SOCIAL TOOLS AND VIRTUAL TEAMS

INTRODUCTION

Most people seem to first think of social technologies as tools used for external
marketing and advertising, when the truth is the volume of usage is probably more internal to
organizations.

The majority of case studies and stories in the traditional press concern businesses
that are driving revenue and relationships with customers through Facebook, blogs, Instagram or Twitter.

If
we could see the overall use of social tools on some kind of color-coded infographic, where one
color was front-end marketing and networking applications and the other color was internal use,
we might be surprised at what we’d see.

This is much like the area of computer security where outside hackers get most of the
press, when it’s actually the internal security breaches that far outweigh attacks from outside.

We spend more time communicating with the people we work with when compared to people
outside the organization.

 This is an important distinction. You need to be aware that if you’re
managing a team involved in the organization’s back office, you still have many valuable uses
for social tech tools.

So that leads us to a discussion of another high-value area for using social
tools and that’s their application within virtual teams.

There’s been a quiet shift in how many people perform their jobs over the last 20 years
or so. We’re moving away from the model where the majority of knowledge workers reported to
one location and worked with a team of people in the same building.

We’re moving toward a
model where more people are working from their homes, remote offices, or contracting out their
services as freelancers.

Even within large organizations with lots of people and many buildings,
we see the formation of teams that cross geography so people aren’t physically working with
others on their team.

Although there are economic and business reasons why this change in work structure
makes sense, the catalyst is technology. The Internet provided the first leap forward because it allowed people to connect to corporate servers more easily, so working from home was a step
simpler.

E-mail became common and this provided a free, efficient way for people to
communicate across the hall or around the world. Then new Web-based communication tools
like instant messaging and Skype went a step further and allowed people to communicate over
distance as if someone were sitting next to them— again, for free.

Salient facts communicators should know about fake news

Salient facts communicators should know about fake news

These days the  term “fake news” is used more often - from the White House, newsrooms and social media feeds across the globe.

Even though this   phenomenon is clearly on the mind of consumers, there are  misconceptions about what fake news really is - and what it implies public relations (PR) for communicators.

Information experts, who woukd be sharing their thoughts at, “Fact or Fiction: The 2018 FakeNews Virtual Summit” want to shed some  light on the issue.

Here are some lesser-known facts they’ll explore:

-News mediums have careful procedures to vet sources—and communicators and audiences should be aware of them.

-By being proactive in  responding  to social media rumors, you can keep them from hurting your brand’s image and reputation.

-Also understanding what drives audiences to trust a source is crucial to combatting fake news.

CREATING SOCIAL MEDIA STARS

As with any skill, some people will excel at being a content provider and surrogate voice for the organization.

 These social stars will develop an innate sense for the recipe of information your constituents want to hear and the tone of voice that's perfect for representing your organization.

This is a new and valuable skill that must be nurtured. It's a good idea to keep your eyes open for the people who might have the right combination of skills to become social stars.

Typically, you’ll find that this person must have a combination of industry knowledge, the ability to write well, empathy for your constituents, and a good sense of what content will be interesting and valuable. This person will combine all of this with a clear understanding of how
social tools work.

 This can result in a growing network of people connected to your information channels.
Once you’ve found a social star, it’s important to leverage his or her talents quickly and deeply because every constituent he or she helps connect to the organization is a potential new
customer. 

The thing that excites social stars the most is being able to nurture online relationships with many people. What they want and what the organization needs are usually the same thing—a large audience participating in the conversation.

Subcomponents of Public Relations

The Public Relations field could be split into different areas of specialties.

Fundamentally, public relations practitioners perform the
following functions:

Writing and editing: This is a crucial skill in public relations. Accordingly, every PR professional,  must learn not only to appreciate good writing. He or she should also possess good writing and editing skills, as written messages serve as a primary means through which messages are disseminated across media outlets.


Media relations: The mass media, comprising:  print, online and electronic mediums serve as channels through which PR professionals communicate with
the public.

