Course syllabus for PBRL 3150: Social Media for Strategic PR taught at Webster University

1. Social Media
for Strategic PR
Patrick Powers

2. #PBRL3150

3. Patrick Powers
● 14 years as communications
professional
● 9 years in marketing and
communications
● 7 years in digital marketing and
social media

4. My Social Story
May2000
Jan.28,2013
Oct.19,2005
Aug.1,2005
Jan.8,2010
Oct7,2008
Aug.1,2011

7. I’m on the Grid.
● patrickpowers59@gmail.com
● @patrickjpowers
● facebook.com/patrickpowers
● linkedin.com/in/patrickjpowers
● instagram.com/patrickpowers59
● 314-540-0356
● www.patrickjpowers.com

8. Tonight’s Plan
● Introductions
● Course Syllabus Review
● Social Media Overview
● Social Media and the Media
● Traditional PR vs. PR 2.0
● Case Studies
● Group Work
● Assignments

9. Who are you?

10. 1. Name
2. Year/Major
3. My Social Story
4. At the end of this class I
would like to ...

11. Course Syllabus
Overview

12. Learning Outcomes
● Compare and contrast multiple social media
platforms;
● Analyze current best practices in social media;
● Identify and employ ethical standards for engaging
in social media;
● Determine key performance indicators for
measuring the effectiveness of social media; and,
● Integrate social media into a communications plan;

13. Required Texts
● None

14. Suggested Reading

15. Expectations
● Read In Advance. Students are expected to
read all text materials assigned for the week before
arriving at the first class session of the week.
● Turn In Work On Time. Assignments will be
due at the beginning of the first class session the
following week. The instructor will not accept late
assignments for any reason. No assignments are
accepted by email.

16. Expectations
● Attendance Is Expected. Excused absences
must be approved in advance by the instructor.
Missing 2 or more classes will result in a failing grade.
● Respect Others. Behavior that disrupts the class
or distracts other students will not be tolerated. This
includes cell phones, pagers, PDAs and tardiness.

17. Expectations
● Thou Shalt Not Cheat. Only your best, original
work is acceptable for class assignments. Plagiarism
is a sin of dismissal for students in the class. Work
taken from the Internet and other sources must be
properly cited. Penalties for submitting non-original
work will range from failing the assignment to
dismissal from the course.

18. Grading
● Attendance 10%
● Discussion Participation 15%
● Weekly Assignments 20%
● Individual Project 20%
● Final Group Project 35%

19. Weekly Assignments
● How do we want to do this?

20. Weekly Assignments
● Post one original article by 11:59 p.m. on
Sunday, accompanied by 50 word primer.
● Comment on two classmates’ posts;
Minimum 25-word response.
● Other assignments, as assigned.

21. Week 1
Understanding the tools and technology that enable
social media and why they are relevant in the ever-
changing world of public relations.
● Introductions/Syllabus Review
● What is social media?
● Class Assignment and Discussion

22. Week 2
How to get started developing a social media strategy;
how to choose the right tools to build a foundation for
success; how to set up an organization for social
success.
● Organizational Models
● Social Media Policies
● Class Assignment and Discussion

23. Week 3
Understanding the components of a strategy and the
impact of social media on an organization’s identity.
● Janet Person, Social Media Director, Monsanto
● Listening First and Never Stop Listening
● Engage: Creating True Dialogue with, and between,
the Audience
● Class Assignment and Discussion

24. Week 4
Preparing a social media plan.
● Social and SEO
● Facebook
● Individual Projects Due
●

25. Individual Project
Due Feb. 4, 2014 (5-6 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font)
● Investigate and analyze the company or organization’s history,
specifically as it relates to marketing and public relations;
● Identify strengths and weaknesses within the company;
● Gather information on the external environment;
● Identify the social media strategy;
● Analyze the implementation of this strategy; and,
● Make recommendations.

27. Week 5
How to implement a strategy using platform-specific
tactics.
● Twitter
● LinkedIn
● Social Images: Instagram; Snapchat; Flickr

28. Week 6
How to implement a strategy using platform-specific
tactics.
● Troika Brodsky, Communications Director, Schlafly
Beer
● Google+
● Social Video: YouTube, Vine

29. Week 7
Understand how to measure the success of a social
media campaign and make the appropriate
adjustments along the way.
● Key Performance Indicators
● Future of Social Media
● Case Studies and Discussion

30. Week 8
Presentation and critique of final team projects.

31. Social Media
Overview

32. What is social media?

33. What is social media?
Digital media that supports
conversation and
interaction.

35. 2009

37. 2013

38. What changed?

39. Traditional Media
● 1-way delivery.
● Easy to not care, ignore.
● High level of noise.
● Expensive.

41. Social Media
● 2-way conversation.
● Encourages engagement.
● Infuses personality.
● Inexpensive.

42. Opportunities
● Knowledge sharing.
● Life sharing.
● Social networking.
● Business networking.
● Community building.

43. If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to
hear or see it, did it actually happen?
“Indeed. Conversations are taking place with or without you.
“If you’re not part of the conversation, then you’re leaving it to others to answer questions and
provide information, whether it’s accurate or incorrect. Or, even worse, you may be leaving it up
to your competition to jump in to become the resource for the community. Yes, there will be
negative comments. Yes, you’ll invite unsolicited feedback. Yes, people will question your
intentions.
“Negativity will not go away simply because you opt out of participating. Negative commentary,
at the very least, is truly an opportunity to change the perception that you did or didn’t know
existed.

