What's New in the Social Media World

With social media constantly growing and changing, it’s important to keep yourself in the loop of all of the latest trends and products. Since researching these new trends can be time consuming, we have done the work for you. You can read this helpful list faster than the time it takes to update an app on your iPhone!

1. YouTube reaches more U.S. adults aged 18-34 than any cable network.

Need something to spice up your current PR strategy? Fast Company recommends utilizing YouTube to attract millennials. You can start small with straightforward and simple videos introducing your team or explaining what your company does.

2. The fastest growing demographic on Twitter is the 55-64 year age bracket.

According to Fast Company, this particular demographic has grown a hefty 79% since 2012. Additionally, this is the fastest growing age group on Facebook. It is important to remember this older audience when creating content. They might not have the same interests as you do.

3. 189 million of Facebook’s users are “mobile only.”
With a large number of Facebook users accessing content on their phones, it is important to remember to consider how easily your content is displayed on social media. Make sure your content is easy to share using a mobile device.

4. Q&A app Jelly launches.
From Twitter cofounder Biz Stone comes a new networking app to keep an eye out for. According to Mashable, Jelly enables users to take a picture and ask a question to other users. This can be as simple as asking whether or not a certain book is worth reading. Other users comment on the photo to answer. With people more connected than ever, this app will be a great way to help others.

What is your go-to social media outlet? Let us know by leaving a comment or by tweeting us at @MonikaDixonPR!

By Marisa Coulter, MDPR Contributor

Handy Twitter Tools

Public relations is a mixture of social media, marketing, event planning and so much more.  With social media being such a huge part of day to day life, I wanted to share some helpful Twitter tips that won’t only make managing your personal account easier, but tips that will work wonders in dealing with managing your clients’ accounts, especially when staying on top of search terms and hashtags can seem like a full-time job!

Check out these sites that make tweeting, tracking and reporting as easy as a click of a button:

Click to Tweet: This twitter tool provides the press and media with content and also encourages them to tweet about your story quickly while maintaining your preferred message.  All you have to do is go to the site, compose the tweet and then embed the link in the press release or pitch.  How easy could it get!

Mobile Alerts:  One of the best features to Twitter is the mobile alert.  You are able to set up alerts that will be sent directly to your phone via text message for any brand or person you follow. 

To set up Twitter alerts, go onto the Twitter feed for the person/brand you would like alerts from, click on the little icon of the person’s head and the last option in the dropdown menu is “turn on mobile notifications.” Once you set up the first one with your phone number and the times you want to receive the texts, the rest are just a click of a button!

Twilert:  This website is super helpful because it is basically like Google Alerts for Twitter!  You can set up any search term or hashtag and you’ll get a daily email with all the tweets containing that search item.  This tool is really great if you’re keeping tabs on your clients because any news tweeted about them is sent directly to you!

Tweet Reach:  This tool is a great reporting system for tweets.  You choose any hashtag or link that you want to track and you are quickly able to pull a Tweet Reach report to measure the number of tweets, their reach and other cool stats.  It even includes pie charts and a printable PDF that you can send to your clients.

Tchat: This tool is for those who participate in Twitter chats.  If you’ve ever been a part of one, you know how confusing and annoying it is to constantly refresh the tweets with the desired hashtag.  Well Tchat is the saving grace to chats on Twitter.  The site allows you to input the conversation hashtag and then easily follow the chat by logging in; if you want to chime in, all you do is compose the tweet and the hashtag is already attached!  Brilliant.

Try out some of these Twitter tricks and I promise, tracking, researching and tweeting will become a million times easier.

Do you have any other tools that might make social media easier to manage?  Let us know by leaving a comment or by tweeting us at @MonikaDixonPR!

By Ashley Siech, MDPR Contributor 

Propel Forward By Writing Effective Emails

Email has overtaken the telephone as the primary communication tool in the business world. Whether we are looking for a job, trying to keep in contact with clients or simply trying to expand our network, we typically send a quick email. The only problem with sending emails is that a lot of people don’t know how to send a good one. If your email is something someone actually wants to read, you’ll get the response you desire more quickly.

Read on to gain some insight about sending an effective email and increasing your chance of receiving a positive response:

1. Be Concise
If you have to send an email that’s paragraphs long, it might be easier to pick up the phone. Not only are long emails unenjoyable to read, but people will most likely skim them and miss some important points. Try to limit your emails to 50 words or less. If you have to type a long email, try bullet points or bolding important parts.

