Athletes Share More on Social Media

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

Publicists and public relations representatives beware—athletes have discovered Twitter!

As dramatic as that sounds, the results of athletes sharing via this ever-growing social platform have mostly produced positive publicity for players who don’t experience as much mainstream coverage as football, basketball, and baseball stars, but have also produced many cautionary tales.

Athletes Take to Social Media

Social media is allowing athletes to share more intimate details about their lives and the games they play. The desire to reach past the media and PR staff has pushed tech savvy players to interact directly with fans by sharing their family lives, excitement, and personalities via social media and sports fans are loving this new level of “closeness.”

Eric Adelson suggests that sports fans place great importance in things like Twitter retweets or (@) mentions, saying, “A retweet from a sports star is the new autograph, accessible (at least in theory) to a fan who can’t get anywhere near a game.”

Although many athletes are making it look easy, promoting personal causes, recording videos, posting photos to Instagram, or working to establish one’s brand on social media can be hard when you already have a full-time job that includes intense workouts, meetings, and traveling. The International Business Times quotes Eddie Royal, a wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers, as saying, “During the season it’s hard because you have so many other things to focus on…You don’t want your team thinking you are too focused on outside stuff.”

While some athletes understand how to successfully leverage their social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, others don’t seem to remember the rule of thumb—never post on social media when you’re angry!

One recent example of negative publicity due to social media sharing wasn’t even due to an athlete, but his wife. On January 22nd, The Baltimore Sun reported that Wes Welker’s wife, Anna Burns Welker, posted a “nasty Facebook rant about Ray Lewis” after the Baltimore Ravens won (28-13) against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game on January 20.

Mrs. Welker promptly released an apology on Jan 22 “through a high-powered PR firm,” the overwhelmingly negative reaction to her comments regarding Ray Lewis’ Wikipedia page and murder acquittal only served to dredge up the comments made by Tom Brady’s wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, after last year’s Super Bowl—opening old wounds for the New England Patriots after their Super Bowl XLVII hopes were dashed.

College Athletes Beware

According to an article by Sam Laird, some universities are trying to “monitor the online behavior of student athletes through forced access to social media accounts or contracts with third-party tracking companies.”

While many believe this to be a possible violation of the civil rights awarded by the First or Fourteenth Amendment, some believe it a necessary step in protecting reputations on a personal and university-level. As a college athlete, you represent the university and many argue that this is true if you’re wearing your jersey or not—perhaps even more so if you are an athlete attending awarded a university scholarship. This would suggest that a scholarship is a type of payment and that, like professional NFL or NBA athletes, you are susceptible to the social media policies of the university and legitimize monitoring your comments.

What do you think? If the university is “paying you” with a scholarship, does it have the right to monitor your social media activities? Share your opinion below!

This blog article first appeared on the Braathe Enterprises Virtual Project Blog.

Yasheaka Oakley

Yasheaka Oakley is an independent consultant specializing in public relations, social media, and online marketing via her website, YOakleyPR.com. You can keep up with her on social media by following on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to her e-newsletter by clicking here.

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Building the Angry Birds Brand

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

For my KSU master’s Public Relations Management course, I presented a research paper that analyzed the public relations and marketing strategies of Rovio Entertainment’s Angry Birds franchise.

The paper highlights Rovio’s ability to successfully build, differentiate its brand, and collaborate with partners as described by Marty Neumeier in his book, The Brand Gap.

With more than one billion downloads, Rovio’s slingshot-puzzle game, Angry Birds, has received a great deal of international publicity and acceptance, which has allowed the video game developer and entertainment media company to produce games for mobile devices and video game consoles as well as a variety of consumer products and memorabilia.

As “Angry Birds addiction” takes over the digital world, Rovio plans how to expand its company by taking advantage of its 200 licensing partnerships to pursue real-world opportunities in the consumer products industry (Angry Birds plush toys, t-shirts, Visa debit cards); entertainment industry (Angry Birds theme parks, animated TV series); and food industry (soft drinks, candy).

Rovio’s attention to corporate relationship-building, public relations, social media, and marketing have helped make Angry Birds one of the most downloaded mobile apps on mobile devices, as well as one of the world’s most desirable partners for advertising opportunities in today’s digital market.

If you would like to read the full research paper on Angry Birds, please click here.

Below, you can find a complimentary SlideShare presentation that summarizes the paper and highlights Angry Birds benchmarks from 2009 to 2012.

