ER on PR

Over the course of a year, I have witnessed a social media takeover in Public Relations, businesses and people.  One social media powerhouse that has taken over the world that needs no introduction… is Facebook.  I have been intrigued by the mass amount of people flocking to it.  Not only are people in their 20s and 30s joining, but parents and grandparents are as well! I think I’ve added more of my friends’ parents to my friend’s list than I have people my own age recently. 

Over the past year, one person utilized Facebook like no other.  This person was Barack Obama.  Whether you like him or not, you must give the man credit for reaching young people and getting them involved like never before.  He used Facebook to gain voters, raise money, help promote his campaign-you name it, he was using Facebook for it.  By his use of Facebook,  he became plugged in with the youth of America and gave us hope for our future.  And now, he is president of the United States.  He was doing something right!

But back to businesses…

Facebook isn’t just for college students anymore either, nor is it just for people.  Businesses are also joining  the Facebook frenzy.  And why not when it is the largest social network in the world!  Businesses jumping on the Facebook bandwagon are smart.  A Facebook page for a business promotes your business to various age groups, disseminates information to a mass amount of people quickly, and it is relatively free.  All it takes is a little time and effort, that’s it.  This is especially great for small businesses who might not have the people or the money to handle their PR.

Now this time last year, I would have scoffed at the thought of businesses getting on Facebook. This time last year I was also just starting the infamous Style and Design class taught by the social media guru himself, Robert French and being introduced to the social media world.  Robert repeatedly told our class that social media is the future for PR.  Boy was he right! 

To sum this up, I would like to give some PR advice.  Now I know I’m just a college kid with little experience, but I also have young, fresh ideas that I think every business or company needs.  My advice…get on Facebook.  If not Facebook, get on some social network! Like it or not, the role of social media in PR is only going to continue to grow.  So create a Facebook page for your business..blog to attract members to your website…post videos.  What do you have to lose?

I have come a long way in understanding the world of PR since I started my Style and Design class in January. I had a few PR classes under my belt, but I never really understood what PR was all about in today’s world. I have been trying to think of what to blog about over the past few days. Nothing I have read or found has really caught my eye. This semester is coming to an end, and I started to think about what all I know now that I did not know before I started this class.

It amazes me the different opportunities and different forms of PR out there. The internet, blogging, social media, technology…everything has changed the face of PR. Having contacts and meeting new people is key in the world of Public Relations, that will never change. However, there is a whole new way to go about it. Since being enrolled in Style and Design of PR, I have become a member of Twitter, The Loveliest Village, and PROpenMic. Through these social media sites, I have gained knowledge in the importance of social networking. I have come in contact with people from all over the world that I would have never come in contact with, if not for these sites. PR is not just one dimension anymore. It has converged and involves various skills through writing, networking, technology, and branding yourself.

With these sites and the help of technology, PR people can get their names and faces out there and become “PR celebrities.” Anybody can get their name and face out there through their videos and blogging. As a PR student, I know I want to stand out from other PR students. By creating videos and posting them on YouTube and my other social networks, I feel I can show my creativity and various skills that I have learned while also promoting myself and getting my name out there.

I have come in contact with Phil Gomes because of my teacher, Robert French. I have recently started following his videos, especially “A Minute with Phil.” In these videos, he gives helpful information to various questions but also adds humor to make the video more entertaining to watch.  I now know who he is, who he works for, and look to him for advice.

In his videos and through his posts on PROpenMic, I have received more helpful information than anywhere else on how to prepare for interviews and what to expect in the working world of PR. I consider him a PR celebrity of PROpenMic and try to follow his latest video posts.

I still have a little over a year until I graduate, but I feel a little more prepared through my experiences with blogging, interviewing, editing videos, and the people I have come into contact with through my social networks.  I have gained knowledge in various skills and technologies and thanks to social networks such as Twitter and PROpenMic, I can stay connected to PR people all over the world and continue to make new contacts throughout college and when I get a job.

