Communications Blog • Kristin Magette

Somehow, joy

February 7, 2017 by Kristin Magette Filed Under: Personal 18 Comments

A year ago today, my husband’s twin sister passed away after a long, brave fight against colon cancer. Over the next few days, we said goodbye to a woman of beauty — full of light, love and laughter. The pain of this loss, even with weeks to prepare, was staggering. And while the pain has dulled with the passing of time and everyday life, it is still profound.

But somehow, the pain of losing Emily — the first loss of a 2016 that left us bare — has made me better. More patient, more open, more compassionate, more prayerful. It has made me aware of God’s voice, and grace. It has brought incredible people into my life as new friends, too many to mention. Abundance at its best.

The enduring pain, feeling as waves sweeping in from just outside my sight line, has forced me to intentionally practice self care, humility and forgiveness. And it’s taught me (and my kids) that it’s okay to cry when you’re hurting because we know the tears won’t last forever. And it is that certain hope — we won’t cry forever — that delivers the beauty of today. We are living. We are loving. We ache because this world is less beautiful without Emily. But the miracle? We are still here, and there is joy. Somehow.

So what can I do, one year later? How do I remember my one and only twin-law? How can this milestone be made into something more than tears? Find joy — or create it for someone else. Whether you knew her or not, I’d love your help choosing one of these things to do — today. For Emily. For me.

Hug someone tight, long and hard.
Sing along to a song on the radio, as if it were karaoke night and your very life depended on it.
Pray with a grateful heart.
Drink a glass of (very) sweet wine.
Take a photo of someone you love. (Or, in Emily fashion, take 100 photos of someone you love.)
Disregard any technology that makes life too complicated.
Indulge in something delicious.
Listen carefully to someone’s troubles, and show them you care with a smile or squeeze of the hand.
Laugh hard — especially if you are prone to snorting.
Say “I love you,” without hesitation.

Life is marked by the big moments, but it should be enjoyed by the little ones. A card game. An afternoon walk. A living room concert. Watermelon slices on the beach.

Thank you for sharing one little moment of your day to remember a woman you maybe never met — a wife, mom, sister, daughter, friend. A woman who, even on this day, is helping me find joy. Somehow.

An Authentic Brand

September 16, 2016 by Kristin Magette Filed Under: Direct sales, Personal, Personal branding Leave a Comment

A few years back, I worked hard to develop my personal brand. I would be publishing a book, surrendering to a couple rounds of head shots and investing in an officially sleek website. Not only did the personal branding process strengthen my professional focus, but it gave me a creative outlet that I genuinely enjoyed. A key moment came when a friend and I hammered out this summary one fateful afternoon:

I’m passionate about making things better through strategic communications and collaboration. And I’m crazy about my family, sharing stories, big laughs and great food.

It was perfection in my eyes. Even as my experience and qualifications grew, this spoke to all of my real passions and blended together my professional goals with my personal loves. It was a whole reflection of Kristin.

But what happens when personal or professional growth outgrows what was there before?

In the past few months, there’s been a lot. And there’s been a new side business in network marketing. As I’ve grown, I’ve started to worry about how to incorporate a larger sense of myself into the existing brand. As I recently told a couple of girlfriends one late night, the worry isn’t that what I originally identified as my brand is no longer true because, in fact, it still is. The worry has been taking a broader calling or purpose and figuring out how it is congruent with who I’ve been before. I feel a little bit like the traffic engineer determining how best to widen a busy road from two lanes to three, so maybe I’m worried because my traffic engineering knowledge is limited. But then again so is my network marketing knowledge … yet here I am.

Network marketing, direct sales, multi-level marketing — take your pick. It’s a place I never expected to find myself, and certainly one that challenges my comfort zone daily. But it had been calling my name, soft and clear, for months. And in the time since, I’ve discovered that sharing plant-based health and wellness products that help my loved ones feel their very best — that fits who I am, too! This business readily connects my communications skills with my desire to directly help the people I love.

Crazy or not, it’s a perfect fit. It’s challenging and rewarding. It helps me contribute more to our family’s financial security. And, full disclosure: I’m kind of starting to love it.

The best thing is, the authentic Kristin remains at the intersection of the circles, even with the new addition. If I grow and change as a person, it only makes sense that my personal brand would need to adjust. And despite the peace I’ve had on my new journey, there still was quiet panic as I began to create new and different type of congruence. But that panic eventually revealed a simple answer. One word.