44. Brian Solis
P.R. stands for Public Relations and therefore
begets relationships with the greater communities
of influencers and users who can help extend the
story, intentions, value, and sentiment as a means
of driving awareness, building communities, and
empowering advocates over time.

45. Social Media and
the Media

46. Why do we care?
Journalists use social media to gather news stories, but
only if the source is known and trusted.
● 51% of journalists worldwide say they use sites like
Facebook and Twitter to gather new stories;
● the figure falls to 25% when the source is unknown.

50. In today’s version of public relations,
companies no longer need to rely
exclusively on the media to tell their
story to their audience.
Social media changes everything.

51. Traditional PR vs.
PR 2.0

52. Elements

53. Tools

54. Still the Same
● Storytelling.
● Communications.
● Relationship development.
● Finding the right audience.
● Using the right message.
● Live events.

55. Where do we go
from here?

57. Discovery + Research =
One integrated plan for traditional and social media
Traditional Media Social Media
Social MediaTraditional Media
Clear roadmap for all PR activities
with strategies to leverage
traditional communications to
produce key results.
Careful plan established for how
traditional PR can be amplified by
social media.
Clear roadmap for all SM activities
with strategies to leverage non-
traditional communications to
produce key results.
Careful plan established for how
social media could be amplified by
traditional PR.

58. Social media is part of the journey, not the destination.

59. Media Success
Information mining
Emerging trends
Events and affiliations
Personality development
News generation
Community involvement
Award submissions
Sponsorships
Feature stories
Expert commentary
By-line articles
Editorial coverage
Speaking opportunities
Awards recognition
Relationship cultivation
Relationship
development
Story positioning/
pitching
Inclusion in round-ups
Editorial calendars
Feature stories
Media CoverageCompany

60. Public Relations
Analysis
Objectives
Strategies
Brainstorm
Finalize tactics
Finalize team
Finalize KPI
Initiate tracking
Media outreach
Introductions to
new contacts
Execute story
calendar
Trend stories
Interviews
Opportunistic
responses
Media research
Contact list
Editorial and
opportunity
calendars
Pitch calendar
Execution plan
MonitoringExecutionSet upPlanning
Tracking/
measurement
Listening
Plan review
Plan adjustments
Trend evaluation
Weekly/monthly
reporting and
meetings

61. Story Idea
Write Story
Distribute Story
Pitch Story
Media Coverage
Public

62. What does social
success look like?

63. Public Relations
Analysis
Objectives
Strategies
Brainstorm
Finalize tactics
Finalize team
Finalize KPI
Initiate tracking
Media outreach
Introductions to
new contacts
Execute story
calendar
Trend stories
Interviews
Opportunistic
responses
Media research
Contact list
Editorial and
opportunity
calendars
Pitch calendar
Execution plan
MonitoringExecutionSet upPlanning
Tracking/
measurement
Listening
Plan review
Plan adjustments
Trend evaluation
Weekly/monthly
reporting and
meetings

64. Social Media
Analysis
Objectives
Strategies
Brainstorm
Tactics
Social media
mapping
Finalize KPI
Content production
Storytelling
Ongoing execution
of social media
plan
Participation
Development of
custom elements
Tactic testing
Platform setup
Channel integration
Content + video
planning
SM training
Website + blog
integration
Community
building
Tracking process
MonitoringExecutionSet upPlanning
Tracking/
measurement
Listening
Plan review
Plan adjustments
Trend evaluation
Weekly/monthly
reporting and
meetings

65. Story Idea
Write Story
Distribute Story
Pitch Story
Media Coverage
Public

66. Story Idea
Write Story
Distribute Traditional
Pitch Story
Media Coverage
Public
SM Newsroom
Public
Distribute Social
Public
P P P P
P P P P
P P P P
P P P P

67. Social Event Cycle
Press release
Microsite
Blogs
YouTube
Facebook pages/
groups
Twitter
Vine
Blog recap
YouTube
Flickr
Facebook
Storify
Live tweeting
Live streaming
Instagram
Instagram video
Facebook
Vine
Real Time Post-eventPre-event

68. Case Studies

70. I need your help here ...
● What is special about this case?
● What impressed you?
● What worked well?
● What could you replicate in real
life?

72. I need your help here ...
● What is special about this case?
● What impressed you?
● What worked well?
● What could you replicate in real
life?

74. I need your help here ...
● What is special about this case?
● What impressed you?
● What worked well?
● What could you replicate in real
life?

75. Group Project

76. Group Project
Participants in the class will be broken into small groups during the first week of class. Each
group will work on a real life project to develop a comprehensive social media campaign for a
business or organization assigned to the team. Team members are expected to start working on
the project from the first week.
Groups will present their campaign during the last week of class. The campaign presentation
should be between 10-15 minutes in length.
As part of the presentation, the group will submit a written report that details all the steps taken
to complete the project. The report must be at least four pages in length, but no more than six. It
will be written in a 12-pt font and double-spaced.

77. Group Project
● Introduce yourself.
● Discuss your interests.
● Identify strengths and weaknesses.
● Research potential clients.
● Submit three client possibilities.

78. Weekly
Assignment