My First [Successful] Attempt At Event Planning

This past weekend, I partnered with a sponsor of my client to put on an Oktoberfest event. This was the first time I helped organize an event pretty much on my own, so I'm very excited that my client was happy and that guests had a great time!

Partnering with a sponsor always makes event planning much, much easier-  especially when the sponsor is a popular brand and is so willing to cooperate. The sponsor helped to alleviate stress and allowed me to spend a lot more time with guests that I invited and a lot less time running around making last minute adjustments.

Guests enjoyed discounted beer, themed prizes, a show and more. I got in some quality bonding time with a couple bloggers and enjoyed a night of entertainment. All in all, the event was a success. 

Although we were up against a lot of competition for an Oktoberfest event, ticket sales were high for the night and everyone seemed to have a great time playing games, winning prizes and drinking beer out of an official cup from my client.

Oktoberfest will now always remind me of the first time I helped plan an event sans tons of instruction from my superiors. It was a fun, traditional way to bring in the Fall and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it.

5 Things I've Learned in My 5 Months On The Job

It's October, which means I have officially been at my PR job for 5 months! I know this may not seem like a very long time, but it has flown by for me.

Just 6 months ago, I was a recent college grad who was terrified of never finding a job in my field. In honor of the fact that I did find a job (and love it), I would like to share with you 5 things I've learned over the last  5 months.

1. Always, Always, Always Be Respectful: This applies to every single professional you encounter. Over the last 5 months, I have met a few people I may not necessarily ever want to interact with outside of a professional setting. Despite my distaste for these people, I am always careful to treat them with just as much respect as I do with my boss or my other colleagues. In PR, you never know when you're going to need a contact, so be nice to everyone. 
2. PR Opportunities Are Everywhere: One of the things I love about this field is that marketing efforts are everywhere.  This means that opportunities to gain exposure for clients are also everywhere. I don't think I'll ever passively read a newspaper or magazine again. I am constantly scanning the pages of publications to find any upcoming opportunities to act on. If you're a young PR professional like myself, remember to keep your eyes peeled for PR opportunities at all times.
3. Be Willing to Go the Extra Mile: When it comes to work, there are certain tasks you know you must get done in a given work day. What most people don't focus on are the tasks that you don't have to do, but will better you or your company in the long run if you do them anyway. These tasks can be as simple as attending networking functions after work or staying  for a half an hour longer at the end of the day to wrap up a discussion with your boss. Making more of an effort than is required on the job will always pay off.
4. Don't Be Afraid to Ask Questions: I'll admit, when I first started my job I was determined to look like I knew exactly what I was doing. But guess what? No one knows exactly what they're doing all the time. Over time I've learned that it's O.K. to ask for a little more clarification on an assignment. It's better to ask for further direction than to complete a task incorrectly.
5. Learn From Everything You Do: Whether you've made a mistake or you've used a tactic that was a huge success, learn from everything you do. If the way you wrote that monthly report was totally wrong, make sure you don't write it the same way next time. If you landed your client a huge media placement in a certain publication, make sure you use the same strategy for approaching other media outlets. No matter what the experience may be, learn from it and apply what you've learned to future tasks.

The 5 months I've spent working in PR have been both rewarding and challenging. I've had some amazing opportunities, and it's comforting to know that I've picked the right career path for me. Here's to the next 5 months and beyond!

Fake Followers: Are They Helpful or Harmful?

When I began doing the social media for one of my clients, I was impressed by how many "likes" they had on Facebook. In fact, I thought they wouldn't need my help at all when it came to maintaining a Facebook page.So, you can imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered that these "likes" had been purchased and weren't actual Facebook fans at all.

Fake "likes" on Facebook and fake "follows" on Twitter are a hot topic in the social media world. For a couple hundred dollars, organizations can inflate their followers and skip the hassle of convincing the Average Joe to actually want to follow them on social media sites. The ultimate question is: do brands benefit from buying followers?

