Year: 2012

My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 28

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Raleigh PR Agency, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , , , ,

Although Mike and Ike’s split hit the news back in April, it wasn’t until this weekend that I really saw this nasty breakup play out in public. First, it was the billboards scattered along the sides of highways in Charlotte – a very public display of Ike erasing Mike from his life (and his billboard).

Then, of course, there were the commercials. The news obviously devastated fans, coworkers and celebrities, alike, as the cameras caught their reactions on film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwGsxfkROdo&feature=plcp

On the Facebook, YouTube and Tumblr, the drama continued between the estranged duo as fans begged, “Why?!”

Why? Well, for the ratings, of course – there’s no news there. In public relations, we’re usually working proactively to avoid conflict. Yet, here the candy brand has not only welcomed it, but started it. An uncommon tactic, but not original. Barbie and Ken announced their divorce back in 2004, and the brand Benetton is better known for its extremely controversial ad campaigns than it is for its actual products.

So here’s the question I pose: When does introducing a little bit of drama or controversy become too distracting? For Mike and Ike and Barbie and Ken, I think it’s just the right amount. Create a little bit of a stir about a breakup to generate publicity, but still focus on the actual product. Benetton – aren’t you supposed to be a fashion brand? I hear more about your ad campaigns than I do about your clothing.

In my first 30 days at a Raleigh PR agency, I’ve learned that conflicts and crises are sometimes part of the job. But, when did we start creating controversy in an attempt to do our job better? And, when does the controversy become off-putting to consumers? Ignoring the poorly executed posts and bland YouTube commercials, do you think the idea of Mike and Ike’s breakup is just what the brand needed for some renewed publicity, or is it just plain distracting?

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NBC Loses Face in Clash With Ann Curry

Tracy LathanBlog, Professional Development, Public Relations, , 2 Comments on NBC Loses Face in Clash With Ann Curry

As a longtime Today Show viewer, I am still in shock about the manner in which Ann Curry was recently let go as co-anchor. In terms of professionalism, I believe most would agree NBC handled the situation poorly.

There is no question that Ann Curry was not the most magnetic co-host to ever sit in the chair, but who is to say if the ratings slump the show was experiencing was entirely her fault. Regardless of whether or not she was the right person for the job, after 15 years on the show she deserved more of a respectable send-off.

On the June 28th show, they gave her a few minutes at the end of the 8:00 a.m. hour to say her goodbyes. It was painful to watch and no doubt humiliating for Curry. And that was it. No week long celebration, no montage of memorable interviews, no farewell messages from old colleagues.

Of course we all understand NBC has a responsibility to put the right people in place to achieve top ratings, and this is certainly not the first time this has happened (think Conan O’Brien). But the truth is, all this latest stunt has done is make me want to tune into Good Morning America.

Always a true professional, Ann handled herself with grace and class as she delivered her farewell remarks. And on a positive note, she does have a new role at NBC that will actually enable her to cover real news stories again.

At the end of the day, it will be very interesting to see how things shake out for NBC and whether or not Savannah Guthrie can help get the show back to it’s number one ranking, or if this ordeal will have the opposite effect. We shall wait and see.

What do you think? Was the situation was handled poorly, or did NBC do what it needed to do to get back to the number one spot?

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 27

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Raleigh PR Agency, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , , ,

Late Thursday night Twitter’s Personalization and Recommender Systems Chief, Pankaj Gupta, tweeted, “Search & discovery in @twitter set to change forever after tmrw.” What were these big changes for Twitter that Gupta was referring? According to Mashable, these changes can fall into three categories:

1. Twitter’s slow and primitive search feature has finally been updated to work a lot closer to Google’s instant-like guessing. The new search autocomplete will guess the most likely terms for your entry as you type, and let you select one of the choices from a drop-down menu before you finish typing. How does this help us PR people? Well, besides making our lives easier, it’s especially helpful for trying to follow the hashtag for an event or conversation, according to engineer Frost Li on the Twitter blog. In addition, search autocomplete will also now correct your spelling for common search terms with similar letters.

2. What’s more? Twitter is now more useful when searching for terms, hashtags and accounts. Again, this is a benefit for PR people trying to follow a trend, conversation or hashtag for a client. Now, if you search for a hashtag, which may also be associated with multiple different terms, the search “will provide relevant suggestions for terms where the majority of that conversation is happening on Twitter,” said Li.

3. Lastly, instead of being forced to scroll through irrelevant accounts and tweets to find what you are searching for, the new search function allows you to narrow it down to “click on tweets from people you follow.” In other words, if you want to, this function now allows you to search only among your direct group of connections on Twitter.

Is anyone else thinking, “Well, about time!” Until now, Twitter’s search function was so poor, I often turned to Google to search for accounts and topics on Twitter! Hopefully after these changes, I will stop having to leave Twitter to search for something on Twitter, just to go back to Twitter once I have found it. Sound convoluted? It was! Let’s hope these changes make our lives easier!

 

 

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 26

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Public Relations, , , , , , , , 1 Comment on My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 26

Why use an Excel spreadsheet when you could use an infographic instead? My blog earlier this week touched upon the power of using images, not words, to generate excitement and fan interaction on social media. The same idea can be applied to reports, presentations and meetings. The bottom line is this: images are easier to understand, more useful for explaining complicated data, and quite frankly, more fun to look at than a long list of numbers and words.

As PR people, we work in a creative industry and work on creative projects on a daily basis. When it comes to compiling a report of analytics, numbers, demographics and other data, why would we ditch all of our creative instincts and resort to the old standbys: Word documents and Excel spreadsheets? Yes, there is a time and a place for a neat, classic, black and white spreadsheet. But, for the remainder of the time, an infographic, word cloud or beautifully choreographed chart gets the job done just as well, and often even better.

Just this past week, I researched different infographic generators and other creative data compilers to use for a presentation, and I was amazed at the amount of easy to use websites and programs available. Don’t worry if you don’t have a background in design, because with these programs, it’s not necessary to be able to create a top of the line infographic. One of my favorite sites for infographics is Piktochart. Check out this video and see how easy it is to create your own. After all, we are creative people, so shouldn’t our work and presentations reflect what we are capable of doing?

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 25

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Public Relations, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,

You’ve seen me write about it before, and you’ll see me write about it again – Pinterest. I love it and can’t get enough of it. While this site has been invaluable to me in finding delicious recipes for food that I really shouldn’t eat, shopping for clothing that I never can afford and planning for a wedding that definitely does not exist, I’m obliged to acknowledge that Pinterest has many, many other uses as well – mainly the still raw potential for Pinterest for businesses.

If you read my blog last week (or if you are an avid pinner), then you too know the ever-growing power of Pinterest. Here’s a little recap:

  • It was launched 25 months ago
  • There are now 10 million people pinning
  • There are roughly four million unique visits to the site each day
  • In February, Pinterest secured 10 million unique monthly visits faster than any other social network…ever. (Yes, that means Facebook too.)

Those are impressive statistics, especially when you start thinking about how to tap into this resource to benefit your brand. With Pinterest projected to account for 40 percent of all social media driven purchases, this site is especially beneficial for online retailers. And that’s exactly why we’ve been in discussions with several of our clients recently about incorporating Pinterest into an overall communications strategy. Just today our team brainstormed ideas about how to encourage a client’s customers to use Pinterest to help them become better educated shoppers while showcasing the company’s products.

Wondering if Pinterest is a viable social media channel for your brand? Check out Dana’s recent post How Pinterest Should Influence Your Marketing Spend: 3 Tips, and let us know if you have questions, We’d be happy to help!

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