Search Results for: FEEL First eBook

June 10 2021

How Different Generations Face Fears [FEEL First eBook Part I]

Deirdre Breakenridge book, FEEL Model, Leadership, Mentoring, PR 2.0 Facing Fears, FEEL First, Millennials, Research Findings 0

It’s here! I’m launching the first ebook in a four-part series, all based on the data and analysis of the results from the FEEL First Test online.

Here’s the “Why” Behind the FEEL Test …

The FEEL First Test is part of an ongoing passion project and research experiment. When my stepdaughter, Noelle, who was a Millennial, passed away in September of 2018, I wanted to know what Millennials were thinking and feeling.

Many questions crossed my mind. Rather than guessing, I set off on a research journey gathering qualitative data from over 100 interviews with Millennials. At the time, I didn’t realize I would be analyzing and using the data to build a communications model, an online interactive test, and a roadmap to help professionals be present, self-aware and more tuned into and self-reflective of their interactions.

I wanted to know from Millennials, who were born between the years 1981 and 1996, the answers to these questions:

How do you show up to your conversations?
Are you sharing your authentic self?
What do you value?
How do you want to be perceived?
How do you want the leaders / supervisors, managers and mentors in your life to communicate with you?
What do you look for from a leader, supervisor, manager or mentor?
What do you look for in a relationship?
What does it take to build trust with people, whether you’re on social media, at your company or in any setting?

The 100+ Millennials I spoke with had more to say than I had ever expected or imagined. The one-on-one interviews scheduled for 15 to 20 minutes started to turn into 60 and 90-minute conversations.

I encouraged the flow of the discussions and the transparent sharing of stories and feelings. Some of what I heard enlightened me, and the process was eye-opening to say the least. At the same time, what was shared was jaw dropping and unsettling, which led me to ask another very important question.

Do you ever really know how someone feels?

The Millennials I interviewed told their stories with passion and from the heart. They stated exactly what they were thinking and feeling. It was then I realized, in order to tune in, and truly embrace the verbal and non-verbal cues shared daily, you have to be present and aware in each and every moment. Those interviews and those moments really opened my eyes.

When I stepped back to record the data from the conversations, I saw an interesting pattern develop. Four buckets quickly emerged based on the stories, the sentiment and the insights shared for the questions I initially asked. Clearly, and overwhelmingly, the Millennials wanted the people around them (with a focus on their leaders, supervisors, managers, etc.) to:

Be more open and inclusive, which meant they had to face FEARS.
Show kindness, be understanding and have EMPATHY.
Live with truth and transparency and show good judgment, living with ETHICS daily.
Have passion and show it by unleashing their LOVE for important causes and standing up for what they believed in.

For me, those four buckets, and understanding each one, has become a life purpose and an ongoing passion. They spelled a word that can make a difference in your personal and professional communication. The word is: FEEL.

If you apply FEEL or feelings, at the point of every interaction, and each communication you encounter, then you are more likely to deepen your conversations and move toward genuine relationships.

The word FEEL has changed my life and career journey, and it’s the lens through which I evaluate my communications. Applying a FEEL lens to your connections and communication helps to build trust, loyalty and advocacy with every interaction.

Having Emotional Intelligence (EI) means understanding your own feelings/ emotions and reactions. So, I ask you …

Are you self-aware?
Do you have self-discipline?
Do you exercise self-management?
Are you also self-reflective?
Do you manage your own emotions, so you can tune into and handle/manage someone else’s?

Pondering the questions further, I realized there was no test to evaluate whether you FEEL first, before you engage in communication with the people around you.

Of course, evaluating your level of FEEL or how open, inclusive (and not fearful you are), empathetic, ethical and passionate toward a cause, is not just for Millennials. It’s for all generations and every human being.

As a result of my qualitative research study, which focused on Millennials, regardless of your gender, age, generation or profession, the FEEL First Test came to life with a goal to help you realize how you feel about yourself, the people around you.

After collecting over 9,100 answers from about 350 test participants between February 2020 and February 2021, I’ve created the 1st ebook you can download with findings from the FEEL First Test.

To get your complimentary copy of the ebook, How Different Generations Face Fears, you can fill out the brief form and download below.

August 24 2020

The FEEL First Pledge: A Commitment to Communication & Relationship Building

Deirdre Breakenridge FEEL Model, Leadership, Mentoring, PR 2.0 Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, FEEL First Pledge, Love, public relations, Relationship Building 0

How you FEEL determines how you communicate. It doesn’t take a scientific study to know this or to watch your emotions play out on social media. Think about how your feelings translate into actions, reactions and the words that come out of your mouth (or the words in your tweets and/or your Facebook posts). If you’re an optimist, then you will communicate as such. The same goes if you’re the opposite. As a pessimist, your communication would reflect this too. Take on any mood and it is likely your communication relates to how you feel. Now, think about this statement: Why wouldn’t you want to study, understand and improve your feelings, so that they play out positively in your communications and the relationships that result.

Optimism Helps Your Communication

As I sit here with the book, The Optimist Creed and other Inspirational Classics by Christian Larsen, both his book and his Optimist Creed (which is pinned to my wall) remind me of all that’s positive in my daily thought process and interactions. Being positive about others, having peace of mind, finding health and happiness, letting go of mistakes and moving forward toward future achievements are just a few of the elements of the Optimist Creed. Many of these ideals are learned early on in childhood and through years of life experience, family guidance, an educational system, and societal norms, they are adhered to or not. Hopefully, the former is true and you are a living testament to the Optimist Creed.

For Your Relationships: A Pledge for Better Communication

However, what about your communication? Do you pay close attention to what you communicate daily, from the time you wake up in the morning until you lay down at night? Do you have a responsibility to yourself and to the people around you to care about the consequences of your words as they travel through your favorite channels, in any given moment? To my knowledge there is no Communication Checklist or Communications Pledge that you can print out and hang on your wall or post on your refrigerator. If there is, I haven’t seen it yet. Having the Optimist Creed on my wall is a reminder to me every day to strive for better and to keep a healthy and positive attitude. Having a Communications Pledge on my wall would be just as helpful.

I’ve been working on the FEEL First model for well over a year. My team has been diligently gathering data from a FEEL First test online that is scoring how much or how little professionals Face Fears, Engage with Empathy, Live with Ethics and Unleash Love. There are well over 6,000 answers in our database. From everything I’ve learned from my research journey, when you FEEL First you have a better opportunity to understand and manage someone else’s emotions too.

