Menu

Lisa Gerber

Mission Ready Infographic

#PR Tech Testing: Using Easel.ly for Customized Infographics

, , , , , , , , 3

Lisa Gerber, Chief Content Officer at Spin Sucks, mentioned in her blog post, Becoming a PR Technologist, that “… it is our responsibility to stay ahead of technology. For that matter, it is the responsibility of any professional regardless of industry.” I agree with Lisa whole-heartedly. I enjoy being a Tech Tester (PR Practice #4 in my book) and I’ve been trying to tech test new platforms and experience different tools every week. It’s not only helping me to stay abreast of the latest resources for my clients, but also allowing me to speak the language of my marketing, brand and web colleagues. For most of my projects, I’m working with interactive agencies, brand professionals, and online web services teams.

As a part of my quest to rally my communications friends into tech testing mode, this post introduces a tool I’ve discovered to create custom Infographics. It’s called Easel.ly and it’s simple to use. You don’t have to be a designer by trade to develop colorful and creative visuals. And, with Infographics being “all the rave,” why not use some of the first-hand research you’ve uncovered to visually illustrate unique information about your client, product or cause.

Here are some tips to using Easel.ly that will help you create one of a kind Infographics with the potential to spark conversations and great collaboration with your stakeholders.

  1. Be Creative: An important thing to understand when beginning to use www.easel.ly is that the infographic themes provided are there to guide you, not dominate your creative vision. What makes an infographic interesting is the creativity and individuality that goes into each one.
  2. Select the Right Theme: Look at the information you have prepared, and analyze which layout would be the best fit from the choices provided. Do you mostly have statistics to share? Would it be more effective to use a chart or a graph? Those are the kinds questions to consider. When picking a theme, only concern yourself with the general layout because colors and objects can easily be deleted and replaced.
  3. Explore the Tools: There are so many options when it comes to using Easel.ly. However, none of them will be fully useful if you do not familiarize yourself with the different functionality. If you’ve selected your theme, then you’ve barely even touched the surface of what this resource has to offer. There are a multitude of objects, shapes, and text fonts to insert, you can change the colors, and if that’s not enough, you can also upload any images you’d like to customize your infographic. By capitalizing on the options provided, you’re able to transform one of the template themes into your own creation.
  4. Use the Lock Tool: Organization is the number one way to ease the process of making an infographic. The best way to stay organized is by using the lock tool. As your infographic progresses, you’re going to acquire an assemblage of various text, shapes, and objects, which can get confusing. The lock tool is functional for all items to prevent any further moving, resizing, and scaling. Once the object is in place, hit the lock button so any further design won’t interfere while you continue the creation process. Consider all confusion eliminated!
  5. Learn the Grid Tool: When you’re designing anything, uniformity should always be a major focus. The grid tool allows you to have even placement between all items within your graphic. By doing this, the graphic as a whole becomes more visually appealing to the eye, and, in turn, more effective for the viewer.
  6. Show How Less is More: You never want a graphic that is too overpowering, so simplicity is key! Although there are so many options to include in your infographic, you can avoid clutter by only using as much or as little as you need. Choose a few objects, maintain a minimal color scheme, and avoid too much font variation with your text. Here’s where the saying, “everything is better in moderation,” really applies.

Being a Tech Tester and finding the right technology tools to create interesting and meaningful ways to share information can be trial and error. So, when you discover an easy tool or application to use, please make sure you share your tool and tips with your colleagues.  Together we have a lot to learn, but we can uncover a lot of ground together.  Happy tech testing with Easel.ly!

The PR Influencer Index: Let Your Peers Rate You

, , , , , , , , , 2

Last week I wrote a post, The Characteristics Index: Rate Yourself, which discussed the attributes or characteristics that you could cultivate to become an influencer.  They ranged from trust and knowledge to motivation and passion.  A very interesting comment on my blog prompted me to write this post.  I can’t thank Lisa Gerber enough for giving me the idea to write about an index where you can Rate your Influencers.  Can you imagine… if your peers could rate you? It would certainly tell you the value you bring to your network through every interaction and whether or not you need to change your communication and interact with them in a different way.

Here’s the comment that Lisa shared on my blog:

“I love the idea of rating ourselves when it comes to influence. It gives those of us who set daily goals, some benchmarks and more goals to achieve! It might even be interesting (with some modifications) to share with our peers and ask them to rate us, in order to give us a more grounded perspective.”

Based on this comment, I’ve reevaluated the “Characteristics Index” so that it’s an “Influencer Index.”  However, you can’t just ask anyone to evaluate you, instead, start with the peers who interact with you the most on a daily basis.  Remember, this is a fun exercise and not the science of ratings. These categories are broad and the rating scales may change based on the input I receive.  Your peers will give you a number rating at the end of the exercise and then be able to discuss with you the areas or characteristics where you excel and those attributes that still need more work.

Here is the exercise for you to share with your peers:

Trust:

How much of our relationship is based on trust? On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate me with respect to the nature of our relationship.  For this exercise, if you feel we are casual friends, then you would use a rating from 1 to 4.  If you see our relationship as a reciprocal friendship where we share helpful information to answer each others questions or to spark ideas, then the rating would be between 5 and 7.  If you feel our relationship is based on pure trust, where you highly value the information I provide, and it helps you to make a decision (whether it’s personal or related to your career), then you would rate our relationship between 8 and 10.  Remember, 10 means I am one of your closest confidants, and I’m in your circle of trust!