2. Include a Clear Action Item
If the email you are sending does not have a clear action presented, there is no way for the person on the receiving end to reciprocate! If you are emailing simply to introduce yourself, make sure you have an action, like questions, in mind. You ultimately want to give that person a reason to respond and continue the conversation.

3. Do Your Research
Almost anyone will be willing to help you out if you have done something to help yourself out first.  The most important research you can do when sending an email is finding out the name of the person who will be receiving the email.  Don’t start your email with the generic “Dear Hiring Manager” or “Hello Blogger.”  Most emails that start with a generalized greeting will be sent straight to the trash.

4. Use Flattery
When using flattery, make sure it’s real, authentic flattery— we can all determine fake from real. Don’t be afraid to mention if you’re a huge fan, think this person is interesting or if a company is your dream employer. Not only does true flattery make the other person feel good, but it also shows that you are enthusiastic and an engaged person who goes after what you want. After all, you are writing emails in order to get where and what you want, so you might as well put in these simple efforts to make sure they get noticed!

Do you have any other tips for successful emails?  Share with us by leaving a comment on this post or by tweeting us at @MonikaDixonPR!

By Ashley Siech, MDPR Contributor

How to Fix and Avoid Dreaded PR Mishaps

There's a fine line between do’s and don’ts when a public relations disaster occurs. Within the past year there have been a handful of significant PR catastrophes that easily could have been avoided. Let's revisit them and then learn what should have been done to remedy the situation.

1. The Paula Deen Scandal: We’ve all heard about the incident with Paula Deen and her racially insensitive comments, but what made the situation worse was that it took her days to apologize. which should have been done immediately. 
2. The NRA’s Offensive Tweet on the Day of the Aurora, CO Shooting: On July 20, the same day that James Holmes open fired at a crowd in a movie theater in Aurora, CO, the NRA tweeted: “Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?” The tweet was taken down hours later and the NRA stated that it was tweeted by an individual who was unaware of the day's event.  
3. Abercrombie & Fitch CEO's Comments: A&F CEO, Mike Jeffries made the unnerving statement that “he doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people.”  Jeffries did not applogize and stood by his off-putting statement.

Now that we’ve revisited a few PR disasters, here are some tips to handle a mishap gracefully.

• Consumers want results, not excuses. Don’t wait too long to respond to the situation and respond by doing something visible to make it known that you are actively trying to solve what went wrong.

• Being sincere goes a long way. If you are trying to fix an issue, people will accept what happened and move on easier if you are genuinely sorry.

• When trying to resolve an issue, writing a boring press release won’t get you off the hook for your mess up. Connect with the public on all platforms and provide all the information needed to put the people at ease.

• Communication is key. Don’t ignore people because you are afraid of what they might ask. Answer all their questions, even if you don’t really know the answer; ignoring them will make it seem like you don’t care.

• Use social media appropriately. It's easy to send a quick tweet of your current, very honest thoughts. Make sure the content you put out there is thoughtful and appropriate from all points of view.

Look at things from an outsider’s point of view and always be smart about your actions. If something you’re doing doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. You don’t want to be on the list of Top PR Disasters!

Do you have any great tips on how to avoid or solve PR disasters? Let us know by tweeting us at @MonikaDixonPR!

By Ashley Siech, MDPR Contributer

A Less Stressful Email Inbox

We've all experienced it. We step away from our desk for a total of 20 minutes and BAM! -- just like that, we have an inbox full of emails urgently awaiting our attention. And the anxiety ensues. 

Well, me might have a way to ease this never-ending cycle called we've dubbed 'e-problems'. 

Enter Mailbox, a new iPhone and iPad app that works alongside Gmail to create more user-friendly, anxiety-reducing email experience. 

Mailbox is navigated almost entirely with a simple swiping motion:

-Quickly swipe right to archive. 

-Long swipe right to delete.

-Swipe left to snooze an email.

-Long swipe left to add to a list.

Yes, you read correctly. You can snooze an email to be re-enter your inbox at a later date and time that you designate. This is perfect for important messages that aren't necessarily urgent. 

For those that dislike Gmail's email threads as much as we do (is it not impossible to follow a string of conversations!?), you'll love the format of Mailbox. Conversations are displayed in a more chat-like layout, with the thread in chronological order. This way, you can catch the conversation in the sequence it occurred rather than begin at the end as in Gmail.

