By Sydnie Kerr

College is the place where students gain experiences, discover their passions and more importantly, start building their careers. In a business like public relations, employers want an employee who stands out from the crowd and your personal brand can be your ticket to your next job. If the right personal branding is implemented a world of opportunities and connections may become available.

We often think of branding as something only companies build, but in our age of social media branding efforts extend to personal use. You may not know it yet, but you already have a brand. Now, it is up to you to take these steps and create the brand you want it to be.

 

1. Be Yourself.

Now, this may sound a little cliché, but it’s important advice I’ve received. Find out what makes you different, show off the things you love, and do what makes you happy. Employers and your network will notice if you are trying to be someone you’re not and you’ll shine if you are genuine and sincere about who you are.

 

2. Utilize social media.

Social media for networking can be one of your biggest assets. LinkedIn is especially important for networking with colleagues and future employers. Build your brand on LinkedIn. You also need to be mindful about what you post on each platform. Each platform is used in different ways so consider the content you are creating for each.

 

3. Be careful about WHAT you post

College is fun, but, your employers are going to look at your social media when considering you for a job. If you are constantly posting with alcohol or drugs that can destroy your chance of being hired. Be mindful, and think “Would I want my grandma to see this?”

 

4. Create a logo and branding guide for yourself

It’s very impressive when people have personal logos and keep a consistent look across all their platforms. Consider creating something that distinguishes you from the next individual. This can carry through all your social media platforms and on your resume and cover letters. Make them look the same in terms of your brand, that way you are easily identifiable and remembered.

 

5. Create a voice

Across all social platforms, you’ll want to create your voice and persona. Are you funny? Sarcastic? Easy-going? Consider how you want to portray yourself and create your content based on that.

 

6. Create an impactful bio

This goes along with establishing your voice. A bio will tell everyone who you are, what you do and the kind of person you are. Write your bio based on who you are. Don’t just tell people what you do, show them and go deeper.

To learn more about creating a professional bio, take a look at these; https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/professional-bio-examples

 

7. Post regularly

It’s important to keep up with your brand. Don’t neglect it for months. Employers are looking for active users who are consistent and not outdated.

 

8. Get connected

It’ll look great if you have a lot of relevant connections on LinkedIn or on Twitter. This means that you know your people and have connections that can always help future employers. You network of people is so important in the PR world because those connections will help you grow and can potentially land you your future job. The more you know people, the better.

 

By Sydney Skaggs

The Super Bowl is one of the most highly anticipated annual events in popular culture. Before, during and after the Super Bowl there is significant hype about the commercials, and for many television viewers the ads are a highlight of the game.

The Super Bowl is huge for the public relations industry. The big game is not just a platform for companies to show their creative advertisements, but for all of the PR and marketing that surround the broadcast at the game.

The Super Bowl gives PR pros a chance to come up with a strategy and analyze the Super Bowl from every angle, finding ways to reach their target audiences. Research has demonstrated over and over again that advertising may guarantee viewers see your message in the form you wish to present it, but it doesn’t guarantee retention, comprehension or persuasion. This proves that public relations can have an impact beyond media relations and simple ads.

One of the most talked about commercials from Super Bowl LII was for Tide laundry detergent. The manufacturer has been working through a crisis recently that was mentioned by Procter & Gamble’s CFO in its latest earnings call. The crisis derives from the emergence of the Tide Pod Challenge, where teens eat (or joke about eating) the small detergent packages. But the three Tide ads shown during the Super Bowl created a buzz that has people talking about the brand for all the right reasons.

 

According to Samantha Wood from PR News, “Tide turned conventional advertising on its ear by inserting itself into the classic styles of familiar ad genres, such as those for cars, beer or medicine. The parodies were so successful that many viewers were left guessing which ads would end up being Tide ads after all (Wood).”

Another ad that demonstrated great PR was Amazon’s “Alexa Loses Her Voice.” Previous Alexa ads emphasized the convenience and utility of the Echo product, but the Super Bowl ads used celebrities and comedians as “stand-ins” for the voice of Alexa. The commercials focused on humor and, in the process, humanized the product and the brand as a whole (Wood).