Herein, underlines the need for Public Relations practitioners to nurture
cordial relations with mass media organizations - as well as other key
personnel in such organisations. These comprise: editors, reporters and columnists.


Research: Public relations problems are not solved through guess work, rather they are solved via methodic process.  PR professionals conduct   formal and extensive research - with a view to  obtaining adequate  information that would be instrumental to planning.


Strategic planning: Public relations practitioners who operate at executive levels, play a key role in initiating and implementing an organization's missions, policies, set goals and objectives.

Management and administration: PR professionals partake in management work, as  Public relations serves as a distinct management function which promotes mutual lines of communication between an organisation and its publics.

Corporate counselling: Under this segment of Public relations,  practitioners offer counselling to management on matters related to their  organisation's relationships
with their various publics.

Organising special events: The planning and staging of events, such as:  trade
fairs, trade exhibitions, press conferences, fashion shows, factory tours and AGMs among others -  is part of work public relations practitioners do. This forms part of the skills set - imparted into them in their course of study.

Speaking: This serves as a potent
tool in public relations and a great way for organisations to communicate  key messages while connecting with their target audience in an engaging manner.

In a bid represent their organisations, PR practitioners do engage in public speaking assignments of different kinds for different publics at various  events.


Crisis Communication: A very special type of work that PR practitioners do is helping their organisations to resolve crisis whenever they occur. PR practitioners achieve  this primarily, by managing the flow of information between the organisation and the public, via the mass media, and by advising management on what to do and how to go about  it. This is with a view to ensure such situations do not spiral out of control.

ROLE OF PR IN NON PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

ROLE OF PR IN NON PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

Some well-organized non profit organizations have Public Relations (PR) units like employee relations, media relations, government relations, community relations and sometimes marketing communications directed at their baseline causes.

Non-profit organizations would usually not engage in investor relations because they do not have stockholders as it is with profit oriented organizations.

Bigger non-profit organizations could have broader public relations duties because the more visibility they have the more grants they are able to attract and the more community support they will win.


Role of Nonprofits in societies

Non profit organizations play important roles in a nation’s economy. They concentrate on areas often unattractive to the government public sector and for profit commercial sector.

Non-profit organizations exist without an overt or primary motive for profit. They work in all areas of public life except as commercial companies. Such areas include universities, hospitals, churches, foundations and related groups that provide services without the expectation of making a profit.


Charity Auctions are also a good model used by Public Relations (PR) practitioners to raise funds and garner support for nonprofit organizations. This process involves meticulous planning, research and dissemination of messages intended to the target audiences.

How to measure success of PR campaigns

For Public Relations professionals, measuring success of each PR campaign using metrics  is a key focus of their overall activities.

Here at five ways they achieve that using PR metrics.

1. Press Clippings: This serves as  good means to measure overall success of PR campaigns with metrics.  However,  the publications should be those viewed by your target groups. When your PR campaign materials get positive and  substantial amount of publications on your targeted media platforms it implies your PR campaign is raising much needed awareness - and on track to achieving set objectives.


2. Media Impressions: This is yet another means to measure impact of PR campaigns. This form of metrics works by calculating the amount of media impressions generated over a stipulated period. Public Relations professionals ascertain this by multiplying the figure of press clippings garnered by total circulation strength of the publication. For instance, if publication "x" with a circulation strength of three million mentioned your organization, it's safe to say you garnered a total of three million media impressions.


3. Content Analysis: Besides the amount of stories and media impressions generated it's important, Public Relations professionals measure the content of each publication. Things to look out for in the course of using such metrics for analysis include:

I: Is your organization being portrayed in positive light in published articles.

II: Are key messages being mentioned in the stories.


4. Web Traffic: Another veritable means of measuring success of PR campaigns with metrics is by analysing the amount of traffic your website generates before and after a public relations campaign.

5: Social Media Mentions: This is yet another form of  metrics for measuring success of PR campaigns. Such measurements using social media mentions should lay emphasis on conversations about your brand or organizations before and after a campaign. If social media conversations and mentions around your brand or organization increase after kick starting a campaign in a positive light, then  it implies your campaign is gaining traction.

