Archive for the ‘training’ Category

Social Media Training Wiki: How Did We Measure Up?

08.02.01

In mid-December 2007, I established three objectives for the Social Media Training Wiki:

  • Social Media Training WikiMore than double the number of site members by the end of January 2008
  • Double the number of contributions by the end of January 2008
  • No existing pages with content placeholders by the end of January 2008

Results

Well, it’s the end of January; how did we do?

  • More than six times the number of site members (113)
  • Almost three times the number of contributions (374)
  • Some pages do still have content placeholders

Thumbs up!Two out of three. Not bad, given that the site also has seven new topics since the last post, including the beginnings of an RSS primer (in response to Shel Holtz’s helpful comments).

New Objectives

Time for some new objectives.

Last time around I set some areas of focus:

  • Recruiting new members (you can sign up here)
  • Encouraging renewed contributions from existing members
  • Fleshing-out existing topics
  • Adding advanced topics

I think these remain valid, so my new objectives are also based on these:

  • New members: 175 total members by the end of February 2008
    • Roughly a 50% increase
    • Why am I happy with such a small number of members? Because you don’t need to sign up to read and learn from the wiki. 175 experienced social media folks contributing to the wiki would be awesome
  • Renewed contributions: 500 total contributions by the end of February 2008
    • A 34% increase
  • Fleshing-out existing topics: Zero placeholders on existing pages by the end of February 2008
  • Advanced topics: New section of advanced concepts in place by the end of February 2008

Key Topics

To help people focus on the key topics, here are the gaps I see on the site right now:

  • Blogs – we need details on the pros and cons of blogs as social media tools
  • Blog Monitoring – this page needs populating
  • Micro Blogs – this page is short on pros and cons
  • Podcasts – what are the drawbacks of podcasting as a medium?
  • Social Browsing – I’m still not sure if this deserves its own page. If it does, it needs more content
  • Social Media News Release – what are the drawbacks of this format?
  • Social Networks – this page is short of content on general features as well as the pros and cons of using social networks from a marketing perspective
  • Video Blogs – This niche topic needs fleshing out
  • Case Studies – this isn’t one page, it’s every topic. I wrote yesterday about the lack of social media case studies out there. This is a chance to help correct that.

How You Can Contribute

Spread The Word

A big thanks to Lee Hopkins, Shel Holtz, Donna Papacosta, Dirk Shaw and everyone else who has written about the wiki already. The more people that know about this, the more will get involved in strengthening this resource.

Add To Existing Pages

Are you an experienced user of any of these tools? Why not take five minutes and add a few notes on one of these topics?

Add New Topics

If you spot a gap in the topics on the wiki, go ahead and fill it!

Help Others

There’s more to the site than just the wiki content. Every page on the site feeds into a site-wide discussion forum. If you have questions, post them! If you have answers, help people out.

Let’s add to this momentum. Let’s make the Social Media Training Wiki an even more valuable resource for the community.

Check out the wiki.

(photo credit: -murilo-)

Technorati Tags: ,,,,,,,,,

Posted in: social media, training, wikis

2Comments

Five Free Online Social Media And Public Relations Courses

07.12.31

Education Portal (via Lifehacker) recently featured a list of Universities offering free online university courses.

Digging through the list, there are woefully few courses on PR and social media.

However, I’ve picked out a few specific courses that PR and social media folks may want to check out:

Social Media

  1. New Media Literacies (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

    On the surface, this course looks at literacy theory in media contexts.

    In practice, this is a great introduction to new media tools (including podcasting, blogging, wikis and more), complete with comprehensive lecture notes and slides for reference.

  2. Stanford on iTunes U (Stanford University)

    Stanford University, one of the world’s leading academic institutions, has joined forces with iTunes U to provide access to Stanford courses, lectures, interviews and more, all in audio format.

    Head to the ‘Science and Technology’ section, then click ‘Technology’ in the centre panel, for lectures on Facebook (with Mark Zuckerberg), Google, podcasting and more.

Public Relations

  1. Marketing Communications As A Strategic Function (The Open University)

    This course emphasises the strategic importance of marketing communication, rather than seeing it as merely a tactical tool. This is essential if communications is to have a seat at the senior management table.

    Features complete course materials and useful references.

  2. Stanford on iTunes U (Stanford University)

    Stanford University, one of the world’s leading academic institutions, has joined forces with iTunes U to provide access to Stanford courses, lectures, interviews and more, all in audio format.

    Check out the ‘Communications and Media’ section:

    • Clicking ‘Media’ gives a series of lectures on the modern media, including ‘Public Life in a Wired World’
    • Clicking ‘Journalism’ gives a large series of classes, including ‘Journalism and the Internet’ and a look at whether newspapers can survive in the new world of journalism
  3. Communication Technology and Policy (University of Southern Queensland)

    This course looks at the diverse roles played by communication technologies in contemporary society, and in the regulations and policies that govern the use of these technologies. It includes a look at some of the challenges thrown up by the rise of digital communication, and the future of journalism and citizen journalists.

Posted in: public relations, social media, training

5Comments

Social Media Training Wiki Building Momentum

07.12.29

Social Media Training WikiIn the days since my last update on the social media training wiki (on December 19), I’ve noticed a shift in momentum.

Compared to the previous 10-day period:

  • Site visits and page views are up by over 800%
  • Bounce rate is down 12%
  • Unique visitors are up over 750%
  • Average time on site is up almost 50%
  • Site membership has grown by over 130%
  • Two well-respected bloggers posted positive reviews of the site.

