"Social" Media

The "social" component of social media is throwing me for a loop lately. I find myself increasingly torn about how personal and social we really should be when we utilize our social media outlets. Why? Because the line has essentially disappeared between the social world and the professional world. I have friends, colleagues, and professional organizations on both my Facebook friend list and in my Twitter following. Sometimes I want to engage in dialogue professionally -- discuss news, current events or great blog posts -- and sometimes I really don't give a crap. I may have nothing insightful to say and all I really want to comment about is how delicious my morning coffee tastes.

So here's my question. When I tweet about a politics, news, or a PR concept, does it bore my "friend" followers? Or when I update my Facebook status to highlight how excited I am for a martini at happy hour, does it place any question marks about me in the brains of my professional Facebook friends? (Though if you're in PR and you don't engage in networking over a cocktail once in awhile, I'm surprised you're in the field!)

I think that despite our intentions to use these mediums for fun, "social" purposes, they've evolved into a tool for self-branding. After all, if we are all professional all the time, that makes us pretty dry. But if we get too personal and let uncensored opinions fly, we can offend people or become irrelevant.

I opt to use my social media for a mix of business, personal, news and insight, but I still am constantly curious if my status updates, tweets, etc. actually contribute in some beneficial way to the conversations going on via social media. I'm still curious if I'm doing it "right." Does anyone else feel that way?

Then again, if I were to delete all of my accounts in the virtual world and my presence in said world ceased to exist, it really wouldn't affect my real life much; or would it? Perhaps the line between "real" and "virtual" is blurring as well...

No Day But Today

This past weekend, a friend from childhood and high school lost his younger brother in what must have been a nightmarish and shocking moment. In honor and in memory of this young man whom so many loved, I thought it appropriate to reflect on the fragility and value of human life. We really only have this very moment.

Loss of life is devastating, but it hits much harder when the life lost is that of someone young. What family and friends are left with is a lingering sadness about all the words left unsaid and actions left undone. But there is a time to weep and a time to mourn; my purpose in this post is to remind everyone that we really have No Day But Today.

Say your "I love you's." Hug your parents. Eat great food. Laugh a lot. Cry a lot. Soak up the sun. Stand in the rain. Call your relatives. Don't let the sun set on anger. Pray. Sit quietly. Look up at the moon. Dream.

Each breath, each moment, each new morning should be greeted with gratitude and purpose. I hope to always remember that God gave me today, and whether I have one more tomorrow or one million more tomorrows, I hope to live life like it matters. After all, in an instant it can all be gone.

Carpe diem...

"The customer is always right"

And now, a word on customer service...

My parents own a chain of pet stores (Incredible Pets with three locations in Auburn, Carmichael and Grass Valley, just in case you're curious) and ever since I was a child, I have heard time and time again: "The customer is always right."

Well, yesterday apparently I was a customer who was wrong. A vendor who shall remain nameless botched a job for my client. Where I come from, one should not deliver a product unless he or she is proud to put their name on it. So with that theory in mind, I called my vendor to alert him that the job was completely unacceptable (beleiving that perhaps he hadn't seen it before it went out the door). Seriously, a five-year-old could have done it.

ME: "I appreciate the work you did but honestly, it's just not professional and I can't send this out with my company's name affiliated with it." (Note: I expected an apology and an offer for a re-print.)

VENDOR: "Well I did that [nameless task] as an additional favor to you; I didn't have to do it at all. And people are just going to gloss over it anyway."

This recap is not comprehensive, but you get the gist. What ensued was a debate about the quality of work, why it mattered and how the vendor did not want to redo this job for me. Fine, if you want to associate your name with bad products, be my guest. I proceeded to tell at least half of the people in my office, and this guy is lucky if we go back.

I don't like to tarnish names and I believe in second chances so for now, I'll just share this anecdote to remind people how vitally important good customer service is (and how if you're the customer, you should hold providers to a standard!). But if I get treated like that a second time, I doubt I'll refrain from naming names.

Bottom line? Customer service is the most basic PR practice. You get a bad vibe out there, and poeple don't come back. Word of mouth is HUGE. Those providing it should do it right the first time, and if they do it the right way, they will surely see their business thrive.