Goodbye (for now)!

I can't believe this is my last blog post, and essentially my last day at PRowl Public Relations. I have been part of PRowl for the last three years, and have blogged every Monday for the last two. What is life without PRowl!? What are Mondays without blogging?

While it is sad to leave, I am deeply grateful to PRowl for all the experiences and opportunities it has given me these last three years. Thanks in great part to PRowl, I feel ready and excited to enter the world of public relations full time.

I would like to thank Gregg, our faculty adviser, and Jaime, who has been our firm director these last three years. Thank you for all the opportunities you have opened to our members! To those graduating with me, congratulations and good luck! I know you will go out into the world and do great things. To the continuing members who are the future of PRowl, I appreciate you all and will miss you. I look forward to watching the firm continue to grow and succeed through your hard work and dedication.

A few words of wisdom before I sign off:

• Take the time to do the job right; it will pay off in the end
• Take every opportunity you can to learn
  
• Seek out new experiences
• Plan, plan and make a back-up plan
• Learn to manage your time and your priorities
• Your calendar is your friend
• Network as much as you can
• Have fun!
  

Check out #twitterchats

I have been a Twitter user for over two years now. After I signed up for my Twitter account, I began to build my network of public relations and communications professionals on the site. I soon began to observe what has now become a Twitter phenomenon: Twitter chats.

I was always interested in these chats, but never fully understood what they were or how they worked--until more recently. In case you're as unfamiliar with Twitter chats as I was, Ragan.com's Samantha Hosenkamp describes them as "online chat rooms, but within Twitter." "Each chat--denoted by a hashtag (#)--focuses on a specific topic or field of interest," she explains.

Basically, the chats are run by a Twitter user who acts as moderator, while participants in the chat can respond to others or pose questions and comments. Every participant includes the hashtag for the chat in their tweets so the other participants can watch the conversation in real time by searching that hashtag.

There are many benefits to becoming involved with Twitter chats. Hosenkamp points out that Twitter chats enable participants to build their personal and corporate brands. Users can also gain a lot of new insight and information in one short hour. This point was underscored by one Twitter chat participant, who said Twitter chats like #journchat (a discussion between PR professionals and journalists) "got me interested in Twitter. It made me realize the site was more than tweeting what you ate."

If you are like me and plan on taking advantage of the chance to participate in Twitter chats more in the future, Hosenkamp offers several tips:

1. Familiarize yourself with the topic beforehand and the format of the specific chat
2. Use a tool like Hootsuite, which will make it easier to follow the conversation in real time.
3. Don't overload the chat with links; keep the focus on the conversation.
4. Thank the moderators and participants for their time, and be sure to keep up with the connections you made.

Be sure to read Hosenkamp's post, as she also provides a list of hundreds of Twitter chats to check out.

Be Professional!

"I don't want to delete your press release, but sometimes I feel like you're forcing me to," said Chloe Thompson, an assistant editor at TMG.

How can you make sure yours isn't one of the releases that's getting deleted? In an article for Ragan's PR Daily, Thompson advises against five bad habits. In her article, Thompson reminds PR practitioners to avoid the use of pet names, slang and Internet lingo like "LOL." She also reminds PR practitioners to provide all of the necessary details in their releases, to be focused and to be concise.

Thompson's tips were all beneficial, but I found that most of them boiled down to two main points: be professional and do your job right. It is hard to believe that some PR practitioners need to be reminded to not address a journalist as "babe" or to remember to include an important detail like the date of an event in a press release!

As Thompson points out, simply taking the time to make sure your material is polite and well-written are the first--and critical--steps toward ensuring your press release gets read. "Just do your part, and I promise I'll do mine," Thompson said.

Networking: the basics

Whether you are graduating and searching for a job or just starting college, it is important to build your professional network. Oftentimes, though, the idea of talking to complete strangers can be uncomfortable.