 

Paid advertising is used to generate word-of-mouth and third-party credibility and that’s where PR steps in. Both of these ads conveyed a message in a light-hearted way that didn’t directly try and sell you the product but focused more on generating a buzz that would stick around long after the Super Bowl.

If there’s one thing we learn about advertising during the Super Bowl, it’s the perfect place to introduce audiences to products through advertising. Public relations will keep people talking about the ad and hopefully create something that will make them remember the product, long after the game is over.

 

What was your favorite commercial during Super Bowl LII? Comment below and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Citations: Wood, S. (2018, February 05). 3 Super Bowl Ads That Gave Their Brands a PR Boost. Retrieved February 06, 2018, from http://www.prnewsonline.com/super-bowl-2018-ads

By Blake Hedberg

Thanks for your continued support! Here is the link to give back to our program: https://ucmfoundation.org/Give/PR

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At the conclusion of another successful semester for UCM’s Innovative PR agency, it’s paramount to reflect on our journey, the professional experiences we’ve undertaken, and the skills we’ve acquired from our client projects. Also, while the student specialists spent countless hours working on client projects, several individuals coordinated efforts behind-the-scenes to keep IPR functioning, and those individuals each deserve a big thanks.

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Each semester is a unique journey. In the beginning, a variety of students whom possess varying skill sets, join together and take on multiple client projects while working in a simulated agency. The Fall 2017 Innovative PR team consisted of six undergraduate students, all interested in gaining real-world experience while still in school and wanting to challenge themselves professionally. In August, I challenged this team to take our agency to greatness. Fast-forward to December…as IPR the manager I can firmly assert they accomplished greatness.

In less than 12 months, the agency transformed in an almost night-and-day sweeping motion. Through leadership transition and financial crisis, Innovative PR delivered exceptional and timely work to clients. Our student specialists immersed themselves in media relations, logo-redesign, feature story writing, interviewing, story pitching, and brand management. IPR Account Specialist Adriana Vivas even won a professional award for her design work! And, highlighting this semester was the four day trip three of our students sponsored themselves and took to visit our Los Angeles based client. Read the full story here: https://ucminnovativepr.com/2017/12/01/help-get-team-amn-to-la-a-look-into-the-social-media-campaign/

As the Innovative PR manager, words cannot do justice to the sentiment I have toward the firm. The manager position has been transformative in my professional growth and opened more doors for me than I ever thought possible. I found that I am passionate about managing and interacting with students, forming bonds along the way while motivating individuals to reach their academic potential. To see them flourish, to see them succeed and deliver excellence to clients is one of the best feelings I’ve been fortunate enough to experience.

I owe a tremendous amount of our success to Dr. Tricia Hansen-Horn. Serving as the firm’s advisor, Dr. Hansen-Horn has been my saving grace through the first year and provides excellent assistance, as well as confidence support, to my endeavors in the office. I can always count on her to be there for guidance, and her work coordinating client projects keeps our agency alive. We would not operate without her long hours of hard work.

Also deserving thanks are our professional mentors in the University Relations office. Jeff Murphy and Mike Griefe have been instrumental in pushing the firm in the right direction. They have advised students and the previous managers since the firm’s 2010 inception. Both have positively impacted my experience as manager and always make time for me when I need help. The three individuals’ work often goes unnoticed, but today I would like to give them each a huge “thank you” from the entire Innovative PR team.

And, of course, I want to personally thank the individuals serving as our clients the past two semesters, while supporting our ongoing efforts. Your commitment to our agency has a profound impact on our students’ abilities to grow professionally. You’ve inspired them and opened plenty of doors for each of them. Without your assistance, we could not do what we do. And for that, we owe a big “thank you!”

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Much of what Innovative PR is able to do is supported through the UCM Public Relations Foundation Fund. In the spirit of holiday giving, I want to thank every individual who has contributed to it. Your contributions have a significant impact on keeping Innovative PR going and giving future PR pros the chance to experience this excellence found in this firm. We are making great progress toward next year’s funding goal, but we’re still several thousands of dollars away from the benchmark necessary to keep IPR going as a wholly student-led PR firm.

The UCM PR Program Foundation account link is https://ucmfoundation.org/Give/PR. If you can give yet this year, or again this year, please do. Your contributions make continued student excellence possible and Innovative PR growth possible. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Please share this blog and opportunity to support Innovative with your friends and colleagues.