One warning: do not be alarmed when you see the number on the app icon indicating the amount of emails you have awaiting you. The number indicates how many total emails you have (read and unread), as opposed to Gmail's count of only unread messages. 

We're definitely give this app a try! Anything to make looking at our inbox a little more bearable. 

Giving it a try yourself? Let us know your thoughts by tweeting us at @MonikaDixonPR! 


By Emily Cleary, MDPR Social Media Director

The Latest Social Media Updates

One thing I especially love about social media is that the different platforms are constantly rolling out new updates that better (or, in some cases, worsen) their respective experiences. Social media is always changing, which is exciting. But those changes require constant researching, learning and adjusting. Just when you feel like you've mastered it, it goes and changes on you. To keep you in the loop and to hopefully ease the transition tension a bit, I've recapped the latest social media updates that you might want to know about. 

1. Pinterest - Now when you pin a story or article, in addition to the photo and link, the author's name, article title, brief description and a larger link will appear. This should encourage the pinning of more articles, as users do on Facebook and Twitter. 

2. Facebook - Made an error in your status update but noticed just after you clicked 'Share'? Delete no more. You can now simply click the arrow in the top right of the status window and select 'Edit.' It's about time!

3. Twitter - Photos embedded in tweets are now larger, creating a 'bold visual focus on the media.' This is great news for those who tend to put out very visual-heavy content.

4. Twitter - A new push notification sends recommendations when several people in your network either follow the same user or RT the same tweet. Use these recommendations as they are tailored specifically to you! This ensures you're as informed as possible about what's trending amongst your connections.

5. Instagram - If you have the new iOS 7 software and updated your Insta app, you may have noticed an aesthetically altered layout and feed. Photos and videos are larger and profile images now appear in the shape of a circle. 

6. Facebook - Only three days old, this new Facebook update is not yet accessible by all users. The revamped graph search will allow users to search for topics within status updates, posts and comments. Searching by time periods or locations is now possible as well. (Something along the lines of 'Posts by my friends from last week.') This update puts Facebook on a more competitive level of play when it comes to being conducive to real-time conversations. In other words, it's striving to compete with Twitter in this department. Whether or not it can remains to be seen.

I'll be back next week with some more social media related news for you to consume, but until then, if you have any news of your own, questions or tips, please feel free to tweet us at @MonikaDixonPR. Or Instagram...whichever you prefer. And please share this if you found it helpful!

By Emily Cleary, MDPR Social Media Director  

#SMWChicago

As a Social Media Week (known to those savvy as #SMWChicago) newbie, I attended this weeklong production with no expectations or previously acquired feedback. I went in blind. I left with renewed, even enhanced, vision. Vision for social media strategy, that is.

While I'm constantly immersed in the world of social networking, I never rule out an opportunity to learn more, research more and expand my skills. That's the nature of this industry. It's constantly changing, so the learning and application process simply never ends. And thus, my desire to strengthen my knowledge follows suit.

If you were not able to attend #SMWChicago - a weeklong production of events, lectures, promotions and seminars hosted by Zocalo Group and Tribune Company, I've compiled a list of helpful tips and facts I took away from the eight seminars I attended. As there were many, many lectures I could not attend, I also scoured Twitter and pulled useful information that was live-tweeted by eager attendees during the events. In no specific order or correlation, here are some quick tips via #SMWChicago. Remember, these are just general tips and might not be the best practices for your specific social media purposes.

Random Facts:

• When it comes to social content, CADENCE is key. If you don't know what it means, click here. In other words, you should always have a 'steady drumbeat of content.'
• Sweepstakes or contents often help gain short term rather than long term fans. 
• Brands should not feel obligated to speak out socially during or following a tragedy. If it doesn't somehow directly relate to your brand, it doesn't make sense and might look like you are simply trying to piggyback off of someone else's misfortune for your own benefit. 
• Consumers see 2,904 marketing messages per day. Of those, they only pay attention to 52 and will only remember four. Be strategic and smart with your messaging.
• When determining social strategy, three crucial questions to ask are: 

1. Who are we and what is our voice? 
2. Who is the audience? 
3. What are our key objectives? (i.e. More foot traffic in store, Increased sales, More likes)

