Whew! What an opening rant…

Ok, now let’s get serious folks. Yes I may be a hard-core environmental fanatic, but I make mistakes, have my failings, am outright lazy once in a while.(I sadly admit that even I have thrown away recyclable items without a twinge of remorse when tired, in a hurry with screaming toddlers strapped to both hips….) But, for the most part, I am working to be a responsible citizen, not just of my community, or even my country, but of my planet. I try to instill in my children the basic moral principles that less is more, and that homemade is from the heart. We avoid the big box retailers when possible, rarely eat junk, recycle regularly, endure the dirty looks we STILL get as we haul our cloth bags, walk more than drive and bundle up rather than crank up the thermostat.

Despite all these efforts, they can’t seem to avoid the barrage of mail we receive on a near daily basis asking for our support (which means money) and the really slick and cool ones promise that if we respond in 30 days we get a lovely reproduction 1930’s explorers backpack! How cool is that??

Just make sure you read the fine print…(you know the one that tells you that in exchange for that awesome backpack, only 5 cents of your $30 donation will actually help save the imperiled penguins, drowning polar bears or whichever cause it happens to be this month.)

Now please don’t assume I am bashing the wonderful work done by such groups as the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy or the World Wildlife Fund. As a contributing member I do receive an annual report each year with an informative breakdown of how their money is spent each fiscal year. I study those charts and graphs ( and I am NO math major) and think to myself that a better use of such a  large chunk of  the money dedicated to marketing (to gain new members, raise more dues, and other advertisements) could be better spent on actually reaching out to college advocacy groups (the ones that are not afraid yet to write their congressmen and women and march on Washington in protest), providing grants to grassroots groups making real changes in communities,  etc.

To me it just makes more sense to spend that large  ( and I do mean large….well it is certainly many times more than I and probably most of my entire  staff make in a single year, but then I am a state employee so I guess I am probably not the best example to go by)

So for those of you out there…what are your thoughts on this???  Even using 100% recycled paper, should these organizations cut back their marketing and PR funding and maybe divert that money elsewhere where it might do more good? Please leave your comments below and let me know the following:

1. Should these organizations reallocate their funding  to include more grassroots/ college advocacy movement workshop/events?
2. Do These groups spend too much on marketing/PR/postage/etc?
3. Is adequate research being done to ensure quality ROI for money and time spent?

I look forward to your time and answers. and if you feel more comfortable sending a more in-depth but private response, please feel free to email me a personal response.

I look forward to putting together these answers and then crafting a very nice letter to the presidents and CEO’s of some of these organizations, many of which I have faithfully supported in excess for more than 20 years. I want to know just how MY money has really helped (if at all beyond padding his or her salary while I struggle to feed my family) and whether or not they are truly following their own green  advice in both practice as well as theory…..

Until we meet again…..

For starters I am not writing 2-3 press releases every week anymore. When I mentioned this, my boss was quick to point out that even though I wasn’t writing out releases, I was still promoting content, probably more so than when I was submitting the standard releases. By utilizing our social media platforms I was reaching a larger audience in real-time – can’t get that kind of reach necessarily with an article in the local paper. Also more and more bloggers were picking up on things I was putting on Facebook and twitter – so in reality I was actually creating more buzz than ever before.

Also – many of the traditional media outlets are cutting their print editions more and more. Very little actually goes into those small rolled up bug squashers still hand delivered right to your door. Now days, people read their news online so the bulk of the news that is picked up, either by traditional release or by other means ends up online, not the traditional “front page”.

I actually spend a large part of my time researching new media outlets, demographics and social media (as a science of all things), rather than writing press releases. I still work in the field and have a blast documenting the work that first drew me to conservation in the first place, but now I am also learning how to market what I’m passionate about, so that maybe others will become as fiercely devoted to it as well.

So back to the title of this post. Is the traditional press release dead? Maybe not. There will probably always be the mom and pop grocer that sells bait, milk and hands out a weekly fishing report with info from a press release (probably verbatim). But in the grand scheme of things, most organizations have or will soon have to move beyond the comfort zone of what’s easy and step out into the scary world of new media.

Not long ago I was involved in a  discussion  about how many of us bloggers have a unique online persona, one we share with the “world” as it may and one that may be different than our random everyday personality. Good or bad, it does happen and if you do it right, this may just help you to succeed in the craziness of the online social media world.

From the feedback I received I realized that this idea is hardly new. Since the dawn of Hollywood and before, people have been using their public image to enhance their brand. I may not be a movie star, but many of the same techniques still apply. As a PR person, I learned many of these tricks and tips in school and thought I would now share them with you. So here is just a quick refresher on how to use your online identity (public persona) to help solidify your brand.

