I'm going viral!

Alright guys, I’m just letting you know ahead of the game: I’m going to be the next big viral video. I’ve watched enough YouTube videos with approximately 30 billion views to learn that I’ve got what it takes. I’ve said highly embarrassing stuff while under the influence of anesthesia after the dentist, a la David. I have good home movies of me dancing ridiculously as a child. And you have no idea how many altered versions of popular songs my friends and I have co-written and are just waiting to perform on the big screen of YouTube. Anyone know Katy Perry’s “Peacock”? Let’s just say when you see the version “Pecan” explode onto the scene in a few months, you’ll know the star of the video…

The bottom line? After reading Chapter 10 in Paul Gillin’s The New Influencers and watching too many videos, I’ve learned that just about anybody can go viral. Gillin outlines steps for marketing professionals to follow if they are trying to turn their latest news or product into a web video wonder. I took the chapter a bit further by deciding to apply the message to the general public: anybody can be the next big web hit. You don’t need to be a marketer with a message. In fact, it seems like the latest batch of viral videos are everyday Joes looking get their 15 minutes. Rebecca Black anyone? The technique has shifted from company strategy to means of personal promotion.

Regardless of whether it’s for a good cause, big name company, or an egotistical teen trying to up his reputation, I’ll readily admit that I’m enjoying the viral video craze. I think I’m laughing more than ever nowadays. For instance, let’s end this blog post with my current favorite video: it hit about 12 million views in one week. You won’t find any product placement or the latest corporate craze here…just one ridiculously cute baby :)

Holy Bateman!

This Friday I sang Halleluiah as me and my five teammate finally finished up our Common Cents financial literacy campaign for the Public Relations Student Society of America annual Bateman competition. Seeing this is the second time I have competed in the Bateman competition, you think I would have learned how to work all the stressful kinks out of the process. But of course, the complete opposite panned out. Late nights in the lab, problematic printing errors, missing appendix pages…the same problems followed me once again.

Bateman is stressful. There are not buts about it. But each year after I’ve pulled out all my hair and breathed a sigh of relief after the book has been sent a printer, I always feel an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. My instructor, Alisa Agozzino, shared lessons she learned from Bateman on her blog. Therefore, she inspired me to share my reasons to participating in Bateman. Bateman is a bear, but I admit that I would do it again for the following reasons…

Three Reasons to Compete in Bateman

1. Learn to work with tight deadlines. Bateman is the epitome of a tiny time limit. A few months to completely research, plan, implement and evaluate an entire campaign squeezes a PR process into a tight timeframe. But let’s be real…tight deadlines are the norm in the real world. Bateman teaches you how to be efficient in fully executing each element of a campaign and getting results in a particular time frame.

2. Apply your knowledge in real situations. Classrooms are great places to learn the theory behind executing a public relations campaign. But I don’t think you truly learn how to run a campaign until you fully try it in the real world…mistakes and all. Running a full blow educational campaign has given me valuable skills…and a unique experience to highlight in job interviews!

3. Your allowed to make mistakes. Bateman gives you a free pass to make mistakes. Between formatting an InDesign appendix wrong, publishing incorrect times in a student email, and a bit of group communication mix-up in a printing situation, my group made our fair share of mistakes. But this is the time you’re allowed to make them…no boss was breathing down my neck with the threat of a pink slip. Making mistakes early helps smooth the world for running a campaign in your first job.

And on the eighth day, God gave social media…

Didn’t know there were commandments for social media, did you? Well, I at least certainly didn’t, but I came across the mighty list in the second chapter of Paul Gillin’s “The New Influencers.” While they all provided great guidance to the people of the blogosphere, a few particular ones really stood out:

Thou shall be transparent

This commandment can be taken on a fairly simple, direct level: use strikes if replacing a word, alter a post through a comment instead of deleting it. These matters of transparency seem like common sense. But I also think it hits a bigger notes: blogs are truly becoming a powerful player. We count on newspapers to be transparent- they have been our reliable source of news for years. If people are demanding transparency from blogs, it must mean people are looking to blogs to be a credible source of news. Not bad for a fairly new communication medium

Thou shall comment

The word “communication” implies a two way sharing of message. Therefore, we would assume that any communication channel, including blogs, has a balanced two way flow of information. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always seem to be true; people get caught up in their own opinions and forget to consider those of others. The commandment “thou shall comment” reminds us that what we truly need from a communication channel is a conversation. The sharing of ideas and opinions is what truly fosters good communication.

