Over the last week you may have noticed a couple of ads appearing on the right-hand side of Social Web Thing (or at the bottom of posts if you use a Reader). The reason being is that having grown this blog  from scratch to around 3,000-4,000 unique Page Views per month I’ve decided to begin monetizing the website.

I appreciate that I’ll never earn ‘serious’ money from the ads, instead it looks like I’ll make around £10 a week from people clicking on what Google AdSense promises are ‘relevant, targeted ads’. Clearly this won’t make me a fortune, but over the course of 12 months I might be able to buy a flight to somewhere exotic or an iPad – or to put it another way; who wouldn’t like to be a couple of hundred pounds better off over the year?

So there you have it, depending on your viewpoint I’m either selling out or putting the white space on this blog to good use – and being rewarded for my efforts. I thought it might be difficult or time-consuming to display ads on my blog, however the opposite was true, so I’ve put together this handy guide explaining how you can add Google AdSense to your website in five minutes.

Step 1.
Login into your Google account, click on AdSense and then hit ‘My ads’.

Step 4.
Copy the code.

Step 5.
Login into your website admin page, create a text widget and place the widget where you want the ads to go. Then simply paste in the code and then publish your website. It may take up to a day for the ads to appear.

There are many deeper layers of functionality you can delve into within Google AdSense, however in its most basic form  you literally just need to place a piece of code within your website. My final tip is to integrate Google Analytics with your AdSense account so you can see which pages are performing well and making money.

What Google AdSense tips do you have?

I recently caught up with web entrepreneur Michael Hussey to have a chat about PeekYou, the people search engine and his latest online venture, PeekScore . As someone who is interested in Personal SEO and online reputation management, I was fascinated to hear what Michael had to say regarding people search and tools to organise disparate data.

Essentially, PeekScore is a tool that calculates how influential people are by looking at their online presence including blogging, social networks, number of friends, followers, readers, the amount of web content they create, and prominence in the news to give a score between one and 10. Having played around with this innovative tool, I can see how it could work in harmony with PeekYou to become an extremely useful service in both a personal and professional capacity.

If Michael’s past successes which include Rate My Teachers, Rate My Professors and Rate My Face are anything to go by, we can expect PeekScore to be well received. You can find out more about Michael from his blog, Tweets and Linked In profile.

1. People will be well acquainted with search engines like Google and Bing; however for many, search engines for people are a new concept. What does PeekYou do?
Search engines such as Google and Bing map out the associations between links and keywords, whereas PeekYou maps out links in relation to their authorship — so it determines whether a link is associated with a person.

2. It’s always great to hear about exciting new digital tools, but what was the inspiration for PeekYou? How did it come about?
PeekYou was inspired by the idea that the backbone of the Internet consists of the enduring relationship between people and the URLs they create – it’s the most basic relationship, and one of the most relevant, that persists and will continue to persist across the Internet even 100 years from now: there will always be people active on the web, and they will always create linkable web content. I knew that if I could somehow tie these two things together in a single index, it would go a long way to power many important applications in the Internet of the present and future. This was in April 2006, and I didn’t waste a minute once the concept was clear in my head and I started executing right away.

3.  Can you please explain how PeekYou as a people search engine is different from conventional search engines? How does it distinguish between websites and people?
Our web crawlers are very similar to standard search engines, but our algorithms are focused on identifying specific information related to actual people – that could mean, for example, the person identified in a news article (does the article mention where that person lives?) or who owns a homepage (does the person list something about themselves? A name, or email address, perhaps? Something they can be identified by?). It can get a bit complicated, but we look at a whole lot of potential identifying variables when trying to determine to whom a page is associated.

4. PeekYou has been described by Mashable as ‘making people search worthwhile’, but why are people searching for each other?
As online and offline life merge ever closer together, the importance of your online identity continues to increase. More people than ever are “Googling” someone’s name before they do business with them, go out on a date together, etc. Finding out who someone really is even before meeting them in the real world has gotten a lot easier because of tools like ours. Therefore more and more people continue to come back. The better our search results get, the better our traffic.