Shel Holtz wrote a thoughtful post entitled "One-stop shop for social media training," saying:

…the site has all the markings of a great tool for the communications industry. All it needs is your efforts (and mine) to populate it with the content it needs to be a comprehensive resource.

Yesterday, Lee Hopkins wrote another good piece:

Joining the community of contributors is easy — just register and begin to add content. Joining is made even easier if you have an OpenID profile, which you should have (more info about OpenID here).

This initiative by Dave Fleet deserves to become as profoundly useful as the great Constantin Basturea’s NewPR wiki.

The traffic figures are relative, of course, but this is still a significant trend for the better. Reflecting back to my short-term objectives for the site:

  • More than double the number of site members by the end of January 2008 [completed]
  • Double the number of contributions by the end of January 2008
  • No existing pages with content placeholders by the end of January 2008.

We’re one objective down, two more to go.

Next step – let’s get this content started.

Posted in: social media, training

1Comments

Social Media Training Wiki: An Update

07.12.19

Just over a month ago I threw out a challenge to the online PR community:

[...] As a community, let’s develop a best-practice social media 101 training program.

Let’s create a one-day, scratch-the-surface program that will help employees who are new to this social media thing to find their feet.

Let’s put it out there for the good of the community.

Let’s encourage people to adapt it and adopt it.

Let’s see if we can raise the bar for social media knowledge in our organizations.

Check out the wiki. [...]

smtwSo, what’s happened since then?

Progress:

  • A total of 135 contributions
  • 17 registered contributors, including some experts I respect greatly and was very happy to see
  • 12  useful ‘social media 101′ topics, including current talking points like ethics, blogger relations and the social media news release

Challenges and Opportunities:

I don’t think the site has yet gained the momentum it needs to, in terms of visitors, topics or depth of content. This isn’t entirely unexpected, as I’ve been otherwise occupied recently and haven’t given the site the attention it deserves.

So, where to take the site from here?

I plan to focus on four areas:

  • Recruiting new members (you can sign up here)
  • Encouraging renewed contributions from existing members
  • Fleshing-out existing topics
  • Adding advanced topics (Colin McKay suggested an open source business case, for example)

A Renewed Challenge

First up, I’m renewing the challenge to you.

Do you have expertise to share? Then join the community and help to create a resource for the benefit of everyone.

Are you new to the scene? Tell us what you want to know – either in the comments here or on the wiki discussion forums.

Objectives

I’m also setting some specific objectives for the short term, transparently, for everyone to see:

  • More than double the number of site members by the end of January 2008
  • Double the number of contributions by the end of January 2008
  • No existing pages with content placeholders by the end of January 2008

As a community, let’s develop a best-practice social media 101 training program.

Check out the wiki.

Posted in: social media, training, wikis

0Comments

Using Social Media To Create Social Media Training

07.11.12

Communications training courses on traditional strategies and tactics just don’t cut it any more. The ever-increasing rate of change on the Internet, and its emerging impact on media consumption, means organizations need to seriously consider offering social media training to their employees.

This environment, along with a few well-documented faux-pas by PR practitioners, has had me thinking about this topic a lot recently.

I got to thinking, "What should a social media 101 course offer?" I work with a lot of people who have no knowledge of social media. If I had one day to teach people a few key basics, what would they be?

Then I thought, "Why not use social media to create that program?" So, I’m trying something different here.

I’ve established the Social Media Training Wiki at http://socialtraining.wetpaint.com and given it some basic structure.

I’m throwing out a challenge to the online PR community: As a community, let’s develop a best-practice social media 101 training program.

Let’s create a one-day, scratch-the-surface program that will help employees who are new to this social media thing to find their feet.

Let’s put it out there for the good of the community.

Let’s encourage people to adapt it and adopt it.

Let’s see if we can raise the bar for social media knowledge in our organizations.

Check out the wiki. Participate. Input. Discuss.

A wider understanding of social media benefits us all.

Posted in: blogger relations, blogging, news release, pitching, pr, public relations, smnr, social media, social networks, training, web 2.0

2Comments

Public Relations Professionals Need To Get The Basics Right

07.11.09

In the wake of the ongoing bad PR pitches storm, I had a *slap forehead* moment this week when I (finally) realized the problem isn’t just about public relations professionals not ‘getting’ blogger relations. It’s not about people upgrading their skills to deal with this new media environment. This is about public relations professionals getting the public relations fundamentals right.

I love Todd’s blogger relations bookmark – it’s a great primer for people getting involved with blogger relations. We should also remember, though, that the people pitching Chris Anderson were pitching him as the Editor In Chief of Wired magazine, not as a blogger.

The principles remain the same, though: Know your market. Research who to pitch. Find out what they write about. Tailor your approach. Don’t spam people. It’s not rocket science!

Terry Fallis and David Jones discussed on Inside PR a little while back that fall into PR rather than choose it. This is by no means unique to PR. Still, I wonder if a lack of training for those who enter PR without a formal education contributes to the problems we hear about hear about daily.

A large part of my job involves managing about 30 training courses in our own internal communications program. We provide a place where government communicators can upgrade their skills or fill the gaps in their knowledge.

Obviously small agencies don’t have the resources to offer a full program like this. How does they go about training new staff?

I wonder: Do PR agencies offer training (whether internally or contracted-out) to their staff or are people expected to just know how to go about it? Are people thrown into the deep end and expected to float?

As we’ve all seen recently, that seems to be a recipe for disaster.

Posted in: blogger relations, pitching, pr, public relations, training

4Comments