The 2008 Presidential campaign has brought about changes in how the candidate’s messages are displayed and the different channels they use to communicate with voters. Barack Obama and his campaign have been given a lot of attention because of his use of social media, branding, and typography. The youth of America are more involved this year and a lot of that can be credited to the Obama campaign. He is reaching this age group through different technologies that youth are familiar with.

The New York Times did an article about the typeface and branding of Obama’s design strategy. Steven Heller interviewed an expert on branding, Brian Collins. Collins praised Obama’s design and said they used a “single-minded visual strategy to deliver their campaign’s message with greater consistency.” He talks about how the word “Change” is bold and is the main slogan for his campaign. His message and design is consistent and the main focus is “Change.” This one word is so important to emphasize because that is what his campaign is all about. With the consistency of the message and design, Collins goes into detail about the font used in his ad.

Collins explains that the text used is Gotham, and how important this style is in his campaign. He describes the font as “blunt, geometric simplicity” which makes words feel cold but also warm. He says its success is because the font looks “matter-of-fact” and people are familiar with it. With this use of font, it allows the reader of the brief message to remember it and recognize it in the future. It is hard to believe that font can that much of an impact in a visual campaign.

Besides Obama using social media channels such as websites, social networks, cell phones, iPods, etc, he has also come up with a print ad for each state. Collins says he has never seen anything like this used in a campaign. The sign for each state goes back to the consistency of the print ads, but manages to incorporate the state as part of the logo. The state abbreviation in the ad stays with the font, Gotham, and Obama’s universal logo remains the same. Collins praises the Obama campaign for the incorporation of the state because he says that it makes each state feel like its part of a larger, national movement.

Since Obama’s campaign is all about “Change,” it is important to use new and different channels to get his message out because it shows a “Change” in the way he approaches things. I do not think his slogan would have as much impact if he used traditional media channels. Most of the youth today feels like America is in need of a change. We have different, more modern views of things and with these up-to-date ways to communicate, it gives his slogan and campaign credibility.

No detail is too small when it comes to running a campaign. Today, there are more communication channels than ever before to reach different people from different age groups. For people to remember your slogan, pay close attention to type and branding and keep it consistent.

I have written previously about how Universities have incorporated emergency alert systems to alert students of a crisis or emergency through email, text messaging, phone calls, and web updates. I read a blog from the New Millenium PR blog and it discusses using social media to keep track with emergencies and disasters not only for business but in the news as well.

Social media outlets such as flickr were used to update and show pictures of the wildfires in California. Live coverage of the wild fires could also be seen on Ustream.tv to get live updates. News organizations are also utilizing tools such as Twitter to keep up-to-date information out there for people to know what is going on. International organizations such as the American Red Cross are using web sites like Online Disaster News Portal to keep people updated on their efforts and what their organization is doing around the world. They also have Twitter accounts which gives immediate communication between the American Red Cross, organizations and people they interact with.

These social media tools allow PR agencies to interact with the customer and respond immediately to any crisis or information that needs to be put out quickly. To me, this changes the relationship with PR agencies/people and their customer/consumer. Being able to produce information quickly and communicating through social media outlets such as Twitter allows for more of a two-way communication and a better relationship. The internet has created easier and faster ways to communicate information and it plays a huge role in the new PR world. The quicker you can get information out on a crisis or emergency, the better equipped you are to handle negative publicity and calm concerns of the customers or consumers.

PR is needed for most everything these days. Whether it be for businesses, the government, or volunteer organizations, PR is important for all of these. Social media tools are now in demand to reach as many people as possible in the smallest amount of time. Using the right communication channels are key to creating awareness and getting the information out that is needed for a crisis, disaster, emergency, etc. to the people is key in creating good PR.

