Posted on Mon, Jul 19, 2010
Notes from the Intern's Desk:
By Darcie
Online portfolios have become increasingly popular among college students and professionals. They’re great tools for all majors including journalism, public relations, graphic design, biology and more. Everyone has work to show, whether it’s a design portfolio, public relations campaign, magazine spread, thesis paper or lab experiment.
If you’re looking for the easiest and cheapest way to create an online portfolio, then check out http://carbonmade.com/. This website features more than 220,000 online portfolios. The free option (called “Meh”) allows you to upload five projects and 35 images, as well as create a profile with your picture, your contact information and your biography. The best part? You determine your web address at carbonmade.com. I would recommend your name; for example, mine is http://www.darcieguilbert.carbonmade.com.
If you don’t think “Meh” offers enough room for your work, then check out Carbonmade’s “Whoo” option. It allows you to upload 50 projects, 500 images and 10 videos, including Flash. This costs $12 a month, but it also includes tech support and other features.
For those of you who are Mac users, you’re in luck. You automatically have the iWeb program on your computer. iWeb is a simple website design application. The interface is user-friendly and allows you to upload images, videos, text, blog and podcasts. The only downfall is you have to find your own web hosting site. MobileMe is most compatible with iWeb, but Justhost.com, iPage, HostMonster, GoDaddy, Yahoo, Google and BlueHost all work, too.
Now that you know where to start, check out this great article from Smashing Magazine http://bit.ly/jMlPM to help you develop the content of your site.
While online portfolios are a terrific tool, they should not replace traditional physical portfolios (especially when going for an interview). Having your work present gives the interviewer the option to ask questions about it and for you to answer.
What do you think of online portfolios? Do you have one?
Posted on Wed, Jun 09, 2010
By Katie
Chicago is a great city. Lots of fascinating history, Millennium Park and Cloud Gate (you know, that cool mirror sculpture often referred to as “The Bean?”), a great airport, and the Magnificent Mile. And this week, it is home to the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) where three of our clients are sharing their industry-leading ideas and innovations aimed at optimizing an e-commerce website.
This is an exciting time for e-commerce companies. Customers are ready to shop again, and marketing spend is returning to the pockets of e-businesses as they search for impactful technologies that will reach customers online. IRCE is sure to be a hot bed of conversations around this topic – in fact the keynote of the conference is focusing on how to reach consumers in a frugal economy with approaches that increase conversion, brand recognition, customer engagement and overall marketing ROI.
Three of our clients are driving three key areas of this discussion, all focusing on effective ways to optimize ecommerce websites. If you are in the Windy City this week, blow by their booths and see how their products and services can revolutionize your customers’ shopping experience.
- Amadesa provides a SaaS-based Customer Experience Suite, offering website testing and personalization products such as A/B and multivariate testing, behavioral targeting solutions and more. Booth # 248 / @Amadesa
- Kampyle offers feedback analytics solutions for e-tailers to collect, analyze, measure and respond to online user feedback. Kampyle partners with companies to integrate its customer feedback analytics into Web analytics and CRM solutions such as Omniture, Google Analytics and Salesforce.com. Booth # 478 / @Kampyle
- SundaySky delivers a platform that automatically generates dynamic online videos out of existing web content that can be limitlessly scaled and placed across all channels including email, widgets, etc. Booth # 233 / @SundaySky
**Blogger note: If you are looking for things to do while in Chicago, check out Amadesa’s blog, as our resident Chicagoans offer up their best suggestions for places to visit, eat and dine while visiting their hometown.
Posted on Thu, May 27, 2010
By Ben
It’s been 38 days since the BP oil spill. And I've noticed that even as politicians and BP executives continue to struggle over the details of the spill and how to stop it, other groups -- conservationists, greentech companies, green-energy lobbyists, policy makers -- are using this contamination as a catalyst for conversations about what the spill teaches us and what we can do better.
The contamination of the Boston water supply last month offered a similar opportunity to think about the bigger issues raised by a single event.
