Today I bring you a guest post from Amanda Jackson of Tigerfish PR. I met her a few weeks ago when I was co-presenting at Preston FM with Will Buckley. She shared her 'hourglass' analogy whilst explaining about Public Relations (PR) and I was fascinated. I asked Amanda to share her analogy on Geekalicious and here it is. If you have any questions for Amanda please post them in the comments section and I'll direct her over here to respond to them.
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There are
two questions I get asked frequently. How on earth do you find time for social
media? And 'what IS public relations exactly?'
And
usually answer to both of them is helped by... my hourglass. Yes, strange as it
sounds, I use my beautiful half-hour device - it looks like an oversized egg
timer. Let me tell you about it.
I
acquired it a few years ago, in a bid to explain PR. There are many definitions
of PR. It is often thought of as press
relations, but more accurately it is public relations. But what on earth does
that mean?
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| Image Credit: Rachel Caitlin, Flickr |
The
bottom part, is what is happening in your customers' world. Pretty much the
same - the challenges and successes. The new people, products and services.
So the
middle bit? The neck of the hourglass?? Well, that is where PR fits in. That is
the way that you and your customers communicate. That sand flowing though?
That's the PR, the public relations. It's small bits of information, delivered
slowly, consistently. They might be emails, stuff customers read in the press
(via press releases), it might be a newsletter, it might be an exhibition, hey,
it might be a conversation. But it's communication.
And the
best thing about an hour glass, is that it is two-way. Turn it over. The
information flows from customer to you. Who wouldn't want that?
Which
leads me onto the social media. Because social media, whether it is Twitter,
Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. are all ways that you can communicate with
your customers and potential customers. They are all that 'sand' flowing both
ways, between you and your customer. But oh boy, can it eat time.
Which is
where my timer comes in again. Mine is a half hour timer. I have it permanently
on my desk. So I allow myself half hour 'chunks' of time for social media. I
can see when the time's gone. There's no "forgetting" what time I
started. I wouldn't be without it.
Finally,
I confess, that half hour timer is also perfect for making me focus and crack
on with tasks I sometimes put off. Like, er...doing 'PR for me' for example,
because I'm like that classic cobblers'
child i.e. barefoot.
So for
me, a half-hourglass forms part of the answer to many questions. But in in my
experience, never the one which starts -'how long does it take to make a 30
minute Jamie Oliver meal?'
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Amanda
Jackson is founder of Tigerfish PR, a PR agency which
specialises in logistics and manufacturing sectors. Her firm offers down-to-earth communications
strategy, PR campaigns and social media training for companies that make stuff
or move stuff.