Social Media = Sex … Well, kind of …

Ever wondered why Facebook and other social media sites can be so addicting? Well, according to Los Angeles Times, using social media sites activates the same receptors in the brain as it would when you’re eating, getting money, or having sex. Engaging in these activities doesn’t feel as good as having sex, but science shows that sharing information about yourself is considered pleasurable.

Researchers at Harvard stated that about 80% of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media site posts are about people’s immediate personal experience. The data shows that the brain is strongly engaged when people talk about themselves and less so when talking about someone else. The act of sharing triggers the brain into the feeling of pleasure. Therefore, whether you are using social media for business sake or for social purposes, it is a positive thing to engage in.

 

This is an MRI image that shows the part of the brain that recognizes pleasure. The orange and yellow color signifies that it is triggered when using social media to share information about oneself.

source:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/sfl-social-media-are-like-candy-for-the-brain-study-says-20120509,0,2666893.story

Ethics Is Key

Ethics is one of the biggest topics in all the Public Relation classes at VCU, and for good reason. It’s not just because it is the right thing to do, but it’s because you WILL GET CAUGHT! When you are putting a message out to the public, one of those people out of the 7,010,717,617 people in this world is going to find out that you lied and there goes your PR career, or any career for that! 

The popular Kellog’s Kashi products are getting heat for their false claims. They flaunt that their ingredients are organic, but when a Rhode Island grocer found out that their soy is genetically engineered and contains harmful pesticides, he posted a note on his shelf and refuses to stock any Kashi products. A picture of the note went viral on Facebook and now Kellog’s has a major PR crisis to deal with. “Honesty is the best policy”.

Tweeting Safely

Tweeting has gained much negative attention due to all the careless celebrities who use it. The misuse of the tool has caused more negative publicity rather than positive ones. Like with any communication tool, it is a double edged sword and must be used with caution. 

Over the past week, a tweet showed up saying that President Obama was making a surprise visit to Afghanistan. Shortly after, it gained a lot of media attention and news stations from both Afghanistan and U.S. started releasing stories of the President’s whereabouts. 

A few minutes later, the National Security council had to get involved and order for the tweet to be taken down, because it could be life threatening for the president and everyone involved.

Moral of the story: Think twice before you tweet. It could cost you not only your reputation, but your life!

Olive Garden-Alcohol Served To Minors—AGAIN!

The popular food chain, Olive Garden has been experiencing a Public Relations crisis when servers gave a child an alcoholic drink for the second time within this year. The first time happened at an Olive Garden in Florida. A toddler was served sangria in her sippy cup. This second incident happened in Indianapolis, where a waitress accidentally served a 10-year old boy a rum and coke when his mother ordered a Frullato for him. Olive Garden’s responded with:

“We find this situation completely unacceptable and we are extremely upset that this occurred. We have a zero tolerance policy for any violation of our responsible alcohol service policy, and the employee who served the wrong drink has been terminated. We are thankful that the child is OK and we will continue to work with the family to resolve this issue.”

According to marketingprofs.com and from my Public Relations class at Virginia Commonwealth University, Olive Garden handled the situation correctly. The five steps to handling a PR Crisis is:

1. Come up with a solution for the problem

2. Own up to your fault

3. Apologize

4. Prevent it from happening again

5. Move on

Although this is the second time it happened, they made sure to apologize to the public and that is really all you can do and then try to prevent it from happening again.

Sources:

http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2538/five-steps-for-managing-a-pr-crisis

http://prdaily.com/crisiscommunications/Articles/11466.aspx

Top 10 PR People to Follow

Twitter and Facebook. Which one do you like more? Some people seem to be die-hard Twitter fans, while others are die-hard Facebook fans. There are even some that are in the middle. If you’re not big into Twitter, but you’re studying Public Relations and plan on doing that for your career, then you know that it is important to be on top of the social trends. Here are the top 10 PR people you should be following.

