T.O.W. : Week 9 & 10 – PR Openmic

PR Openmic is a social networking site created specifically for PR practioners, PR students, and PR professors. Their mission statement is “Our goal is to be the social network for PR students, faculty and practitioners worldwide. We are ad freeand nonprofit with an education focus.”

PR Openmic is a great site because it encompasses all of the good things that you want out of a social networking site, and it filters out all of the unnecessary stuff that you don’t need. The key to PR Openmic is that it is designed specifically for people interested in PR. For PR students it’s great because it allows you to create your own page, connect and network with PR professionals, and even search for jobs/internships all on the site. There are areas where you can create and maintain your own blog, upload and watch videos, even find PR youtube channels. PR Openmic is Facebook and Youtube combined but filtered out all the nonsense and made specifically for those interested in PR. If you are a PR student or recent grad a PR Openmic profile is a MUST HAVE!!

T.O.W. : Week 8- Podcasting

First question, what would drive a company to create a podcast?

Podcasting is a great way for companies to interact with their publics. Also a podcast whether it is audio or video gives a more personal feel to a company than any press release ever could. A podcast allows a company to share with its publics current products being developed, where the company wants to go in the future, and any other kind of information about the company that they feel fit. Another huge part in terms of why a business would want to create a podcast, it’s another form of FREE publicity for their business. It costs absolutely nothing to create and publish a podcast. Also a podcast can go places that a blog can’t quite go. A podcast can be downloaded on to your mobile media player device and that can be used when you’re driving in your car, working out at the gym, or even if you’re going out for a nightly constitutional. A podcast allows you to multitask, you can listen to a podcast while doing a number of different things. However for a blog you do have to sit and focus on reading the blog. A podcast just allows for more interaction at the convenience of the listener.

T.O.W. : 7- Foursquare

What is Foursquare?

Foursquare is a social networking website that is based on location, a game, and mobile device accessible combined into one entity. Users check-in at different places through out whatever city they are in, either by text messaging or using their phone specific application for Foursquare on their phone. Users are awarded points for each check-in and eventually badges after earning enough points.

Foursquare is another way that people can interact with each other without actually having to directly communicate with each other.

Foursquare is great for businesses because it is free advertisement for their buisness. A user of foursquare can choose to update their Facebook and/or their Twitter counts updated everytime they check-in. Also users have the ability to add tips to certain venues that they check-in at. For a buisness owner that is free publicity and word of mouth marketing for their buisness without them spending any money on advertising.

There are some safety issues that a user must take into account. The essence of Foursquare is telling people exactly where you are at a given moment. So if you have a stalker Foursquare might be something that you want to stay away from.

T.O.W. : Week 6 – Social Media Friend or Foe?

Social Media friend or foe?

I say neither. Like anything else in the world social media has it’s positives and it’s negatives. Social media has the ability to help you immensely but has the same amount of ability to hurt you just as much. So instead of looking at social media as either a friend or foe, look at it as though it is an associate. I say associate because an associate would be someone you know and you help each other when you can, but you wouldn’t confide your deepest darkest secret to.

Approach social media in the same manner. Use your blog, twitter, facebook etc. to your advantage. These are all tools at your disposal that are there to help you reach out to people across the globe to build your network. You must remember though that once you post something on the internet it is there FOREVER! You must be especially careful with websites like twitter and facebook that lend themselves to be spaces where you can express yourself freely, which you can. However the difference between those sites and a journal is that anyone with a computer can see what you post. That includes current/future employers, customers, and potential customers. Just keep the golden rule in mind, never post anything you wouldn’t say to everybody that you encounter.

T.O.W. : Week 5

For the T.O.W. for this week we read Search Engine Visibility, an Edelman Insights paper by Steve Rubel and others at Edelman Digital and had to respond to it:

Things I learned:

• people use different words and phrases when writing than they do when searching
• searching is the predominant online activity

While these may seem like trivial tidbits of information, there is a lot to take from them. Knowing that people use different words to search than they do when writing is a key piece of information. With that knowledge the words you use when you write a press release are vital, so that you can get a higher rank on google’s PageRank system. Also knowing that search is the dominant online activity is the reason why this information is important.

What was I surprised about:

• that companies actually ask google for more favorable position
• that google or any other search engine does not release info about their algorithms that they used

I never really thought about how a certain page is the first link that comes up when you make a search using a search engine. This paper showed me how that happens and I was surprised to see that news organizations actually asked google for better positioning, that is just funny to me for some reason. I just have this image of google being the dad and news organizations being the child asking their dad to put them on their shoulders

What I want to know more about

• SEO in general and how I can use it to help me in my career

This paper was a good introduction into search engine visibility, but now I want to know more about SEO and how I can use it to help me in my career.

T.O.W. : Week 4 – What Is Social Media?

Adam Vicenzini asked his twitter followers to define what social media is in 140 characters or less, these are my three favorite.

1. @katiemoffat Social media is like offline, traditional word of mouth but on steriods
2. @Beth_Carroll Social media is about building relationships and harnessing those relationships to build networks and interact
3. @Tyronevh It’s the integration of interaction with technology tools allowing one to interact, explore and most importantly learn from one another

The first definition is funny and accurate. Think about it, how many people do you actually come into contact with on a given day that you actually communicate with? Let’s be generous and say 30 people, so that is 30 people you can tell about a new artist you found or new place to eat. Now let’s say you have 500 friends on Facebook and another 300 followers on Twitter, with one status update you can now share that same info with 800 people, word of mouth on steroids indeed.

The second and third definitions I associate with because that is exactly how I define social media, and that’s how I use social media. Whether it’s reaching out to different stylists on Twitter for advice or internship opportunities or following different blogs to learn more about fashion.

My social media definition in 140 characters or less: Social media is an online avenue to express yourself and communicate with other people across the world.

Young Scolla- “Decisions” BTS

Behind the scenes of the Young Scolla – “Decisions” video shoot click here

Podcast Assignment

How to Biso Fly podcast episode 1

How to Biso Fly episode 1 show notes:

Intro:

(Intro music Kid Cudi – New New)

• Introduce show name
• Introduce host
• Introduce topic

Describe role of fashion stylist: 0:40

• What does a stylist do?
• Who hires a stylist

Importance of stylists: 2:50

• Why hire a stylist

Relationship between stylist and client: 5:51

Outro: 7:42

• Sign off and Give thanks
• When is next show

(music Kid Cudi – New New)

Trade Book Review

TradeBookReview For my trade book review I chose the book Tribes by Seth Godin. You can see my notes and hear audio if you go and look at my slideshare presentation.

T.O.W. : Week 3

Is social media monitoring ethical? The answer to this question is a resounding yes! Not only is it ethical, but the responsibility on behalf of the brand itself to make sure they know what is being said about their brand in every way possible on all forums. The area where ethical questions can arise is how the information found is used.

When running a business it is imperative to know how your customers and potential customers feel about your brand, and what they are saying about your brand if you want your brand to continue to grow and prosper. For instance the new Dominos ads where they address the complaints of their customers through taped focus groups. Social media monitoring is just another form of focus groups.

Where ethical questions can come into play is how the information gathered is used. For instance it is easy to manipulate the information you find to skew it towards what ever point you want to prove. For example  if you want to show nothing but positive remarks about a brand you can do that, and vice versa. Just like a reporter who only shows one side of a story or does a half story just to have the most controversial story they can.

Social media monitoring is a great tool for any business to use in order to gauge its feedback from it’s customers. However social media monitoring must be used in a responsible matter.