On Saturday, May 1, one of the first hot days of the year, I was enjoying a standard brunch with friends., Because of the heat, we were all swigging back multiple cups of water. Until, that is, the restaurant was raided by several police officers demanding that the manager remove all tap water from the tables. An odd, modern day prohibition? No—severe water contamination and lots of it. A 150-foot long pipe had ruptured, causing more than 265 million gallons of contaminated water to enter Boston’s water supply. All in all, the contamination impacted 2 million individuals across 38 municipalities. Consequently, a three-day water ban was placed over the city of Boston, leaving citizens without access to fresh water. It made me realize how much we take fresh water as a given. While we may be a population obsessed with bottled water, ultimately, we know that we can turn on a sink and have fresh, pure water on demand. More than a billion are not that lucky.
Boston has historically had one of the purest supplies of drinking water in the country. So much so that it is one of only five U.S. cities exempt from the Environmental Protection Agency’s filtration requirement. Yet, during the ban, we could not brush our teeth, wash dishes, water our animals, wash laundry or drink from the supply upon which we’ve become so mindlessly dependent. I say this with a tremendous sense of guilt, but in many ways the past couple of days have been otherworldly.
Coffee shops, ubiquitous throughout the city, ported handwritten signs, declaring they could no longer serve coffee. Citizens bemoaned this inconvenience and businesses like Dunkin Donuts lost an average of $13,000 per day by store. Convenience stores were stripped of their bottle water supply as citizens bulked up their coffers, unsure of when the ban would be lifted. Ironically, for myself and so many, it was the small things that I missed the most, like grabbing a cup of coffee on the way to work. Which made me realize all the more how privileged we are to have such access to clean water. The biggest inconvenience I suffered was having to prepare coffee at work. I knew the water would come back. That it would be clean, safe and drinkable.
While the water ban was more or less a three-day adventure for Boston, it’s a day-to-day reality for a huge percent of the world. The IRC estimates 1.1 billion, or one in six, people rely on unsafe drinking-water sources on a daily basis. This inequity, resulting from an inadequate access to water supply and the consequent impact on sanitation and hygiene, leads to the death of more than 1.5 million children each year. Pure and simple, clean water should be a guarantee for everyone.
It’s evident that a united, global effort is needed to guarantee this immense need is met. As an individual, where do you start? A great place to begin is to educate you on the realities. World Water Day (which passed on March 22) offers a rich array of resources to learn about this inequity and mobilize. The Water Project, which works to brings clean water to Africa and India expands on these resources and offers a donation option.
Imagine if those three days were a lifetime and bottled water was not an option. For some, that day is already here.
It’s time to act. What will you do?
Posted on Tue, May 18, 2010
Notes from the Intern's Desk:
By Elizabeth
Early last January, the first day of the spring semester found me trudging through the snow at 7:45 a.m. under still-glowing street lights. As I tread carefully over ice patches and wished I had worn more layers, I reminded myself not to complain about the undesirable class time. I needed to embrace the dreaded 8:00 a.m. lecture, as it was now sure to be included in many of my future schedules. Having just declared journalism as my minor, I was on my way to my first class in the program. When registering a couple months earlier, I had mentioned to my advisor that all the journalism courses seemed to be held during unfortunate time-slots (translation: very early). She laughed and said, “They do that on purpose, you know, so that you’ll get used to it. Journalists have to get up early. The news doesn’t sleep, and now, neither do you!”
Little did I know I would soon be informed my early-rising was for nothing. Though freezing and groggy, I was excited. This was the beginning of my journalism career, whatever that might be. Settled in the lecture hall, I admired my professor’s classic reporter looks: tweed suit, round glasses, gray mustache, pen tucked behind the ear. He turned to face the class and smiled: “Welcome to ‘Interpreting the Day’s News.’ I guess if you’re sitting here, you enjoy writing enough to study a dying profession.”
I know he was joking, but only partly, and I wasn’t amused. College students don’t generally take kindly to being told that their field of study is useless and going to leave them unemployed. The discouragement continued throughout the semester: we all dragged ourselves in twice a week at an ungodly hour just to be told we were wasting our time. On top of that, my advisor constantly told me that the journalism and communications programs were too similar for me to minor in one and major in the other. By April, I was over it. The next semester, I concentrated on my other minor, Spanish, and planned to drop journalism as soon as I found time to fill out the forms.
