Instagram: Friend or Foe?

As PR professionals we love to “gram” our personal photos, showing the picturesque lives that we all apparently lead. Instagram is a platform where the average user can employ powerful editing tools to manipulate characteristics, such as thehue of a photo, to reflect the things that we’re feeling at any given moment. I’ve used this app in many PR situations, as I’m sure many of you reading this have. 

Seeing how many likes you can accumulate over the course of an hour may be fun, but is this a really good practice when youthink about it? There are always two sides to a story. 

Why Instagram is your friend:

Instagram is a great platform for posting selfies, images of places you’ve been and things that make you happy where your friends and other followers can see and interact with them. It can be an awesome confidence booster for those reasons.

Something I’ve also experienced while working social media positions is that hashtags can be an effective tool for connecting with your targeted audience and gaining followers. The visual nature of Instagram makes it a great way to get the word out about promotions and giveaways, in a way that’s accessible for your brand’s audience. Let’s face it, Instagram is a “cool” app!

Why Instagram is your foe:

One issue with Instagram is that it’s not always an accurate reflection of reality. Users have the ability to pick and choose the best of their photos, manipulating their feed in a way that implies that they are living amazing lives filled with fun and interesting activities. It can almost become a competition. However, most of the time you’re only seeing the cream of the crop, and a photographically manipulated version of it at that.

Some advice if you aren’t sure whether Instagram is your real friend: 

Follow accounts that you genuinely want to see! Whether it’s a friend or a fashion blogger, follow accounts that generate content you’ll be happy to see, and maybe consider unfollowing some of the accounts that you frequently swipe by. It’s just social media, if they even notice, someone you don’t even know won’t be offended if you unfollow them (and if they are, it will only be for a second, I promise). 

If you decide it’s your foe, I’d say it’s time to switch off and delete the app. You’ve got nothing to lose (other than the illusion of “coolness.”) 

This guest blog post was written by PRowl staff member Marisa Blackwell. 

It's Weird That I'm Professional?

Because the public relations industry is slowly becoming synonymous with social media, we've been asked to "grow up" a little faster than our peers might have to. Our Twitter accounts have been spotless for years and Facebooks wiped clean, while our friends still post drinking pictures every weekend. I'll be the first to admit that it can be a bit frustrating having to censor myself online. You can attempt to have two profiles (one personal, one professional) but from my own experience, it became taxing and one profile always suffered more than the other. However, I try to look at it as an opportunity to write more creatively. Sure, there's probably an easier (and more profane) way to get your point across, but where's the challenge in that? At the heart of our job we're creative writers, so coming up with a bio sans #IWokeUpLikeThis shouldn't be that hard.

While you may gawk at the things your friends post online, they may equally be questioning you and your decision to not allow certain things on your profile. I'm sure you have all had the awkward or uncomfortable experience of having to ask your friend to un-tag you in a compromising photo or to refrain from using curse words in your comments. They look at you as if you had just asked them to give you their first child.

My purpose in writing about this is two-fold. First, I wanted you to know that you're not alone. Again, because of the profession we've chosen, we're required to mature a little faster in the way we present ourselves online -- and that's alright. In fact, I'm grateful for it. That brings me to my next purpose: to let you know that being a "grandma" or "grandpa" online is okay! I've realized that outside of our little public relations bubble there are still tons of students who either just started to create a LinkedIn profile or still aren't even aware of its importance. We all have friends that still think it's okay to say whatever they want because it's their profile, but luckily we know better. We don't have to learn the hard way by not snagging our dream job. We learned about the importance of online decorum the easy, by reading the PRowl blog of course!

So keep participating in your Twitter chats on personal branding, taking headshots for your LinkedIn, and blocking people on Facebook. Your friends may look at you a bit funny, but you'll also make employers take a second look.

Instagram Direct: What Does It Mean for PR?

Whether you like it or not, social media is one of the fastest growing platforms for public relations students and professionals alike. With a community of over 150 million users from around the globe, Instagram is one of those social media platforms that has grown to monumental heights over the past three years. Instagram can be great for PR students and professionals because it allows them reach out to an audience creatively through picture and video sharing. However, avid Instagram users have most likely noticed the small change on the top-right side of their Instagram screen.

Recently, Instagram introduced a new feature: Instagram Direct. Instagram Direct allows you to send a picture or video to up to 15 Instagram users simultaneously. Within this direct message users can track who has seen the message, start a conversation, and like the photo or video. But what is the use of this feature for PR professionals?

Instagram Direct may not be great for getting your message out to a large audience, but it will show your followers that you care. If there is something that you feel as though may be more relevant to a smaller group of people, this feature allows you to send that image or video to a smaller number of avid or important followers, and allows for marketing strategies such as contests or prizes that become exclusive to certain followers. 

