Adam has the goal of becoming either a songwriter or a screenwriter, but at the time Turkle meets him, he is just trying to make ends meet so that he can work on his passion projects.

There’s a problem, though.

Adam is not feeling productive or validated in anything he is doing in his real life.

As a release, he turns to two online games, and slowly, his online reality becomes far more pleasurable and rewarding than his real life.

In playing Civilization, for example, Adam is a ruler, a monarch. He can save “people.” He can earn loyalty from his subjects. Heck, he can save the world. Adam is finding himself playing these games for 15-hour-long stretches. When he stops playing he gets depressed almost immediately.

What really got my attention about this story was not these details, however. It was a much smaller portion of the story. Adam tells Turkle he once met a great woman named Erin. They had played online Scrabble together. Adam describes her as his best friend and confidante and then mentions he has lost track of her. “She moved on to a different game.” From best friend to nothing in 60 seconds. What does this say about Erin’s status as a best friend? What does it say about Adam that he refers to a passing online acquaintance in those terms?

The point of Turkle’s book is that while social media connects us, it also dehumanizes us. Just as Adam could play Civilization to fill various holes in his life, people can connect with other humans online that similarly fill gaps from the real world. Maybe you stay connected to me because I often tell you how smart you are, and that’s something you don’t hear very often in your offline life. When your self-esteem is low, therefore, you might seek me out, tell me what you’re up to, and get your fill of validation.

Here’s where it gets interesting, though. Once I have filled that need for you and I’ve gotten you feeling better, you can sign out of our conversation. I can be dismissed, much like taking a battery out of a robot. Now you can go be your confident self online or offline. As Turkle puts it, we become spare parts for each other.

Look back on the story of Erin “changing games” and therefore losing contact with Adam. Let’s say Facebook was suddenly shut down by evil aliens who took over the government. You are no longer able to sign in to communicate with your connections there. How many people would you have to talk to in that scenario?

Having left “that game,” would you lose touch with 90 percent of the people you talk to daily now? The answer, if you think about it, is probably yes. Yet we call each other friends, give updates on our families and our health, and strive, often, to extend our online friendships into something more.

According to Turkle, this does not differ from how humans relate to Artificial Intelligence. Any being that makes you feel loved can cause you to feel attachment and even affection, and she goes to great pains to prove this fact. But robots – whether they are your social media connections or your kid’s furby, are even better than real life because if you don’t feel like dealing with them, you can just turn them off.

You can go “off grid.” You can turn off your email. In unplugging yourself from your social media networks and the online world, I posit what you’re really doing is unplugging your robot friends till you want to deal with them again. Friends have become objects of convenience.

The repercussions of this realization can be complex and multi-layered, of course. We do not like to think that we use actual human beings in this way, nor do we like to think we are used this way. But consider what would happen if you made all of your social media outlets unavailable. How many people would still have the ability to contact you via phone or in person?

We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. Freaky, isn’t it?

The post Social Media Networks: Robot Friends with Off Switches appeared first on Spin Sucks.

Most of you already at least know of Mitch. He is the president of Twist Image, one of North America’s best digital marketing agencies (and headquartered in my second country, Canada), and is a speaker, road warrior, father, husband, journalist, blogger, music lover, and author.

His latest book – which came out yesterday – Ctl Alt Delete and he’s going to be on the blog today to chat with you about it.

Just like you use those command keys to reboot your computer, Mitch’s latest book is about how to reboot and rebuild your business model. He believes, if you don’t, not only will your company begin to slide, you may not have one to go to every day in as little as five years.

If you don’t own a business, that’s okay! This book is for you too. Just insert “job” or “career” in place of “business.”

I’m excited for you to chat with him about that and more.

Today’s Livefyre Q&A

At noon ET (that’s 11:00 CT, 10:00 MT, and 9:00 PT for those of you who can’t do time zones), Mitch is going to be hanging out in the comments so you can ask him anything and everything about his newest book, about his previous book – Six Pixels of Separation, what it’s like to attend the TED (not a TEDx) and Cannes, any famous people he’s met, how he moved from music to advertising, where he thinks this industry is going, or how he liked Star Wars.

