Be Relevant, Be Professional...

Are two of the most beneficial pearls of wisdom anyone embarking into the professional world should string on their learning necklace. Katherine Bradford, Vice President of NOVO1 and SMU advisory board member, stressed with caution, "Be repetitive, be consistent, and be relevant." According to her, twittering play-by-plays such as meal times, daily errand updates, and useless thoughts are a few of the many things that should not appear in your digital footprint. If your future employer were to look you up on any social media site including Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, they most definitely don't want to find a list of things you ate for breakfast with uploaded photos to accompany them... unless of course you are applying to work in the culinary arts.

Bradford lives a cautious digital life, applying the golden rule by asking herself if she'd want her friends, her future employers and then her mother to see her posts if they Googled her. She says, "If you even think it's inappropriate, take it down." Something I think has become more obvious over the years of developing social media that Bradford stressed, is the rule that "when you are communicating with someone in the business world, remember your English classes and use them." Often employers are contacted with emails that included phrases like "lol" and smiley faces. Even the most forgiving employers have a difficult time ignoring those faux pas.

One challenge that our generation faces is the fact that our original use of social media sites varies greatly from what the professional world expects of us. The transition from informal contact between friends to a professional networking tool often presents a gray area, however according to Bradford, the importance of maintaining your digital footprint trumps the want to share embarrassing pictures with friends.

A Blog About Blogging.

The brand that Exxon Mobil emulates is often perceived as a big-name oil conglomerate out to make money.. oh and there was that big oil spill in the 70's. You could say the first half is true, with the company being one of if not the top companies in the business, but as for its reputation when it comes to safety and maintaining the environment, Exxon Mobile doesn't get near enough credit.

While many companies invest greatly into marketing and advertising campaigns as their business strategy, according to Matt Gobush, ironically the democratic corporate communications manager for the company, claims this strategy isn't worth it. Regardless of who has the flashiest ad, people will buy gas at the most convenience or cheapest station - or in my case, whichever one looks like it has the cleanest bathroom.

So what is a company to do? Their communications strategies focus on environmental safety mechanisms and contributing to communities in which they operate. The company also works to develop chemicals and products that can prevent or lessen the impact of an oil disaster such as the BP oil spill - whose clean up crews utilized many of Exxon Mobil's developments. Clearly, Gobush and his team need to establish a conversation with consumers in attempt to make these efforts known, the challenge being, how does a large, corporate company like Exxon Mobil create a blog or social media site without diminishing its professionalism?

The point of a blog is to engage your audience while enhancing your company's image, not damage it. The trick to having a successful company blog is balance. There are blogs such as the National Geographic blog called Inside NGC that is informational but doesn't offer viewers any personality or proof that there are actual humans running the show there. Blogs need more than fuzzy animals and informational paragraphs to boost ratings. And then there's the Best Western blog titled, You Must Be Trippin'. This blog's most recent post covers highlights that readers can expect to see in the upcoming NASCAR season... I'm sorry, how does this relate to family-friendly hotel rooms? There may exist some 6th degree that links these two unlikely subjects, but it would be beneficial if the authors at Best Western pointed it out.

At least we know Exxon Mobil's site is sensitive to its environment, quickly changing the proposed title from "Platforms" to "Perspectives" once BP's oil platform caught fire and sunk into the Gulf. As for the blog's content, they balance the professional aspect of displaying copy in a formal layout but gear the information toward topics that are interesting to their audiences such as energy policies and establishing more AP classes in schools - one of the company's biggest philanthropic efforts.

Find the blog here and join the conversation!

Behind the Curtain of my Double Life.

In lieu of communications  class this week, I was servicing my alter ago [or major, that is] by performing in the SMU Meadows Dance Spring Hope Show. With rehearsal stemming from the begining of January almost every night of the week including a sprinkling of Saturday mornings, its pretty obvious to the university and the surrounding community that this show is a pretty big deal... at least the dancers hope so.

The program consisted of 5 pieces: Prayers, choreographed by Jessica Lang, Vigland's Garden by SMU faculty member, Christopher Dolder, Letters to Camille by SMU faculty member, Jean Paul Comelin, No Contact, by SMU student, Jamal White-Jackson and two special performances of Martha Graham's Panorama.

Having danced and thus performed for a great majority of my life [going on 15 years], one might assume the thrill, nausea, disappointment, and euphoria of rehearsing and performing a piece in front of a large group of people would diminish over time... it doesn't. I've never met a dancer [unless they are in their thrid straight year of a 36-show run of the Nutcracker] that doesn't feel the rush of urgency and slight panic of "wait, what are the steps?!" before they go on stage.

The feeling of unity that encompasses dancers who perform in a show, however, add in an injury that forces the casts of various pieces to rearrange choreography in the midst of the run and the feeling of unity transforms into a crisis-managing support group. On Saturday morning each dancer received an email announcing an emergency warm up and rehearsal schedule to change formations and casting to cover one of our own.

Regardless of the complications, the Spring Hope Show was ultimately a success, and nothing seems more rewarding than feeling of accomplishment after a long and tiresome run. Read the SMU Daily Campus review here.