How Bernays pioneered PR publicity stunts

The earliest publicity stunt in PR (Public Relations) history occurred in the 1920s. At that period it was a taboo for women to smoke outdoors. At that time, a cigarette brand Lucky Strike cigarettes, was seeking to aggressively grow its customer base - and this included women.
 Consequently, the cigarette maker engaged the services of a seminal figure in Public Relarions history, Edward Bernays.
As part of his strategy to break the taboo, Bernay's orchestrated a now-legendary publicity stunt by convincing women
to smoke at the Easter parade in Manhattan as a statement of rebellion against the norms of a male-dominated society.
The demonstrators were not aware that a tobacco company was behind the publicity
stunt. Bernays dubbed his PR campaign the: “Torches of Liberty Contingent”
Publicity photos of these beautiful fashion models smoking “Torches of Liberty” were sent to various media outlets and appeared worldwide. As a result, the taboo was dissolved and many women were led to associate the act of smoking with female liberation. Some women went so far as to demand membership in all-male smoking clubs, a highly controversial act at the time.
For his work, Bernays was paid a tidy sum by George Washington Hill, president of the American Tobacco
Company.
Bernays was the profession’s first theorist. He drew many of his ideas from Sigmund
Freud’s theories about the irrational, unconscious motives that shape human behaviour.
Bernays authored several books, including Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923), Propaganda (1928), and The
Engineering of Consent (1947).
He saw public relations as an “applied social science” that uses insights from psychology, sociology, and other disciplines to scientifically manage and manipulate the
thinking and behavior of an irrational and “herdlike” public.

Misconceptions about Public Relations

A major issue that confronts  public relations practitioners in Nigeria bothers on credibility.

 This perception is borne out of the public's misconstrued impression about what a Public Relations practitioner really does.

This view, is further compounded by fact some PR practitioners do not have a clear idea about what the profession is about.

As a result, some dabble into the public relations profession with skewed motives and intentions.

Here are some common misconceptions

1. PR  is not about giving false narratives about brands and organizations - rather Public Relations tells the truth at all times.

2. Public relations is not about  offering bribes or inducements to journalists, to coverup the truth - or influence policy makers to initiate policies that add value to their clients.

3. PR is not based on luck, rather its activities and plans are based on, in depth research, scientific and empirical facts.

4. PR is not about putting together social gatherings and events of a similar nature.  Granted,Public Relations practitioners organize activities of this nature. However, this is not the profession's sole preoccupation.

5. Public relations is not about fawning at the boss' feet and kowtowing to his whims, rather it's a dignified and noble profession.

PR Agencies vs PR Consultants

What is the difference


Public Relations Agencies:

There are lots of challenges and
opportunities for growth and development  in a PR Agency.

The work is enormous because companies that have in-house public relations departments and those who do not would at one time or the other require the services of an independent PR organisation.

Thus, agencies handle public relations activities of other organisations, corporations, non-profit set ups, governments and
even individuals.

For instance, some corporations may hire a PR Agency to handle its annual report to stockbrokers or its overseas investors. The agency could be hired to partner with other agencies or bodies or even the public relations department of a corporation to do research, planning, communication and evaluation.

Just as it is in advertising agencies, staff of public relations agencies are often assigned to accounts. Usually, an account would include all the public relations activities planned for one particular client.

 Accounts are managed by account executives. It would be their job to research into the public relations problems, write messages, and decide on media and placement.
 They equally do evaluation of such campaigns. It is  common to have public relations staff specialising in various areas of an account.

Some are experts in message designing, media planning
and placement, while others focus on research. In some cases, a staff
could take up more responsibilities than one.

Public relations agencies vary in size. There are some that work as a
small part of big advertising agencies while others are full-fledged, fullblown agencies, yet others are one room agencies.



Independent Public relations Consultants:

A PR practitioner  may equally wish to ply you trade as a one man public relations consultant. Successful public relations consultants are often persons with broad experience having worked in a few agencies and handled several successful accounts.