Building the Angry Birds Brand from YOakleyPR

Yasheaka Oakley

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Social Media Benefits for Small Business

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

As more companies make the shift from traditional communication channels to new online and social mediums, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in public relations and social media activities from small businesses.

Although these new communication platforms hold numerous opportunities for small organization growth, many small businesses remain hesitant to engage in social media.

For my KSU master’s Public Relations Theory and Practice course, I presented a multi-genre research paper that addressed the uncertainties of smaller organizations, and highlighted the benefits of social media to those considering adding these activities to an existing or upcoming public relations strategy.

If you have an interest in reading the full research paper, please click here.

Below, you can find a complimentary SlideShare presentation that summarizes the paper and highlights quotes from some of the leading public relations and social media strategists in America.

I would like to extend a special “thank you” to Melinda Emerson (@SmallBizLady), Gini Dietrich (@GiniDietrich) and Professor Andrea Weckerle (@AWeckerle) for their assistance with this research and encourage you to follow them on Twitter if you have a vested interest in social media strategy.

Social Media Benefits for Small Business from YOakleyPR

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More Consumers Complain on Social Media

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

Every business runs the risk of having customers complain about their products or services on social media.

Before you add social media to your public relations strategy or launch a social media campaign, you should address whether or not your company is prepared for the expectations that come with managing a social media presence.

William Benoit and Augustine Pang previously published an article on Crisis Communications and Image Repair Discourse that is GREAT for those looking to gain a better understanding of crisis communications, and I suggest it to anyone with access to scholarly articles.

Image / Brand Management

Benoit describes a company’s image, or reputation, as “a very important asset” that is based on the subjective impressions that people have of that company. Pinsdorf says that threats to a company’s image are omnipresent and that “public relations crises are no longer a matter of if, but when.”

Great Expectations

According to a study conducted by Edison Research, consumers have great expectations for companies online. Part of the challenge is that “24% of American Internet users expect a company to respond within 30 minutes, regardless of when the contact was made.”

Be it in the middle of the night, on the weekends, or during regular 9-5 business hours, your consumers will complain about your brand — are you prepared to respond to their concerns? Most small businesses don’t have a public relations or social media manager dedicated to monitoring their online activity, so how can you deal with social media complaints while operating on a budget?

Dealing with Complaints

Melinda Emerson, one of America’s leading small business experts, suggests that companies “create Google Alerts for the company name, products, and top three industry competitors” to ensure that the brand is in aware of conversations online. You can also use mobile apps like Hootsuite to get notifications instantly.

Now that you’re aware of the issue, be sure to address it early! Read the complaint carefully to ensure that you understand the issue, and take some time to understand the user making the complaint. Simply by taking a step back to understand the user’s issue makes them feel valued.

Tailor your response using behavioral and personal information that can be found right there on their social media profile. Emerson suggests that you also pay attention to what platform the complaint was made on. She says that “different platforms require different conversations. A Facebook user doesn’t want you to talk to them like you’re on Twitter.” So leave the hashtags on the appropriate platform and make sure that you sound like a person and not a robotic/automated message.

Business Vibes suggests that you “remain open and transparent, if there genuinely is a complaint to answer, then find a solution that not only fixes the problem in the future, but also makes the customer happy.”

If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to share your social media management tips below and help your fellow PR pros out!

Yasheaka Oakley

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Social Media Branding: Rise Above the Crowd!

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

Here are 5 Social Media Revenue Performance Indicators as identified by Steven Woods, Chief Technology Officer of Eloqua.

Reach: Target more people, by creating great content that will be found by SEO, and your networks on social media.
Conversion: Consider where your buyers are getting their information and from whom. Identify experts within your organization and position them as thought leaders who can help move people through the buying journey.
Velocity: Identify key conversion points and reduce the amount of obstacles necessary to complete the buying process.
Value: Social media gives companies that opportunity to understand who the buyer is, who they are connected to, and who the testimonials are coming from. Make each deal worth more by presenting testimonials from 1st or 2nd degree contacts that have more trust value than 4th degree and “friends of friends.”
Return: Get more revenue for each dollar invested, by establishing trusted relationships with your customers. Understanding what they are interested in, and who they are will yield more return than an impersonal salesperson.

Takeaway: As marketing communicators, we need to create content that people will feel compelled to share with their friends, family, colleagues, and their own readers. Once people start sharing, you must make it obvious to everyone that visits your content what their peers have found value in.

Identify blog posts that have lots of sharing, show Facebook recommendations based on Likes, or customize your user’s experience by making targeted suggestions based on their interests, or entry site.