1. Beth Harte. One of the earliest adopters of Web 2.0 and social media benefits, Beth offers an excellent voice in PR and currently teaches public relations, marketing and more at Immaculata University.
2. Todd Defren. The Principal of Shift Communications, Todd is also the founder of the social media press release and an influential voice in Web 2.0 public relations.
3. Lisa Hoffmann. Lisa is the Chief Copywriter at PRstore and is vocal in her support of combining social media, PR and communications.
4.   Lizz Harmon. Far from inclusion just because of her suggestion of this list, Lizz would make any PR list on Twitter. President of HarmonTampa Public Relations and another key social media proponent.
5. Dave Fleet. Dave is a Senior Consultant for Thornley Fallis Communications and has an extensive background in PR and communications. Always an interesting conversation.
6. Dana Willhoit. With a background in news journalism and lead press release writer for The Press Release Site, Dana offers an invaluable view from both sides of PR.
7. Joan Stewart. Otherwise known as The Publicity Hound, Joan is one of the foremost voices in PR on Twitter and an excellent source of useful Tweets and opinions.
8.  Brian Solis. Principal of FutureWorks PR agency and owner of the industry-respected PR 2.0 blog, Brian is one of the key voices when it comes to social media and PR.
9. Sarah Evans. Director of Communications at Elgin Community College, Sarah has recently begun guest authoring at respected website Mashable.
10. Jason Kintzler. Founder of PitchEngine, a social media newsroom that’s fast becoming one of the go-to resources for social media press releases.

Source: http://dannybrown.me/2008/11/30/ten-pr-people-to-follow-on-twitter/

Everyone Has Room To Improve — Even a PR Pro!

1. Read Charles Bukowski books: Instead of reading another social media book, read some Bukowski and study how he words things.

Other helpful books to read:
1. Still Alice- Lisa Genova
2. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
3. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
4. The Paris Wife – Ernest Hemingway
5. The Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
6. Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
7. Running with Scissors – Augusten Burroughs
8. Little Bee – Chris Cleeve
9. Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris
10. Are You There Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea – Chelsea Handler

2. Learn How to Analyze Financial Statements: Knowing how to do this will save you from getting screwed over by an accountant. If someone screws you over, that essentially means it will be screwing over the company that you are representing.

3. Visit Newsrooms: You’re dealing with the media all the time, but it is different just hearing about it or talking to the people who are dealing with it. Go there and see it for yourself.

4. Read blogs from various view points: The more information you have, the more likely your information will be accurate.

5. Use podcasts: Many people don’t think to use podcasts, because they’re not as mainstream as Youtube or the radio, but they are very useful and a great way to keep up with current events.

6. Become a better visual content producer: Graphic design, photography, videography, and production skills are a big plus in the PR field. After all, people are more likely to view content with pictures/videos than text.

7. Read mythology: Believe it or not, many concepts in mythology can be applied to PR work.

source: http://www.jacksonwightman.com/2012/03/7-things-you-can-do-right-now-to-become-a-better-pr-pro/

Chris Brown’s PR Team Sleeping On The Job

Chris Brown is a hot topic right now. He is getting a lot of media attention, but it is not anything good.

After Chris Brown received his Grammy, he angered many people with his outrageous tweets on Twitter saying “HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY Now! That’s the ultimate F–K OFF!” The tweet was deleted after. Then he posted another tweet saying, “DEAR MEDIA.. Ur plan is not working…I’m not going anywhere so get used to me. “How long is this gonna take?” All these got deleted shortly after as well, but this isn’t the first time Brown got in trouble with his tweets. Back in 2009, Chris Brown deleted his Twitter account due to false claims he made against the retailers that supplied his music. He claimed that they were boycotting his album,”Graffiti”.His PR team should have taken away his Twitter privilege.

