Success on the social Web can be measured in a variety of ways. This is not one of those “here’s how you measure social media efforts” posts. You can learn loads about ways to measure over on the Brass Tack Thinking blog. This post stems from me thinking a lot lately about how we represent ourselves online, and in turn, the various ways we define personal success online.

There is plenty of debate about whether or not personal branding is a viable concept. Shannon Paul argues in this post, Having a Personal Brand is Fine, But Making an Impact is Better, that personal branding “trivializes the human experience”. However, some people have built solid reputations, both online and offline, as personal branding experts, such as Dan Schawbel and Michigan’s own Hajj Flemings.

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Bettye LaVette is a survivor (cue Survivor by Destiny’s Child). I wouldn’t be surprised if your response was “Bettye La-who?” Although she’s finally reached the fame she’s been seeking all her life, I don’t know many people outside of MAL and myself who have heard Bettye’s music. Here’s a little background info…

Bettye is one of the greatest soul singers in American history who fought for 40 years to gain mainstream recognition. She was born in Muskegon, Mich. and grew up in Detroit. Although she was discovered at 16 in the heart of the Motown era, legendary artists like Aretha Franklin overshadowed her. What Bettye describes as “buzzard luck” continued for 40 some years. Bettye kept churning out songs, but only six of her forty-fives managed to make the R&B charts. None of them broke into the pop Top 100. To make a long story short, it took Bettye about four decades before her hard work finally paid off. She is now 64 years old. Check out her full biography for more details.

I’ve been hanging out at Startup Weekend Detroit at Wayne State University all weekend. The energy and creativity have been high all weekend long, and the teams are getting prepped to make their final presentations.

There have been a few speakers/presentations throughout the course of the weekend, and I really enjoyed what Rob Stam from The Big Red Group shared with the team. I’m not an entrepreneur, and I have no intention of starting a business any time soon, but Rob’s advice resonated with me from a business and human standpoint.

One of the main things Rob stressed was that in order to find success in our current economy, we must start thinking about “value” versus “values.” There’s a difference between value (what matters to all of us) and values (what matters to each of us). We need to make decisions that benefit our collective society, not just our own lives.

When you’re making decisions in life, whether or not they deal with business, don’t let the “what’s in it for me?” thoughts consume you. Think about how that decision affects others, and how you can find success by helping others.

If you weren’t able to make it to Startup Weekend Detroit, check out my blog posts and videos from the weekend on the website, coverage on The Detroit Hub and the #SWD2010 hashtag stream.

Yesterday I featured Sharise Crumley as part of the Help a PR Pro Out event taking place this Friday on Twitter from noon to 2 p.m. ET. Today, Courtney Curran, a recent graduate from Michigan State University, is in the spotlight.

What work experience do you have that makes you a great candidate for an entry level PR position? This can be work directly related to PR, or a job that helped you develop skills that you will need to be successful in PR.

My first job was as a client coordinator for Century 21 in high school. This position gave me a solid set of customer relations and business administrative skills and taught me the importance of developing and maintaining professional relationships with a diverse group of people. This experience served as a great basis for the relationship management skills necessary in public relations. Once I started to study public relations in college, I made an effort to have a well-rounded education and obtained internships in corporate, agency, nonprofit and Web-based settings. I’ve been able to gain hands-on experience with media relations, writing for the media, large-scale event planning and social media. Each internship I participated in has prepared and challenged me to become a successful PR practitioner. I’m confident that I can easily transition into an entry level PR position based on the experience I’ve gained over the past four years.

The first recent PR grad I’m featuring this week as part of the second Help a PR Pro Out (HAPPO) day event this Friday is Sharise Crumley. Sharise is from West Bloomfield, MI. She graduated from Howard University with a major in journalism and a concentration in advertising. Here’s my Q&A with Sharise:

What work experience do you have that makes you a great candidate for an entry level PR position? This can be work directly related to PR, or a job that helped you develop skills that you will need to be successful in PR.

Although the bulk of my internship experience from my undergraduate internships has been in advertising, I have written and published articles, performed volunteer work and participated in a number of undergraduate public relations courses. One of the biggest PR-related tasks that I have taken on is the event that I spearheaded for The Washington Post in December 2008.  As the account executive, my team and I put together an event surrounding the 2008 presidential election. The forum was established to bridge the gap between Generation Y and the Silent Generation as well as for participants to discuss how far the country has come from the times of women’s suffrage and voting rights in America. Details can be seen at www.myspace.com/InMyLifetime08.

In the fall of 2010, I plan on attending Northwestern University in Evanston, IL to receive my Masters in Communication (MSC).

Back in February, I joined the Help a PR Pro Out national initiative to help connect Michigan PR job seekers with companies that are hiring. I featured Angela Minicuci, a metro Detroit recent grad who was seeking a full time PR position, as well as my now current employer, Identity Marketing & Public Relations, in a blog post. I’m happy to say that Angela has since found a full time PR position, and she wrote this fabulous testimonial post, Getting the HAPPO Ball Rolling, about what she gained from participating in the last HAPPO event.

