The world of public relations may have changed, but there are some basic business skills and workplace etiquette that new PR grads should be aware of. The current recession means we are in a “buyer’s market.” Agencies are very selective in hiring and may not hesitate to dismiss a new hire or intern who doesn’t integrate with the culture of the agency and its clients.

Senior agency executives and clients alike are often stunned at the lack of basic business skills possessed by new PR grads. PR is a client service business. Clients pay for more than excellent communications work, they pay for a relationship, and to have someone on call when their internal capacity or expertise is not enough, or when a crisis arises.

As a client service business, a PR agency relies on billable hours. Growth comes from increased work within its current clients, and recruitment of new clients. When faced with a perceived lack of professionalism on the part of its agency, a client may reduce its reliance on the agency, or seek a new one. When a client likes your work, they will buy more hours and will recommend your agency to others within and outside the company.

Part of the work of a public relations agency is reputation management, and the agency’s staff have front line responsibility for maintaining and improving the agency’s reputation.

Here are some suggestions for how new agency staff can instill trust in its clients and best serve their needs:

1. Dress professionally. It is always better to overdress than under dress. I have actually seen associates and interns in flip-flops and t-shirts. The agency may have a dress code in the office. If it is a more informal agency, it may not, but remember you are dressing to make your clients feel as if they have invested in the right agency. They may not have the same culture as the agency. Don’t chew gum or send texts in front of a client.
2. Think carefully about what you post on your personal blog, the agency blog, Facebook, Twitter and other social sites. Clients and prospective clients have been known to look at these to better understand the background of the agency and its personnel.
3. Focus on business basics. Keep your appointments. Be early. Answer your mobile phone. Don’t let it go to voice mail unless you have to. Respond to emails and voice mails quickly. Check your spelling. (They pay the agency to get things right.)
4. Learn your clients’ business. Get on the web and use your old friend Google. Ask your client contact for pointers to the best sources of information on the company that will apply to your work with them. If possible, get yourself invited to some of your clients’ internal meetings so you can become a part of their daily business. (Check this with your management as there are some questions as to who pays for these hours.)
5. Ask questions. Check with more senior personnel in the agency on anything you’re unsure of or on any area you want to learn more about. New grads who ask a lot of questions and adjust quickly to the realities of agency life will rise quickly, get more responsibility and make more money.

Note: This blog post is based on an answer I provided to a question on Quora. Feel free to follow me there.

The origin of last week’s Facebook shutdown rumor is no less a prestigious news organization than the Weekly World News. Instead of reading the blogs about the scam, I Googled the item and went straight to the source so I could form my own opinions. I was stunned by how poorly the thing was executed and therefore stunned that anyone would report it as factual.

Anyone who has been to a supermarket, liquor store or 7-11 knows the Weekly World News is s***. It’s that simple. It’s crap. Weekly World News publishes stories about alien babies, Elvis sightings and the Shroud of Turin. Why would anyone quote this fishwrapper?

And did you read it? “Those in the financial circuit are criticizing Zuckerberg…” First of all, things are on a circuit, not in it. Secondly, no one who knows anything about business uses the term “financial circuit.” It just doesn’t exist. It’s clear that the writer doesn’t know crap about the topic.

And by the way, did you see the link at the bottom of the piece to the site’s next story?

NEXT STORY - U.S. TRADES CARROT TOP FOR CANADIAN PENNIES

Another crazy story. At least it’s more believable than the Facebook story.

Every day we read about innocent consumers duped by online scams. There’s the classic Nigerian 419 letter from the corrupt official offering to split $52 million with the recipient in exchange for some bank account information. There are cars on Craig’s List offered for one third their retail value which the seller will ship for next to nothing. There are schemes that purport to allow people with no experience to make thousands of dollars a day while they sleep.

Why do people fall for these? If it’s too good to be true, or too crazy to be true, it isn’t. It’s so simple.

And why did so many people pass on the news that Facebook was closing? I can only think of a few reasons:

• They want to be the first to tell their friends that Facebook is shutting its doors, so they report it without any thought or investigation
• They trust the Weekly World News implicitly (unlikely)
• They know it’s false, or unlikely to be true, but spreading rumors is fun

Whatever the reason, this incident gives us some clues as to how to achieve virality (if there is such a thing):

• Give people something intriguing or engaging enough that they will want to share it
• Choose a topic with wide appeal
• Introduce an unexpected or even outrageous element to the story
• Victimize naive participants early in the process to ensure widespread propagation prior to serious investigation

The Weekly World News surely achieved its objectives with this campaign. There are over 11,000 comments on the piece, and the comments continue to come in. At this point, most commenters recognize the joke, but there are still plenty of pleas that Facebook not shut down.

I recently found myself at Good Ol’ Burgers in Paso Robles, California and was struck by how well they alert consumers to their social media efforts via in-store promotion, and how clearly they articulate what’s in it for the customer who engages with them through social media.

Good Ol’ Burgers has business cards all over the store with their YouTube and MySpace coordinates. They’re at the front register and the company even puts the cards on every table in the condiment carriers.

Better still was this flyer, posted in the men’s room!, promoting and explaining the company’s Facebook page.

“WANT FREE FOOD EVERY TIME YOU VISIT?” How much clearer can you get when explaining why someone should go to your Facebook page? And Good Ol’ Burgers doesn’t assume, like so many companies, that its customers know how to use Facebook. The flyer doesn’t talk about reaching out to the community. It explains how to find the company’s page and print a VIP card for free hamburgers.

Good Ol’ Burgers serves as an example of how social media can be used effectively without overwhelming consumers:

1. The company’s campaign is simple
2. The benefits to consumers, and how they can be obtained, are clearly explained
3. Promotional material is clear and to the point, and not cluttered with grandiose social media sentiments.

In other words, Good Ol’ Burgers sees social media as what it is, one of many tools available to marketers