What I Learned in PR Campaigns

By: Sarah Jones

Source via Pinterest

This semester was one of the hardest semesters I've ever had while at UNT. I believe it was because I'm a senior and they typically save all the challenging classes for the end, as they should. As seniors in college it's important to challenge us and give us a glimpse into how the professional world is going to be.

Which is why I'm so glad I took PR Campaigns. I mean it's a required course and I'm so glad it's over, but it gave me the confidence, knowledge, and skills needed to move forward in life outside of college.

Not only did the class teach me many things about PR but it also taught me life lessons. I learned how to work in a group of very different people all working towards the same goal. It was a challenge; personalities clashed and there were moments where I wasn't sure that it was going to get done. However, in the end it got done and it taught me how to deal with future coworkers. It reminded me that our endgames are the same and we just need to respect that and work together toward the common goal.

I used to think PR was too stressful, but after taking this course I see that's it's only as stressful as you make it. I just need to be confident in my work and know that I know what I'm doing, and I will get better at what I do through practice and observing. The strict deadlines and feedback from my professor really helped me become more comfortable in my PR abilities.

Overall, this class is the best class I could ever take towards my degree and I'm glad I took it and made it through like so many before me have and many after me will. So congratulations PR class of spring 2015, we made it!

What Ethics Taught Me

By: Sarah Jones


Going into my senior level ethics course, I thought it was going to be a vocabulary lesson on big words and ethical theories. However, 15 weeks later I can see I was wrong about my initial assumption.


Yes, I did learn big words and ethical theories but I also learned so much more. I learned what good  ethics looks like and what bad ethics looks like in a professional setting. Throughout the semester we were shown examples of how to handle ethics in the workplace correctly. I believe that's more important than learning the theories. While knowing the theories is important, knowing how to handle real life situations is probably one of the most valuable things a college senior can learn. We can learn and get tested on the material taught in class all day long, but what we really need is real world experience. That can be kind of hard in a class setting but by the use of having us do case studies really helped open our eyes to the kind of things that go on in the professional world. By doing this we can learn from the mistakes and successes of different companies.


More importantly one of the best lessons I was taught was to never forget my morals and values even when the company I work for has a perverse outlook on what being ethical should be. Going forward in my career and life I hope to use what I have learned in this course to be a voice for what I believe is ethical. I also hope to stay true to myself and not be succumbed to the peer pressure of following everyone else's ideas. Also, I believe it's very important to listen to the client and his or her definition of ethics to make sure what's being done is ethical to them. It's very important to not only listen to yourself but to also pay attention to those around you to make sure what you're doing is fair to them as well.

Houston Rockets Controversial Tweet

By: Sarah Jones

This past week another social media professional fell victim to the Internet when Houston Rocket's social media manager tweeted this tweet during Game 5 of the series:

Source via CBS DFW

Of course, the tweet has since been deleted but not before things blew up on the Internet and caused problems for social media manager, Chad Shanks, and the Houston Rockets organization. The Rockets immediately tweeted an apology tweet to Mavericks fans and animal activists, who were among the enraged audiences.

Source via Twitter/Houston Rockets

The next day Shanks announced his unemployment, issued an apology and stood up for himself using the same platform that got him fired. The content in those tweets can explain to anyone in the business why he was chosen to serve as the social media manager for a high profile organization.

Source via Twitter/Chad Shanks

Although the tweet on the Rockets page wasn't really classy, the way he worded the tweets on his personal Twitter is evidence that shows a seasoned social media professional realizing he made a mistake that so many people make. It even happens to people who have been in the industry for years. In my opinion people were too quick to judge Shanks. Looking over the Rockets social media page before and after his firing one can tell when he was let go. The content became tamer, not as light-hearted or fun. It's not how the Rockets social media platforms should be ran. Sports have a young, male, audience. So, the social media content Shanks was creating for the Rockets were perfect for the organization. He incorporated Vine, memes, and witty remarks to engage with his audience. 

Also, the tweet wasn't really the most risqué thing that's been tweeted, but because it's the Internet things got blown way out of proportion. The tweet probably would've gotten a few good chuckles between his friends but because he forgot what a big platform he is in charge of he had to suffer the consequences. However, I don't believe this is the end of Chad Shanks' social media career. Since the incident he has made appearances on numerous radio and TV shows including Late Night with Seth Meyers. Overall I just like the way he owned up to it and admitted he made a mistake but stuck to his guns throughout it all. 

