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.

The Selfie Epidemic

By: Sarah Jones

There are right ways to take a selfie and there are completely wrong ways to take a selfie. In today's age everything can be shared and found online. Any time something happens to a person or in a person's surroundings, the first place they share it is on social media platforms. Which isn't a bad thing if it's being used correctly. However, the sad thing is many people don't have the skills to use it in the right way. Being socially aware is as important online as it is in person. Maybe even more important because it's such a big platform that reaches millions of people.

The thing I think most people are confused about is when is the appropriate time to take and post a selfie. Sadly, there have been way too many stories in the news recently of people taking selfies in places they probably shouldn't. First there was the Funeral Selfie where people were taking selfies at loved ones funerals. Now, this isn't the worst one but I still don't see this as the appropriate place to be taking selfies. At least if people are going to take selfies at funerals, don't advertise that it's where that selfie is taking place and please try not to accidentally get the deceased in the background.  The next inappropriately timed selfie are the ones taken at places that have a sad historical significance like Auschwitz in Germany and the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City. There was one instance of a girl who take a selfie in the Auschwitz concentration camp that went viral, and most recently an explosion in New York City caused many to be injured and two missing was another source of places that people thought would be an okay place to take a selfie.

Source via Mashable

Of course, every story has another side and I'm sure many of the people in these examples didn't have a malicious intent when they posted the selfies. They probably just didn't think it through as well as they should have. In situations like those people need to learn to not act so hastily and take a beat to think about the repercussions of posting a questionable selfie. Also something that is important is how we treat the people who post these kinds of selfies. The girl who posted the Auschwitz selfie received death threats, which is unacceptable. I think many people forget that we're all human and sometimes make mistakes. If any of those people can say they've never made a mistake then they can go ahead, but I find that highly unlikely. However, most importantly people need to remember to think of more than just themselves when posting something on a social media platform, especially when posting these kinds of selfies. When posting a selfie at a place that people died, were injured, or tortured they need to remember that the people who went through that have loved ones that may find it disrespectful to see people smiling in front of the tragedy they faced. I think it's absolutely fine to take pictures of the building or fire because it's newsworthy and lets other people know what's going on, just don't stick your face in there with it. Be mindful of other people's stories, respect the situation that happened there and really think it through before you post. Not only will your friends and family see it but coworkers, future employers and a whole lot of other people will too.

2015 Student Media Tour

By: Sarah Jones

Today I had the amazing opportunity to participate in the Student Media Tour put on by the Alliance For Women In Media DFW chapter. I chose to participate in the Fort Worth/Arlington tour which included NBC Universal, Six Flags, Pavlov Agency, 95.9 The Ranch, and the Texas Rangers.

Texas Rangers Stadium via Sarah Jones

The chaperones were members of the AWM and were so helpful and insightful throughout the entire tour. I appreciated them hosting this tour because it shows how invested they are in young people's success and how willing they are to help us meet our goals. They provided breakfast and lunch and made sure to let every place we went know we had our resumes with us and were ready for internships/jobs.

During the tour I learned so much about the media industry and I also learned a lot about myself. Before I went on the tour I was having trouble figuring out what part of the industry I was a good fit for. While my major is public relations, I haven't been feeling it lately. I enjoy PR; I like making content and being the voice of an organization or business. However, lately, I have been questioning whether it is the best fit for me. So I don't want to graduate college and not use what I have put so much hard work into for the past four years. I made it a goal to really pay attention during all the presentations in classes and on the tour so I could find which area of the industry I could be passionate about.

Throughout the tour the common theme that interested me was promotions or marketing. Anytime someone talked about it, I found myself thinking, "That's it, that's something I could be great at." I hadn't felt that way about anything else in the industry. I think it's because I wasn't even aware that it was a department among organizations and businesses. I love giving people information, and talking about something with positivity and passion that will draw them to whatever it is I'm supporting. I also love coming up with ideas to spread the word and bring people in but I couldn't figure out how to incorporate that with the degree I'm working towards. Then I went on the media tour and saw many organizations and business had something like that. For the first time in my college career I thought that was something I could finally be passionate about and excel at.

So, I encourage anyone in the whole field of journalism who is unsure of the route they want to go, or who is looking for internships to try and attend this media tour or some other kind of media tour. It's a great way to get exposed to everything this exciting industry has to offer and network with professionals to get internships at the same time. A lot of the professionals said the key to being successful is to get an internship. They also reiterated that whom you know means more than what you know. The media tour gives a real world perspective on something classes at a university aren't able to show as well. So I just want to thank the AWM and all the entities that participated in showing all of us what working in the industry was like and all of the endless possibilities that are out there for us.