It’s time for HAPPO round two! The second event will take place this Friday, April 30 from noon to 2 p.m. ET on Twitter using the #happo hashtag. This time we’ll focus on helping the class of 2010 and very recent grads. Just as we did with the first event, we’re encouraging college seniors and recent grads to develop a creative blog post or video that answers one simple question: Why should I hire you? Local champions and other PR professionals will then share your posts and attempt to connect you with others who can help.

Think about the number of times you’ve said to yourself, “I’m determined to (fill in the blank)”. How many of those times did you actually follow through and accomplish what you set out to do? Probably not every time, and that’s OK because no one is perfect.

This past month I’ve been reminded why determination and dedication are crucial components of accomplishing goals and conquering challenges. One goal I set for myself at the beginning of this year was to get back into playing tennis regularly. I signed up for a league in January and started playing once a week. I immediately noticed a tearing/stretching pain in my right shoulder when I served. After ignoring it for a few weeks, it got so bad that I had to stop in the middle of a match. Fast forward almost a month. After a visit to my sports medicine doctor and several sessions of physical therapy, I’m now doing stretches and exercises daily and adjusting my posture while I sit to fix my shoulder problem (which thankfully isn’t an injury or tear, just tight muscles and ligaments).

To show my support for the Help a PR Pro Out initiative, I asked around (more like tweeted) to find someone looking for a PR position in Michigan and a company looking to hire someone with a PR, marketing or communications background. For those checking into my blog this week who aren’t in the PR industry, please bear with my industry-specific posts!

Thanks to Nick Lucido for connecting me to Angela Minicuci, a Michigan State University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in communication and specialization in public relations currently seeking full time employment. Here’s my Q&A with Angela:

Have you had any PR-related internships or additional experience related to the PR industry?

I have interned in the past with the Old Town Commercial Association as the communications intern from January – May 2009. In this position, I planned events such as the Taste & Tour of Old Town to draw about 500 people into the area and raise awareness about the great companies there. I wrote stories about events in Old Town and interviewed local businesses to highlight them in our monthly newsletter. I helped organize Shmooze on Tues. in Old Town, which drew people to the area on Tuesday nights. I also maintained the social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as the Web site news section.

Most of us have friends or colleagues who recently lost their job. Unfortunately, job losses are extremely prevalent in our beloved mitten state. Coupled with job losses, there are many recent graduates who are struggling to find jobs.

If you’re a PR professional on Twitter, you may have seen all the recent tweets about “Help a PR Pro Out” day. I noticed there were no champions from Michigan supporting this awesome initiative, so I’ve jumped on board.

On Friday, February 19, from 10 am – 2 pm CT, PR bloggers, agency leaders and PR professionals from across the country will donate their time and talents to help fellow PR pros connect with employers as part of the first-ever HAPPO day. Here’s the breakdown from co-founder Arik Hanson (the other co-founder is Valerie Simon):

• Are you a job seeker? Prepare a creative blog post, pitching yourself to prospective employers and share it via Twitter during the event on Feb. 19 using the hashtag #HAPPO. The HAPPO “market champions” will help by retweeting and connecting you with potential employers in your specific market (or markets you’re willing to relocated to).

• Are you an employer looking for talent? Follow the hashtag #HAPPO on Friday, Feb. 19 and share your openings. Market champions will do their best to connect you with talent they think matches your specific needs.

• Are you a PR blogger/Twitter addict? Yes? Then share the #HAPPO tweets with your personal networks and lend your support to those in need. Help your market champion identify job seekers and pair them with potential employers. This is your chance to make a difference!

If you’re looking for a job but prefer to do so offline, please contact me or one of the HAPPO champions.

HAPPO represents a chance for us all to make a difference for colleagues, former co-workers and friends looking for a job. Think of this as a “pay it forward” movement. With the help of the global PR community, we can make a significant difference for PR job seekers everywhere. Even if our efforts only help one person in Michigan find a job, I will still consider this a success, particularly because of the momentum this initiative has gained.

You can find more information and ongoing updates leading up to the February 19 event at www.helpaprproout.com. If you’re a PR pro in Michigan (heck, even if you’re not), please consider helping to spread the word about HAPPO throughout the week. Let’s all work together to make this a success!

Image credit: HAPPO Web site

Last night I became a Lady Gaga fan. Or, in Gaga’s words, I’m now one of her “little monsters”. I was teeter tottering on the edge of being a fan until I saw Lady Gaga in concert. Check out this Detroit Free Press review for more concert details.
The concert got me thinking about how Lady Gaga rose to stardom so quickly. I wrote before about the beauty of simplicity, but Lady Gaga is a perfect example of how doing exactly the opposite can work to your benefit when you’re doing what you love.

When you break down her star power, it becomes obvious that she can teach us all a few things about finding success.

1. Be unique. This may seem like a “captain obvious” suggestion, but I bet you can name more than a handful of people who are trying to carve out their own pathway to success by directly copying off others. She may be an exotic blend of Madonna, Marilyn Manson and David Bowie, but she’s done an awesome job of differentiating herself among these and other music moguls.