“You’ve been added to the @redshoesladies Twitter list”

This is the notice I got the first day I started my internship at Red Shoes PR. Undeterred by the 7:1 gender ratio in the office, I was excited to get some experience in the public relations agency world. I wouldn’t have admitted it that first day, but I was definitely nervous—not nervous about getting along with people or being able to handle the workload, but nervous about the unknowns. Would I have the skills to do what was asked of me? Will I ask too many questions? What’s Hootsuite?

Thankfully, everyone at Red Shoes PR, including my fellow intern, Sara, have been extremely helpful—everyone was there not only to help me learn, but to challenge me and give me responsibility. They threw me into projects, introduced me to clients and exposed me to a broad spectrum of experiences ranging from building a desk from IKEA, to making videos and doing social media for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, to a little bit of crisis communication.

My public relations education at the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point has been fantastic, but as the adage goes, and as I found this summer, “You can’t learn everything in a classroom.” Here are the top three things I learned this summer that I could’ve never learned in class:

 1. Be yourself…everywhere. People will notice if you’re not the same online as in person. Self-control and being appropriate is important, but so is having a personality, both online and off.

2. Sweat the small stuff. Paying attention to details can be the difference between success and crisis, professional and sloppy or pride and embarrassment.

3. Finally, I learned what a successful business is built on: teamwork. Every member of Red Shoes PR was part of a team that trusts each other, and for the past three months, I was lucky enough to be part of that team. No one was ever hung out to dry, stranded with a tough project or expected to shoulder an entire client on his or her own. Knowing someone always had my back gave me a lot of confidence in my performance and made this summer more than just an internship, but the best start to and leg up on my career I could have asked for—that’s why I’m so proud to have been one of the @redshoesladies.

Thanks to all the awesome tweeps I got to know more this summer: @JessDennis, @LisaRedShoesPR, @KarenRedShoesPR, @RWollersheim, @MariaHeim, @SaralJeffers, @DianRedShoesPR, @tommytrc, @iamthomasbishop, @HarrisonLoveall @RossLaRocco @ryandietz, @tvorse, @alisonjns, @nikkivoelzke, @MrScottClark, @loveartlife, @AFiebig and @MironConstruct

The Power of the Community ... and Ty!

Our interns, Patrick Casey and Sara Jeffers, did a great job of capturing the spirit of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition community support for the Arboleda family.

The Power of the Community ... and Ty! from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Red Shoes Speak No. 37: 5 Reasons to Blog

Red Shoes Speak No. 37: 5 Reasons to Blog from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Red Shoes PR and iamThomasBishop, along with Tommytrc discuss 5 reasons blogs are a powerful tool for an organization.
1.) Interaction
2.) Give your company a face
3.) SEO
4.) Thought-leadership positioning
5.) Have fun and be creative

Jess Dennis' Top 5 iPad Applications

Red Shoes Speaks No. 36 Jess's 5 Top iPad Picks from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Red Shoes PR Idol- Sara Jeffers

Red Shoes PR Idol - Sara Jeffers from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

It was the biggest audition of my life. Well, at least since the last time I auditioned.

“You only get one shot, make it count,” Ryan Seacrest said. “These 25 seconds could change your life forever.” Great. I was having enough trouble getting in and out of the bathroom every 20 minutes because of all the “voice-healing” water I was guzzling. Now Seacrest was adding another layer of nausea to the mix. I had full-body shakes.

You would think I would be used to the grueling process that is American Idol auditions. I was in the same position for season three: same never-ending lines, same extremely talented competition, same high-stakes potential. Only this time I was confident I was going to take it. I’d been the lead singer in two bands and sang for dozens of weddings (and a few funerals) since season three, and while that doesn’t make me a pro, it gives me the poise I need to sing for this random producer.

After waiting for eight hours in the Bradley Center stands with my competition, my turn was up. Myself, along with three others sitting next to me, lined up to make the best first impression. I had been watching table 11 all morning; so far he had given away three golden tickets to advance, so my odds were stacked against me. The three others sang before me, and all were given one chance to sing. It was my turn to knock his socks off.

I sang my first choice, “Billionaire” by Travie McCoy. “Great,” random producer said. “Give me another one.” Another one? Yes! Next up was my rendition of “Dance With My Father” by Luther Vandross. “Excellent. Can I have another?” Another? Absolutely. Next I sang “Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin.  I officially had almost two whole minutes in front of Mr. Random Producer, and I was convinced I killed it. In a very good way.

“So…unfortunately you’re not what we’re looking for, “ Mr. Random said. “Good luck.” And just like that, it was over. But before leaving, he grabbed my arm and said, “Seriously. Don’t stop.” Really? Then why are you stopping me?

So now I’m back to the real world. Back to being an intern and back to singing for people who want to listen. And you know, I’d rather be at Red Shoes PR anyway. :-)

When it comes to using social media, do what feels right

You probably weren't expecting me to include AARP.org in my blog post about my recent column! But here it is. One of my social media tips in this week's column in The Post-Crescent includes not overlooking the baby boomers when it comes to social media.

Click here for the complete column: The Post-Crescent. Let me know what you think. I always welcome feedback.