In order to participate, all you have to do is:

• Make sure you have a Livefyre account or be ready to sign in with one of your social networks.
• Set a reminder for noon ET today.
• Order the book so you can help Mitch out, but also get your learn on.
• Create a list of questions.
• Come back here, scroll to the bottom, and write a comment in the form of a question. As soon as you hit “post comment,” Mitch will see it and reply to you. You can even join the conversation around questions others are asking, if you like.

We’ll be here for an hour so you can join us the entire time or step in and out during the hour. It’s entirely up to you; just make sure you’re here before 12:59.

Win a Copy

Those of you who participate in today’s Livefyre Q&A (even if you’re late to the party, but not if you’re an Arment Dietrich employee) will be entered in a random drawing for a free copy of the book.

We bought six copies and will give them all away, but you have to actually leave a comment, ask a question, or participate in the chat to be entered in the drawing. Otherwise we won’t know you were here.

Get ready with your questions and join the conversation. And don’t fear! If you missed the live portion of this, we’ll keep the drawing open until midnight PT so you still have time to get in your questions.

Win One-on-One Time with Mitch

As well, we are holding an Instagram contest and the winner gets an hour with Mitch. If he’s in your city for a speaking engagement, it will be in person. If he’s not, it will be over Skype.

This is how it works:

• Take a picture of your pet reading Ctrl Alt Delete.
• Upload it to Instagram (or take the photo with your Instagram app).
• Tag your photo with #spinsucks.

That’s it! We will randomly select a winner on July 17.

All you have to do is buy the book, take a photo of your pet “reading” it, and upload to Instagram. We’ll do the rest.

Former Guests and Who’s Next

For former guests, check out Margie Clayman, Sarah Robinson, Mark Story, Beth Hayden, Sarah Evans, Stanford Smith, Chris Brogan, and C.C. Chapman.

And following is the lineup through September so mark your calendars! Same bat time, same bat channel.

• June 19 – Danny Brown and/or Sam Fiorella
• July 24 – Chuck Hemann
• August 21 – Jay Baer
• September 18 – DJ Waldow
• October 23 – Tom Martin
• November 13 – Me! (to talk about Spin Sucks, the book, and give away a few copies!)
• December 18 – TBD

If you have a recommendation on who to fill the very last slot, let me know! Our only requirement is they have published a book and it centers around PR, marketing, social media, or entrepreneurship.

See you today at noon!

The post Join Mitch Joel for a Special Livefyre Q&A Today appeared first on Spin Sucks.

It’s a coincidence, but we consume blogs and beers at about the same rate.

Each week, the average American has 4.2 drinks and reads 4.1 blogs (sources: Gallup, Hubspot).

So if your blog was a beer, what kind would it be?

Every blog has a flavor. Like beer, some are light and some are heavy.

Some have a lot of flavor, others don’t. Let’s explore this ridiculous metaphor and imagine your blog in a pint glass…

Beer Blogging

The Light Beer
The basic lager. The domestic microbrew. Labels may vary, but the taste is pretty much the same. Often found in red plastic cups. Some people love Miller Lite. They’re brand loyal, just like some of your readers. But taste your last few posts. Do they read like a lot of other blogs? Could they have been written by anyone? If your blog tastes like water, that’s not a good thing. Your blog should sound like you. It should have a personality and style of it’s own. Make your blog a microbrew with a label and flavor that distinguishes itself from the big guys.

The IPA
Ales have flavor. Sometimes they’re so hoppy they make your face pucker. You feel them as much as you taste them. These are the blogs that make you feel something. They have an opinion. They’re not shy. They have passion and a natural voice. They know who they are, and they take a stand. Sometimes they’re negative. Sometimes they’re personal.

The Stout
Ah, the heavyweights of the beer world. For most of us, a stout beer isn’t a casual, everyday thing. Drinking a big glass of alcoholic black liquid is always a deliberate act. These are the practical, no-nonsense blogs with heavy content. The stouts are the big how-to posts, the well-researched reference pieces, and the 2,500 word epic posts. They may be slower to pour, and people don’t want them everyday, but these posts get bookmarked, and these newsletters get saved.

