1. Engaging with other PR bloggers:  Use your RSS feed to read/comment/refer to other PR blogs on your blog.

2. Personal edge: Give yourself a unique tone that can be entertaining and create your own “niche.”

3. Implement theories/methods that you have learned.  Like Dr. V. said, most people don’t have access to all the tools we have so writing about what our PRinciples class or our PR book has taught us.

4. Go out of your way to post: Along with what you’re assigned or recommended to post, think outside the box.  Write your own opinions of situations that were discussed in class or other Communications that apply to PR.

5. Stay updated.  You will find it easier to write and keep your “juices flowing” if you don’t just forget about your blog for a few weeks!

I think there are many great posts that our PR class has posted that have really impressed me.  However, when asked to post about my “favorite” I would have to say that is Erin Martin’s Blog.   After looking through everyone’s blog, I finally decided that Erin’s blog was the most dynamic.  Earlier in the semester I noticed that she implements new posts from other classes such as her Libel on the Internet post.  I think her blog stands out because she doesn’t just write on what she is assigned to write on or on things that Dr. V. suggests us write on.  Instead, she goes out of her way to find interesting ideas to write about.  For example, her Sugar-coating in PR post clearly shows that she has an RSS feed and is constantly reading PR websites!  Also, I think it is really neat how she titled a post BeingEryn after Cheryl Harrison’s blog!

Last summer my mom, Dr. Lee Carson, performed a great PR event by hosting a free skin cancer screening at our church.  She owns her own dermatology practice in Columbia, SC and our church is very prominent.  This event was advertised in our church bulletin for a few weeks leading up to that Saturday.  That Saturday from 7am-7pm she had all of her nurses at the church with private rooms set up.  Each person who came through would have the opportunity to hear what Dr. Carson thought of a spot on their skin that was concerning them.  After “screening” their skin, Dr. Carson gave her expertise advice to the patient without charge as well as a filled out paper as to what Dr. Carson presumed the spot be.

By inviting the community to come out to the free screening, it not only advertises Dr. Carson, but shows her in a positive light trying to better the community.  Also, if the patient gets advice to see a dermatologist for further treatment, they are most likely to go to Dr. Carson whom they have already seen. When patients came in to see Dr. Carson, they brought the paper that they had been given at the free cancer screening for her to use to further evaluate them.  Therefore, this paper was used as a message receipt.

-”Now, more than ever before in human history, more people are coming into contact with people from cultures other than their own.” -Robert Gibson

-In successful cross-cultural communication, senders must understand how a message will be decoded before they can effectively encode it (the message should ideally reamin shaped by values that unite the organization.)

-Achieve successful cross-cultural PR:

1. Awareness: can include studying a foreign language, liberal arts courses

2. Commitment: Personal & Organization’s commitment

3. Research: Reading cultural magazines, websites, books, etc.

4. Local Partnership: Consider bringing a member of that culture into organization’s communications team

5. Diversity: if PR team is diverse it can ensure successful cross cultural PR

6. Testing: Test relationship-building tactics on trusted members of culture you plan to address

7. Evaluation: Look for effectiveness

8. Advocacy: Persistent focus

Comment on Chris Brogan’s Blog post “Thinking About Branding.”

I came across The Bad Pitch Blog’s post “And They Say Reporters Don’t Care” and I thought of Dr. V because she has always told us a big part of PR is to get to the point of your message quickly and clearly, especially when pitching. The post shows the first paragraph of a pitch which is so ambiguous, including “gobbledygook” (or unneeded fluff) using the phrase “place-based out-of-home digital network” which is basically just a “video billboard.” I feel like some people/companies get so caught up being “professional” they forget to talk like humans-afterall, that’s who their audience ultimately is, right?

PR uses the LESS IS MORE strategy in news releases because every word is practically costing the organization. To keep your audience’s attention, you must introduce the facts up front (hints the one sentence lead in a news release) and follow up with the less important information towards the end. Also, as we discussed in class, when dealing with a crisis in the PR world, you must communicate clearly and quickly. Gobbledygook just does not cut it in PR…how do you form relationships when you can barely filter out the message?

Cheryl Harrison’s post about “blogging into a corner” reminds me about how we have talked about what to include in our blog. I think we have a huge overall niche of Public Relations which can include so many things: examples, thoughts, and social media. Therefore, it’s easy for us in our blogs to not be “backed into a corner” maybe because most of our blog posts aren’t so much of our own new ideas, such as Cheryl’s blog, but more of responses on other people’s actions in the PR world or summaries of what we have learned.

Basically, I think it’s easy for our class to have many opportunities on our own blogs to have countless posts about a variety of topics…especially since we have a “personal” category to talk about anything! I feel like a blog not related to this class would be so much harder to conduct because like Cheryl said-blog 101 says that you should have a niche- and without a professor leading us in a specific direction it would be challenging to find that niche and “stick to it.”

Comment on Dr. V’s blog on “What Does Blogging Teach You.”

Comment on Alyssa Maute’s Blog on “Pimp Your Blog.“

The definition of a crisis is a matter of scope:  One might refer to a “flat tire” as a crisis while others are referring to a whole city being destroyed by a hurricane as a crisis.  Therefore is important to understand the dynamics of a crisis to understand when one is occurring:

1. Warning stage-still possible to avoid trouble

2. Point of no return-crisis is unavoidable

3. Cleanup phase-how long will the crisis last?

4. Things return to Normal

-Crises can bring new opportunity because people can be changed to think about and create new strategies as well as competitive edges can arise.

-Crisis communication planning:

1. Assessment of potential risks

2. Developing a plan as well as identifying stakeholders

3. Responding by training employees to act appropriately in the crisis

4. Recovery and evaluating why the crisis occurred.