The Holidays Aren’t Here Yet, Stay Focused!

When winter break is right around the corner, it is often hard to stay focused at school. As the holidays approach it seems that stress levels increase dramatically. It is really difficult to adjust from spending time at home and trying to get back into the groove of things at school. You may be feeling like you want to skip finals altogether and pack up to go right back home (or at least I do!).

Fear not! Here are some useful tips on how to maintain your focus and preparing yourself for the last few weeks of the semester:

-          Prioritize: make a “to-do” list of work and tasks that need to be completed before the big break.

-          Plan: figure out what topics you need to focus on for each study day, or “free” day, your college gives you.

-          Stock Up: make sure to buy note cards and highlighters for those long days and nights in the library. Don’t forget to also purchase some study snacks that are high in protein and fiber. 

-          Study Buddies: ask classmates or friends if they would want to be a part of a study group and create a study guide together.

-          Decorate: help realize some finals week stress by decorating your dorm, apartment or house for the holidays.  It can’t hurt!

-          Write It Down: Write reminders for yourself in your planner or on post-its, otherwise they may get lost in the shuffle.

How do you stay focused with the holidays right around the corner?

Gaming for Good

Do you challenge your friends' vocabulary mastery in Words With Friends,  or showcase your artistic finesse in Draw Something? If so, you can use your skills to game for good. Recently, Mashable.com reported on Zynga's first holiday philanthropy campaign. Zynga is a Web 2.0-based social network game developper . The newly launched campaign allows users to turn virtual goods into real-world gifts. Gifts can be purchased for as little as $1 and will benefit Toys for Tots. The social-gaming company has already gained $13 million to date and will continue their campaign through the end of the year.

Zynga's campaign is the perfect example of how to successful utilize social channels for social good. The question remains, have you gamed for good yet? If not, you have until December 31st. Will you take up the challenge? Tell us all about it!

Do you think you got what it takes?

PRowl Public Relations is Temple University’s first and only student-run PR firm providing students with hands-on experience in the industry, and we’re hiring!

At PRowl Public Relations, students are given opportunities to develop their strategic thinking and gain tactical practice.  Members create and execute public relations campaigns, form valuable relationships with professionals in the Philadelphia area, apply their classroom knowledge to a real-world setting, become part of an interactive communications process and prepare for life beyond graduation.

PRowl’s previous professional clients include:

• Jean Madeline Aveda Institute Salon and Spa
• TUTV (Temple University Television)
• American Cancer Society
• The Office of University Communications

To be a member of PRowl Public Relations, you must meet the following criteria:

• At least a 3.0 GPA
• Be a dues paying member of PRSSA or have the intention of becoming a dues-paying member
• Have availability for weekly staff meetings every Thursday from 3:30-4:15 p.m.

PRowl Public Relations is a great experience and is a large time commitment. PRowl PR operates as a functioning PR firm and is similar to a working, professional-level agency, not an extracurricular organization. Therefore, applicants should only apply if they are able to dedicate the necessary amount of time and work. Staff members will have the opportunity to work on social media campaigns, event planning and media relations to name a few.

Interested?  Please set up a time with Firm Director Samantha Wanner via email at Samantha.Wanner@temple.edu

Interviews will be conducted on Thursday, December 6, Friday, December 7 and Monday, December 10. in the PRSSA office room number 357 located on the third floor of the Howard Gittis Student Center.  All applicants will be required to submit a resume and two short writing samples during their scheduled interview.

Learn more about PRowl Public Relations:

Follow us on Twitter: @PRowlPR

Find us on Facebook: PRowl Public Relations

 

The Grinch Who Stole Social Media

'Twas the night before Grinchmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, especially not the social media manager! Yes, for someone who manages multiple social media accounts, the holidays can often become more hectic than festive. If you're wondering why the social media manager in your life, whether that be a co-worker or spouse, would rather talk Twitter followers than deck the halls, check out the top 4 reasons social media managers go Grinch during the holidays:

1. Remaining all inclusive - Keeping up with a bunch of social media accounts during the holidays means trying to acknowledge everyone without offending anyone. This can be a tough balance to find with so many consumers celebrating and practicing so many different things. As a social media manager, it's your job to stick to the task at hand, send the necessary messages, and remain as respectful as you would apart from the holiday season.

2. Too much cheer - Being the savvy social media manager that you are, you're probably always watching your use, or overuse, of exclamation points. Not to mention, being extremely wary of when to implement online emoticons. The holidays make this extremely difficult. With a timeline full of holiday wishes of good cheer, no one wants to be the Scrooge that posts an dull message.