I also read more in the New Millennim PR blog about keeping awareness for missing children. Madeleine McCann has been missing for almost a year now. Her case was highly publicized in the news when she first went missing and was followed for a few months. In efforts to keep the search alive and her name out there, her family and the police are reaching out to social media tools to help in her case. One of the tools they have used is Twitter. They used her name “Madeleine McCann” and you can see her website when you look to see information about her on Twitter. By getting her name out on the Twitter scene, a snowball effect will hopefully take place and people will hear her story and add her as a friend on Twitter and become familiar with her face and case. Not only have they used Twitter and created a website for her, they have also created a MySpace page, Live Spaces page, YouTube videos, and a YouTube channel called “Don’t You Forget about Me” which helps to reunite children with their families. These social media outlets can hopefully reach as many people as possible in all different age groups. This sad case shows what other important uses social media has not only with PR but in unsolved crimes. It will help spread the word and keep awareness of Madeleine’s name and face. Maybe people need to start thinking about using social media for making people aware of missing children and unsolved murders.

It has made national news and shaken a close-knit community and university. Most of you are aware of the recent tragedy of the death of Auburn student, Lauren Burk. Though I did not know Lauren personally, I still feel as if I lost someone close to me. Here at Auburn, we all have a common bond in that we love Auburn University and are like family. When you see someone out of Alabama (or anywhere besides Auburn) and see someone wearing the Auburn logo, you say “War Eagle” and usually get a response of “War Eagle.” It is that common bond we share as Auburn fans.

The Auburn community is a small, quiet town where I have always felt safe. Something like this does not happen here in Auburn. Lauren’s murder shocked the community and left all of us feeling scared…scared to walk to our cars, scared to go any place alone. Why here in Auburn? Why this beautiful, young girl? However in light of this shock, sadness, anger, fright, whatever people were feeling, people pulled together as a family to honor Lauren’s memory. Never before have I seen so many people reach out in support not only at Auburn University, but people all over the country as well.

The Auburn community and Auburn University does not usually come in contact with a crisis of this magnitude like the one that has been experienced this past week. PR was in desperate need for the city of Auburn and the University. Lauren’s death made national news, bringing in news stations from all over. Because Auburn is such a small town and does not usually deal with national media, a PR team was needed to handle the press and let people know how the city was handling the situation.

I was impressed with how Auburn University has handled the entire situation. I wrote about the AU Alert System a few weeks ago, explaining how if there was ever an emergency on campus, students would be notified through email, text messaging, and phone calls. This has been utilized for the past week.

Many students were upset to know that we were not notified of Lauren’s murder through the AU Alert and did not receive an email until noon the day after she was found. Because Auburn does not usually handle the murder of a student, I do not think they knew exactly how to tell students without creating chaos in the beginning. I feel this is a good example of a crisis that the University was not prepared to handle, but quickly went to work and implemented steps to handle this crisis.

Throughout the day on Wednesday, panic swept over the campus. Rumors were flying and there was even a rumor that another person was shot near campus. This is when the AU Alert System was put to work. People received emails, text messages, and phone calls within five to ten minutes from the University informing us that another shooting was strictly a rumor and that we were not in danger. School officials were swept by phone calls from concerned citizens, parents, and students. They needed to get word out and fast about what was going on and what the University was doing to handle it. Parents and students were sent emails, constantly updating us on the case and safety issues. President Johnny Greene remained highly involved in sending additional emails to keep the students updated and what we needed to do to stay safe. I felt this was very important because it kept everybody informed and showed care and concern from the faculty. An email I felt was very important was a letter from the president that was sent to student, faculty, and parents. He told all the safety steps that were being implemented to increase students safety and gives an additional website for more questions on safety. The university is also offering a safety class, teaching students about how to protect themselves and what to do if we were put into a situation like Lauren.

The Auburn University website was also another channel that was utilized. Police reports and any updates from the case were posted daily and a section to the main page of the website is dedicated to Lauren. Updates about her memorial service and funeral were also put into this section. Since Wednesday, we have received emails daily about any updates or information we need to know about the case or the memorial service that is being held on campus.

In a crisis the University was not prepared for, Auburn University officials quickly regained themselves and generated positive publicity with the media, parents, and students. They listened to their audience and found communication channels that could update everyone and let people know that they had the situation under control.