I’m passionate about making things better through service, strategic communications and collaboration. And I’m crazy about my family, sharing stories, big laughs and great food.

When I stumbled on such a simple solution — the mere addition of the word service — I realized it was, in fact, a more authentic version of Kristin than even the first. Service — to people in my profession, to people I know, to strangers who ask for help — has always been me. It took a few bends in the road this year for this calling to come in clear. And it took a risk of starting a new business to make the shift clear in my mind. But once these things came into focus, so did my authentic personal brand. It all still fits.

Answering a Call

September 7, 2016 by Kristin Magette Filed Under: Growth & change, Personal 9 Comments

“So, tell me how you got a book deal.”

A straightforward question, asked by a school PR colleague and new friend over drinks this summer. And I was happy to tell the story of an e-mail on a snowy Sunday, asking me to expand an article into book form. Except that’s not what I told him.

Listening to myself answer (and seeing the half puzzled, half entertained look on his face as I spoke), I realized that there was a narrative swirling inside me that hadn’t yet found its way out. See, there’s a thing — a very strange thing — that’s been teeter-tottering inside my head for awhile. And if I can’t regularly tell if the teeter totter is up, or down, it’s hard to know what to say, or write. Bumping into a friend, or meeting up for coffee or lunch, I wavered between letting it all out (and likely startling the person in my company), or keeping it in. But as my husband will tell you, I’m not very … adept … at keeping things in.

So far, 2016 has been a year of uncommon pain, uncommon mystery and uncommon peace. And although this story doesn’t really fit a lunch date — let alone a 500-word blog template — it’s been burning lines in my brain for too long, so out it comes.

Uncommon pain.

My husband’s twin sister passed away on February 7, a Sunday. At 39 years old, she’d battled advanced colon cancer for nearly five years. She’d shown grace, courage, patience and enormous faith. Our hearts ache in a world without Emily.

Two weeks later our family dog suffered a stroke and passed away on February 21, a Sunday. Pet owners of the world understand the profound loss of a loyal friend of 13 years. She would have turned 14 a few weeks later. Our house is not the same without Bailey.

A couple months later, my aunt, age 49 with two beautiful teen daughters, went to bed feeling unwell on a Monday night in May. She didn’t wake up on Tuesday, following a massive heart attack in the night. Another wife and mom, gone much too soon.

And a month after that, our friend and beloved pastor passed away very suddenly after a short hospital stay. The news came at the end of the Mass; age 61, he had died, just moments before the Sunday morning service began. His absence is felt in our hearts, in our parish and in our community.

Uncommon pain. But also uncommon mystery.

On a Friday afternoon in May, I was sitting in my office when my cell phone rang. It was a number I didn’t recognize from a town a few hours away, and for the first minute or two, I was sure it was a wrong number. “Someone who knows you gave me your number and said you could help me.” … “I can’t talk now because I’m waiting for my appointment at the cancer center.” … “I need help with my kids.” … “I’m going to say a word, and if you understand what it means, you’ll understand what I need.” … “Trafficking.” I stopped in my tracks. I had to help.

Two Fridays later, I got a call at the office — this time on my desk phone. My coworker warned me, “the number is blocked, and she won’t give me her name.” I’ve had stranger transferred calls in my school PR life, so I answered. The woman on the other end of the line was suffering at the hands of a stranger, a cyber bully. She said her life was on the verge of ruin, following the disclosure of personal and financial information, and she was desperate. I hit pause on my day. I had to help.

A couple weeks later, an enormous box was delivered to my house. It was addressed to my husband, and inside was a box of 200 diapers, a very large box of overnight pull-ups, an industrial size package of dish soap and a refill of bottle soap. My husband checked his Amazon account and found no shipment. (A relief considering the items would have totaled $100, probably more.) We left it be, asked the UPS man and left it in the garage. Two weeks later, a Thursday, my friend who works at the domestic violence center posted on Facebook that there were a record number of kids at the shelter. They were in immediate need of large size diapers and pull-ups. I delivered our mystery shipment the next morning.

Uncommon mysteries. And uncommon peace.

In the spring and early summer, there were many more moments (though less incredible) when I’ve found myself at a crossroads with someone who needs help. There came a point where I realized this was more than a random series of events. In each of these moments — probably a dozen, if I’m honest — I’ve felt led. Guided. Used for a bigger purpose. If you’re a person of Christian faith, we call this the Holy Spirit. If you believe it’s God or gods or the Universe at work, I also hear you. I’m less concerned with the name of this force than the message it brings. It is calm, it is humble, it is gentle, it is powerful.

