Getting your professional message across

GETTING YOUR PROFESSIONAL MESSAGE ACROSS

Rhonda BraceyEAPAA Conference

August 2014

#cybertext

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Quick poll

Channel Professional Personal Neither

Website

LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook

Blog

Pinterest

© CyberText Consulting Pty Ltd

‘From little things big things grow’1


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Start small; add as you grow confident

Start with the medium that requires the least effort and best suits your personality

Don’t try it all at once overwhelming

Only do what YOU’RE comfortable with

Personable written communication is critical

1. Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody

Start small: my progression


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Email discussion

groups (from mid

1990s)

Professional website

(from 1999)

Email newsletter

(~2003–2007)

LinkedIn (from mid-

2004)

Professional blog on

WordPress (from late

2007)

Facebook (from late

2007)

Twitter (from early

2009)

Pinterest

(from mid 2013)

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My blog stats over time….

Posted 1x day for first 2 years; now more like 1x week/fortnight, but still they keep coming. Why?I offer solutions!


(as at 04 August 2014)

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Why promote yourself/your business?


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Why promote?

Raise your profile: keep your name uppermost in the minds

of those who need you stand out from the crowd

Maintain your profile to: help retain existing clients (out of sight = out of mind) encourage new clients

Word-of-mouth referrals most powerful advertising You have a good message to deliver, so do so! Many channels… Social media is not just what you had for

breakfast—use it to present yourself in a professional way© CyberText Consulting Pty Ltd

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How much to share?

YOU decide how much and what to share Be aware of any ethical/ moral/ professional/

business contracts you need to uphold


Decide if you’ll respond to comments/feedback or not; watch out for trolls

Always choose the option to moderate comments, and delete as necessary

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How often?

As much as you need to!

Consistent/regular

Don’t publicise a time commitment UNLESS you know you can keep to it for YEARS, but: have an internal commitment else you’ll just be

another site/page cluttering up the web


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Personal attributes


Willing to share knowledge freely Willing to help others Willing to commit time to these activities, e.g.:

~1 hour/day to check streams and respond/reply more if you intend writing regularly

Able to write clearly and briefly in a more informal style

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Takeaways: Clear and concise Business casual Avoid real names, situations, locations

Personable writing is essential


Writing strategies


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Maintain basics of good communication—be clear and concise

Be personable—let your personality shine through Don't use real names or locations. EVER. Use ‘smart, business casual’ writing style Grab attention quickly otherwise tl;dr (‘too long; didn’t

read’) Use compelling and guiding headlines and subheadings for

those who only skim/scan Learn how to write a clear message in 140 characters!

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‘Smart, business casual’

‘formal business attire’ (suit etc.) v. ‘smart, business casual’ formal business/academic writing v. ‘business casual’ communication


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140-character limit

Twitter only; forces you to get to the point quickly keep it short

Microsoft Word? Use the word count function (Review tab > Word Count)

Excel: Set the character limit for a cell: http://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/952-excel-cell-character-limit.html


Topic ideas


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Offer helpful, useful, practical insights to existing/new clients; e.g. general advice you regularly communicate—e.g. meditation/ breathing/

visualisation techniques case studies, scenarios, inspirational stories opinion, commentary literature reviews resources, links

Focus on benefits, solutions, strategies Headline starters:

top 3, 5, 7, 10 hint, tip, how to, best

Keep a ‘notes bank’ for ideas; e.g. online: Evernote, task list in Outlook offline: notebook, note cards

Be clear…


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Terminology (avoid vague words like ‘it’, ‘this’, ’they’, etc.)

Punctuation (use the serial [Oxford] comma to remove ambiguity)

Structure (write lists as dot points, numbered steps; word order)

Object/subject (who is doing what to whom?)

Plain language (how would you explain to a spouse/parent/child)

Dates/times (avoid relative words; be specific)

Be specific


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What’s wrong with these words?: it, they, their this, these

These words are meaningless unless it’s absolutely clear what ‘it’ etc. refers to; examples: The bomb is connected to a red and to a blue wire. Cut it to

defuse it. If the contractor adds value to a company dataset, it shall be

submitted to the company representative with an updated metadata record.

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Be specific


Ban relativity!


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What’s wrong with these words?: Currently, recently, now, yesterday, today, tomorrow Last/this/next week/month/year New, modern Five years ago, two decades ago, last century

These words are meaningless unless you know what date is used as the anchor point

Watch for season names if your readers aren’t localSee also: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/dating/

Use commas to remove ambiguity


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Add commas if there’s ANY chance the items could be read as one and thus misinterpreted e.g. ‘red, white, black

and blue’ versus ‘red, white, black, and blue’

Use commas…


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…to separate items that shouldn’t be treated together

Be concise…


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Remove all unnecessary words

Remove all repetitive/redundant words

Switch the words around

Clarity (‘be clear’) trumps brevity (‘be concise’)

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Tighten up….. and use plain language

