With the advent of the New Year it’s time to have a look back at what’s happened and what we’ve learned during the previous year. I started this blog two years ago and it’s important for me to reflect on its performance in 2013 and make a comparison with 2012. Only so will I be able to see what’s worked and what hasn’t, what you’ve liked and read the most and so this will allow me to focus exactly on that content that you, my readers, are most interested in.

2013 was the year of many firsts in my life – many of those events I’ve shared with you here:

• I graduated with a Double Degree Bachelor in International Business, having submitted my second dissertation about social media for sustainability communications.
• I started my first full-time job as a Social Media Account Manager at Brandzeichen – a Communications Consultancy in Düsseldorf, part of the Ketchum network.
• I published my first book, and then my second too, only at the age of 23.
• I was mentioned in the bestselling PR and social media book Share This Too as the only woman among the five students listed as early social media adopters and pioneers in “making a name for themselves and kick-starting their careers through blogging and other forms of media.”
• I created yet another infographic, and then another one, which I am very proud of as I have so managed to improve my skills in developing visual content.
• I had the first contributed post published on my blog after my Google Page Rank jumped up significantly – this is, I think, the first step towards monetising the blog.

At the end of my first year of blogging

Over the past few decades our world has faced some remarkable changes due to the rapid development of new technology and the Internet. However, a few years back, a new era began, an era where ordinary people have a 'say' on every possible matter, anytime, anywhere - the emergence of social media has altered our lives enormously by giving everyone the opportunity to be a publisher and a communicator. This, in turn, has had a huge impact on the Public Relations practice, which has always been concerned with communicating and building relationships with various publics.

How and why social media affected the PR industry is the topic of my second book “Social Media and the Rebirth of PR: The Emergence of Social Media as a Change Driver for PR”, published by Anchor Academic Publishing.

The book covers the fundamentals and the development of PR and social media over the years, thereby emphasising the differences between PR now and PR before the emergence of social media. It not only describes how exactly social media altered the PR industry as a whole, but also how communications professionals are practicing PR using social media in their work and private lives as well.

Contributed Post

Over the years, social media marketing has become one of the largest advertising markets in the world. Marketing expert Heidi Cohen reports that over 90% of Inc. 500 companies use at least one form of social media platform. Even more telling, 62% of those say that social media is at least somewhat necessary to their growth.

The growing trend towards social media and the sheer depth of communication it allows between brands and consumers hasn’t escaped the eye of the online gaming industry. Numerous bingo sites have tried to leverage the power of social media, but only a few have survived to this day. Cashcade’s Foxy Bingo is one such brand creating marketing that “goes beyond just a sales pitch”.

We’ve all heard numerous stereotypes about men and women. I, myself, have written on the topic. It isn’t news that men and women are viewed differently in our society, and so are their capabilities and virtues. For example, a successful male leader is mostly called strong because he’s the real boss; a successful female leader on the other hand is often labeled as ‘bitchy’. Exactly such stereotypes and gender labeling are brilliantly exposed in an emotional new ad by Pantene Philippines that I want to show you today.

In less than 60 seconds the commercial covers five double standards women often face and so brilliantly tells the story of how men and women with identical work behaviour are seen differently. For example, a male speaker is “persuasive”, while a female speaker is “pushy”; a well-dressed male is “smooth”, a well-dressed lady is seen as “show-off”.

The ad is sincere, with a strong, but simple message that has nothing to do with what Pantene actually sells (hair products).

Over the last few years two relatively new business philosophies have become the trendy buzzwords in the corporate space – social media and sustainability. The rise of social media has provoked a complex cultural and communications shift in the way people share information and participate in conversations, resulting in the empowerment of the individual to demand change as well as to expect responsibility and social consciousness from brands to strike the triple bottom line balance.

This new social economy is based on engagement, relationships and mutual trust where relevance to the individual is the main currency for meaningful communications. Thus, innovation has become crucial for companies to reach, educate and inspire this new consumer about sustainability.

However, educating and inspiring this connected generation to embrace sustainability has proven to be a major challenge for brands. To a large extent this challenge is due to the fact that companies have difficulty making use of the right avenues to communicate their efforts and why they are of such importance for each stakeholder.

To truly reach people in the social economy brands are now required to heavily rely on those new tools and channels that the community has embraced so quickly – social media.