"Networking can be intimidating, especially if you've never done it before," says Ragan.com's Jessica Levco. If you have apprehension about networking, Levco offers five tips for millennials:

• "Don't mingle with other millennials," Levco says, "branch out of your generational comfort zone and talk to people who've been in the biz longer than you have."
• Have a drink, but stay in control. Levco reminds millennials that, while it is okay to introduce yourself with a drink in hand, save yourself some embarrassment by postponing heavier drinking for later.
• Rather than introducing yourself by name and company title, "allow the conversation to develop naturally," Levco says. She recommends starting off by asking a question like "'how did you hear about tonight's event?'"
• Be prepared to describe what you do for work. Levco recommends sticking to the highlights.
• After the event, follow up with your new contacts. "Everybody likes to be remembered," Levco explains.

I found all of Levco's tips to be valuable, but I think her first tip is the best--and the easiest rule to break. At networking events, it is easy to try to stick with people your age because you feel more comfortable. The thing is, though, you're more likely to learn from the professionals at the event. These people are also the ones that can be harder to meet outside of the event. To get the most out of the event, make sure to focus on starting conversations with the more experienced participants. Be sure to solidify these relationships by also following tip five and following up with the contacts you make.

It's all about accomplishments

As I prepare for graduation in May, I have been working on updating my resume.

I have always been told the importance of quantifying things in my resume where ever possible. However, I'm not always sure of exactly how to incorporate numbers and I have had many conversations with friends and peers struggling with the same task.

I recently turned to my friend (and PRowl alumna) Jessica Lawlor for advice, and she offered an explanation that I found very helpful. "This is great experience," she commented on one section of my resume, "but I think you’re doing a lot of describing responsibilities, not outlining accomplishments."

Jess's words sparked an epiphany for me, and I think she hit the nail on the head. I was preoccupied with describing what I did as opposed to focusing on the tangible outcomes of what I did. While to some this advice may seem simple and straightforward, it made a world of difference for me. This new way of thinking has already helped me understand how to better incorporate numbers into my resume.

What is some of the best resume advice you've received? What are your favorite resume tips to give?

Disclose!

The Federal Trade Commission has been cracking down on companies that are not forthcoming about paying for their endorsements. In 2009, the FTC adopted guidelines "making clear that many of the rules that apply to advertising and testimonials in the print world are still going to carry weight in the sometimes confusing and chaotic world of blogs and other new media," Joe Mullin explains in an article for paidcontent.org.

Recently, Legacy Learning Systems was fined $250,000 for commissioning positive reviews of its educational DVD designed to teach audiences how to play the guitar. The company and its affiliate marketers failed, however, to disclose that the company had sponsored the praise for its product.

This situation raises an important point for PR practitioners: we are in a unique position--and have a personal responsibility--to make sure our companies and clients are disclosing information properly.

Says PRSA board member Marisa Vallbona in an article on prdaily.com:

"'Tell--don't ask--the blogger to disclose the fact [that the review is sponsored] in his or her review. Otherwise you're asking the review to be considered fake and putting your and your client's reputation at stake.'"

Think critically!

As a student of public relations, I have learned a lot about crafting messages that will be received by both internal and external audiences. My coursework has also stressed the importance of being an active and critical consumer of the media.

I recently received an email from my credit card company encouraging me to donate to Japan relief using my credit card. Once I opened the message, I was given the option to donate either using my credit card, or by donating my reward points.

One one hand, I saw the campaign as a brilliant way to raise awareness about the huge need for relief in Japan. I also thought it was a smart way for the company to attach itself to a good cause.

However, as I thought about it more, I began to question the ethics of such a message. Particularly if people donate using their credit card, the company stands a chance of profiting from interest fees on the donations.

A closer look into the campaign revealed that the company itself had donated $5 million to relief efforts. This reaffirmed my original belief that the campaign was in good conscience, but I still couldn't help feeling a bit skeptical.

What do you think, is it ethical for the company to attach itself to a relief effort from which it could also benefit monetarily? Or is this a good example of corporate social responsibility? Either way, the campaign is a good example of the need to think critically when interpreting messages.

If you would like to donate to American Red Cross relief efforts in Japan, you can do so by clicking here. The site also provides a list of cash donation sites and the names of many organizations working to provide relief to the victims in Japan.

