Millennials: The Key to Social Media Success

On PR Daily, I came across an article titled Why Millennials Should Handle Your Social Media; this article was written by Lauren Rothering in response to an article she had read when she was 23 stating why millennials SHOULD not be able to handle social media.  When I came across this title, I was intrigued because I, too, am a millennial and usually you do read negative articles about my generation and our work ethic.

Rothering listed 5 main reasons why millennials SHOULD handle the social media of a company and as I read through, I could not stop nodding my head in agreement.  Social media is something that we have grown up with; from the time we reached 3rd grade we were on AOL Instant Messenger, MySpace and then we all moved to Facebook, Twitter and now Instagram.  Social media has evolved as we have continued to age so why would the millennials not be best at something they were constantly growing with?

Although I am unsure if Rothering’s article had her ideas in the order she thought were most prevalent, I feel that some are a lot more crucial to be hit upon…

Rothering’s number 3 and 4 hit on the assumptions that are made that we aren’t trustworthy enough or mature enough. THANK YOU! There have been so many times where they have been notions made that this generation isn’t trustworthy.  In my opinion, the term trustworthy can pertain to so much.  Rothering referred to us “locking the social media accounts”; are we five?  I think is where the maturity aspect comes in.  At 23, we are mature enough to enter the work force.. I mean we have set in a classroom for 4 or even 5 years obtaining a degree to get us to this point.  We are constantly using our own social media sites on a daily basis, we haven’t seemed to get locked out of them?

Lastly, Rothering made the point that I made in the beginning stating that social media isn’t new to us.  It sure isn’t! Although there is training for employees and people in the work force in social media, we have explored on our own and have probably experienced more add-ons that are even covered in the training.  I can say that I truly know Twitter and Facebook like the back of my hand so to do a few posts would just be natural for me.

This article really just made me think about my experiences with Clients in The Agency and how they were reaching out to students, whom of which haven’t even graduated yet, for advice on how they can make their office or business more successful.  The truth is, we did help with that and they have a lot more communication with potential consumers.  I guess millennials really are the key to success and it is our job to prove all of the doubters wrong.

Sources

Rothering, L. (2013). Why millennials should handle your social media. Retrieved on November 17, 2013 from PR Daily http://www.prdaily.com/socialmedia/Articles/15612.aspx

When I grow up, I want to be a…

The title above is something you constantly hear kids saying (and sometimes even college students).  Kids always say that they want to be a teacher, a doctor, or something that there parents are.  As the field of public relations, advertising, and social media continue to grow, hopefully kids will want to do something that has to do with this field!

 

On PR Daily, there was a post listing 8 reasons why individuals love working in the world of social media! The post was titled, 8 Reasons to Love Working in Social Media by Ashley Hoff.   I found these reasons very interesting and I was happy to see that some of the reasons that I love social media were listed.  Below are 2 of the reasons why she thinks social media is great and why I do too!

1)  “Social media is not for everybody. But you can’t use that as an excuse to not even consider it. Social media in the right hands is powerful. You would be doing yourself a disservice not to carefully consider using social media as a marketing tool—and you should have solid, defensible reasons for your choice.”

I totally agree that not everyone is good at utilizing social media.  Some people view social media has just another reason to complain about random things or people and simply just post random thoughts that come to mind.  Not many people, outside of the communications or business field look at social media as a tool for marketing and maximizing business.  If you know how to use social media and have an engaging mind, social media should be a profession that you consider!

2)  “Social media is not cheap, nor easy; but you can get an extraordinary bang for your buck if you do it right! A lot of people think that social media is a cheaper way to conduct a campaign and achieve marketing goals. The true advantage, though, is the quality of results you can get with a well-run social media campaign. A billboard cannot interact on a personal level with a consumer. Social media responds in real time to conversation about your brand. If you were to spend on a social media campaign what you spend on traditional media, the return is so much greater.”