Happy Holidays from all of us here at Innovative PR!

By Andrea “Nickey” Buzek

“Guys, I’ve never been on an airplane before,” I said to Adriana and Mark, the “A” and “M” to Team AMN.

Their eyebrows raised and I got the usual: “What?” “Really?” and “That’s crazy,” although, I don’t think they understood what I meant. Finally, I stopped the conversation and grabbed both of their arms. “GUYS! I’ve never been on a plane. Our client is in LA. What if we fly to him to give our final evaluation?” I said. Much like everyone else, they were interested, but doubtful that it was attainable.

I was fully aware that a trip like this would take hundreds of dollars. I also knew that Innovative PR didn’t have the funds to send three students on a trip to Los Angeles. I am a first-generation college student, working my way through college, so I really knew that I couldn’t pay for it. It was time to take my education from the classroom to the real world.

On Oct. 17, the social media campaign “Help Get Team AMN to LA!” was created with the objective of raising $800 through donations only by Nov. 9 to fund my portion of the trip. The $800 included travel expenses, food, lodging and emergency funds, with any funding beyond trip expenses to be used to help Innovative Public Relations fund its graduate position.

GoFundMe, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WordPress were the outlets used to start crowdsourcing. Over a four week period, I posted updates about how Team AMN was preparing for our trip. It included summaries of our workweek, pictures of projects and spotlights of the team members. Facebook posts received the most attention, naturally.
Grandmothers love sharing their babies, but grandma wasn’t the only one to share the updates. Family, friends, colleagues, UCM faculty members and random people I had never met before would actually share my posts. Instagram was the second most successful outlet with a record of 77 likes for one image. Twitter and WordPress were used periodically, but there was a lack of engagement on those platforms.

 

The first donation came on Oct. 17, and other donations flooded in soon after. Word-of-mouth started to take over. I had people coming up to me on campus asking how the fundraising was going, asking how they could help and even handing me money from their own pocket. The amount of support the campaign received was incredible, but what would public relations work be without a crisis.

On Oct. 25, Team AMN was notified that no university-related coursework for credit was allowed to be presented on this trip due to liability issues. This was a major problem considering Help Get Team AMN to LA! was built around us doing our evaluation in LA. I channeled my inner crisis communication training and decided to notify every person, who had donated, of the change. I also made updates detailing the shift in plans to get the word out to those who hadn’t donated. The campaign was repositioned to an educational trip rather than a business one. I communicated that Team AMN would still be touring all public relations agencies mentioned and that we still needed help funding. Honesty, as usual, was the best policy. Though, I gave donors an opportunity to be refunded, every one of them told me to keep the money and to make the most of the trip.

 

 

 

 

Looking back over this campaign, it was a huge success. My goal was to raise $800 by Nov. 9, but I walked onto the plane that day with $996.99. Not only did my community help me to achieve what I set out to accomplish, but they continued to give after the goal was met. Help Get Team AMN to LA! was able to donate $434.49 back into IPR, making a difference for the graduate position. The campaign caught the attention of alumni, faculty members and colleagues. It also helped me to understand what it really takes to implement a social media campaign, as well the benefits a PR practitioner could receive from one. The lessons I learned on Team AMN’s business trip will never be forgotten, but this pre-trip lesson was definitely one for the books.

If you would like to take a look into the tactics used for Help Get Team AMN to LA!, check out www.gofundme.com/our-first-la-business-trip. Improvement is the key to success, so if you would like to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this campaign, please leave a comment or direct message us via our social media outlets.

 

The Los Angeles trip opened many doors for our agency members. Stay tuned for the other perspectives in upcoming blogs! You can check us out on Facebook and Twitter here.

By Sarah Schroll

For a company in today’s world, it is extremely important to establish and maintain a social media presence. Social media is a great tool for a brand’s audience to not only learn quick information about products, but also to personally connect with the company.  Although social media is meant to entertain and inform, many companies zone in on the inform aspect and lose sight of the entertaining and human aspect that your brand can carry.

Twitter is a great way to connect with your audience because it gives a business a faster ways to quickly communicate information to its audience. One industry that stands above the rest for being virally entertaining is the fast food industry. Below are a few examples of how four fast food brands have successfully used twitter to interact with their publics.