• Social content should be only 10% about your brand, products and promotions. The remaining 90% should be content related to your consumer's overall lifestyle.
• Always carry out the over-arching brand message in all content, even if the post is not directly about the product or brand. 
• An effective way to interact with consumers and followers is to crowd source. Ask your consumer to share moments of them using the product or service. 
• When writing copy, to avoid sounding inhuman, ask yourself: "Is this how you would say this to a friend?"
• Why 140 characters on Twitter? It forces creativity and self-editing.
• Terms to know:
• Viral Coefficient: The number of people that a new user shares content with.
• Cycle Time: The length of time it takes that user to share the content.
• Four criteria to consider when creating social content:
• Nostalgia
• Humor
• Identity - Will sharing content make the user look good?
• What's Hot - What's trending/popular?
• Use lists with odd numbers. We gravitate towards odd numbers and 80% of users only read headlines. 
• No more than two sentences per paragraph.
• Always try to use a photo or graphic when posting on Facebook. 

Ways to increase SEO with social:

• The first 40-42 characters of your Twitter bio are extremely visible to search engines. The first 27 are like 'rocket fuel.' Choose these words wisely, using crucial keywords. 
• 'Write for human beings first but understand the rules of the robot.' - Amy Guth 
• Use Twitter lists to your advantage:
• When you create a Twitter list, an additional URL is created to be picked up in searches.
• Choose title effectively, using keywords you want to be picked up in search engines. (ex: Social Media Editors)
• Each time a member of your list tweets, it sends that to search engines. 
• Inactive members bring your SEO for Twitter lists down, so remove members that don't tweet regularly. 
• Make your list public so that search engines can see it. 
• Regularity of content rather than volume is more favorable on Twitter.
• Twitter Rule of Thirds
• 1/3 of the time, share your own content.
• 1/3 of the time, share information related to your experise that you did not create.
• 1/3 of the time, interact with users. (RT, thanks for RT-ing, engage in conversation, etc.)
• When uploading images/videos to Flickr, YouTube and Pinterest, rename the file to the name of the person (people) in the photo or the name of the event. (ex: Monika_Dixon.jpg) File names are very visible to search engines.
• On LinkedIn, it is very important to fill out all information on your profile. The 'Summary' section is most visible in searches, so use keywords, and make sure they are at the beginning of the text. Write the 'Summary' and job descriptions section in third person. It may feel awkward, but this is helpful with SEO.
• Things you must know about Google+
• The 'Story' section is very visible in search. Make sure this is complete with keywords, written in the third person and is made public. 
• Build a profile, even if you are not ready to use it socially. Simply having the profile will help with SEO.
• Twitter and Google+ are the most important social media platforms to keep current. Inactivity on these hurts SEO the most. 

Live Tweet Tips:

As a parting gift, I wanted to share this video, which includes some really fascinating statistics about social media. Prepare to be amazed!

To get the full effect of #SMWChicago, visit their website, or search the #smwchicago hashtag to see the bits of wisdom that attendees felt was important enough to share with the Twitterverse. 

And as always, if you have any questions, please ask by commenting below or tweeting to @emilycleary10!

By Emily Cleary, MDPR Social Media Director

iOS 7 Update

Well, by now you've probably heard all the buzz about Apple's most recent mobile software update - iOS 7. Sure, you've heard the 'buzz', but chances are you aren't quite sure what all the fuss is about. Lucky for all of us, Mashable pulled together a list of features boasted by the update. This should help you decide if you're ready to download or if you'd rather just stick to what you know. 

This is just the shorthand version, so if you want all the juicy details, you can read the whole Mashable article here. 

1. The Look - Brighter, more colorful, cleaner, sleeker with a top-to-bottom renovation.

2. Control Center - A new location and totally reorganized. The control center is not only the place to do everything from switching to Airplane mode to adjusting brightness, it is now also home to the calculator, alarm clock and more.

3. Lock Screen - Colorful with a new design and updated buttons.

4. Gestures - Now, swiping allows you to do so much more, including swiping away Safari browsers to close.

5. Animations - Subtle animations make everything so much more fun.

6. Font - Helvetica Neue is easy on the eyes.

7. Wallpapers - Beautiful new images offer more variety when it comes to assigning a background photo.

8. Spotlight - Now accessible from any screen by swiping your finger from the top of the screen downward.

9. Zooming - A feature with mixed reviews, tapping an app now opens the content by zooming out from the icon.

10. Photos - Pictures are now organized based on time and place, so locating images is much simpler. And the mosaic display is nice to look at. One of our favorite new features - pick and select effects and filters before a picture is taken.

