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!

2013 Taught Me

With just a day and a half left in 2013, I think it's pretty important to recap what we have learned as PR professionals throughout this year. Otherwise, we might just make the same mistakes in 2014.

1. PROOFREAD! If we have learned nothing else, I hope this blog and all of the mishaps we have covered have taught us all to read very carefully before clicking 'post.'
2. Twitter is actually 120 characters. That's right, not 140 characters. If you want your followers to be more interactive, leave them a little room to interact!
3. Some social media platforms are just trends. With new social networks and applications launching everyday, it can be difficult to determine which ones to invest your time in. Besides, in a few months they may just be swallowed up by an even bigger powerhouse. Simply stick to the needs of your client and its audience and choose platforms based on their needs.
4. Relax. Of course this easier said than done. Of course we will probably have a few breakdowns in 2014. But, at least we're going to make an conscious effort. Right?
5. Stay true to yourself. Yes, I am going to end this list with a corny cliche, but this corny cliche is definitely relevant. It's easy to lose yourself in your client, workload, tweets, and Instagram posts. But the best thing you can do for your client is to remain true to your standards. After all, that's why they hired you.

What are some lessons that you learned this year? We would love to hear about your experiences. Comment below!

The Best Social Media Campaigns of 2013

With 2013 coming to a close, it has been a year full of some impressive communications campaigns. From Facebook, to Twitter and Vine, it is safe to say that many brands are becoming comfortable with social media outlets for communicating and advertising. Overall, their unique and sometimes powerful messages increase brand awareness effectively.

Here are a few of the top picks:

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk

This 3 minute clip has over 130 million views and gained immense popularity on Facebook. Although Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty has been around for a number of years, this video evokes many emotions in the viewer. Specifically geared at women, a forensic artist asks different women to describe themselves physically, then has a stranger also describe their physical appearance.  The end sketch results are significantly different. Ultimately, Dove’s brand is trying to change the perception of beauty and encouraging women to not be so hard on themselves.

Guinness Basketball Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwndLOKQTDs

This commercial by Guinness does not sport any flashy party scenes or scantily clad women. Instead, the ad, which has received millions of hits online and thousands of shares on Facebook, conveys a message about friendship and love. The commercial starts off with a few guys playing a game of wheelchair basketball. At the end of the game, all but one of the guys stands up and walks away. The next scene shows the men having beers after the game, with one still in his wheel chair. The narrator says: “Dedication. Loyalty. Friendship. The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character." Since Guinness aligns its brand with masculinity, this commercial was a unique and refreshing approach to advertise the brand.

#MyJourney by Honda

Inspired by a couple that drove for 8 years around the world in their Honda Civic, this innovative social PR campaign encourages consumers to embark on a journey, take an image from their journey, and tweet the picture using the hashtag #MyJourney. The hashtag allows you to follow people on their longest or shortest trips, and also increases global brand awareness by using a large social media outlet such as Twitter.

More and more companies are learning how to utilize social media in order to advertise and increase their brand awareness. With the ability to reach millions of consumers in just seconds, it is a tool that needs to be used in order to keep up with competition.

What are some of your favorite social media campaigns of 2013? Leave us a comment and share your thoughts!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Tessa Cohn.

Top 3 Blog Posts of Fall 2013

As 2013 comes to an end, I always love reflecting on the most interesting and most popular blog posts of the semester. This past fall, each of the blog posts below have reached over 100 plus views, and for good reason. Each blog post embodies all of the elements that make a blog post outstanding; well-written, newsworthy, timely as well as unusual.

1. The Scandalous Side of PR

Written by Lauren Bentley 

The most read blog post of fall 2013 takes a look at ABC's hit drama, Scandal. This is a must read for all of the Olivia Pope fanatics out there!

http://prowlpublicrelations.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-scandalous-side-of-pr.html

2. How Introverts Can Succeed in PR

Written by Cara Graeff

Not everyone in PR has to be aggressive and loud! Take a peak at the second most read blog post of fall 2013 to find out why introverts can have amazing careers in PR. 

http://prowlpublicrelations.blogspot.com/2013/10/how-introverts-can-succeed-in-pr.html

3. Miley Cyrus, PR Pro?

Written by Hiya Ray

Oh Miley. If she hasn't ruled 2013, I am not sure who has. Be sure to check out this blog post to see how Miley's antics are truly just good PR work at the end of the day. 

http://prowlpublicrelations.blogspot.com/2013/11/miley-cyrus-pr-pro.html

These top three posts were written by PRowl Public Relations staff members who all happen to be strategic communication majors in their junior year at Temple University. We cannot wait to see what our staff members produce in 2014! Cheers to 2013, Happy New Year!

The Best Ads of 2013

AdWeek chose their top ten ads of 2013. 

You can check them out here.

The list includes KMart's Ship My Pants commercial

and the Dove Real Beauty Sketches commercial, among others.

The ten videos that made the cut had a lot in common.  They were all either touching and heartwarming, like Chipotle's "The Scarecrow" commercial or hilarious like the Geico "Hump Day" commercial.  Just as a story needs to be newsworthy by maintaining relevancy, the same goes for advertisements.  Ads achieve relevancy by making an impact on their viewers. These top ten ads do this by giving viewers something to take away, like a funny phrase (i.e. HUMP DAAAAAY) or a message that resonates with the heart.

