Have you ever been in one of those situations where you just can't put the right words together?
As PR students we are not new to the saying 'communicaton is key', and we know that we must change our approach depending on our publics. But how do we know that our approach is the right one for our publics? We can sit at our computer screens and scrutinise all day; is what I've written too formal? too informal? Have I written too much? perhaps too little?
In my first week at Event Workforce, I did a lot of this! Event Workforce is a staff placement agency that links motivated tertiary students (like ourselves) to event based work experience. Their goal this semester is to build members in their database, by encouraging students to sign up to their website so they can be notified of all upcoming event volunteer opportunities in their local city. A large part of my role this semester is to co-ordinate all commmunications internally with the student representatives they have in each University Australia wide. My first task was to create a Facebook group for all representatives, as it would provide standardised communication in an easily accessible social platform.
As a student I have always envisioned the role of public relations to be very corporate in nature, so when it came to writing up a disclaimer for the Facebook group, I began my research looking at some of the great social media disclaimers developed by large corporations. By the end of the day, I was a wizz in legal lingo, and had written up my very own disclaimer referencing Facebook terms of use, Code of conduct and had listed the rights that Event Workforce held in order to manage, delete and restructure all information and posts in the group.
The only problem, was that it was too formal for a Facebook group.
So how do you apply professionalism to a medium with such a relaxed social focus? At times, we as professionals must take a step back and think - what would I be most likely to read? It wasn't until I did this that I realised the target public is students, therefore they don't want to waste their time reading pages of terms and conditions. Students want information written plain, simple and relatable. Also the communication channel is Facebook, one of the most commonly used social media tools. Therefore, information on the page must be formal, but with a conversational tone to keep people reading.
Finding the balance between corporate lingo and what appeals to our publics best can be difficult, but as I see it practice makes perfect! I made three attempts at a disclaimer and at the end of the day one was chosen. The biggest lesson learnt was that sometimes it can be difficult to take that step backwards and look at things from a bigger picture.
Don't focus on the task at hand, focus on how that message will be used, whether it aligns with other organisational messages and whether it is suitable for the medium being used. It is not until you take a step back that you can truly analyse the communications from a public relations perspective and ask the question, is this going to communicate the message effectively?
At the end of the day, the right words were put together. Third times a charm!
Until next time,
Amy
Follow the link to view the disclaimer currently present in an Event Workforce Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/613219822055613/members/
1 comment:
Thank you for your blog. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it as I have often wondered the same thing. Thankfully I was not put in the same position as you because had I been asked to create a Facebook page with a disclaimer I would not have known where to begin!
I do often wonder about how blurry the lines are when it comes to being professional. Even when sitting down in the staff room having lunch at the same time as the CEO of the company Im constantly wondering what I should say and how I should say it.
Nicole
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