Speaker: Kaye Sweetser, Ph.D., APR, University of Georgia, Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication
Hayslett Group attended a terrific seminar on social media hosted by PRSA Georgia last week. The speaker was Kaye Sweetser, Ph.D., APR, professor at UGA’s Grady College. (The youngest HG team member had a class or two with Dr. Sweetser while attending UGA. Her classes were tough, but great experience for the real PR world.)
This seminar was particularly interesting because it focused on social media tactics as opposed to social media strategy. The talk was full of concrete advice on entering and engaging different types of social media communities. At the top of the list, as we all know, is to treat your friends and followers as “real life” friends and to maintain two-way communication. According to Dr. Sweetser, a few ways to do that are:
• Include comments and content from others on your FB wall.
• Keep tweets to approximately 60 characters to encourage RTs.
• Say “please” when asking for an RT and thank those that do.
• Turn off Twitter’s auto DM functionality.
• Encourage two-way communication by asking your audience questions. Asking them to share fun memories is one way to engage your friends and followers.
For more from Dr. Sweetser, check out her blog at www.kayesweetser.com. To view Dr. Sweetser’s PowerPoint presentation from the seminar, visit ppt.bit.ly/UGASM.