Where does your loyalty lie?

Power spikes. Screaming fans. Sweaty hugs.

That is what encompassed my Saturday as I sat in the stands at my second ever men’s volleyball tournament cheering on by friend Joe Clarkson and the ONU polar bears (for more on their team, check out Joe’s blog). For being a big sports fan…and a fairly well-rounded one at that, men’s volleyball is a game I’m not particularly familiar with. Yet it only took me about 5 minutes to turn into a screaming fan, fist pumping when we made a key play and biting my nails when the score was close. The ONU volleyball game reminded me why I love sports so much. Rivalries are great. Unbelievable plays are exciting. But my favorite thing about sports? Being a fan.

I just love the crazy passion people put toward their team when your true fan. We dress up in ridiculous outfits and paint our faces just to show our loyalty Men refuse to shave because they are growing a playoff beard along with their favorite athlete. I mean, my deep love for the Green Bay Packers is a great example. For a week after the Super Bowl, I walked around with a cheese on my head giving people the belt (if you don’t know Aaron Rodgers signature victory move, check it out).

Bottom line: sure it’s fun to cheer for a winning team. But it’s twice as fun and way more satisfying to sign away your heart to a sports team. You honestly become an extension of the team. So whether I’m a polar bear, Spartan, or cheesehead for the day, one thing is sure: I’m always a number one fan.

Three pieces of advice from a PR pro

This past Thursday Rachael McKee- an Ohio Northern alum and PR superstar- came to speak at our weekly PRSSA meeting. Rachael is certainly no newbie our PRSSA meetings- she has been back multiple times to ONU to help guide and mentor students along their college path.

But this return visit was a little bit bittersweet for both parties; Rachael is getting ready to make a move. And I don’t just mean to another organization or across town. At the end of the month, Rachael is jumping on a plane and moving to Singapore! So in order to share a little bit of wisdom before she puts a 9600 mile difference between her location and ONU, our PRSSA chapter ran a Q&A session. Below are 3 words of wisdom that really stuck with me:

1. Be willing to go global.

Maybe not as global as Singapore. But Rachael has a point. Our world may be getting bigger in terms of people, but the distance- physical and communicational- between these people is getting smaller by the minute. You can get halfway across the world in 1 day with a plane ride, 1 hour with an email, or 1 minute with a Skype call. Global relationships are now key- they broaden company reach, broaden a consumer market, and most of all, broaden our general outlook. Companies have been taking their businesses oversees for years- isn’t it time we took our relationships there?

2. If you don’t love it, don’t work there.

Seems like such common sense, right? But I really think this is a rule that is both extremely important and easily forgotten.  As a college job hunter who is a little overwhelmed, sometimes it seems easier to just take a job to end the process. But how fulfilling would that be? I do my best and brightest work when I’m doing what I’m passionate about- no quality work would be done for an organization that doesn’t have my heart. It reminds me of some of the backbone rules of ethics we have been covering in my PR case studies class- if you don’t fully believe in a cause, your motives aren’t in the right place.

3. I don’t really do social media.

Ok, this wasn’t exactly a piece of advice as much as a personal pet peeve Rachael voiced. At first my mouth dropped- you don’t do social media? But it’s the truth. No Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Considering that we often judge people’s influence by their social media power, Rachael McKee probably doesn’t even exist. But I promise my 20/20 eyesight is accurate- she was sitting right in front of me, a successful PR professional. One that built up a strong career and extensive network in Columbus from the ground up by always maintaining a can-do attitude.

She did all that-and didn’t use social media. Don’t think I’m knocking social media- we all know I’m a ridiculous social media enthusiast. But Rachael was a refreshing reminder that while social media is certainly a powerful vehicle to communicate a message, it’s not the only vehicle. You can drive the sporty, souped up social media model off the car lot, or you can take the traditional, Model-T model that represents face-to-face communication. Social media is a strong tool when used properly. But it’s certainly not the only option for building relationships.