Source via Twitter/Chad Shanks

In an interview with Sporting News he further explains the reasoning behind the tweet. In it he explains how he made a mistake, and how people don't understand just how difficult it is to work in social media. He talked about knowing your audience and thinking before you tweet. I've never been more impressed by someone who tweeted something classless and then turned it into something classy. The Rockets were too hasty with its decision to fire him and in this case I don't believe the punishment fits the crime. He has such a big following now because of it, all the organization would have to do is have him issue an apology and go on with his career of creating great social media content. 

Social Media Misconceptions

By: Sarah Jones

Social media has flourished in the past 10 years and it has found its way into the workforce. Companies, schools, nonprofits, and even small businesses have people that work specifically in social media. For people who have been working in the industry awhile, this could be a difficult thing to grasp, which is why a lot of recent graduates are being hired as social media professionals. Since our generation grew up in a very technological world most of us already knew everything about social media before we got to college.

Now, I'm not to saying older generations can't learn. They certainly can and have. However, it seems there's a trend happening with young PR professionals; everyone wants to work in social media. In most of my classes we have to say what field we want to go into after graduation, and many people say they're dream job right out of college is social media.

Source via The Social Media Monthly

Social media for personal use is pretty straightforward and easy to grasp. However, it's different and more difficult when it comes to the business side of social media. I believe it's one of the misconceptions young PR professionals have. They think because they grew up with social media it will be a breeze doing it for a career. However, there's so much more that goes into it.

PR Daily featured an article where a social media manager explained what she did on a typical day at work. I found a few things interesting about what her job entails. One being that she actually never stops doing her job. Even though she knows they have after-hours support for the social media accounts, she still checks them as soon as she wakes up and numerous times throughout the evening. This particular day there was a national tragedy so she postponed all the scheduled posts she had planned for the day. So basically, she's always paying attention to what's going on in the world and planning accordingly for the company's social media accounts. She then has numerous meetings during the day about social media policies for the employees and upcoming campaigns. Something else that I thought was interesting was she mentioned how she is constantly taking pictures of the building and employees to add to its social media accounts.

Those wanting to work in social media have to be individuals that pay attention to everything going on around them, are able to multitask, and has an awesome memory that's able to remember the different terms of use for each social media platform. Being a social media manager is a 24/7 job, and the right person needs to be personable because they're communicating with audiences all day. A company's social media accounts are basically the face of the company so being in charge of the content on those platforms is more stressful than most people think it is. It's a huge responsibility and is a reason why colleges across the world are starting to have classes specifically for social media, as they should.

Explaining PR To Your Peers

By: Sarah Jones

The first question I get when I tell someone what I'm majoring in is, "Well, what exactly is PR?" Often, I struggle to come up with a short enough answer. However, it always turns into a series of "ums" on my end because I'm trying to find the words to explain what it is that I want to do for the rest of my life. It always comes down to me rattling off the various documents I create, and hope they'll lose interest in the question. Sometimes I wish I had this image to pass out to anyone who asks about PR:

Source via Pinterest

Some people have misconceptions about PR and they say, "Oh so you like to talk?" Not every PR professional is a talker or will talk a lot. Yes, there's some aspects that require you to talk but a lot of the time you're one on one with the client and spend the majority of your time creating the documents that are needed. I will admit that I didn't exactly have the right understanding of what public relations is. I saw the glamorous, movie side of it and what I didn't know was all the great things you can do through PR. You can work pretty much anywhere you want to, in any field that interests you. You can work for a nonprofit that you believe in, a hospital, a school district, or in the corporate world. You can even work in the entertainment industry if that's what you're passionate about. The thing I like most about PR is the sky is the limit and you can choose which direction you want to go based on what you're passionate about.

PR Daily explained it pretty well with its article about the subject and it even divided up the most common fields of PR. It explained how PRSA says to use this to define PR, "Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics." Which if you try to use that on non-industry people it will go in one ear and out the other. For something as complex as PR the best thing to do is explain without jargon and with things that people already are aware of. For example, PR Daily suggests people who work in media relations say something like this, "I get my clients on TV, in the papers and featured on blogs to share company news and initiatives." Sounds pretty straight forward and lets people know that you are not strictly a party planner.

So the next time someone asks about PR majors and what its all about, talk to them about all the great things you'll end up doing, the people you want to help, or the things you want to promote. Explain to them the hard work ethic you have gained over the past four plus years of school and all the fun you have had taking the classes that will excel you into the wonderful world of PR. However if all of that fails and they still question why you took an entire class over social media, you can point them into the direction of this humorous article from Buzzfeed!

