Creativity at its finest

I'm kind of on a video kick this week. I stumbled upon a video tonight that really grabbed my attention. It was a video made entirely out of Instagram photos. What a great way to make a video! This Mexico-based band, The Plastics Revolution, was the first video ever made with Instagram. There were 1,905 still frame photos that were taken on an iPhone and put together to make this video.

I love this idea of using Instagram to make a video. The idea is different, innovative, fun and really makes this band stand out from other bands. Not only is the video cool, but the music is great to listen to, too (even if it is all in Spanish). As a future marketer and public relations practitioner, it is important for me to have great ideas like this. Creativity and implementing it effectively will not only help my organization stand out from the rest, but it will also help me stand out from the rest. Watching this video really helped me to look at social media in a different light. It is ok to use social media the traditional way just like everyone else. Sometimes though, you have to break out of the mold and do something different, and this is the perfect way to do it. I really think that this idea of making video out of still pictures like this is really going to catch on. Especially because a large majority of people who have smartphones, also have Instagram. Making a video like this is as simple as taking some pictures on your phone and uploading them onto a computer and making a movie. It is brilliant!

Watch the video and see for yourself!

What is PR?

What is PR?

That was the question that Ashley and I posed to students around campus this week. In our class, we were assigned a video project. We had to create a video that could be shown to potential students and their parents, talking about our wonderful public relations program here at Ohio Northern University. We asked students ranging from education, music, engineering, business and graphic design what they thought PR meant. We got a lot of great responses!

After asking non-PR majors what PR was, we asked two senior PR students. They gave their definition of public relations and other qualities of a PR student. Ashley and I also wanted to share the great benefits of being a PR student at ONU. We focused on being able to join PRSSA, attend national PRSSA events, network with professionals, gaining real-world experience in firm, and the ability to work at great internships.

We hope potential students watch this video and see what cool things we get to do for class. I also hope they see the great benefits the our program has to offer.

I hope you watch this video and enjoy it just as much as we do!

Don't forget about relationships.

We have finally finished the Katie Paine book, Measure What Matters. I am so glad that we are done with this book and I look forward to taking the quiz on it so that we are officially done with it. These last two chapters were very similar. The chapters talked about nonprofits and higher education. In the nonprofit chapter, on of the topics was "not measuring is not an option." This stood out to me because this entire book was about measurement, so why would not measuring even be an option? Anyways, Paine lists three reasons why measurement and accountability have become more important.

1. Social Media. Social media has brought about new ways of researching community stakeholders. You have to have measurement in order to find what is most effective.
2. Metrics. Nonprofits need to start acting like for-profits in terms of measurement. There is a greater competition among nonprofits and having effective metrics to measure with. With a greater form of metrics, measuring will keep you competitive.
3. Accountability. Accountability is a huge trait that people are paying more attention to. There is an increase in demand for detailed evaluations of programs and initiatives that will cause an organization to be viewed as accountable or not. 

I believe that these are all true when looking at why measuring social media is important. I also believe that one more should be added, relationships. Without those key relationships with stakeholders, trustees, business and other important relationships, a nonprofit organization can struggle. Relationships can be measured and they need to be constantly analyzed. An organization should always be aware of who their target audience is and what their needs are. Nonprofit or for-profit, relationships are important. Building lasting relationships will assist in all three of the reasons listed above. There is a perception about measurement success that states that only "the biggest nonprofits can afford the money and person-power to really evaluate results." This is no longer true, especially with the help of social media and relationships.

Go Easy on the Pride

In the world of public relations and the new use of social media, it is important to stay on top of your game. Scott Stratten, a speaker and social media marketing expert, talked about his top seven rules on using social media. Stratten told attendees of a conference, "Social media is not about being everywhere. You just have to be great where you are."  Stratten gave seven tips on how to "not suck at social media."

Here are the seven tips. You can go to the website to read the full descriptions.