5. Who’s using PeekYou at the moment and why should I?
People from all walks of life find PeekYou useful: those who are searching for a long-lost relative, an old friend they’ve lost touch with, an old flame, or someone they’re researching for work or study purposes. Some law-and-order officials use it for their investigations. HR personnel looks up potential candidates to screen them before an interview. Online daters use PeekYou for due diligence beyond a profile in an online-dating site, etc.

6. From Rate My Teacher to Rate My Face and now PeekYou, many of the fantastic tools you’ve developed involve some form of ranking, what is the thinking behind that?
I’ve long been interested in organizing disparate data to make sense of it – and doing so often lends itself to some form of ranking or rating. Everything is relative – from a professor’s quality ratings to our activity on the web – so why not create standards of comparison to help people make sense of it all?

7. What tips would you give people looking to enhance their PeekScore?
PeekScore is a measure of the relative size of your digital footprint. If you want to increase your score, leave more footprints. In other words, blog regularly, Tweet, participate on social networks such as Facbook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Foursquare. The more active and engaged you are with other people on the public Web, the higher your score will be.

8. Most people are familiar with the privacy settings on Facebook, but in the digital age, just how important is it for them to be aware of their digital footprint?
Just as it took some time for many of us to understand and appreciate Facebook’s privacy settings, the importance of our footprint on the public Web is also becoming better understood with time. Whereas certain types of information you share on Facebook can be hidden from the public eye, participation in the public web makes your data available to anyone. It is important that people understand the public web and their place in it. In practice, that means that we ought generally to act the same way online as we would offline.

9.  What is the long term vision for PeekYou?
The long-term vision has not changed since day one – and that is to continue to index people and their URLs. The things we are able to do with this index are incredible and continue to amaze me. As long as we keep improving our core technology, those opportunities will continue to develop and present themselves.

10. People search engines and influencer identification tools like 123 People and Klout are becoming increasingly popular, but what is PeekYou’s USP?
PeekYou.com is now the largest free people search engine in the world – and the 294th most popular website in the U.S. http://www.quantcast.com/peekyou.com and traffic has doubled in the past six months.  We believe PeekYou.com can be one of the top-100 sites in the country – perhaps by next year.
Our B2B partnerships are bringing this index into a whole host of new applications which I had not even foreseen back when I started PeekYou. Partner companies like Radian6 are able to offer more robust applications by working with us and our index.

I would like to thank Michael for taking time out from his busy schedule to talk about PeekScore and PeekScore and I look forward to watching this tool make a big impact.

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive an ‘abridged’ version of Marketing to Men a report by Mintel, the market research company. Due to the comprehensive nature of the report, work commitments, travel and a couple of blog hosting issues, it has taken me a while to fully digest its findings.

It was worth the wait. Marketing to Men is a thorough and insightful read for anyone planning campaigns aimed at men. The report offers a great insight into men including what influences purchasing decisions, media consumption habits, the different types of technology men use and importantly, what marketing channels guys are receptive to.

The study segmented men into several personality types; accomplished, cultured, exuberant, passive and uncomplicated, as well as providing an indication of how prevalent each personality type is within the UK. Interestingly, the report’s author makes the point marketers should think in terms of personality type when marketing to men, as it is more stable in comparison to behaviour, which is too variable.

My five key takeaways from Marketing to Men are:

1. It’s the Smartphone, stupid!
It is becoming increasingly clear that if you want to communicate effectively with men, you’ve got to ensure mobile is factored into the equation. The report discovered Smartphones are rated as the most popular technology item amongst men with 45% owning a Smartphone; 11% iPhone and 9% BlackBerry. Indeed, many of our client’s website analytics supports this finding; with an increasing amount of traffic coming via Smartphones. Mobile is the next digital frontier ready to be discovered by brands, but at present too few are ready to leverage its vast potential, especially with near field communication (NFC) chips around the corner.

2. Rethink ads
I would never suggest forgetting paid media as ads are and will remain an important part of the marketing mix. But, I would advise rethinking their importance when targeting men. The fact is most men avoid advertising and Mintel found 51% of men fast forward through TV advertising, 41% change channels or their activity and 34% of men bin all junk mail without reading it. These are striking figures and with such high opposition to ads, brands should review paid media budgets and employ ads to supplement activity and not lead it.