I love the point she makes about how billboards cannot create interactive, personal communication.  Throughout all of our classes, we have learned that consumers love to be able to communicate on a personal level.  Social media is the whole package for PR practitioners; you can get your message across and engage with consumers at the same time.  As we learned in previous chapters, it is important that people look into the versions of social media that do require some money in order to advertise.  As Hoff said, the return is so much greater if you utilize social media in the right way.

I personally feel that there are so many reasons for one to love social media.  I can only hope that this field continues to grow and one day, this is a position that young kids and young adults dream of being.

Sources

Hoff, A. (October 30, 2013). 8 reasons to love working in social media. Retrieved on November 2, 2013 from PR Daily http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/15442.aspx#

Did the right person catch that pitch?

In Chapter 16 of Share This: The Social Media Handbook for PR Professionals, Julio Romo discusses how to pitch using social media.  Typically, PR practitioners would have to find a journalist(s) that was willing to listen to why they should write about the brand or client that is seeking coverage.  Today, with the increasing use of social media platforms, there are many new ways to get in contact with people who can promote the story.

One of the main points that Romo hits on is that there are now media outlets that list right on their website what journalists and producers are on Twitter; as we have discussed before, Twitter is one of the best ways to promote a story (thats if your 140 characters really captures all important elements).  Romo mentioned how we used to have our address books with the numbers to journalists but now he is saying that “creating a digital address book today could not be easier” (2012, p. 140).  These digital address books allow PR practitioners to promote and pitch these stories to many individuals via social media platforms.

But… what if you pitch to the wrong person? What if your pitch doesn’t go as intended?

With multiple social media platforms, it is VITAL that PR practitioners are familiar with the different platforms and who they are pitching to.  Romo stated that “too many PRs make the mistake of assuming that because bloggers can carry content, they work like journalists,” and continued to an example that ended up resulting in a post that “was cold and written in a manner that highlighted the possible lack of a working relationship between the two parties” (2012, p. 139).  Moral of the story is, you have to be careful of who you are pitching to and how you are utilizing the different platforms.

In a post by Amber Mac, titled Social Media Makes Bad Pitches Go Viral–And Can Save PR from Itself, she opens with “not even spam filters can save fast company writers from horrible PR pitches” (2012).  She then later describes that in order to save yourself from the bad publicity there are 3 steps that should be followed: 1) Do your social search homework, 2) Consider a social pitch first, and 3) Kill the “dear journalist” from letters and mass e-mails.

I came across a website, with a specific page titled Bad PR… Bad which is hosted by a site titled “The PR Coach.”  I started to read the page a little bit and the first paragraph states, “we present the best of the Bad PR examples from the ‘net. We hesitated to put this page together but there’s too much to learn from other public relations mistakes, PR Fails, bad blog pitches, media missteps, bad judgment, poor PR pitching and PR faux pas.”  This page just made it extremely clear for me that there are tons and tons of critics out there so you can be put in the spot light for just one bad PR pitch.

The moral of the story is, you have to be careful what you post because you don’t want to end up as a link on Bad PR.. Bad or pitch your story to the wrong person.  If you follow the steps that Romo states in the chapter, you should have a great pitch on social media!

Sources

Mac, A. (2012). Social media makes bad pitches go viral– And can save PR from itself. Retrieved on October 24, 2013 from http://www.fastcompany.com/1840131/social-media-makes-bad-pitches-go-viral-and-can-save-pr-itself

Romo, J. (2012). Pitching using social media in Share this: The social media handbook for PR professionals. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, West Sussex.

Bad PR.. Bad. Retrieved on October 24, 2013 from http://www.theprcoach.com/bad-pr-bad/.

Public Relations- What Kind of Correlation?

Before I decided that I wanted to be a part of the Communications program at Saint Rose, I had my own opinion on what I thought Public Relations and Advertising was all about.  I assumed that PR practitioners lied in order to get consumers to buy their product, or at least show interest towards it.  I assumed that PR practitioners worked in fancy offices, making a lot of money and simply just working for one company.  I was definitely wrong..