Before (189 chars) After (96 chars)on an annual basis annually (or yearly)can be in excess of ten years can exceed ten yearsin the event of … occurring if … occursin order to tothat is able to canmore than 180 countries around the world

more than 180 countries

will be able to assist with the identification of

can help identify


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Don’t rely on spellcheckers


A spellchecker will tell you if a word is spelled incorrectly, but it won’t tell you if it’s the incorrect word

Examples of business casual writing


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http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/

http://www.beyondblue.org.au/

http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/families

http://www.mind.org.uk/









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Takeaways: Decide which medium (one or several) Decide how much to share (possibly moral,

ethical, professional limitations) Consider separate business and personal accounts Consider cross-promotional options ALWAYS set privacy options

Social Media


Main social media options


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LinkedIn (professional profile/contacts)

Blogs (posts [articles], comments)

Twitter (‘microblogging’, concise announcements)

Facebook (professional pages option)

Pinterest (online pin/notice board)

LinkedIn.com


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LinkedIn.com

Professional profile Professional connections—1st, 2nd, 3rd level YOU choose how much to reveal:

Recommendation: Don’t give access to your Outlook contacts list!

extensive privacy settings can send private message/email

Cross-promotion options: to Twitter, Facebook from Slideshare, WordPress

Can set up professional groups© CyberText Consulting Pty Ltd

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LinkedIn.com


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LinkedIn.com

Example page of 4 pages of privacy settings


Blogs: WordPress


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WordPress.com

Blogging platform brain dump easy to write/edit, add media plenty of free themes available to suit your persona

Also a cheap (free!) website; however, I recommend: pay for own domain name (~$10/year for .com), and point

WordPress site to that domain [$13/year] – i.e. janebloggs.com not janebloggs.wordpress.com

pay for no ads ($30/year) WordPress can help you set up a full business site ($299/year)

Turn on option to moderate comments Add pictures so Pinterest users can ‘pin’ your posts© CyberText Consulting Pty Ltd

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Twitter


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Twitter.com

‘Microblogging’ (aka Tweets)—140 characters REALLY hones your writing; abbrevs OK

Follow colleagues, people/groups of interest to get started Use Twitter lists, searches, and aggregators to manage Twitter

stream better; e.g. Tweetdeck (tweetdeck.twitter.com) Janetter (janetter.net)

Twitter is good for: information you might not normally hear about instant info on disasters etc. but depends on source of Tweet (e.g.

police/emergency services v. Joe Public) live updates in conferences others spread your message globally quick answers to questions/problems© CyberText Consulting Pty Ltd

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Twitter.com


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Twitter.com – Tweetdeck aggregator


Facebook


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Facebook.com

Beware of LOL cats… and goats… Can set up Facebook page for your business:

cheap (free) website announcements courses hours, holidays links to interesting stuff for clients ask for ‘likes’ from clients/colleagues/readers cross-promote on website etc.

Can set up a Facebook group (private or public) for those with similar interests

Like Twitter, can be good for instant info on disasters etc. but depends on source


Facebook


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Facebook


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Facebook


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Facebook


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Facebook


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Facebook


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Pinterest


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Pinterest.com


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Online ‘noticeboard’ for pinning images/videos of interest

Boards (collections of pins): have a common theme that you choose—e.g.

techniques, ideas, inspiration can be private (you and/or invitees) or public

Users can follow other users’ boards and like or ‘re-pin’ the images they share

Pinterest


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Others

Website (fairly static, more ‘business professional’) Email newsletters

big contacts list? use services like mailchimp.com, constantcontact.com

Email discussion groups/lists (e.g. Yahoo! Groups; public or private)

Online forums (public or private)


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Cross-promotion

Consider cross-promotional options in the various channels; e.g. write a WordPress blog post and auto promote to

Facebook, Twitter etc. add photos to blog posts to get ‘pinned’ let LinkedIn add your Twitter/blog feed to your profile

Cross-promote your business Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. accounts on your website/blog


Biggest concern…


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Privacy!

All have privacy settings


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Twitter and Facebook privacy settings, e.g. can lock Tweets/notifications to only those who follow you and you

follow back can block Tweets/users Facebook groups can be made private can direct message (DM)/private message (PM) on both

LinkedIn: Many privacy options WordPress:

can lock pages/password protect pages can lock entire blog so only those YOU'VE decided can access it can

see it Pinterest: Can have private boards

To recap…


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Start small; add as you grow confident

Start with the medium that requires the least effort and best suits your personality

Don’t try it all at once overwhelming

Only do what YOU’RE comfortable with

Personable written communication is critical

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Any questions? Contact/connect with me: [email protected] http://www.cybertext.com.au Blog: http://cybertext.wordpress.com Twitter: @cybertext LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/in/rhondabracey

Thank you…


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.cybertext.com.au/

http://www.cybertext.com.au/

http://cybertext.wordpress.com/

http://cybertext.wordpress.com/

http://au.linkedin.com/in/rhondabracey

