Learning from a Fellow Student Blogger

Dr. V recently directed our PR class to Cheryl Harrison’s blog, and I must admit….I’m very impressed. Any student who has the dedication and makes the effort to maintain such an impressive site definitely deserves some recognition. What did I learn from reading her blog?….Just be yourself. Cheryl writes about professional topics like social media and tips for finding a job, yet she never loses touch of who she truly is. Instead of using intense jargon that no one really uses when they talk, she speaks to those who read her blog in more familiar and personal terms. There’s no need for a college student to act like they know everything about public relations or social media because we all still have a lot to learn, but we do still have a voice that people want to hear. Just by being creative and taking the time to intelligently document our thoughts and opinions, we can all be successful and interesting bloggers.

Engaging the Blogosphere

Hypothetical situation: I am advising a small bathroom décor store on how to blog.

I would advise the store to market itself as being THE place to come when people are looking for the latest and greatest styles as they are decorating their bathrooms. I would encourage them to stay on top of the popular trends in other parts of the country and other parts of the world as well. By keeping up with the most current trends in bathroom décor, this store could play an active role in being one of the first sources to alert people of the new styles. Even if they don’t have the products in stock just yet, many consumers will remember that this store brought this information to their attention and will think to make this store one of their first visits.

Especially during these tough economic times, people also want to know that they are paying reasonable prices for merchandise. The store could also utilize their blog to demonstrate that they are selling the newest bathroom décor at lower prices than their competitors. Who wouldn’t want to update their bathroom and get a great deal at the same time?

Looking at new social media tools

 

After looking over the list of social media tools that was put together by Chris Brogan, I realized very quickly that I am still a newbie when it comes to this stuff. I thought I was pretty technologically savvy just being familiar with and efficient at using Facebook, Twitter, and blogging on WordPress. This list made it quite clear that I have only skimmed the surface of social media. Fortunately, I have learned to not be intimidated by these sites anymore. I will admit, I was not fond at all about having to blog and use Twitter on a regular basis for my public relations class when I first found out that I would have to engage in such online activities. Thankfully, I have learned to embrace the various social media outlets that exist, and I am excited to get to know more about them.

This list allowed me to become more familiar with sites that I had never heard of. There were a few in particular that caught my interest. I have gradually become a fan of Twitter the more I use it. A site similar to this is Brightkite, and I really like how users can insert photos into their comments to supplement what they have to say. I haven’t completely decided how I feel about social bookmarking sites. However, after looking over a few of them, I think I would prefer to use Ma.gnolia over the others since I found the format of this website much easier to understand. Reddit was my favorite social news site because it allows you to customize what topics you want to view, and it puts this option in a place where even first time users will immediately see it. Lastly, I thought that Twitter Search was a fun social media site as well. If I want to see what people are Twittering about topics ranging from Sarah Palin to Britney Spears, this site makes it possible. This website would also be a very useful tool if I wanted to conduct any type of research on Twitter.

In conclusion….there are a lot of really neat social media tools for people to explore, and I still have a lot to learn!

A New View of PR

 

Looking over various examples of public relations helped me to better understand the true definition of PR. Coming into this class, I viewed public relations as a one-way street. I thought that public relations just involved telling the rest of the world about different products, companies, and people. For me, the most thought provoking statement was at the end of the Red Cross Social Media Document. It reiterated the point that public relations exists to connect people. Whether these connections involve informing individuals about natural disasters or telling them about a new and innovative cleaning product, public relations serves as the bridge to connect people to the things that they want to and/or should know about and vice versa.