They are a one-man agency. Very often they specialise in small areas of public relations like crisis communication, speech writing, international public relations, etc.
In this case  the consultant alone bears the responsibility for success or failure.

What Are Media Events ?

 Media Events, as it relates to Public Relations -   are carefully planned activities, put together with a view to generate media publicity.

Kinds of media events:

News conference:

This type of media events are usually held, when an organization has an announcement to make and wants the press to get details of the announcement. It's also an occasion used to answer questions from journalists.

Protests:

Such media events are planned mainly with the sole aim of generating media attention - as it may relate to an issue or cause.

Photo ops:

This type of media event is put together with the specific aim of telling  picture stories in the media.

History of media events:

The history of media events, date back to  the 1940s and the proceeding decades -  as television and radio stations  introduced same-day news cycles.

In recent times, the  emergence of the internet has led  to many media stories being published in realtime - live from the venue of the media event.

Editing strategies in creating a great story

Once a rough draft for an article or press release is finished, the writer should try to set it aside for at least a day and come back to the paper with a fresh mind, this  strategy makes editing easy and is helpful in spotting errors.

Here are a few strategies that could aid that process

1: Read the Paper out loud
In the course of editing if the paper is read aloud slowly, two senses--seeing and hearing--work in tandem. In essence, what one sense misses, the other may pick up.

2: Check the Thesis Statement and Organization
While editing it's important that the writer writes down the thesis on a piece of paper if it is not directly stated in the essay or article. This is with a view to determine if it accurately states the main idea? Is it in fact supported by the paper?

Does it need to be changed in any way? The piece of paper which serves as the guide should also state the main idea of each paragraph under the thesis statement.

Editing also entails that the PR practitioner  analyze each paragraph to determine if it’s relevant to the thesis. It’s important the paragraphs converge in a logical sequence and order.

The writer of the public relations material should remember that he or she is writing for others. No matter how familiar others may be with the material, they cannot get inside the mind of the writer and understand his or her approach to it.

Consequently, the writer has to express himself clearly. As a result, it's useful for the public relations practitioner to read the paper through once, as he keeps in mind whether or not the student or teacher or friend who will be reading it will understand the message.

This brings the following questions: Has the writer said exactly what he wanted to say?

Does the story's development have sufficient details? Is the logic valid?

Are the major points in the story connected?

Are the relationships between them expressed clearly?

Do they all relate to the thesis?



REVIEWING THE STORY'S DICTION

In the course of editing i

t's important that the writer of a story remember that others are reading the story. He should also understand that even the choice of one word can affect the response of readers. The public relations practitioner should anticipate their response and choose the words in the story accordingly.

BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE TO BUTTRESS THIS POINT

Original:
The media's exploitation of the Watergate scandal showed how biased it was already.

Revision version:
The media's coverage of the Watergate scandal suggests that perhaps those in the media had already determined Nixon’s guilt.

In addition to being more specific, the revision does not force the reader to defend the media. In the first example, though the statement is so exaggerated that even the reader who is neutral on the issue may feel it necessary to defend the media. Thus, the writer of the original has made his job of persuading the reader that much harder.

The Publics in PR

The publics in public Relations  are those groups with common interest affected by the policies of an institution, company, profit and non-profit organisations.

Each organisation tends to have its own particular set of target publics. These target groups are normally identified by their involvement in specific situations or issues which are also of concern to the organisation. Each issue, problem of interest creates its own publics.

Some common classifications of publics:

Latent public: This target grouping comprises those affected by an organization's policies, but may not be conscious of it.

Active publics:  This grouping comprises those who are not only aware of how they are affected but take steps to demonstrate it.

Active publics are broken into the following

Hot issue publics: Comprising those interested in only burning issues

Single issue publics:  Comprising those interested in one aspect of an organization's activities.

All issue publics: Comprising those interested in all aspects if an organization's operations.

Aware publics: Comprises those who know they are affected by the activities of the organization, but may not be actively demonstrating it.