Click here to download chapter 1 of Stand Out Social Marketing: 6 Keys to Rise Above the Noise, Differentiate Your Brand, and Build an Outstanding Online Presence! by Mike Lewis, VP of Sales and Marketing at Awareness!

Feel free to visit Eloqua at http://www.eloqua.com for future webinar opportunities.

Social Media Marketing – Erin Wiles

Yasheaka Oakley

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Crisis Communications: Kelly Cutrone v Women in PR

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

On September 20-23, 2012, Women in PR hosted it’s 2nd Annual Summit & Retreat in Miami, FL. Kelly Cutrone of Peoples Revolution was scheduled to appear as keynote speaker for the conference, but that did not happen due to breach of contract allegations.

According to their Eventbrite page, event registration was about $395.00 for the weekend affair, but you may notice that there was a separate $135 fee for a Closing Brunch featuring Kelly Cutrone of People’s Revolution, a public relations firm with offices in NY, LA and Europe. Many of you may recognize Cutrone from America’s Next Top Model with Tyra Banks, or for her work in the public relations and fashion industries.

According to her Twitter feed @peoplesrev, up until September 19, 2012, Cutrone fully expected to participate in the Women in PR summit (#WIPRSummit) in Miami and even encouraged her followers to tweet her if they were expecting to come.

Due to an alleged breach of contract for nonpayment, Kelly Cutrone felt obligated to release the following video via her Facebook page on Thursday, Sept. 20. In the video, Cutrone criticizes Women in PR for being “America’s most fraudulent PR organization.”

Kelly Cutrone felt so strongly on the matter that she also shared images of her team’s correspondence with Women in PR on her Facebook page, copies of the speakers agreement, a letter from her lawyers demanding payment of the agreed upon speakers fee, and a warning that if WIPR did not act as they had agreed, a lawsuit may be in their future. You can see Cutrone’s shares by clicking here.

A back-and-forth conversation has been going on between Kelly Cutrone, Women in PR, summit attendees, and WIPR Twitter followers. Apparently, WIPR failed to notify its attendees of the cancellation and numerous attendees were confused and wondering whether there would be refunds for the special brunch tickets.

Women in PR tweeted a comment directly to @YOakleyPR about the controversy between their brand and Kelly Cutrone, saying, “Remember there is always two sides of a story. How professional is to put ur business on SM as a professional? Nobody missed her!“ OfficialKells, a Twitter user, had the following to say on the matter, “@womeninPR1 seriously blocked me for supporting @peoplesrev -__- #fail Truth hurts, I guess. lol.”

According to SlideShare, Women in PR’s co-founder, Anje Collins, posted a sponsorship presentation on March 20,2012 that advertised “2nd Annual Women In PR Summit & Retreat 2012 Miami featuring Keynote Speaker Kelly Cutrone founder of Peoples Revolution” in the information section. The email chain from Collins (as shown on Cutrone’s FB page) says that there was no agreement and they do not intend to pay the speakers fee — but all of the advertising materials imply otherwise.

You would also have to have a keen eye to note that WIPR has already removed any reference of Kelly Cutrone from their website. While advertising the conference, a copy of the flyer featured in this post was prominently displayed on their website along with a blog post announcing “Peoples Revolution Founder, Kelly Cutrone Slated as Keynote Speaker.”

Unfortunately for them, the internet lives on forever, be it in external blog posts, dead links or images hosted on third party sites—the information is still out there and available.

UPDATE: Although I intended to write a follow up piece discussing Women in PR’s response to these accusations, but they never published an official response via their blog (as rumored when this issue initially came to light). As far as I can tell, there have been no mentions of the Kelly Cutrone fraud accusations against Women in PR on their Facebook, Twitter or WordPress blog, as of December 2012, and they fully intend to continue coordinating the Women in PR Summit for Houston 2013.

Leave a comment sharing your suggestions on how Women in PR could handle this crisis communications issue.

Image via Caltweet

Yasheaka Oakley

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The Importance of Social Media Storytelling

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

With the emergence of Web 2.0 communication channels, the public relations field has scrambled to gain an understanding and control of how to engage consumers with compelling storytelling campaigns via blogs and social media networks.

In his article, The Essential Brand Persona: Storytelling and Branding, Stephen Herskovitz of Hammond Hill, LLC, shares that “consumers no longer get primary messages about a brand from the brand itself.” Instead, they are more likely to receive and listen to messages from their trusted circles of influencers (i.e. family members and friends), and other customers.