Tap the Keg or Stock the Fridge?
A cold draft is great. But if your blog is one giant keg of the same stuff, visitors might get bored. Even if visitors love what you have on tap, it’s still good to have some variety. Keep some microbrews in the fridge, and mix it up!

• Find new brewmasters! Invite guests to post on your site. They’ll bring new content and maybe a new audience.
• Try something seasonal! Change the topics and tone based on what’s happening.
• Give your patrons the beer they desire! If your analytics (and their bar tab) show they like a certain flavor, make sure to keep it in the rotation.

Drunk with Content
If blogs were beer, we’d all be hammered. There are tens of millions of blogs on the Internet. All that content makes it harder to stand out. This is why it’s so important to use your own voice (IPAs) and to sometimes publish something substantial (stouts). The web doesn’t need another Bud Light!

Keep it Flowing!
Whatever you do, maintain a regular frequency of frosty cold blog posts, even if it’s monthly or quarterly. If your blog is tapped out, you might find your regulars quenching their thirst at another bar.

Two questions: What’s your favorite beer…and what type of beer does your blog best resemble?

The post Beer Blogging: If Your Blog was a Beer… appeared first on Spin Sucks.

You talk to your peers and trusted advisers and everyone recommends you hire a PR firm.

But what does that mean? How to choose a PR firm for your business?

Typically, business leaders hear “PR” and they instantly think about seeing their name in lights. After all, if celebrities, sports figures, and politicians can become famous seemingly overnight through the media, why wouldn’t it work for you?

Publicity vs. PR

It can work for you, but there is a difference between that – which is really publicity - and PR.

Publicity or earned media or media relations is all about getting your organization covered in the news. It’s great for the ego, it’s great for building awareness, and it’s great for credibility. It’s not great, however, for making the phone ring or for increasing sales.

When combined with PR, it can be a very powerful tool in both building your organization’s reputation and growing your sales.

So what is it, then, a PR firm should do?

In today’s digital age, a PR firm should begin to look a bit like their marketing peers. Not only should they be focused on media and blogger relations, crisis and issues management, event production, and strategy, they also should be doing content (blogs, white papers, ebooks, webinars), email marketing, social media, and more.

They should have a process in place that helps you generate leads and nurture those leads until they’re ready to buy. They should be working hand-in-hand with your sales team (or with you, if you don’t have sales yet) to grow the top line. They should be able to measure their efforts to real business goals. In other words, if they can’t tell you how they’ll help you grow your sales, they’ll be focused instead on increased Facebook fans, lots of stories, and increased Twitter followers.

While those things are important in brand building, they don’t mean a thing if those people don’t buy.

How to Choose a PR Firm

When you’re working through how to choose a PR firm, ask the following questions:

1. Do they have experience in your industry? It used to be more important the PR firm have industry experience, but it’s less so today because the web provides so much information to get smart quickly. Even so, if they have industry experience, the learning curve won’t be as steep.
2. Can they give you case studies? The case studies could be proprietary (we have three clients who won’t allow us to post their case studies on our site), but they should have them and they should detail the results they achieved for the client.
3. Are they willing to share references? Even for the clients they no longer work with. It’s important for you to have a full understanding of their strengths and weaknesses before hiring them. Every organization has its faults. Is the PR firm willing to let someone else tell you what theirs are?
4. Do they understand how you make money? If they do, it’s more likely they can help you achieve your business goals.
5. Do they do more than media relations? If not, you’re hiring a publicist, not a PR firm. That is fine, if that’s what you want. But if you want more than stories in your newspaper or business journal, look for a firm that recommends an integrated program.
6. Will they work with other firms? In some cases, you may also hire an advertising agency or a specialized firm, such as social media or web design and development. Can they play nicely in the sandbox with those firms?
7. Can they show you real results for other clients? We have a client that, in 2011, we generated $2.6 million on a $90,000 annual budget. Last year we generated $3.2 million on the same budget (we got a raise this year). Can they demonstrate that kind of value?
8. Are they willing to put some skin in the game? I’m not saying they should work solely on commission or performance; most firms can’t afford to do that and still keep the lights on. But are they willing to set a low retainer for a piece of the revenue they help you generate?
9. Do they pay attention to metrics and data? These are the things that help you make informed and educated decisions about the work you do through a PR program. Ask them to show you what kinds of metrics and data they use to help them tweak their programs as they progress.