Exactly a year after that first journalism class, I started interning at Metis. Here, I have seen for myself that journalism is not dying at all, but is, rather, in transition. The viability of print journalism is certainly dwindling, but the internet offers plenty of outlets, from forums to blogs to actual online news sources. And in the world of public relations, there are countless tasks that require journalism skills: writing press releases and news alerts, pitching to reporters, editing for clients and coworkers, etc. Seeing its usefulness firsthand began to bring back my enthusiasm for journalism, and the final push I needed came from Metis employees who assured me of how important their journalism degrees are to their success in public relations. My fall class schedule now includes another journalism course.
There is no question that journalism is evolving. Readers have discovered exciting new ways to consume news, and print media is now an endangered species. But there will always be a need to know what’s going on in the world, and getting that news out to consumers still requires journalism- just in different forms. As a Metis intern, I’m learning to think outside the proverbial box when it comes to spreading information. Blogs, videos, and social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter are often overlooked as information-sharing tools, but we can’t afford to fear experimentation with multimedia. Only those with creativity and willingness to try new media forms will survive the journalism revolution.
Posted on Mon, May 10, 2010
By Melissa
Give it up for Cleantech once again! One of our partners, FullPower, Inc., a full-service consulting firm that provides services for the renewable energy storage market, announced today that it is launching The Advanced Energy Storage 2010 Conference and Exposition (AES2010), a conference for scientists, engineers and manufacturers who are developing and deploying green energy generation and efficient power distribution solutions for communities worldwide. AES2010 will take place October 12 -14, 2010 at the beautiful Catamaran Resort in San Diego, Calif.
FullPower, Inc. also is offering industry sponsorship and speaking opportunities that will address critical industry issues within renewable energy generation, smart grid, transportation, manufacturing and the development of advanced materials and nanotechnologies. Attending companies include: Sempra Generation, Ioxus, Inc. (Metis client), NessCap Ltd., Maxwell Technologies, EnerG2, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lockheed Martin, Ballard Fuel Cells, Quantum Transportation, Dressler-Rand, Firelake Capital, ReliOn, UltraLife, PowerGenix, Axion International Power, IVUS, U.S. Army REDCOM and Institute for Transportation Studies.
We all know that consumers continue to look for ways to respond to limited resources, international security concerns and global warming, the demand for new energy sources continues. Therefore, that demand exists in each of the following event topics:
- Using advanced energy storage to distribute power when and where it is needed via a smart grid.
- Establishing new, cost-effective energy storage solutions to extend the range and performance characteristics of electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.
- Addressing the potential environmental nightmare posed by the proliferation of portable electronics and the eventual need for extensive battery disposal.
- Identifying the financial sources available to promote the growth of clean technologies and green solutions.
To register for the event or inquire about sponsorship or speaking opportunities, go to www.fullpowerinc.com/AES2010.html. FullPower, Inc. and Metis look forward to meeting you there.
Posted on Wed, May 05, 2010
By Melissa
It happens often in the PR world. You write an e-mail pitch, you send it off and you sit there hoping you’re going to get a response back. Then, five times out of ten, you’re still waiting after three days, wondering why you did not get a response. You start evaluating your pitch and whether it really relates to the contact you e-mailed as much as you thought it did. But what if it isn’t the content in your actual pitch? What if the problem is as simple as your subject line?
In my last post, “What is the Real Value of Public Relations?,” I spoke about an experience I had working at a former agency that demanded business press for no reason. It was during this exact experience that I learned how a subject line could actually affect if or when someone would respond. We experimented daily with subject lines to get responses. We tried catchy, off-the-wall subjects to get feedback from our contacts. Some laughed or didn’t react, but, overall, we got a response. It was embarrassing, yet gratifying at the same time. Hey, you’ll do anything to help your client understand why their top contact won’t speak with them, right?
