Keep the Tweet

If you have not heard about "tweets" you better start learning.  An up and coming, and really already here, social networking site is Twitter.  Twitter allows you update what exactly you are doing at a certain point in time.  This is great for the average person, but also has great opportunities for companies who use Twitter to their advantage.

Any company can use Twitter to their advantage.  If a company's business is in sales Twitter can be used to foster a friendly competition in which sales could potentially increase throughout their company.  The article, How Twitter Can Help at Work, by Sarah Milstein states that by using Twitter you can share ideas.  If the workers is a sales company have Twitter on a monitor and one of their co-workers just made a huge sale and posts it on Twitter, then it could motivate everyone else inside the company to do better and beat the big sale of the day or week.  The worker can post how he or she secured the sale, sharing their idea and helping the company.  This is just one way Twitter could be used within a company.

Twitter can also be used for PR purposes.  Like the example in class if something big happens inside a company it could post it on Twitter, much like the zoo in Springfield.  Companies, I think, need to watch how much they post on Twitter and what exactly they are saying.  A company should not post every tedious event happening in the company, such as a meeting between the secretary and CEO.  By posting only important and substantial news it can help keep your audience in touch with what your company is working towards.  In the article titled "50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business" states that you should follow interesting people.  So make sure your business is Twittering about things people are interested in not just the day to day actions.  

MSU = Must Socialize Uniquely

After the presentation by Mr. Brad Mitchell it seems like MSU is doing it's part within the social networks. It is important for the University to use these networks to their advantage. MSU is targeting highschool students through these mediums to help them learn more about MSU and hopefully get them excited about the possibility of going to school here.

Mr. Mitchell is trying to use these social networks to his advantage, but he admits that he does not have enough time to devote to all of the networks due to his other commitments. It is very important for MSU to make sure that someone is devoting their full attention to these networks inorder to fully maximize their capabilities. One type of social network that we have not talked about in class that Mr. Mitchell is using is U-Tunes. This is a great network for professors, current students and future students to use for showing off the lectures. I think this is a great and new way to show off their professors to people all across the nation.

It is very important that companies who use these types of networks maximize their full potential. If a company only devotes a few hours a week to these networks their "customers" will be able to tell and could turn them off to their business.

The Forecast is Podcast

Podcasts are the new thing for getting information where you want it and when you want it.  Podcasts can be audio or video and can be put onto any media player like a computer or iPod.  That's what is so great about podcasts because you can get anything you want to watch put right onto your media player.  

A lot of companies already practice this new age technology like CNN and ESPN.  A person who watches either one or both, who can not be around a television, can automatically put their podcast on there iPod and watch it whenever they have a chance.  This is great for companies and the PR practitioner.  Being able to get information and keep your customers happy is essential to the success of the company.

If you want to learn the in and outs of Podcast visit http://www.commoncraft.com/podcasting. This site, Commoncraft, also explains RSS feeds, social media, twitter, blogs, social bookmarking (delicious).  It is a great site that breaks things down to a simple format.  

IMC Is The Way To Be

IMC is not a new term and in fact it has been around for well over a decade.  IMC, or integrated marketing communication, according to the Marketing Power Dictionary can be defined as a holistic approach to promote buying and selling.  What they mean by a holistic approach is that a companies marketing, promotion, advertising and public relations would be a cohesive approach.

There are many companies that put this approach into practice.  I believe that there are many reasons to hire a company that puts IMC to your advantage.  The main reason to hire a company like this is so that all of your outgoing messages between different media are consistent throughout.  Having a consistent message going to your public is very important.  A company would not like to send out three competing messages that communicate several messages to their customers.  By having a succinct approach and communicating one message to your customers will only help your business and help customers return for more than one purchase.

IMC is a great thing for any company.  Putting IMC into practice will only benefit your company.  Having the company's marketing, promotion, advertising and public relations done all at once by one company is why IMC is the way to be. 

After receiving Todd Defren's version of a Social Media News Release Template, Version 1.5 I thought it was very interesting and made me realize how dependent people are on the internet to get their information.  No need to read a book, newspaper or even a magazine anymore because it is easier, and sometimes cheaper, to get that information from your computer.

However, social media news releases are great tools for PR professionals.  By writing these types of press releases you get your information directly to your public.  There is no need of going through the media anymore if you do not want to.  These press releases also have very important rules to follow in order to get the press release noticed in searches more.  Two things a PR professional can do is enrich the press release with key words and also place links to certain pages within your website.  By doing just these two things can help your press release come up into searches and also place potential customers into your website. 

There are many new rules to using social media news releases and I am certain they will end up changing sooner than later.  As of right now PR professionals should use this type of release because it is yet another way to get your companies information directly to their public and potential customers.    

Social Networking - Use it or lose it

I have to admit, I am one of the many that can not go a day without checking my Facebook.  Right after I check my e-mail, my cursor goes up and types www.facebook.com.  It is a dirty habit that I can not stop.  I will say "I am a Facebook abuser!"  

Now that I got that off my chest, social networks are popping up all over the place.  Not only Facebook and MySpace, but more specific social networking sites such as PeopleAggregator or Ning in which you can build a community with others with the same interest.  These can be great tools for the PR practitioner to use.

Everyone knows about Facebook and MySpace, but the article received in class by eMarketer explains that one cite, Ning, has nearly 500,000 social networks with 80,000 new ones popping up each month.  This could be a great tool for PR practitioners to use to go directly to their public because your customers are already filtered for you.