Now that I have taken a large amount of courses in the field, I know the real ins and outs of Public Relations.  I know that we must provide the client with what they are looking for and also set it up in an attractive way so that it attracts the attention of consumers and other members of the community.

What I didn’t know was that there is a correlation between being a PR practitioner, a trendy woman and a democrat.  An article on PR Daily, titled PR Stereotypes: Fact or Fiction?, written by Arik Hanson discussed the different stereotypes and which ones were true or not.

He clarified that it is not true that most PR practitioners are democrats and trendy woman.  He did state that there is a ratio of 4-1 when discussing women to men in the field.

I found it very interesting that these were some of the things that individuals thought.  Neither of these stereotypes have crossed my mind but the ones that I did think of, were not mentioned.  I find it interesting that the field of PR is related to people who are liberal, open minded and pretty much the farthest thing from conservative.  I personally feel that the field of PR is so intriguing because it is made up of so many individuals of different personalities.

Sources

Hanson, A. (October 15, 2013). PR stereotypes: Fact or fiction? Retrieved on October 21, 2013 from PR Daily http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/15390.aspx

Be desperate business because you need to blog!

In Chapter 11 of Share This: The Social Media Handbook for PR Professionals, Stephen Waddington discusses The Business of Blogging.  In the introductory portion of his chapter, he discusses how blogs were formed and how individuals were the first to experiment with the blogging world.  As many of us know, once something works for individuals, businesses are desperate to get their name on that specific platform.

Waddington writes within the chapter that “good commercial blogs are hard to find because of the organisational and communciation challenges of the genre” (2011, p. 98).  This chapter got me thinking and to be honest, many of the blogs I follow are written by individuals that have a passion and knowledge for/about a specific topic; I can not recall any blogs I follow being run by a business.

But why?…

In an article on Tweak Your Biz, titled The Real Reason Why People Don’t Care About Your Business Blog, Brown states that “numerous business bloggers struggle with how to bring in targeted traffic to their blogs and how to get their readers to engage with them and their content” (2013).  This confirms that one of the challenges that businesses face s bringing people in, hence why I do not follow any blogs.

It is important that businesses start figuring out these difficulties and make a name for themselves within the blogging world. There are many articles that have reported that there are MANY benefits to blogging, especially for businesses.  On Social Media Examiner, there is an article titled 5 Reasons Your Business Should be Blogging.  The article provides 5 logical reasons why it is necessary for a business to blog.  I particularly thought that the best reason was number 3. Marcus Sheridan says, “You become the trust agent,” and continues ” helpful content= trust, trust=leads, leads=sales” (2011).  If you provide your viewers with helpful content and the real deal, they are likely to trust you and they can later bring in sales to your company.

After reading these articles and looking at whole I follow, I think it only makes sense that businesses continue to follow these words of advice and become desperate to blog.

Sources: 

Brown, S. (2013). The real reason why people don’t care about your business blog. Retrieved on October 10, 2013 from Tweak Your Biz http://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/2013/08/21/the-real-reason-why-people-dont-care-about-your-business-blog/

Sheridan, M. (2011). 5 reasons your business should be blogging. Retrieved on October 10, 2013 from Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-reasons-your-business-should-be-blogging/

Waddington, S. (2012). The business of blogging in Share this: The social media handbook for PR professionals. John Widley & Sons Ltd: Chichester, West Sussex

Apple, Coke, Google- SHOOT

According to Pearcy, A. of PR Daily, Apple has claimed the number 1 spot for the world’s most valuable brand.  Following Apple was Google, which was then followed by Coca-Cola.  What is surprising about this jump in ranking is that Coca-Cola had been in the number one spot.  Pearcy, A. joked, “the marketing “machine” that is Coca-Cola usually invites consumers to “open happiness,” but those at the global beverage giant might be less chipper today” (2013).  

