Tips and Tidbits I've Learned

For the 2011-2012 academic school year I served as a director for the Student Government Association. As a member of the executive staff I have learned some valuable lessons:

·         Consistent communication is vital

·         Stand by your brand

·         There’s always some there to approve of what you do

Throughout the year I have established many connections with my peers and the administrative staff at the University of North Texas. In order to maintain these connections I have connected with my peers on LinkedIn, and have begun to find the professional staff members. I always make sure to send follow-up emails thanking the professional staff for their contributions to SGA’s events.

 To make the networking opportunity more personal, I always mention how they personally helped me and how much I appreciate what they did for me as well as for my organization. By making the connection personal I believe it makes it more appropriate to ask the person about future engagements and recommendations.  One thing that has always been stressed from the journalism professors is that networking never stops. The connections you make can lead you to many others; it’s like a domino effect.

When it comes to maintaining your image standing by your brand is extremely important. No matter what role you play in your organization you must always believe in and support your brand. If you yourself do not believe and support, how can you expect anyone else to buy into your brand?

Always remember that you must also be passionate about your organization. Your target audience will feed off of your passion.

Last but not least, there always seems to be someone who is looking over your shoulder. On our executive team there is a young woman who serves as Director of Public Relations. Per the job description, she was hired to oversee all matters that could have an affect on SGA’s image.

·         Facebook

·         Twitter

·         Newspaper articles

·         Promotional items

·         Emails

·         Interviews

Throughout the year I observed that even though she had a good grip on her job, and did it very well; she still had to report to someone above her for approval. I thought to myself, “Our PR director is being ‘PRed’.”

I understand the need for ensuring that our organization is being represented in the best way possible, but is it always necessary to micromanage someone that was hired to do a specific job?

 Perhaps it is best because ultimately every member or staff of an organization will be associated with the brand of your organization. If my name is going to be known in connection with something, I would like for it be the best it can be.

Finding Your Passion

This past week I had the opportunity to sit in a lecture delivered by Shaun Winn, founder of the Winn Group. The Winn Group is a creative agency that provides services to non-profits globally. During Winn’s presentation he stressed that the most important element in running a successful non-profit is finding what you are passionate about.

As a journalism student I have heard, time and time again, that establishing your brand is what makes your organization a success. However, Winn took this statement to another level. He said that it is not only your organization’s brand that puts you on the map, but that it is also the passion you put into your work.

“If you’re not passionate about your cause, you will never be able to convince others,” said Winn.

               This quote stood out to be in the beginning of his presentation. As the lecture moved forward, Winn consistently asked the group what we were passionate about. I began to realize that he was right! As a student leader on campus I work with a lot of student organizations, and I can say that those students who show passion for what they do and put forth 110% of the needed efforts—those are the organizations who host successful programs, retain members and put their name on the map.

               Take Invisible Children North Texas for example. This group of students has done more than design, hang-up and pass out flyers. They go through the motions of:

• ·        Learning their audience
• ·        Connecting with their audience
• ·        Setting goals
• ·        Utilizing social media
• ·        Publishing articles in the NT Daily

Invisible Children (I.C.) has managed to retain members within their organization, host screenings about their cause-that are open to the entire student body at UNT, fill the seats for those screening, raise more than their desired amount of money for I.C. and make their name known on our campus.

For more information please visit their Facebook page: IC North Texas

Or follow them of Twitter: @IC_at_UNT

             When you are passionate about your cause and work at making your non-profit the best it can be, every poster, flyer, event, etc. will showcase how much your cause means to you.

Branding is Key

When people think about your organization, what are they thinking? That answer all depends upon how your organization has branded itself.

Initially, when I hear the word brand I think about logos. However, there is far more to branding than a logo. Branding is also the reputation that is attached to your logo. It is an expectation a consumer or client expects when using your product. It is a promise.

When I think about an established brand that has kept its promise to me I think about Disney. Every aspect about Disney, from the little tinker toys to the theme parks, lives up to the brand Disney has created for itself. Their games, toys, movies, etc. all bring out the inner child within me. I believe Disney strives to make everyone, no matter their age, feel like they can be a kid and enjoy the little things in life with the most joy.

Mazda recently made an attempt to strengthen and expose their brand with a spin on an ordinary commercial tactic. They partnered with the soon-to-be-released film, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. When I watch this commercial I revert back to the days when I read Dr. Seuss books. To see a product-the car-I view as a necessity in my adulthood I think about how much fun I could have driving around in the new Mazda. The reason I believe it would be fun is because reading Dr. Seuss books was fun. Those books made a promise to me in my childhood, and if Mazda is partnering with them they should be living up to that promise as well.