3. When to post - Social media managers struggle enough with picking the perfect time to send a Tweet, upload a photo, or update a Facebook status. When everyone's newsfeed and timeline is full of Peanuts cartoons and Santa memes, finding that perfect posting window becomes even harder.

4. When social media sites "get into the spirit" - This Thanksgiving Facebook decided to knock their classic "what's on your mind," and changed the message inside the status update box to "what are you thankful for?" Millions of Facebook users took this change to post all of the many things they were thankful for. Social media managers have to find creative ways through these situations to still get their messages across while playing into the themes of the season.

To all of the social media managers out there, please, be of good cheer. Soon Spring will come, and there will be a whole new social media strategy to conquer!

How do you handle social media during the holidays? Let us know!

First Annual Temple PRSSA/TAC Mixer!

Looking for a networking opportunity within the Temple University School of Communications? Connect with Temple Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and Temple Advertising Club (TAC) at their first annual mixer event on November 28. With an exciting schedule planned, hear from several different speakers about their various organizations in the PR industry. Later on, network with the organizations’ tables, as well as participate in a half-hour open networking session.

Take the time from 7-9 pm that evening at the Hillel Jewish Life Center to share ideas or expand your public relations, advertising, and business knowledge from professionals. It’s also a great opportunity to create relationships that will carry on past your college years! Find out what it’s really like to experience PR with a degree and who you will be working with in the future. Considering only a 120 comfortable capacity, arrive at Hillel and take advantage of hearing every speaker.

Join Temple PRSSA and TAC on November 28 for the experience, free food, and good people. Find out even more about the event on any of Temple PRSSA’s social media, such as @TemplePRSSA on Twitter, our Facebook page, or the PRowl blog. Always remember to brand yourself. See you there!

This guest post was written by Alyssa Guckin and Matt Ciarrocchi of Temple University PRSSA

Trends affecting the PR Field

In recent years, PR departments have had to make a concerted effort to remain relevant within an organizations. Many times, the PR department is the first to go during cutbacks. Especially now, with the influx of bloggers and social media, it is harder than ever to show senior level execs why you are still an important asset to the company. Below are a few reasons why PR departments may be facing cutbacks:

• The Internet is killing the "expert": In the past, citing experts in press releases and other materials has gained leverage on the side of the PR department. However, now that Facebook and Twitter are often the main sources of information for people, "experts" can be found everywhere. The term "expert" is meaning less every year. Who is to say that one person is or is not an expert? Information and knowledge evolves, and some experts even feel uncomfortable with their title for the same reason.
• Consumers are growing skeptical of statistics: Undoubtedly you have seen infographics created by brands, illustrating statistics in their favor. These statistics are created to start buzz and position brands as leaders in the field. The problem with this is that consumers are experiencing information overload. As a result, people often brush of these statistics that originally brought more attention.
• Content curation puts the success of a brand into the hands of the consumer: When you are talking to a client or your execs about a PR campaign, many times they won't understand how much really goes into a campaign. One of the most important goals in such a campaign are to get consumers to share your brand and its message. In this sense, success is really in the hands of the consumer and their own opinions, which is out of the hands of the PR team.

Share Everywhere

This Thanksgiving holiday, Facebook posted a blog that confirmed that they will now how a “share button” on their mobile site, Android, and iOS apps.

“The company said there was no technical hurdle that made a share button difficult to implement on mobile,’” Facebook said. “Facebook simply never made it a priority.”

The share button will show up on newsfeed posts alongside the “like” and “comment” buttons.  While sharing was available before, this is the first time that users will be able to do so via a mobile device.

So, how will this help us PR folks? 

Sharing news articles and pictures will be a helpful aspect of the share button.  Facebook users will be able to easily share any news article that they few on their phone or any picture they see anywhere they are.  Posts will also be able to be shared, even sponsored posts!

Bottom line, the share button will widen the reach of people who might not normally see a news article, picture or post, creating more views on them!  This will broaden the network of people that you can reach through your social media. This will be very helpful to any PR professional because more networks that you could never reach before will be able to get received.  Hopefully in return, users will be able to gain more followers also.  

A mobile share button will help everyone with broadening their networks and gaining more followers and that is something that all PR professionals can be thankful for!  Do you think sharing via mobile will be useful to you?

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Jackie Grillo