3 reasons why college students should get an internship

By: Alycia King, Intern, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Staying Safe on Social Media

By: Allison Barnes, Leonard & Finco Public Relations 

Being an active social media user and working with it day-to-day, we see and hear about updates to platforms all the time. New features appear fancy and fun, getting users excited to try them out. One downside, however, is not knowing how that update impacts our account.  

For example, this June brought an update to Snapchat that pinpoints to friends where you are located on a map. But here’s the scary part. The update shares your exact location and depending on your settings, will also share your location with the public. Looking at the map, users can zoom in on your location, which includes street names and an aerial view of where you are.

This update was meant to show Snapchat users where large amounts of activity are going on, but the controversy of sharing the user’s location detracted from Snapchat’s goal.

Staying safe on social media is essential. You also need to be smart and always be aware of changes to settings. Follow these steps to being safe:

• Check your privacy and account settings regularly, and think about who you want to see your posts or profile. Social media platforms provide options on who can see your profile and what you want them to see. These options range from completely private, to only your friends, to open for everyone to see. 

• Be smart about what you are sharing with followers. Are you comfortable with sharing your location or what you are doing? Will a photo or post embarrass a family member, friend or employer? Being cautious of what you are posting is another way of staying safe.

• Keep your personal information personal. Hide information like your email address, phone number and home address from your profile and don’t publicly share this information. If someone you know requests this information from you over social media, private message or email your information to them.

So how can you keep your location private from the latest Snapchat update? Open the app and pinch your fingers together like you would to zoom out. The map screen will open, with a pinpoint on your current location. In the upper right-hand corner, click on “Settings.” Three options will be provided under “who can see my location,” Ghost Mode, My Friends, and Select Friends. Ghost Mode will hide your location from anyone, including your friends on Snapchat. 

Do you make common grammar mistakes? Your not alone!

By: Cole Buergi, Leonard & Finco Public Relations 

Of course, “your” is spelled incorrectly for its use in the sentence above. It should be, “you’re.” This word is one of my Achilles heals in writing. I know the difference between your and you’re but, for some reason, my brain doesn’t always translate that to my fingers when typing. 

Fortunately, a recent story in Inc. Magazine makes me feel a bit better about it. The story titled, “43 Embarrassing Grammar Mistakes even Smart People Make,” highlights common spelling or speaking errors.

The top five include:

1. First-come, first-serve

It should actually be "served." Without the d, the phrase above suggests that the first individual who arrives will be the one who serves everyone, which is not the idiom's intent.

2. I could care less

Think about this one for a minute. The way it's written above suggests you possess care which still could be allocated to the situation in question. "I couldn't care less" is correct because it communicates that "I have no more care to give."

3. Irregardless

This is not a word. It's simply "regardless," as in "Regardless of what you think about grammar, you'll look silly if you use it incorrectly."

4. "I" as the last word in a sentence.

This mistake is remarkably common, yet a correct example would be "Karlee talked with Brandon and me." The trick to getting this one straight is to take the other person's name out of the sentence and see if your personal pronoun choice still sounds right. "Karlee talked with I" is awkward and incorrect.

5. "Me" as the first word in a sentence.

I hear people saying things such as "Me and Brandon met at Starbucks this morning" all the time, even though it's always wrong. "Brandon and I met at Starbucks this morning" is correct.

You can check out the full list on Inc. Magazine’s website. Are there any on the list that you’ve written or said incorrectly?

Unfortunately for me, your and you’re didn’t make the list, however I’m pretty confident it would have been number 44 had the list been expanded. Thanks Inc. for making me feel a bit better.

If your business is on social media, you need a social media report

By: Noelle Cutler, Social Media Specialist, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Let’s say your business uses social media, and you put in the time and effort to create content calendars, engaging posts and compelling graphics. But you’re missing one vital piece: a social media report. Skipping a social media report is like studying for a test, taking a test but then not bothering to have your test graded. If you’re not analyzing your social media success, what’s the point of trying to create successful posts? Here are three reasons why you need to conduct regular social media reports:

1. To determine the best content. If you have a good content calendar, then you know what kind of content you post each week; for instance, a Throwback Thursday or an employee spotlight each week. After a month or two of posting these, you should analyze how they’re performing. Are people sharing, liking and commenting on those posts? If the answer is yes, continue to post that kind of content. It’s pretty simple! 
2. To determine the best times/days. Here’s something you should be testing. If you’re posting similar content on Thursday at 8 a.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m., which post is reaching the most people and getting the most engagement? The answer can give you insight into when your audience is most likely to see your content. Facebook Insights actually shows you what days and times your followers are online. Compare this to the success of those two similar posts on different days and it should give you some additional insight. 
3. To determine what ISN’T working. If you have a great idea for a post, you should try it! Social media is a lot of trial and error to determine what your audience responds to. Don’t be scared to deviate from the normal routine, but don’t forget to look at the results of that new idea. With Facebook Insights, you can look at an individual post to see if you had anybody “hide” that post or unlike your page. That gives you some pretty good insight into what posts your followers don’t care to see.

A social media report doesn’t have to be extensive and super-detailed. You don’t need to see the results of every single thing you post. I recommend looking at the following on a monthly or quarterly basis: number of posts, likes and reach; time/date/content of top-performing posts; and follower demographics. After analyzing these areas, you can create posts for next month that are even better!