As you may have noticed, there has been a noticeable shift in the public relations practice within the last few years (and even last few months!). Gone are the days when monitoring local, regional, and national news sources for mentions was enough. Public relations professionals must now monitor social media networks, chat rooms, and forums for mentions, complaints, and praise.

Today’s communicators must create messages that are tailored to the needs of a particular individual or group by using behavioral information gathered from various social media accounts, blog posts, and reviews. This information is then incorporated into new storytelling campaigns that can help prevent small issues from flaring up into viral crisis communication conflicts for a brand.

In a blog post released in May 2012, PR Newswire’s Vice President of Social Media, Sarah Skerik, identified storytelling as an emerging Web 2.0 skill set that public relations professionals must be able to utilize because “a good story is valuable currency today.” Skerik wrote that “in order to develop a story that will gain traction with your audience, it’s necessary to spend a little time learning about their interests.”

Today’s PR practitioners must craft stories both for the news and for consumers. Herskovitz suggests that you try to craft stories that help customers “recognize and identify with brands,” but also “strengthen emotional connections” by being relatable and encourage new thoughts / sharing.

What are some positive examples of brands engaging consumers via storytelling? Leave a comment below and feel free to share a link!

Yasheaka Oakley

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How to Create Great Social Media Content

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

Your website has only seconds to capture your visitor’s interest so social media managers strive to create proactive content so edgy, challenging, or jaw-dropping that readers simply must click the link and read more.

One way to improve your engagement rates is to ask fans what they want to hear. One suggestion is to use Facebook’s poll option to share questions with your target audience and discover what people want. Use the information you collect to identify what your next steps should be.

You should also create content with that can be repurposed (a.k.a. “reused”) across various social media platforms as an engaging blog article, wall posts, tweet, informative infographic or interactive video. For each item that you make, ask yourself if there are 2-5 ways for you to reuse that content.

Below is a Content Development & Social Media SlideShare presentation that explains content development in greater detail. I especially like slide #6 and how it breaks down the different ways one piece of content can be used across different social media platforms.

If used correctly, social media sharing can build lasting relationships, generate sales leads, encourage sharing, and build your online reputation. In a recent article featured on Terra.com, authors Chad Barr and Alan Weiss offer the following content development suggestions:

Don’t attempt to tag, label, and identify every single item.
Focus on those things that are most important for your credibility.
Use a device such as Google Alerts to let you know how you’re being perceived and detected.

How do you develop content for various social media platforms? Leave a comment below with an example.

Content Development & Social Media

Yasheaka Oakley

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4 Tips to Get Your Blog Rolling [VIDEO]

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

A list of tips on how communication professionals can get a blog rolling was recently shared via PRWeb’s The Connection.

Are you a public relations or marketing professional looking to enter the blog zone by starting a personal blog?

Or are you working for a company that thinks a blog should be added to its marketing communications plan but is unsure of where to get started?

The Connection summarized the top four elements professionals should consider before attempting to enter the blog zone into easy and simple suggestions that can be implemented into any blog plan.

Feel free to check out PRWeb‘s four tips to “Get Your Blog Rolling” and watch The Magnet Minute‘s video for corporate blogging suggestions.

If you find any of these suggestions useful, leave a comment below so other young professionals can use them in their marketing strategies as well.

4 Tips to Get Your Blog Rolling from PRWeb

Get Personal : When it comes down to deciding between similar businesses, potential customers will often go with the company they can relate to. Share content that your audience will respond to, discuss issues that are relevant to your clients or industry.
Write About What You Know : An engaged writer makes for an engaged reader, so make sure you’re writing about something that interests you, and tie it in to your business. If you’re interested in the topic, odds are there are readers that are interested in it as well. It will also be easier for you to sound natural and less like a sales pitch if it’s something that you care about.
Be Brave: Writing about what customers want to know about is a sure-fire way to keep them engaged. Blogging about difficult issues and controversies within your industry attracts customers, and keeps them coming back to you as a resource. If you’re brave enough to cover a scandal that other professionals are closedmouthed about, how would you operate as a consultant?
Be Trendy : Blogging provides an excellent vehicle for discussing news trends that may not directly relate to your business, while engaging with potential customers about a topic that has piqued their interest. Keep abreast of the latest breaking news and position your brand as a thought leader that can build trust with customers.