Of course, your ability to FEEL takes constant work … it’s a journey to be more open and to face what makes you uncomfortable. It takes a clear and present mind and heart to be more inclusive of others. It’s harder than you may think to be empathetic when sometimes you may only be touching the surface and you don’t even t know it. It’s not as obvious as you think to live with ethics and good judgment, when little white lies are a way of fooling your brain into larger transgressions. Lastly, if you’re not a demonstrative communicator it may be difficult to let the passion lord or the love flow.

However, the more you practice and also make a commitment to yourself that you can and will FEEL First in your communications, you will slowly move closer to this approach through all of your channels as you deepen your relationships.

The FEEL First Pledge

I mentioned earlier not having a Pledge or a Creed in communications until now … I’ve created a FEEL First Pledge as a reminder that collectively we need better communication. Practicing or saying a pledge daily will help you to move toward greater purpose through your thoughts, words, and actions to create positive impact. Having a Pledge, during an election year, the Coronavirus pandemic, and racial injustice that’s playing out across our county is necessary and needed now. If relationships are based on trust, then your communication is either the bridge that can help others or hurt them.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Words matter more so now than ever. So join me in a Pledge to FEEL First and a commitment to share communication that helps your neighbors, family, friends and colleagues and takes your communication to a new level so you can make a difference. You can download the the FEEL First Pledge below.

Click image to download the FEEL First Pledge.

FEEL First Model Leadership & Communication

April 5 2019

Launching the FEEL First Before You Communicate MODEL [INFOGRAPHIC]

Deirdre Breakenridge Ethics, Leadership, PR 2.0, PR 2.0 Technology, Social media FEEL First, FEEL Model, Leadership, Millennials, Modern Communicators, public relations 0

Communication is at the heart of your business and every relationship you build. With book titles focused on the best ways to engage including, Decency Starts at the Top, by CEO and Chairman, Larry Weber of Racepoint Global and articles focusing on “Workplace Compassion: A Trend Driven by the Changing Workforce” your authenticity, integrity and empathy become front and center at every touchpoint.

Modern communicators have a responsibility to use communication as a way to build bridges between people and groups; sharing communication to help, uplift and ignite passion and positive momentum. It’s a do “good” and do “no harm” approach. But, with a noisy communication landscape, does communication from businesses professionals, who speak on behalf of their organizations, reach the public in a “do good” manner; in a way that instills trust, expresses kindness, and creates opportunities to build relationships?

You may come in contact with leaders and business professionals every day. They are your own company executives or the senior executives who speak out on behalf of your favorite brands and social causes. Or, maybe they are the political leaders in your newsfeeds on social media. Regardless of the type of leader, do you think the communication they share is reaching, resonating and helping people, especially when it comes to younger generations? With Millennials and Generation Z experiencing more depression and anxiety at alarming rates, are leaders today meeting the communication expectations of these groups, or any group they want to reach?

Now, it’s time to reign in the communication for some self-reflection. Ask yourself an important question. Do you really know what someone else is experiencing before you tweet, blog or post on Facebook? Are you using social media to get closer with people to build your own personal brand? The data you collect and analyze on social media is based on what people want to share with you, and how they want to be seen. Of course, there’s a highlight reel on social media. What you see on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or any platform does not always give you a clear picture of someone’s life, what is going on in their world or how they are truly feeling.

FEEL is the optimal word here and what others are feeling. Your communication can either help them, or it can quickly becomes a part of the “noise” that blocks the value, which affects the end goal of any interaction.

Whether it is you, or the leaders you know, there’s a better way to approach communications when the noise is overwhelming … it’s to FEEL first. If you don’t FEEL as a first step, which means to Face Fears, connect with Empathy, use Ethics and unleash the Love of your mission, then all of your planning may fall on deaf ears. Once you can FEEL, the strategy that you’ve developed will play out not only to connect you, but also to help you engage in a way that is valued and seen as more human and open, creating those longer lasting bonds.

After a devastating family tragedy last September, I embarked on a research journey. I started to speak with Millennials about communication preferences and began analyzing Women Worldwide interviews with guests focused on leadership and communication (using text analytics). My goal was to see if what Millennials preferred in their communication from leaders is what they were experiencing on social media. Were the characteristics they preferred drawing them closer to their leaders or pushing them farther away?

Then, when I teamed up with Talkwalker to use their search tool, the themes identified around leaders, communication and emotions and different communication qualities really came to the surface. The lightbulb went on! Seeing the results (in word cloud format) based on a sophisticated Boolean search (yes, Talkwalker helped me here) it appeared that the IQ side of leadership stood out more in conversations. With more than 50% positive sentiment, about 47% neutral and only 3% negative, words such as “knowledge,” “experience,” “confidence,” “strength,” “professional” were the most prominent in discussions about leaders and communication, across blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.

But what about the Emotional Quotient (EQ) side of the house? I was surprised that words such as “interpersonal,” “respect”, “feel,” “values,” “real,” and “commitment” took a back seat. What does this say about leaders and communication on social media, when the EQ or the soft skills were much less in the spotlight? You can take a look at a couple of graphics showing the text analytics to see for yourself.

Boolean Search on Leadership, Communication Qualities and Emotion Graphic !

Boolean Search on Leadership, Communication Qualities and Emotion Graphic 2

Keeping the initial research in mind, I’ve taken the first stab at a communication model that may help to close the gap between what Millennials and Gen Z want and the type of communication that’s lighting up social media and may not really be resonating with them. The components of the FEEL First model are as follows:

• An audit process to get unstuck, which is the first step in understanding how you’ve been communicating in the past. This is usually a Fix it to Move Forward approach.

• Finding the Passion Potential with any group, to make sure that what you believe is relevant to share will actually resonate and have the potential for further engagement with them.

• Take the FEEL Test to help you engage more authentically with any audience [there are four parts focused on each piece of the FEEL acronym]

• Address your FEEL weaknesses after scoring your test.

• Apply the FEEL approach to social media, company team meetings, speaking engagements, and your media interviews.

• Measure the FEEL model to see that you’re moving toward genuine communication and relationships that encourage fresh ideas, empathy for all parties, use good judgment in all interactions and unleash a passion that becomes the DNA or the fabric of your relationships.

I’ll be building out the model in much more detail in the weeks ahead with exercises and different ways to advance your steps with the FEEL First Approach. All ideas and suggestions are welcomed!

February 26 2019

Take the “FEEL” Test First, Before You Communicate

Deirdre Breakenridge Ethics, Leadership, PR 2.0, Social media, Strategic Communications Empathy, FEEL Approach, Leadership, Modern Communicators, PR 1

Here’s a simple test for you to take, and it all comes down to a series of questions about how you FEEL before you communicate. When you FEEL this means you’re able to Face Fears, communicate with Empathy, use Ethics and good judgment and discover how much you Love your mission.

