Tag: Social Media

PR People: Eva Hornak, APR

Sarah HattmanBlog, PR People, Public Relations, , , , , , , ,

Eva Hornak, APR

Job title and function: I’m the communications manager for S.T. Wooten. In a nutshell, we build highways, do commercial site work, and produce asphalt and ready mix concrete. We have approximately 950 employees. We’re also a private, family owned, third-generation led company.

I’m a department of one, so I handle anything related to PR, communications and sometimes marketing. I focus mostly on employee communications and corporate communications. This includes writing the 24-page company magazine three times a year, as well as two monthly newsletters and a benefits newsletter three times a year. I also work on various special projects as needed, such as recruiting materials, PowerPoint presentations, the website, corporate communications, etc. I also oversee the PR firm we hired in 2016 that works on such projects as our social media, blog and trade media relations.

Most rewarding thing about working in PR today: Our employees range from managers with advanced degrees to field employees without a high-school degree. We have employees who can’t read or read very poorly (making it a struggle to take a survey or fill out paperwork). Now – imagine trying to teach that person about health insurance. That stuff is confusing for most people with college degrees! I try to keep most communications written on a sixth-grade level. In the past few years, we’ve really worked on educating our employees about how our benefits help them, and I love it.

Craziest/most challenging thing you’ve done in PR: Produced an event almost single-handedly on a very short timeline. Don’t do that. Get a team. Just stop, take a breath and get a team.

I also survived some very bad bosses. (See the next section for more on that.)

Advice for new PR pros:

1) Explore what’s out there. There are a lot of facets to PR, and you don’t know what job/setting/speciality you might like until you try it.

2) Make connections (within PR and the larger business community) and get a mentor(s). All of my jobs came from connections. All of my trusted peers came from previous jobs, the Raleigh PR Society and NCPRSA. Peers can help you get your next job, and they are your cheerleaders during the good times and your shoulders to cry on during difficult times. They will help shape and defend your reputation. And your good name is everything.

3) Have ethics. See #2 above regarding reputation and good name.

4) Always look for the right match in a job (or a boss). Yes, you’ll have to pay your dues. Yes, you’ll have jobs (or parts of jobs) that you learn are not for you. You’ll even have a job you love that has some tasks you hate. But don’t settle for a place that is a horrible match. Don’t stay somewhere (or with someone) that truly abuses you or actively blocks you from learning anything. Need a gut check? Ask your peers. See #2 above. And never, ever compromise your ethics because a job or a boss tells you to do so. See #3. You can always find another job. Seriously. Do I need to mention #2 again!?

Are you interested in being featured in “PR People?” Send us a message on Facebook to share your story!

Sarah Hattman, APR is president-elect for the North Carolina chapter of Public Relations Society of America and has been working in PR since she left television news. She grew up in North Carolina and was excited to move back to her home state in 2012 and then join Clairemont Communications, a Raleigh PR agency. 
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Instagram Slideshows for Restaurants

Clairemont InternBlog, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,
With the latest Instagram upgrade, users are now able to post “slideshows,” several images within one post where the next photo is accessed by sliding your finger across the screen. This feature gives restaurants a new and fresh way to present themselves on social media’s favorite app. Here are a few examples!

 

  1. Demo the Deliciousness

Have a fan-favorite dish? Restaurants have the ability to take their followers from start to finish of any meal using the slideshow feature. Since the app allows up to ten slides per post, users have plenty of space to show their followers exactly how their favorite dish is created. Giving them a sneak peek at all the fresh and flavorful ingredients and how they come together piece by piece will help to create some cravings among your followers and future guests!

  1. Recap an Epic Event

Saturday night’s dinner accompanied by a live band? Throwing a special event for the big game? Now you no longer have to pick the “best” photo or video to showcase the whole evening. Followers can relive the entire course of events rather than a snapshot of just one moment.

  1.  Highlight the Specials

Using the slideshow feature, you can advertise the entire night’s specialties (drinks, dinner and desserts!) in one quick and easy post. Note that the Instagram post represents the special for that specific night in order to create a sense of urgency and entice customers to head your way.

  1.  Show Off Good Customer Reviews

With so many consumers now relying on recommendations from others, such as Yelp, slideshows provide a perfect opportunity to highlight those great reviews. Take screen grabs from Yelp or use quotes from customers (even videos!) to create a post that radiates positivity for your restaurant.

  1. Capture the Entire Meal

Show off the three, five or seven course meals your restaurant has to offer! No longer are you limited to one picture or plate of food. Use a photo for each course in the slideshow, and by the end, guests want to know how to make a reservation. Hint: the link is in your profile.

Looking for other tips? Check out how to foodify your Instagram stories!

 

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CAPRSA Instagram Takeover v. PR Baton

Dana PhelpsBlog, Counselors Academy, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,

Deja vu. That sums up my initial reaction to participating in an Instagram takeover on the PRSA‘s Counselors Academy feed designed to give a sense of what it is like to work in PR. Hmmm. Why does that sound familiar?