Here's my stance on this:

First and foremost, I believe it is immoral to fool social media users into thinking you have a larger following than you actually do. It is deceiving, and if you are ever discovered (Facebook especially has become more savvy with detecting purchased "likes") it could very well ruin your reputation on social media forever.

Beyond the obvious moral dilemma I have with purchasing a social media following, I think it's important to remember what social media is intended to do for a brand. Social media is a gateway to your audience/customers/fans. It should be used as a way to communicate with people who are interested in your brand and who actually care what you have to say. If your followers are not genuine customers of your brand, what's the point of posting quality content?

When it comes to purchasing a social media following, I will offer any brands the same advice I offered my client: If you haven't purchased fans yet, don't. If you've already purchased them, delete the fake ones and eat the cost. It's more important to create a passionate, loyal following of real-life brand ambassadors than it is to increase a number. Take the time to target your audience and reach out to them-- it will pay off in the end!

A Sincere "Thank You" to Mashable

Considering that I spend half of my work day on social media sites (not for pleasure, but because it's my job), staying up-to-speed on the latest trends in social media is a huge priority of mine. Between managing several Facebook and Twitter accounts and completing other PR tasks throughout my day, it's sometimes a challenge for me to be in-the-know about all things social media. Thankfully, I have my trusty friend Mashable to help me out.

For those of you who don't know, Mashable is a site that supplies the world with the latest social media news and web tips. It is always being updated, it is always hashing out amazing stories on social media. It is brilliant. Consequently, it's also a lifesaver.

I try to check Mashable at least once a day, just to make sure I'm not completely in the dark about a new development on Twitter or a new app on Facebook. Through my daily check-ins, I have learned more about social media trends and news than I could ever have hoped. For this, I am truly greatful.

So, I'd like to extend a HUGE thank you to Mashable because without it, I just wouldn't be able to do my job as well.

If you're someone who is at all interested in the vast, ever-expanding world of social media, I highly recommend that you check out this site: http://mashable.com/.

On Living & Learning

When it comes to doing my job correctly, I am the ultimate perfectionist. Whether it's my efforts in Social Media, organizing a client appearance or putting together an event, if everything isn't ridiculously perfect, I berate myself to no end. This insane amount of self-induced pressure definitely isn't healthy, and lately I've been working hard to remind myself that it's O.K. to [sometimes] make mistakes.

PR is something that comes rather naturally to me, and I'm grateful that I've chosen the correct career path; however, I'm really trying to keep in mind that even the most seasoned professionals drop the ball every once in a while.

It's not that I've made detrimental mistakes, but the little errors I have made throughout my very new career have caused me a lot of worry. Here's what I've learned to accept: People mess up. We all make mistakes, we all face challenges that are difficult to overcome. As long as we learn from these mistakes and find a way to turn bad circumstances into life lessons, then something great can come out of something terrible. 

I have experienced countless instances where my boss has asked me to do something and I simply get busy and forget to do it. I've had clients get upset with me for things that were both totally within my control and for things that I had no influence over whatsoever. Each mini crisis, although thoroughly frightening at first, has made me a little wiser and a little more experienced.

So, to my fellow young professionals, I say this: I know I'm on my soapbox a lot on here, but I'm not perfect. And that's O.K. You don't have to be perfect, either. Just take each day in stride and remember that at this very early point in our careers, we are all just living and learning.

5 Reasons Why Mitt Romney Should Hire a Publicist

Election Season is upon us and, as previously mentioned, it's no secret which candidate I support. My obvious bias aside, there are a few things Mitt Romney needs to learn when it comes to PR.