3. Gaming: not just for geeks
Its official. Gaming is no longer the preserve of Geeks. In fact the majority of men game and it is now the most popular leisure activity, behind only eating, drinking and going to the cinema cinema. The challenge for marketers is how they can help brands engage with men via games. Although the glow around Second Life has faded, there are other thriving online worlds, such as FarmVille (62 millions users) and Warcraft (12 million users). There is huge demand for social gaming and both IBM and the National Trust have used games to engage stakeholders and tell their story.

For a more detailed look at gaming and how these virtual worlds impact upon the real one, I’d recommend reading ‘Engagement Through Play: How Games Shape the New Reality’ by my Edelman colleague, Antoine Soussaline. It can be found on page 20 of last years Edelman Public Engagement essays book.

4. Don’t forget TV
We all know men watch TV, but Marketing to Men found it is the news (74%), movies (73%) and documentaries (72%) which men regularly tune in to. The challenge and rewards for marketers getting brands featured on these distinct TV types is great. However, to achieve this goal, marketers will have to focus on crafting an interesting brand narrative worthy of appearing on the news – which is no easy task. In addition, resource should be dedicated to seeking relevant partnerships with movies and documentaries, diverted away from paid media, which are proving increasingly ineffective when communicating to men.

5. WOM is the way
Interestingly, the report found that men consider Word of Mouth (WOM) the most influential source of information for buying decisions. Indeed, Mintel found 50% of men base buying a holiday on WOM, compared to just 2% for celebrity endorsements and 1% for radio coverage – both, potentially expensive tactics which are unlikely to yield results. The research suggests greater priority and budgets should be given to social activity, such as social media that generates third-party recommendations, rather than more direct and traditional forms of marketing.

With declining rates of marriage coupled with the seemingly unstoppable rise of single person households, understanding how men spend their money has never been more important. Marketing to Men is packed full of useful data and actionable insights, in particular around engagement and peer recommendations which will help in the planning stage of a campaign. If you’re developing marketing activity aimed at men, the report is well worth a read.

This post is the third of a series looking at online influencers. The first listed great free tools that help identify influential people and the second suggested practical considerations when selecting online influencers. However this post is the next step – 10 steps to undertaking a successful blogger outreach programme.

We all know what bad blogger outreach looks like, such as poorly targeted influencers, lack of personalisation and spelling mistakes – but there are some steps you can follow to ensure that outreach has the best possible chance of being mutually beneficial.

I’ve taken the scenario of inviting bloggers to an event, but this list includes guiding principles that are applicable to any blogger outreach.

Preparation
1. Set expectations
Before you make any contact with bloggers it is important to set expectations with the client, such as how many bloggers you will outreach to, the number you hope will attend the event and what the expected outcome will be. Ideally, you will have existing relationships with the bloggers you will be talking to, but in reality if you have a new client or piece of work this will not always be possible. We tend to say that 10-15 bloggers is a good number to attend an event, but obviously this will vary depending on the project. Another consideration is that it can take an hour to properly research and investigate a potential blogger, so it is a time-consuming, but important process.

I’ve mentioned the client first as they have to be your first priority, but once the parameters have been agreed upon you can set expectations with bloggers. There should be no assumption that bloggers will write about the event, but your approach should seek to ensure that bloggers have such a great experience, they will feel compelled to. In addition, I’ve heard of bloggers being uninvited to an event, after the client reviewed the list of attendees. It is vital that clients review the list before outreach begins and that they understand it’s not acceptable and potentially damaging to uninvite people.

2. What’s in it for the blogger?
Before any outreach begins you have to really consider what’s in it for the blogger. I do not mean to make bloggers sound like mercenaries – far from it. The fact many bloggers are amateurs means they can be more refined in their choices. They don’t have deadlines to hit. Bloggers can just say ‘no’. You have to clearly define your proposition. What is the benefit for the blogger that will illicit the response you are looking for?

