Trish Skram

Recently Trish Skram came and talked to our PR Tactics class on the benefits of blogging.  Trish is an alumni from UW-Whitewater with a double degree in marketing and speech communication with an emphasis in public relations. During her junior year, she got an internship with Mercy and it turned into a full time job. Trish has held a variety of roles but now is the media specialist and public relations manager.

Blogging is starting to become a more common tool for companies to utilize to help gain awareness and loyalty and 77% of internet users read blogs. There are many reasons to blog including to generate content, network, gain knowledge and establish expertise.  As part of her job, Trish manages the blog for Mercy. Besides working for Mercy, she also does some freelance work and blogs for the Janesville Gazette and WHPPMS.

In 2008, Trish decided to launch her own personal blog to help separate her from others in the field. 58% of people say that they are better known in their industry because of blogging.  At first she was nervous, but had guideness from a friend, Sarah Evans. Many people have fears when it comes to blogging. There are a number of tools to help set up your blog but some of the most popular ones are blogger and word press. A lot of people think that they don't have time and 60-80% of blogs are abandoned within the first month. Trish said to be consistent when you are blogging. Try and write new posts on the same day of the week so that your read can expect this.   A lot of people are unsure what they should write about, but Trish gave us some ideas including 10 best/worst, tips and tricks, how to's, lists, interviews and more. People are also afraid of looking stupid and not having the right information. Trish used the Nike slogan and said that you just have to do it. It is ok if you make mistakes; you just have to learn from them and move on.  When deciding what to write she keeps in mind three guidelines:

1. To grow her network and learn from others
2. Help better the PR/communications industry
3. Talk about what she knows and loves

To be successful with your blog you should:

• Know what you want to get out of it
• Know your audience
• Be personal and positive
• Encourage engagement from readers
• Tip from Trish: She likes to end her blogs with a question to help encourage comments
• Be visible: promote your blog.

Besides blogging, Trish also talked a little about Twitter.  Twitter produces 95 million tweets per day.  Trish said that she has a few twitter accounts, both personal and professional.  She mentioned that social media is becoming a recruiting tools and 55% of corporations used social media to seek job applicants.

For more information on Trish you can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.