1. How important is a name? If you make a point to use your full name in all of your online interactions, that’s great…but remember that not everyone will agree and using your real name can inadvertently create enemies. As long as you remain thick skinned, this should be alright though. Another important thing to remember – if you use your name, all of your revelations whether they are professional or a rant against an insane boss are all linked to you. This can come back to bite you so if you choose to use your real name….be aware of the consequences that come with it. It is a good idea to go ahead and purchase your own domain while you’re at it. (oh and if you are curious…Google yourself and see what comes up – apparently I am an exotic dancer/stripper in Texas….who knew?)

2. Always use the same Avatar for all your online networks. We are a visual species. We associate images with ideas and with people, that’s why ads have crazy, easily remembered images that pop out at you every time you turn on your TV. Also if you have the same avatar then no matter where you comment anywhere on the web, people will automatically associate the image with your blog/website. Applications like Facebook Connect and Disqus really make this easy.

3. There are many great resources for additional information about personal branding. The magazine put out by Dan Schwabel is wonderful as is his book, “Me 2.0″ – if you are serious about building your personal brand. Take a look around the internet and invest in a few resources.

Have other ideas? Feel free to share!

Disclaimer: this post was in no way endorsed or reimbursed by the Chapstick brand-it was simply my opinion.

Cheers and happy holidays!

Employee Evolution claims that the best strategy is to make every employee a social media representative, a tool for furthering the needs of the organization rather than a weight around the neck used to slow momentum.

I tend to agree with this view point. By allowing employees to take part while on the clock, you are giving them ownership of the brand, creating a sense of pride and loyalty that will ultimately serve to benefit the organization. Want to convince your supervisor? Here are a few key points to remember when presenting the case for social media at work:

1. Empower by encouragement-Give a person ownership and you will create a sense of pride, empowering them and also helping to ensure that they will be good public representatives of the organization. If you have ownership then you feel loyalty towards the organization that creates that feeling. Simple right?
2. Make everyone an equal-This is a big one. Rather than getting caught up in silo-type thinking, allowing only either the top reps or the grunts to speak out, let everyone be on equal footing. This supports the first point about empowerment. Doing this helps to humanize an organization making them appear to be much friendlier and appealing to the public.
3. Build creativity while cutting costs-Allowing everyone to participate means that an entire collection of creative minds with different skill sets will be utilized rather than a select few. Creativity tends to stagnate if not poked occasionally with the big fork of distinction. You also save money by taking advantage of existing resources, and who doesn’t want to save money?

Do you work for a progressive organization? Share your story about how you engage with the public via social media at work. Is it working for your company? Or do the employees take advantage? If you are banned from using social media while on the clock, why do you think that is?

What I hate is the shopping, the expectations, the greed, the consumerism, the obsession with STUFF we don’t need. Here is an excerpt from the blog that sums it up better than I ever could.

Go ahead...be a Scrooge for the planet!

There’s only one way to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours on Planet Earth: we have to consume less.

It will take a massive mind-shift. You can start the ball rolling by buying nothing on November 27th. Then celebrate Christmas differently this year, and make a New Year’s resolution to change your lifestyle in 2010.” – Twilight Earth

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t give gifts to those we love, but what happened to homemade gifts, baked goods,  offers of services and other intangibles? Therefore I am not participating in the madness that is Black Friday. I will not step into any stores and will ignore the plethora of ads blasted at me from every direction. For once I am so glad I live in the boonies, have no TV and few radio stations that come in clear. Less media means less commercials to tempt me, or my children.

If you are a green organization trying to figure out how to convince people we need less, then definitely read the post I linked too and then try to help promote green gifts. Memberships and donations to green organizations such as your state government’s nongame wildlife program (which in Georgia relies entirely on donations and the sales of license plates), Green America, The Sierra Club or the Arbor Day Foundation who will plant a tree in honor of every donation, are all examples of gifts that not only reduce your carbon footprint, but will help to preserve the planet’s beauty for generations to come.

Another idea for green gifts – potted plants, framed comics from your local newspaper (print or online) that have special meaning, hand-made toys, blankets or scarves, and the list goes on. Last year a friend received a set of coasters made out of pop tops (mostly beer I admit) but they were so cool, and were an excellent form of recycling since many places that take bottles do not recycle the lids.

Want to help get us out of the greedy consumerist mess we are in, try not using your credit cards this holiday season. Be a scrooge, and save the planet.

However, we can’t completely discount great customer service when it happens – know why? Because a good review has the same opportunity to go viral as one simply spoken about at the water cooler.

