Tips for managing social media

Picture via Ragan PR Daily

Social media is a huge part of public relations. All of us will undoubtedly be given the responsibility to maintain a social media account other than our own at some point. Whether it be for an internship, a first job, or a project for school, it will need to be done and it will need to be done well. With the never ending list of technologies and social media tools, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain social media accounts.

PR Daily has listed a few strategies that they hope will aid the average person in excelling at this aspect of PR. As a person who manages many social media accounts, I found these tips to be extremely helpful and wanted to put my own input into it by discussing it in the blog!

• Make a social media cheat sheet.
• According to PR Daily, this cheat sheet should be made to help you determine how many times a day you wish to post and what types of content you are looking to share. This should be done according to trial and error and will take time because you will have to be in tuned with how the audience responds to your posts.
• My advice would be to set up TweetDeck. With TweetDeck, you can determine everything that you want to post that day and then set what time you want the tweet to go out. This is useful if you do not have all day to keep getting back to it. (Facebook now has a built in scheduling tool, as well!)

• Stay up to date on social media.
• This means that time should be taken every day to scroll through sites like LinkedIn, PR Daily, and HubSpot and see what the latest news is. Find what interests you!
• I follow all of my favorite sites on my personal Twitter account so that I can scroll through the tweets and see interesting news while entertaining myself.

• Make it easy to respond to your followers.
• PR Daily suggests creating an e-mail account to be used solely for your social media accounts. This way, you will always be alert and know that someone has tweeted at you and that it is not just an e-mail telling you about your favorite store's sale.
• The article also suggests using Social Mention to see what people are saying about your brand. I have never heard of this tool but will be sure to look into it!

• Be sure to measure your social media.
• Whether this needs to be done for a boss or solely for your own benefit, it is a smart thing to get into the habit of doing. If you can prove that social media is having a positive impact on your client or business, it makes you feel worthwhile and gives meaning to your efforts. 
• Google Analytics is a great place to start. Create an excel document and keep tabs on all of your progress, which you will be sure to see after using these tools!

To read the full PR Daily article, click here.

Social media bringing people together during tragedy

This past year has been filled with natural disasters, tragedies, and horrific events. From the tornados in Oklahoma and destruction of Hurricane Sandy, to the shootings in Newtown and the bombing at the Boston Marathon, the United States has faced a plethora of hardships and heartaches.

Although all of these occurrences have been unique and different in their own ways, Melissa Monahan, Senior VP at Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, has noticed a new similarity among all of them. Each catastrophe was rapidly discussed on social media and demonstrated people's dependence on one another through their desire to be a part of the conversation. 

When disaster strikes, people immediately post their firsthand accounts of the event or repost what others have said. These types of accounts occur in real time and allow people to have an updated feed as to what is going on. People can then post their own condolences and concern for the victims. Monahan agrees that this represents "something good springing from something awful" because people feel the need to support one another.

Monahan then goes on to say that she feels that the onset of things like Twitter has filled a void once experienced by humankind. Previous to social media, a person could watch the news and receive live updates on what was happening. Now, however, it is possible to actually read through people's thoughts and see firsthand that others are feeling the same distress or feelings that you are feeling. It can put a person at ease during something so horrific and that is an amazing thing. Monahan concludes that social media breaks down barriers because people can be connected whether or not they are from the same ethnic background or country.

For PR professionals, Monahan mentions a few tips to keep in mind for social media etiquette when a disaster occurs:

• Turn off any auto/scheduled tweets meant to promote a product.
• Do not use humor in your tweets because it can be misinterpreted.
• Do not make it political.
• If you are going to do something for the victims, do it selflessly and not to get PR. 

Ultimately, social media is a representation of collective humanity. It brings us together in times of tragedy and can even tell us if our loved ones are safe and secure. In a world that is so complex, it is amazing that something as new as social media can have such a big impact on our lives by bringing us together and causing us to depend wholeheartedly on complete strangers.

To read the full Bulldog Reporter article by Melissa Monahan, click here. 

Digital advertising campaigns and millennials

Millennials are a huge target audience for many companies. Being that they have such a huge dependence on social media and digital marketing, it comes as no surprise that companies are looking to utilize these new, interactive outlets to gain their support. 