Then today, I heard on the radio that over the weekend Chris Brown was in Miami at a club and a girl took a few pictures of him with her phone and he went and snatched it from her and said,”You’re not going to put any pictures of me up!” He is now being charged with Robbery by Sudden Snatching, which can give him up to 5 years in prison. I understand it may be difficult to control certain celebrities, but his PR Team should have better communication and guidelines as to what he should and should not do. It’s only been three years after his beating of ex-girlfriend, Rihanna and his actions are clearly angering the public as well as many celebrities, Now his PR team has to crisis manage his image once again, when all this could have been avoided if better attention was paid and clear communication was involved.

sources: http://www.eonline.com/redcarpet/2012/grammys/news/chris-brown-plays-victim-claims-media-out-to-get-him/294620#ixzz1nMYW6JOh

http://www.eonline.com/redcarpet/2012/grammys/news/chris-brown-s-grammy-lovefest-slammed-by-miranda-lambert-jack-osbourne-eric-stonestreet-more/294243

http://www.billboard.com/news/chris-brown-s-twitter-rant-against-retailers-1004053561.story

 

Technology + PR = :-)

Communication technology has come a long way– from telegraphs to radio to phone lines to cell phones and now the internet. Getting your message to someone has never been easier.  In 1997, the first social network site was launched. SixDegrees.com  was a website that allowed users to create profiles, list their Friends and surf their Friends lists. This quickly led to other social media websites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Companies recognize how popular the social media sites were and sought to use them for getting their message through. Social media is a great way to reach the public, but some things should be considered before utilizing this tool for PR purposes.

– Target: Before deciding on what type of social media site to use, you have to ask yourself what product/service you are selling and what your target audience would be. Take into consideration of their age, demographic, interests. etc.

– Type: Depending on the type of audience you’re aiming for, you have to decide on which type of social media site you would want to use. For example, if you’re targeting a fitness crowd, Bodybuilding.com would be a good site to use. If you’re looking for professional business connections, LinkdIn.com would be best suited for you. If you’re looking for videographers, producers, etc. Vimeo.com would be the best site to find those people.

– Wording: After choosing your target audience and the social media site where you can find them,  you have to learn their language and know what key words to use in order to draw their attention. If you’re trying to sell skin care products to middle aged women, some key words to use would be,”look young”,”supple skin”, and “radiant glow”.

-Advertising: Social media sites are powerful tools, but they can not stand on their own amongst all the many social media sites that you’re competing with. In order to make sure yours stand out, you should consider investing in advertisements on websites that are related to your product/service.

-Management: Although social media sites are very interactive and helpful, it can also be detrimental to your organization if it is not managed properly. You can not please everyone in the world, so expect there to be negative comments about your organization. A successful social media site will have a team of people constantly monitoring the site and making sure that the good comments outweigh the bad (Search-Engine Optimization).

Social media sites can be used successfully or poorly depending on the decisions you make. An example of an organization using social media successfully would be Sun Microsystem’s CEO Blog. Jonathan Schwartz allows both positive and negative comments to be posted on his blog. Even the most ridiculous comments are approved. The honesty of his site is what draws the 400,000 viewers each month. An example of a poorly utilized social media is British Petroleum. After the oil spill incident, a lot of angry people started posting on their Twitter account. To avoid the negative comments, they turned their commenting section off, which only made them look as if they were trying to hide information from the public. As you can see, social media sites can work both ways. It is all a matter of how you use it. If you do your research and consider all the points listed above, you can determine whether or not your company is successful.

Helpful tips for graduating PR majors

I was reading on Ragan.com that there are 14 crucial things that a PR practitioner should know if they’re trying to get into the PR field. With graduation around the corner, I figured this would be helpful to post.

1. The first and foremost important thing is to be tough. This is kind of common sense. In any field of work, you have to be strong and willing to work hard. In this case, you need to stand behind your client and fight to represent them. Their image is a reflection of your work.

2. You have to be willing to learn. The PR field is forever changing. You’re dealing with the public and public opinion changes within seconds. Always be in tune with your current events.

3. I understand our generation is not very savvy on keeping up on the news, but this is crucial for PR. You NEED to keep up with the times in order to know the public that you’re dealing with.

4. Learn the ins and outs about your client and competitors. You need to know down to the detail how your client makes money, who their audience is, their business plan, etc. (All the questions we’ve covered in class on Wed-Feb 1, 2012).