What I found most interesting about this article is Apple, Google, and Coca-Cola are three main brands that are always discussed within the business and communications field.  Each company has successfully marketed their brand in a way that is unique and differentiates them from all competitors.  I do not believe that there is one person walking, especially in the United States, that has not heard of these three main brands.  

I did find it surprising however that Coca-Cola jumped from the number 1 spot to number 3.  Yes, Apple had a launch of a new product and yes, Google is just awesome but as we discussed in our Twitter chat, Coca-Cola is a wonderful brand within social media.  I thought it would be a good idea to look at Google and Apple’s twitters and of course, they have a wonderful presence to.  I do not believe that all of their success is linked to the way the utilize the social media platforms but I do think that it plays a big role in the way the continue to advance.

All three of these companies are great companies and continue to dominate the market and their specific industries.  Apple, Google, Coca Cola is playing its own game of Rock, Paper, Scissor.  With their continual approaches, you never know what company may shoot to the number 1 spot of the world’s most valuable brand tomorrow. 

Source:
Pearcy, A. (October 1, 2013). Apple overtakes Coca-Cola as most valuable brand.  Retrieved on October 6, 2013 from PR Daily http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/15316.aspx

 

PR to Social Media OR Social Media to PR?

In many cases, you hear how social media can be a good PR tool.  Many people say that social media is a great way for PR practitioners to reach their target audience and communicate with them on an interactive area.  Up until now, I completely agreed until I came across an article in PR Week titled How PR Can Take Social Media to the Next Level.  When I first read the title I was very confused.  I asked myself, how can PR help social media when social media is usually the one helping a PR campaign.

The main point of this article, written by Martin Jones, was to discuss how social media is too social.  PR practitioners are not focusing on the “media” aspect as much as they are the “social” aspect.  The point of PR is to target consumers through the media and attract them to the product or service. (Jones, M., 2013)

In the article, Jones says that there are three ways that PR practitioners can change the way that social media operates and focus more on the media then on the social.

His number 1 way, which I found very relevant to this class was “a Twitter chat with influencers” (Jones, M. 2013).  He continued to say that the Twitter chat is a great way because,  “agencies often have established relationships with journalists, business professionals, and bloggers who are active on Twitter. If you bring together a few for an organized Twitter chat on a client’s central messaging – via a hashtag – social media can get a little more interactive, and the brand can stand out” (Jones, M., 2013).  This point really struck me! If you think about what we were doing during our Twitter Chat, we were pretty much promoting the book we are reading, our views and our class.  It is funny to think that just a few weekends ago, we were subconsciously changing the way that social media operates; we were focusing more on the media then we were on the social aspect.

So a question I pose to you…

What do you think are some ways that we, as PR practitioners, can convert social media into more of a media source then a social source? Do you think Twitter Chats are a good way or maybe even the best way?

Sources

Jones, M. (2013). How PR can take social media to the next level. Retrieved on September 30, 2013 from http://www.prweekus.com/how-pr-can-take-social-media-to-the-next-level/article/313810/.

iOS 7: The New Friend of Instagram

In Chapter 4 of Share This: The Social Media Handbook for PR Professionals, the concept “new is news” is discussed.  Nowicka, H. discusses how readers do not care if they are reading about the latest fashion trends or the newest financial data, readers want to know what is new and what is happening (2012, p. 33). For the past week and a half, and possibly even longer, we have heard about the Apple update, the iOS 7.  This release definitely has fell under the concept “new is news” because if you have a Twitter or Facebook, I am sure you scrolled across all the individual commentary on the new features.

