In just a little while, I’ll be sitting in on the first presentation of the Global Marketing Summit, brought to you by the World Trade Group. I have no idea what to expect, but I’m looking forward to stepping out of my higher ed “ivory tower” of marketing to rub with some real, live agency and corporate folks.
Month: February 2007
Blogging: bad for business?
Eight days ago, Dee Rambeau, a (now-former)* contributor to the MarCom Blog, announced that he was giving up blogging. “I am convinced after 3 years of blogging,” he writes in a post aimed mainly at PR students at Auburn, “that blogging is not a positive thing for business, rather it is a negative.”
He then presents his case: that “blogs are useless and irresponsible” for public corporations, that content management systems have improved to a point where they can provide most of the value-added aspects of customer relations blogs used to offer (“Set your website up to have the ability for you to make content additions/changes right away”), that blogging is more about ego than PR, and so on. He ends with good advice to PR students (and anyone else willing to heed it).
While blogging may be bad for business, from Rambeau’s perspective, does that make it bad for colleges and universities?
* Apparently, according to Robert French, the blogger behind Marcomblog, Rambeau will continue to post there on occasion. But he’s given up his businessy blog, Adventures in Business Communications.
Happy, happy higher ed flacks
According to this (via FlackLife), all higher ed PR people should be relatively happy.
…Generalists, people with moderately strong attachments to many ideas, should be hard to interrupt, and once interrupted, should have weaker, shorter negative negative reactions since they have alternative paths to realize their plans. Specialists, people with stronger attachments to fewer ideas, should be easier to interrupt, and once interrupted, should have stronger,more sustained negative reactions because they have fewer alternative pathways to realize their plans. Generalists should be the upbeat, positive people in the profession while specialists should be their grouchy, negative counterparts. — Karl Weick
In general, I agree. (What did you expect from a happy-go-lucky generalist?) The college and university public relations folks I know tend to be more upbeat and optimistic than, say, graphic designers. But we’re not nearly as chipper as the marketing, alumni relations or development folks.
Then again, a lot of PR people with a writing background (the best kind, in my opinion) are more introverted than the schmoozing marketing, development and alumni relations types, and they may come off as moody or negative. Much of it is a matter of perception, I think.
I’ve been accused of being a pessimist before by my fellow PR people. I prefer to think of it as realism based on experience.
Blogs and the higher ed marketplace
Catching up on my higher ed blog-reading this morning, I discover two posts about blogging and the higher ed workplace.
One post, from erelevant, is an announcement that Warren Wilson College is looking for a VP of advancement. But it’s interesting that Morgan posted the ad on his blog. I’d be interested in hearing whether any candidates respond to the announcement, and whether any inquiries that begin, “I found your ad for the vice president’s position on the erelevant blog…” will make it past HR’s screening. Morgan, keep us informed, please.
The other post comes from Rob at UBrander, and it’s a lament about the substandard quality of applications he’s received for a web copywriter position.
He writes: “[M]ore than 50 applicants have made it through HR to my desk. Only four have received interviews. None have been hired.”
It seems they haven’t done their homework. But Rob has done his. Read on:
The ones who did get an interview didn’t bother to Google me. If they had, they would have found my blog, my LinkedIn profile, etc. They would have learned that I have a particular philosophy of higher ed marketing related to the IMC process. They would be able to impress me with marketing terms like “brand equity.†They would have even learned what I looked like so they could immediately recognize me when they walked into the department. Those who didn’t get interviews might have checked me out on the Web, but what prevented them from getting an interview was that I checked them out too.
A cautionary tale for job-seekers in the Internet age: Google your prospective employer. And beware what you post about yourself.
Chief Illiniwek’s last dance
At tonight’s University of Illinois basketball game, the Fighting Illini’s mascot, Chief Illiniwek, will dance his final dance. In a news release (PDF) issued last week, the university announced it was dropping the chief as its mascot after tonight’s game.
Illinois is the latest in a long line of universities to get rid of Native American mascots, following in the footsteps of schools like Marquette and St. John’s. Writing in PopMatters, Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, provides a historical perspective of the battle to drop the chief and notes that “not all ‘traditions’ are honorable.” But not all U of I students are happy with the decision and are showing their displeasure by wearing “chief” apparel today and then switching to black after tonight’s game. Many of the 3,500 students who joined a Facebook group in protest of the decision are expected to dress accordingly.