News releases are rarely interesting enough, so think how you can provide value to the blogger or their readership. Exclusive content, Q&As, competitions, product trials, vouchers and invitations to events are all more engaging than an announcement about a new product. Blogger outreach is about creating and sustaining mutually beneficial relationships – unfortunately too many agencies just want online coverage and do not put enough emphasise on the blogger benefit.

3. Research the blog
This is probably the most important step in the process. Undertaking due diligence and comprehensive research is vital. Poorly targeted outreach is a waste of time for everyone. The blogger get’s annoyed, the PR doesn’t achieve their aim and the clients money is being poorly spent. So it’s worth spending time researching a smaller number of blogs more thoroughly, rather than going for a larger list of bloggers who are unlikely to be interested. It takes at least one hour to find a new blog, read the posts, appreciate the blogger’s interests and understand the blog’s readership.

Initial outreach
4. Personalise your outreach
One of the best quotes I’ve heard recently is ‘the best press release is no press release’ from Daniel Burstein. When speaking to bloggers if you don’t know them already, you should avoiding pitching anything. Instead you should focus on introducing yourself and your client and then gauging if the blogger would be interested in hearing about future events or receiving exclusive content, product trials, interviews etc. The importance of personalising your pitch to bloggers or journalists cannot be underestimated. Some bloggers even tell you how to pitch them, which if you have spent time researching will become apparent.

I would also say that journalists have deadlines to hit and to a certain extent, expect to receive pitches from PRs – this is not the case with bloggers. Subsequently your approach should be different to how you pitch journalists. Bloggers want a personalised pitch, that is press release free and clearly offers a benefit. I would also add that many bloggers already know each other and may share bad practice. It does not take much to see past the one-size-fits-all approach.

5. Get the tone right
Tone is often overlooked, but it’s fundamental to how you approach bloggers and will have a huge impact on your success rate. Bloggers respond best to outreach that is both human and professional, not a rehashed press release. You have to remember that bloggers typically write for themselves as opposed to an organisation, so outreach should clearly state what the benefit will be to the blogger or their audience, rather than just reiterating the new features of a product – for some this is a new way of thinking. The hard-sell is unlikely to work and I speak from experience that a human approach is preferred, rather than a pasted press release.

Check out this deck entitled ‘Your Social Media Event Kit Bag’ from the guys at Content & Motion or this blog post by C&Ms Ben Martin.

6. Honesty at all times
Openness, honesty and transparency has to underpin everything you do. The business case for doing so is huge, but also in the context of a world, where private electronic conversations can quickly and easily come out in the public and leave a permanent record – you have to be 100% open with people at all times. Whilst, it is unlikely Julian Assange will turn his attention to blogger outreach any time soon, the web is full of examples of disgruntled bloggers who have published posts dedicated to what they consider to be dishonest approaches.

If bloggers are allowed to test and keep products you should ask them to state this on their blog. If you do not make everything clear from the outset or even worse, try and change the conditions, you may well find the email being republished online for everyone to see – and rightly so. Check out the WOMMA Honesty ROI for more information on what this means for you.

Follow up outreach
7. Consider the blogger’s time
This is more of a practical consideration, but you must remember that bloggers are often amateur and their blog is not their main source of income. Subsequently, this will have an impact on two things, how quickly bloggers can reply to your outreach and when the event can take place. If bloggers have a full-time job, pitching to them can take longer than it would a journalist and you may be unable to speak to them on the telephone. You’ll also find that evenings, rather than daytime or weekends are normally the best time to get bloggers attending an event.

8. Pay expenses
Again this more practical advice, but in order to get the largest number of attendees you should offer to pay expenses for all bloggers. As mentioned previously, few bloggers make a career from their writing, so you should fully compensate them for attending. It’s important to stress that you should pay for travel and not coverage. Paying for coverage is arguably advertising and most certainly unethical. The recent OFT ruling means that both you and your client could land in trouble if the blogger does not reveal payments that have been made.

9. Tell them about the event #hashtag
We all know that #hashtags help link common interests within the Twitter community, so  there’s not too much to expand on with this tip – except  that letting bloggers know the event #hashtag early on is a good way to generate online conversation and hopefully anticipation about an event. In addition, it also enables attendees to see who else it going and they can begin discussing their shared experience which will also be archived.