Pitching? Consider pop culture

I was reading through my PRSA Issues & Trends e-mail the other day, and a featured story caught my eye: "How Dwight Schrute Helped Me Place a Story in TIME." As an avid fan of "The Office" and a person who finds Dwight's character to be hilarious, I clicked on the link and read the story on PRSA's ComPRehension blog.

So how did Dwight Schrute help Michael Smart land some great placements, including a spot in TIME? The same way his headline enticed me to read his post. Smart had been working with a professor who was researching the pros and cons of working with people she called "'socially distinct newcomers.'" "That's a perfect, precise description of what she studied...[b]ut it's obviously not very familiar language that would be useful in a pitch e-mail subject line or in the lead of a news release," Smart explained.

His solution was to come up with a way of expressing the concept concisely. He made the connection between Dwight Schrute and "socially distinct newcomers," and used it in his e-mail subject line and to help explain the study. His creativity landed him great coverage, including the placement in TIME he mentioned in his headline.

Smart identified two key takeaways from this successful media relations effort:

1. "Ruthlessly trim your pitches to make them as short as possible," he said.
   
2. "Consider an image or concept made familiar through pop culture to make your pitch stand out," he advised.
   

This case study definitely left a lasting impression on me!

You can read Smart's press release by clicking here.

Trying to rest? Give your eyes a break

It seems as though there are never enough hours in a day. Chances are, your waking activities and daytime responsibilities have a tendency to bleed into your sleep time. At this point in the semester, mine certainly are!

Do you check your e-mail or play around on your smart phone or tablet before bed? Are you up late working at the computer? A new study by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) sheds new light on why this can be a bad thing.

Besides cutting into your sleep time, the use of these devices before bed time can actually "increase alertness and suppress the release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin," according to the NSF as reported on prdaily.com. The disruption is caused by exposure to the bright artificial light of the screen before bed, the NSF said.

Moral of the story? Giving yourself a break in between using the computer, TV or your smart phone and going to bed can have a positive impact on your quality of sleep. If you're like me, you need all the sleep you can get!

Public speaking: all about your mindset

In your public speaking class or in your personal experiences, have you ever been encouraged to approach your speaking from an acting mindset? In his blog post for the Harvard Business Review, Peter Bubriski points out that public speaking classes have borrowed many of their techniques from the acting profession in recent years.

"[T]he energy and creativity this can unleash can be a good thing when it leads to well-told stories that inspire colleagues, customers and stakeholders to action," he says. "But it doesn't work for everyone."

If you are one of those people that does not feel comfortable or is not a natural at using acting techniques in your public speeches, Bubriski suggests a rather insightful alternative mindset you can try: "think of practicing speaking skills like practicing a sport," he advises. "With a sport you're not pretending to be someone else. You are training your body and your mind to achieve feats of skill--building your muscle memory with drills and repetition," he explains.

How can you do this? Bubriski explains that it starts with an awareness of your own skills. He recommends looking at yourself and recognizing the "instruments, and how versatile, flexible and capable they are." Chances are, you have a lot of strengths that can be applied--you just have to learn to channel them for use with public speaking. Bubriski's sports mindset could be a way to help this come about.

Do you think this mindset would be helpful? Will you give it a try? Do you have another metaphor for public speaking you think our readers would find useful?

Using house parties to build relationships

In PR we focus on building relationships with all sorts of internal and external publics. It is important that we constantly seek new ways to interact with our publics and maintain those relationships.

I recently learned about what is essentially a new PR tool called houseparty.com. The site describes itself as a collection of "thousands of parties across the country, hosted by people like you." Each event offered on the site is "sponsored by a leading brand and focuses on something the sponsor wants its best fans to experience firsthand and share with their friends." The concept is simple: organizations put together and sponsor themed parties and consumers can apply for the chance to host the parties in their homes. The chosen consumers are supplied with materials, decorations, prizes, discounts, freebies and other supplies to host their parties.

I think this site is on to a great idea. What better way to raise awareness and generate buzz about your company or product than to offer your consumers a chance to try it for themselves- for free- in the presence of their friends? Further, these parties represent the basis for a two-way, mutually beneficial relationship between the company and the consumer; the consumer gets a social experience, "insider" information about the company's products and some free stuff while the sponsoring company gets a chance to wow a whole group of people with their product and has the opportunity for that excitement to spread to attendees' other contacts in a viral, grass-roots fashion.