Modern Communicators are navigating a new communications landscape. But, now matter where they share stories, they learn to consider their audience’s situation, timing of their news, the appropriate channels to deliver valuable information, how to segment messaging, and measure on different platforms to demonstrate success. But, when you add the FEEL model to your planing approach, you’ll take your communication, in all settings, to new levels.

Here’s how it works … if you can FEEL, which ultimately makes you more human, open and credible in your interactions, then all of your stakeholders from your employees and partners, to the media and your customers will trust you more. FEEL starts with you but it’s really about the people you want to reach and the strong connections you want to build.

With conversations surfacing around executives and senior leadership being more compassionate and having emotional intelligence, it’s time to add the FEEL model to this discussion. Leaders can be strong and have incredible vision, but it’s their ability to FEEL that will interest constituents and drive their vision and passion.

In this short video, you can evaluate how much you FEEL, before you share your tweets and Facebook posts, speak at your team meetings or give those media interviews on TV or on Skype. In an age when connections look like instant friendship, through any number of social media channels, the truly beneficial relationships will require you to FEEL first!

February 6 2017

First Black PR History Month Kick-off Event Hosted by the Museum of Public Relations

Deirdre Breakenridge Event, Guest Post, Public Relations Black PR History Month, Black PR Professionals, Julien Perocheau, PR, PR Pioneers, The Museum of Public Relations 0

A Guest Post by Julien Perocheau, The Museum of Public Relations and Spector & Associates

On Thursday, February 9, at 6 p.m. the first-ever Black PR History Month will kick-off at Baruch College, 55 Lexington Avenue, in New York City. This event, sponsored in partnership with National Black Public Relations Society, will bring together professionals, students, and professors to celebrate the lives of prominent black public relations pioneers.

Ivy Lee. Edward Bernays. Arthur Page. Do these names sound familiar? You may have heard about these public relations trailblazers in school or from working in the industry.

But what about Inez Kaiser, Ofield Dukes, and Barbara Harris? Have you heard of them?

If your answer is no, then Black PR History Month is for you. And if your answer is yes, then Black PR History Month is for you too!

On Thursday, February 9, the public relations community will come together to celebrate history’s most prominent black public relations pioneers. Following the kick-off event, the Museum of Public Relations will exhibit rare artifacts and writings recounting black public relations history. It is a unique opportunity to learn how their contributions helped develop the industry.

The public relations industry has a rich history, but one that often excludes the contributions of notable black public relations professionals. All students need professional role models, but African-American students have not had them. As a result, they can feel excluded from the rest of the PR community. This event and exhibit intend to inspire the industry’s growing diverse generation of young professionals.

Among those honored at Black PR History Month are Inez Kaiser, who founded the first African American female-owned public relations firm in 1957; Ofield Dukes, who represented civil rights figures and entertainers; and Moss Kendrix, who helped Coca-Cola connect with African-American customers.

Black PR History Month event will feature a panel with Rochelle Ford, chair, public relations department, Newhouse School of Public Communication, Syracuse University; Denise Hill, professor, Elon University; Judith Harrison, senior vice president, Diversity and Inclusion at Weber Shandwick and president of PRSA Foundation; and Don Singletary, adjunct professor, Baruch College. Patrick Ford, vice chairman and chief client officer, Burson-Marsteller will emcee the panel. In addition to the panel, representatives from the Page Society, IPR, PRSA and more will unveil their 2017 diversity initiatives.

Following Black PR History Month, the Museum will continue its efforts to recognize the field’s pioneers by encouraging textbook writers to include these legendary figures in next editions and by providing educators with resources to help teach students about these notable contributions.

Admission is free. But do not wait to RSVP. Hundreds of PR lovers are expected! To register for Black PR History Month kick-off event visit prmuseum.org/black-pr-history-month-0217.

If you are unable to make the event in person, follow the Museum of Public Relations on Facebook to see a live streaming of the kick-off event.

Whether you are a student, young professional or an experienced executive, Black PR History Month’s kick-off event is a great opportunity to meet, mingle and build your network within the industry.

The Museum of Public Relations is a 501(c)(3) educational institution chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. It is dedicated to preserving and sharing public relations history with students, educators, researchers and practitioners. The Museum archives have more than 600 books, dozens of artifacts, correspondence, photographs, old media technologies, and videotaped oral histories. It resides in Baruch College’s Newman Library Archives and Special Collections.

To arrange a tour of the exhibit and discover the amazing collection and legacies of these public relations figures visit prmuseum.org/schedule.

Julien Perocheau is an intern at the Museum of Public Relations and Spector & Associates in New York City. He enjoys learning about public relations and exploring history. Originally from France, Julien also a writes for Views, a news-oriented French website.