As many of you know, Instagram has become a popular topic in today’s generation; you are constantly hearing people discuss what they posted on Instagram, whether it is a #tbt (throwback Thursday) or a #mcm (man candy Monday). Sometimes you will even over hear someone saying, “did you see what she posted on Instagram?”  It is a topic of conversation in many social settings. With all of the iOS 7 conversation and Instagram conversation, it was to my surprise there not many comments about the camera/photo section of the iOS 7 and the many compatible features it has with Instagram.

On the iOS 7 system, you now have the capability to take a picture in a square setting and chose a filter before taking a picture. Cipriani, J. of CNET wrote an article titled Five Tips for the New Camera App on iOS 7; he wrote when discussing the features, “swiping to the left will activate Square mode, which perfectly frames a photo for popular photo-sharing services such as Instagram” (2013).  You will see below the different options of the features and the square capability.

But how does this relate to the concept that “new is news”…

These new features allow for the possibility for new news, in picture form, to be posted instantaneously.  Photographers, PR individuals and journalists can report events visually with these new updates.  Instead of taking multiple pictures and then editing them in order to post them on Instagram, these steps can be completed before the picture is even taken.

This can also help with the other concept that Nowicka speaks, getting closer to the gatekeepers (2012, p. 36); if a PR individual takes a picture of an event or upcoming event utilizing the outlets on Instagram and the iOS 7 system, journalists can potentially be attracted to the image and develop interest in the even, which could further lead to the development of a relationship with the PR practitioner.

Koifman, N., the President of NKPR, states that Instagram is “a great way to build brand personality and outreach” and that “using a new social platform results in reaching different individuals and reaching individuals differently, which helps increase awareness and also translates into additional and often new customers” (2013).  These statements really tie in all points; Instagram is a great tool for PR practitioners to utilize and is a way for news to be new, especially with the iOS 7 update.

Sources

Cipriani, J. (2013). Five tips for the new camera app on iOS 7. Retrieved on September 23, 2013 from http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57602511-285/five-tips-for-the-new-camera-app-on-ios-7/

Nowicka, H. (2012). Share this: The social media handbook for PR professionals. John Wiley & Sons, LTD: Chichester, West Sussex.

(2013). Instagram- The PR perspective. Retrieved on September 23, 2013 from http://navigator.cision.com/Instagram-The-PR-Perspective.aspx

1,000 Flexible Arms or 1 Strong Tree?

As an aspiring communications professional, I constantly hear that I will be the face of the company I am hired by.  I will be the one responsible for keeping a positive image for the company, communicating with the consumers and overall, creating a strong brand image.  When I hear all of these duties, all I can picture is someone with their arms dipped into 1,000 places.

When reading Chapter 2 of Share This: The Social Media Handbook for PR Professionals, Sanders discusses how it is vital to select a squad; in terms of utilizing social media within a company, he states “there are plenty of commonplace situations which show how different areas of a business might well have to be involved” (Sanders, 2012, p. 16).  Pretty much, Sanders argues that there are many scenarios where individuals with other expertise, other than public relations, should communicate with consumers in order to answer their questions.

I think this logic is rather intelligent.  When individuals within an organization communicate with one another and provide consumers with answers, they can learn off of one another; a finance person knows more about profits then someone in the PR field and vice versa.  In an article titled How Online Social Networks Benefit Organizations, Kimball & Rheingold mention that utilization of social media can allow an organization to “improve the way individuals think collectively, moving from knowledge-sharing to collective knowing” (Howard Rheingold).   This point simply states that by utilizing different departments in social media, individuals can educate others and then all individuals involved will be proficient in discussing that topic.

When a company uses social media, not only does it benefit the organization but it also benefits the consumers.  Many consumers, according to Boyer in an article titled Consumer Benefits of Social Media, are “finding positive benefits from their experiences with social media and taking away positive suggestions from their online activities” (Boyer, M., 2011).  By the multi-individuals using social media to reach these consumers, they will keep experiencing positive benefits due to the fact that they are receiving information from educated individuals.

Overall, instead of stretching one PR professionals all over the place, it is better to create a strong tree that involves the whole organization.

