A Juggling Tight Rope Act

So right now I feel like I am juggling three full time jobs while walking down a flaming tight rope in a three ring circus. This is quite a feat, to say the least, and somehow I still have my sanity (although October may very easily take it from me). First Job: Student with a full course load. I'm trying not to hate this first job, trying not to be too eager to be finished. But at times senioritis is getting the best of me. So let's move on to my second job: President of Texas Belles Event Planning Organization. This job I enjoy but it sure does take up a ton of time! And finally my JOB job: Working 30+ hours a week at the Barr Mansion. So this will turn into my real, big girl job when I graduate and I really do love what I'm doing at Barr Mansion. But right now I'm forced to juggle and balance all of these instead of devoting fully to just one. So far I feel I haven't dropped any one of these into the flames below. I know that in the PR and Advertising world professionals make a career out of these juggling acts. I imagine that working on several different campaigns or clients would essentially be a juggling act with severe consequences if one should fall or fail. And now it seems that a fourth ball has been added to the already jam-packed circus act: social and digital media. This is changing the PR/Advertising act significantly and professionals are being forced to improvise, incorporating this new strategy seamlessly. It's a tough act, but there have been many successes as of late. I applaud all those tight-rope walking, juggling PR and advertising professionals who have made it to the other side, balancing their already full act with new feats.

Playing Catch Up

So I'm behind (if that isn't obvious). School is piling up around me and that's combined with my job at Barr Mansion with twenty weddings in one month; all this is basically guaranteed to turn me into a zombie by the end of October. So today I'm playing catch up (since yesterday's pitiful attempt at catch up was equivalent to the Cowboy's pitiful win last night). Being so far behind with school made me think about what happens when a company falls behind and is forced to play catch up. After reading Paul's essay on crisis management in a digital society, I think there is no such thing as playing catch up for a company. You are either ride the wave and handle a crisis as it breaks or you get kicked into the undertow and are forever trying to get back to the surface. Digital media has completely altered the way a company is forced to handle crises. For consumers and other publics, this change is for the better. Today, companies are forced to dispel information quickly, act decisively, and fix the problem or suffer the consequences. Because of this, consumers are able to enter into conversation with companies, receive valuable information about products and product safety, and have the problem resolved quickly. For companies, this means never ever falling behind. Companies must now commit time and resources to always staying caught up with the conversations online and ways to handle those conversations if they turn ugly. The immediacy and permanency of the internet demands companies develop and actively manage a crisis plan, because in today's digital world, there is no such thing as playing catch up.

How to make hard decisions easier: a REALLY awesome Credo

After reading Johnson and Johnson's Credo, the first thought that came to mind was simply that it spelled everything out plain as day, crystal clear, no questions asked. While that may seem like a mundane and not so exciting afterthought, in the world of tough business decisions a credo like J&J's comes in really handy. Because their credo is so explicit, it makes tough decisions that much clearer for upper management at Johnson and Johnson. Take for instance, the Tylenol crisis. J&J acted quickly and decisively to recall possibly poisoned Tylenol in a very costly and damaging nation-wide crisis. Knowing the consequences of long-term brand reputation damage and costly recall, J&J didn't hesitate to act. Their actions were directly in line with their credo, their commitments to consumers laid out completely. When management is forced to make tough decisions with looming consequences, a credo that leaves no room for negotiation can be an extremely positive force for a company, even if it forces the company to make some not so welcome changes or decisions.

Team Kanye vs. Team Taylor

So last night I was successfully avoiding homework by perusing through Facebook. Suddenly my newsfeed explodes with status updates calling Kanye West some form of derogatory name. So I think to myself, "Hmmm what did Kanye do to make so many people call him so many nasty things?" Immediately I take to the search and instantly discover the source of the outrage: his comments during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the VMA's. While this incident is really trivial in the scheme of things (well maybe not to Kanye's publicist) and amounts to nothing more than obscure celebrity culture, the impact of social media on this trivial event is important. I could care less about the VMA's, Taylor Swift, or Kanye. I had no plans to watch the VMA's nor did I care who won what awards at the VMA's. My only motivation for searching out the reason for the Kanye-bash was my facebook newsfeed. My peers instantly became a news authority, and following their lead I searched for a topic that held no real interest for me except for the fact that everyone was talking about it. In the mere 24 hours since the VMA's, the web and social media has exploded with anti-Kanye this and that. Celebrities such as Pink are blogging about the incident, facebook users are making bumper stickers, and trashy celebrity magazines and columnists are having a field day. There is no controlling a force like social media, a force that can force someone who has never even heard of Kanye West to google him. Note to self: Never become a celebrity publicist; you will most certainly end up dealing with idiots like Kanye.