Check out the Mazda commercial!

You might be wondering how this all relates back to PR. PR is not limited to speech writing and press releases. There are some aspects that align with PR professionals when you developing your brand.

• ·         What is the goal of the organization?
• ·         What are the objectives of your organization?
• ·         What is the best way to communicate to your publics?
• ·         What strategies and tactics will you use to push your brand?

It is also important to remember that you should also strive to brand yourself as an individual, just as well as you would for your company. When you are looking into a career you have to sell yourself to a company or organization. When you are selling yourself you are telling your potential future employer who you are, what you bring to the table, why you are the best fit, etc. You are selling your brand.

In the words of Fay Fleming, founder of Business Performance Company, “If you are not branding yourself other people are branding you.” This also holds true to your organizations.

Combating Bad Publicity

An important aspect to a public relations professional’s career is having the ability to combat bad publicity for their clients.

While the definition of public relations is one that is susceptible to change, during my undergrad program I have been exposed to one that is bold and elaborate. According to Dr. Koji Fuse public relations is: “The value-driven management function that helps establish and maintain mutually beneficial, long-term relationships between an organization and its external as well as internal publics through continuous two-way communication to serve both the organization’s and the publics interest in the democracy toward this goal. Public Relations practitioners must thoroughly research the organization and its environment, develop carefully thought-out strategic plans, implement the plans, and evaluate the program progress and outcomes for the organization and its publics to mutually adapt to each other. “

Within this definition there are the aspects that address why you must be able to combat bad press.

• Mutually beneficial relationships
• Long-term relationships
•  Two-way communication
• Interest in democracy

When an issue is brought up with a client or internally, the key aspect to remember as a professional is to back your client to best of your ability without disclosing information that could further harm them. When speaking about your client and the alleged issue you must:

•       Acknowledge the concern
•       Cover the client-express that no assumptions can be made
•      Let your publics know you are working on the issue
•      Remind your publics of your client or organization’s standards/policies

*You should never shy away from media during times of bad publicity because “no comment” is the “worst comment.”

Petco’s grooming services has recently faced allegations that shed an extremely negative light on their company. Two customers in Hawaii picked their dogs up after a scheduled grooming to find that not only had their animals received a proper hair clipping, they also had body parts clipped. One dog’s ear was partially missing and another’s tail was clipped. Needless to say the customers were unhappy and sued Petco.

Combating these negative allegations fell into the lap of Petco’s PR/spokesperson. While a chunk of an ear and a clipped tail would be obvious to anyone; it was the job of their spokesperson to let the public know they were investigating the situation and could not make any assumptions. They had to defend the company, but also let their customers know they were working on the issues and reminded them about Petco’s standards.

*Petco Article

I would like to say that a part of being a PR professional is somewhat like being a lawyer. While sometimes you may know that your client is in the wrong, you must defend them to the fullest and advocate the good they do. It is the job of a PR professional to maintain the long-term and beneficial relationships with their clients, just as it is the job of a lawyer to do all they can to prove their client is innocent.

Source:

10 Steps of Crisis Communication

Twitter to the Rescue

Twitter to the Rescue

Before this semester began I did not quite understand the power of Twitter. Dr, Samra Bufkins and the DART incident that occurred this past Tuesday, February 7^th, have opened my eyes to some of the social network’s capabilities.

Going into JOUR 4460 I had a Twitter account; however, I was not an active user. I would even say that I possibly tweeted about once every two weeks, and I certainly did not utilize Twitter as a news source. Like most social butterflies, I stuck with Facebook to stay up-to-date with my friends and used the nifty CNN application on my smartphone for my news source.

I know you might be thinking, “How aloof is she”? A lot would be the correct answer. Scary, I know, considering that my major is public relations. I should be more on top of up-and-coming networks and definitely more in tune with what is going on around me. These are some goals that I am currently working on because I know I will not be successful otherwise.

During these first few weeks of class I have learned so much about Twitter. While it has been information overload; it has also been very beneficial.