Ethical Dilemmas with Public Relations inside an Organization

By Sarah Jones

In today's industry of  public relations one of the most significant ethical problems facing PR professionals is the line between business opportunities and crisis communications. Sometimes, even PR professionals can't keep management from crossing the line. Often what starts as an opportunity to conduct basic business turns into a PR nightmare no matter how hard the PR team tries to defuse the situation.

A perfect example of this is the recent signing of Greg Hardy to the Dallas Cowboys. It's completely normal for sports teams to sign new players and get rid of old ones, so the business side of the situation is on point. However, from the PR side it could be foreseen as a nightmare from the beginning because Hardy is currently under investigation for domestic violence. Although the charges were dropped in court due to the victim not appearing for the hearing, the NFL is conducting its own investigation. From every angle it makes the Cowboys look horrible. Signing Hardy to play football isn't the issue, however, the way the Cowboys went about signing him, is what makes it look bad.

When it comes down to it, the Dallas Cowboys is a major organization that deals with many businesses and groups. From a business standpoint, if this goes wrong, the Cowboys will lose next to nothing. However, it's already lost something greater than a few bucks, it has lost respect. The Cowboys have been deemed "America's Team" for as long as anyone can remember, it has a huge fan base that have stuck through many losing seasons. Except how does it make "America's Team" look when it signs a man who has been accused of domestic violence, something the NFL is no stranger to. The organization claims it has spread awareness of domestic violence and took careful consideration when making the decision but I have yet to come across an explanation that causes this decision to make sense.

Charlotte Jones Anderson, the VP of the Cowboys sat down with a local news station and had an interview explaining the decision. Anderson talked about giving second chances and not throwing people away, and that's great people deserve second chances but the Cowboys didn't give Hardy or America time to see the need for a second chance. Hardy is still being investigated by the NFL, but that didn't stop the Cowboys from going ahead and signing him, and I think that is what's bothering a lot of people. If the Cowboys would have waited until the investigation is over it would have saved them a ton of grief. The fact that right after Hardy was signed it had Hardy jerseys for sale to the public didn't help either.

Even if Hardy is totally innocent it still doesn't lessen the fact that even after the NFL struggled with domestic violence and launched the No More campaign, the Cowboys still decided to sign someone that could have the chance of being punished for something that the organization is speaking out against which screams hypocrisy. True, Hardy is a very good player but from a PR perspective it's not worth the grief. The Cowboys should have waited on this one, it shouldn't have been so hasty in a business decision and allowed the PR team to do their thing and let the organization know when the backlash would have been less severe. It's not worth the respect and reputation that the organization lost by making this avoidable decision. It's a different case when a crisis comes out of nowhere but when it can be so easily avoided is where the ethical dilemma comes to light. For ethical decisions to be made the business or organization needs to work with, and trust, the PR team to make the right call, especially when the deal has no real financial effect on the organization. In this instance it doesn't appear that both entities had an agreement and unfortunately it's the management that has the final say and the PR group that has to clean it up.

Will Ferrell: Master of PR Stunts

By: Sarah Jones

Will Ferrell has been a busy man already this year. Ferrell has already participated in two PR stunts for two different films since January. In his latest stunt Ferrell played every position for 10 different Major League Baseball teams on Thursday. Ferrell partnered with the MLB to film a segment for an upcoming HBO series.

                                          Source via YouTube/CityTV Official

In January Ferrell was 'thrown out' of a Pelicans-Lakers game after he threw a basketball and hit a cheerleader in the face. Of course Ferrell wasn't arrested because the stunt was for a scene in an upcoming movie starring Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

                                          Source via YouTube/Entertainment Tonight

These aren't the only times Ferrell has done outrageous and genius stunts to promote his upcoming works. For Anchorman 2 Ferrell went on a 'media blitz' where he visited numerous news stations and helped report the news. He also visited various late shows and interviewed sports celebrities all while maintaining his Ron Burgundy persona.