Free Smoothie Day, Hooray!

A few days ago my mom called me to tell me that Jamba Juice was having a free smoothie day on Thursday (today). So with my handy piece of insider information, I scamper over to Jamba Juice after class to get a normally five dollar but today free delicious treat that I would normally attempt to avoid. However, I wasn't the only one who knew about free smoothie day. The line was around 15 people long when I got there and soon swelled to close to 40 people, causing the line to form down the drag and causing quite the spectacle. I stood and watched the scene unfold, smoothie in hand. Some people asked me what the line was for and other people just jumped in line without really knowing what was going on. So the PR student in me noted the very successful PR stunt and motives behind free smoothie day at Jamba Juice. Later while perusing the social media of my client for my group project, I thought to check out Jamba Juice and what social media they used for free smoothie day. I was quite surprised to find that Jamba Juice did not announce free smoothie day on their Web site or on their Facebook. The Jamba Juice twitter for Austin did tweet about free smoothie day but that was all I could find in terms of social media promotion. I'm sure free smoothie day was not a national event and that could have been the motive behind the quiet social media front. It is refreshing to see, however, that successful PR initiatives can be pulled off by a sign in a door and word of mouth alone. Social media is an incredible tool but traditional tactics still work and can be just as effective. And giving away free smoothies is always a good way to go. It certainly made my day.

Blogging and Dial Up Internet Don't Mix

Don’t try this at home. For your own sanity do not attempt to post a blog using dial up internet on a computer that is so overloaded with pointless programs and saved crap (no other word is suitable to describe the content of this computer). After four tries on this ancient machine I have given up and resorted to stolen Wi-Fi. So here I am blogging in an environment ten years behind the modern world. Right now I am in Terre Haute, Indiana in my stepmother’s restaurant in downtown. I am visiting my father and his family for the Labor Day weekend, and after not checking my email for three days I feel so relieved to be back in touch with the modern world. Driving through Terre Haute feels like you’re driving during the mid 1990’s. I don’t feel that I am exaggerating either. After being so immersed in the changing ways of the world and new technology, it feels so strange to be in an environment with dial up internet. My father’s computer literally takes half an hour to load the internet, and that’s when it’s playing nice. You type in an URL and come back twenty minutes later after doing something completely different to see if the page has loaded. To say the least, it is a different lifestyle up here. It presents a challenge to those savvy PR professionals with their newest and greatest social media. I asked my stepmother if she knew what a blog is, and she responded, “Ehhh, kinda?” How do you communicate using the latest and greatest strategies with consumers who don’t know what Facebook is or who have never read a blog… ever? Social media is an incredible strategy, but only when consumers actually know what it is and how to use it. And the folks of Terre Haute, Indiana prevent a special challenge. I told my father that he needed to wipe his hard drive on his computer to get rid of all the crap that is making his computer slow. He responded, “Well I’ve got too much good stuff on here.” That example about sums up the challenge that we are facing in rural Indiana.

Losing my Blogging Virginity

It's official. As this is my first blog post on a freshly created blog, I am no longer a blogger virgin. It's a semi exciting feeling but one that also comes with some nerves as thoughts bounce around in my head and I have to decide what to write. It makes me wonder how others feel when starting a new blog. While blogging is not an all that recent phenomenon, it remains uncharted territory for many (including myself up to this point). There's quite a bit of mystery that surrounds the blogosphere and what purpose a blog actually serves. Many people think that blogs are simply online journal postings; with this perception comes the "Well who wants to know what you think?" snickers. Having never been one to journal my thoughts for the day, I can agree with that perception in some ways. But being a public relations student I know the potential of the blogosphere and other social media to change the face of public relations and communications in general. So I am forced to decide between a professional opinion of blogging and the more mainstream "Who cares what I have to say?" attitude. For me, this blog will serve as an experiment of sorts. This blog will serve as an outlet of my thoughts in my last year of college, my countdown to the real world. It will of course serve an official capacity in that I am forced to blog as an assignment. But I accept the assignment without grudge and instead with curiosity and excitement. Perhaps after my required two postings a week I will become a blogging addict, spilling my every thought on to the screen. I hope this experiment will help me discover the true nature of blogging and help me craft a more informed opinion. I know I will gain something from this blogging bandwagon and I look forward to the ride.