Earlier this week, my division at work put in orders for out business planner refills for the 2010 year. I had decided the one I was using was really not suitable and really wanted to go with the super “Master Planner” 2-page per day organizer designed by Franklin Covey. So I get my order and it is only the pages, no binder….I was a little miffed, checked the catalog and sure enough, the product number only indicated the refill. So I thought, ok, no big deal, I will just look through the Staples catalog (my org is contracted with them) and find the planner. Let the frustration begin.

First I checked the catalog – no planner big enough…then I checked the website…no binder. At this point I was very, very frustrated and felt entirely PISSED off that a company would carry refill pages for a binder they did not carry. On a lark I went on the Franklin Covey web site and guess what….they DON’T carry one either!!!!! Can you believe it? Franklin Covey, a huge name in personal organizers sells an AWESOME refill but not a binder that it will fit in.

I called Staples and talked to a wonderful young woman who seemed as perplexed as I was. Guess what she did. First she did her own search, then she took down my info and promised to call back. I admit I was skeptical but let it go…until 15 minutes later she called back. She had scoured the web and found a binder that would fit my refill – on Daytimer.com…now that is awesome customer service.

Not only did she seem genuinely concerned, but in order to help me sat a satisfied customer she checked her competitors web sites to  help me find what I needed.

Maybe Staples and Franklin Covey as organizations messed up…but that woman provided excellent customer service, which speaks volumes about the organization she works for.

Thanks a million and thanks to Staples for hiring such great customer service reps.

So as an addendum, you can bet that although I was disappointed with the product availability, I was very happy with the service and would definitely recommend Staples to others.

Next time you are answering a question from a potential client or customer, when you know you have to give them “bad” news – consider the method of delivery and how else you might help them. It can mean the difference between someone having a bad experience and passing that on, or someone maybe not getting what they want, but passing on good word of mouth about how well they were treated-which ultimately is more important than a product or service anyway over the long run.

You make some great points as there are indeed those that allow for their social media “habits” to take over their lives. I on the other hand, as one who is responsible for my organizations’s social media initiative, have to carefully schedule when I will take the time to schedule and organize my time so that I can get all my work done. I have a colleague Kevin (@ecointeractive) who uses about 2 hours per day just to scan his networks. I use a little more time than that but it keeps me from being distracted while I am doing other things, Social media, as a tool has to be treated like on in order for it to really create a decent ROI for the user. Nice post. I appreciate your insight.

Originally posted as a comment
by kristinasummers
on Chris Brogan using DISQUS.

From the feedback I received I realized that this idea is hardly new. Since the dawn of Hollywood and before, people have been using their public image to enhance their brand. I may not be a movie star, but many of the same techniques still apply. As a PR person, I learned many of these tricks and tips in school and thought I would now share them with you. So here is just a quick refresher on how to use your online identity (public persona) to help solidify your brand.

1. How important is a name? If you make a point to use your full name in all of your online interactions, that’s great…but remember that not everyone will agree and using your real name can inadvertently create enemies. As long as you remain thick skinned, this should be alright though. Another important thing to remember – if you use your name, all of your revelations whether they are professional or a rant against an insane boss are all linked to you. This can come back to bite you so if you choose to use your real name….be aware of the consequences that come with it. It is a good idea to go ahead and purchase your own domain while you’re at it. (oh and if you are curious…Google yourself and see what comes up – apparently I am an exotic dancer/stripper in Texas….who knew?)

2. According to Erik Qualman (@equalman) the author of the incredibly awesome book, “Socialnomics” , if you choose to develop your online brand based on a singular persona, (real or not) it is very important to have a singular image across all of your social media outlets. This may be a logo or even a picture. I really had no idea that one image could be that important, and then I felt silly since this is one of the first things hammered into your head in all advertising and marketing classes. We are a visual species, and more than remembering what is written, we will remember an image whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, FriendFeed or a blog. Therefore, pick an icon/image/photo that truly represents your brand and use it across the web. Soon, those who are interested in you and what you stand for will begin to read your online responses, or notice your “ads” simply because they see your icon, regardless if they are actually interested in the topic of the blog post or article.

3. No matter how “big” you become online, remember that you have a life…in the real world. When approached or contacted to speak, give presentations, be a guest-poster etc, remember that you are representing both your online persona (the person/brand the world is familiar with through your blog) and you as a person. If there is too much of a gap then your brand awareness could become tarnished. No one wants to feel they have been lied too or led on. While this may seem contradictory, one of the main things I have learned is that although I have deveoped a brand through my work online, I am still me and that is the person that I want people to respect.