And the message it has delivered is that I must be unafraid to respond. Actively help those in need. Choose to serve the vulnerable. Watch and listen. Be ready. Be open.

Measuring Social Media

May 11, 2016 by Kristin Magette Filed Under: School PR, Social media Leave a Comment

Measuring social media isn’t hard, but it’s a process that is too often overlooked. We’re busy, and news feeds always flow forward. But measuring your social media efforts is much more than just looking back. In fact, the time you invest in measurement will pay dividends in focus, using every ounce of your effort for a valuable strategic advantage.

Let’s start with some basics. First, reach or impressions — the number of times your post showed up in somebody’s Facebook or Twitter feed — are key. (These numbers will increase exponentially when people share or retweet your post because many more people are seeing your post or tweet, likely including many people who aren’t already followers.)

The numbers measuring reach or impressions are generally the highest reading among the different types of metrics. A general rule of thumb says that you’re onto something if you can engage 10% or more of the people your post reaches. After all, scrolling past a post in your feed rarely makes a meaningful difference for your brand. That’s why engagement measurements — clicks, likes, comments, shares, retweets, video views — mean so much more. After all, these are the metrics that tell us if we’re really getting the most social value from our use of social media.

The great thing is, Facebook and Twitter have ready-made tools for you to build a content strategy that really will help you get the most value out of your efforts. If you want to know more about how to find your data, click through to great tips on using Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics.

Once you dig into your data, here’s what you’ll learn…

Who your followers are. Sure, you know where to find their names. But these tools reveal powerful insight into your followers’ demographics, from gender and age, to geographic location and preferred language. You’ll even find data related to occupation, income and education level. Never before have communicators enjoyed a resource with such rich information to identify and understand their audiences — all for free.

What your followers do. What days — and times of day — are they most likely to turn up on Facebook? Are they more likely to engage with a photo, a link, a video, or text-only posts? I’ve learned that the best time of day for me to post on our district page is between 9 and 10 p.m., any day of the week. So it comes as no surprise when posts at that flop at 10:30 a.m. take off if posted in the late evening.

Once we know who our followers are, when we’re more likely to reach them and what content they most prefer, our job as social media managers is no longer a guessing game. It’s specific and strategic. Mining your Facebook Insights or Twitter Analytics data is the first step in developing a content strategy that will deliver long-term results for your organization.

Any social media manager will get excited when a post goes crazy on social media, and I get it. Viral is exciting. Using metrics to get the biggest bang for your social media buck may not be exciting, but a data-driven content strategy is your best chance at viral success — and most importantly, long-term growth.

This post is the final in my series, Social Media Day Trips.

Strategies to Avoid a Hashtag Fail

May 9, 2016 by Kristin Magette Filed Under: School PR, Social media Leave a Comment

As the world of social media has evolved, so has the hashtag. What began as a humble idea on Twitter has grown to define much of the social media experience, making that experience as relevant and personalized as ever.

So, what is a hashtag? I often explain it this way:

Imagine you’re at an international conference with thousands of people attending. The breakfast agenda one morning includes small group discussions. You walk into a big ballroom filled with dozens of tables, and on each table sits a small sign indicating the topic being discussed at that table. Hashtags are, in essence, those table signs.

If you’re on social media, hashtags are specific conversations taking place around the world and around the clock. Clicking on a hashtag — for example, #schoolPR — is essentially choosing a discussion table in the ballroom; you’ll find people in a conversation about school public relations. Clicking on #leadership will show you a conversation about leadership, across a wide array of professions. And in the midst of a major cultural or news event, hashtags will plug you into the latest information, ideas and reactions from virtually anywhere on earth.

As hashtags have become so central to social media, they also have attracted brands, event organizers and others looking for a little something special to help them stand out — but all too often, the plan flops. Here are basic strategies to help you avoid a hashtag fail.

