a strategic plan based around a few key information architecture elements.

Combine your content plan into strategic groups. A tool like MindMeister is great for team brainstorms and collaboratively creating a plan with your team. Within each of your topical areas, pick out a few descriptive words or phrases. Your groups can become blog categories, and the rest are viable tags.

Lastly, a deadline calendar that you gently enforce, or even better, incentivize your staff with, helps everyone know what they are expected to do and when.

2.       Be a great curator

While brainstorming is great, sometimes you just do not have it in you to start completely from scratch. I remind my clients that they are constantly consuming great content and forming an opinion. Applying an expert eye to e-mail newsletters, tweets from colleagues and magazine articles, a good blogger just picks the most on-trend, compelling or controversial info. Flip it around, add your own spin and you have a new post. The ability to curate content and choose the most compelling to share and open for commentary is a cultivated blogging skill.

3.       Content isn’t just words

Pay attention to your blogging team members’ strengths. The most persuasive and prepared salesperson can turn to jelly at the thought of putting pen to paper. Find a way to capture that person’s voice through rich media. Put a flip cam in the table in the breakroom and ask the salesperson some questions – “What is the most common question you get asked?” or “What questions do you wish our customers asked you?” can generate fascinating “vlogs.” Even a quick audio recording using a microphone or headset can do the trick.

4.       Mobilize a team

Unless you are a sole practitioner or an executive blogging for the sake of your own reputation, payday or thought leadership, chances are writing for the company blog is not your only job. Find a team who can help you, and get buy-in from the top to support everyone’s involvement. A monologue is rarely as compelling as a conversation or symphony of voices and perspectives.

5.       Do what you do

When you create your team, do not limit it to your peers in communications. A favorite client of mine mobilized his school’s whole staff to post on their education blog. Everyone can bring a unique perspective.  Some of the most popular posts are photo-driven, created by the school’s facilities and maintenance manager showing events across campus. If your goal is to highlight the rich talent at your organization, allowing them to talk about their passions in relation to your industry and individual roles is a great starting point.

6.       Come packing

Rich blogs full of photography, infographics, videos and graphics do not just happen. Arm yourself with the gadgets you need to capture the moment when inspiration strikes. A flip cam, digital camera and smart phone are all helpful and affordable.

You do not have to be an expert to produce blog content.  If the content is thoughtful and compelling, it counts. If you have access to a design team or some skills of your own, enrich your verbiage with imagery.

7.       Make it recognizable

Not just any old blog will do. It is getting easier every day to create customized and branded blogging platforms. If you know enough about the web or HTML to be dangerous, you can tweak colors, add logos and imagery templates and designs. Template libraries like Themeforest can help you on your way.

8.       Simplicity & SEO

One of the most common questions I hear from my interactive marketing clients is how to keep a corporate website interesting and the content timely. Often times, competing priorities of an organization or the complexity of your corporate site technology prevent communicators from changing it up. A blog can be simpler to use and involve fewer hoops to jump. Google sees the recency of content and gives value to fresh stuff. Blogs today typically have all kinds of built-in SEO-friendly features like the ability to manipulate title tags, URL structures and heading tags.

9.       Make it sharable

In a social world, the best stuff gets shared. Plug-ins and widgets like Topsy, Share This or AddThis, paired with other direct interaction opportunities like Facebook or Linked In “Like” buttons, make it easy to pass along great ideas or stories.

10.   Create a voice

While communicators today often advocate for a clearly articulated brand voice, not everyone in the C-suite sees value in talking to your customers in a casual, non-journalistic or even friendly tone on your corporate site. A blog by nature is often more conversational and meant to elicit commentary and discussion. Writing about issues and trends affecting your industry, great corporate social responsibility initiatives or community action can often allow for more freedom – and more fun for those who are blogging.

Crystal OligCrystal Olig is an online content and digital marketing professional at Oxiem, an interactive marketing agency in Columbus, Ohio. She serves as the New Professionals Section Mentorship Liaison and is on the University Liaison committee locally, working with future PR pros through the Central Ohio PRSA chapter.