5. Keep up with technology and social media. These tools are out here to help you. The more you keep up on the trends of what people use and where they go, the better the chances you will have to reach them. Twitter makes it easy to follow people nowadays. Following bloggers, reporters, and other influential people is a must.

6. Have you ever heard the saying,”it’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know”? That really holds true, especially in the PR field. Since this field is all about dealing with people. You need to know how to build business relationships with people and get involved in the community and different organizations. This is a self-investment. Meaning, your company is most likely not going to pay you to do these things.

  (These are all the people you should be talking to)

7. Having good communication skills and writing skills is the foundation of this field. You need to know how to convey your message to your clients, the public, and other people that you have to deal with. Knowing how to do thorough research and write a compelling press release  is the very basic.

8. Keep up on business trends and analyze how it can impact your client. If you are a curious person, this will be very helpful, because you are always willing to ask questions and find out more information. If you’re not naturally curious, then you need to work harder and always remind yourself to ask questions and find out more information. I believe a good way to help will be to write down a list of basic questions you should always ask and go down the list. If you find more questions, write them down and use that as reference to go back to.

9. Typically new PR practitioners have to put in extra time. After you’ve built up your client base and understand the community around you, then you can work the hours you’re assigned.

10. Think of PR as a career rather than a job. If you’re just looking to work a PR job, then that means you may not advance. If you’re trying to make it a career, then you need to take on tasks and projects that will be valuable to your resume. The bigger companies that you take on and succeed in helping, the better off you will be. It is all about big names.

11. Teamwork is important. PR is not something you can do by yourself. You need to work with others as well as help your teammates up if they can’t get something done, because the end result will reflect on all of you.

12. Know how to calculate your own pay. The money you get paid is based on yourself. Professional service firms  such as lawyers, certified public accounts, etc. use a formula to bill their clients. It needs to be three times what the client makes in order for the project to be considered “worth it.” Take into account that firms have overhead, accounting fees, legal fees, payroll, rent, insurance, etc.

13. Find new clients: The more people you know, the better off you will be.

14. Be active with your communication with your clients. This is one of the most important things. Technology makes communicating quicker/easier, but quick and easy isn’t always good. It makes it very impersonal. Use a phone instead of Email to communicate. Meet your client in person to drop off a report rather than just mailing it to them.

In conclusion, this field is all about relationships. The more present you are (physically and mentally), the better the chances are for the firm to forgive mistakes that you’ve made, but also know to avoid costly mistakes and mistakes that will make you invaluable to the firm.

Source: http://ragan.com/Main/Articles/44325.aspx

7 Important Tips for PR Practitioners

I was reading PRDaily.com and according to an article on there, they talked about the seven most important thing a Public Relations practitioner should know with the change in media use. With all the different media outlets out now, it can be confusing on what to use and when to use it.
The seven main points are:

1. People want more than just text. People like looking at pictures and videos, but still stick to the basic rule of the three Cs: clear, concise, and compelling.

2. Another basic PR rule that applies is the way a story is pitched. The technological changes is an improvement on ways we can retrieve our information, but doesn’t change the way we write it.

3. Be familiar with an iPhone and/or iPad, because the media is moving towards that platform.

4. Don’t use a social media site to do your story pitches. Only 2 percent of journalists prefer pitches through social media, while 80 percent want them e-mailed.

5. Use Twitter to follow a reporter’s or editor’s tweets and take notes on it. The information they tweet will help you. Do not “friend” them on Facebook unless you know them personally. You don’t want to be intrusive.

6. Work with the reporters to make their job easier. Reporters are on a restricted time schedule. The easier you can make it for a reporter to write a story, the higher the chances that the reporter will write about your story. This will also build a good relationship between you and the reporter.

7. The best time to pitch to a TV newsroom is between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., because that is usually the time before the editorial staff’s morning meeting. “Unless it’s breaking news, pitch your story at least a few days or a week in advance. Also, TV journalists want to speak with real people who are affected by your product or organization, not just your spokesperson or CEO.”