Sources

Boyer, M. (2011). Consumer benefits of social media. Retrieved on September 9, 2013 from http://www.ballpublishing.com/greenprofit/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=18330

Kimball, L. & Rheingold, H. How online social networks benefit organizations.  Retrieved on September 9, 2013 from http://www.rheingold.com/Associates/onlinenetworks.html

Sanders, S. (2012). Share this: The social media handbook for PR professionals.  John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Chichester, West Sussex: United Kingdom.

A Familiar “Face” to Today’s Society

My average morning consists of waking up, taking a shower, getting dressed and then opening Facebook on my phone to see the funny statuses and pictures my friends posted last night.  According to a blog on Digital Marketing Ramblings, I am only one of  the 1.15 billion Facebook users (Smith, C.).

In today’s society, individuals rely heavily on Facebook as one of their forms of communication; it is used a way to update friends & family, a check-in tool, a photo sharer and a way to determine popularity (especially if you are one of those people that keep track of the number of likes they receive on a status or picture update).  When reading the first chapter in Share This: The Social Media Handbook for PR Professionals, my jaw hit the ground when I read that if Facebook was a country, “it would be the third largest after China and India” (Share this, pp. 3-4).  Facebook has become a part of every day life and is something that everyone has heard of or used, at least once.

But.. how is Facebook a good tool for PR Professionals?

In my opinion, it is important for PR Professionals to reach out to consumers with a forum that they are comfortable with.  Since 1.15 billion individuals throughout the world use Facebook as a form of communication, I feel that is is appropriate to consider Facebook while developing a tactical plan for a company.  If company’s are looking to bring in more consumers or get more recognition from the public, social media is definitely the way to go about it. I personally have a few ideas for how a school, company or person can create interactive posts to draw a consumer in and hopefully continue communication in order to fulfill an objective.

1. CREATE A STATUS WITH A QUESTION

Last year, I was part of a class called “The Agency.”  A group of students were paired up with a “Client” and we provided them ideas and recommendations on how to communicate effectively with their target audience.  My Client wanted to utilize social networks and build a community that allowed people to participate in conversation.  While examining their Facebook page, many of their posts were direct and did not require or encourage a response.  We provided them with a list of questions and within hours of the post, they started to receive comments.  As you can see in the picture below, 19 people provided comments, 1 being our very own professor!

A blog titled 7 Powerful Facebook Statistics You Should Know for a More Engaging Facebook Page also agreed with the recommendation my class provided.  The blog states that “question posts get 100% more comments” (Cooper, B.B.).

When a post is interactive, consumers will feel as if there voice is being heard and their participation is wanted.  Involvement of consumers=success.

2. POST AN ENGAGING IMAGE

Images provide consumers with a visual.  In retail especially, it is vital that there is a picture that shows the product that they are trying to sell.  Alex & Ani, a bangle bracelet company, does a very good job at posting images of their product in an engaging sense.  They match up different color beaded bangles with some popular bangles so consumers can get a sense of what it may look like.

Overall… the textbook discusses the different types of social networking and how they are becoming a part of everyday life.  I feel that Facebook, is definitely the “face” of all social media.  When you wake up in the morning, I am sure you click the Facebook app too to see what your friends are up to.  As PR Professionals, I feel it is vital that we utilize this outlet and incorporate my suggestions above to bring success to our overall objective.

Sources

Cooper, B.B. (July 23, 2013). 7 powerful Facebook statistics you should know for a more engaging Facebook page. Retrieved on September 2, 2013 from http://blog.bufferapp.com/7-facebook-stats-you-should-know-for-a-more-engaging-page.

(2012). Share this: The social media handbook for PR professionals.  John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Chichester, West Sussex: United Kingdom.

Smith, C. (August 25, 2013). By the numbers: 47 amazing Facebook stats. Retrieved September 2, 2013 from http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-17-amazing-facebook-stats/.