Another approach to Instagram Direct is to use the feature to pitch to journalists and bloggers. Though it may be difficult to pitch with the brevity of just a photo or a 15 second video, if done right, you can really be able to pitch a great product or story to these users.

Though Instagram has a very “user-first” mentality, PR students and professionals can use this to their advantage. By connecting to more personally to certain followers, and pitching to journalists and bloggers, Instagram Direct can open a brand new portal of opportunity.

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Rute Barkai.

What's Your Social Media Personality?

This is a little bit like the quizzes you find in the back of a Seventeen Magazine. What kind of social media personality are YOU? Check all that apply.

PR Daily posted this infographic that breaks down the type of people who are using social media, and it's pretty spot-on.

Most PR students and professionals (myself included) would most likely fall under the "Ultras" category.  We love our social media and we're proud of it and we might even find ourselves getting a little antsy when we can't check it several times a day.

However, there are definitely some classifications that aspiring PR pros don't want to fall under.

• The Peacocks

It's great to have a lot of followers, but social media isn't a popularity contest. If most of your audience is people that have no relevance to what you're saying, you might as well be talking to yourself

• The Ranters

Sometimes it's hard to contain our opinions, especially on hot-button issues. It's in our PR nature to want to respond right away. It's okay to speak your mind, as well as it's well thought out and appropriate. Ranting is never encouraged.

• The Ghosts

What good do anonymous or "fake" profiles do you? If no one knows who you are you can't gain much credibility. Online safety shouldn't be taken lightly but as long as you're smart about what you put out there, you can still be honest about who you are.

So, which social media personality are you? Are you a cross between a few or a completely new breed? We want to know!

Don’t Miss A Stitch!

This year’s New York City Fashion Week prompted new abstract methods of updating fashion followers. The yesteryears of pre-writing stories weeks in advance to run during Fashion Week, then waiting for collections to arrive in stores to cover them are now replaced with play-by-play coverage. Listed below are some of the ways PR professionals have put a spin on giving onlookers the sense of truly taking part in the Mercedes Benz NYFW. 

1.     Facesofnyfw.com- Behind The Scenes
Faces of NYFW gives a behind the scenes look of who showed up and what it really looks like backstage. Those in attendance can submit pictures via Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr to Faces of NYFW.

2.     Style.com- Serious Innovative
Style.com created “The In Cloud” which ranks the most influential people in the fashion industry for viewers’ discretion. They also developed the “Fashion Tracker” which locates attendees on a NYC map from their social media updates on the shows.

3.     Pinterest- Targeting the Fashion Market
Pinterest is now making it easier to find related posts on their Fashion Week hub- http://pinterest.com/fashionweek/. This hub features designer brands and style experts’ boards with the latest and greatest of NYFW.

4.     Instagram- Instant Pictures, Instant Interest
Plugging in common hash tags will lead you to endless posts on NYFW by designers, fashion magazines/bloggers and news channels. Some include #NYFW, #MBFW, #SS14, #fashioninmotion, #behindthefashion, etc. Instagram provides eye-catching images captioned with descriptive details on the designer, model, photographer, etc.

5.     Video- Live Streaming To The Max
As usual there are live shows streamed from newyorkfashionweeklive.com and mbfashionweek.com. Some of the newest videos covering the shows were viewed through a serious of visual diaries produced by The New York Times on interpretations of line, pattern, volume, etc. This content created interactive buzz on all things fashion- think this was the PR professionals’ purpose?
Gaining an all access pass to one of the most exclusive events of the year is no simple task. This time it was made possible and as Women’s Wear Daily put it, the ramped-up social media and live streaming led Fashion Week to become a veritable “digital spectator sport.” 

Innovative media marketing is catching fire in the PR world so stay tuned!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Nicole Leo.

How to #Hashtag on Facebook

It has been a little over two months since Facebook rolled out it's hashtag feature and some brands have been utilizing as a potential tool to drive engagement. Although it hasn't gained much traction yet, Simply Measured's recent study found that brand adoption of Facebook hashtags had increased by 20% by the end of July. 

Five major brands have demonstrated strategic and effective hashtag tactics and, in turn, have been seeing major results:

1. American Express - Cross-Channel Campaign Promotion 
#PassionProject
Average Brand Engagement: 1,689
Post Engagement: 10,362
Engagement Factor: 6.1 x AVG
By creating awareness for its #PassionProject campaign using the same hashtag on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, American Express is making the campaign content discoverable across networks. 

2. Moet & Chandon - Seasonal Hashtags for Seasonal Products
#Summer 
Average Brand Engagement: 1,571
Post Engagement: 9,083
Engagement Factor: 5.7 x AVG
Seasonal hashtags allow seasonal brands like Moet & Chandon to promote #Summer products by tapping into a broad topic. 