Afterwards
10. Say ‘thanks’
Thanking bloggers for their attendance is a great way to show your appreciation – and it is the easiest step to implement, but one that is often overlooked. PR is about building mutually beneficial relationships, not simply hosting an event, hoping the blogger produces some ‘coverage’ and then forgetting about them. Blogger events should be looked at as the first step of a relationship that will continue to grow and saying ‘thank you’ is a courtesy that will enable this relationship to continue.

I’m confident this list of steps will act as a good starting point to anyone undertaking a blogger outreach program. Nonetheless, I recognise this list is far from definitive, so I would be interested to hear what tips you would recommend.

This post is aimed any PR student, practitioner or group bloggers out there who has been developing a blog for a while – have you heard about the Euprera Social Media Awards? The awards will be presented at the Euprera Symposium, which is the annual conference of Europe’s top PR academics. The symposium takes place in Lisbon on 3-5 March 2011 and you can enter your blog in to the following categories:

1. Most effective social media presence established by a communications/public relations student studying on undergraduate or post-graduate programme at a European university.

Criteria:

• Focus/ vision
• Originality, creativity, style, insight etc
• Engagement with online community
• Appreciation of the opportunities offered by social media

2. Most innovative use of social media techniques in a communications research project or investigation

Criteria:

• Originality of insights, thought, theoretical understanding
• Creativity, style, insight etc
• Engagement with online community
• Appreciation of the opportunities offered by social media

3. Most valuable contribution to the academic understanding of the impact of social media on PR practice. This may be a university lecturer but could also be a thought leader, postgraduate researcher, author, or consultant. We welcome entries from individuals but also NOMINATIONS from others.

Criteria

• Originality of insights, thought, theoretical understanding
• Creativity in online engagement with students/ researchers/industry
• Contribution to evolution of PR practice

As a previous winner, I can testify that this is a fantastic opportunity to raise your profile, present at one of Europe’s leading social media conferences, as well as showcase your blog, boost traffic, link to leading colleagues – and win 250€.

The awards are open to anyone connected to a European University or University College – you may be studying now, or have recently graduated. The winning entrants will be invited to make a short presentation on their work at the Euprera Spring Symposium, at Escola Superior de Comunicacao Social School of Communication and Media Studies in Lisbon, Portugal.  Agreed travel and accommodation expenses will be paid for by the Award organisers.

If you are interested in entering, send an email with your name and the URL of your web presence to Philip Young (philip.young@sunderland.ac.uk) and you will be added to the participants’ blogroll. The deadline for entries is 30 January 2011.

I must say how proud I am to have presented at last years event in Ghent and would strongly recommend submitting your blog for the award. It looks like I will not be in Lisbon this March, but I’ll certainly be following the blogs and Tweets coming from the symposium.

For more information click here.

Goldsmith Tavern, a pub in New Cross has received a great deal of online coverage over the last week or so. The reason being is that this unremarkable pub has quite a remarkable operation going on upstairs. Tuesday to Saturday it plays host to Yianni Papoutsis and his 10 strong team who serve the best burgers in London – and it’s the WOM story involving Yianni, the Meat Wagon and #MEATEASY that I want to tell you about.

The Meat Wagon first hit our streets in 2009 as the stainless steel vehicle toured south east London serving up top quality burgers and a good time. The wagon’s owner and driver, Yianni would pitch up in random places, such as the middle of an industrial estate in Peckham, before using Twitter to let people know the Meat Wagon’s location. This type of guerrilla dinning experience really took off and people began Tweeting positive reviews and comments about the Meat Wagon’s tasty burgers.

It became clear that Yianni was onto something special as the wagon grew a legion of foodie fans across London. But in December 2010 disaster struck. The Meat Wagon was stolen. Even the reward of ‘free burgers for burgers for life’ has yet to solve this crime. Which brings us back to the Goldsmith Tavern where, Yianni and his team are working all hours of the day to try and raise enough money for a new Meat Wagon. The chop-up restaurant is packed out every night as fans mobilise via the Facebook event function to send out invites and use the #MEATEASY to perpetuate the Meat Wagon myth.