April 23 2020

Speaking Schedule / Events

Guest Post

Date	Topic	Location	URL
June 30, 2022	STAHLKRAFT Show	LinkedIn Live Event	No Link Available
March 30, 2022	Taking The Lead Livestream	Virtual Broadcast	No Link Available
February 3, 2022	Notified Festival: Modern Media Training	Virtual Event	https://l.intrado.com/festival -for-communicators/?referrer= DMSocial#
January 13, 2022	Star Mountain Capital Lunch & Learn: Are you Camera Ready?	Private Event	No Link Available
Dec. 9, 2021	Culture, Alignment & Growth Technology Leadership Training	Private Event	No Link Available
October 21, 2020	The Art, Science and Impact of Digital Storytelling	Virtual Event	pstcc.edu/bcs/mediatech
September 8, 2020	Museum of PR / Host Book Launch Event II: Marilyn A Women in Charge	Virtual Event	No Link Available
August 13, 2020	Museum of PR / Host Book Launch Event I: Marilyn A Women in Charge	Virtual Event	No Link Available
July 29, 2020	Onclusive Understanding Media Trends	Virtual Event	No Link Available
June 24, 2020	Bay Area Content Marketing Meetup – Media Training with a FEEL Lens	Virtual Event	No Link Available
May 6, 2020	FEEL First Storytelling at the #StayAtHome Digital Summit	Virtual Event	https://athome.digitalsummit.com/ virtualevent/
March 6, 2020	PR Practitioner’s Group	Syracuse, NY	Private Event
December 5, 2019	FEEL First Keynote	San Francisco, CA	Empowered Women, Empower Men & Women in Business Event
Nov. 21, 2019	FEEL First Fireside Chat	New York City	PR News Top Places to Work Awards Luncheon
October 10 – 11, 2019	Anti-Corruption & Managing Scandal Conference	Boston, MA	How to Recover from Public Scandals
September 19, 2019	Amplification and the Quality Audience: West Client Summit	New York, NY	Private Event
June 14, 2019	Commanding A Presence with Body Language	Chicago	So You Want to Be a Speaker Workshop
May 21, 2019	Ragan PR Measurement Academy	St. Louis, MO	Conference Details
May 8, 2019	Syracuse University	Lubin House, New York City	Private Event
April 11, 2019	Elon University: PR & Women Worldwide	Online Program	Private Event
March 29, 2019	Host, Wigs.com & Breastcancer.org Event	Wynnewood, PA	Private Event
March 5, 2019	NREF Podcast with Adam Gower	YouTube	Link TBD
December 13, 2018	PRSA New Pros Webinar Who Wants to be a Modern Communicator?	TBA	Webinar Program
November 15, 2018	PRSA NY Senior Pros Digital Trends 5 Things Managers and Senior Pros Need to Know	NYC	TBD
November 1, 2018	A Day At UMASS / Answers for Modern Communicators	Amherst, MA	Private College Event
September 27, 2018	Driving PR Success with Owned Media	West Digital Communications Webinar	Webinar Registration
August 21, 2018	Spirent Communications Marketing Summit Keynote	Asbury Park, New Jersey	Private Event
August 7, 2018	FPRA’s 80th Annual Conference Fireside Chat / Luncheon Keynote	Jacksonville, Florida	About the Conference
August 6, 2018	FPRA’s 80th Annual Conference Podcasts as a PR Tool	Jacksonville, Florida	About the Conference
June 7, 2018	Digital Download Live (Remote Q&A)	London, England	About the Digital Download Event
May 11, 2018	PRSA Boston Social Media 2.o Breaking Barriers Summit	Boston, MA	About the Summit
April 11, 2018	Marist College Social Media Program / Social Media Center	Poughkeepsie, New York	Private College Event
March 8, 2018	American University Lecture	Webinar	Private University Event
Dec. 8, 2017	Digital Storytelling: Association of International Certified Professional Accountants	Webinar	Private Association Event
Nov. 9, 2017	From white-collar crime to industry thought leader: Lessons from a journey to rebuild reputation	Washington, DC	About the Conference
Oct. 8, 2017	Public Relations Society of America, Tackling Big Data Session	Boston, MA	About the Conference
Oct. 7, 2017	Association/Non-Profit Section of PRSA, Reimagining the PR Process, Keynote	Boston, MA	About the Conference
Sept. 5, 2017	Content Marketing World	Cleveland, OH	About the Event
July 17-19, 2017	Social Media Audit Best Practices	Georgia Institute of Technology	Private Event
June 9, 2017	Women In PR USA Launch Event	New York, NY	About the Launch Reception
May 3, 2017	Chilton Hospital Physicians Event	Wayne, NJ	Private Event
April 20, 2017	PRSA NJ Senior Pros Walk through Your Social Media Fears	Parsippany, NU	Link TBD
March. 21, 2017	PRSA Philadelphia Race to Relevance	Philadelphia, PA	About the Event
March. 15, 2017	Creative Fuel Conference	Greenville, SC	Link TBD
March. 10, 2017	Positivity Summit	Allamuchy, NJ	About the Summit
Jan. 17, 2017	Atlantic Healthcare System Crisis Workshop	Morristown, NJ	Private Event
Jan. 14, 2017	Newhouse School of Communications	NYC	Private Event
Dec. 8, 2016	NJ Family Business Forum Tech Testing Workshop	Madison, NJ	Private Event
Nov. 18, 2016	Miami University	Online Lecture	Private Event
Nov. 14, 2016	NJALDP Tech Testing Workshop	Princeton, NJ	Private Event
Nov. 11, 2016	Benedictine College	Webinar	Private Event
Oct. 25, 2016	PRSA International Conference: Measurement Confidence	Indiana	PRSA International Conference
Oct. 24, 2016	PRSA International Conference: Podcast Strategy	Indiana	PRSA International Conference
Oct. 23, 2016	PRSSA National Conference: Start Up Smart	Indiana	PRSSA 2016 National Conference
Oct. 6, 2016	Sonova Hearing Aids Inspirational Talk	Online Lecture	Private Event
September 28, 2016	Georgia Tech Workshop	Atlanta, Georgia	Private Event
September 22, 2016	CommPRO Webinar Media Measurement	Webinar	Your Path to Media Measurement
August 17, 2016	New Jersey Agricultural Leadership Development Program	Rutgers, New Jersey	Private Event
July 20, 2016	Plymouth Rock Media Boot Camp	Red Bank, New Jersey	Private Event
June 20-21, 2016	Incite-Group Corporate Social Media Summit	NYC	Social Media Panel
June 16, 2016	PRSA Social Media & PR Workshop	NYC	Social Media & PR Planning
May 13, 2016	Wildlife Conservation Society Workshop	NYC	Private Event
April 12, 2016	GroupHigh Outreach Marketing Virtual Summit	Webinar	Employee Champion Building
March 30, 2016	Live Streaming Interview With Financial Expert Winnie Sun	Blab	Link Available Soon
March 24, 2016	Continuing Education Coordinating Council (CECC)	New Brunswick	Link Available Soon
February 25, 2016	University of Miami Lecture	Webinar	Private Event
February 24, 2016	IABC NJ / PRSSA & Rutgers: Obtaining and Enhancing a Career in Communications	New Brunswick, NJ	Link Available Soon
February 11, 2016	Creative PR: Delivering Your Story from Narrative and design to Measurement	PRSA Webenar	Creative PR
February 5, 2016	Louisiana State University Lecture	Online Program	Private Event
January 2016	Piktochart Blab	Online	#PR Trends
December 2015	FDU Veteran’s Launching Ventures	Madison, NJ	Private Event
November 2015	PRSA Social Strategy Workshop	Washington, DC	Social Media and Public Relations Planning
November 2015	Elon University	Webinar	Private event
November 2015	PRSA International Conference	Atlanta, Georgia	PRSA -International Conference
November 2015	PRSSA National Conference	Atlanta, Georgia	PRSSA -National Conference
October 3 2015	PESO – The New Currency of Communication	NYC	Private Event
September 2015	Social Selling	NYC	Private Company Event
July 22, 2015	D S Simon, Private Company Event	NYC	Private Company Event
July 21, 2015	HMS International, Private Company Event	NYC	Private Company Event
June 11, 2015	Marketwired, Influencer Management #411	Webinar	411
May 14, 2015	IABC Event “The Modern Communicator”	Basking Ridge, New Jersey	No Link Available
April 21, 2015	2015 New York University (NYU) Social Media in Higher Education Panel Session	New York City	Social Media in Higher Education
April 19, 2015	Rutgers University NovaComm Event	New Brunswick, NJ	rutgers.edu
April 14, 2015	PRSA, Google Analytics for PR Pros	Webinar	Google Analytics for PR