                                          Source via YouTube/ESPN

Ferrell has been known for his outrageous movies and now is known for his excellent marketing skills. Of course he's not the lone brainchild of coming up with these ideas, he undoubtedly has a team of people that come up with how he's going to promote his upcoming projects. His team knows whom to market. Most of Ferrell's movies are geared towards males so by having most of the promotions at sporting events and sporting channels it's reaching a huge male audience. However, what I am most impressed about is his willingness to do almost anything for laughs and a good cause.  The MLB event on Thursday is a great example of that because memorabilia from the day is going to be auctioned off and all the proceeds are going to Cancer for College and Stand Up to Cancer. I think that's so great to turn a PR/Marketing ploy and use it for a good cause while promoting work.

Some people feel like the Anchorman 2 promotion was a little excessive, but if you're a fan of those movies then you understand why that choice was made. The character Ron Burgundy is an over-the-top, eccentric, and obnoxious person so it was smart to make it as elaborate as it was because it fits the character. A lot of the times entertainment marketing is not executed well when using celebrities to promote their movies, it often seems like they're trying too hard. However, with Will Ferrell the entertainment industry uses his talents so impeccably well it causes major success in promotion. The movie and show he's promoting aren't coming out anytime soon but they already have him out promoting them because they know his talent, personality, and fan base will leave an impression people will remember.

Breaking News On Twitter

By: Sarah Jones

In todays culture information can spread like wildfire. In a matter of seconds breaking news, of any kind, spreads from household to household but not by the way of traditional media. In recent years Twitter has become a news source for social media savvy individuals. Twitter is a social media platform that relies heavily on conversation and it's a great tool for reaching a huge amount of people quickly. Not only does it reach the public, but the public has also been known to join the effort in allowing others to know what is happening the moment it is happening. For these reasons, Twitter is the place that reporters go to keep audiences up-to-date on what is happening in the world around them. Since the amount of people who use Twitter to receive and report breaking news is high, Twitter has even given techniques on how to cover breaking news events on its platform.

For a lot of people Twitter is the first place they go to find out breaking news because things are happening in real time. No one has to wait for the 10 o'clock news or for the edition of the paper to arrive on his or her front doors the next morning. Although many news stations have reporters that blog on a breaking news event and post them directly to their websites, it doesn't have the same timely factor as Twitter. On Twitter not only does the public get the basic rundown of the event, they also get to read what other people are saying about it and even weigh in on the topic themselves. However, the public should have caution when getting their news from a social media platform because it's prone to false information by what young people refer to as 'trolls' which are people who cause controversy for fun.

Twitter saw its latest breaking news event on Thursday when a Delta passenger jet slid off the runway at LaGuardia airport in New York caused by ice and snow on the runway. Passengers from the airplane immediately took to Twitter to share the ordeal and reporters from various news organizations began to report on the situation.

Source: Twitter via @steveblaze98

The picture above got thousands of favorites and retweets which goes to show just how fast a tweet can reach multiple people in a short amount of time. Since breaking news travels fast on Twitter, and multiple people are telling different stories, the companies involved in the situation have to be on its game even more. Companies have to control the situation and get the truth out there before the public starts believing everything they're seeing on social media. Also, reporters have to do their job of checking their facts to make sure peoples tweets are legitimate before using them in stories and sharing it to the public. Bottom line, Twitter can be a great place to get and break news if the public follows legitimate news sources and uses common sense when following a major event as it unfolds.

Social Media Misuses

By: Sarah Jones

There is a list on Mashable with 15 ways that people commonly misuse social media. While, the list is pertaining more towards people in general, I think some things on the list can pertain specifically towards public relations and social media professionals. Using social media platforms for personal use is very different from using it for your company. If you post something you shouldn't on your personal social media platforms you are only affecting yourself and some of your followers, if your profile is on private. However, if you work in social media for a corporation, accidentally posting something risky could cost you your job and the integrity of the company. That's why it's important to  make sure you are using every resource and being smart about your job in social media. It's a lot harder than people think.

The very first thing on the list is to make sure you have a plan. This is so important when working in social media. If you don't have a plan things tend to get messy very quickly. Knowing what you're going to do in advance saves you and the company from having a mess to clean up.

Source via Social Media Today

Other things on the list that I think are important is to not work alone or spread yourself to thin. That's why most companies have a team of people that are there just for managing the companies social media platforms. If you have one or two people managing 6 or 7 different sites it can get overwhelming and time consuming. However, if that's all the company has there are different ways to plan it accordingly. A social media plan is always a great and efficient start to push you in the right track for making smart social media decisions. For Twitter, using sites like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allows you to keep up with many different hashtags and newsfeeds at the same time. You can even schedule your tweets ahead of time so that would be one less thing you would have to post. However that could also get you into trouble with repetitive, boring content. 

