Social Media Shenanigans

My name is Rachel Martin, and I'm a Facebookaholic. Like many of you, I am a self-proclaimed addict of social media, facebook being my drug of choice. If you find yourself using social media language in your daily conversation, then you might be a social media addict too. Do you ever see things and wish you could "like" them? Have you noticed when you see a couple you refer to them being "facebook official"? Can you compact your ideas into just 140 characters a piece? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you too might have a problem.

But the question is, is it an actual problem? Can social media have a real impact on your life? The truth is, it may. Especially if you're one of those crazy people who have or are wanting a job. Social media can impact your job search both negatively or positively. This link is to a podcast that I did with my fellow PR students about this topic. In a nutshell, here is a quick recap of what we learned:

The 10 commandments of social media usage
1 –Add value first, and sell LAST
2 –Listen twice as much as you talk
3 – Do not spam all your contacts
4 – Do not act like a stuck up jerk
5 – Do not steal all your friends contacts
6 – Do personalize every invitation you make to join any network
7 – Do remember that 10 can be more powerful than 10000
8 – Do not beg (for anything)
9 – Do be authentic and transparent in all you do
10 – Do not forget the power of face to face conversation

In closing, social media, if used correctly and in moderation, can be a wonderful thing. Which I was glad to hear, considering I couldn't quit even if I wanted.

Interviewing a PR Pro

The PR professional that I chose to interview for this assignment was Ashley Cleveland. Ashley is the Communications and Public Relations Specialist at the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce. Ashley is a graduate of Oklahoma State University, where she majored in Spanish and Journalism and Broadcasting, specializing in Public Relations.

It was interesting to hear her talk about what a typical week is like for her, mostly because she said her weeks are not typical at all. Other than the handful of mandatory tasks that she must complete each week, such as sending out the weekly emails to Chamber members and reading the local newspapers to stay current with local news, every week is different for her.

One thing Ashley said she wished she would have known before starting her career in PR is that it is not as easy as it looks. More specifically, the media is not as interested in the press releases she sends out as she thought they would be. She emphasized that this is why having impeccable writing skills is invaluable to a PR professional’s career. She said writing is at the heart of everything she does as a PR practitioner. Having good writing skills helps her with everything from being an effective speaker to being able to deliver a message concisely on Twitter.

After interviewing Ashley I think I am more likely to want a career in PR. After talking to her I realize it might be harder than I am imagining it to be but it sounds like a challenge I want to take on. A lot of the answers I got from the interview are what I expected them to be, but others surprised me. I was surprised to hear how unpredictable each work day is for her, even working in a smaller town like Stillwater. This assignment really opened my eyes to what being a PR practitioner really is and I think I learned a lot.

Flashmob City. Population: Me.

This past Thursday I took part in the first Flashmob to ever take place on Oklahoma State University's campus. And it was awesome! For those of you who don't know what a Flashmob is, it can best be described as an a large gathering of people at a public place to perform an act. In our case, this act was dancing. The students of my Advanced PR Media class organized the event to raise awareness of the name change of our school from the School of Journalism and Broadcasting to the School of Media and Strategic Communications. We were put into groups and each group was given a specific area to focus on.

I obviously volunteered to be in the group in charge of making up the dance and teaching it to everyone. I love to boogie so this seemed like the natural choice for me. We had three practices to teach the dance to other OSU students. We then performed the dance on Thursday, just after the Spirit Walk and before the kick off of the Oklahoma State v. Texas A&M game.

This was a really cool project to be a part of and a major reason for it's success was the use of social media. By using Facebook and Twitter, we were able to communicate with a much larger group of students than we would have had we not been able to use this tool. Our Twitter page http://twitter.com/OKStateflashmob acted as a reminder to all those participating in the event.

Here is a taste of the swagging that went on...

To say that the Flashmob was fly wouldn't be doing it justice. I'm not saying it had anything to do with OSU's come-from-behind, thrilling win over Texas A&M...but I'm not saying it DIDN"T have anything to do with it either.