 

KFC

      KFC is known for its 11 secret herbs and spices that are used in the bread coating on their chicken. On October 19, Twitter user @edgette22 discovered that KFC only follows 11 people on twitter–the five women who made up the Spice Girls and six men named Herb.

This clever idea came from Wieden+Kennedy, the integrated advertising agency that works with KFC, who implemented this Easter egg in September.

“Frankly, we weren’t sure if anybody was going to find it. Sometimes you just have to put stuff out into the universe and cross your fingers that the internet will work its magic,” said Freddie Powell, creative director for Wieden+Kennedy.

Since this initial tweet, Twitter made the post virial with retweets and likes. News outlets such as ABC News and the Chicago Tribune also picked up the story and reported on it.

 

Wendy’s

     Earlier this year, Twitter users began to see sassy replies to comments that people used to tag Wendy’s. These simple and funny replies gave people the chance to interact with the brand in a way that was bold and different from most restaurant chains on Twitter. Wendy’s became a trending topic on Twitter because of this and was mentioned on multiple news outlets.

Now, Wendy’s continues to roll out a few funny replies to different customers, and most recently participated in a rap battle with fellow fast food chain Wingstop.

 

Arby’s

     Arby’s has found a unique way to promote its products and brands–by using fandoms. This fast food restaurant chain primarily posts photos that target different animes, cartoons and former or currently popular television shows. Arby’s uses cardboard cutouts of characters posing with their food to get people engaged with their posts.

This has been such a successful ongoing tactic for their twitter account because Arby’s is reaching so many fan bases in a different way. Many posts also have a nostalgic element to them that draws Millennials and Generation Xers.

  

Burger King

Burger King has developed a very specific voice for their Twitter, making funny, short and sometimes nonsensical comments that are entertaining. Making comments that seem like something a Young Adult would say, Burger King has focused its voice on Twitter to really resonate with its target audience.

What other companies have you seen that have used Twitter to connect with their audience in a unique way? Let us know in the comments below and make sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

By Andrea “Nickey” Buzek

When speaking of a company’s social media accounts, it only makes sense that all platforms have the same theme. For example, if you went to Wal-Mart’s Facebook page, you would expect to see the same blue and yellow graphics and posts as their Twitter page, right? In the public relations field, this important concept is known as branding.

Now, let’s take that same idea and apply it to your brand across your social media platforms. When people search your profile, do they see the same theme through your posts, or do they see vibrant red on one profile and light blues on another? Having inconsistent content may cause your audience to lose sight of who you are as a person. Unifying your profiles can give future employers a sense of professionalism and cohesiveness as they examine you as an applicant.

Let’s begin with the appearance of your profile.  Analyzing the type of photos you post may cause you to see a theme. Find pictures that represent you as a person and seem to have the same color scheme. Make them the most visible on your page. Set one of them as your cover photo across all platforms, and make sure your profile picture complements it. If Twitter is a platform you use, you have the option to set your text color to the same color scheme as your cover photo and profile picture. This will be the finishing touch on your color coding.

 

Your bio to every platform should be the same. Social media sites often have a limit to the number of characters you can use because people rarely want to read long-winded texts. Keep this in mind when typing your bio. Give brief information that provides important details to the profile you have created.

 

Next, consider your friends or following list. When people search your profile to find commonalities, they often go to your friends list first. If they see people of interest to them, they are likely to think you fall under the same category. While follow for follow seems nice, making sure you stick to a follow strategy will gather more followers that are in line with your personal brand.

Once you’ve established your friends list, your target audience will begin to gravitate toward your page. This is where you need to consider post content. People enjoy reading posts that are interesting and/or valuable. Find out what is interesting and/or valuable to yourself and those who follow you. Make comments and repost items that will likely attract the attention of others in your area. This will make you more relevant to those who follow you.

Unifying your brand across all platforms of social media can take some time if you’ve never thought of posting in a strategic manner. 10 Best Social Media Management Applications can provide tips on apps that can help you.

If you have any other tips for unifying your brand across social media, make a comment below, or mention us in your post on Facebook and Twitter. You can check us out on Facebook and Twitter here.