Let's talk! Conversational marketing in The New Influencers

conversational marketing: creating a dialog with customers in which useful information is exchanged so that both parties benefit from the relationship.

I just started reading The New Influences by Paul Gillen for my social media class, a book that explores the explosive phenomena of social media and the power of the blogosphere. I really took to this concept of conversation marketing that was introduced in the forward of the book.

Honestly, I think this shift in marketing should come as no surprise to us. As a self-proclaimed shopper, I can willingly admit that I like being paid attention to. I certainly don’t want advertisements or products shoved down my throat. But if a company can take time to personally invest in my particular interests, and cater to my specific needs, you better bet a pretty penny that I’m going to quickly become a loyal customer.

I’ve found that it’s often the smaller, specialized organizations that handle this new marketing strategy the best. Last summer, I went on a personal quest to buy TOMS shoes, and ended up at Bivouac, an outdoor clothing and gear store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Bivouac has a wonderful, quirky atmosphere about it, and I quickly followed them on Twitter after my trip. Since my summer excursion, I’ve tweeted at Bivouac many times about various products, and every time they have tweeted me back. Marketing and customer service can’t get much more personal then that.

This concept, along with others highlighting the immense power and influence bloggers and their respective writers can have on the ebb and flow of the marketing and social media world, really drew me into the book- and I’m only on the first chapter! Looking forward for more to come.

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Who's the winner now?

Remember that obnoxious kid in grade school who was always the attention hog? Always needed to have the most attention at show and tell. Whined if they weren’t chosen first at kickball. Interrupted your story at lunch time. But what did mom always tell you? “Don’t give them any attention…that’s just what they want.”

Well apparently the moms of the world need to give all us Americans a little reminder lecture, because that obnoxious kid is back and he brought the big guns; Charlie Sheen is the king of the social media and pop culture playground right now. Complain about his attention antics all you want, but I think we are all to blame. We have practically rolled out the red carpet, welcoming him will all the necessary pop culture rights of passage.

A successful 24 hour quest to make an explosive entrance onto Twitter by gaining a million fans? Check. Multiple interviews with high profile news anchors where you voice your ultimate confusion as to why people aren’t worshiping the ground you walk on? Check. We even gave him the highest status symbol of ultimate pop culture takeover- a ridiculously catchy autotune YouTube video, mashing up the most hilarious statements from his multiple interviews. It racked up almost 6 million views in five days.

We’re all criticizing his poor decisions and inability to represent himself in a respectful manner. But do we really have room to criticize? As we all sit around and sing his winning song over and over, we are just feeding the PR monster machine Charlie and his extremely smart publicists have created. The man is at the top of the list on desired interviewees on newstations across the country, is a web viral star, and had the whole country is waiting with baited breath for his next move. Not bad for someone who just got fired.

Charlie Sheen’s life might not be right on track. But some of his publicity moves are right on. If Charlie can manage to ride his way of newfound pop culture popularity and turn the attention into some PR tactics (maybe figuring out his life along the way), he might really be the winner after all.

Love it or hate it...

Three things I love: public relations. social media. cupcakes.

Three things I question: blogging. graduation. oatmeal.

It’s easy to do what you love. I eat up the chance to write a good press release. I tweet like it’s my job. And I’m known as the girl who always manages to find the cupcake store when traveling across the county. You should see the list of cupcake menus I’ve collected within the last year…

But the real challenge comes when you’re asked to do something you’re not quite sure about. I ran into this challenge this week during the first meeting of my spring social media class: maintain a blog for 10 weeks. While I love reading blogs, it’s not my personal social media outlet of choice. But the deal has been made: maintain a blog for 10 weeks, ace social media class, and move on to graduation…another thing I’m not so sure about…

So pull up a seat, grab a cupcake (I recommend hot fudge lava from DC Cupcakes) and get to know a little about my opinion about the PR practice, pop culture, and everything in between as I begin my 10 week blogging challenge. And I’ll promise to be a little more open minded, giving blogging a true effort. Maybe I’ll even start to slightly entertain the idea of graduation. But I refuse to give oatmeal a chance. Who WILLINGLY eats soggy cereal?