Boring content is another misuse on the list which is definitely something you want to ignore. If you post the same content everyday the audience is going to get tired of reading your posts, skip right over it and probably unfollow you. You need to make sure you come up with engaging tweets and mix them up every so often in order to keep your readership and followers. This also could go along with posting in real time. Countless of brands have gotten into the habit of posting relevant content at the time it's happening. This means you will have to be working even when you're not in the work place. It would be a huge mistake to miss out on what is going on in the world and not including your company in the topic. For example, when the lights went out during last years Super Bowl Oreo was the first brand to immediately make a statement on the situation. It was a genius tweet and got everyone's attention. As a social media professional that is what you should strive to be like. Be smart, creative, and stay relevant in today's fast-paced world.

Dallas Hospital Live Tweets Surgery

By: Sarah Jones

Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas used Twitter to live tweet a heart transplant on Monday. The woman was placed on the donor list earlier this month and on Monday she received the news that there was a heart waiting for her. She signed an agreement saying she allowed the hospital to tweet and share pictures of the surgery on Twitter. This makes the first-ever live tweet of a surgery, and an important surgery at that. For privacy reasons her name used when referring to her in tweets was Jane. The hospital used the hashtag #HeartTXLive and had a team of six people tweeting during the entire process.

Source via Baylor Health/Twitter

According to Baylor Health's Twitter, it would seem the live tweet's purpose was to bring awareness to people who need organ transplants and encourage people to register to be organ donors. I think it was a fantastic idea, and it seems to have worked really well. 

Source via Baylor Health/Twitter

Not only did the hospital live tweet the event and bring in awareness for the donor list, it also used Twitter as a way for people to share their experiences with being donors or have received a transplant.  Not only does it bring awareness to donors and the hospital itself, but it also allows people to talk to other people about it and get a conversation going. Using social media as a tool to create awareness is probably the best use of the platforms. Some many people are reached through online platforms and to see an entity using it for the greater good is a really awesome thing to see. 

Although this was great PR and awareness and everything turned out well, there is still that option something could have gone wrong during the surgery. Since they were live tweeting, it was such a brave move to decide to do so. I'm also sure the PR team had a plan in place in case things did go awry, because I don't think they would go through with something so huge unless they knew what they were doing. Good PR is having best and worst case scenarios and how to go about both sides, and I think Baylor Health has a really smart PR team behind them, and I think more hospitals and nonprofits should utilize social media in a way that brings awareness to whatever issue they stand behind. 

Do We Need Ethics in Media?

By: Sarah Jones


Yes, of course we do. Recently, ethics is something that the media hasn't been doing well with. In the fast-paced world we have now found ourselves in where we can find anything in a matter of seconds has hindered the media's job of getting useful information out to the public. I think the news and brand industry has become so obsessed with being the first ones to break a story or use relevant trends in an ad that it often forgets what its objective was to begin with. It's the media's responsibility to give people the truth, and it's important to do that with integrity and honesty, and I just feel like it has strayed from that. It could be because the media is trying to gain readership, or viewers but it should be going about that in a manner that gains trust instead of driving people away.

An example of media ethics is when the New York Times released the street name of Officer Darren Wilson during the Ferguson coverage. There was a heavy debate on whether this was unethical. The Times had also included a photo of Wilson's marriage license which some people thought had contained the exact address, however it ended up being an address to a law firm. The Times removed the photograph, but what was still an issue was in the actual article the reporter named the street that the couple lived on. So while the exact address remained unknown people would still know the name of the street. It's a common practice to include the name of streets in news stories; however, in a case like this where it's a very high-profile story I think it's unethical to give out the street name. Even though the Wilson's had left their home they would in theory come back at some point and even if the story had blown over for the most part there still could be some threat to the couple. This is an example how the media needs to make ethical decisions on a case-by-case basis. Each situation is different and it's important to look at each carefully to determine how ethical it would. In this case it would be unethical because of the safety involved. No matter what happened or who was at fault personal safety should still be a priority. It's also just another example of how news outlets are in a hurry to be the first to get a piece of information out to the public, or spin a high-profiled story in a different direction first.