Another social media tool utilized in this case was the use of Facebook. It was amazing, and still is, to see how Facebook has brought people from all over the country together to honor Lauren’s memory. A Facebook group was started the day after she was murdered titled “RIP Lauren Burk.” When I joined on that Wednesday, there were over 3,000 members. By the next day, it had grown to over 8,000 members. Today (Monday), there are over 17,000 members. People from all over the country, from high school to adults, have shown their support and written notes on the message board, sending their thoughts and prayers for Lauren and her family. This group has kept people updated on the case and any news regarding Lauren and her family. Her sister wrote a statement thanking everybody for their support and tells about donations made in honor of Lauren. Wristbands have also been ordered and people from all over have shown their interest in getting one to honor her.

During this tragic situation, Facebook has brought people together to honor a girl who was so tragically taken. This group is a way for people to show Lauren’s friends and family their support and let them know that Lauren was special and has touched the hearts of so many people.

In a time of tragedy in the Auburn Family, the community and the university joined together to ease the public’s fright and concern. Facebook connected people who would not normally be connected to Auburn. Utilizing tools of social media helped get the word out and reassure the community that they were handling the situation to the best of their abilities. I do not understand why such a tragedy could happen to such a beautiful, young girl in what we thought was such a safe place. Lauren will always be remembered here in Auburn and all over the nation. Auburn is a family and together we will grieve, honor her and remember her always. We must learn from this situation and know that something like this can happen anywhere to anyone. In honor of Lauren Burk, Rest in Peace.

I was introduced to Twitter a few weeks ago in Robert French’s Style and Design of PR class. I had never heard of it, and frankly, I didn’t know how I felt about it. I liked the instant communication between people around the country and the world but what should I say? I’m just a college kid and the people I followed were all older and in the professional PR world.

I read an article called “If You Can’t Let Go, Twitter” by Michelle Slatalla. She is a mom to pre-teen and teenage girls and tried to incorporate Twitter into their communication as a way to keep up with one another. However, her daughters did not like it. Pre-teens and teenagers have been exposed to the internet and all different forms of communication all of their lives. Why isn’t twitter catching on in this age group? Most people who are in college have not heard of Twitter either. If college kids are introduced to Twitter, would they be interested in using it to communicate with others? These are all questions I ask myself and I think others who use Twitter wonder as well.

Twitter can be accessed on your phone but what is the difference with that and text messaging? Is Twitter something that can go mainstream like Facebook? For me, as a PR student, Twitter is something that is very useful for networking. I went from being an unknown student to someone being followed by prominent people in the PR world. All of a sudden, my name was out there and I had more contacts than I ever had before. I have to admit, I still am a little intimidated by it because all of these important PR people are on there talking, but its not all talk about business. There is a little fun in it, letting people know what you’re doing or just telling a random thought you have. It’s another way to utilize social media in PR and networking, which PR is all about.

Getting to my point, after I read this article, it made me wonder if Twitter will go main stream or continue to be used only as a tool for the PR and Marketing world. I feel that pre-teens and teenagers would not really go for it because they already have text messaging and instant messenger, and Twitter is not really one-on-one communication like these other forms of communication are. It’s more like a chatroom. There is also not a lot of personalization to it. On facebook, you put what picture you want, you can display all your pictures to people, and tell about yourself. Twitter does not do that except for a picture and you can edit the background to your page.

Slatalla questions Walter J. Carl, an assistant professor of communications studies at Northeastern University, about Twitter and its use among teens. He says “One of the main reasons people embrace social media-Facebook, for instance- is to create identities for themselves and control other people’s perception of them.” Twitter does not really do that and I feel that has a lot to do with why it has not caught on. If you can’t express yourself or who you are, I don’t feel that there is a draw to it for teens or even college students. However, if more work is done to make it easier to understand, I think it could eventually be one of the mainstream social media networks. I do not want another Facebook and do not think they need to strive to be like it. Twitter should find its own niche. I do feel there are some changes that could be made to make it more widespread and get more people to join.