11. Weather - Hour-by-hour predictions scroll in a row, a lighter background and more functionality. Moving graphics across the top also show current weather in a subtle, but visually appealing way.

12. Folders - Now there is no limit to the number of apps you can fit into a folder, which makes for a much more organized home screen.

13. Ringtones - New tones are actually bearable.

14. Email - Noticeably and remarkably faster.

15. Preview of Open Apps - Double-click the home button and view all applications, webpages and programs that have been recently opened. Simply swipe an app off the screen to close it.

16. Calendar - Simplified and more useful, including convenient scrolling from month to month. 

Sounds enticing, right? Let us know what you think of the new software or share some iOS 7 tricks with us by tweeting to @monikadixonpr or commenting below!

By Emily Cleary, MDPR Social Media Director

Not Your Average Resume Tips

When was the last time you gave your resume a thorough evaluation? This doesn't mean updating your current job title, but actually going through line-by-line and analyzing every sentence so it packs a punch.

Word choice, spacing and placement are all crucial when you have one page to work with. We've reviewed hundreds of resumes as a team and have compiled a list of things that immediately catch our eye or make us lose interest.

• Put your education underneath your experience: If you're applying for a full-time position, we're going to assume you have a college degree. Your experience is much more relevant, so that's the first thing we want to see.
• Use numbers: You've probably read tips that say you should use descripitive words on your resume. Don't forget to combine those with numbers. Use numbers strategically to give a potential employer a better idea of your responsibilities. Instead of saying you led a team, say you managed X amount of people. If you created email newsletters, how many people was it sent to? If you managed social media accounts, how many followers did they have?
• Go beyond your daily tasks: Listing your daily tasks is a no brainer, but don't forget about big projects too. For example, one resume we looked at included that the person had created their company's first internship program. Not only does it take a lot of work to put that together, but it shows they took initiative and went beyond their day-to-day responsibilities.
  
• Microsoft Office is not a skill: If you have a computer, we hope you know how to use Word and Powerpoint. We're far more interested in skills you have that no one else does, whether it be coding websites, logo design or flash animation. If you're skills section is lacking, don't lose hope. Search the web for classes or visit your local library and find something that interests you.
• Supplement your resume online: Once you update your paper version, don't forget to update your LinkedIn as well. You can even get creative and make a website or Pinterest board. We love when candidates make boards linking to articles they've written or other work on the web. It's a visually appealing way to show your work versus a binder with clips in it. It also shows you know a thing or two about social media!

Speaking of social media, if you're going to be referring potential employers to your accounts, make sure they are work appropriate. A lot of people include links to their social media accounts in their email signatures and forget they are there. If you don't want someone looking through your profiles take them out of your signature and make them private.

Have a resume tip we didn't include? Comment on this post or tweet us @MonikaDixonPR.

By Monika Dixon

PR Problems

Stress. It's every 9-5er's worst enemy. Too many emails, to-do lists and phone calls make us all want to hide under our desks at some point.

Instead of giving our Gmail the death stare, we've found that laughter is the best medicine. A little PR humor, courtesy of 99 Problems But a Pitch Aint One, reminds us that we're not the only ones freaking out over retweets and press releases.

Fellow PR pros, we'd like to make your day a little brighter by sharing some of our favorite GIFs with you.


1. When your client's press mention is even better than expected.

2. Your emails during the day...and at night...and during the weekend.




3. When you see the same grammatical error over...and over...and over. 




4. Just kidding. 




5. When you follow-up with an editor about a pitch.




6. When your client gets a RT or reply from a well-known blogger or celebrity. 




7. When you see your client's product at the store. 




8. When you click send on an email only to realize you sent it to a writer from publication 'x' when the email mentions publication 'y'. 




9. When a client emails about an additional change to a press release seconds after you send it to your entire media list. 




10. When you explain 'tagging' to a non-social media savvy client.




11. When you get a google alert that your client was mentioned in press and are waiting for the page to load. 

Don't you feel better already? You can know calmly return to your email.

What's your favorite place for PR humor? Tweet us a laugh at @monikadixonpr.

By Allison Sickert (MDPR Writer) & Emily Cleary (MDPR Social Media Director)

The Secret's Out!

