Archive for Assignments

Blogging and Blogging Relations

{ October 27, 2008 @ 3:41 pm } · { Assignments }
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  1. What are some best practices for engaging with bloggers? i.e. blogger relations?
  2. What are some best practices for creating and running an organizational blog?

HOW TO LAUNCH A SUCCESSFUL BLOG IN THE FIRST 90 DAYS

-Find a good niche: write about something that will interest your audience

-Set your targets: worry about what audience will want to read about next

TOP 5 CORPORATE BLOGGING MISTAKES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM

-First follow similar blogs before starting one of your own so you know what others offer their audience

-Do not write exclusively about yourself

USING BLOGS FOR NONPROFITS

-For a personal blog you must be compassionate about the topic which you are writing about.

-For a community blog you should have an engagement plan.

-For a special event you should have experts blog about the subject.

-For blogs consisting of information you should present multiple authors as well as subscribe to an RSS reader.

50 WAYS TO TAKE YOUR BLOG TO THE NEXT LEVEL

-Some of the main advice I saw on this page that differed from the others that seemed helpful is that it is okay to use a personal voice and if you’re going to blog that is pretty much the whole point. Also, refrain from “me too” posts. Instead, only comment if you have something new to add.

HOW TO RESPOND TO A BLOG CRISIS IN 5 STEPS

-You must publish an authentic point of view to the problem as well as evaluate how many people are commenting that the situation is negative and/or positive.

BLOGGER RELATIONS CASE STUDY

-Correct blogging can create very good advertisement.

HOW TO COMMENT ABOUT YOUR COMPANY ON BLOG POSTS WITHOUT BEING SPAMMY

-Make your comment useful by updating readers on new development.

-Use humor.

-Don’t discredit your competitors.

BLOGGING IS SO 2004-WIRED

-I’m a little confused that the author is critical of blogging while he continues to write a blog himself. He says that twitter, flickr and facebook are the new tools for social media and blogging does not consist of enough brevity.

Blog Action Day! POVERTY

{ October 15, 2008 @ 3:25 pm } · { Assignments }
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Poverty touches my heart in a special way since I have witnessed poverty first hand.  Three years ago I attended a church mission trip to Nicaragua.  Upon witnessing thousands of kids literally living in the “dump,” I felt my life was changed.  While our group was there we held a camp about thirty minutes outside of the city in a pretty much deserted forested area for these kids to be able to retreat to.  They were able to shower, have good meals, meet new friends from America, and we taught them about our faith.  Most importantly, however, is what us Americans learned: to be grateful for what we have.  When I returned to America I suddenly noticed the waste our country produces.  An old raggedy t-shirt for us would mean trash, whereas in Nicaragua to these desperate people, it is a smile and even a tear in most cases.

A year later my family and I traveled to Guatemala to pick up Tanner, my newly adopted baby brother.  We visited the orphanage that he was born and lived in for the first seven months.  It is not only touching to witness the poverty stricken neighborhood where my brothers-later in the year we adopted Reese from Guatemala as well-were born, but it gave my family and I a sense of helpfulness.  Tanner and Reese are the absolute loves our lives and on days like today (blog action day) when I am asked to write about poverty I cannot help think about this issue in terms of the way my brothers would have grown up if they had not been adopted and taken into our home.

I think it is terrible how statistics such as 80% of humanity lives on only $10 a day are true when Americans spend $10 on ten songs to download to their ipod while there are people in the world like the un adopted babies in Guatemala or the kids living in the dumps in Nicaragua.  I am returning to Nicragua this January to participate in a medical mission trip knowing that, once again, my life will be changed by witnessing the immense amounts of poverty that other parts of the world face.

Chapter 3-”The History of PR”

{ September 9, 2008 @ 3:55 pm } · { Assignments }
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WHAT DOES THE HISTORY OF PUBLIC RELATIONS TEACH ME?

The history of PR teaches me ways that PR practitioners have both failed and succeeded through different events in America’s history. By studying these examples and both the long term and short term effect the Public Relations’ attempts had on their environment, we can learn how to manage certain publics’ perceptions of an organization.

Bernays, who was the first to use the term “Public Relations” to describe the discipline which it consists of, used PR to increase sales of the American Tobacco Company by boosting their image. He created a “green ball” which allowed the public to perceive green as a “high class” color and therefore, buy the cigarettes with the green wrappers.

Another example of how historical examples teach us PR methods is the scopes monkey trial. A law was set that evolution was not to be taught in school but George Rappleyea, from Dayton recruited John Scopes to disobey the law and teach evolution in schools. When he was arrested, the trial was on and the political struggle over Darwinism was set in Dayton to draw attention to the town which had been going through rough times. The publicity stunt worked because decades later the town is still a focal point for the evolutionary debate. This was one of many pseudoevents where controversies or publicity events were formed from nothing to draw attention to a certain place or organization.

PR Skills

{ September 4, 2008 @ 1:58 am } · { Assignments }
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John Bell’s “13 Skills of the PR Pro of the Future,” are very specific and many of these skills are associated with technology. The book suggested that the five most important skills a person wanting to practice PR should acquire are having good writing skills and expertise in a few areas, being inquisitive and committed, and showing common sense.

I also noticed in the book there are “the top-three desired qualities for entry-level employees” according to the 2002 study that are very closely related to Kevin Dugan’s advise. These three qualities are strong written and oral communication, willingness to learn and enthusiasm, and personality. Kevin similarly advised our class for one to interview for a public relations field, they must have very good writing skills and a professional personality. Also like the third quality listed in our book Kevin said that most importantly they must have passion for the job and be willing to learn the new position.

It seems to me that since two different sources point out three very related requirements, I should begin to increase my skills in those areas:

-My best quality of these three is the willingness to learn and amount of enthusiasm because I am a very optimistic person and I usually catch on fast.

-My personality is very outgoing and I believe I can portray a sense of professionalism wherever I go.

-My oral communication, and especially my written communication needs improvement. Sometimes I have an idea in my head and it is hard to get this idea onto paper.

-My plan is to continue to take writing and communication courses at Clemson University. As far as John Bell’s 13 skills go, I believe I am very good at “managing communities” but the other technological skills listed I could probably use some improvement in as well. Hopefully in the next few years I will be able to expand my technological horizon by keeping a blog and subscribing to new websites.