For now though, I like it as a networking tool and something that is different to communicate on. Who knows, Twitter could be the next Facebook.

It amazes me what you can find on YouTube these days. What CAN’T you find on YouTube? I talked last week about YouTube’s use in politics and how the democrats are using it to their advantage to increase their votes from young voters. Now YouTube is being used to launch channels for three of Hearst’s most popular magazines. In the article from Lucia Moses in MediaWeek, it is said that this media channel done by Hearst is set apart from other deals with YouTube because it is “user generated.”

To me, this is another great way to utilize social media and create good publicity for these magazines. Some of the magazines that are using this user generated channel are Seventeen, Marie Claire, and Good Housekeeping. By making these magazines interactive and putting them on YouTube, it will hopefully get more readers because YouTube is used by so many young people.

Seventeen and Candie’s campaign for cutting down on teen pregnancy uses YouTube to its advantage because of their target audience. The campaign “What’s Your Plan A?” targets girls that are in their teens. This age group gets a majority of their information from the internet because the internet is all they have ever known. YouTube is also very popular among teens and is a good way to get their information out there for young teen girls to get involved in.

I researched some of these videos on YouTube and they are very easy to find. A video was made that explained what the campaign was about, what people had to do to enter and try to win the contest, and it told what the prize would be for winning this video contest. What a great way to launch a campaign with a good cause behind it!

It amazes how quickly things are changing in the PR world and how more and more things are going towards social media. YouTube started as something just to watch videos on and has grown so big that large companies and magazines, etc are signing deals with them to get a piece of what YouTube can do for them. I think these interactive channels will also be growing because YouTube is so easily accessible.

     Recently my teacher, Robert French, sent my class an email that had two YouTube videos of Barack Obama and a parody video of John McCain.  It has been said that Republicans own media channels like talk radio while the Democrats have a better understanding of social media.  For this election year, I would have to agree.

    This election will be the first that I will be eligible to vote in and honestly, the first election I have ever cared about and cared to watch on news stations.  This year is different from other years it seems to me though.  For the first time, it seems like people my age are getting involved, have opinions, and are really going to turn out to vote.  This means people my age, from 18-25, are now a target audience that the presidential candidates need to reach.

    As each presidential candidate has campaigned, I have noticed a BIG change from people my age around me. Please note that I live in Auburn, Al and have lived in Montgomery, Al all my life.  This is a very conservative state.  For the first time, the youth are not just voting for who their parents will vote for and heaven forbid, might even pull for a democrat. Yikes! Growing up in my home and in my community that was usually thought of as an evil word. But for some reason, people my age are not seeing “democrat” or “republican,” they are seeing people.  Why is this?

     I feel this has a lot to do with social media.  Now personally, I hate to really involve my personal opinion, but Hillary Clinton is not my favorite. That is all I will say about that! However, Obama has a huge youth following. Most people I know that are around my age claim to be “republicans.”  However, republicans are known to own Talk Radio, and honestly who my age (18-25) really listens to talk radio? Not me, thats for sure. Obama knows the youth of this country is huge in his campaign, and knows social media is that way to reach this audience. 

     I have googled all of the presidential candidates, and yes all of them have very accessible web pages. However, Obama’s webpage appealed to me the most because of the videos from YouTube where you could see his speeches and news stories that have aired about him on news stations.  It even aired something from PBS on YouTube that explains his religion and religious background while also addressing the rumors of him being raised as a Muslim.

     The YouTube video Robert sent our class is done by Will.i.am who most people have heard of that are my age.  Actors and actresses that were involved in it were relatively young and were people who youth would probably recognize.  Granted, I did not know all of the people in the video, but I did recognize Scarlett Johanson who I love and a woman from Grey’s Anatomy whose name I cannot think of right now, and others.  This appeals to youth! This is a great example of utilizing social media for democrats.  Not only has YouTube been used, but I know Facebook (another social media outlet) has been utilized as well. There are groups against Hillary or for Obama.  Whatever democrats are doing, they are putting themselves out there in the social media world because they know that is how to affect the youth vote.  I have not seen very many republican candidates on YouTube or even trying to reach the youth of America. 