If you follow us on Instagram, then you probably noticed a couple eye-catching videos we posted last week. You may have taken note of them because they weren't your typical Insta vids. They were almost like slideshows; a series of images and/or graphics strung together, some containing music and text. Upon first glance, it may have been apparent that these were not videos created solely using Instagram. If this was your assumption, then you were correct. 

Due to a large volume of inquiries (texts, comments, calls) about the videos, we have decided to share our short-lived secret.

We cannot take credit for the platform that allowed us to create these fun videos, but we will happily admit to having discovered it ahead of the curve. Oh, the perks of constantly being 'plugged in'...!

Without further ado, I bring to you the iPhone application to which you will soon be addicted...FLIPAGRAM. 

Rather than try to explain the features of this app to you, I am going to suggest you download it and begin exploring. That's how I recommend learning all of its capabilities. And in case you need a little bit of beginner's guidance, this four-step graphic might be helpful. 

The basic gist:
-Select photos from your camera roll or Instagram pictures.
-Arrange them in the order you prefer.
-Add a title, music and adjust the length of time you'd like each photo to appear.
-Save and share your completed video. 

A few details to be aware of:
-If you would like the whole video to appear in Instagram's 15 second time frame, you should select 'Auto Time For Instagram.' This ensures that all images will appear in the allotted 15 seconds.
-The video appears in a square frame, so you might want to crop or re-size your photos accordingly.
-To access your images directly from Instagram, you must sign in by clicking the sign in button at the bottom of the home screen.

As you saw, some of our videos contained graphics. We created those in a separate application and uploaded them as photos from our camera roll.

Now it's time to impress everyone with your fancy new social media videos! Good luck & get crafty!
We want to see your videos, so be sure to tag us at @monikadixonpr. We'll choose one that knocks our socks heels off and feature it next week! And as always, if you have any social media questions, tweet them to Emily (me!) at @emilycleary10. 

By Emily Cleary, MDPR Insider

Hashtag Lingo & Social Media Updates

If you're left in a haze of confusion every time you see #ootd, #ff, #tbt and so on, chances are, you're probably not alone. Unless your friends with a hashtag savant, navigating your way through this daunting lingo is not easy. To get you up to speed, I've compiled a short list of hashtags you need to know in order to understand the language of social networking. #goodluck

#FF - Follow Friday {used on Fridays as a way for users to suggest new accounts to follow}

#tbt - Throwback Thursday {used on Thursdays when posting a picture from the past}

#fbf - Flashback Friday {used on Fridays when posting a picture from the past}

#yolo - You Only Live Once {used to indicate an activity that demonstrates living on the edge or taking a risk}

#oh - Overheard {used to share information that was overheard by the user}

#ootd - Outfit of the Day {used when showing an image of what your daily outfit}

Other headlines news you need to know!

-A Twitter update that was released Wednesday makes it much easier to keep up with Twitter conversations. Rather than having to click 'expand', Twitter users will now see up to three Tweets from a conversation in their newsfeed, all in chronological order and connected by a straight line.

-While it was announced that GIF files would be supported by Facebook, it was clarified today that this is not the case. Facebook does not support .gif files. Read all the drama behind the issue here.

-The rollout of a new Facebook 'shared albums' feature has begun. This update allows users to create albums and invite up to 50 people to contribute, and those 50 users can then each add up to 200 photos. Let the sharing begin!

-Facebook has loosened the rules regarding contests and giveaways on businesses pages. While previously having to conduct a giveaway through a third party application, businesses can hold giveaways straight from their pages and can encourage liking, commenting, sharing and messaging directly to their page as a contest requirement. Find all the details here.  

Speaking of giveaways...Wax On Wax Off Salon & Spa is holding a contest next week on Facebook and Twitter that you definitely don't want to miss!

Have any social media questions or need a hashtag translated? We're here to help! Comment below or tweet us at @MonikaDixonPR!

By Emily Cleary, MDPR Social Media Director

A Guide to Conducting Difficult Conversations

Whether it’s telling an employee that their performance is lacking, talking to a co-worker about acceptable behavior in the work place or expressing to a friend that the comment they made the other night was hurtful, discussing sensitive issues is the key to maintaining both positive personal and professional relationships.  But for those of us who tremble with anxiety and experience symptoms associated with the stomach flu at the slightest mention of a confrontation, simply not acknowledging the issue is an attractive alternative. Unfortunately, this method will resolve nothing and can afford serious consequences down the line. Addressing the issue might be difficult, but it will be much easier right off the bat than if you wait for the problem to develop even further. 

