I know YOU are reading my blog!

As the world of blogging grows and grows,
us bloggers are all wondering the same thing:
Who is reading my blog?

As I continue my education on social media, I am learning how important online tools are in the public relations profession. And even more important is how to measure your success online.

Measuring your blog allows you to discover what drives the consumer to buy, who are your loyal visitors and how you should tailor content to different demographics to make your blog as successful as possible.

There are general “engagement” metrics that should be apart of your monitoring:

• Unique visitors

• Time spent on site

• Total time spent per user

• Frequency of visits

• Depth of visit

• Conversions

To track most of these metrics you can use well-known web analytics tools such as Omniture and Google Analytics.

There are several other things you should look at when measuring your success or lack of for your social marketing efforts.
Some things to consider other than the ‘engagement’ metrics are:

Metric #1 Reading content
Lets say you want to look at who is reading your blog and where they are coming from. You can run a Google Analytics or Omniture analytic report to show you what’s the most popular content on your site, the time the visitor spent on your site, where they are coming from, and the bounce rate.

Metric #2 Contributing content
Comments left by readers is a quick and easy way to monitor the actual number of visitors who are interacting with your blog and you.

Metric #3 Who is booking marking your blog and your posts?
There are a couple of ways you can do this, you can use your analytic tool and run a click map report to see how many web visitors are clicking on the social bookmarking icons. Or you can create profiles in each of the bookmarking sites, such as Digg, Delicious, or Technorati and search for your blog’s URL.

Metric #4 Subscribing to a RSS feed
Your subscription measures how many visitors are subscribing to your RSS feeds.

Metric #5 Emailing Posts
If you allow your readers to email your posts, you can use your blog platform tool like Blogger or Wordpress to see how many emails are actually being sent from your site.

The main reason for social media measurement is to grasp an understanding of your visitors: Who are the loyal readers? What do they do on your site? What posts are popular among them? Learn about those people who visit your site. With a better understanding of your audience, you are able to cater directly to them.

Remember not to look at one report or one number, viewing a single metric result will not give you what you need to make the needed changes or quality decisions for your blog. Research and development each metric, each step and you will be provided with comprehensive measurement of your social media program.

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.”

Helpful sites and online tools for social media measurement:
KDPaine's PR Measurement Blog
Omniture
Google Analytics
Digg
Delicious
Technorati

The Internship aka "Give me the resume line!"

The Internship.
We all have had one here or there.
(If you haven't had one, well then you probably should look into that.)

My favorite internship came along during my Writing for the Media discussion held by favorite GTF, Leona. I vividly remember Leona asking the class who would like to be a PR/MySpace/Facebook intern for the nightclub, The Indigo District. Since the class consisted of all minors who were unaware of what the establishment was, I gladly raised my hand and took the position. The following week I met with my two supervisors and learned what my role and duties were as an intern.

The job was simple, update the club's popular social networking sites, post daily bulletins and friend as many people as possible. The results I was producing made my head supervisor and even the owner satisfied with my work.

Well until Facebook kicked me off.

Who knew there was a limit of friends you could add on Facebook?
I for sure didn't, hence my goal was to add all 900 of my friends in the first day of the account.
Facebook was none too happy with my actions, claiming they were "spam like" or what not. Within a couple of days of having the account, the social networking site banned The Indigo District. What was I to do? This was in fact half of my internship and I clearly ruined it.

After e-mails back and forth with the Facebook staff, it was clear - they were not going reactivate the account. Thus making me start my internship all over again, new e-mail, new page, new profile, and new friends. Luckily I didn't get in any form of trouble and continued to work there for another year, but the experience left me wanting another internship.

So this leaves me at: I need a new internship! Any ideas?

The Indigo District's Myspace

Facebook: Save? Delete? or Edit?

As I am growing older and on my way into the "real world,"
the notion of changing my Facebook account has come up.
More and more you hear about companies firing and hiring after
doing a simple Google search to find their hopefuls' MySpace and Facebook accounts.

As I look at my page, my photos, my comments, I wonder:
What do people other than my best friends think of me?

In the past months I have learned the importance of social networking and my future profession. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace can be a wonderful tool in meeting employers, friends and connections. As the years have passed these sites started as a form of entertainment and are now becoming a part of my adult life and future career. I feel as of now that it is time to redecorate my page.

I have had other PR friends who are so paranoid of a future employer finding their page, they delete their account all together. I don't know if I am ready to give up my Facebook addiction that quickly, there may have to involve a 12-step program or a city electrical blackout for that to happen.

So in the past year I have made baby steps in changing my account,
I have set it to private, I created a "limited friend list"
and I deleted random "friends" from Turkey named Cocoa and Blang.
BUT
I feel that isn't enough.
It is time to take the next step in privacy:
block my friends from seeing my photos and comments.
I know, I know, this is a huge step in my relationship with the social networking site, but the photos from my freshman Halloween are no longer important to me or my future employer.
(Well and no one needs to check out my freshmen 15.)

It will take time, but hopefully within the next term my Facebook account will be professional and an accurate representation of myself as a young adult.

Interesting articles I found:
-Degrees, jobs, careers, Facebook
-Career Development Center: Use Facebook with caution

Bravo Coca Cola

As one of the world's most popular brands, Coca Cola's company blog, Coca Cola Conversations, is an excellent example of using social media to connect with fans of the soft drink and continue to build brand recognition.

The single-authored blog concentrates on sharing information on a wide variety of topics, ranging from brand history to the value of collectibles. Author Phil Mooney has spent the last 30 years working with Coca Cola as their historian and archivist.

The site is perfect for the average consumer or memorabilia fanatic, because the posts are small clips of the company's history that can be viewed as entertaining and educational for fans worldwide.

The design of the blog gives a great first impression of the company. Simple, clean designs with each post shows Coke's strong marketing.

All in all - Coca Cola knows how to build their brand.
-Clearly we know this -
isn't "Coke" up there with "God" as the most popular words in spoken language?

Fun Vintage Coke Commercials:

Coca-Cola's Web Site

My First Blog Post

The world of blogging is on the rise, and I am proud to live in it.

Blogging is becoming more popular than ever for every industry. Companies, professionals and public relations agencies use blogs to build relationships, share interests and ideas, and spread research across the Internet.

Welcome to my blog.

My name is Katie Horley, and I am a senior at the University of Oregon. For the past four years I have studied public relations, communication studies and art history. As my college experience is close to ending, I hope to venture into the "real world" as an event coordinator. During the past five years, my love for planning events, small and big, has grown with my job at Oba Restaurant located in Portland, Oregon. Working in one of the city's top restaurants, I have watched and learned how to run a successful private dining room in the heart of the Pearl District.

This blog will explore my day-to-day experiences with public relations and event planning as I start the transition into life's next chapter.

Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, or advice.