I’m a sports fan. I like watching Clemson football, basketball, and baseball, but I rarely watch ESPN unless my team is playing. But more than a sports fan, I am a celebrity fan. I enjoy watching E! and reading any trashy gossip magazines that I can get my hands on.
While thinking of crisis communication, athletes and celebrities come to my mind first. We all know about the Rihanna and Chris Brown abusive scandal that flooded the news over the past year and the horribly negative press that Chris Brown attracted after the incident. While this is a key case that public relations practitioners can learn from, I feel as though it’s been over-analyzed and publicized.
I wanted to find out more about a crisis that I was unfamiliar with, so I asked my friend, JD Burgess, to fill me in on some current athletic crises. After telling me the background information on the Oakland Raider’s coach, Tom Cable, I decided to look into it more.
I read a few articles that explained that Cable was accused of hitting assistant coach, Randy Hanson and breaking his jaw. After the accusations, Cable’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend both announced that he had abused them as well. Cable confirmed that he slapped his ex-wife with an open hand after he found out that she committed adultery. He admitted that it was the wrong thing to do and promised that he has regretted it ever since. He publicly denied both allegations of battery on Hanson and his ex-girlfriend.
Other assistant coaches stated that there was an argument between Cable and Hanson, but it was stopped by another coach pushing them apart. That other coach pushed Hanson into a chair, which broke his jaw.
The Raider’s organization is currently looking into what to do with the coach after the season is over. A coach with domestic violence history doesn’t bring a positive image to the NFL or the Raiders.
Do you think that Cable should do anything else to show that he regrets hitting his wife so long ago? Do you think that Cable should be fired from coaching after the season? Why or why not? I want to hear your comments…
This week, in my public relations class, we were asked to view a presentation by Jim Rettew of the American Red Cross . In his presentation, he explained that it is important to know what is being said about your organization on social media network sites for three reasons: it can start a crisis, it can fuel a crisis, and it’s effective at informing people of a crisis.
After viewing the slide about social media’s effectiveness on informing people of a crisis, I immediately thought of the New York plane crash into the Hudson River. I read multiple stories back in January 2009 that praised Twitter for informing the public about the crash and giving constant updates through tweets and twitpics (like the one below!). These tweets and twitpics came before the media even had time to send reporters out to the scene.
Jim also mentioned that the benefits of social media decrease the demand from the media, help the organization manage communications remotely, allow citizens to influence the message without a media filter, and allow for quick implementation.
Another section of Jim’s presentation that I thought was interesting was the part about googling negative comments about your organization. For example, if you’re the Public Relations manager for Forever21 and you’re tracking stories and thoughts online for Forever21, Google “I Hate Forever21″ and see what comes up. When I searched that phrase, I found over 15 million entries that came up! Knowing why people dislike your organization or product gives you insight to what changes need to be made in order to turn haters into lovers.
I recently came upon an article on Wyff4.com that reported a heartwarming story of a soldier and his BBQ cravings. A Spartanburg, S.C., resident, 22-year-old Sergeant Danny Sheppard, was shipped to Iraq in July. While in Iraq, he called his mother and told her that he was craving barbeque from his favorite restaurant, Dickey’s Barbeque Pit. His mother, Kim, quickly drove to Dickey’s to order a sandwich for her son to send to him overseas. When she got there, she asked the owner, Bill Friend, to help think of ways to ship the BBQ sandwich. Instead, Bill asked how many soldiers were in Danny’s platoon. After Kim said that she didn’t have the money to pay for sandwiches for all 170 members of the platoon, Bill said that it was on the house. Bill and his co-workers cooked enough briskets and meat to feed all of the members of Danny’s platoon in Iraq and sent it as a “way of saying thanks”.
Reading and watching the broadcast of this story brought tears to my eyes. I appreciate everything that our soldiers are doing overseas and I continue to think of them and thank them every night. The measures that Dickey’s restaurant took to bring smiles to the faces of the men and women who are fighting for our freedom is unbelievable.
I know that Bill Friend probably did this from the goodness of his heart, but it also is great PR for his restaurant. Dickey’s was given free positive press and positive publicity. Through the interview with the soldier’s mom, viewers found out that it was specially requested and was his FAVORITE barbeque spot. This testimony to the deliciousness of the barbeque may convince others to try their sandwiches. Also, the other soldiers in Danny’s platoon may have never had Dickey’s BBQ before. This free sandwich may make them love it as much as Danny. This act of kindness could possibly bring in another 169 dedicated customers when they return from their tours.
Soldiers, thank you for everything that you do. God Bless America!