1. Gluttony
2. Pride
3. Sloth
4. Greed
5. Lust
6. Envy
7. Wrath

The tip that stood out to me the most was number two, pride. Stratten talks about posing questions on social media such as "What's your favorite product of ours?" This is not the right way to engage the audience. Companies shouldn't make their social media pages personal; it should be about the consumers. Also, organizations shouldn't just allow positive comments. Constructive criticism on social media sites is an excellent indicator of the organization's receptiveness to make things better. 

I believe that what Stratten said was very true. Organizations need to be able to show that they have imperfections, but are willing to improve. Boasting too much about your own company makes the organization look full of themselves and untrustworthy. If the company is the only person on social media raving about the great products or services, that is saying something. If the products or services of a company are well received and liked, then people will be talking positively about those services. Having pride in your organization is a great quality to have; however having too much pride can cause people to talk negatively about the organization. Asking people which of your products is their favorite is not a good way to engage consumers. People will see that question and react in the wrong way, which will create the wrong kind of image for your organization. 

So just remember, have pride in your products or service, but don't boast about it obnoxiously. 

You know you work in social media when...

Social media is a huge part of any public relations or marketing career. As a senior in college, with the hopes that one day I will be a professional in marketing or public relations, I've found my own quirks about social media. Kevin Allen posted on the PR Daily, "25 signs you work in social media", and it definitely caught my eye.

1. You go out for drinks with your co-workers and spend the first 10 minutes looking at your phone to check how your brands’ posts are faring. 

2. You’ve sent an all-company email asking everyone to follow or “like” your client. 

3. You find yourself excited when one of the “stars” of “Sixteen and Pregnant” retweets your content to her legions of followers. 

4. You find yourself saying things like, “I spend all day on Facebook, but I can’t remember the last time I checked my personal account.” 

5. You get really annoyed when people use hashtags on Facebook. 

6. You get really annoyed when people don't know what "hashtag" means. 

7. You feel for Oreo’s page manager right now. 

8. You “like” about 500 Facebook pages of brands you would never use or associate with. 

9. Made-up words like "shareable" are part of your daily vocabulary. 

10. You were elated when Facebook launched its Pages app, allowing you to manage your brands’ pages from anywhere. 

11. You were devastated when Facebook launched its Pages app, allowing you to manage your brands’ pages from anywhere. 

12. You consider yourself completely qualified for a career in customer service. 

Photo courtesy of PR Daily.

14. When you think of “engagement,” a future wedding is no longer top of mind. 

15. You’d never date someone who still uses MySpace. 

16. And thanks to Chrysler’s 2011 Twitter crisis, you have horrible anxiety about installing a brand’s account on your mobile device. 

17. You fantasize about having physical altercations with the people who post “first” in the comments. 

18. There’s nothing that upsets you more than improper use of your/you’re. 

19. Based on your brand page’s spam, you should have been visited by some girl’s ghost and a deranged clown or two several times over. 

20. Man or woman, you write like an excited teenage girl sometimes and you just can't help it. 

21. Sometimes you absolutely NEED to write in caps … for emphasis. 

22. You don't just use exclamation points—you abuse them! 

23. You know about every pointless holiday ever conceived from building your content calendars, yet you can't remember your best friend's birthday. 

24. You've engaged in conversation with a "brand champ" more than your family members in the past two weeks. 

25. Your Instagram account is nothing but pictures related to the brand you manage.

I hope you chuckled when you read a few of these. To me, many of these are true and I have experienced some of them first hand. In today's world of PR and marketing, social media is the key to being successful. It seems as if every company has a Facebook or a Twitter, and sometimes even a Pinterest. It can be very overwhelming when surfing on the Internet and you are bombarded with spam, advertisements, "Click Here!", "You're a Winner!", and so on. Unfortunately, these companies are just trying to do their jobs. As a professional using social media, it is hard to know when it's considered "too much", or when to stop. Tips and tricks to social media are changing every day, and people are constantly changing the rules. Thankfully, you can always figure out what works best for you and your own company, and build from there.

After reading this comical, yet semi-true post, it helped me get to thinking about after I graduate. I know that there were a few on this list that I hope I never do on a social media site. There are others though, that no matter how hard I try, I will probably always be guilty of. Are you guilty of any of these top 25 ways you know you work in social media?