Recalling Masterclass by Shonali Burke, Nicole Fichardo, Class of 2017, shares her learning on Social PR

To yet another beautiful morning, on the 9th of Jan 2017, we had a day long workshop with Shonali Burke on Social PR, founder and owner of Shonali Burke Consultancy in Washington. A smart woman with a dynamic personality, the entire day with her was worth it.

The day began with a small exercise that she asked us to do online, to find out which Social PR superhero am I.

While some got their answers as Batman, Superwoman, Iron man and so on, the result I received was Captain America. The qualities related to it are team work, traditional values, live and let live attitude, modest, excellence manager etc.  We enjoyed playing the quiz again and again, as it caught our fancy.

After that, She spoke to us about the 7C Social PR framework. The relevant C’s are – Corollary, Creativity, Content, Conversation, Community, Collaboration and Caliberation.  Each had an explanation of its own.

• Corollary meant that with no planning at all, everything would go al haywire. We need to pinpoint what we actually are trying to tell.
• Creativity should be made a habit, one should be flexible, one should know as to what is the best way to stand out..
• Content is what actually drives consumers to buy a product. Content is the heart of Social PR.
• Conversations: Social PR isn’t about just communicating but listening to people as well.
• Community is like a ship, everyone ought to be ready to take the helm (Henrick Ibsen).
• Collaboration should be encouraged, be supportive of each other but not codependent.
• Calibration means measurement.. To cite Galileo,’ Measure what is measurable and make measurable what is not’.

–Nichole Ficardo

Nicole is currently a Junior Account Executive at Avian Media, one of India’s leading PR firms, where she received an internship and a final offer out of Class of 2017 of SCoRe. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Her interest in working in areas that give her a chance to interact with people drove her towards a career in PR. She’s interested in photography, exploring new places, is a movie addict and a music lover.

She can be reached @NicoleFichardo on Twitter and as Nicole Fichardo on LinkedIn.