Monday night, we held our second PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) meeting of the year! We invited Leslie Thorton, the Public Information Director for development within the Advancement Division at Clemson University as well as a public relations teacher in the Communications Department. Because of her long title (Public Information Director for development within the Advancement Division) I think some people were confused as to what Leslie’s specific duties were (or at least I was!). Leslie spoke about her duties and clarified her day-to-day tasks that keep her job interesting.
At her occupation, Leslie focuses on writing proposals to perspective donors, keeping current donors happy, and engaging future donors (students). I thought that the most interesting part of Leslie’s job was how she keeps current donors happy. Along with holding annual banquets for large donors, she explained that after a large donation is given, a committee formulates the best way to thank the donor. Sometimes, the donor is thanked during the halftime show of the Clemson football games and other times, buildings or statues are named in honor of the donor. One time, the committee found out that a specific donor enjoyed opera music. In order to thank the donor, Clemson University set up a luncheon and had a Clemson student sing opera for entertainment!
Leslie also reminded PRSSA members that even though a job/volunteer/internship may not have a title that includes the words “public relations”, the job may still include public relations duties. For example, even if you’re not constantly writing press releases or tracking media clips, you may still be helping an organization relate and connect to its publics.
The last two tips of advice that Leslie left with us were: strengthen your writing skills and be organized.
Communicating with an organization’s publics has grown from the traditional way of shaking hands with a smile to a more savvy way with cyber-relations. While shaking hands and meeting people is still a great way to make connections, it has become easier to make connections over the Internet. Chapter 11 of our book mentions viral videos and how they are quickly becoming part of public relations. A specific viral video creator, Jessica Rose, was featured in our book as someone who filled others in on her life via YouTube. Here is an example of one of her videos which reached over 6 million views! Jessica (Bree) talks about her 1st kiss. This video is informative, funny, and cute because it shows the inside scoop of a young girl. It’s amazing to me how a 16-year-old girl interested and drew so many people into her life by simply talking about everyday issues.
Viral videos can also be used to help in an organization’s public relations efforts. For example, last year in Stakeholder Communication, we studied the YouTube video below from Verizon Wireless. While most everyone knows that Verizon Wireless’ main theme is that the network is with you wherever you go, I doubt anyone took that meaning literally. This video took the meaning of the “most reliable network” to another level. Although it does not have as many views as Jessica Rose’s, this video has been viewed by over 150,000 YouTubers. This video could have made an impression on those viewers to switch to the Verizon Wireless network. And the best part about this viral video… it was FREE to publish. Take a look:
After reading chapter 9 in our public relations book, I learned the differences between controlled and uncontrolled media. I liked that our authors spelled out the advantages and disadvantages of controlled and uncontrolled media. The fact that organizations control what text and images are being sent to the media is an advantage of controlled media. A couple disadvantages of controlled media include: the loss of credibility and it may cost the organization money. An advantage of uncontrolled media is that it costs less. A disadvantage of uncontrolled media is that it is not controllable. Organizations that have public relations departments have little to do with the information that is leaked through uncontrolled media. I read a blog post by Heather Smith about controlled and uncontrolled communications. In her post, she explains more in depth the advantages and disadvantages of controlled and uncontrolled media.
When our book talked about tactics and traditional publics in news media, many of the ideas that they talked about rang a bell for me. While working at Jeff Dezen Public Relations, I was given the chance to help draft and distribute news releases, put together media kits, and draft and distribute media advisories. Although I didn’t personally contribute to interviews, news conferences, or actualities, I’m familiar with these terms because I was around PR professionals. I was lucky to learn these terms from PRo’s who constantly participated in these activities along with social media. Professor Vargas provided us with a Web site that explains social media terms that may be unfamiliar. Check it out!
In order to reach goals that are planned for organizations by their public relations department or agency, the PRo’s must have some sort of plan. Three different types of plans are an ad hoc plan (a plan for a temporary situation), a standing plan (a long-term plan used to help strengthen an organization’s relationships), a contingency plan (a plan used for “what if” scenarios).
On Entrepreneur.com, a PR writer, Rachel Meranus wrote about the correct ways to develop a PR plan. She explained that a general PR plan rule is to “consider a year ahead, plan six months ahead, and expect to revise after three months.” I think the key point is that you never know when something is going to change or go awry. One point of Rachel’s article that I thought was interesting was her view on crisis planning. She said that in order for a PR plan to be complete, a PRo should look at the different possibilities and scenarios that could go wrong. I think this would be considered a type of contingency plan because it is a “what if” type of plan.
