The OU PRSSA chapter has started using a blog as our Chapter website…please check out ouprssa.wordpress.com. After months of frustration over not being able to update the website linked to our College (we still had the 2009 officers posted), we knew we needed to do something. But let me back up a bit, first.
This summer, I had the opportunity to teach a course on media relations, which included field trips to speak with public relations practitioners and journalists about what it took to build and maintain an excellent relationship with each other. Thanks to Evan Handy, one of my students in the class, we were able to schedule an audience with Damon Gardenhire, Director of Communication for the Oklahoma Department of Education (ODOE). During his presentation, Gamon mentioned that he no longer used a website to disseminate information and see feedback. His new strategy was to use a blog, because according to him it was easier to update, everything could be archived in one place and stakeholder feedback was easier to gather. Also, every news release, statement or media advisory became the news feed.
Serendipitously, I saw several articles indicating that this was becoming more and more prevalent in the industry. So, armed with this information and the consent of the executive committee, I pointed our Webmaster in this direction. Within a week, without ANY training, she had us up and running. It’s pretty plain right now, but at least the officers are current and we’ve got greater capacity to provide much more content to our members than ever before.
I’m not getting paid for this, honest! But it can certainly make your life easier if you go the blog route.