Non publics:  Comprises those who show no interest in the matter or activities of the organisation even if they are aware.

Other forms of publics include:

Internal publics: Comprising individuals employed by an organisation.

External publics: This group comprises people and organizations outside of the company that are involved in business activities with an organization.

Publics as it relates to different organizations, may include any of the following groups namely:

Investors, Members, Financial advisers, Volunteers, Suppliers,
Consumers, Multinational bodies,
Regional bodies, Media, Fans, Religious leaders, Opinion leaders,
Mothers, Fathers and Youths, to mention a few.

Editing in Public Relations

 Editing, be it in the field of journalism or public relations helps in making a great story. It involves reading for content and information. It is usually carried out by a person who has good knowledge of the subject or focus of the matter to be edited.

 In the course of editing a written work, the editor checks for veracity of content and information. The editor attempts to ascertain if the author of the written work is actually passing the appropriate information to his or her intended readers or audience. The editor also checks whether the writer of the press release is passing the information as he should.

For instance, in public relations the editor checks to see if the writer of a material meant for publication has put the information to fit the level of understanding of his publics - target audience.  This detail takes cognizance of the readers’ age group, education level and reasoning. The editor also checks the press release or article for publication to ensure  the writer has not infringed copyright laws or any other legal issues that some publics may find unwholesome.

Proofreading, which constitutes the final stage of editing, which is essential in creating a great story, is important to PR practitioners. This stage of the story making process focuses on surface errors such as misspellings and mistakes in grammar and punctuation. A trained PR practitioner should proofread only after he or she has finished other editing revisions.

When editing an early draft, the editor needs not bother on thinking about punctuation, grammar, and spelling. If the editor is worrying about the spelling of a word or the placement of a comma, then he is not focusing on the more important development and connection of ideas that make a press release clear and convincing to the readers.

WHY YOU NEED TO EMBRACE SOCIAL TECH

 By Dominic Nwelih
The purpose of this  is to give you knowledge and tools to help you move forward
in your career and to benefit the organization.

Integrating social tech into your day isn’t just about doing what’s popular or cool this quarter,
it’s about learning to use a powerful set of new tools and techniques that can change the game.

There seem to be three kinds of managers at this point in the social adoption curve: the
thought leaders, the dragged along, and the naysayers.

 Two of these aren’t helping themselves,
or anyone else for that matter. Somewhere between being a thought leader and being dragged
along is a place where a manager is quick to adopt new methods of doing things, but not on the
bleeding edge.

This is where most of you should be. If you feel you’re behind, you probably are.
If you feel you’re too old to learn new tricks, you probably are. If you feel you’re too busy to
invest any time in this field, you have your priorities out of whack. Or, you could choose to suck
it up and embrace social technologies for what they are— a powerful new set of tools.

PERSONAL USE

There are two critical ways to apply social tool skills. The first is in how you use the tools in
your daily routine, and the second is how you implement the tools with your team.

With
everything you’ve read to this point, it should be easy to see how each of the bullet points below
can be yours if you’re willing to invest the time.

This lists the direct benefits of leveraging social
tech on a personal level:

• A much-improved network of contacts. No matter what you do for a living, there’s value
in having a robust network of people you can reach out to when you need to get
something done.

 Social tools allow you to keep hundreds of contacts fresh, as opposed to
the past, when keeping even 30 or 40 up to date was a chore.

• A better river of information. You can build your own continuous learning process, and
done right, this translates into a high career IQ.

• An ability to become a recognized expert online. Social tools give you a new ability to
share your unique expertise online. You have the potential to invest a little time each
day, sharing the observations, ideas, and resources you discover so others can benefit.

This leads to an active and large list of people who want to follow what you say, and that
translates into being a recognized expert. In many ways, this can help your career.

• The improved ability to manage remote workers. There are unique dynamics for
managing remote workers well. Social tools give you the ability to communicate in
better ways than strictly over the phone or e-mail. They also facilitate collaboration and
improve communication among team members.