Have thoughts? Has your personal brand ever interfered with your personal (off-line) life? Please feel free to share.

’till next time!

I come to you today with what may seem like a radical concept. I admit that I have what some may consider a unique perspective on conservation, so what I want to do is to back up a little bit and tell you a little bit about how I came to feel this way.

As a child, I had a couple of events happen to my family that forever changed the way I looked at the world. When I was eleven years old, my house was destroyed by a tornado. This may not seem incredibly out of the norm for a weather event but the reason I say it began a shift was that I was living in suburban Marietta, Georgia at the time. Another factor is that I was home at the time and actually was right in the middle of my house being pummeled from all directions by a force that both terrified and awed me with its sheer power. We lost everything, except our lives. Yes that was traumatic, but what was even more traumatic, was what happened next. Of all the crazy things about that freak storm, this had to be the most bizarre. Despite our home being in ruins, the flattened street in clear view from the wreckage, the phone that was in our kitchen still had a dial tone. My father called 911. And this is where it gets even more interesting. The operator accused my father of making a crank call and hung up on him.

Let me fast forward a year or so. While on vacation to Lake Hartwell, my family decided to spend the night out in the lake on the houseboat we had rented. During the evening we received a distress call from another houseboat. They had hit a submerged stump and were slowly taking on water. They had a seven month old baby on board with them. You could hear the panic in their voices. The law enforcement guys from the area came on the radio and assured them they would be fine, that the houseboats were designed to take a little damage and that they would be okay until the sun came up when they could navigate back to the docks. I have never forgotten the words he told this frightened couple – “There is no way those boats will sink.” The man on board was a little skeptical and the LE guys gave them the option of attempting to beach the houseboat, which even to me, a twelve year old child, sounded ridiculous. The man cut off contact for a bit. My father paced a bit before hailing him on the radio. Turns out they were not far from us and with the help of a very bright spot light, the couple was able to hook up with us and come aboard. I gladly gave up my bunk for the exhausted little girl and her parents. The next morning, we stood in shock as only a foot or so of the boat remained above water.  Had they stayed aboard and gone to bed, they very easily could have drowned. An incorrect assumption that things would be as they always had been could have cost three people their lives.

So what does all of this have to do with conservation, natural resources and climate change? I’m getting there I promise.

Both of my childhood situations were made more difficult by one primary factor, human perception. These incidents helped my young mind begin to understand that people do not act rationally or logically most of the time.  We make decisions based on our unique life view, what we know to be true, in part based on the many events that have happened to us, our perceptions. We as humans also naturally look for the path of least resistance. Nobody wants to make their life harder than it has to be. Rather than consider what might be, we would rather slip back into the comfort zone of what we know, or rather what we think we know.

“1500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.” – Tommy Lee Jones (MIB 1997)

While I am not convinced that aliens live among us, I am fascinated by human behavior, in essence, why we do what we do. In trying to find my way in the world I bounced around some, psychology, sociology, education before settling on public relations and journalism.  Why? It seemed to me that both PR and journalism encompassed a little bit of all of the things I found fascinating. Story-telling, human behavior, trends, education, shifts in belief. I saw something in that method of communication that spoke to me, something that at the time seemed radical to me but intrigued me none the less. I wondered if I could channel this vehicle, if I could somehow continue my environmental and human rights advocacy work but with an entirely new focus. Could I use the tools and ideas learned from public relations to try and save the planet? I was called crazy. Everyone wanted to work for Coke, Procter & Gamble, the Finance sector, etc. I was told that I would never be successful, never be able to support my growing family. (I was almost six months pregnant with my third child when I graduated from college.) I felt differently.

I decided that I wanted to be a part of the Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development program at the University of Georgia because although I believe in the science and the numbers, the facts if you will, I also believe that the science alone will not save us. Our planet’s main inhabitants, humans, are a highly reactive and emotional race. Individuals and organizations all over the world have made great strides, bringing us a long way in the process, but as a collective, we still have a long way to go.

“If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest.”

Let me shift gears for a moment now and draw your attention to social media. Social media represents one of the greatest shifts in communications and human perception since the invention of the printing press.  It is transforming the way we live, do business and even survive.

I began to ask myself, how better to get through to people than by using something that is having such a dramatic shift in basic fundamental beliefs .

Have you ever been so passionate about something, so focused that everything else just fades away? Al Gore summed this up perfectly when talking about his son’s accident in the documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”.  He said, “How should I spend my time on this Earth?” The life-threatening accident put the trivial into perspective.

Maybe I’m not making a fortune, but what I’m doing may have a profound effect on those that come behind me, my children, their friends, our collective descendants.