There are probably a zillion other things you can ask, but this a good list to get you started. The other thing that is important is chemistry. No matter how smart they are or the great results they get, if you don’t like them, you won’t be working with them in six months.

The mantra “hire slowly and fire fast” rings true when hiring a PR firm. Ask the right questions, get lots of information, and make a decision based partly on gut and partly on their past results.

A version of this first appeared in my weekly AllBusiness column.

The post How to Choose a PR Firm for Your Business appeared first on Spin Sucks.

That said, I did learn some valuable lessons from the suggestion I had plagiarized someone’s work.

In today’s digital day and age, these social plagiarism accusations are fairly common, and there’s a chance it could happen to you, if it hasn’t already.

So, here’s what I learned from being publicly accused of plagiarism.

Hopefully they’ll be valuable to you as well.

Don’t Ignore the Accusation

As soon as I saw the comment, I went to my team for guidance and support. Right away we began analyzing both posts to see if the accuser had a valid argument – because, as I mention below, we’re all only human – and sometimes humans make mistakes. There are several tools you can use to run these checks – we used Grammarly - and the post in question never came up.

Always, Always, Always Attribute

In today’s world of non-stop information, we seem to be forever reading. You might have read posts and forgotten you’ve even seen them! Then, you sit down to write, and accidentally craft a sentence you’ve seen somewhere else without even realizing it. If you have the time to take a step back, you’ll usually notice, and think: Wait a second, did I read this somewhere?

In my case, I wasn’t careful. I was in a rush to turn in my next post on time, and I didn’t credit the article I drew my original inspiration from. Although, ironically, it still wasn’t the post that was cited as the plagiarized work. In fact, it was from a huge publication, and most likely would never have been noticed – but still – this is a HUGE no-no. I know that.

I studied journalism in college so I’m very familiar with the ethics of writing. Will I ever make that mistake again? NO, absolutely not! In fact, if anything, I’m over cautious now that this has happened.

Trolls Don’t Stop

They never stop. They write and share posts about the perceived ‘incident.’ They’ll call you out very publicly and most of the time will not be convinced you didn’t lift their work. You will never get an apology, so don’t dwell on it. Stand behind your work, and keep on writing.

Move On

It’s a lot easier said than done, but once you do everything you can, there’s nothing left to do but move forward. I stopped responding to comments. I’ve said what I had to say and now I’m done. I have nothing more to add to the conversation (maybe that’s the introvert in me?)

Having said all of that, I just want to publicly thank the Spin Sucks community. I was overwhelmed by how you all stood behind me and supported me. You came to my rescue, as Gini Dietrich stated in last week’s post (see how I’m attributing Gini here?!), and I will never forget that. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The post Four Tips for Dealing with a Plagiarism Accusation appeared first on Spin Sucks.

If you’re reading on the blog, surprise!

Thanks to Nick Harrison at Dashal and our fearless content director, Lindsay Bell-Wheeler, the site has a brand, spanking new design.

A few things to note:

• The big orange “Go Pro” button takes you to the monthly webinar or other content we have available.
• You can listen directly to the week’s Inside PR recording without having to leave the site or go into iTunes.
• Our #FollowFriday recommendations get to hang out in the sidebar for a week and you can follow them on Twitter directly from there.
• The navigation follows you as you scroll.
• The logo has been slightly modified to provide a space between Spin and Sucks because it drives me crazy when people write SpinSucks (which we realized is because there wasn’t a space in the logo).
• Lots of other fun stuff!