With the recent Brian Williams scandal it's a great example of why ethics is needed. Williams made a mistake when recounting a story that he covered 12 years ago. In the story he told it the way it happened, but over the years since then he has changed it to seem like he was in the helicopter that was shot at. While he did apologize for the fabrication something as serious as war shouldn't be misrepresented. The people who have never been in war don't know what it's like to be in combat, and it's the media's job to give people a sense of what soldiers have to go through. Many thought it wasn't appropriate for Williams to make it seem like he went through it when he didn't. It's disrespectful in a way for the men and women who have gone through it for him tell a terrifying tale that didn't happen to him. While it was Williams' job to give people at home an accurate depiction of war, it's not something that should be messed with and where ethics should be a major factor. It's hard to trust someone after they've made a fabrication and because the media is often looked upon as trusted sources for news it should be held to a higher standard for responsibility with information.

The media has such a wide audience that watches daily and I think it's important to think about everyone's thoughts and feelings that could be affected by what is being reported or said on a certain subjects. You can't please everyone, but it's also important to think of others before thinking of getting ratings or readership. At the end of the day we're all just humans and we deserve honesty and integrity above all else.  It's important to remember, in media or business, the decisions you make effects a lot more people than just yourself. The people you are talking about have loved ones that could also be hurt by what you say. I think everyone needs to remember to look at the big picture before making an ethical decision, and at the end of the day it's your conscious that needs to be okay with the decisions made.

Twitter and Google Team-Up



By: Sarah Jones

 

It's been reported that Twitter has made a deal with Google that allows tweets to be searchable through the search engine. So anything tweeted by anyone will automatically be shown in a Google search result.

 

Which is terrible news for the average, every day, users of Twitter and celebrities and high profile people who are more prone to make accidental tweets. If people thought their privacy was low before, it's about 20 more feet under now. Now people are going to really need to be careful about what they tweet even more than before. It doesn't specify what happens to tweets once deleted. Although, I'm sure they probably aren't gone from the Google database, just like they aren't gone if they get screenshot.

 

However, it's great news for people in the marketing, public relations, and advertising industries.

Source: Sheena Levi via Twitter

This deal is another way for brands to get their product out to the market. Imagine how many people are being reached already, and with this addition it will be even more. With the use of pairing SEO keywords, hashtags, and the tweet itself, there will be an endless amount of google results that will pop up for the brand. Although Twitter has had deals like this with other search engines like Bing, it has never been a source to find the exact tweet. It's always just been Twitter sharing user data with those search engines, but now the tweets themselves are searchable so marketers need to utilize this the most they can.

 



Super Bowl Commercial Controversies

By: Sarah Jones

This years Super Bowl ads had quite an impact on viewers. Two in particular caused a lot of stir on social media sites, including Twitter. The Chevrolet commercial caused everyone to believe that the TV had gone out, and what was even worse was that the commercial aired in the early portion of the game.

                                          Source: YouTube

Although, how much worse would it have been if the commercial aired when the game was close. Either way it was a genius and memorable commercial that people are still talking about a week later.

Another commercial that caused more controversy than any of the others was the Nationwide commercial with the little boy.

                                         Source: YouTube

Many people were confused and shocked about the content in the commercial. A lot of people didn't really understand why it had to be a child, or where they were trying to go with message. It caused outrage on Twitter questioning Nationwide on why they would show such a commercial during the Super Bowl. Honestly, the Super Bowl would be the perfect place to show that commercial because it reaches such a bug audience. I think one of the reasons why people took such a disliking to it is because the Super Bowl commercials are more widely known to be on the more humorous side and this one wasn't.

Nationwide chose to take a more serious matter and show it somewhere they knew would get the most exposure and bring awareness to their new program, Make Safe Happen, which they announced in a press release on January 23, 2015 before the Super Bowl commercial aired. Make Safe Happen is a program that brings awareness to the fact that preventable injuries are the number one cause of death among children. In the press release it talks about how this subject is a difficult one to talk about, but that it needs to be talked about. Another statement was released by Nationwide on the day of the Super Bowl to respond to the criticism of the commercial. In the statement Nationwide said the purpose of the commercial was to start a conversation. So that's what they did, Nationwide showed the commercial about Make Safe Happen at the Super Bowl and caused everyone to talk about it. They did their job and stood by it.

Tips for Branding Yourself to Future Employers

By Sarah Jones

While looking through Twitter the other day I came across an article by Mashable called, "The lazy person's guide to personal branding." Branding is such an important thing to do in the public relations industry because of how competitive it is, and since it's the age of the Internet where everything about a person can be found online, it's a person's responsibility to make their image as positive as they can to future employers.