So, as I evolved in this PR profession, I’ve helped my teams realize that it’s more about getting to know your contact then thinking of a catchy, off-the-wall subject. From my experience and discussions with contacts, the crazy subject lines didn’t prove to be as worthwhile as they seemed at the time. I generally ask colleagues: Do your contacts respond to “Re:” or “Fwd:” or just your client’s name? Maybe. Do they respond when you paste in the title of a release or the trend subject about which you think they are writing? Probably not. The point is: You need to experiment - Find a pattern in your outreach, get to know your contacts, research them before you speak with them, provoke their interest through your subject line and get noticed.
Here are some additional tips from an online service called Mail Chimp, “Best Practices in Writing Email Subject Lines.” My favorites are:
- Avoid the words free, help, percent off and reminder
- Keep your subject line to 50 characters or fewer
- Keep the message straightforward and avoid using splashy promotional phrases, CAPS, or exclamation marks in your subject lines. Subject lines framed as questions can often perform better.
- Put yourself in your recipients' shoes. Don't sell what's inside. Tell what's inside.
So, instead of telling your manager that you can’t get an answer, think about what you can do to get that answer next time. It will help you and your contacts understand what you are pitching, and help you get the answer you’re seeking.
Posted on Tue, Apr 27, 2010
By Ben
Over the past year, “sponsored” has become a polarizing topic among social media. Twitter recently introduced its “#PromptedTweets” and others such as “#SponsoredTweets” and “#PayMeTweets” have become common. Enter “sponsored comments,” the newest addition to this wave of paid content. In addition to seeking out bloggers and Twitter influencers, companies are now paying to post advertisements under the reader-comment area of blogs and online publications.
There’s been a lot of discussion regarding the validity of sponsorship in these arenas. Ultimately, readers want to know the source of their information to ensure that they are not being misled, and much of this discussion has focused on the fear of backroom deals impacting the quality and scope of the sources on which readers rely. While objectivity is easier to disentangle than ever, the question now becomes relevancy.
At the same time, sponsorship offers an opportunity for industry leaders to monetize spaces which have been previously difficult to cash in on. We rely on the thoughtful posts of these leaders for our news, and disclosed compensation increases the possibility of infusing the space with more thought leaders while maintaining the content produced by those we already trust.
When a space -- be it Twitter, a blog or a comment area -- becomes infested with SPONSORED, SPONSORED, SPONSORED, it runs the risk of losing its readers. It’s all about finding the balance that keeps our content producers happy without overwhelming the reader.
I tend to see “sponsored” in this context similarly to graffiti. A tag here and there, while perhaps unsightly, still has interest and meaning and thus, value. However, when the wall becomes covered with this graffiti of sponsorship, the content merges, becoming unrecognizable. It’s all about targeting. Companies like Magpie, TweetROI and Sponsored Tweets reportedly analyze and rank influencers, connecting organizations with the right followers. Users have been quick to respond. Forty-two percent of users see the addition as equivalent to spam, but a majority, 69 percent, think it’s a good business model or are curious to see more. With new FTC regulations mandating full compensation disclosure, these users know who’s been paid and who has not, alleviating users’ fear of being mislead.
With the addition of these sponsored tags, we know where our information is coming from and thought leaders have an opportunity to monetize their otherwise free content. Larger brands and personalities like Kim Kardashian, who reportedly rakes in $10k per Tweet, are doing well. Since users know when a Tweet is solicited, they have the ability to determine how to interpret the message. The onus is then on the sponsoring company to limit the number of tweets they release. If you are searching for a term and see the same message repeated 20 times with a sponsored hashtag, you’re not going to pay it much attention. It will become irrelevant. However, if you see one, well-constructed tweet from a thought leader you trust, you’ll pay attention. Even with the tag of sponsorship, the tweet remains novel and thus relevant and interesting. Again, it’s about striking the right balance.