• The creation and nurturing of a stellar online reputation. With every day, it is more
commonplace for people to search online to learn about you. Most people would be
shocked if they could see in real time who and how many people search for information
on them.

This includes people you’d like to do business with, sell to, hire, or influence.
What they find online will have a huge impact on how they’ll relate to you going
forward.

• A reputation within your organization as a leader with skills and vision. When people
around you evaluate your performance as a manager, they take into account many things.

What Is Your Client’s Love Language?

In the course of nurturing a business relationship with a client, its imperative to understand how him/her expresses love. Once you understand this - you well, on your way - to building an enduring relationship the client.

Studies has shown there are five ways people express or receive love. Known as the five love languages.  They are: Quality Time, Acts Of Service, Physical Touch/Connection, Words Of Affirmation and Receiving Gifts.

Quality Time:
Clients who fall in this bracket crave undivided attention.
They love to know and feel that a person cares about them and takes them seriously as a client.
Accordingly, poor listening skills, distractions and  postponed appointments are huge turn off to this category of clients.

Acts of service:
Clients who speak this love language respond well to people who go the extra mile to make a client feel special. Such acts that strikes a chord with clients in this category, include: doing extra work, or responding to their demands over the weekend.

Words of Affirmation:
Clients who fall in this segment, love unsolicited compliments. Words like: " You are the best" "Wow, you were awesome" " You did really great" , resonate well with clients who speak this language.

Physical Touch/Connection:
These sort of  clients care mostly about the personal connection they have with you.

Receiving gifts:
Such clients should not be mistaken to be materialistic. What they really appreciate from you - as opposed to the gift - is the thoughtfulness, gesture and efforts put into purchasing such gifts. This, underscores the fact they are: important, loved and cared for.

While clients may speak all
five love languages - it's important to note every individual has a dominant love language.

By Dominic Nwelih

Published by Media Accent Nigeria

What Do Great Stories Have In Common

Great stories capture the attention of many owing to the fact that they manage to capture public imagination, which comprise influencers and opinion leaders in a society. Great stories succeed because they harness the power of creativity and authenticity.

Great stories are borne out of consistencies which are in tandem with the theme of the story. Great stories are trustworthy to their publics. This factor is borne out of consistency and reputation of the writer or source of the story.

Great stories standout because they are carefully targeted at selected audiences or publics. Great stories often appeal to the senses as opposed to logics. A great story gives no room for contradictions or distractions among readers.

How To Manage Your Own Public Relations

Managing your own Public Relations ( PR )initiatives as it relates to you business and promoting mutual understanding amongst the publics involved would serve as a critical management function that seeks to project a favorable image and perception about you organization in the eyes and minds of all the stakeholders.

Managing your own Public Relations, as opposed to hiring external PR consultants to act on your behalf would to a large extent reduce costs significantly and enable you have direct contact and maintain relationships with the right mediums, bloggers, journalists, influencers and opinion leaders.

Herein underlines the need to develop a robust plan to engage various stakeholders and the right mediums for disseminating information among the publics of particular interest to you and your organization.

Below are steps you should take in managing your own PR

1: Create a media list:
One of the first measures you should put in place in the course of managing my own Public Relations is to create your own media list.

The proposed list should contain names of the right newspapers, blogs, electronic media and trade publications that are popular amongst your target audience or publics.

The list should also comprise names of journalist that cover the particular topic your business is engaged in, as they would serve as the influencers whose articles or reports are likely to influence your target audience.

To nurture relationships with the media it would be necessary for you to conduct outreach programmes to them frequently. You would also need to pitch them with news stories whenever your business or organization has something newsworthy to publish.

2: Creativity
In order the gain attention from the media, you would have to be creative in your approach. Being more creative would give you an edge when competing with other businesses or organizations also seeking attention from the media.