March 30, 2015	Marketwired PR Pitching For Smarties Panel Session	Webinar	Marketwired Smarties Panel
February 19, 2015	PRSA – PR Evolution: Integrated Marketing Communicaitons	New Brunswick, NJ	PRSA NJ Integrated Marketing Communications
February 5, 2015	The Future Of Social Media For Business, Sendible Webinar	Webinar	The Future of Social Media for Business
January 24, 2015	Rutgers PR Certificate Course Kick Off Event, Virtual Event for Students	New Brunswick, NJ	No Link Available
January 7, 2015	Building Online Champions, Webinar for Florida Public Relations Association	Webinar	No Link Available
January 7, 2014	PRSA International Conference – Building Employee Champions Online	Washington, DC	Building Employee Champions Online
October 14, 2014	PRSA International Conference – Social Media Express	Washington, DC	PRSA – Social Media Express
September 19, 2014	PRSA Northeast District Conference	Rochester, New York	Keynote: Blurring the Lines: The New PR Invasion of Marketing, Media and Mindshare
August 12, 2014	FPRA Annual Conference 2014	Orland, FL	FPRA PR & Big Data General Session
May 21, 2014	PRSA Connect 2014	Chicago	PRSA Building Your Reputation Task Force
March 21 & 26, 2014	Certified Digital Marketers, Guest Lecture on Defining the Brand Voice	Webcast	Certified Digital Marketers
January 16, 2014	Florida Public Relations Association	Webinar	FPRA Big Data
January 14, 2014	Iran 10th Annual PR Conference	Skype	International Relations open doors
November 6, 2013	HANYS’ Communication Conference	Saratoga Springs, NY	HANYS’ Communication Conference
October 26-29, 2013	PRSA 2013 International Conference	Philadelphia, PA	PRSA International Conf., One World
October 25-29, 2013	PRSSA National Conference	Philadelphia, PA	PRSSA International Conf.
July 16, 2013	Council of PR Firms, Internfest	New York, NY	No link available
June 4-7, 2013	2013 National Homeland Security Conference	Los Angeles, CA	National Homeland Security Conf.
May 16-17, 2013	International Social Media & PR Summit	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	2nd International Social Media & PR Summit
March 28, 2013	PRSA Webinar – The Universal PR Professional of Tomorrow	Web	PRSA Webinar – Universal PR Professional
March 4-6, 2013	Flagler College COMMS Week 2013	St Augustine, FL	The Universal PR Professional
February 20, 2013	Social Media Week	New York, Ny	Making Content Memorable in 2013
January 24-26, 2013	2013 Counselors’ Network Winter Symposium	Sarasota, Florida	FPRA’s CN Winter Symposium
January 14-15, 2013	City of Los Angeles, Mid Year Crisis Management Workshop, Pre-Crisis Doctor: A Proactive Approach to Crisis Management	LA, CA
November 23, 2012	Praxis 2012, Public Relations and Corporate Communications India Summit	Pondicherry, India	Praxis 2012
October 14, 2012	Public Relations Society of America International Conference 2012	San Francisco, CA	PRSA International Conf. 2012
September 18-20, 2012	International Public Relations Association (IPRA), III International Public Relations Congress and IPRA Latin American Meeting	Lima, Peru	III International Public Relations Congress
August 6, 2012	City of LA Emergency Response Annual Conference	Los Angeles, CA	No Link Available
July 12, 2012	Bulldog Reporter’s “Branding PR: What Every PR Pro Must Know About Supporting and Building Brand Equity in the Digital Economy”	Webinar	Branding PR
June 10-12, 2012	Canadian Public Relations Society	Victoria BC	Currents 2012
June 8, 2012	PRSA Leadership Rally	New York, NY	No Link Available
May 29, 2012	The Social Media Plan: Strategy & Planning for Successful Outreach	Webinar	How to create a Social Media Plan
May 9, 2012	PR Newswire, The Earnies Webinar, Online Webinar	On-Line	No Link Available
April 11, 2012	PRSA Southwest District Conference	Tulsa, Oklahoma	No Link Available
February 23, 2012	Spin Sucks	Webinar	Eight New Practices
February 9, 2012	The Social Conference 2012	Amsterdam	The Social Conference
December 7, 2011	Vocus Webinar: The Eight Techniques of the New PR Champion	Online	Vocus Webinar
November 9, 2011	PRSA Tennessee Chapter	Memphis, Tennessee	No Link Available
November 1, 2011	The Wedding Salon Social Media Summit	New York City	No Link Available
October 25, 2011	PRSA Webinar – Building a Social Media Plan	Online Webinar	Building a Social Media Plan
October 18, 2011	PRSA International Conference – Panel Session on Social Media Policy Development	Orlando, Florida	Conference Speakers and Schedule
October 11, 2011	PRSA Cincinnati Chapter – The Hybrid PR Professional	Cincinnati, Ohio	PRSA Cincinnati Media Day
September 29, 2011	Bulldog Reporter Webinar	Virtual	Making an Irrefutable Business Case for PR
September 14, 2011	PR Boot Camp	Virtual	StartUp PR Boot Camp
August 23, 2011	The Future Of Media: Radical Integration	Virtual	futureofearnedmedia
July 18, 2011	Private Training Event – Listening & Responding to the Social Consumer	Chicago, Illinios
June 22, 2011	PRSA Alaska Chapter – Social Media Strategy & Planning	Anchorage & Fairbanks	The Hybrid Professional Workshop
May 26, 2011	Half Day Workshop: Private Event	New York City	No Link Available
May 24, 2011	Blogworld Small Business Panel	New York City	BlogWorld Social Media Summit
March 28, 2011	Bulldog Reporter Webinar	Online Webinar	Bulldog Reporter Webinar
March 24, 2011	PRSA Social Media Plan Webinar	Online Webinar	No Link Available
February 26, 2011	Schering-Plough Executive Lectures	Madison, NJ – FDU	No Link Available
February 15, 2011	NJ PRSA	Madison, NJ – FDU	No Link Available
January 27, 2011	PRSA	Webinar	No Link Available
January 26, 2011	PRSSA Job Chat	Twitter Chat	No Link Available
January 5, 2011	Council of Independent Colleges	Palm Springs, CA	No Link Available
December 7, 2010	Rochester Institute of Technology	Rochester, NY	No Link Available
November 1, 2010	Pittsburgh PRSA	Pittsburg PA	No Link Available
November 1, 2010	CCA	Washington DC	No Link Available
October 18, 2010	PRSA International Conference	Washington DC	PRSA International Conf.
October 16, 2010	American Chemists Society	Washington, DC	Private Event – No Link Available
October 14, 2010	Maine Public Relations Council	Maine	No Link Available
September 29, 2010	University of Sacred Heart	Puerto Rico	No Link Available
September 23, 2010	PRSA Webinar	Webinar	Social Media Plan
August 11, 2010	USA Gymnastics Conference	Hartford, CT	USA Gymnastics
August 9, 2010	FPRA National Conference	Naples, Florida	FPRA
July 26, 2010	World Bank Institute	Washington DC	No Link Available
July 20, 2010	PRSA Webinar	Webinar	PRSA Webinar
July 15, 2010	Public Relations Institute of Australia	Webniar	PRIA
July 12, 2010	Munroe Regional Medical Center	Ocala, Florida	No Link Available
June 15, 2010	Syracuse – ACC at the Lubin House	New York City	No Link Available
June 10, 2010	Vocus Users Group Conference	Washington DC	The PR Hybrid Professional Session
June 5, 2010	PRSA Incoming Leadership Conference	New York	PRSA Incoming Leadership Conference
May 25, 2010	FPRA Social Media & the Business Plan	Webinar	The Business Plan
May 21, 2010	Women in Science & Technology	New Jersey	No Link Available
February 10, 2010	Social Media Congress	Amsterdam	Social Media Congress
December 10, 2009	Coopr PR 2.0 Launch	Holland
May 6, 2009	Digital Impact Conference	New York	How to Create a Social Media Plan
May 4, 2009	MarketingProfs B2B Conference	Boston	No Link Available
April 29, 2009	PRSA CHE Conference	Washington DC	PRSA CHE Conference Link
April 8, 2009	PRSA Social Media & the PR Revolution	Webinar	PRSA PR Revolution
February 6, 2009	Event Profs Measurement Conference	New York	No Link Available
January 18, 2009	MCF National Sales Meeting	Long Island City, NY	No Link Available
January 8, 2009	Syracuse University	Lubin House, NYC	No Link Available