It's no secret that the most important conversations are the hardest, but in order to successfully resolve an issue, pre-planning and strategizing are necessary. Because outlining an effective conversation agenda is no simple task, MDPR put together a few tips to help you tackle this uncomfortable task.

Identify the problem or whatever is creating tension.
Focus the conversation on what is really pushing your buttons. You are less likely to succeed if you drag in unnecessary tangents that would detract from the main purpose of the conversation.

Ask yourself what you want to achieve from the conversation.
Set realistic goals for what you want out of the conversation and go into it knowing that you will have to make compromises. Remember that you and your partner are most likely coming from opposite sides of the spectrum, so finding a happy medium is a good place to start.

Do not place blame.
Even if the other person is at fault, placing blame will make your partner feel like she has to defend herself. This will make any resolution nearly impossible. Instead, focus on what you want the future to look like and less on right and wrong.

Use your manners.
Even if you are furious with the other person, good, old-fashioned manners will create a mindset between you and your partner conducive to problem-solving. The other person is more likely to respect you and your requests if you are polite and level-headed.

Prepare for their reaction.
Many times, the other person will graciously accept your complaints, and you both can move on. However, tears, yelling and finger-pointing are also possibilities, so prepare yourself for a variety of emotions. Let the other person vent, but stay focused on the purpose of the conversation.

Listen and repeat.
The other person is bound to voice some of their complaints as well. Listen to what is bothering her and paraphrase it so you all have the same understanding. Do the same after reaching a solution so there isn’t any room for confusion.

Follow up.

It’s a good idea to follow up with the other person after a couple days to ensure there are no hard feelings and that the solution you both reached is still understood. Show that you are dedicated to making it work and are excited about the potential positive outcomes of your new agreement.

These are just a few tips to help you formulate a plan for your difficult conversation. A lot depends on the situation, but keeping an open mind and a clear head will go a long way. For a more comprehensive guide to addressing complicated issues, read Crucial Conversations. 

Let us know if you have any helpful tips by tweeting us at @monikadixonpr.com! 

By Rebecca Taylor, MDPR Team Member 

Three Tech Destinations for the Fashionista

You're getting ready at night and can't decide on the perfect outfit. So what do you do? Ask your closest friend, of course. Not anymore! With a whole world of fashion app users out there, you can now get a truly unbiased opinion from someone halfway across the world. That's just one of the many reasons that you need to explore these three fashion apps and social media networks!

1. Pose

This iPhone and iPad app is the answer to the what to wear dilemma. Snap a pic of your look(s) and ask for opinions. Or, if you see an outfit you like for fall, add it to your 'Fall into Fashion' collection. The best part? There's a tagging tool that allows users to identify the brand or individual items in their outfit. What does this mean for you? No need to fiercely surf the web looking for the latest item of your dreams. Simply click the item and find out where and how to get it. Essentially, Pose lets you see and shop looks put together by the trendsetters of the world! Or at least the millions that have caught on to this savvy network.

2. Keep

If you've ever experienced frustration on Pinterest because you see something you have to have, but can't find where to buy it, then Keep.com is for you. Keep.com is an image-driven feed of products that will make your friends say, 'Where'd you find that?" This website not only gives you inspiration, but the power to make that inspiration real through purchases. With the latest trends in fashion, decor, accessories and design curated by a community of top tastemakers, you're bound to find your newest obsession when browsing through Keep.com's never ending stream of beautiful items. Really love something? 'Like' it. Need to have it? 'Keep' it. And don't forget to 'follow' your favorite Keepers. 

3. StyleBook

Although this iPhone and iPad app is new on our radar, we can definitely see ourselves getting hooked quickly. Remember the jealously you felt in the 90s when you first saw Cher's high tech closet in Clueless? Well, be envious no more. StyleBook allows you to virtually organize your closet piece by piece, map out your next outfit, test out store items with your outfit for compatibility and even allows you to get stats on your clothes to determine which items you (gasp) repeat most often. With Stylebook, mixing and matching the items you own becomes incredibly easy, and the organizational aspect will make sure you never forget about an item in the back of your closet. 

Being tech-savvy never looked so chic!

By Emily Cleary, MDPR Social Media Director