Consequently, you would have to come up with ideas for engaging stories about your organization that would be of interest to the news media. This would also culminate in organizing events and programmes that seek to add value to society in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

3: Taking advantage of speaking events:

Another measure you should put in place in the course of managing your own PR is taking advantage of speaking events. Whether it's a trade show, seminar or workshop speaking at events or forums would afford you an opportunity to directly convey messages as it relates to your stakeholders. If done properly this could solidify our position as a thought leader in the business you engage in.
Honestly addressing issues as it relates to your activities could engender trust among our stakeholders.

4: Blogging:
Blogging serves as a unique form of owned media, that would afford you an opportunity to reach out to your target audience directly. It is important to note that the essence of blogging is not to sell your products and services, but to offer useful information your  targeted audience would find engaging and of immense value.

5: Issuing press release:
Another tool you should use in  managing your own Public Relations is through issuing well written and edited Press Releases, that boasts good and creative content. To achieve this you would need to write and properly edit a press release before it’s sent out.

A well written and edited press release when pitched to the media is more likely to be published as it reduces the stress and workload a journalist or news editor may have to put up with in editing your story before its published.

Consequently, the press releases you issue must not lack facts, consistency and objectivity. You should  also follow the inverted pyramid style of writing a news release, in which information is written in a descending order of importance.

How to ensure good proofreading

Proofreading entails examining written text in detail to find and correct typographic errors and mistakes in grammar, style, punctuation and spelling.

In developing a good proofreading process it’s important to make it systematic and focused so that as many errors as possible are spotted with the least amount of time deployed.

It's also noteworthy that the writer of a story does not rely entirely on spelling checkers. Though, spell checkers can be useful in proofreading, they are not foolproof.

Spell checkers have a limited dictionary, so some words that show up as misspelled may just not be in their memory. In addition, spell checkers will not catch misspellings that form another valid word in the course of proofreading.

Example:
If you type "your" instead of "you're," "to" instead of "too," or "there" instead of "their," the spell checker won't catch the error.

Grammar checkers can be even more problematic during proofreading. These programs work with a limited number of rules, so they can't identify every error and often make mistakes.

They also fail to give in depth explanations to help a PR Practitioner writing a story to understand why a sentence should be revised.

A story writer may want to use a grammar checker to help identify potential run-on sentences or too frequent use of the passive voice, but he or she needs to be able to evaluate the feedback it provides.

Story writers should proofread for only one kind of error at a time. If they try to identify and revise too many things at once, they risk losing focus. Consequently, proofreading becomes less effective. It's easier to spot grammatical errors if the writer is not checking punctuation and spelling at the same time.

 In addition, some of the techniques that work well for spotting one kind of mistake won't spot others. During proofreading, storyteller should read slowly, and read every word. Reading out loud, enables the story teller say each word and also enables him or her hear how the words sound together. When stories are read silently or too quickly the writer may skip over errors or make unconscious corrections.

It's better to separate text into individual sentences. This is another proofreading technique to help read every sentence carefully. The proofreader simply has to press the return key after every period so that every line begins a new sentence.

Each sentence should be read separately, looking for grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors. If the work is being done with a printed copy, an opaque object like a ruler or a piece of paper could be used to isolate the line being edited.


Read the paper backwards:

This proofreading technique is helpful for checking spelling. Start with the last word on the last page and work your way back to the beginning, reading each word separately.

Because content, punctuation, and grammar won't make any sense, the focus will be entirely on the spelling of each word. The editor or proofreader can also read backwards sentence by sentence to check grammar; this will help him or her avoid becoming distracted by content issues.

Proofreading is a learning process. The writer is not just looking for errors that he can recognize; he is also learning to recognize and correct new errors. This is where handbooks and dictionaries come in. A proofreader should keep the ones he finds helpful close at hand as he proofreads.

Ignorance may be bliss, but it won't make a better proofreader. The proofreader may often find things that don't seem quite right, but may not be quite sure what's wrong either.

A word looks like it might be misspelled, but the spell checker didn't catch it. He may think he needs a comma between two words, but not sure why.

The proofreading process becomes more efficient as the editor or proofreader develops and practices a systematic strategy.