3. Credit Suisse - News Jacking
#Wimbeldon 
Average Brand Engagement: 168
Post Engagement: 1,088
Engagement Factor: 6.4 x AVG
Credit Suisse, a multinational financial services holding company, used #Wimbeldon to highlight it's player sponsorship. Brands can use Facebook hashtags to create awareness for their pages by tapping into event discussion and providing valuable content. 

4. Loreal Paris - Already Popular Hashtags 
#ManiMonday
Average Brand Engagement: 1,012
Post Engagement: 3,387
Engagement Factor: 3.3 x AVG
Popular hashtags on other networks can be extended to Facebook. Cosmetic brands' use of #ManiMonday exemplifies that using context that has already been created for many popular tags on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram is effective. 

5. MTV - Leverage Your Largest Audience 
#BeyInspired 
Average Brand Engagement: 4,924
Post Engagement: 8,171
Engagement Factor: 1.7 x AVG
MTV has shown how brands can use Facebook hashtags to run integrated contests and promotions to encourage fans, their largest social audience, to participate on other networks. 

Instafamous

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Instagram is a free mobile photo-sharing app that currently boasts over 100 million users. The application was acquired by Facebook in April of 2012 and the rest is history.

For those socially savvy individuals looking to become 'instafamous', here are three tips to skyrocket your following.

1. Don't holdback on the hashtags
Hashtags are how your potential fans and followers will find you--so let them! Include any and as many relevant hashtags as applicable. When others like your photos, be sure to tag their handle and to thank them. This acknowledgement increases the chances that they will follow you. Finally, participate in popular hashtags like #tbt (throwbackthursday).

2. Take better pictures
Don't just be a picture taker, be an artist with a 'voice'. Spend the extra dollar or two and buy a good picture editing application. I personally recommend PicSay Pro, Snapseed or Colorsplash. You are more likely to gain followers with a well taken and well edited photo. Additionally, you will retain your current followers if you maintain the 'voice' you have created.

3. Build your Instacred
In order to trend and to gain visibility on Instagram, you need to be known. To accomplish this: follow others, like others' posts, and comment on their posts. Following and liking others are only the beginning on of the relationship. Commenting on others' posts shows that you want to further the relationship and generally seals the, "I'll follow you back" deal.

I'm slowly but surely making my rise to infamy, are you? If so, how? #f4f

Insta-scammed!

Last week, Facebook and Twitter ignited with indignant messages against Instagram's new terms of service. The revised terms of service statement used language that made it seem like Instagram would obtain the rights to all user photos, giving them the freedom to use photos for advertisement purposes, without the user's permission. Needless to say, people per upset and many even closed their accounts.

On Wednesday, Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom responded to the crisis via a blog post. Basically, Systrom admitted that Instagram made a mistake and jumped the gun too fast. The company failed to communicate with its audience and left users in the dark.

But the privacy issue is not the only factor that is raising heads. The updated terms of service also dictates that if a minor signs up for Instagram, then the minor is assumed to already have parental permission. Want to file a suit? Users must file an opt-out agreement within 30 days of joining Instagram, to Facebook's headquarters (Facebook bought out Instagram in April).

It is going to take a long time for Instagram to regain its users' trust after these recent discoveries. What do you think of the revised terms of service? Let us know!

The Social Media High School Yearbook

For most college students, high school seems like it was just yesterday. We all remember the cliques that made up the student body like the nerds, the athletes and the band geeks. Each group had their own interests and similar personalities that set them apart from the rest.

In the dawn of the social media age, I guess you could say that social media sites are the high school of the Internet.

Wix, a popular web desgin company, took a look at social networks and found out which site fit each cliche high school stereotype. Based on what we all are sharing, Wix developed this inforgraphic comparing each social network to a high school stereotype.

For example, YouTube is the drama enthusiast. Twitter is the Chatty Cathy. Instagram, naturally, is the flirt of the bunch.

Check out the rest of the social media yearbook to see where you fit in:

Can you think of any other social media stereotypes? Let us know!

How To Host A Contest On Instagram

I have a confession to make; I am completely addicted to Instagram. Over the past 6 months, the free photo-sharing social network app has become bigger and better than ever. After being acquired by Facebook in early September, Instagram now has over 80 million registered users. Free photo-sharing social networks apps are growing in popularity and powerful corporations are looking to get involved with them. Instagram’s rival, Snapseed, was just bought by Google last week.

Instagram allows anyone with a smart phone to create content and engage with followers and fans through their mobile device. It is the ultimate haven for brands to connect with customers. Since the app is fairly new, brands are still trying to figure out the best way to integrate Instagram into their marketing efforts. However, I have seen quite a few unique ways in which brands are trying to get involved.