Sponsored comments are another interesting addition to the world of sponsored Web content. Companies like Talkahead help organizations track news and post targeted messages in the comment section of relevant articles. The Huffington Post is offering sponsored Tweets and comments for its advertisers. In many ways, such posts are more relevant as they provide no incentive to an influencer but simply target messages to the comment portion of a given site. As sponsored comments are so highly targeted, they offer an opportunity to connect a reader with a product or service that would genuinely interest them. Still, the proper balance must be found. If the comment area becomes too crowded and focuses entirely on sponsored comments, readers will no longer engage and contribute, rendering sponsored comments ineffective. It’s a careful negotiation between getting a message out there and crowding the space.
It’s safe to conclude that the demographic most likely to use Twitter as a news source and engage in discussions has a higher media literacy rate and seeks out more sources than the aggregate. These are individuals who are critical of the content they read and usually have a pretty good idea of its source. Sponsorship options offer companies one solid conduit to this demographic. Additionally, they allow sites and industry leaders to monetize what would otherwise be a totally free space.
However, it’s important to remember that sponsorship is one strategy, not the end of the story. Getting an influencer to pay attention to your product or service requires both quality of offerings and sustained relationships. While building relationships with reporters and other influencers takes time, effort and investment, it pays off. Thoughtful and strategic use of sponsorship of a comment or Tweet is a great first step, but it’s important to remember it’s one step among many.
Posted on Tue, Apr 20, 2010
by Kristen
Well, here I am. After eight and a half LONG months of unemployment, I am back in the workforce.
And the biggest lesson I learned from this experience? Never, ever settle.
I’ve always been one of those obnoxious over-achievers: six internships in college, hugely involved in PRSSA and all-around driven. Because of that, I was hired right out of college and loved my job.
Skip to two years of hard work later, the economy took a dive and I was laid off. ::Cue violins::
I was used to being hired on the spot, so I thought it would take me no time at all to find a new job. Thankfully, my dad had been in my head enough all those years, so I had a nice cushion of cash to keep me safe for several months. (Note: No matter how young or old you are, 10 percent of your check needs to be put in a savings account that you DO NOT TOUCH. Life happens and it will save you.)
At first, I was very picky about where I went to interview, because I only wanted to apply to companies where I saw a long-term future. I searched on Monster.com, Craigslist, Hound.com and every other job Web site there is, plus I had my own Web site created to present my résumé in a way that would set me apart from everyone else who was searching for a job. I was starting to feel the pressure.
About six months in, a company found me on Monster.com and invited me to an interview. For some reason, it made the voice inside my head scream “NO, NO, NO!” But I thought, “hey, a job is a job and I just need to suck it up.”
I was about five minutes early and was asked to sit in the front room to wait for my interviewer. An hour and 25 minutes later, someone finally came to interview me. It was absolutely robotic. No niceties, no personality, no questions to get to know more than will I make this company money, or not? I felt like I had a huge number stamped on my forehead.
However, yes it was in PR, yes it was a job and yes I got an offer.
But I couldn’t bring myself to accept it.
I’m not a person who can be in a job I hate or even take a “just-for-now” job while looking for something I actually want. I put 100 percent of myself into the work I do and there was no way that I was going to do that for something I only cared about 2 percent. I declined and went back to the warm embrace of my online applications, though I was starting to feel like I’d be doing this forever.
Two months later, I applied to Metis through Craigslist and was called in for an interview. It was one of those moments in which your friend sets you up on another blind date and you’re apprehensive, but when you meet them, they’re of Brad-Pitt caliber. I was thrilled.
Metis felt like me. It isn’t a time clock, punch-in, punch-out company. There are REAL people working here who care about me and my success. They understand their clients and know the industry really well, but still manage to maintain a comfortable atmosphere that allows employees to do their jobs better.
It just felt right. I was offered the job and couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.
So here I am, starting over. My nice little cushion is now more of a thin, worn sheet, but I am doing what I love at a company that feels like home and I have never been happier (Really.).
If you’re job hunting, you know it’s a tough market out there, but stay hopeful and wait for something that makes you happy. No matter what anyone says, that’s what matters most.
Posted on Thu, Apr 15, 2010
Notes from the Intern's Desk:
By Darcie
Homework for Tuesday: post a new entry for my blog, draft a press release and write an elevator pitch.