One campaign that recently emerged was a result of a collaboration between Google and Burberry. The name of the partnership is "Burberry Kisses" and encourages consumers to perfect their best kissy-face selfie by "making out with their phone". Sounds a little bizarre if you ask me, but apparently it is a hit with the millennials who, according to the Bloomberg Businessweek article, are "into that sort of thing".

The campaign was executed through Google's Art, Copy & Code project, a series of partnerships designed to show how brands express themselves in a diversified, yet connected world. Consumers are prompted to literally kiss their phone and watch as their lips are digitally transformed in one of five Burberry lip shades. Next, the kisser can then send their lips to whomever they want along with a personalized message. 

If kissing your phone grosses you out due to sanitary reasons, you can also use a webcam to get the same results. This all seems a little weird, but the reality of it is that the millennial generation are in fact fans of digital advertising campaigns and companies are competing to come up with the most creative approaches. 

Another interesting campaign I came across today stems from the genius of Kate Spade and Ebay. The new Kate Spade line is called Kate Spade Saturday and is accompanied by four digitally enhanced "window shops" in lower Manhattan. The window shops are completely digital and have touch screen technology set up so that customers can see the products in different colors and sizes. To me, this makes a lot of sense and I definitely see it as the future of window-shopping. My prediction is that it will immediately be a hit with the younger generation and eventually, the older generation as well due to its many capabilities. To read the full article, click here.

Love is all you need

It is evident that quite often, in order to see success, a company must make a consumer fall in love with their brand. Consumers cannot just be in love with a certain product for this to work, but rather they must love the brand as a whole. For example, it is not enough for a consumer to love the iPhone 5. Instead, they need to have passion for Apple as a whole and be an advocate for any product or service that the company creates. 

Researchers from the Global Branding Center at USC's Mashall School of Business decided to get to the bottom of why some brands are able to create this bond, while others fail miserably. First, the researchers took a look at brands that they felt a strong connection with. Park, the director of the Global Branding Center, admitted that he felt a strong connection to the Pittsburg Steelers despite the fact that they did not even know he existed. 

Next, a series of surveys were conducted by Park and his team of people's feelings surrounding Apple, England's Manchester United, and Austrians' supermarket-buying behaviors. In the end, the findings were published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology and concluded that consumers fall in love due to the "narrowing of the psychological distance" between the consumer and the brand. In essence, people must identify with the brand and see it as a vital expansion of themselves. Finally, the researchers came up with a list of steps to help companies achieve this love connection:

• Enticing Self Benefits: Attract consumers by using one or more of the five senses to reel them in. For example, does the product smell good or taste good? Do consumers get pleasure from simply looking at it?
• Enabling Self Benefits: Does the brand positively influence a consumers' life? Does it make their lives easier or more enjoyable? The brand must do something that consumers will appreciate for their own well-being.
• Enriching Self Benefits: The consumer must relate to the brand in some way. They must have similar values or principles. The example cited in the article is Nike's "Just Do It'. Many people relate to this saying because they know that it takes hard work and determination to achieve their fitness goals. Therefore, they see a strong connection between consumers and their products.

To read the full article, click here.

Social media's monumental impact on PR campaigns

Picture via Partnersinpreservation

Social media has taken the PR world by storm, but is still rather foreign to many business people. When going over the results of a campaign, many professionals will cite "social media impressions". However, are impressions enough to gauge the success of a campaign? Many people say no. Executives want exact numbers and to see the true impact social media has on consumers' feelings and behaviors.  In response to this, Bulldog Reporter conducted an investigation on the best way to prove social media's worth in a PR campaign.

M Booth, a global communications agency, was approached by Partners in Preservation to increase consumer advocacy for old buildings. In essence, M Booth's main task was to grasp people's attention via social media and traditional outlets to come and see the historic buildings. The company succeeded in bringing thousands of new advocates to the cause through the use of blogs, hashtags, and live grassroot gatherings.

In order to get people's attention, M Booth knew that photos would not be enough and instead, set out to encourage people to actually come and visit the sites. Additionally, M Booth yearned to reach a younger crowd and concluded that they could not be reached via traditional media. Therefore, they set out to find a hipper, alternative outlet. 

In the end, bloggers were the saving grace of the campaign and allowed it to be the huge success that it was. M Booth sorted through one hundred candidates and decided on twenty influential bloggers that they wanted to get behind their campaign. The bloggers were encouraged to visit a few of the sites and post various blurbs and pictures featuring them. For example, Swagger New York, a fashion, music and pop culture blog, shot a fashion video editorial at one of the sites. Because the bloggers were able to put their own creative spin on the campaign, it appealed to their fan base and encouraged their subscribers to rally behind the cause. This would prove to be M Booth's biggest success.

