How to Find Joy and Make an Impact in PR

That Solo Life Episode 285: How to Find Joy and Make an Impact in PR


Michelle Kane [00:18]-[00:33]: Thank you for joining us for another episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves. People like me, Michelle Kane with Voice Matters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen. How are we doing today?

Karen Swim, APR [00:33]-[00:38]: I am Michelle. Other than being so frosty cold, I'm great.


Michelle Kane [00:38]-[00:55]: How are you doing? Indeed, yes. It is not quite as frigid as where you are, but it's cold. But as I saw a video earlier today saying, as someone was cleaning off their car, we don't get hurricanes. We don't get earthquakes. That's so true.


Karen Swim, APR [00:55]-[01:37]: We just get cold. But there's no shortage of just things all over the United States of America. And I don't even want to touch what's going on in other countries, because it would make all of our collective heads spin. And there's just We're three weeks in to January and my goodness it has been a rip-roaring Month so far with one thing after another thing after another thing after another thing and then another thing and then another thing It's gonna be the year of the snake but so far it's the year of chaos and yeah, we're barely 20 days in as we're recording this but


Michelle Kane [01:38]-[03:12]: I imagine by now, if you're listening, you're probably nodding your head and just going, yeah, because there's a lot going on. We don't want to be in denial about that. We know as communications practitioners, it can be challenging to stay engaged while also practicing our craft. What does that mean? Moving forward, how can we just ride these waves of chaos and be there not only for our clients, but for ourselves and for each other, right? I think that should be the primary focus of just putting one foot in front of the other. And, and how can we do that? And I know I've seen a lot of chatter lately, you know, especially with the tumult in social media. And, you know, in light of thinking fact checking is, we don't need that, you know, because water water is water is now going to be orange and The sky can be gray or purple. We don't know facts I know I've seen a lot of conversations about just really staying true to your community and whether that is the community that you are creating on behalf of your clients for those that are interested in their service or you know, support their causes or whatever, however that looks. But I think also with each other and the things we care about, I think that is really going to be key as we get through these coming days.


Karen Swim, APR [03:13]-[06:18]: It's interesting that it's easy to Really, especially as a, as a public relations professional to take in all of the things and to just continue to go down the rabbit holes of information and to, to build those things very deeply to react to them and try to swap all the things. But I would advise. Taking a step back. And this is where we really have to be, we have to divorce ourselves from our emotions to a degree, and that we can't feel all the things about all the things.


We need to just get into that space. Find that space where you can have an impact. Find that space where you have joy in your work, where you're doing things that you love to do with people you love to do them. and continue to do what you've always done, your job. Innovate new ways, start to look at, you know, how can I change up my workflows? How can I present information in a different way? How can I tell stories that resonate? Again, we talked about this in a previous episode, we're focusing on quality this year and not necessarily on quantity. And we know that that's going to be the thing that we're really forced to do anyway, because of all of the changes that are happening in the media landscape. I love that you also call out being true, because prior to TikTok being banned, when everyone thought it was going away for good, some of the influencers opened up the curtain and shared how they had lied about some of the videos that had gone the most viral. I was not at all shocked by that. No, I'm not shocked by, you know, finding out that stories that were told or books that were written hid deep, dark secrets or were not the truth or were pilfered from someone else's idea. And I think that we have to go into this year understanding that some of the things that we've accepted as truth are not true. We're going to continue for the rest of our careers to fight against miss, mal, and disinformation. That's true. That's always been true. We may not have had the name for it, but it's always been true. So I look at the human experience in a historical context, and I realize that our behaviors are not new. They may be manifesting in situations that feel different because we didn't always have social media. We didn't always have, you know, mobile ability or mobile access to information, but humans are behaving exactly like humans have always behaved. And I keep that in mind. It grounds me. It forces me to opt out of some of the chaos and just continue to focus on solutions. How will I do my job today? How can I approach it? What tools are available to me? And I think that that's a good way forward for many of us.


Michelle Kane [06:18]-[07:15]: That's so true. Yeah. I mean, really, how can we, how can we be the best person, the best helper? Because let's, let's face it, we said this so many times here, right? If you're, if you're in PR, or communications, you're probably a helper. And so as hard as it is, and I'm speaking for myself as well, you know, I thought I was disengaging and the past couple of days, not so much, but I'm like, calm your, you know, but give your story share finger a rest, give your other fingers a rest. It's like, it's just really to preserve ourselves and our sanity. There will be opportunities to do tangible things, for sure. Because also remember, you know, social media, yes, it's social, yes, it has a reach, but it also It can also be a silo, you know your own little Tornado, and if you peek out of it, you realize oh wait There's there's still a big wide world out there of people who aren't even engaged in here How can we influence them instead?