March 25 2020

DIY – Communication Resources

Guest Post

DIY - Communication Resources

Welcome To the FEEL Academy

Communication is at the heart of your company. Your ability to communicate effectively is what captures attention, keeps the interest, creates trust, promotes advocacy, and builds strong lasting relationships with your stakeholders.

When you approach communications with a FEEL First commitment you are agreeing to face Fears (be open and inclusive), have Empathy (your deep understanding and compassion), use Ethics (be truthful) and unleash Love (show energy and passion).

FEEL is the bridge or stepping-stone to extending beyond a point of connection and simple transaction. When you use FEEL as your communications North Star, it’s the first step toward a genuine relationship.

Where does FEEL begin? It’s the point on your communications roadmap where your strategic communications takes you; the place that enables you to connect with an opportunity to grow or strengthen your bond.

When you add a FEEL First lens to your interactions, the people you reach will feel closer to you and share more with you. When you FEEL First, you’re saying and showing you care about the people you want to engage.

Tuning in and using FEEL in your communications also means learning about yourself and the ways you come across as a communicator.

Being influential, making a difference and creating impact with your communication (as The Influential Communicator) requires a present mindset and self-awareness. You are able to achieve communications alignment, from your vocal and verbal cues to your body language. Then, as you master alignment and reach a state of Communications Flow, you can also recognize the signal others are sending to you. Now, you are “reading the room.”

Reading the signals around you, and learning to adjust your communication results in the kinds of relationships that have the opportunity to go deeper, create impact and make a difference.

Online courses to help you FEEL First and to become an Influential Communicator are currently available. You can check out The Influential Communicator course here. For Media Training with a FEEL Lens you can find more information here.

LinkedIn Learning Courses

Marketing Strategy: Competitive Intelligence

By compiling a competitive analysis, you gain insight into your competitors to identify your own advantage and edge in the marketplace. In this course, join marketing expert Deirdre Breakenridge as she explains how to conduct a competitive analysis for your business. In addition to explaining the value of a competitive analysis, Deirdre shares best practices for conducting research on your competition and discerning your own strengths and weaknesses. She also discusses how to analyze your competitor’s strategies to inform your future goals. Finally, Deirdre shows you how to evaluate the outcome of your analysis to drive growth and competitive intelligence.

Marketing Strategy: Competitive Intelligence

Are you looking for a fresh approach to building and implementing a video strategy? Have you ever wondered how to create and share video content to boost your brand identity across channels? As major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok prioritize video over still images, video is no longer just “nice-to-have”—it’s a key tool in the marketer’s toolkit.

Marketing Strategy: Relatable Video Content covers these topics and more!

Modern PR demands an integrated, multichannel approach. Learn how to research your audience, build a PR plan, develop the right messaging, use a targeted media mix and measure the impact of your communication programs. At the same time, you’ll understand how to manage relationships with everyone from reporters to influencers and amplify awareness with the aid of internal champions and external brand ambassadors.

Public Relations Foundations covers these topics and more!

Marketing Ethics starts with defining your company’s ethics and values. It starts with your executives as the role models and the communication stems from your marketing and PR departments. However, it doesn’t stop there. Marketing ethics should penetrate every level and professional in your company. Learn how to define your marketing ethics, identify the problem areas to avoid unethical behavior, communicate ethics effectively, recognize and reward your employee champions.

The Marketing Ethics course covers these topics and more!

When you launch a new product or enter a new market, it’s crucial to have a reliable roadmap that sets you up for success and the means to track the growth of your program. In this course, you’ll learn how to build and develop a go-to-market (GTM) plan for your next product or service. Your GTM plan helps you create a product strategy that’s tailored to the market and your customer base. You’ll understand how to prepare for better customer service and channel performance, discover the best ways to price and promote your product and measure your impact at launch and beyond.

The Go-To-Market Plan course covers these topics and more!