As a communications major at Simmons College, I’m not just learning how to write. I’m learning how to write for my era. The homework above is for my “Writing and Editing across the Media” course. Our semester-long assignment is to post a new blog entry every week.
So how do you write a blog?
Well, there are many answers to this question. Here’s what we are learning in class, hopefully this can help you too:
Blogs should be brief. They’re not term papers, and there isn’t a minimum page requirement. Keep it short. Lingering blogs are the worst, aren’t they? They just keep going and going.
Use clear, simple sentences. Run-on sentences will lose your reader’s interest and then you’ll lose followers and eventually you’ll be writing your blog just for yourself. You don’t want that.
Be focused. Have one main idea per blog. If you start discussing social media, don’t switch to the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy. I know Owen’s flashbacks are pretty graphic, but they still can’t infringe on your blog writing time.
Check your speling. Errors mar credibility, right?
Be interesting. This is the only blog I’ve read that starts with a homework assignment. Beat that.
Be accurate and fair. Don’t spread rumors or share information that may not be truthful. I have a tattoo. I really don’t, but you want to believe me because I said it. No tats here, sorry.
Be conversational. Write as though you are talking to a friend. Asking questions and addressing the reader makes them more apt to respond and comment. For example, I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about this post. Please comment below.
Target your audience. Consider the people you are trying to reach and write about topics they want to read. I could discuss my teeth brushing strategy, but you don’t want to hear that.
Write a clear headline to hook the reader. If you’ve gotten this far, then my headline must have worked.
Add links to related sites or other blogs, if relevant. Check out this blog about “How to Write Great Blog Content” by ProBlogger.com.
Add a question or thought at the end that would elicit readers to post their responses to your blog. Has this post been helpful?
(Sources: “Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method” by Carole Rich and Professor Porter’s class)
Posted on Thu, Apr 01, 2010
Notes from the Intern’s Desk:
By Elizabeth
Last month I attended an “EE Times Roundtable,” a presentation and discussion for PR and marketing professionals based on market trends, best practices and new techniques for engaging with engineers. EE Times is considered one of the go-to sources for engineers, so the presentation on how the publication is engaging and changing its approach to interacting via social media was helpful. EE Times is working on a redesign and relaunch for its Web site and will include many types of content and opportunities to connect online. (Also, they are currently looking for site moderators for their online forums, if you are interested.)
A sophomore in college interning here at Metis, I was easily the youngest person in a room full of seasoned reporters and specialists - a fact that, while primarily making me feel out of place, enhanced my ability to understand and relate to speaker Paul Miller’s discussion of the current struggle with a generational gap and his prediction of where the future of engineering content lies, both in print and online.
The event served for Miller, CEO of EE Times, as an opportunity to present the publication’s plan to re-energize its place in the market, re-think the way it does business, and re-engineer new and exciting products to meet the demands that 2010 will present. I have always associated engineering with innovation and fresh thinking, and although I know a person of any age is capable of coming up with a cutting-edge design, I assumed the engineering field to be made up of a younger crowd. So, I was surprised when Miller explained that the average age of an engineer in the United States is 48. He discussed a colleague’s research regarding the kinds of sources engineers look to for information and the existence of a problematic generational gap: while older members of the field continue to rely on print media for information, the newer and soon-to-be engineers are focused on social media.
As my generation ascends into the workforce, the importance of Twitter feeds, forums, Facebook communities, and message boards is rapidly growing. Social media is one of the most important content sources available. Everyone from journalists to PR execs to the engineers themselves should start socializing. However, it’s not necessary to dive in head first. Someone who loves to read the newspaper on his desk need not be forced into reading it online (until they all disappear – check out Newspaper Death Watch) - however, he should make himself familiar with the newspaper’s Web site to involve himself in the online discussions that may be occurring. The fact is that PR, marketing, journalism and the professionals who rely on these industries for exposure have moved into a new realm when it comes to content and networking – we’re following our customers; those who refuse to jump on the social media bandwagon run the risk of being left behind – and losing out not only on great connections but on future customers, too.