Society and the Online World

By: Sarah Jones

The question, "Is the online world making society nastier, or is society just taking advantage of the ability to express what it's always felt?" was posed for one of my classes and I think the answer is a little bit of both.

The online world is the perfect place for people to express their opinions no matter how offensive they might be. However, that's not what the purpose of the online world was to begin with. Starting out it was a way to share things with friends and family when you weren't around them. It was a way for long distance friends, family, and significant others to stay in touch. It was an innocent place meant as a way to keep memories around forever. Sadly, that has changed. It's now a place where there are "Twitter wars" and "Facebook fights." Where people share offensive pictures and articles for their friends and families to see. A place where people shove their views down people's throats no matter if they asked to hear it or not. It's where cyber bullying was created.

It seems that the places where you can find the nastiest of society is in news article comment sections and Facebook pages. Just the other day I was reading an article about a woman who was five months pregnant when she got into a car accident and went into a coma. She woke up four months later to find out her baby had been born and was alive and healthy. Great, uplifting story right? Apparently, not to the hundreds of people who commented negative things onto the comment section. What was supposed to be a wonderful story turned in to something ugly because people decided to rage war on one another about religion and the medical field. Why can't people just accept a great story and move on? There's a saying that's used in the online world, "don't feed the trolls." I think society isn't listening to that advice and feeding the trolls like it's no big deal.

So, the online world might egg people on and make it seem like what they're doing isn't wrong, that it's just freedom of speech, but that doesn't make it okay for society to turn and make it into something that people are now ashamed of being associated with. It's society's job to be the mature people I know they can be, and know when to say enough is enough. We need to teach younger generations how to behave on the Internet. They need to think twice before posting something that can be found years after it's been posted. It's society's job to make the online world a safe, fun place, and so far we're doing a really bad job.

Brand Struggles to Battle Listeria Outbreak

By: Sarah Jones


In the past few weeks Blue Bell Ice Cream and Sabra has had to recall its products due to it being contaminated by Listeria monoctyogenes. Blue Bell, who is popular in the southern U.S., started having problems with Listeria back in March when some of its popsicle items began to test positive for the bacteria. Sabra just announced its recall this week with a number of its hummus products testing positive for Listeria as well.

Source via The Record

At first Blue Bell only recalled the products that had been positively contaminated for Listeria, but didn't recall the numerous amounts of other products the ice cream giant produces. Retail stores began to take it upon themselves to remove all the Blue Bell products from its shelves. Kroger, Wal-Mart and SAMs club to name a few. First it began with the little things like popsicles and then grew to the small cups of ice cream, then when it hit the pints Blue Bell really had to start damage control and figure out what it was going to do. Blue Bell and the U.S. Food and Drug administration were able to trace the contaminated products to its plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and recalled all the products that had been made there, although not all of its products are made at that location. Blue Bell also has a plant in Bonham, Texas, which has not been tied to the Listeria outbreak, but retail stores are still removing all Blue Bell products no matter what.


Blue Bell handled the situation in good and bad ways. A good way being it offered consumers a way to tell if the ice cream products they had purchased had been made at the Broken Arrow plant. Another good call from Blue Bell was recalling all of its products. However, that could also be a bad way considering it waited until more and more of its products became contaminated, and even then Blue Bell only recalled from one of its plants. The thing about this situation is people have died from it. So now Blue Bell needs to be thinking about its consumers safety and not its profits. Blue Bell should have removed all of its products from the shelves after the first sign of Listeria in its plant. The company shouldn't have waited as long as it did, not with something as serious as Listeria. Blue Bell, is a popular company in the south. It has many followers, and many big companies use the product. One being the Texas Rangers who are not going to be having Blue Bell served at its Ice Cream Sunday promotion during Opening Weekend.


This situation has injured Blue Bell's brand, but it hasn't destroyed it. The company will probably face lawsuits from the family of the people who passed away, and might lose long time consumers. Blue Bell still has some loyal followers out there who will probably still eat its ice cream when it goes back on shelves, however, it's going to need to do serious damage control. Blue Bell will probably have to rebrand and regain the trust of its consumers, reassuring them that its products no longer run the risk of Listeria. So although this is a huge deal, I believe Blue Bell has been around too long for this to make them go under. A lot of other companies have been through situations like this one and all it took was time, trust, and a good PR/Marketing/Advertising team to get the company back on its feet.