Check it out (test is on your phones and tablets, too) and let us know what you think!

Now on to your regularly scheduled programming.

How to Choose Social Media Tools

I’ve been reading a lot about how an organization should choose social media tools. There is some great advice – “be tool-agnostic” – and some terrible advice – “create a Twitter strategy,” but it all boils down to one thing: Are you driving people back to something you own?

By “own,” I mean your website or blog. Something you control. Something that won’t go away if the start-up darling gets bought or shutters or the founders get bored.

Something you can track, monitor, measure, and tweak strategies, content, and messages applicable to your audiences (not to the latest social network’s rules).

I like to think of it as a wheel (like we describe in Marketing in the Round): You have the website and/or blog in the center and the social networks and other ways of promoting your content are the spokes.

Once you figure out what kind of content is on your owned site(s), you can then begin to think about the tools you use.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Where are our customers currently participating online? You can find out simply by asking them or by using tools such as Flip Top or Xobni.
2. Where are our prospects currently participating online? Use a tool such as Traackr or Inky Bee to discover where the people you want to target are already participating.
3. Which tool(s) can we focus on first?
4. Can we prioritize our efforts?
5. Where are our competitors spending their time?
6. Can we do something new and different that gives us a perceived industry lead?
7. Do we have experts internally who are willing to spend some time engaging with customers and prospects online?

I’m sure there are a gazillion more things to consider, but this will give you a good start. Where your customers and prospects are participating is where you should do the same.

Don’t get on Twitter just because everyone else is doing it. Do your competitors have Twitter pages? Were they abandoned? If so, they’ve already done the work for you … and know Twitter wasn’t a great use of their time.

Participate where your audiences are. That may mean you’re using a social network no one is talking about yet or it may mean you’re – gasp – using email. Whatever it is, your time is well spent because you’re not building the Field of Dreams and waiting for everyone to show up in Iowa.

Once you figure out the where, this infographic from Mark Smiciklas at Intersection Consulting will help you out with the how.

The post How to Choose Social Media Tools appeared first on Spin Sucks.

For those of you new to this series, The Three Things arrives in your inbox on Sunday mornings (unless you don’t suscribe, but that can easily be fixed if you hurry over and enter your email address or add to your RSS feed) so you have some extra time to spend perusing the obscure content we’ve curated for you (and one another) before your week begins and deadlines, meetings, and work takes over.

This week we have thoughts on goofing off, Facebook, and company profits.

Sherlock

Michael on Goofing Off. I’m sure a few of you caught Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Trek. If you’re one of the lucky, you’ve also seen his work in the BBC version of Sherlock. The series is well-written, well-acted and well… a treat. I was fortunate enough to catch an early screening of Star Trek last week (lots of fun, especially if you aren’t looking to be overly critical) and watching Cumberbatch in action encouraged me to give Sherlock a second viewing. This cut significantly into my weekly reading and nothing came close to being as enjoyable as all revisiting all six episodes in the series. If you’re yet to catch Sherlock, it’s well worth your time. All six episodes are essentially one and a half hour feature length movies. If you’ve been working like crazy, give yourself a break and give this series a go. You won’t regret it.

Facebook IPO Winners and Losers

Howie on Facebook. First off let me be clear. I told everyone who could hear me to short the Facebook IPO…for more than a year before it went public. Here is a nice rundown of the winners and losers. What I do find interesting is how rare it is for a woman to make headlines and big dollars in big business without major ethical flaws. Sheryl Sandberg included. But quick note: Aside from the telecommuting PR flap, Yahoo! just surpassed Facebook in U.S. unique monthly visitors to take the number two spot. Go Marissa!

Amazon is Not Profitable Yet Stock Jumps 10 Percent

Gini on Profits. I was at dinner with Randy Hall (leadership coach extraordinaire) last week and he told me about an NPR story he heard about Amazon. Did you know they’re not profitable? More than $20 billion in sales and they don’t make any money. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I didn’t know this so I did some research. This TechCrunch article explains how they deal with less than two percent margins (holy cow) yet people continue to buy their stock. It’s a really interesting look in how Wall Street doesn’t always reward profitable companies.