Knowledge and Industry Expertise:

How much do you think I’m involved in the PR industry? Do you see me helping other peers, and constantly learning and growing in the field?  For instance, if you had to put a number value on what you thought was my level of participation based on what you see as my community engagement (PR Twitter chats, webinars, conversations with other PR pros, educational blog posts, etc.), each activity would be scored as 1 point on the ratings scale.  You would count the activities in month all the way up to 10.  If you think I am extremely active participant in 10 or more monthly industry activities, then my score would be a “10.”

Motivation:

How much do I motivate you? Motivation comes in all shapes and sizes and is truly a personal rating.  Think about how the people around you motivate you to do things or make you feel energized. Perhaps you have a conversation with an influencer and then just go about your day.  However, there are times when you interact with someone and suddenly you feel like you have the energy to tackle the world.  For this exercise, please think about our most recent interactions and rate me on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is no level of motivation after our interaction and a 10 would be that you felt highly energized and ready to undertake challenging new projects and initiatives.

Passion:

Do you think I’m passionate? Passion comes from the heart and it’s not something that’s easy to rate.  However, you can see true signs of passion from people who tirelessly strive to help peers, educate about their industry and stay ahead of the curve.  You can hear the passion in their voice and you can see it in their communication, whether it’s a blog post or even a tweet that’s 140 characters or less.  For this attribute, please rank my passion on a scale of 1 to 10.  A one represents very low levels of passion and 10 is the highest form of excitement that exhudes from me in every interaction, each and every time you are in contact with me.

Winning Positive Attitude

Do you think I have a Winning Positive Attitude? How many positive vs. negative things do I say when you see me in your news feed or in your Twitter stream?  A winning attitude goes hand-in-hand with a positive personality and seeing the glass half full rather than half empty.  I would like you to rate me on how many positive thoughts you see from me in a week?  For the next week, when you see my updates each day, keep track of whether or not  they appear to be positive thoughts. Count up all of the positive thoughts, from one to ten each day (if there are more then 10, then the score is 10), and then at the end of the week take the average number.  This number is my Winning Positive Attitude and it should fall between 1 and 10+, with one being the lowest positive attitude awarded and 10+ being the highest.

The Give Factor:

How much do you think I give to my peers? Review The Give Factor blog post for more details on the different phases of giving to peers:

  • If you think I fall within the Meet & Learn Phase – You can rank me as a 3.
  • If you think I have moved into the The Understand Phase – You can rank me as a 6.
  • If you think that I am in The Support Phase – You can rank me as an 8.
  • If you think I’ve reached the The Empathize Phase – You can rank me as a 10.

Social Champions/Supporters:

Are you one of my social supporters? There’s only one way to rate me in this area and it really depends on whether or not you would support me and be one of my social champions.  On a scale of 1 to 10, rate me on how much you would support my efforts, with a rating of 1 to 4 meaning that you are a member of my blog community, you share my blog posts or retweet me on Twitter.  If you are are writing about me in your blog posts, including me in your discussions on Twitter and participating in industry events with me, then you can rate me between 4 and 6. If you are one of my true social champions, then you will be connecting me with other close friends in your network, working with me on projects outside of social networks, and recommending me as a valuable source of information that could possibly lead to business opportunities.  In this case, you would rate me anywhere between 7 and 10.

Here’s how it all comes together with the scores (with the possible top score of 70).  Your peers will have to tell you your score, so you can compare it to the number ranges below:

If your score is between 1 and 14, you are just beginning your journey to influencing your peers.  If I want to capture their attention, then you will have to up your score in every characteristic.  At this point, there’s no place for your influence to go but up!

If your score is between 15 and 28, then you are on your way to influence.  It’s important to evaluate how you can raise your score in each area of development.  Don’t give up now, as you are starting to influence your peers.

If your score is between 29 and 42, you have influence but it’s not at a peak level. You are sharing and giving but it’s at an average rate as some of your scores are higher in a few areas and lower in others.  You must evaluate where you need work and strive to greater influence heights.

If your score is between 43 and 56, you are influencing your peers and it’s truly appreciated.  Your rate of influence is high and you are so close to taking your influence to the highest levels.  There are probably only a few areas that need work.  A little more focus on your personal growth and you can be influencing at the highest rank in no time.

If your score is between 57 and 70, you have reached true influencer status.  your peers rely on you for a great deal and you give selflessly as an Influencer to help them on a daily basis.  Not only are your peers waiting to hear your thoughts and advice, but they are also acting upon them, using your knowledge and influence to make decisions in their lives!

I hope your peers will take the time to rate you on the “Influencer Index”  Please note that this is an exercise that is not based on science, yet it’s logical enough to make you identify and reevaluate how you act, based on how your peers rate you.  This is also an exercise to help you achieve higher influence among your peers.  If your peers rank you a 10 in all areas, then you are an influencer and you will move your communication from ordinary to influencer in no time at all!