A hug from Taylor Swift…

What a campaign/promotion/viral challenge can do…

Two students from Auburn University thought about the one thing that they would love to accomplish, and that was getting a hug from country music star Taylor Swift.  Michael Wekall and Ryan Leander are two very ambitious students who decided to launch their campaign to see what would happen. They have been pretty blown away by the response they have received.  They have created YouTube videos, social media messages, and campus wide events to spread the word and before they knew it they had many followers including Taylor herself. 

Once the word got back to Taylor Swift about the “get a hug from Taylor campaign” she issued a challenge to the two students announcing that getting a hug from her wasn’t going to be so easy. The first challenge was to help an older lady across the street. Of course the two men agreed and went above and beyond to fulfill the challenge. Not only did they walk an elderly woman across the street but they had many students fulfill the challenge with them and send in videos. 

The first challenge is complete…view below

Challenge #1

Now they are anticipating what their next challenge will be,  hoping that the end result is a hug from the one and only Taylor Swift! Isn’t it amazing what spreading the word can do?  And if that isn’t neat enough they are spreading the kind deeds around the university in the mean time!

To find out more about the campaign view the links below…

The official website

Facebook Fan page

CMT Story

 

TOW – Week 8 – Lead Lab

While taking the Lead Lab course at News U I learned a lot of new and valuable information.  I believe as a PR student/professional you can always find ways to improve your writing.  The course was focused on how to write a better lead.  The lead is the first thing that a reader comes across.  The lead is usually what persuades the audience to continue reading or to skip it.  This course breaks down how to discover a lead into two questions that you can ask yourself.  The first question is,”What’s the news”.  This is supposed to help you narrow down the important facts from the flowery details.  The second question is, “What’s the story about”.  It’s important to let the audience know from the beginning what they are going to be reading about.  Although these seem like mundane questions when I asked myself and really thought about each one it really did help me. 

It was a little surprising to me when the course emphasized the need for tension in your lead. Tension isn’t the same as conflict though.  By tension they mean something in your lead that is going to make the audience continue reading.  Although I have thought about that before I guess I never saw it put this way.

Any PR student can benefit from this.  If you would like more information or like to enroll in the free course at News U  click here.

10 Essential Social Media Tips

This is a great article on social media tips for B2B marketers. 

Check it out :

Social Media Tips

Reading Notes Chapter 8

The important role of photos and graphics

• Studies show that more people “read” photos then read articles
• Advertising Research Foundation found that three to four times as many people notice the average one-column photograph as read the average news story
• Photos and graphics increase awareness

Quick tips for taking a good publicity photo:

• Show the product in the scene where it would be used
• Don’t accept anything but the best
• Setting should be realistic
• Every picture should have an accurate caption

Tips and ideas for publicity graphics:

• Graphics can include charts, diagrams and maps
• should be colorful and uncluttered
• Never send as an attachment to an editor or reported unless specified

 

 

Reading Notes Chapter 7

Features and Op-Ed

FEATURES :

Features comes in  various formats.  Sometimes they are created to provide information, sometimes to provide background information and sometimes to generate publicity for standard products and services.

Parts of a Feature :

• Headline
• Lead
• Body
• Summary
• Photos and Graphics

OP-ED:

An op-ed means “opposite the editorial page”. 

An op-ed piece is a chance to influence leaders and thinkers. 

Tips for writing a good op-ed:

• Prefered 400-750 words 
• Have a clear editorial viewpoint
• Use short declarative sentences
• Be timely
• Avoid the use of first person
• Use active verbs
• Dont’ do a mass email of an op-ed piece

 

 

Reading Notes Chapter 6

Facts Sheets, Advisories, Media Kits, and Pitches

Fact Sheets :

• A one page background sheet about an event, a product, or even the organization
• Often accompanies a news release or media kit
• Bullet form document that is used as a quick reference

Media Kits:

• Also known as a press kit
• Can include : a main news release, fact sheets, background information, photos and drawings, basic brochures

Forming a pitch:

• do your homework
• enticing lead
• Make sure the email subject lines are catchy
• follow-up on your pitch

Reading Notes Chapter 5

News Release

A news release or press release is the backbone of every publicity plan.

In the reading this week they were two major statistics that stood out to me :

• Between 55 and 97 percent of all news releases sent to media outlets are never used.
• There is a massive competition for the attention of reporters and editors.

Three ways to help your news release stand out:

• Follow a standard format that is clear and concise
• provide information that will interest the audience
• material must be timely

 

 

 

Reading Notes Chapter 4

Find & Making News

“A  major purpose of many public relations programs is to provide information to the media in the hop that it will be published or broadcast.”

Publicist : PR writer who rights and places stories in the media

Publicist need to remember three things:

• familiar with traditional journalistic news values
• know where to find news and how to select the angle that’s most interesting
• must come up with creative publicity tactics

Publicist must navigate through four obstacles :

• media gatekeepers- editors & reporters decide what gets published
• space provided for news is limited
• no longer able to reach the public through one single medium
• information overload (make your news creative and interesting)

What makes news

Timeliness – Prominence – Proximity – Significance – Unusualness – Human Interest – Conflict – Newness