In 2013, with the help of my Clairemont team, I launched PR Baton “to show the world what a day in PR looks like, one photo at a time.” We called it a social media experiment, and we created and synced Tumblr and Instagram accounts utilizing signup forms and calendaring apps. We also wrote rules and recruited “runners” to carry the baton. It produced 469 posts from varied PR professionals in the United States and Canada before the management of it started to become a full-time job. And then we returned to our full-time jobs of taking care of our clients’ PR and social media campaigns.

Was I ahead of my time? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, it was a fun exercise that allowed us to learn even more about digital communications and led to several interesting conversations with clients and prospects about social media possibilities. Now back to my Counselors Academy Instagram takeover…

I love that members of Counselors Academy are now participating in this way to share our work, new ideas, best practices and just the everyday stuff of working in public relations. Clairemont has also utilized Instagram takeovers for our clients to collaborate with like-minded organizations to gain additional exposure.

Have you participated in an Instagram takeover or secured one for your company or client? We’d love to feature your best examples in an upcoming post. Hit us up on Facebook with your faves.

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Target Your Social Media in 2017

Cherith AndesBlog, Raleigh PR Agency, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , ,

It’s certainly no contest that 2016 hit the history annuls as a momentous year, witnessing the launch of everything from Snapchat Spectacles to a new presidency. Every step of the way, America wasn’t just watching; we were creating libraries of social media to voice opinions, rally troops, champion movements … and occasionally tout our newest homemade Reese’s Brownie recipe. (Thank you for that.)

In a way, we almost rediscovered the vibrancy (and hopeful efficacy) of our social media voice. So what do 2017 trends entail for online expression?

1. Roll camera!

Videos, and lots of them. The Fantastic Four (Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter) have all boosted their video-friendly components with features like Instagram stories and Facebook Livestream. Video content on Twitter alone has increased by 50 percent since the beginning of 2016, spiking when Twitter launched full-screen viewing and increased video length to 140 seconds. And Facebook put a premium on Livestream videos for Newsfeed ranking. As research is showing, visual content is one of the few types that has the potential to cut through the noise of pay-to-play social media advertising. From slideshow ads and crowd-sourced campaigns to Livestream previews and DIY videos, campaign content should leverage video content. Need we even reference our beloved Raleigh friends, Kim and Pen, whose Holderness Family videos garner upwards of 100,000 views?

2. Tell the tale.

Create narratives that tell the whole story. We’ve been burned by the flux of last year’s “fake news,” which augmented our desire to see the people behind the brand. Once again social media platforms are paving the way.Facebook is reportedly testing “Messenger Day,” and Twitter opened “Moments” to all users — a feature recently retooled in its “Explore” tab. While there’s a distinct place for professional videography, we’re craving to see the thought process behind the product.

A quick note: Keep your content “snackable.” Quick, how-to videos, collages and brief visual soundbites best appeal to our waning eight-second attention span (which, by the way, has now been surpassed by that of a goldfish.)

3. Be messy.

Image courtesy of The News & Observer

Andrea Weigl, the assistant features editor of The News & Observer, proved a solid point in her recent article, “What really happens at a food photo shoot.” She notes that the most popular images on the N&O’s Instagram accounts are not the gorgeous, mouth-watering spreads crafted by James Beard-winning chefs. No, they’re the messy ones, the ones that expose the chaos, clutter and realness of the production. Social media has already provided tools for you to welcome friends, fans and followers behind the curtain (with a flower wreath filter, if you really want). Embrace transparency as you share your story.

Interested in ideas on how to showcase a behind-the-scenes look at your brand? Check out our tips to leverage Instagram stories for restaurants!

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VW’s #pinkbeetle Signals Change in Communications

Dana PhelpsBlog, Counselors Academy, Marketing, , , , , ,

Leading consumer public relations campaigns is fun and rewarding because I get to explore my own consumer preferences at times and devise creative concepts that reach people just like me…or people totally different from me! Sometimes, the best inspiration is an experience as a consumer that sparks an idea for one of Clairemont’s clients.

I recently bought a new car. But not just any new car. I bought a #pinkbeetle. Yes, that is the actually name of Volkswagen’s special edition VW bug sold in October in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I loved the company’s marketing tactics so much that I was compelled to write a column for that appeared in Tactics called VW’s #pinkbeetle Signals Change in Communications. I hope you’ll read it, and let me know if you want to take a spin!

As a member of PRSA‘s Counselors Academy executive committee, I collaborated with Tactics editor John Elsasser for part of 2015 and all of 2016 as a liaison of sorts to secure contributors for the publication’s monthly column called “Changing Times.” The column was started by Michael Herman, APR, Fellow PRSA, friend and mentor to many. There was no one better than Mike to write about changes in the public relations industry, but his only published column appeared in January 2015, the same month he unexpectedly left this world. Since then, members of PRSA’s Counselors Academy have been contributing their thoughts on the evolution of our profession.

Want to know more about Counselors Academy and its members? Read our previous posts here.

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