Now it’s your turn. Is there a podcast, video, book, or article you think we need to see?

The post The Three Things, Edition 33 appeared first on Spin Sucks.

This weekend Mattie Dietrich (the one who brought you H-I-larious) is visiting us and she’s going to be mad I mentioned her here, but didn’t hyperlink her name.

Please someone (other than me) explain to her you need to have an online presence to have something to link to. When you search her name, she only comes up in other Gin and Topics. Not quite the same.

But we have a weekend planned full of fun stuff I haven’t quite figured out yet. Perhaps a boat tour, a museum or two, and lots of eating (I blame Pete).

While we’re off galavanting, I leave you with Gin and Topics. This week’s videos are courtesy of Lindsay Bell-Wheeler, Kat Krieger, Susan Cellura, Joe Thornley, and Mr. D. Yes, it’s true. I did no work on this issue this week.

5. Pumpcast News. I received this about an hour after last week’s Gin and Topics ran so it was too late to include it – and many of you have likely already seen it. But, if you haven’t seen it, it’s well worth the five minute break. A couple is “surprised” by a man talking to them from the monitor at the gas station and they break out in song. I know it’s been proven a fake, but it’s still very, very good.

4. Lindsay and Hank Do the Chicken Dance. On Tuesday, it was National Dance Like a Chicken Day. We were all joking about doing an Arment Dietrich chicken dance, but distance makes that impossible. A few hours later, Lindsay surprised us by doing the chicken dance with Hank. It’s laugh out loud funny. In fact, I had an asthma attack from laughing so hard. But you may have to know her to think it’s as funny as I did. Regardless, it’s worth the watch.

3. Women and Compliments. This is funny because it’s true. It’s a bunch of women who compliment one another and their ensuing conversation. Very, very funny. But there’s some serious language in it so not safe for work of for mom (sorry, mom!).

2. Kiss Cam Breakup. You have to watch this all the way through because they keep coming back to the couple where he’s on the phone. Trust me on this one. You want to wait until the end.

1. Burnout Challenge. Not only is this a workout challenge, but it’s a challenge to you to see what it’s wrong. Just watch the first 35 seconds and see if you can tell me what’s wrong. Don’t read the comments or it’ll ruin it for you. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Did you see it? No? OK. Freeze it at 21 seconds and look at the left side of the screen.

Have a great weekend!

The post Gin and Topics: Singing, Dancing, and Kissing appeared first on Spin Sucks.

Happy Birthday, Aimee West!

For those of you who don’t know Aimee, allow me to introduce you.

She began her career as a printer and then became pretty adept at creating and designing websites. But when social media hit the scene, she dug in to learn some new skills and (like the rest of us) figured out she could use the tools to enhance not only her job, but that of East Lansing Food Co-Op (or ELFCO, as the cool kids call them).

She found her true love in the folds of Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and more. With her design background, she discovered the skills were pretty transferrable and she set about convincing ELFCO to let her take some risk and test some theories.

It’s pretty clear, by looking at the ELFCO social networks, she knows what she’s doing and is having fun doing it.

Not only does she manage all of this, she also handles all TV production and, as it turns out, she also is a video star! She does baking, beer, gluten free foods, outdoor gourmet, and more for ELFCO. Methinks there is a Hollywood star hiding out in Michigan.

She’s the mother of two (a son and a daughter) and she is a very fun addition to our community. In December she won Facebook fan of the week (we hold this every Friday, people! Stop by!) and her comment was, “Thanks! So excited to be a winner! *Imagine mascara running and snotty nose from crying so hard*.”

Fantastic and funny!

In honor of her birthday, I shall “sing” her the song my mom sings to all of us kids:

Happy, happy birthday Aimee dear.

Happy days will come to you all year.

If I had one wish then it would be…

A happy, happy birthday to you from me!

Introduce yourself, wish her a happy birthday, and get to know her. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vimeo, Pinterest (I LOVE Pinterest!), and Google+.