I think it’s interesting to learn the different types of plans and their technical terms. While interning at Jeff Dezen Public Relations, I was able to sit in on their staff meetings and in a few of their meetings with one specific client. I enjoyed hearing the plans and ideas that they developed for new products and services for that client. I would consider those types of plans ad hoc plans because they were temporary and had an end date in sight.
While reading about the public relations process, our book states that the steps include: research, analyze, communicate, and evaluate. Chapter 7 of our book focuses mainly on step one of the public relations process: research.
Research is a main part of public relations because it helps gather information about an organizations’ publics before beginning a campaign. One type of research that I believe works time and time again, is survey research. Surveys provide organizations with what a minor part of the major portion of their publics think. There are many types of surveys that can be distributed to an organizations’ publics. Research Methods Knowledge Base lists and explains most of the different types of surveys that public relations professionals can use to research what interests their publics.
As technology increases and more social media sites are created, distributing and conducting surveys is becoming easier and easier. With Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, surveys can be distributed within seconds. A specific survey site that I’ve used is SurveyMonkey.com. This site allows you to conduct surveys and gives quick responses. Another advantage of this survey service is that it gives the conductor a breakdown of the answers that are given in charts and graphs. I recommend this site to any PRo’s who are planning on conducting a survey.
Publics, according to Public Relations: a value-driven approach, is any group whose members have a common interest or common values in a particular situation. While reading about the categories of different types of publics in public relations, I learned that some groups of people can be categorized in more than one way. For example, people who are unfamiliar with your organization yet participate in conversations and comment on your organization are part of both the nontraditional public and the active public.
One of my fellow communication studies majors, Cara Mitchell, wrote a blog post explaining the different categories of publics and the questions that we, as PR practitioners, should ask ourselves about these publics.
Another part of this chapter that interested me was the amount of time that they took to talk about employee satisfaction with an organization. In the lecture given by professor Vargas, we had to answer the question, “Are employees the most important publics in an organization?” I thought that although employees are an integral part of an organization’s publics, they aren’t the MOST important part. Our book argued that employees are the most important publics to consider in an organization. If employees are not satisfied with the organization in which they participate, they may not stick up for the organization if it is under attack. I came across an article from InsightLink Communications that explained the importance of employee satisfaction. Check it out!
Our public relations book shares a quote by William Shakespeare in the chapter about the history of public relations: “What is past is prologue.” I interpret this to mean that what happened in the past is something that may again happen in the future… or more cliche, “History repeats itself.” While it was interesting reading about the fathers of public relations, Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Edward Bernays, the repetition of history was probably the most important information that I took away from Chapter 3. I enjoyed reading about the different practices that were used in public relations in the past and relating them to present day public relations practices.
For example, Christianity was spread by word of mouth in the middle ages. Even though public relations has evolved and matured while using different channels, word of mouth is a way that is still used to help relate your organization to its publics. Brains on Fire, is a marketing agency in Greenville, S.C. that prides itself on helping organizations build movements. This quote comes directly from their web site: “Born out of the bone between word of mouth marketing and identity development, we are devoted to helping organizations discover and sustain excitement about who they are and why they exist.” This company constantly blogs about WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing). The Brains on Fire Blog has a category specifically for Word of Mouth. Take a look at their recent posts about WOMM.
Can you think of other ways that public relations practices from the past are still used by today’s public relations practitioners?
A Spartanburg, S.C., resident, 22-year-old Sergeant Danny Sheppard, was shipped to Iraq in July. While in Iraq, he called his mother and told her that he was craving barbeque from his favorite restaurant, Dickey’s Barbeque Pit. His mother, Kim, quickly drove to Dickey’s to order a sandwich for her son to send to him overseas. When she got there, she asked the owner, Bill Friend, to help think of ways to ship the BBQ sandwich. Instead, Bill asked how many soldiers were in Danny’s platoon. After Kim said that she didn’t have the money to pay for sandwiches for all 170 members of the platoon, Bill said that it was on the house. Bill and his co-workers cooked enough briskets and meat to feed all of the members of Danny’s platoon in Iraq and sent it as a “way of saying thanks”.
Monday night, we held our second PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) meeting of the year! We invited Leslie Thorton, the Public Information Director for development within the Advancement Division at Clemson University as well as a public relations teacher in the Communications Department. Because of her long title (Public Information Director for development within the Advancement Division) I think some people were confused as to what Leslie’s specific duties were (or at least I was!). Leslie spoke about her duties and clarified her day-to-day tasks that keep her job interesting. 
