9. homework
• Compose five social media Tweets or Facebook
posts for your press kit organization
• One on each tip we discussed:
• Build credibility/interest with behind-the-scenes
information
• Show what your organization does
• Interact with potential customers/members
• Keep people informed
• Monitor competitors and do better
10. Announcements
• Social media promotion homework due Friday at 5 p.m.
• Readings posted online
• No lecture tomorrow: work on homework and project two
• Last quiz tomorrow
• Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Notas do Editor
Welcome to lecture 12, social media promotion.
Today will be a short lecture, as we already covered a lot of the rules on professionalism online Monday. I also would like you to do some independent work on this topic, reading the two articles I sent you (questions from which will be on your quiz tomorrow). During this brief lecture, we will talk about some ways to promote an organization using social media and go over your last homework assignment due Thursday.
Please take a few minutes and read through this chart explaining why pr professionals should use social media to get their messages across.Social media allows organizations to distribute their messages to audiences immediately and to respond to readers’ concerns quickly. It also allows organizations to reach worldwide audiences for free and with relative ease. The best organizations use social media to interact with followers, fans, and friends for feedback on improving and to build a base of loyal followers they can rely on.
Let’s break down a few of these ideas and look at some examples. First, organizations can use social media public relations to build credibility and interest by providing behind-the-scenes information about the organization. Take a look at these two FB posts for a nearby winery. They posted a video and photos letting readers see exactly how their wines are being made, which make the reader feel confident in the quality of the wine. The winery also does a great job letting people know how they can come out and participate themselves, lending more credibility to the process.
You can also use social media to show off exactly what products, services, and ideas your organization offers. These Tweets from various YMCA organizations throughout the world show off some of their products, services, and goals, including workout rooms, a climbing wall, and initiatives to help the community (which is also an example of how the Y is promoting its positive image).
Organizations use social media to interact with people to get feedback and to get them thinking about the product being offered. Saladworks posts regularly on FB, soliciting feedback and advice from consumers, as you can see here. But one of the best things they do is post questions like, if you were a Saladworks salad, which would you be? It takes almost no effort on their part, yet they get hundreds of comments from people who are now probably craving a Saladworks salad. They are also getting their message posted on the pages of their friends, expanding their audience even further.
Social media can also help your organization keep the public informed of what is going on within. For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps followers informed of daily weather conditions and foreboding storms via Twitter, and readers often turn to them for their reliable and consistent coverage.
Social media also makes it easier to check on what your competitors are doing so you can cater your strategy accordingly. You should always follow your rivals to be sure you know what is happening in the industry.
For your homework due Friday at 5 p.m., you will compose five Tweets or Facebook posts for the organization you are working with for your press kit. You do not need to actually post these; you simply need to type them up in a document to send to me. Your posts should accurately reflect things that are going on in the organization, which will probably require you to do a bit more reporting on your organization (no making things up!).You will come up with one post accomplishing each of the goals we discussed in this lecture. One post should help your organization build credibility and/or interest by showing or explaining something happening behind the scenes. One post should show off what your organization does. One post should be used to interact with customers or members. One post should be used to keep people informed about something going on with the organization. And one post should be used to promote your organization, making it more appealing than a potential competitor.Try not to get too bogged down in the details here. Have fun with it, and let me know if you have any questions.