In addition to the blog outreach, a traditional press event was held and a "Preservation Station" was created that traveled and encouraged support. Foursquare was also utilized in the campaign. Ultimately, M Booth attempted to create the most efficient combination of social media and face-to-face encounters. 

Here are the results of the campaign:

• 107 posts
• 289 tweets
• 130 Facebook posts
• 740 placements (NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, Today)
• Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers voted for preservation
• 40 NYC historic sites received grants
• 3 historic preservation projects were fully funded
• Won bronze in "Best Use of Social Media Tools" at the 2013 Bulldog Awards for Excellence in Media Relations & Publicity

To read the full Bulldog article, click here.

PR agencies under scrutiny for unpaid internships

For a Marist Communications student, unpaid internships are the norm. We have come to expect it and don't really question the fact that we work long hours with little to no pay. Personally, I am extremely thankful for the experience and although it would be nice to be receiving money, I understand that these are my dues that need to be paid. 

I was under the impression that many felt the same way until I came across a PR Week article discussing an investigation being done by the HMRC regarding unpaid internships. According to Intern Aware, "PR professionals are among the worst offenders for exploiting interns". A number of firms are currently under investigation and ten percent of them are either PR agencies or advertise PR roles. The issue under investigation is whether or not the employment law has been broken due to the fact that interns do not receive compensation for their work.

Intern Aware is an organization that advocates for paid internships and they have passed on the investigation to the HMRC, or HM Management and Customs. A spokesperson for Intern Aware said that the list contains various sized firms and that there are many agencies which specialize in food or fashion PR. 

This is not the first time that unpaid internships have garnered negative attention. In the past, they have been said to discriminate against those who cannot afford to work for free or relocate for the summer or semester. The PRWeek/PRCA campaign to end unpaid internships began in October of 2011 when a list of agencies that agreed to pay their interns minimum wage was created.  Here is the full timeline of events:

• October 2011: PRWeek and PRCA launch campaign to end unpaid internships
• March 2012: The CIPR concocts an "Internship and Work Placement" tool kit
• June 2012: PRCA and Intern Aware discover that out of 150 PR interns, 23 percent are paid
• April 2013: 85 agencies are now listed by the PRCA as providing minimum wage to their interns

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see where this investigation goes. Like I stated earlier, I am willing to work without pay because I know that the experience I am receiving offers great value. However, it is true that I am blessed to be able to afford not being paid and commuting to my internship. For many people, this is not an option. Does that mean that they should not get to experience internships and be a step behind upon graduation? I don't think so and that is why I feel that Intern Aware and PRCA may see some success in their fight to end unpaid internships.

I also found a cool infographic depicting internship trends for 2013. Interestingly enough, compensation was listed as the least important consideration when looking for an internship!

New Social Media Websites to Try

As college students and PR majors, we are constantly looking for the most up-to-date social media websites that set us apart from the competition. According to Ragan's PR Daily, there are currently thirteen new sites that they are loving right now. I decided to investigate and give you guys my top seven to familiarize yourself with before you start your summer internships/new jobs! Be the first to tell your boss about any of these and I am sure they will be blown away:

• Tagboard

• So cool! Type in something that is being talked about, and this website will bring you every single piece of content including that hashtag in order of relevancy.
• For example, I searched Marist and the picture above is what it gave me.
• This is a great resource for keeping an eye on your client on social media.

• Woobox
• This platform should be used by people who wish to engage their followers in things like contests and sweepstakes.
• It allows for easier marketing and monitoring of various coupons and contests.

• Piktochart

• Marist PRSSA members love infographics
• This site allows users to create their own infographics using various designs and templates

• Feedspot
• This tool will allow users to keep up with their favorite websites easily and efficiently.
• It helps find blogs and websites that are similar with users' interests. 

• Picozu

• Want to make your photos look even better than usual? Use this site!
• It features editing tools that will set your pictures apart from the competition's.

• Rockmelt
• Think of it as a combination between Pinterest and Stumbleupon.
• Users can search various topics and get Pinterest style icons to scroll through and explore.

• LiveTweetApp

• If you want to generate word of mouth at your events, use this tool.
• This app decides what is actually relevant and will then broadcast it to your audience.