A key point to remember is that even though blogs are a great tool to engage customers and like-minded individuals in discussions, release announcements, and even humanize a brand, readers will question your purpose for sharing information. As a communications professional you should understand that a blog can be used to establish a reputation as a thought leader, but you should definitely enter the blog zone with a plan in mind.

For those that are unaware, The Connection, is a weekly email from PRWeb and Vocus, a cloud-based marketing and public relations software company in Beltsville, MD. You can easily subscribe to their mailing list by creating a free PRWeb account or you can subscribe to the PRWeb blog. For more useful tips on blogging, social media and integrated marketing, feel free to visit the Vocus blog.

Yasheaka Oakley

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5 Web Design Tips for Branding on a Budget

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

If you believe creating a professional online presence requires an Apple iMac, Adobe Creative Suite 6, and all the flashy interactive media and graphics they can produce, then you’ve clearly succumb to the hype created by multimillion dollar marketing campaigns.

If you’re a young professional working on a tight budget, but still looking to establish a professional online presence? Here are 5 tips and myths that may help you get your personal website out of the realm of want and into the realm of reality.

You Don’t Need a Flashy Design

We all enjoy interactive media, but you should consider these facts while designing your site: 10% of web users are amazed by the beauty of a website, but 76% of web users are attracted to websites that are easy to navigate.

Consider adopting a simple two-column layout that includes a header, footer, and sidebar. That will provide you with plenty of room for graphics and media shares, as well as consistent branding and a clearly visible navigation.

For PR graduates with no design experience, you may want to stick to simple website generators like WordPress or Wix.com since they will walk you through building a site that is visually pleasing, easy to customize, and easy to navigate.

Well, I Like THESE Colors…

You may have an affinity for Halloween orange and green, but you may want to tone down your color selection in consideration for your visitors. Take a moment to read up on Color Psychology and how it can “influence a persons mood, emotional state, and perception of your brand.”

To address this, Precision Intermedia encourages clients and professionals to, “Employ the latest color psychology in all facets of marketing and particularly in logo design, web site design, the cover of a book, or the package of a product” and Nowsourcing.com released the following infographic on The Psychology of Color to show how major brands are successfully using it in their marketing.

For those of you who lack an artistic background, there is hope! I suggest browsing the various free color palettes found on ColourLovers.com.

Do You Need a Custom Domain Name?

The popular opinion is: Purchasing your domain is evidence that you are taking your work seriously and believe that your services have enough monetary value for you to spend some money on a custom domain.

While discussing domain and web hosting, a friend of mine put the issue into perspective when he said, “You easily spend $10 at Wendy’s or on Chinese food. If you can’t invest $10 to buy a custom domain for a year – I’m not going to take you seriously.”

Hosting prices can vary by package and provider, but I’ve had a good experience with NameCheap.com and always hear good things about GoDaddy.com or Yahoo! Small Business for domain and web hosting services.

You Need Adobe Dreamweaver to Code HTML

Can’t afford Adobe’s Web and Design Premium package? To be honest, unless you’re serious about graphic and web design, then you probably shouldn’t be spending $200-500 on a design package you won’t use daily.

On a positive note, webpages, which are .html files, can easily be created by using a plain text editor like UltraEdit or Windows Notepad (if you’re experiencing issues with Mac TextEdit, I’ve read that it’s default isn’t plain text, but rich text).

Warning: This route is pretty HTML/XHTML and CSS extensive. If you’re new to coding, I would suggest investing in a Web development resource like this book by Terry Felke-Morris.

Simply input all your HTML/XHTML and CSS coding into your plain text editor, building your site from the base up. When you go to save your document be sure to change the save as type from a .TXT file to an .HTML file type. When you try to preview your new file, it will open in your default web browser. You can edit your tag and content in Notepad, save, and refresh your browser to preview your changes just as easily and accurately as you would in Adobe Dreamweaver.

Adobe Photoshop or BUST

Trying to save a few dollars by purchasing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom instead of the more expensive Adobe Photoshop? Don’t do it! You get what you pay for. You may save a rough $150 or more, but there is a reason for the price gap.

Numerous professionals who thought they could “get Photoshop” while saving a few dollars by purchasing Lightroom have ended up complaining that it doesn’t have the capabilities or flexibility of Adobe Photoshop and wish they had simply bought the full version.

If you’re considering pursuing photography or offering photo manipulation services, you’ll get the full worth of your investment soon enough with the full version. Also, if you’re a college student, you can get Adobe products at a discounted rate by visiting the Student & Teachers page.

I hope these tips will benefit you during your professional development stages. All the best!

Yasheaka Oakley

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