Would this type of party work for your company or client? What other creative ideas do you have for fostering relationships with your publics?

Free-ish speech online

Where does the line fall between your right to free speech and your employer's right to protect its reputation? The world is still figuring that out.

In case you missed it, the National Labor Relations Board won an important lawsuit against American Medical Response of Connecticut, Inc last week. The NLRB had sued the company after it fired a worker who had turned to her Facebook page to vent her frustrations about her boss.

As a result of its loss in court, American Medical Response will change its blogging and Internet policies, as well as two other policies that forbade employees to say negative things about the company over the Internet, according to an article for the AP.

The decision is believed to inspire employers around the country to review their Internet policies. However, while this case helps set a precedent for free speech on the Internet--particularly when it involves the workplace, don't take it as a free pass to go spouting off about your employer online. The jury is still out when it comes to just how far employee rights to free speech extend on social media.

"'The line can go over into disloyalty or disclosure of truly confidential information'" warned a labor and employment lawyer for the NLRB, "'this is not without boundaries, but we just don't have a good sense yet of where the boundaries are.'"

It seems that we as a society are still adapting old laws to a new world dominated by online media, and it is a tough course to navigate. While it looks as though steps are being taken to ensure employees' rights to free speech on social media, err on the side of caution when posting about your employer.

I recommend only saying things that you wouldn't be ashamed to repeat in person.

Super Bowl ads are more than just fun to watch

Whether or not you are a sports fan or you cared about the teams playing, chances are you tuned in to the Super Bowl yesterday. If you're like me, you were excited to see the ads.

While ads run during the Super Bowl, the "most-watched single telecast in the US," are usually entertaining, Susan Gunelius also points out that there is a lot to learn from them.

In an article for entrepreneur.com, Gunelius looks back on important ads of Super Bowls past and draws interesting takeaways from each. Of course Apple's 1984 ad for Macintosh made the list, but Gunelius makes some great points about the ad's impact. "[I]f you know your product is great, go big -- or go home," Gunelius says.

Remember this ad from Monster.com? I didn't, but I was really impressed by it:



Be sure to check out Gunelius' article to see what she had to say about this ad, what other ads she showcased and the enduring lessons we can all learn from them.

What lessons can you draw from the best and worst of yesterday's ads? What ads from more recent years do you think are worthy of addition to Gunelius' list?

Consider the weather!

"TV viewership increases when families are cooped up in their homes during storms," reported the Huffington Post's David Bauder in a recent article. "Nowhere was this more evident than during the January 10-13 storm that dumped snow across a wide swath of the country, including areas of the south that seldom see it."

In fact, according to the article, Nielsen Co. reported "that storm had a bigger effect on television ratings than any other in recent history." So much so that TV viewership exceeded that of last year
at the time by 8 percent. Furthermore, TV networks that adjusted their programming to accommodate the change in viewership saw ratings increase by as much as 60 percent.

These facts have important implications for those of us in the PR industry:

1. This situation really drives home the point of the importance of knowing your audience. Case in point: with more school-age children home during the day, Nickelodeon "cut short its preschool programming block by two hours, replacing it with programming geared toward older children," the article reported. The network realized ratings 43 percent over last year as a result.
2. The situation also reminds us of the importance of considering external factors when writing and sending pitches. Considering something as simple as the weather and the impact of weather on viewership can give a PR pro's pitch an edge in terms of timing and content. It can also help the PR practitioner get more mileage out of a good placement.
   

Defining PR

Public Relations is a subject that interests me vastly, an industry to which I am a dedicated student, a field in which I one day hope to work.

It's also a topic that's difficult to put into words. In fact, whenever I meet someone who asks me to explain the PR industry, I find myself challenged to describe the industry concisely. PRSA has provided a simple definition of PR on its website, but even this major professional organization devotes an entire page to fully defining PR.

Ronnie Manning from the blog "Fresh As..." recently published a post sharing his peers' definitions of PR using 140 characters or less. Check out the post and see the definitions that were submitted. I really liked Jason Mudd's: "telling your story and sharing your news with internal and external audiences to build trust and ties." Laura Crovo's was also very tight.

