{Nashvillian, accredited PR pro and all-around rock star Mary Beth Ikard has received well-earned national props for her thoughtful and relevant management of the Nashville MPO Facebook page. In today’s guest post, she offers businesses, governments and non-profits five tips for managing–and engaging the public through–Facebook.}

I recently received some gratifying feedback from a national partner on the Facebook page I maintain as Flack for the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).  Transparent stakeholder involvement is critical to our success, and social media is proving to be a straightforward way to connect with interested publics, near and far.  A few thoughts on my approach:

1.  Think broad.  Our in-house experts collaborate, and are affiliated with, entities with a national footprint.  Several speak at nationally-organized conferences and Webinars. Say a Floridian learns about our efforts at a conference, and seeks us out on Facebook.  Posting local is key, but I’ll be darned if that Floridian ever felt like Nashville’s page was a bunch of “inside baseball.”  In a global economy, why would we only seek to be relevant to our backyard when we’re Kind of a Big Deal?  It’s the Flack’s job to relate our good work to multiple audiences. I seek out and share content that’s germane to our major policy initiatives – still informing locals, but there’s some universality there as other U.S. metros move in a similar direction.

2.  Don’t bore me.  It’s social media: show some personality! Use conversational, unfussy, even humorous language. Brevity = eyeballs.  If I’m looking at your post from my smart phone, how likely am I to read a four-sentence intro to your link?  If your brief intro is compelling (PR pros should cultivate intuition on what is compelling), I’ll linger on your update in my News Feed, and perhaps click on the supporting link to learn more. Facebook is also NOT the forum to put bureaucracy on display.  If your posts are about upcoming public hearings, with nothing additional that’s quirky, newsy, or useful: “Unlike.” Read More…

When’s the last time you loved on your LinkedIn profile? Believe it or not, HR recruiters really do use it to scout prospects. Does your profile paint a relevant picture of the professional you?

If you haven’t laid eyes on your profile in a while, stroll on over and take 30 minutes to freshen it up with these three improvements:

1. Create a thoughtful “summary” – also known as a bio, these paragraphs should explain how talented and experienced you are, while also hinting at your fabulous personality.  Don’t be afraid to share with the reader the kinds of work you most enjoy. For example, my profile says, “Margie most enjoys cause-related public relations…” It’s also nice to talk about your community service work, or other relevant extracurricular activities. Oh, and when you are finished be sure to add your skills to the “specialties” box. Read More…

Hey ladies*, you know know what the begining of the month means: that’s right, it’s time for a newest issue of Her Nashville! (yay!)

Watching “American Idol” with a gaggle of opinionated, hilarious and snarky folk, you’ve laughed out loud, been slightly offended and learned something new. Someone just threw a sheep at you, forcing you to retaliate with a good strong poke. Clad in your favorite un-matching PJ’s, you aren’t at a rowdy bar; you’re on Facebook, interacting with a real-time stream of status updates while Simon serves up another thoughtfully crafted verbal bashing. Read More…

I’m no social media expert, let’s make that clear right now. The digital PR and social media landscape changes daily, so if anyone tells you they are the social media guru – run like the wind. Tip: these are the same folks who will tell you they can “make something go viral.”

The only thing I can say with absolute certainty about the ever-evolving social media landscape is that successful use of these communication tools isn’t hard unless you are lazy. The more I read up, the more I find social media best practices among those that are smart, active, succinct and sincere. Read More…