The post #FollowFriday: Aimee West appeared first on Spin Sucks.

That much-maligned rite of passage for anyone hoping to make their way in the communications world.

It’s a bit like that inevitable bin-dunking you get on your first day of junior school (just me, then?) or learning to drive: Painful and a bit degrading at the same time.

But hopefully you emerge from the whole sorry mess a better, more enlightened person (or, alternatively, a snivelling shadow of your former self).

Those bewildering weeks spent shackled to the photocopier, the tea-making, the media-list compiling, the general skivvying – and without being paid – that’s all a massive favor, isn’t it?

No, not on the intern’s part, silly! It’s an act of kindness from PR agencies, giving career-thirsty twentysomethings extremely valuable lessons in the workings of the illustrious communications industry (and hot beverage-making too, of course).

If anything, these interns should be paying PR agencies for such an enlightening induction into public relations, right?

Wrong.

My cheeky’ness aside, unpaid internships can potentially be harmful to your business. At the very least, you’re probably not going to get the very best. And they could prove detrimental to your business.

Unpaid Interns Can’t Do it All

Here are five things you can’t expect from an unpaid intern.

1. That they get out of bed on time. We aren’t all morning people. It takes a wildly irritating alarm clock and the comforting reassurance that Starbucks will be open to deal me out a triple shot latte to get me out of bed on time each morning – and I love my job. If you’re not paying someone to get to work on time every day, chances are they won’t. And while punctuality may seem a bit nit-picky, rocking through the office door at 9:15 just isn’t cool – it massively de-motivates everyone in the team. Hitting the ground running at 9 o’clock sharp is crucial if you want to maintain a professional working environment.
2. That they give it their all. Okay, so your new intern might start out all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but anyone who seriously expects them to arrive with a smile on their face, ready to bust a gut every morning when they’re not getting a dime in return, probably needs their head examining. If you’re not offering your intern money or job stability for their efforts, you can’t really get shirty when they dedicate some of their working hours to finding someone else who will. Or to Whatsapping their mates, or playing Candy Crush. When you’re paying your interns, it’s not an unreasonable expectation they’ll put a decent amount of effort in. The result? You’ve got someone who’s genuinely adding value to your business rather than sitting twiddling their thumbs. Go you!
3. That they’re going to be a team player. Your intern might be as altruistic as Robin Hood, but working day-in day-out with people who are getting paid when they’re not earning a cent isn’t really going to make them feel like part of the team, is it? No matter how much they smile and laugh when you give them another media list to compile, chances are on the inside they’re resenting you something rotten. When everyone’s hard work is being recognized and remunerated fairly, it’s more likely they’ll feel more team-spirited and you’ll be free of office bad vibes.
4. That they’ll hit the ground running. Having an ‘extra pair of hands’ around the office it might be, but an intern is another person to manage (this is particularly true if they haven’t been through the company’s full selection process). I think I’ve banged on enough about how paying your interns will encourage them to work harder for you. It’s inevitable any intern will cost you dear in management time – why not invest this time in someone who is bringing actual value to your business rather than someone who doesn’t feel like they owe you anything?
5. That they’ll be the best of the best. Unpaid internships make the whole PR industry silly and elitist. Sorry, but they do. Effectively they say “You can only work for me if you (or your parents) are willing to fork out for food.” Which is nearly as absurd as saying “You can only work for me if your surname begins with Q and your dad’s called Nigel.” You’re shooting yourself and your business in the foot because – as we all know –  being rich or influential doesn’t make one good at managing public reputation. Justin Bieber is walking proof of this. Give your interns enough to live off and you’re likely to attract the talented ones, not the ones whose mummy and daddy own a stately home in the countryside and will let them crash at their city center penthouse rent-free.

So hopefully I’ve hammered home my point here. Not paying your interns is tempting, for sure, but it’ll ultimately damage your business and prevent you from finding those hidden gems who could prove to be your best next hire.

What are your thoughts? Are you pro or con paid internships?

The post Five Things You Can’t Expect from an Unpaid Intern appeared first on Spin Sucks.