Yianni hit upon the magic formula of a great product, exclusivity and a fantastic experience. The Meat Wagon uses social media to communicate these three elements and generates a tremendous amount of positive WOM. Interestingly, the Meat Wagon has decided to use a blog over a website which I think is a shrewd move. A blog allows a company to tell its story and keeps fans returning with new content. In addition, blogs are easy to manage, have great SEO and enable fans to take part in the conversation. Whereas, websites are static and normally used to describe products in detail, but with the Meat Wagon there is no need. Everyone knows what a burger is.

Image from thebus under Creative Commons

Here’s my take of how the Meat Wagon uses social media:

Twitter

• Drive sales by announcing the Meat Wagon’s location
• Generate positive WOM by encouraging fans to use #MEATEASY
• Listen to feedback from customers to improve products

Blog

• Enable the Meat Wagon to tell its story
• Keep fans up to date with latest news and allow them to comment
• Increase online search visibility for the Meat Wagon

Facebook

• Build an online community of burger fans
• Speak directly to customers
• Utilise the events feature to invite fans to the Goldsmiths Tavern

It’s undoubtedly a nice story and whilst Yianni describes himself as a ‘professional amateur’, he masterfully uses social media to tell it to a growing number of loyal of fans. The Meat Wagon is a great social media case study for any SME out there.

You can follow the Meat Wagon’s story as it unfolds on Twitter, Facebook and their blog. What SMEs do you know who are using social media to communicate with their fans?

I was inspired to write these tips after reading Katelyn Mashburn’s fantastic post on making the perfect pitch to journalists. This got me thinking about not only how important it is to get the pitch right when you’ve got the job, but also ensuring that your pitch is up to scratch when you’re talking to potential employers.

I say this as my colleagues and I see an increasing number of graduates who connect with us via social media channels. Social media provides great opportunities for sharing and discussing ideas, finding out the latest news and networking – but occasionally I’ve noticed people take a sledgehammer approach coupled with a fair dose of pester power when sounding out a role.

Before we start, I must say that this post is not intended to criticise people, but offer constructive feedback and more importantly, tips that will help pitch your skills, personality and knowledge to an employer using social media – and hopefully land that job. In addition, with many PR Grad Schemes at the international agencies closing in the coming months, this post may also be useful for those looking to connect with the top dogs at smaller consultancies.

My point is that one person’s good intentioned persistence can be perceived as a bit overwhelming – or worse. Sociologists and HR directors have been quick to cast Generation Y as having great expectations and being known for expecting (and demanding) to get what they want. We’ve seen some of this, but most of the pester power approaches can be put down to youthful exuberance, enthusiasm and perhaps a touch naivety. I suppose the best advice is to put yourself in an employer’s shoes. Will your pitch place some doubt in a potential employer’s mind about your ability to pitch to journalists, bloggers or other stakeholders?

The PR industry is all about relationships and your ability to identify, nurture and enhance relationships is a vital skill. The way I see it, the best way to pitch yourself to a potential employer is by demonstrating that you have a good understanding of the industry by curating and creating content, commenting on blogs coupled with real life experience and a big measure of creative thinking.

Here are steps that will help pitch your skills, personality and knowledge to an employer using social media.

1. Curate
Highlighting useful industry news and opinions on Twitter is an effective way to start curating content and building up your own knowledge of the industry. Don’t just re-tweet everything a potential employer tweets, but concentrate on curating content that adds value. Be discerning. They key points to remember are listen, understand and engage in a personal way – don’t spam people with links and you’ll soon notice your number of followers from the PR industry increasing.
Tip: with the demise of Delicious not too far away, use a tool like Diigo to bookmark every Tweet that contains a link, so you can return to your curated content.

2. Create
I would strongly recommend to any PR student or person wanting to break into the industry to start creating online content of some description. The reason being is that producing regular content takes planning, creativity and commitment. The content you produce could take the form of a blog, podcast, video or photo album. If done effectively, you’ll find that you’re not just creating content, but a community of fans too. Whilst being able to write well is a prerequisite of the PR industry, an understanding and experience of what makes good content and community management are valuable skills to pitch.
Tip: Acquaint yourself with WordPress. Almost without exception this is the default platform we advise clients to utilise and a working knowledge is a great advantage.