Which ad is your favorite? What makes it stand out? We want to hear from you!

The Best (Or The Worst) PR Blunders of 2013

As this is the last full week in 2013, PRowl has decided to recap the year for our readers in PR style, as only we can. To kick things off, here are a few unfortunate incidences that could have been prevented with a little public relations insight.

1. White people don't get AIDS, at least according to Justine Sacco, PR director at InterActiveCorp (IAC). On Friday, December 20th Sacco sent out a tweet before boarding an 11 hour flight from London to Cape Town, South Africa that read, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" During her wifi-less flight, not only had she become a trending topic, but so had the tag #HasJustineLandedYet. Sacco's insensitive tweet angered people worldwide and she was unable to do any damage control. Once she did land, she deleted her Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts without offering an apology. Sacco has since been let go from IAC. 
2. Do these yoga pants make me look fat? Don't ask Lululemon co-founder, Chip Wilson, this. After several complaints from customers about the brand's black yoga pants being too sheer, Wilson states, "They don't work for some women's bodies. It's really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it." Naturally, women everywhere were offended and outraged. While Wilson did later issue an apology, it hasn't seemed to help falling sales this year. 
3. Funeral crasher. During former South African President Nelson Mandela's memorial service on Tuesday, December 10th, Thamsanqa Jantjie seemed to steal the spotlight. He attended the service posing a fake interpreter for the deaf. Standing just a few feet away from some of the greatest world leaders, including President Barack Obama, Jantjie continued making false motions and gestures for hours, signing neither in American or South African sign language (which covers all 11 of the country's official languages). This not only speaks to a lack of security, but a lack on the PR coordinator's part as well.
4. Going bananas on game day. Home Depot also found itself in hot water this year after tweeting a picture of two African-American drummers and a white drummer in a monkey suit with the caption, "Which drummer is not like the others?" While the tweet was pulled immediately, it wasn't fast enough before the internet was able to get ahold of it. However, Home Depot did handle damage control quite well, apologizing and firing both the person and the outside agency responsible for the questionable tweet. While they did not disclose information about the employee or the agency, Home Depot's spokesman Stephen Holmes said, "We have zero tolerance for anything so stupid and offensive." Way to go, Depot.
5. Ever walk into a room and realize everyone was just talking about you? About a month ago, JPMorgan attempted to utilize Twitter to relate to their customers. Twitter users were encouraged to tweet finance-related questions to their account using the tag #AskJPM that would be answered by JPMorgan Vice Chairman Jimmy Lee. However, a simple survey could have clued in the company that most people aren't fans of their work. Less than 24 hours before the chat was set to begin, Twitter users began using the hashtag to tweet sarcastic and anger-filled questions to the company. They decided to cancel the Q&A tweeting, "Bad idea. Back to the drawing board." Now that seems like a sound idea.

Don't let this list discourage you; 2013 wasn't all bad! Continue reading our "Best of 2013" series this week to discover all of the highlights of this phenomenal year!

The End of New Music Promotion?

Shortly after midnight on Thursday, December 12th, Beyoncé dropped her fifth album, “Beyoncé,” completely unannounced. On iTunes, 14 songs and 17 videos suddenly appeared with no prior promotion. Earlier that same week, when asked about what’s to come in 2014, the Chairman of Columbia Records, Rob Stringer said, “Obviously, at some point, Beyoncé will put a record out.” Little did anyone know that “at some point” meant later that week.

As of Wednesday, December 18th, “Beyoncé” has reached #1 on the Billboard Charts, set a new iTunes record and sold 828,773 copies worldwide. In a press release published after the album went on sale, Beyoncé said, “I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it. I’m bored with that.”

Six months ago on Friday, June 14th,“Yeezus,” Kanye West’s sixth solo album leaked to the public without any singles being released prior. This is highly unusual for a rap artist in today’s day and age. Most rap artists, such as Drake, 2 Chainz and even Jay Z, always release radio singles before releasing the album. In regards to releasing a single, Kanye said, “We ain’t got no single to radio. We ain’t got no big NBA campaign or nothing like that….When I listen to the radio, that ain’t where I want to be no more.” Now, Kanye’s album “Yeezus” is still being discussed, as well making its rounds on many of the “Best Albums of 2013” lists.

With world-renowned musicians such as Beyoncé and Kanye releasing their albums with little promotion or no singles, this begins to beg the question: Once one attains a certain level of celebrity, is marketing and promotion no longer needed? Typically, recording artists carefully craft promotion plans that begin advertising the release of a new album months in advance. These plans are meant to hone in on the image that the artist is looking to promote with their new album, release singles, give interviews and even perform parts of the album.

Many artists would be unable to get their new music off the ground without the help of marketing and public relations and it seems that only the elite few are able to successfully release their music without doing this. As this trend seems to be continuing, it’s up to public relations professionals to keep an eye on this, especially as some of us may be working for celebrities one day.

What do you think about Beyoncé dropping her new album unannounced – is this an effective approach that could be applied to other celebrities, or does it only work for artists such as herself and Kanye?

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Rachel Draghi