When Gore’s documentary was made, there was still a large controversy surrounding climate change. It was called a hoax, a fraud. Gore was called crazy. He stood by his convictions. It almost seems laughable, four years later with what we know now to think that climate change was ever considered “the biggest hoax ever perpetrated upon the American people.”

Let me go back for a moment to that tornado and the 911 operator. As my family huddled together, coated with blow-in insulation and misty February rain, what delayed the help we needed was that operator’s “knowledge” of the area, the weather reports, and what she knew to be true for storm history in the area. But in fact, she was wrong. The year after my neighborhood was ripped to the ground, the county purchased tornado sirens. When they were being constructed, some people complained. The towers were ugly, expensive and the majority of people felt they were unnecessary. There was a newspaper article that came out that explained to baffled county residents that even though the storm seemed to be a freak thing, it would be better for everyone if they were prepared in the future. Fourteen months after that first storm, the unthinkable occurred. I was at school when the sirens went off. My heart sank because somehow I knew. It ripped through my neighborhood and then hopped over the highway to exert wrath upon two other subdivisions and a trailer park. Two people died. When my mom called the school that afternoon, I knew. My teacher assured me that everything would be alright, that lightning simply didn’t strike twice. She was wrong. Although the damage was nowhere near as severe as before, it was simply incredible that it had hit the same homes two years in a row. Our brand new construction now had splintered gaps where the back porch had been, most of the pine trees lay on the ground, our camper turned upside down and smashed. People were amazed. This type of thing had never been a problem where we lived. This was new, and perception-changing.

It was only the start and there have now been regular tornadoes every few years around the state, both destructive and deadly. Things don’t stay the same because we want them too or even because we think they should. People’s views on climate change are like that. People who spend their time listening to radical pundits like Rush Limbaugh and firmly believe that global warming is a myth are in my opinion, desperately clinging to their outdated beliefs, not because they give credence to them, but rather out of fear. Fear of the dramatic shifts we are seeing all across the world. Social justice, climate change, human rights, war etc.

Those rabidly outspoken few, however misinformed, are not the scariest though. It is those who concede and say okay, yes the world is heating up, but who cares? There’s not much we can do about it anyway right? Those people are the ones I strive to understand. I have this idea that if I can just figure out what is going on in their heads that maybe I can change their mind. Isn’t that what advertising, commercials, PR, government and media have been doing ever since Edward Bernays, the father of modern public relations first spoke about the power of influence and public perception?

Okay, I don’t come from an incredibly strong scientific background. However, as I stated before, science alone can’t save us, which I think is the reason this master’s program is so popular. The teachers remind us that we must look beyond the numbers, to human behavior, community, economics, culture, media influence, etc. if we are to really and truly make a difference in the way we work to conserve what we have left and to make responsible and practical management plans that actually work. To repeat Gore, “What we take for granted might not be here for our children.” We can’t assume blindly that our actions however small, have no effect on the larger world. We can’t ignore what is happening all around us.

“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something” – WE ADD UP 2009

I was told that the climate change debate is an ethical, moral and philosophical issue and I agree. I only need look around to see that our world is consumed with the trivial, the superficial and the irrelevant. Why? Maybe I am crazy, and overly sensitive, but when I see trash on the road, people with fifty plastic grocery sacks, or people refusing to believe that all species have the right to exist, I feel physically ill.

I was hired only about six months after I graduated college, by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, as a public affairs specialist, a job I continue to hold. What I have learned has taken my breath away, has made the trivial insignificant. I learned through practical experience what amazing resources we have on this planet. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t learned this before and as a new “recruit” I couldn’t understand why others wouldn’t find it as awe-inspiring as I did.

I made up my mind that I would make a difference, somehow. I dove in to education, greedily devouring everything I could on why people behave as they do when it comes to conservation. I wanted to understand the concept of “buy in” and what is the determining factor that either makes an individual, organization or industry finally say, ok, we will work with you. I wanted to know if in fact there was a way to accurately measure behaviors so we could see where the change occurs.

“People play various roles in their own lives and take on different personalities depending on where they are or with whom they are interacting. People have their work personas that are much different from their nightlife personas, which in turn are different from their family personas and so on.

The same holds true for corporations; on one hand, a company donates millions to save-the-planet-type funds, but on the other hand, they dump millions of gallons of toxic waste into the clean water supply.

The transparency and speed of information flow caused by social media mitigates this type of social schizophrenic behavior. What does this mean for companies and individuals?” – Erik Qualman (Socialnomics 2009)

I ask, what does this mean for those fighting for conservation?  Will social media help improve transparency enough to actually change behavior? I think so. That is what I want to find out.