Today, consumers decide how and when they want to receive information and companies need to be listening. It’s crucial for marketers to have a robust understanding of how to design and execute a marketing communications plan that resonates with audiences—as well as how to measure the results. Diving int Marketing Communications means you’ll discover how to chart your own marketing roadmap. You’ll learn how to research your marketing communication needs and craft a marketing plan that helps you connect with your audience. You’ll leverage PR, social media, and email marketing strategies as you track your program through a measurement dashboard.

The Marketing Communications course covers these topics and more!

Learn how to create a better rapport with your audience and handle negative interactions with unruly audience members. Handling your audience means recognizing the personality “signals” of hecklers in advance and what to do when you are interrupted. In this course, you’ll also learn to identify those potential champions who can help you and how you can enlist their support before you ever step foot on stage. Whether you are speaking to a large or small audience, discover the tips for keeping your composure and maintaining focus, from the moment you start speaking to answering difficult questions during Q&A.

The Handling an Unruly Audience course discusses these topics and more!

CMOs have the opportunity to create a vibrant culture of marketing at their organizations. You’ll learn how and why it’s important to audit the existing culture and then create goals, a vision, and a mission to align all groups around your brand. You’ll build a roadmap for employees well beyond the communications function invest in your brand and share with more passion. Creating a marketing culture also means you quickly identify the leaders who can champion the new marketing culture while you measure the impact of marketing culture for your company.

Creating a Marketing Culture Course covers these topics and more!

With online media outlets, 24-hour news sites, Twitter, and Facebook all competing for attention, getting your message broadcast—and received—the way you want and intend it to be is tricky. When you dive into media training you’re learning how to identify the qualities of a good media spokesperson, what to expect from interactions with journalists, how to enhance your message with stats and sound bites, and how to cater your delivery and message to specific media channels and audiences.

The Media Training Course covers these topics and more!

By compiling a competitive analysis, you gain insight into your competitors to identify your own advantage and edge in the marketplace. Learn how to conduct a competitive analysis for your business and the best practices for conducting research on your competition. You’ll also be able to discern your own strengths and weaknesses and how to analyze your competitor’s strategies to inform your future goals.

The Marketing Foundations: Competitive Market Analysis course covers these topics and more!

Deirdre's Books

Answers For Ethical Marketers

Answers for Ethical Marketers, A Guide to Good Practice In Business Communications,

With advancing technology and evolving media, the journey to ethics has become more complicated for businesses and the professionals who communicate on their behalf. This book, Answers for Ethical Marketers, answers ethical questions, from taking your ethics and values into every media interview to applying ethics and sound judgment throughout your company and communication channels. The book shares how personal and professional ethics align, and how business leaders, managers, and students can maneuver their way around a new media landscape to demonstrate their values and role model ethical conduct.

This book is divided into eight important areas based on where and why a breakdown in ethical behavior is likely to occur, and delivers advice from experts on the frontlines of business communications; professionals who know what it means to face the inherent changes and challenges in their fields. With more than 80 questions and answers, readers will uncover situations where ethics are challenged, and their values will be tested.

This straightforward Q&A reference book is for professionals who realize ethics are a crucial part of decision-making and who want to maintain trust with the public and keep their positive brand reputations in business intact.

Readers will learn the answers to pressing ethical questions that help them apply good judgment in their own situations, based on the stories, theories, and practical instruction from the author’s 30 plus years of experience as well as the thought leaders featured in this book.

Here’s the link to Amazon where people can pre-order a copy. Buy the Book

Answers for Modern Communicators, A Guide to Effective Business Communication, provides students and professionals with practical answers to important career and communication questions, helping them to communicate successfully in a business setting. Communication expert, Deirdre Breakenridge examines the ways in which professionals can make the most of their careers in a fast-changing media landscape, offering advice on how new and seasoned organizations can utilize and adapt to the latest modes of communication.

The author breaks down the eight most critical areas for professionals seeking to develop their communication skills, opening with essentials that will prove useful in any setting, then detailing the ways in which organizations can adapt to changes in technology and consumer behavior to improve relationships, social media presence, and brand recognition. The easy to follow question-answer format walks readers through the most pressing, confusing and frequently asked questions about successful communication with plenty of advice and examples for a better learning experience. Covering traditional business communication topics like partnerships and storytelling, the book also includes material on digital and social media channels as well as a chapter on giving back as a mentor. “Experts Weigh In” boxes feature advice from other top professionals, exposing the reader to multiple perspectives from the field.

Conversational and grounded in decades of experience, Answers for Modern Communicators will benefit all students getting ready to enter the workforce, as well as professionals looking to enhance their communication skills.

Buy the Book

In Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional, social marketing pioneer Deirdre Breakenridge teaches and demonstrates the eight new skills and mindsets PR/marketing pros need to build brands and engage customers in a social world. This concise, action-oriented book shows practitioners how to systematically expand their roles, improve their processes, and sharpen their strategies to engage with today’s more sophisticated and socialized customers.

Drawing on her extensive client experience, Breakenridge helps you respond to consumers who demand control over their own brand relationships… unite communications with technology more effectively, and become your organization’s go-to resource on social technology decisions… reflect social media realities throughout your policies and governance… generate greater internal collaboration, eliminating silos once and for all… listen to consumers’ conversations, and apply what you’re learning… build communications crisis plans you can implement at a moment’s notice… develop profound new insights into how consumers construct and perceive their brand relationships.,. practice ‘reputation management on steroids’… take the lead on identifying and applying metrics… and much more. For all PR, marketing, and communications executives and professionals; and for students intending to enter these fields.

Buy the Book

Forget the “pitch”: Yesterday’s PR techniques just don’t work anymore. That’s the bad news. Here’s the great news: Social Media and Web 2.0 offer you an unprecedented opportunity to make PR succeed more powerfully than ever before. This book shows how to reinvent PR around two-way conversations with traditional and new influencers, bring the “public” back into public relations—and earn a new level of results that just wasn’t possible before now.

Drawing on their unparalleled experience making Social Media work for business, PR 2.0 blogger Brian Solis and industry leader Deirdre Breakenridge show how to transform the way you think, plan, prioritize, and deliver PR services. You’ll learn new ways to build the relationships that matter and reach a new generation of influencers…leverage platforms ranging from Twitter to Facebook…truly embed yourself in the communities that are shaping the future.

Along the way, you’ll learn how to stop being a “publicist” or mere “communicator” and become what your clients or company really need: a genuine enthusiast for the product you represent.