     The parody video of John McCain is another good way to reach the youth and to influence.  Not only are they having a positive video about Obama, but they are also putting down McCain.  They really are not doing it in a slanderous way, but in a way that affects youth and how they want or don’t want their future America to be.  The number of hits on these videos also goes to show that people are watching, and majority of them are probably young people.  The McCain video has gotten 1,183,392 hits and the Obama Video has gotten 3,876,322 hits.  That is over five million hits and that means it has reached a lot of people. 

    I feel this divide of utitilizing different media channels for different parties will be huge when it comes time to vote.  More youth have been showing support than ever before and will more than likely have a very large turn out to vote in November.  Will republicans be affected for not utilizing social media like the democrats did? I guess we will have to wait and see.

I have been in college for going on three years now, and it amazes me how far technology has come in these three years and the different forms of communication used between Universities and students. When I first came to Auburn University, everything was all about e-mail. E-mail is still a great form of communication between teachers and students for class, but since the Virginia Tech shootings and tornadoes that devastated Union University, better emergency systems need to be implemented for communication between Universities and students.

Like it or not, the future is in social media. Facebook and blogging are just two of the few very popular forms of social media that most college students use. When I first came to Auburn in Fall 2005, only certain colleges could be on Facebook. Now anybody and everybody can be on Facebook. A person can even blog and post videos on Facebook.

I read an article from Poynteronline about Union University and how they utilized social media after tornadoes devasted their campus. They used a free blogging tool,Blogger, and Facebook to inform students and parents of what the University is doing to handle this emergency. This is a perfect example of how social media is the future for PR. Using these tools was good PR for the university because it showed how well they handled an unexpected devastation and answered questions and concerns that parents and students were having. It was also nice that people could voice their concerns and questions, and the university cared enough to respond.

I went to the Union University Recovery website and there was a daily update from the president that informed parents and students of the current situation of housing on campus and for those on-campus residents without transportation. This form of social media is where Universities should start to look to  because of its easy access, and it is the quickest way to reach a broad audience in a state of emergency.

Recently, Auburn University has updated our emergency alert system. We’ve experimented with sending out mass emails and now we have moved forward with text messaging. This is another effective tool that universities need to utilize because of the quickness to get out the message and how many people it can reach. Not everybody will be near a computer and check their e-mail on their way to class. However, most college students have a cell phone and carries one to class. Therefore if something happens and students need to be notified immediately, alert text messaging would notify students in time.

Union University should be looked at as an example of how to handle an emergency and the use of effective PR tools in a crisis. These events of shootings and tornadoes goes to show the need for a University to be prepared with the right tools if an emergency or crisis ever occurs, and social media is the way they need to go.

When Target responded to a blogger by saying, “Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets,” I feel as if this was a brush off by Target to an important media outlet:bloggers.

Blogging has become very popular among people and is a very important PR and marketing tool. Blogging is a tool utilized in PR and I feel will continue in the future.  For Target to brush bloggers off as if they didn’t count can hurt Target’s reputation and creates bad publicity. I feel this will backfire on Target because many bloggers are Target customers. Word can spread fast through blogging and it has already gained publicity in the NYTimes. I do feel like if Target does not update their PR and communication department, their reputation will be further tarnished.

Target needs to realize that blogging is now a media outlet and they need to catch up with the times. Blogging is a good way for businesses and companies to interact and communicate with the customer. It promotes good publicity and shows that the company/business is up-to-date with PR and communication practices.

The response in PRWeek was something that needed to be done. Even if Target did not mean to brush off bloggers, their response obviously offended many bloggers and created negative publicity towards them. It is good to know that the response from bloggers made Target aware that they needed to update their PR and communication department. They now have a bigger team of people who can respond to bloggers and hopefully handle responses better than before. Target does need to continue to work and improve their PR/communications department and make way for blogging. I feel this will be a way to get them up-to-date and better able to communicate with the customer and gain positive publicity.