In my opinion, hosting an Instagram contest is the most efficient way to reach an audience. It is a quick and easy way to generate visual content with existing followers as well as attract new ones.  Here are four tips on how to host a successful Instagram contest adapted from Bill Miltenberg’s PR News article:

1.       Offer a Prize: Everyone likes an incentive. Many brands host special giveaways that are exclusive to their Instagram followers, which in turn acquires new followers in the process. Get creative!

2.       Use a Specific Hashtag: To make sure you can measure the success of the contest, make a special hashtag that contest participants have to use in order to win. Temple University has recently launched the Temple Made campaign in which one aspect prompts students and alumni to tag their Instagram photos with the hashtag #TempleMade for the chance to be featured at a university event.

3.       Utilize Other Social Media Sites: To help extend your contest’s reach why not feature the Instagram content on your brand’s Pinterest board. Or better yet link the photos to you brand’s Facebook account, make a YouTube slideshow or even tweet the best ones!

4.       Make It Easy: Eliminate entry barriers. Not every campaign needs to be focused on the specific product the brand is trying to sell. Red Bull held successful weekly contest this past summer. Each Monday Red Bull came up with a chose a new theme for participants to use as a hashtag in their photos. The accounts with the most submitted photos had a better chance at winning each week. The company required users to photograph its products, but rather asked for the photos to be tagged with that week’s theme and @Redbull.

What brand do you follow that hosted a successful contest? How did they do it? Let us know! 

Surgery and Social Media

The Swedish Medical Center has begun a new campaign to raise awareness around treatment options for those with hearing loss. The campaign consists of a video series developed by Dr. Douglas Backous, medical director of the Center for Hearing and Skull Base Surgery at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle, Washington and the use of Twitter and Instagram.

The series began in September and will end October with a live chat. Each week, a short video was released discussing topics such as what a cochlear implant is, how to prepare for the surgery and answers to frequently asked questions. What differentiates the series is the culimination of the campaign, set to take place on Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 7:40 am, which will include live-tweets and Instagram photos taken during a surgery. The use of social media during surgery is the first of its kind  and may set a new standard in the medical industry.

The live-tweeted and Instagrammed surgery will comprise of a live feed of still images during the surgery taken from inside the operating room. In order to view the stream, viewers simply need to follow @swedish and #swedishhear. To date, the hospital has already acquired almost 10,000 followers.

As an advocator of the deaf community I will definitely be tuning in, will you?

For more information about the series and to tune in visit www.swedish.org/SwedishHear and follow them on twitter @swedish and #swedishhear.

Can Your Brand Benefit From Instagram?

Instagram, the popular photo editing app for iPad, iPod, iPhone, and Android devices is certainly taking the web-world by storm! With a few taps of your finger, you can take pictures from ordinary to extraordinary adding edgy effects to any bland photo. But how can this seemingly simple photo editing app help promote your brand? The possibilties are endless:

• Hashtag Monitoring: Instagram, like Twitter, gives users the chance to utilize hashtags (or terms that are made searchable online by using the #pound symbol.) Once your brand is on Instagram, you can follow these hashtags and see what consumers think about your brand.
•  Sharability: Not only would having an account on Instagram offer you another chance to connect with your audience, it would also allow them to share your brand with their friends and followers. Users can repost photos, which spreads them from timeline to timeline increasing your brands viewership. Instagram also offers integration with other social media sites, meaning that users can share images with their Twitter follwers, Facebook friends, and Flickr feeds instantly.
• Personalized Customer Service: There is nothing a consumer likes more than feeling like his or her voice matters. Instagram offers them a chance to not only express themselves verbally, but visually as well. Communicating with your audience in a more personal, intimate setting can go a long way; and take things far beyond an email or Facebook message. Knowing that a brand has taken the time to repost or "like" a users post makes them feel much more connected to the brand,  thus inticing them to spread the word!

Is your brand utilizing Instagram? Let us know!

Facebook's Pocket Change

Just yesterday, Facebook announced that they purchased the young start-up, Instagram for the price of $1 billion in cash and shares.

With the growth of mobile use for social media sites like Facebook, it is not surprising that they are taking advantage of their wealth to enhance their photo-uploading features with a program like Instagram. Based in San Francisco, Instagram has been growing rapidly as a photo-sharing application for iPhones, with over 30 million users. Now that they have adapted to Google's Android just last week, they got more than a million users in just over 12 hours of it being available.

Apparently the purchase does not mean that Instagram is going away, they are simply going to be incorporating it into Facebook's huge following of users to expand their network, according to CEO Kevin Systrom.

Facebook CEO and Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, said in a press release for the announcement, "For years, we've focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we'll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests."

Hm. Based on our interests? This seems like another way for Facebook to directly advertise to user accounts by recording what photos they upload.

What do you think about Facebook's new purchase? Do you use Instagram?

Read the full press release here.