Buy the Book

PR 2.0 is the convergence of Public Relations and the Internet with the potential to change how communications professionals reach customers and online communities with social media strategies. This is a tentative time for communication professionals as they face a rapidly changing environment for their brands. Although traditional channels and methods are still present, audience behavior and interaction online necessitates a new way for brands (both B2B and B2C) to communicate.

Traditionally, PR pros communicate through the “Influencers” who provide those valuable third-party endorsements. Communication has always been closely controlled and monitored. The nature of the game has changed whether communications professionals like it or not. No longer will the PR professional have to speak through an influencer (i.e., the media). Although we still rely on our influencers, now we can also move forward with a direct to consumer approach through social media tools.

PR 2.0 breaks the traditional mold and allows communications professionals to think, react and promote in a whole new way. Today’s audiences are citizen journalists in social communities that are connected across the Internet. PR professionals through PR 2.0 will learn how to use the power of technology, the increased bandwidth and a whole new array of social media resources to join in the marketing conservations that span the Web.

Buy the Book

PR professionals are well aware that a host of new tools have been created to transform their profession, presenting new opportunities and challenges for anyone using PR to strengthen brands and stakeholder relationships. The New PR Toolkit takes PR to the next level, offering a complete blueprint for PR strategy and execution that draws on up-to-the-minute case studies and today’s most creative public relations work. From opt-in newsletters to Internet-based brand monitoring tools, Webcasts to self-service press Websites, this is a book that shows professional communicators how to make the most of all the new tools available to them.

Buy the Book

If you’re a marketing professional, you understand perfectly well that the Internet has changed all the rules you live by — and especially the rules that impact how you brand your products, services, and organization. Cyberbranding doesn’t merely show you how the rules have changed: it presents a complete framework for branding that works now — and for years to come. In Cyberbranding, crucial questions that marketers have about branding in the 21st century are answered: How do you move your brand online — without compromising the values it already stands for in the “real” world? How can you re-engineer your brand in the wake of the Internet revolution — and how can you create a new brand that leverages the full power of the Web? The book draws a series of insightful interviews with leading Internet branding executives.

Buy the Book

PR Expanded Blog

PR has changed from the behind the scenes development of talking points and third-party endorsements to champion building with the public and using media and influencers to amplify communication. Now, you’re listening more closely, monitoring data and gathering insights, and joining the conversation the right way through social media. As the media landscape and consumer behaviors continue to change, the lines between PR, marketing, branding and customer service are more blurred. The silos are down and we’re learning to use the force of a PR & marketing toolkit with a mix of media to engage and to create action. Professionals realize it’s time to embrace a hybrid approach with a variety of ways to communicate, creating the loyalty and advocacy for companies and their brands.

PR Expanded is a research journey and a passion project offering articles wand resources with practical tips, communication advice and guidance on the best way to approach maintaining public opinion, your reputation and using better communication and decision-making for your business.

PR Expanded Blog

Book a Complimenary Session

July 22 2019

#Leaders Listen Up: #Millennials Share what Gets their Attention on Social Media

Deirdre Breakenridge Leadership, Media, PR 2.0, PR 2.0 Technology, Social media Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Ethics, FEEL First, Millennials, Research Project, Social media 0

Social media continues to capture time and attention. Here are some of the stats revealing how much people participate in social media; where they spend their time; what they like to do and how often.

There are approximately 6,000 tweets shared every second on Twitter. If you were to break the numbers down, there would be about 350,000 tweets sent per minute and approximately 500 million tweets per day. Can you imagine? That’s about 200 billion tweets per year, according to Internet Live Stats.
In November of 2018, the Hootsuite Blog stated that over 200 million people participated in Facebook Groups and there were about 150 million people who took advantage of Facebook Stories.
In August of 2018, 99 Firms reported that Instagram supports approximately 100 million images and videos each day.
According to MerchDope, in June of 2019, there were approximately 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute.

The social media numbers continue to grow. At the same time, people are still watching network and cable television, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. They’re listening to the radio and tuning into podcasts. They’re also reading online publications, blogs and curating stories through news apps.
With all of the media available at your fingertips, if you wanted to get the attention of your customers and constituents, how would you show up and what would you share?

Let’s take a closer look at Millennials. They’re a growing population capturing approximately 50% of the U.S. workforce by 2020. With tremendous purchasing power, they are highly sought as a group when it comes to attracting and keeping their social media attention. But, what does this take?

I’ve been speaking with Millennials for the last six months, conducting one-on-one interviews as a part of my FEEL First before you communicate, Millennial passion project. Here’s what Millennial respondents told me about how business professionals and their “Leaders*” should communicate to get their attention.

Take a stand on the issue; if there’s something happening in the world or a particular country, let me know how you feel.
Advocate for something and show me you think beyond canned messages.
Have more passion for the cause; leaders should always have a voice and right now it doesn’t feel authentic or connected.
Watch out for the negative and outrageous; it gets more attention but it’s not positive or helpful.
Understand me and my realm; be relatable to my world and what I experience on a daily basis.
Give your unique take on something; whether you’re my supervisors or a public figure from one of the brands I like.
Use images that evoke memories and emotions and that show they understand who I am; through this understanding, you can present powerful words and photos.
Share personal community stories; go into the communities and get to know the social activists and well-known people who can create change.
Listen first … really listen; it’s hard to determine if leaders actually listen because retweeting is a form of listening but it appears everyone is just trying to get their content out and this is noise.
Communicate without remorse, and with a lot of bias and without supporting evidence; you’ll get attention but not my approval or loyalty.
Harness a particular social media platform whether you’re strong at Instagram, Twitter or Facebook Live.
Move to action related to your mission, so it’s not just the words on social media.
Take the unpopular belief that’s relevant; sticky popular messages are not held by the majority of the people.
Show empathy and be vulnerable; if I see someone sharing struggles or tough points in their career this gets my attention.
Share videos with subtitles, which can be powerful and long posts have meaning too.
Give the behind the scenes and things I would not see anywhere else.
Try humor, which gets my attention, especially if you’re not someone who is necessarily humorous.
Use a writing style that’s personal or journal-style writing.
Catch my attention by using colors and imagery that’s fun; it gives me a feeling of happiness.
Do an interview, on a media outlet that’s informative or interesting, such as Bloomberg and CNBC.
Respond to people; no one ever expects the CEO of T-Mobile to respond.

What are you doing to capture and retain attention with the people that mean the most to you?

*The term “Leaders” was defined in the one-on-one interviews as professionals at the respondents’ companies, business professionals speaking on behalf of the companies and the brands they follow or care about, or their political and religious leaders.

Feature Image Credit: Photo by Igor Miske on Unsplash