This blog post inspired me to work on my own definition of PR. How do you define public relations?

Good luck!

Good luck on the first day of classes tomorrow from PRowl Public Relations! Here are some tips to get your semester started off right:

1. Set goals for yourself. Setting goals helps keep me focused and helps me monitor my progress on a personal level.
   
2. Make sure you keep your planner up to date. Using your planner early and often will keep you organized when the semester gets hectic.
3. Start off with an open mind. Try to stay positive even if a class or a teacher sounds less than desirable. I am always more likely to do well if I don't go into a class with pre-set judgments.
   
4. Be diligent from the beginning. Every assessment and reading assignment counts! Don't goof around in the beginning and have to play catch up at the end.
   
5. Make time for yourself. Even though your schedule may get crazy during the semester, make sure to budget time to relax and take a breather. This always helps keep me energized, sane and focused.

What helps you achieve success? What tips would you add to my list?

Gary Yoshimura scholarship

Are you a determined, persistent and focused student who is dedicated to the field of public relations? Do you have a financial need? Is your GPA 3.0 or above? If so, you may qualify for PRSSA's Gary Yoshimura scholarship.

Gary Yoshimura was said to be a "consummate professional" who was fiercely dedicated to public relations and whose skills were recognized at both international agencies and at the corporate level. After his untimely death at the age of 42, this $2,400 scholarship was created in his name to keep his spirit alive.

If you are interested in applying for the scholarship, act soon because the deadline is January 31.

Be sure to check out the other scholarship opportunities available through PRSSA.

2010's Biggest PR Disasters

Now that it's officially 2011, we can all look back on the best and worst of 2010. This week the Wall Street Journal published an article "Public Relations Learned the Hard Way," in which it looked at some of the biggest PR disasters of last year.

Can you name them? It is not surprising to see the BP oil spill and the Toyota automobile crisis on the list, but you may find some unexpected names on the list as well. Be sure to check it out!

What PR crises would you add to the list of 2010's PR disasters? Were you surprised to see some of the companies that made the list? What companies would you commend for their PR practices in 2010?

It's that time again...

Happy Holidays to all of our members and readers!

As a public relations major who plans to deal closely with the media--and someone who strives to be a responsible citizen, for that matter--I know how important it is to pay attention to current events and stay immersed in media culture.

This past semester, I was required to read the New York Times on a daily basis for one of my classes. I really enjoyed reading the news every day and was grateful for the chance to force myself to stay current on the news. After all, as much as I strive to read the news on my own, other things sometimes get in the way.

With this in mind and the start of the new year fast approaching, I have begun to put some thought into my new year's resolutions. Every year, I try to choose resolutions that are both practical and realistic. This year, one of my biggest resolutions is to continue to read the news daily.

I have even come up with a way to keep this resolution within reach: I have decided to set the home page of my Web browser to the New York Times homepage. This is a quick and simple step that will make it easy to peruse the news everyday; it brings the news to me! This way, every time I sign online to check my e-mail (which I do several times a day), shop or look something up, I will also be conscious of the headlines and will be able to read several news stories each time I am online.

I also plan to use this homepage as a "reminder" to read stories on other news sites. This will enable me to get a balanced perspective and will help keep me a responsible consumer of the news.

Try it with me and see what you think!

Best of luck in the new year.

Special Topics: Social Media

Attention Temple PR majors (or any Temple student who has taken Intro to PR): this spring, the Department of Strategic Communication is offering a special topics course on social media (STRC 4440-002). This course is a great opportunity to learn how to use social media in a strategic and measurable way that provides direct benefits to the company and/or client!

The class will be offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the 10:00- 10:50 a.m. time slot. If you are interested, stop in and see Diane Johnson in room 216 of Weiss hall (you must register in person). The only prerequisite is the completion of Intro to Public Relations(STRC 2552). For more information, e-mail professor Dale Wilcox at dwilcox@temple.edu.

The department is also offering a special topics course this spring in sports media (STRC 4440-001).

Take advantage of these great opportunities to diversify your skills!