Image Credit: The Australian

1. What did you learn?

All levels of leadership within companies can contribute to social media campaigns. PR, communication, advertising and marketing pro’s aren’t the only ones who can add something meaningful to the output of content that happens on a daily basis. Customers want to hear both the big picture (from the CEO’s, presidents, etc.) as well as the details about product developments and services from managers, franchisee owners and others.

2. What surprised you?

There are companies and CEO’s who aren’t fully sold on social media. How they think their businesses can thrive and stay afloat without it, I’m not sure. But I strongly believe that it’s the job of communication specialists and PR pro’s to convince those leaders that social media is essential for success in today’s world and time. Companies who don’t use social media and adopt policies for those tools will be left in the dust.

3. What do you want to know more about?

They talked a lot about transparency. How does a company remain transparent through social media in the middle of a crisis? What’s the best way to prepare for a crisis and how do companies come through one with their reputations in tact? It seems some businesses try to cover up problems that surface and more often than not, the public will eventually find out about them. Crises are sticky situations and the PR department must always be a step ahead of the game, anticipating a crisis to happen at any given moment.

What’re some similar podcasts that you’ve listened to and taken a lot from? I’d love to hear about them.

I asked attendees and our speaker to grab a packet of candy conversation hearts and answer the following question: How is PR similar to some of the messages on the conversation hearts?

Image Credit: "{7} je t'aime" by KatLevPhoto

I used Poll Everywhere to track the answers and here’s what we came up with:

• “TOO COOL- PR pros are up on the latest technology and social media!”
• “DON’T TELL: Sometimes covering up a crisis isn’t the best route to go.”
• “MY BOY – it’s all about relationships! Create them”
• “SEE YA: You’ll need to say ‘goodbye’ to those bad grammar and spelling habits and learn the in’s and out’s of AP Style.”
• “LOL – sometimes you need to have a good laugh through the stress”
• “I LOVE YOU: PR pro’s need journalists to love them because it’s a group effort when it comes to working with and through the media.”
• “DARE YA- PR stunts can be risky. But may be beneficial”
• “YOU ROCK- give credit where credit is due, and always let people know if you appreciate or like something they said or did”
• “BE TRUE – make sure the facts are right!”
• “I’M SURE- you might not always ‘be sure’ in PR, but u need to act like you are confident”

I hope you took something away from just a small list of the ways that PR is similar to conversation heart messages. What are some other ways that they relate?

eTrade always manages to tell viewers what services the company offers without losing viewers. The above commercial was obviously targeted at people who are in need of retirement plans. There’s something about including a baby in an ad for investment and banking services that makes the topic relatively bearable to think about.

I did a little research and found that the agency behind the creation of the first eTrade baby commercial didn’t know if the idea would be a flop or a success. Superbowl XLII was only the beginning of the reputation eTrade would gain as a result of what is now known as the notorious “eTrade babies.”

Not only has eTrade used the babies to create hilarious commercials that captivate any audience, but also to brand the company. Surely the commercials are what comes to people’s minds when they hear “eTrade.”

Below are a few of my other favorite eTrade commercials:

What as your favorite Superbowl XLVI commercial? Do you think it’s time for eTrade to retire their baby commercials? What companies are you looking forward to seeing commercials from during next year’s Superbowl?

The Groundswell is all about using forums, blogs and social media to learn more about products and services, rather than using search engines or going directly to the businesses’ websites. Customers listen to friends’ recommendations as well as reviews found on forums and blogs. This is an important notion for businesses to realize because they need to have an ear out for what consumers are saying through those various outlets about their products and services because brands are what customers say they are. YouTube can act as one of those resources where consumers are having conversations as you may well know that many customers will post product reviews, especially for products like cell phones, tablets and laptops.

Here are six reasons the book offers why businesses should begin listening to the Groundswell:

1. Find out what your brand stands for.

2. Understand how buzz is shifting.

3. Save research money; increase research responsiveness.

4. Find the sources of influences in your market.

5. Manage PR crises.

6. Generate new product and marketing ideas.

Image Credit: "y2.d7 l that edit girl by B Rosen

The following are four ways the books says that businesses can begin listening to the Groundswell:

1. Check the Social Technographics Profile of your customers.

2. Start small, think big.

3. Make sure your listening vendor has dedicated an experienced team to your effort.

4. Choose a senior person to interpret the information and integrate it.

Now that you know why and how to listen to the Groundswell, let’s take a look at what the book says about how listening will change your business or organization:

1. It’s likely to change the power structure of your organization.

2. The instant availability of information from customers can become like a drug that companies can become addicted to.

3. Listening to the groundswell will relentlessly reveal your stupidity. When customers can complain, bitterly and accurately, about the way you do business and you can measure and quantify their complaints, it’s hard to deny your own flaws. The constituency for stupid policies and products will evaporate in the face of highly visible customer feedback.

4. You may think that listening is the easiest way to engage with the groundswell because it’s low risk– it doesn’t require you to put yourself into the conversation. But while listening is part of a conversation, every conversation includes talking as well…So if you’re listening now, expect to be talking soon, too.

Let’s explore three different areas regarding duplicate content: what it is, why it’s looked down upon, and how to cite sources while avoiding duplicate content.

Image Credit: "Duplicate Original" by woodleywonderworks

•  What is duplicate content?

Duplicate content is text that shows up in the same format on several different websites, blogs, etc. In some cases, duplicate content occurs because writers, webmasters, and others are trying to promote their work and the causes they’re advocating for. However, this is the wrong way to reach a broader audience. Other times, duplicate content is produced when Web users find articles and posts that they enjoy and want to share with others. If they copy and paste the text into a Web page or blog post, duplicate content is created, even if credit is given to the author.

• Why is duplicate content bad?

Duplicate content confuses search engines such as Google. Many times, Google doesn’t know which is the original source, thus it picks one of the URLs where the content appears as the source to display on search result pages. This means the original source may be thrown to the wayside and the author won’t receive credit. In addition, those who post duplicate content may be viewed as not having anything meaningful to add to the conversation. Copying and pasting someone else’s work into a new location doesn’t create a new primary source, but rather establishes another secondary source. What value does this have and how is this expanding the information available to Web users?

• How can sources be cited in a way that avoids duplicate content?

The best way to cite sources in an article or blog post is to use only excerpts from them. Block quotes don’t fall under that category, but short quotes are acceptable. Of course, the original source must be cited in all cases or else it will be considered plagiarism.

Valuable resources should be used as inspiration for original content. Search engines take into consideration not only how often websites are posting, but also the quality of the material being produced, when ranking websites.

It’s fun to see how far we’ve come since our very first PR class. I think Pinterest is really impacting, and will continue to change, the way companies do business and how ideas are shared. It is definitely one of the biggest trends in social media right now and it’s easy to see why.

2. “DIY: Melted Crayon Art” by Liz Colburn on 1/29/12

This is definitely a project that I’ve been dying to try. It looks so simple. I absolutely love the new layout and look of your blog. You’re always posting something new and exciting. I’m looking forward to reading more posts from you this semester. Wishing you the best as you continue on your blogging journey

3. “An image says a thousand words” by Elizabeth Telg on 1/29/12

I’m glad I’m not the only one who stressed in my blog post about images the importance of giving credit to the photographer and/or the person who posted the photo. I always love the images you find and how they tie together your posts. I’m looking forward to reading more posts from you as the semester continues.