Karen Swim, APR [07:15]-[08:50]: There was a time in the history of social media when it was a tool to open up our worlds. We got to engage with people from other countries in a really easy fashion. Many of us reached people that we never would have reached. Brands were able to expand their reach. But I believe that it's now become that place where it's like inviting all of the people that we would never invite to dinner, that we would never want to shop in our stores, into our personal spaces. And I think for clients, and we've talked about this, I think it's time to lean into that need for true community. Talk to the people who really matter. There are things that I never put on the internet, but that I will share with people that I know. So at a girl's brunch, there are things that I talk about that I never talk about on the internet or at a family gathering. And I think that we all have to start to monitor and understand that social media has its purposes, but maybe we don't make it the primary thing. Maybe we back away from some of the channels. Maybe we teach our clients how to really double down and how to dig deeper into talking directly to their publics and creating community around what they offer and connecting their community together to truly have strong advocates and to truly create value.


Michelle Kane [08:50]-[10:30]: Yeah, yeah. And that makes sense from the perspective of whether you personally or your brand or your client, no one is going to be palatable or desired by everyone. You're not for everyone. Not everyone's for you. And that's okay. I just think that's so important to remember, especially now. Because, you know, no one's ever, we're never going to all agree on something. And that used to be okay, used to be okay. And I think too, I mean, just even when you look at the numbers of the last election, 36% of our population did not even vote. Which is higher than both of the party populations that voted. You had 31 and 30 versus 36 that didn't. So what I'm saying is there's a lot of people out there who aren't, they're still, I guess what you call it, the middle, right? Or just like, I'm not going to entrench myself because even of the voting populations, there's a further subset of those who are the dig in the heels and trench. So what we feel is a big mess is not even close to the majority of the population in this country. So, you know, if that's a takeaway, it's like, if more and more of us remove ourselves from the noise decide not to be part of the noise not saying remove yourself but just say you know i said to friends in the past when you know when they were going through situations with people and it was getting on their nerve and i said well just don't put your monopoly piece on the board


Karen Swim, APR [10:31]-[12:05]: Let them figure it out. And I think that we have to take that attitude into our professional world as well. I mean, here's the thing, too. But, you know, putting current times away, we communicators have always said this very thing. Platforms are not owned by you. They can go away. They can change. They can do whatever they want. The reason that I'm never really upset with anyone for doing anything is because I don't own it. I don't control it. And I've always had that knowledge. Every single one of these platforms can disappear. They can decide to do whatever they want. We're not paying for a service. When you're paying for a service, you have a stake. You have some ownership. You're being charged to have every right to protest, to be angry about changes, to make your voice heard. And I'm not saying that we don't still have those same rights. I'm just saying, why do we continue to advise clients to build a house on land they don't own? If you communicate via email marketing, email platforms can go away too. But you have your data and you can just switch to a different method. The platform is not the thing that stands out. But when it comes to social media platforms, we have made Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, the thing. And it becomes so entrenched as part of our brand And we are helping to build their fortunes and have advertisers advertised there to reach us and our people. But it's not your house. You don't own it.
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Michelle Kane [12:05]-[12:33]: No, absolutely. Yeah. I think we need to swing the pendulum back of giving them far too much credit and far too much of a stake. And you know, I've, I've often said, do not build your brand on land that you don't own because even email marketing, if you change platforms every month, you still control who you're talking to and what you're saying. You don't have to rely on an algorithm, you know, maybe hopefully maybe reaching someone.


Karen Swim, APR [12:33]-[13:39]: And the algorithms have gotten really weird and stupid. I've even noticed changes this week in groups on Facebook, which has been like my last remaining thread that's got me kind of on that platform. So yeah, I really think that if enough of us are giving wise counsel to our clients, because I know that we all know this. Clients don't know this. And there's that fear of missing out. If I'm not posting on these platforms, then I'm missing out. And that's not necessarily true. You might be missing out on a lot of chaos and messiness and opening yourself up to fake reviews, but you're not really missing out on much. And I even think that sometimes we miss opportunities like forums like Reddit, and there are others out there where people are actually coming to seek answers to legitimate questions, and they're engaging with human beings one-to-one.


Michelle Kane [13:39]-[13:39]: Yeah.


Karen Swim, APR [13:40]-[14:15]: I find more value, a lot of time, in seeking out information on those platforms than I do in the World Wide Web or through search or something else. So we have to, like you said, filter out the noise and stay focused on our mission and on our purpose. And we have to build community around ourselves, too, so that we can stay optimistic and engaged, because being in PR right now is not easy. It's never been for the faint of heart, certainly not now.


Michelle Kane [14:19]-[14:19]: So true.


Karen Swim, APR [14:19]-[14:28]: If there was somebody that would care if I quit, I would have probably sent my resignation letter three times this month.


Michelle Kane [14:29]-[15:18]: I tell you, I know, like we were saying before, I'm like, I know that we are in a way therapists. And if there weren't a ton of clinical hours required at this stage, that and an absence of a sugar daddy. Anyway, we hope that this has been helpful to you. We hope we've made you giggle a little bit. We hope we've been affirming in some way, because really, PR pros, we are a community. And we are so grateful for you, and we know you get it. So hit us up, tell us what you're experiencing. Go to soloprpro.com, send us a message. Please share this around if you find it valuable, if there's someone that you think might be helpful from hearing this as well. We thank you so much and until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.