Even though great networking cites are now abundant PR practitioners must use them to their advantage.  One thing they must do is build relationship with their public by directly communicating to them.  They must respond, respond and respond.  If someone tries to communicate directly to your organization through a social media you need to respond to their question to make sure you build that community with them.  Yes, this will take time, but in the long run building a relationship with your customer through a social media is too beneficial to pass up.

RSS - Important?

In class this past week we learned more about RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and why it is important to PR practitioners.  RSS is basically a tool for people to get news or information sent to them.  Someone can set up a webpage through Google and click on the type of news they want to read more about.  Simply by clicking on a RSS tab the news of that company or organization gets sent directly to their website.  

This is very important to PR practitioners because they can get their information straight to their public and not worry about going through the media.  When PR practitioners send press releases to the media they hope to get their information out to their public through a story the media writes about them.  However, if the media does not think their story is worth writing about or sharing, they can simply set it aside and write about something else.  Through RSS the media does not have a say on whether your information gets sent to your customers because it gets sent directly to them.

This is a great tool for PR practitioners because of its simplicity.  If the customers wants to know more about you all they have to do is click on the RSS icon and information could get sent to them daily.  PR practitioners need to talk their company into using RSS.  It is a good way to feed your information directly into the people who want to know more about you.

10 Reasons Your Company Shouldn't Blog

After reading B.l. Ochman's article titled, 10 Reasons Your Company Shouldn't Blog, I realized that I do not agree with her. I agree with her points, but disagree more of the title of the article. I agree that most companies blogs are boring and should not be a blog promoting your business. However, the article's titled should be 10 Things to Think About When Your Company Blogs.

I believe that if a CEO wants to blog about their company, then do it and hopefully they do it well. If the blog they create happens to be boring and does not create the following they wish then that is alright. I think it is alright because if you have 20 followers then that is 20 more people that are getting to know your company and hopefully you. Even though I think this is alright I think companies need to do different things in order to create the following they believe the blog deserves.

I believe that a blog needs to create "buzz" and having a blog that people consider boring will not create that. A CEO needs to be creative and inventive when writing a blog. Do something different. A CEO could easily write about something that has nothing to do with their company and I think that is great. Even though you are not promoting your business or product, the people that read the blog will know that you are a CEO of a company and will be more likely to research your company if they like you. By writing something completely "off topic" you will be creating more "buzz" and in turn you will actually be promoting your company.

I think Ochman's article is great. I do not think she should push people away from blogging. As the class has learned blogging can be a very important part of public relations. I think her article should invite companies to blog, but to caution them on how they blog.

YouTube

Last Monday my PR class watched a video about the website YouTube. It was very interesting to see how in months the number of videos posted on this website. It is truely a tool for public relations professionals.

PR professionals could use YouTube to promote their company and/or event. I believe they should be careful however, what and how they promote their organization. YouTube's biggest audience are, if I recall, ages 18 - 35. If you are a company that promotes a product for senior citizens, this channel may not be a good one to choose. Also, with so many spoofs of YouTube's vidoes, the organization needs to be careful what product they show on YouTube. In the video we watched in class there was a car company that promoted their new SUV on YouTube. There was a spoof made about how this SUV is destroying the Earth by how much gasoline it takes. Being able to promote your companies ideas, values and products on YouTube could benefit the company greatly. However, being careful about what and how you promote these ideas, values and products will only help.

If I had a client that was promoting a product for ages 18 - 35 I would have to do something unique to catch the eye of millions. The whole idea of producing a video for YouTube is to get as many people to watch the video as possible. Thinking outside the box and not doing the same thing over and over can only help. Depending on the product you are trying to promote a PR professional could make the video touching, look like a home video, funny, amusing and/or make a music video. Having a commercial like someone would see on television will not do that great on YouTube, but thinking outside the box and doing something different will make an impact on the product you are promoting.

PR professionals need to realize that a website like YouTube can be very helpful when promoting a product. However, they need to realize that it could potentially back fire and harm they companies image. Planning, research and preparation are key to producing a video for YouTube.

My Dreams After School

Lets first start off by telling you why I decided to go to graduate school. When I was about ready to graduate from Northwest Missouri State University I had my mind set on getting a job and making money. Like most college students, who had been going to school for 3/4 of their life, I was tired. Tired of going to class, studying, reading and taking the dreaded midterm and final. I wanted a job!!!

I started to look for a job. I was getting a degree in public relations and speech communication and wanted for a job that I could use my skills in. With the economy going down the drain, there were few jobs out there for someone who wanted to go into pr with little experience. I wanted to do something I would be happy with, not something I would dread. I looked and looked and looked, but could not find anything I would be with so I turned into a new direction which was looking at graduate schools.

I ended up coming to Missouri State, which I believe is a good decision. After two years of graduate school and hopefully earning my masters I will be able to get a job I will be happy with. I would love to do public relations/media relations for a professional sports team. I know that certain field is very hard to get into and luckily I have another interest. I am very interested in crisis communication and would love my internship this summer to be in that field. I'm interested in crisis communication because I believe it would be very challenging. Every day it would be something different which I would love.

After graduating I will be on the job hunt again. Hopefully this time I will find something I would to do.

Blogging for class

I set up this blog in class. We'll see how many postings will be on here by the end of the semester.