In response to some recent unfavorable maneuvers made by Romney on the campaign trail, I've compiled a list of the top 5 reasons why a publicist is desperately needed in the Republican camp:

1. Writing off half the American population as "lazy victims" does nothing for your public image: Romney's mouth might as well be his shoe for as often as his foot is in it. When a secret video of Romney speaking at a fundraiser was leaked, it captured the Presidential hopeful sharing what he really thought of 47% of Americans. In the video, Romney refers to the 47% of Americans who are voting for Obama as "lazy victims" who feel they are "entitled to healthcare, food and housing." Call me a left-winged liberal, but aren't healthcare, food and housing some pretty basic necessities? For a Presidential candidate to slam half of the population on the eve of an election isn't just tasteless, it's bad PR.
2. Ignoring a crisis doesn't make it go away: Following the immediate backlash from the now infamous 47% video, Romney's camp and other top Republicans said nothing about the incident. Instead, they released a video on the national debt in an effort to divert attention from the leaked footage. Rule number one in crisis PR: Admit you were wrong and tell people how you'll fix your mistake. Did no one on Romney's team feel it was important to address the derogatory comments the Govenor made about nearly half the people who will decide his Presidential fate?  Ignoring the crisis has only resolitified Romney's view of half Americans as lost causes.
3. Imitation is NOT the sincerist form of flattery: Only days after the 47% video surfaced, Romney made headlines yet again for his offensive, out-of-touch approach to voters. The candidate sat down with Univision, a popular Spanish-speaking station, in an effort to address Hispanic voters looking a bit darker than usual. It appears that Romney invested in a spray tan before his Hispanic T.V. debut in what seems to be a very misguided effort to relate to his darker-skinned viewers. Considering this audience knows full well that Romney is Caucasion, with absolutely no Hispanic heritage, it is both insulting and incredibly ill-concieved to appear on a Hispanic television show with a darker skin tone than your natural one, in a transparent attempt to prove to Hispanic voters that you are the right choice for President. Being out of touch with your audience is the kiss of death in public relations and Romney may have kissed his chance at the Presidency goodbye with this manuever.
4. International Affairs Are Delicate Matters (and You're Running for President of the United States, so STOP OFFENDING OTHER COUNTRIES) : During the 2012 Summer Olympics, Romney notoriuosly made comments referring to London's lack of prepartation for the games.  Not only did his ill-advised comments spark a response from Prime Minister Cameron, but they also made Londoners a bit peturbed. Why, on an international visit as a U.S. Presidential candidate, would you make any allusion to another country's incompotence? International relations are crucial to many businesses in the U.S., and especially to the President. Had Romney hired a trained professional to issue statements for him and to redirect such absurd comments, he might have successfully vistied our nation's closest ally without earning the tabloid nickname "Mitt the Twitt".
5. Obama Just Has a Better Team: Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you cannot deny that Obama has a far better team behind him than Romney. From speech writers, to social media startegists, to First Lady-- it's just better. This is perhaps the best argument for Romney to hire a publicist. A good publicist can make even the slimiest of politicians appear heart-warming and compotent. It's all about the spin.

While I'm sure Mitt Romney has a few [and far between] strong points, there is no denying that the Presidential candidate could use a good publicist and a serious lesson in public relations.

Twitter Gets an Extreme Makeover!

Twitter is jumping on the visual bandwagon-- finally!

The mega-popular site announced today that it has a new look and has updated iPad and mobile apps to be more visually stimulating. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed that the new look is all a part of the company's "mobile-first" approach, which focuses on enhancing mobile access to the site.

Twitter users will now be able to upload a "banner image" to the top of their Twitter pages, much like the banner images on top of Facebook pages. This new feature adds even more visual to a site that has, until now, been an endless stream of 140-character updates with very little room for photo sharing.

This isn't to say that Twitter users have never been able to Tweet and share photos-- Twitpics can already be embedded as links in Tweets. What this new site will allow is a constant stream of images that are accessible on mobile devices. It will also relocate a user's profile image to the center of the top of the page, in the spirit of becoming more visually-oriented.

Personally, I think the visually-inspired remake of Twitter is a progressive step for a social media site that's known for being a favorite amongst the 25-and-under crowd (people who are constantly on the cutting-edge of new technology). With a new iPhone being released this week and a new iPad reportedly on the way, making Twitter more mobile-friendly is an excellent way for the company to stay in the good graces of its loyal users.

You can learn how to update your Twitter layout here.