Understand the basics. Hashtags are not case sensitive (#leadership will yield the same results as #Leadership), but they can only include letters and numbers. Posting with #We’reExcited will only register as #We because the apostrophe, like any punctuation mark, will separate the rest of the characters that follow it. Here is a nice resource for the hashtag novice. Also keep in mind that hashtags don’t belong to anyone or any group. There are countless stories of hashtags becoming part of unintended conversations and, in some cases, creating far more embarrassment than value. Just ask the social media marketing team at McDonald’s. If your hashtag begins to appear frequently in unrelated discussions, or especially if it has been hijacked by a damaging conversation, it’s time to evaluate your options.
Make it memorable, as in, easy to remember. Avoid abbreviations that wouldn’t be intuitive to the average follower. If people are tweeting about #AcmePaper all year long, resist the temptation to create a new hashtag for your annual seminar. As tempting as it is, you’ll leave your followers (and others interested in your topic) trying to remember on the fly if it’s #AcmePaper2016 or #AcmePaper16 or maybe it’s #AcmePaperSeminarNY? If there’s already a hashtag that works, think long and hard before you invent a variation. An event or other integrated promotion is the perfect chance to celebrate the existing hashtag and add real value to the discussion before, during and long after your event.
Keep it short. This is another reason to stick with #AcmePaper over #AcmePaperSeminarNY. If your people are on Twitter, don’t eat up their available characters with a giant hashtag. The more characters in your hashtag, the fewer of the maximum 140 that remain to express ideas. A shorter hashtag is easier to remember, and easier to incorporate into a tweet. Win-win. But in your quest to keep it short, don’t abbreviate so many words that it becomes difficult to remember or understand. #AcmePaper is always a better choice than #AcmePpr.
Follow and engage. If you or your organization uses a hashtag — and in particular if you ask others to use it — spend the time and effort it takes to monitor and engage. People tweeting with your hashtag should enjoy replies, likes and retweets whenever appropriate. If your hashtag is used in a negative tweet, a reply is always appropriate. (If someone called you to complain about your organization, would you sit silently on the phone? No, you’d engage!) Seeing someone tweet with your hashtag doesn’t necessarily bring the same responsibility as a tweet that is directed at you with a mention, but I’m pretty sure it’s impossible too much engagement with followers is not a thing. Such subscription tools as Keyhole and Hashtracking can make it simple to monitor hashtags across more than one platform. Tweetdeck is an easy — and free — way to monitor use of a hashtag on Twitter. Even a daily or hourly basic Twitter search of your hashtag will work, if you are consistent.

Hashtags are a powerful tool to lead and engage in a conversation on social media. What’s your favorite hashtag to monitor or engage?

This post is the third in my series, Social Media Day Trips.

Live from Facebook: Your Video!

May 4, 2016 by Kristin Magette Filed Under: School PR, Social media Leave a Comment

Facebook leaders surprised the world by announcing on April 6 that live video had been made available in all Facebook pages groups. Cue the applause — and every conceivable emoji — as social media managers let that big news soak in.

Facebook isn’t the first to offer live stream video. Periscope (the go-to streaming tool for Twitter) and Meerkat, hit the scene in March 2015 and quickly established the next level of engagement. After all, live stream video offers real-time interaction and organic engagement unlike anything we’ve seen before. But Facebook’s announcement changed the game. Facebook, after all, is the largest and most active platform — by a long shot — for social engagement.

For school systems, this news offers the biggest chance yet to showcase the great things happening in our classrooms and buildings. Pep rallies, award presentations, science fairs, prize patrols…now observers outside our schools can experience in real time the dynamic, supportive learning environments that we enjoy each day. Consider, as well, that live video allows parents to be a fly on the wall during a special activity, student presentation and even the occasional everyday classroom moment. Can’t make it to the special science presentations at 2 p.m. or the choir concert at 7 p.m.? If a parent can get an Internet connection, it won’t be missed.

Like so many other new frontiers, live video is one that we explore as we go. Here are guidelines and tips to consider as you broadcast on Facebook, or on any other live video platform:

Ensure that you have the policies and procedures in place to manage the risks of social media engagement, and consider a bit of professional development to prep your teachers about the world of live video.
Legal restrictions for performances still apply with live video. Whether it’s a second grade music concert or a high school dance team performance, the vast majority of popular songs are protected by copyright law.
Perfection is never the goal, but quality makes a difference. If possible, use a tripod (or a gimbal if you’re moving) to stabilize the video. Using an external microphone, rather than your phone’s built-in mic, will greatly improve your audio.
Practice helps. Don’t wait until the big moment to learn how to work the live stream process. Test it out on your own personal account — your personal Facebook friends are likely a more sympathetic audience than your district’s thousands of followers!
Like any other post, Facebook live video will archive to your Facebook page, group or event. You may only have a half dozen live viewers, but your views and engagement will balloon over the next few hours. Facebook has made it clear that live video will rank well in news feeds, and that certainly appears to be true.

