Welcome To Our New Spring 2014 Staff Members!

The semester has officially commenced! PRowl held it's first weekly meeting yesterday afternoon with many returning faces along with a few new ones. Everyone seems extremely excited to begin work with our new as well as returning clients. After such a successful meeting, I am really looking forward to a fun-filled semester.

I would like to give a shout out to our newest staff members here at PRowl Public Relations. You will be seeing their first few blog posts in these upcoming weeks so make sure to familiarize yourself with their names:

Megan Healy is a sophomore Strategic Communication major with a concentration in PR, as well as a Spanish minor. She has always loved the urban lifestyle, which led her to Philadelphia. Megan’s dream job would be working in entertainment PR in New York City or Los Angeles.

Shaun Luberski is a sophomore Strategic Communication major with a concentration in Public Relations. She is thrilled to be a part of the PRowl staff. She is currently interning at The Rock School for Dance Education. Shaun hopes to work in a Public Relations agency and incorporate her love for photography and dance.

Paige Gross is a freshman Journalism major/ PR minor. Moving to Philadelphia was one of the most exciting and beneficial choices she has ever made; every day Paige sees or hears something new. She has a passion for media, coffee, anything that comes in black, and cheesecake. Paige is figuring out life the only way she knows how- one interesting day at a time.

Emily Charles is a sophomore Strategic Communication major with a concentration in Public Relations and minor in general business. She is currently the public relations representative for Rent the Runway. She also volunteers with different organizations on Temple's campus and hopes to someday work in public relations for a non-profit organization. Emily is extremely excited to be apart of the PRowl staff and cannot wait for the opportunities to come.

Michael Maling is a junior Strategic Communication major from Brick, NJ. Before becoming a PR major, Michael bounced around from psychology to journalism, then eventually to communication. His passion is music and intends to work in the industry upon graduation. Michael is currently waiting to start his new internship with East Side Electro, a music company based out of Philly.

Tyler Cameron is a junior majoring in Strategic Communication and minoring in General Business Studies. As an avid writer, PR was a natural fit. He hopes to work in corporate or crisis public relations, as well as earn a master's degree in Finance from Temple University in the near future. Tyler is the Director of Social Media for the Temple PRSSA chapter.

Nicole Beck is a junior Strategic Communication major with a concentration in Public Relations. She is excited to be apart of the PRowl staff and gain experience beyond the classroom.  Nicole has a passion for PR, being outdoors, photography and interior design. In the future Nicole would love to pursue the event planning and social media aspects of the PR field.

Christopher Smith is a sophomore Strategic Communication major with a concentration in Public relations. He is excited to be a member of the PRowl staff and experience more hands on work. Chris hopes to work in a Public Relations agency and incorporate his love for writing.

Welcome to PRowl everyone, here's to a wonderful new experience!

Interested in joining PRowl? Stay up to date with this blog for future opportunities and openings within the firm!

The Super Bowl Lineup of Events in NYC

Yes! The Super Bowl is slowly approaching and we have the honor of not only watching the champions of the National and the American football conferences but also seeing the creative and enticing ads brought on by some of the top Brands. And how could I forget the big performance at half time?  This year the line up of events is as adventurous as it gets. If you will be in NYC this weekend, maybe you could tick something off your bucket-list, who knows!

Here are some of the things to do while in NYC:

Block party- Time square will be transformed into a boulevard where there will be concerts and photo ops with the Vince Lombardi trophy. The festival will be between 33rd and 44th streets.

The longest year- The 50 Yard Lounge will be having a food and wine festival at Penn Plaza, which is situated near Madison Square Garden. There will be football legends and great food!

The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration- On January 31st  Pati LaBelle along with some other talented singers will be performing at the Madison Square Garden for the 15th annual Super Bowl Gospel Celebration.

Football at the Met-  Visit the Met Museum for their exhibit of vintage football cards.

Click here for more events.

4 Tips For Better SEO

"Content is King" is a phrase we are no strangers to, but "SEO is Queen" may be a new one. SEO, or search engine optimization, is crucial for all online ventures. The reining king of the internet, Google, can control which websites have higher rankings during searches. Google tries to avoid things that look like spam, or that are too general, from appearing at the top of the list of results. Having your website or blog appear at the head of a Google search is a great way to increase pageviews and overall traffic to your site.

If you've found that your Google ranking is lower than what you would like, try implementing some of these tips:

• Make your keywords count. Google uses keywords and phrases to determine sources that would be relevant to a search. Being able to work a key or phrase throughout a post or the content in a page is a great way to improve your SEO rank. Make your keyword phrases detailed and precise. Instead of listing your keyword as "handbags," or "winter style," write them as people would enter them in a Google search. "How to wear a handbag during the winter" is a much better keyword phrase 
• Use strong keywords in your URLs. Not only is it important to use your keywords and phrases throughout your content, they need to be wisely utilized in your site's URLs. Websites and blogs that run on Wordpress use permalinks without the name of the content in the URL by default. You should always update this in your settings so that the post title can be included in the URL. Instead of having a page's link read "yourwebsite.com/x?1234" set them to read "yourwebsite.com/name-of-the-post," and be sure that there are keywords in place of "name-of-the-post."
• Optimize your images. We often forget that images are really HTML text embedded into our post via codes. This means that images can be picked up by search engines. Always include "alt text," which are basically short descriptions of your image. Most content management systems, like Wordpress and Blogger, make it easy to add alt text without needing to know any HTML. Include keywords in your alt text and photo descriptions to really boost your SEO. 
• Link with Love. Including links, to other websites and your own, are great ways to boost your SEO rank. Having external links is incredibly important, because Google counts them as a sort of "third party vote" making your content credible. Be sure that the content you are linking to is credible and reliable, and you will see improvement in your SEO rank in no time.