I have learned that Twitter:

•   Serves as a great networking opportunity
•   Can be a helpful tool to publicize your work
•  Can be an excellent news source

 Networking on Twitter, in my opinion, is much more valuable than attempting to on Facebook. Yes, you can “like” a company’s page on Faebook, periodically visit their page for updates, and see what others have to say and engage in conversation. In my opinon Twitter executes all of these things better. For one, it seems more professional. In the words of Dr. Bufkins, “There is no emotional attachment on Twitter as there is on Facebook.” You follow companies, professionals, some friends and comical users. There is always an option of following the tweets other users who show up in your feed. There are a vast amount of professionals who are utilizing this social network and can be an asset to you if you are tweeting solid and credible information.

When it comes to publicizing your work Twitter lends a helping hand. If you have a good base of followers who in turn have a good network of followers, once you post something (like a link to your blog) it has the opportunity to go viral. Twitter can act like a domino effect by people retweeting and sharing your post. You can easily gain exposure. If the tweet shows up in the right persons feed you could potentially land yourself a gig, job, connection, etc.

As far as Twitter being a good news source, I definitely saw it during class this past week. Had it not been for Twitter there is a chance I would not have known about the DART shooting until later that night or the next day. Our class knew about the incident almost immediately. Twitter users whether it is a citizen, reporter, or news station have a sense of urgency and deliver news just about as the event occurs. If that does not say a good news source, I don’t know what does.

I am very thankful to have learned so much about this particular social network because nowI know the value and power it carries. To be honest it was my least favorite, but I have more respect for it than Facebook.

Here is a link to a graph that shows interesting stats about Twitter: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/35-key-twitter-statistics-infographic-012384.php

Social Media presence in SEO

As we all know social media has made itself known in our society. As I far as I’m concerned it has made a bold statement and it’s here to stay.

Don’t let sites like Facebook fool you into thinking their sole motive is to allow its users to reconnect with old friends. Overtime Facebook has allowed sponsors to advertise their products and services. According to a recent survey, Digital Influence Index, Fleishman-Hillard found that 42% of people surveyed friend or follow a company brand via social media.

Another trend they found was two out of three people surveyed used some type of smartphone to access information concerning products of their interest. Majority of smartphones require some sort of data plan which puts the world in your hands with a click of a button. A large contribution to finding the products is the power of search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO can become the driving force of a company’s brand. The most important aspect of SEO is remembering to create original content that is specific and relatable to your products and of interest to the target audience. You must strategically chose and tag the keywords that will result in your sites and products coming up in the top search results. Social media sites are now common ways consumers are discovering product information.

As consumers are using popular search engines like Google and Bing, not only are the searches yielding the actual company sites but they are also pulling up statuses and mentions of users on social media sites. Fleishman-Hillard found that one-fifth of individuals turn to Facebook for product reviews.

Sources:

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10736.aspx 

Brafton 

Social Media in the Work Place

The other day my aunt posted a status saying, “The old man is in the building today. I’m sure chaos is around the corner.”

Initially, I was unsure what she was referring to. However, after going through more of her posts I realized she was speaking about her boss. When I confronted her about posting things concerning her work she said it was not a big deal because his name or the company’s was never directly mentioned, and she does not have co-workers as friends. While that is true, it does not take a rocket scientist to piece two and two together.

After talking with my aunt I began to wonder what actions companies are taking to fight the battle of bad PR via social media. I would think that with the popularity of Facebook and Twitter, individuals would start turning towards these media outlets; utilizing them as an outlet for personal frustration. After all, I see my peers complain about their professors and universities on these sites.

Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) recently made a post about how some workers were busted by their companies when they posted things that reflected poorly on their respective companies.

One of the most obvious ways was simply being able to search an individual on the internet. If you do not have your media on 100% complete lock down, your pages will come up. Sometimes an individual post might appear because it was shared or retweeted by other users. Another way was using company property such as a cell phone to make calls, send emails, or take pictures. The cell phone is owned by the company; therefore, they have the right to access it and review the content.

Companies have started adopting online harassment policies to try and enforce consequences of defamation. This could include having employees sign a contract that holds them accountable for their actions concerning social media. TWC encourages all businesses and organizations to adopt these kinds of policies.

Social media exposure for businesses and organizations plays a big part in their success these days with our advanced technology. Every mention is either good or bad PR. Public Relation professionals are the ones who are held responsible for managing the relationship between the clients and the business. With that said, if there is one person posting negatively about the business or organization they have to figure out the best way to combat the bad publicity. That also shows internal conflict which is not good for anyone, and creates unnecessary work for the PR Director.  

 
Perhaps if people were more aware of the consequences of their actions they would be less likely to post negative things to social media concerning their work environment. Then again, who knows?

Source:

http://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/social_media_issues.html 

http://www.twc.state.tx.us/