Finally, remember that broadcasting live video will require a strong signal on your phone or tablet. For an award presentation or other short, special event, planning ahead will help you avoid disappointment. Visit the place where you’ll be, check out your cellular bars and wifi signal, and consider a private hot spot if you’re concerned about signal strength. And if things go south in the moment, remember to switch your device over to the trusty video camera. After all, better to capture a special moment on traditional video and upload it to your social feeds, than to miss it completely.

An earlier edition of this post appeared on the NSPRA Social School Public Relations blog and is part of my series, Social Media Day Trips.

Great content is king of social media

May 2, 2016 by Kristin Magette Filed Under: School PR, Social media Leave a Comment

Put a group of social media managers in a room, and the conversation invariably turns to content. If you manage a social media account, you’re always armed with a story about the latest post that wowed — or flopped. There’s no exact formula for social media success, but the most engaging posts usually benefit from a combination of video or photos, timing, placement and engagement from followers. And no doubt, shelling out a few dollars to promote a post or tweet can help, especially if it’s spent on a targeted audience defined by demographic data.

But the reality about successful social media content is much simpler than graphs of data — and much cheaper than a Kansas school district communications director wants to spend. The secret to engaging social media content, organic or paid, is great content. Period. Content is king.

So, what is great social media content? It’s giving your people what they want! Posts that catch fire and engage the most followers nearly always fall into one of these categories…

People they know. This can be someone they personally know — in a school district it includes students, employees, parents and community members. Or it can be someone people feel like they know — a favorite sports player, musician, movie star or other public figure. Seek always to share good news or updates about the people in your organization. Use local “stock” photos to accompany your posts, whenever possible — and remember that the soul-less generic stock photo is worse than no photo at all. Really, it is.
Places they love. Picture your grandmother’s home, the main street of your hometown, or the iconic campus building at your alma mater. Favorite places represent a host of memories, experiences and emotional attachments. In a school, there is never a shortage of stories from libraries, kindergarten classrooms, auditorium stages and basketball courts. As you travel around your organization, community and state, take photos of the places that mean something to your audience. And watch for stories — often posted in other social media communities — that connect your organization with the places your followers love.
Information they need — which, incidentally is not the same thing as information I need my audience to know. As an average wife/mom/crazy lady, the things I need to know include when the school calendar is set, when the rain has canceled soccer practice, when head lice have been found in my child’s class and the last possible day I can turn in a permission slip for my kindergartner to go on a field trip to the zoo. These messages — and others that meet me in my time of need — will resonate, every time. Now, if you have information you need people to know, find a way to frame it in your audience’s need-to-know. Consider your audience’s WII-FM, or “What’s in it for me?” Strive to align your message to the things that motivate their interest, and you’ll enjoy the engagement this type of message deserves.
Truth in the midst of rumor. Budget cuts, layoffs, leadership changes, student or employee discipline, legal action — these are just a few of the things that can fire up the rumor mill. Don’t pass up the chance to provide the facts about a topic that triggers side conversations, misinformation and speculation. Because these messages can take off in a hurry, spend some time before you click “post” to think through possible comments and reactions, and the ways you’ll respond. Often I’ll even type up a few replies to likely questions and save them in the cloud, giving me the ability to easily respond from any device, at any time.
Calm leadership. Whether it’s the rumor mill or a critical crisis, people long for a calm, steady leader to trust and follow. Especially during a crisis — school lockdown, public health scare, severe weather or other high-stakes situation — a message that demonstrates calm leadership will resonate and engage a social media community like few messages can. No question, these messages often take courage to post, especially when details are still emerging. But if done correctly, you will engage your followers in the short term and build meaningful trust in the long term.

If you focus messages around these key areas, your audience will engage, whether you pay to boost your post or not. In fact, boosting a post doesn’t make content great. A paid post may show up in people’s feeds, but it’s as likely as ever to be ignored if it doesn’t engage your audience’s interest. But give your people what they want — paid or organic — and engagement is sure to follow.

This post is part of my series, Social Media Day Trips.

Somehow, joy

An Authentic Brand

Answering a Call

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Hi, I’m Kristin

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