Three Questions to Consider When Writing Social Media Posts

Jenn Taylor

Throughout my internship at Obsidian, I have been given various assignments. From the basic intern-type tasks, like collecting the newspapers in the morning, to the more in-depth tasks, like formulating a media contact list, there is one particular task that I feel has grown on me quite a bit. Researching content for social media posts is an assignment that I consistently do every week. While working on these projects, I have learned that there are three very important questions everyone should ask when writing these posts. 

The three questions are: 

What audience am I trying to reach? 

I believe this question is the most important of all because if we do not know to whom we are speaking, how could we possibly know what content would be of interest? For example, we would not want to write about fashion or about celebrity updates for an accounting firm. The update on the latest E! network show, “Eric and Jessie: Game On,” is probably not going to be beneficial to the firm’s current and future clients. Considering the audience not only shapes the message, but also the tone of any post we craft. 

What is relevant, and what is currently trending? 

Something that I did not think about when I first started writing social media posts was that, yes, we need to ultimately use the company’s information and updates to write the posts, but we need to also remember that important events and holidays are occurring outside of the company. This approach helps pull in your followers who may not be completely invested in the company’s everyday posts but could easily relate to a general “Happy President’s Day” post. If anything, the most basic and timely posts can help keep those followers engaged through a possible retweet on Twitter or a share on Facebook. 

What is the overall mission/message the company wants to communicate? 

We have all visited our fair share of company websites to learn more about a company. Usually, one of the first things we read about or notice on the website is the company’s mission statement. The mission statement lays out the purpose of the company or organization and its reason for existing. It is vital to understand the mission statement of the company you are writing for to ensure consistent implementation of the company’s values and beliefs into the content. This will also help connect to an audience that may be alike in those values and beliefs. 

With social media becoming a popular communication channel for businesses and organizations of all types, I believe this newfound knowledge will be useful to me in my future career in public relations.

How to Communicate as a Dance Coach

Jenn Taylor

Being a dance coach takes a rare breed of an individual. With an eight-month long season, November and January being the most chaotic months of the year, and typically working with more than 10 pre-teen or teenage girls at a time, it is a unique job in itself.

I have been coaching since January 2010, and I have to say that I have learned a lot of things, mostly life lessons that I attempt to put into action in other aspects of my life. One lesson that comes to mind is communication. I like to think that communicating effectively is important with any job, but after coaching, I have found that it is vital to even survive in this profession. 

Some things I struggled with, and am still working on as a coach, are remembering who I am speaking to,  thinking about how I am speaking to them, and realizing I need to say what I mean in a way that they can relate to. I also wonder how much communication is too much communication? And, do I really know what I am talking about after all?

I had to learn that these girls depend on my direction and need to know what I want and expect from them.  

WHO AM I SPEAKING TO AND HOW DO I SAY WHAT I MEAN IN A WAY THAT THEY CAN RELATE TO?

It is important to alter the word usage or form of communication when talking to different groups of people. In my case, this is the first year that I am coaching two completely different age groups, a middle school and a high school team. I would not say something to motivate my middle school team the way I would my high school team. My middle school team has to constantly be motivated and reminded of what to do, what not to do and how to do it, which is normal for any kids in that age group. On the contrary, I try to not only guide my high school team in what they should be doing, but I also try to communicate the advantages of working hard – such as landing a scholarship for a college dance team. Another thing I have to constantly do is try to take out manage the frustration that I often feel during a practice and take the time to explain why I am frustrated and show them how to fix whatever we are working on. The key to communication is being thorough and having a goal behind your message. 

HOW MUCH COMMUNICATION IS TOO MUCH COMMUNICATION?

In order to stay on task throughout the dance season and continue to have effective practices, I have to make sure that what is being said in practice is not just chatter but that it is relevant to the particular practice. I realized early on in coaching, as in any authoritative position, that you have control the conversation’s direction and overall intention. Even though it humors me to listen to my middle school ladies chat about who is going out with out who or who loves or hates Justin Bieber, we would not get anywhere with that being our only conversation at practice. I also try to say things in a direct, non-biased way, which allows the dancer to fix her personal mistake rather than worrying about other dancers around her. 

DO I REALLY KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT?

In any job setting, the team under the authoritative figure should trust and believe in what they are being taught as true and valid. This is crucial in a dance practice to maintain safety, progression of the dancer and the overall success of the program. This communication skill is highly imperative in order for them achieve their goals. If a dancer doubts my credibility or knowledge as a coach, then they are more likely to doubt my coaching methods. Overall, that would end in the team hitting a brick wall, consequently getting nowhere. 

While these three communication skills have been something I’ve learned specifically in my experience as a dance teacher, I believe they should be applied to all different types of jobs so the professional environment runs smoothly. 

How Adobe Photoshop Can Benefit a Public Relations Professional

Jenn Taylor

While there are many tools out in the world that benefit the public relations profession, there is a specific tool that I believe can be beneficial with many different types of projects, especially visual projects. I am currently learning more and more about Adobe Photoshop in my visual media class, and what I have already learned in just a few classes is absolutely intriguing. 

There are three basic elements of Adobe Photoshop that can help improve your photo editing skills. They are image sizing, proper selection and the concept of image resolution. Here is a summarized view of how these tools function.  

IMAGE SIZING

Often people think of image sizing as just cropping a picture to the desired size or just stretching it out to appear larger. Instead of improving the desired size of the photo, it will actually distort the photo and decrease the sharpness, which consequently makes the photo look unprofessional. The best way to change a photo’s size is by using the actual tab made specifically for image sizing. In Photoshop, the image size tab can be reached by going to the image menu and selecting the ”image size” tab. Once you view the dialog box, the main thing you want to focus on is the top part, which is the pixel dimension. This will alter the physical appearance and dimensions of the actual photo. This is where you can change either the width or height of the photo. Once you are finished, click OK, and then Photoshop will resize your image to the new dimensions.

PROPER SELECTION

In class, I have heard my professor, Dr. Jin Yang, explain over and over that, when working with a new photo, make sure you are using the proper tool. This is where proper selection comes into play. This is useful in several different scenarios with many projects. For example, if a public relations professional was trying to create an infographic for a particular client they normally would have the company’s logo or a particular photo on it. In order to edit this picture to the professional’s discretion, there are several different tools needed to do that. There is the polygonal tool which makes it easy to draw outlines along straight-sided polygonal shapes. Let’s take the Visa logo shown to the right as an example. I have learned that you would not want to use other tools like the magic wand selection tool or the rectangular polygonal tool mainly because those are used to outline more complex shapes which in the end might not catch every nook and cranny of a photo. So in all, make sure to analyze your picture’s shape carefully before selecting a tool. 

THE CONCEPT OF IMAGE RESOLUTION 

The concept of image resolution is best described as the number of pixels per inch, better known as ppi. Another way to think of this is considering that the complete number of pixels – or actual pixels in the image – is more important and determines the quality of the image. It is beneficial to learn about resolution because everyone wants to work with a high-quality photo. When the resolution is low in a photo, the picture seems fuzzy and distorted. On the flip side, when the resolution is too high, it will make the image appear too big and it can break the page layout. 

Becoming knowledgeable of these three elements of Photoshop – image sizing, proper selection, and image resolution – will help in editing future photos. So, whether you are cropping a photo, or trying to outline a particular photo, use these tips to keep your photos looking precise.