So, while this list is the lazy person's guide I think it could also be categorized as the college student's guide. The last semester of college is chaotic and stressful for most people so they forget to ready themselves for the job hunt. It's important not to wait until after graduation to start personal branding. Resumes and interviews need to happen before the monumental walk across the stage. So, while college students are not lazy, they are busy and these simple tips can help get their name out there while finishing up college.

All of the tips are important but a few stood out as more relevant to public relations than the rest. One of them is getting your opinion out there. This could be by having a blog, or sharing things on social media that is relevant to public relations. It's important that you don't just share, but tell why you are sharing it.

Source: Twitter via Sam Hosenkamp

Some other tips that stood out had to do with the way you set up your social media accounts. It's suggested in the article that you use the same profile picture across all social media platforms as well as the same username, this easily allows employers to find you. It seems like such a simple tip but it's so effective.

Finally, the one tip that I think is the most important of them all is to Google yourself to see what others see about you. Based on the results you can change things to make a more positive image. Another thing I had been taught is that when people Google you, you want something to pop up. It's good to show employers that you're active on all social media platforms and regularly write blogs. It's not good to have everything private and hidden to where nothing about you stands out. Brand yourself effectively and it could be you who gets the job.

New England Patriots Deflategate Scandal vs. Gerry Hamilton's Accidental Tweet

By: Sarah Jones

Just this week alone, there have been two instances of crisis communication in the sports community. One has to do with alleged cheating while the other was an accidental tweet. Both are public relations nightmares but what sets them apart is how each entity has handled the mishaps so far.

One of them, now infamously known as 'Deflategate,' is the result of the New England Patriots allegedly not using fully inflated footballs during the AFC Championship game. The situation was brought to the public's attention at the start of this week and there has already been two press releases sent out by the NFL and by Patriots owner, Robert Kraft. 

The NFL was quick to release a statement on the full investigation being conducted and Kraft released a statement today offering the Patriots full cooperation during the investigation. Both of the releases had cooperation and transparency, which means there was probably some internal discussion before the statements were made public. That's a smart move on both sides because if one side said something that the other wasn't aware of then that would cause another PR nightmare. 

On the flip side of this is Gerry Hamilton and his Twitter mishap when he accidentally tweeted a link to a porn website. Which he deleted but not before screenshots were taken because everything is permanent on the Internet. 

Photo from Twitter

Hamilton is a high school football-recruiting analyst for ESPN and while it wasn't tweeted through the ESPN Twitter account, Hamilton's Twitter handle still has ESPN included in it so he is still representing ESPN. This happened Wednesday and as of today there still hasn't been a statement made from ESPN or Hamilton. 

Which I believe needs to change. It needed to happen the day the incident occurred. Hamilton is a high school analyst, meaning high school football players, and their parents probably follow him on Twitter. Those parents might not be so happy about that. Although most people reacting to it did so with humor, and that might be a reason they haven't disclosed anything. 

It would be safe to say the situation has been almost completely forgotten about by now. People have moved on to the next person who flubbed a tweet because it does happen so often and it usually happens to just about everyone. So if anyone were to release a statement now, it would probably just drudge everything up again. That still doesn't mean Hamilton or ESPN should have stayed quiet. I think people appreciate a little owning up from anyone who's made a flub on the Internet; it shows transparency and openness to the people who follow you. 

Although, in some people's eyes, these two situations may vary in the severity of the incident, they really aren't all that different. Both influence the way people see the NFL and ESPN, the reputation of the brands are being jeopardized. Because of the amount of media that picked the stories up, the NFL handled it the best because they spoke out almost immediately and let everyone know about the situation. Even though it seems that not saying anything has worked for Hamilton so far. 

Sources:

ESPN Analyst Gerry Hamilton Accidentally Tweets Link To Porn Account, Pretends It Didn’t Happen. (2015, January 22). Retrieved from http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2015/01/22/espn-analyst-gerry-hamilton-accidentally-tweets-link-to-porn-account-pretends-it-didnt-happen/

Katersky, A. (2015, January 23). Deflate-gate: NFL Says New England Patriots Used Under-Inflated Balls in the First Half. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/deflate-gate-nfl-england-patriots-inflated-balls-half/story?id=28434830

NFL Communications - NFL Statement «. (2015, January 23). Retrieved from http://nflcommunications.com/2015/01/23/nfl-statement-3/

Statement from Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft. (2015, January 24). Retrieved from http://www.patriots.com/news/article-1/Statement-from-Patriots-Chairman-and-CEO-Robert-Kraft/200d569a-b829-4903-80d2-e097fcab3eab