Social Media Listening

 

I had a recent experience via social media that is a must-share. Last week online, I was searching for the next pair of red shoes. Finding red shoes can sometimes be a little bit of a challenge for me. The heel height cannot be too high or too low. They need to be a size 10 (big flippers yes I know). And, finding the right shade of red is imperative.

Of course one of my online shoe shopping behaviors is to peruse what's available at Zappos. I did find a pair that fit all of my criteria. I was in love. This dazzling pair of shoes included straps and gems -- a winning combination. So I tweeted about it, "Please tell me these shoes qualify as red shoes." And included a link to the shoes but did not identify @zappos in the post. 

As tweeps comments came flying back at me via twitter, I quickly made my purchase. The time of this order was after 9 p.m. Wednesday night. In addition, the online @zappos customer service person that night also engaged in conversation with me. I'm assuming they are doing broad searches on Twitter for anyone talking about shoes and stumbled upon my tweet. 

Then the @zappos customer service representative also pointed out to me that the name of the shoes is "Lisa." Yes, it was a match made in shoe heaven. 

But, that's not where the story ends. The next day I got home from work around 3 p.m. Guess what was waiting for me on the kitchen counter. My precious, dazzling shoes. Zappos went above and beyond from beginning to end of my purchase. Think about how well run their processes have to be to be able to deliver those shoes by the next day. 24 hours had not even passed. I'm not even sure it was 15 hours. 

The lesson here? Make sure you are listening on social media as much as you are participating in the conversation. And ... make sure you have the capabilities and processes set up on the back end to wow your customers.

Does the story end there? Absolutely not. Because now I have written this blog post and I'm going to share this experience online. Social media can really be the gift that keeps on giving. Kudos Zappos. You rocked my red shoes world.

Google Alert: Bing falls short on content and public relations

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I tweeted that I was only going to use Bing as my search engine tool of choice for the next five days. As a result of my experiment, this blogpost will be short.

I did my best to break my Google habit but, wow, is that hard. Every gadget I own is set up to naturally access Google. Funny enough, I found myself Googling Bing to get to their homepage. 

Available Wisconsin news was also very limited. Only news generated out of Milwaukee or the Journal-Sentinel came up in searches. I know for a fact we generate quite a bit more news from around the state so I was surpised at the lackluster search results.

Many in my social media circles had plenty of opinions as I set forth in my non-scientific experiment. The majority sang high praises for the map offerings. Which I admit are pretty cool. But, my life requires a bit more than beautiful maps. I need content at my fingertips--quick! 

Another interesting thing that I became aware of during my five-day odyssey? Bing has no credibility. Because I don't hear anything about it since it launched, there's no social media chatter ... nothing. Which equates to little if any credibility and that lead me to doubting my search results. And then wanting to double check my searches with a comparison of Google's results.

Google searches are a great reminder that content is truly king when it comes to the Internet. Forget the imagery, bring on the content.

My observations are also a good lesson for any company: Don't forget the power of generating continuous buzz --especially when you are launching a new service or product. But you better have the product or service to back up the buzz.

 

 

 My experience with the iPad = iheaven

I thought I would wait a couple of weeks after the release of the iPad to actually get my own. I knew i wanted it (bad) but I thought it made sense to read more review before actually taking the leap myself. Well, I just couldn't contain my excitement. On April 3, 2010 I was one of the people standing in line at the Appleton BestBuy to purchase the iPad the minute they opened. Part of the excitement about buying a revolutionary product like this is the standing outside of the big box retailer waiting and hoping to be one of the first luckily people to get your hands on such an amazing device. So what's all the hype about? And why is the iPad so amazing?

 I firmly believe the iPad will change the way we work and communicate. I wrote this entire blog entry sitting on a plane using the on screen keyboard, which despite some negative reviews is pretty easy to use. I can feel that typing will get easier to use as my fingers get used to the keyboard. So back to what makes this product so remarkable...

1) Travel: I fundamentally believe this will revolutionize technology and the obstacles around traveling. I can see traveling with just my iPad and my Blackberry in the future rather than my cell phone and my MacBook Pro which is quite large and heavy. The iPad can't quite slip into your back pocket like the iPhone but that's also a large part of its beauty, it's not as small as the iPhone and feels more like a personal computer rather a phone. 

2) There's an app for that: apps are the future and the iPad will have many apps as more people embrace this new technology. There are apps for almost anything you could want. There are business apps that help you work harder and stay connected. There are personal apps that allow you to play games and download your favorite media. There are also apps that enable learning and can help children with homework or learning a new language.

3) Connectivity: as more and more people rely on social media to keep them connected, the iPad will offer a level of connectivity that mobile devices just cannot at this point. There are platforms for Twitter and Facebook with many more to come.

4) Gaming: From some of the first reviews I have seen, the iPad will give all other gaming devices a run for their money. Who wouldn't choose one, light-weight device that allows you to surf the Web, update your social networks, download ebooks/media and download apps? 

 There are many more reasons on why this new device will revolutionize technology and the biggest one in my opinion is that it will change how people work and allow them to easily work/stay connected anywhere. What are your thoughts on the iPad? What does the future of technology look like?       

SlideShare Presentation: Social Media for Communicators

The UW-Oshkosh PRSSA chapter invited Jess Dennis and Karen Buckoski in to speak about social media and the impact it is having on the public relation industry. Here is the presentation that was given.