Do you take SEO into consideration on your blog or website? Why or why not?

Social Media Lessons from the Grammy Awards

Award shows are a prime time to use social media and build your brand, be it personal, product, or otherwise.  You're automatically included in a celebrity-crazed social community when you utilize whatever hashtag is related to the show.  This past Sunday, several brands (local and national) were live tweeting the Grammy Awards along with the rest of the college students and young professionals on my newsfeed. It really caught my attention and I think it's because it shows that those brands care about what's going on and what their audiences are interested in.

If you're going to participate in the award show mania on social media, there are some things you have to keep in mind.

Be prepared for some backlash
No matter how true the tweets about Taylor Swift or Pharrell might be, there are some die-hard fans out there that will send some pretty rude things your way if you disagree with them. Be prepared with some proper responses for such a situation.

Can we say it enough? PROOFREAD!
Live-tweeting is basically a race between your fingers and the funny, horrifying and classic moments happening on screen. It can be easy to misspell a word or slip up in a post when you're rushing to get it out.

Engage, engage, engage
It's all well and good to push out your own thoughts and opinions about what's going on. If you really want to connect with your audience and build your brand, engage with what they are saying. Respond to their tweets or ask their opinions in a Facebook post.

Were any of your favorite brands following along with the Grammys? What were some of your favorite moments?

Sincere Apology or Publicity Stunt?

Last night, millions of Americans tuned in to watch the Grammy award show. Two of the most discussed artists of the night were rappers Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and Kendrick Lamar, who were nominated in several of the same categories. Many speculated who would win their categories. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis walked away with four Grammys while Kendrick Lamar, who was nominated for seven awards, received none.

Not long after the show ended, Macklemore posted a screenshot of a text message he sent to Kendrick on Instagram. The text, and caption, go on to commend Kendrick's album and the work he did this year saying, "It's weird and it sucks that I robbed you," and "he should have won...just giving [his album] its proper respect."

While on the surface this appears to be a genuine and graceful apology, the public relations skeptic in me can't help but wonder if this was sincere or a seized opportunity for good publicity. People's criticism of Macklemore winning the Best Rap Album category didn't go unnoticed. It's possible that while the text may have had good intentions, that he chose to make the conversation public in an effort to quell angered Kendrick fans. 

What do you think? Did Macklemore do the right thing by reaching out to Kendrick or was this simply a tactic to save face? Share your opinion below!

Should the 40-Hour Work Week Be Standard?

The forty hour work week, or the traditional nice-to-five job, is about as American as apple pie and ice cream. Eight hours a day, five days a week is the commonplace standard in most professional settings. In fact, most of our setups, especially in our education system, are created to prepare us for this nine-to-five lifestyle. 

From kindergarten to twelfth grade, school days are normally 8 hours long and begin early in the morning until afternoon. College classes, excluding night classes and online learning, are scheduled throughout the day during standard nine-to-five business hours.

There are many benefits to the 40 hour a week, 9-5 set up. It keeps businesses structured, and makes aligning schedules and meetings less complex with everyone running on a standard system. Before even checking with a company, you can almost bet that their business hours are 9 a.m to 5 p.m. But the truth is, while the benefits are there for businesses, many people don't operate well on this set schedule.

This article written by Mikael Cho, founder and CEO of Ooomf, explains why setting exact work hours may not be the best idea. Rather than do the traditional 9-5, he and his co-founders work according to when they have the most energy to be productive. Some start their days early, around 9am and others who prefer later hours start in the evening into early morning hours.

While switching up how we do business days could take much adapting and be a little tricky, the costs could be well worth it in terms of productivity gains.

In college, we have the option, more often than not, to schedule classes in ways that best fit our lifestyles. If we aren't our best in the mornings, we pass on the 8am classes. So if we aren't able to be authentically productive at 9am, does it make sense to begin our work day on the wrong foot?

Of course there are some fields, like the medicine industry which runs on a 24/7 schedule, who would not be able to make these adjustments as readily. But for those who could, opting to deviate from the norm may be a best practice to put in place.

Let's start a conversation - do you believe the traditional nine-to-five forty hour work week should remain standard? Or, would it be more beneficial to structure business hours around the productivity and energy levels of employees?

Stay on Track This Semester

Classes have already begun for many colleges and universities and will start for the majority of the remaining ones today.  We might as well start off on the right foot this semester and pave the way for smooth sailing in the next several months.

• Get a planner. Use it.
  There is no better way to stay on top of your schoolwork, social activities, and other commitments.  If you write everything down there is no reason to forget it. That way you'll always know what's coming up and what you have room for, be it homework or fun events.
  
• Talk to someone new.
  Don't be a loner on the first day of class. Scope out your classmates and sit next to someone who seems like they might have a similar vibe to you. You could end up making a great connection, helpful study buddy, and possibly even a new friend!
  
• Go to office hours.
  Professors notice the students who go above and beyond in class. If you visit them during office hours you will stick out in their mind. Spending time outside of class with your professor will also ensure that all your questions get answered.
  
• Eat breakfast.
  You're a busy bee and you need energy for the day. Eating even just a little something for breakfast every day will keep you going through all your classes and extracurricular activities.  You'll beat that mid-day funk and be able to perform at top speed. 

These are just some of the things you can do to keep yourself on track for the upcoming semester.  Get organized right away and you'll stay organized throughout.  End the year with a successful semester and reward yourself with a summer of fun (not that we're counting down the days or anything)!

What will you be improving on this semester?