3. Comment
I know many PR students who blog, but too few regularly engage in the online conversation by commenting on other people’s blogs. Making comments is a great way to show your understanding of industry issues, a grasp of online netiquette and your ability to form a balanced argument. It is also a good opportunity to network with industry professionals and promote your own content which will encourage feedback and comments from others.

4. Publish
I frequently recommend that people should publish real work they have undertaken on a blog, e-portfolio or personal website – all of which I consider the evolution of the rather staid paper CV. PR is a creative industry, so you need to use every opportunity to demonstrate your real life experiences in an imaginative way. At the very least, graduates should move beyond a static Linked In page and make it dynamic by synchronising it with Slideshare, Twitter, their blog and Behance. If you’re serious about creating an e-portfolio, I suggest you investigate Behance, it’s the e-portfolio platform for creative professionals.
Tip: Flickr is a great tool to store and manage press clippings or print screens of online success. It can also easily be embedded into blogs and personal websites.

5. Innovate
Admittedly this is easier said than done. But there are some fantastic examples of people who have used really creative social media ideas to pitch their skills to a potential employer and support their application. Creative and fresh thinking is the lifeblood of the PR industry and the ability to demonstrate creativity coupled with successful execution is a winning combination. Recent and well-documented examples include Graeme Anthony, Jed Hallam and Laura Tosney who have all stood out from the crowd to land jobs and gain promotions.

In addition, to these tips, an overarching consideration has to be your online reputation. Remember that what you do online often leaves a digital footprint – your activity is permanent, immediate and instant. Are you managing yours correctly? Here are some useful techniques which can help enhance your Personal SEO and manage your reputation.

Ultimately, a subtle, balanced and tailored approach is the best way to begin relationship building and pitching with potential employers. What tips would you recommend to graduates making the pitch to potential employers?

I’ve been inspired by my former lecturer, Richard Bailey to pen this post simply asking ‘what is social media?’ There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of credible explanations and below is Wikipedia’s definition which is as good a place to start as any:

‘Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses web-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogues.’ (Wikipedia)

This definition is all well and good, but in order to try and move beyond this and actually discover what social media means to individuals, I put out a Tweet asking my network for their definitions – and in the interests of being social, here they are:

Social media is…

‘The ability to converse, get to know people and share experiences and feelings with friends whilst in a suit or pj’s, not that I wear pj’s’ (SimonApps)

‘It’s our most primitive form of communication. And arguably, forums were social before the term and trend itself.’ (GrahamCreative)

‘SM = coming out from behind the spin and standing naked, flaws and all; listening, learning, understanding and earning respect.’ (JonClements)

‘networking, sharing, interaction, sociable ’ (mylifeinleeds)

‘definition of #socialmedia? Conversation not broadcast ’ (altepper)

‘new media in which businesses/brands and individuals communicate online to publicise and inform. Taking over traditional media.’ (erin_croly)

‘#socialmedia incorporates online technologies supporting user generated content that allow people to interact & share content.’ (ashton99)

‘using technology to mimic the natural flow of information between human beings and groups of them?’ (Mcmoop)

‘a term which is tossed around here and there, where no one could really give a fixed definition for it. I would say its media where it uses web based technologies for users to make a social interaction through sharing content, video, comments, ideas, etc. A place where two way communciation is involved.’ (Sophia A Fantis)

Image from omgzam.com under Creative Commons

Again, more great definitions. But one thing is clear – it is problematic to try and tie social media down to a simple definition. As soon as a comprehensive definition is agreed upon, there is a very real chance that it will have already become outdated.

For what it’s worth, I think I we need to accept that we have reached a point where the continual evolution of online technologies means users will fluidly migrate from one service to another. Subsequently, the one constant in social media is human behaviour and movement of ideas, conversation and other such intangibles.

I’m of the opinion we should move towards a definition that emphasises more on the how and why people communicate, interact and share on social media, rather than the platforms, techniques or technologies used.

Social media is defined just as much by how people use it, rather than what platforms they are using.

So, what is social media?