Olivia Pope, PR rock star

Olivia Pope is a (fictional) PR rock star. For those of you who don’t know who Olivia Pope is: you’re missing out on one of the hottest political dramas on television. Kerry Washington plays Olivia Pope in ABC’s “Scandal”, which airs every Thursday at 10 p.m. Olivia and her team of “fixers” or “gladiators in suits” live in D.C. and work for Olivia’s crisis management firm, Pope and Associates, protecting the public image of politicians and celebrities.

I’ve been watching this show since it first aired in April of 2012, but I just recently found out that Olivia Pope’s character is based on a real-life PR rock star named Judy Smith. Similar to the fictional character Olivia Pope, Judy Smith has worked as Deputy Press Secretary for President George H.W. Bush and offered communications advice, legal advice and crisis management services to Fortune 500 companies, athletes, celebrities, public officials, federal agencies and foreign leaders all before starting her own strategic and crisis communications firm, Smith & Company.

“Scandal” has easily become my favorite show on television because it is exciting and edgy each week. Each member of Olivia’s team has an interesting backstory that contributes to the complicated plotlines. Olivia and her team fix the problems and restore the images of some of D.C.’s biggest names, but Olivia’s clients aren’t the only ones with secrets. The employees at Pope and Associates are often key players within the show’s many ongoing scandals, which involve rigged elections, an affair with the President of the United States and a secret branch of the CIA called B-613, to name a few.

If you haven’t seen the show yet, I urge you to check it out. The show’s political corruption is sometimes disheartening (because who’s to say this kind of stuff isn’t happening in real life), but I love Olivia’s talent for digging up information and communicating her way out of any scandal. Even though it’s just a fictional show, “Scandal” has reinforced my interests in PR, public policy and politics, and every Thursday night I find myself wanting to be a PR rock star like Olivia Pope when I grow up (minus all the corruption, the affair with the president and the crazy CIA director for a father). 

Women take the wheel in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian women grabbed the attention of international media today as they participated in a campaign to protest a ban on female drivers. While no law in Saudi Arabia specifically prohibits women from driving, women are banned from receiving drivers licences and religious decrees discourage them from operating vehicles. Saudi Arabia is currently the only country in the world that does not allow women to drive.

Saudi women have become very active on social media in the past few months, raising awareness for their campaign and urging other Saudi women to get behind the wheel on October 26. Nearly 17,000 people signed an online petition in support of the campaign for change. The site has since been hacked, but that didn't stop Saudi women from taking action. According to CNN, at least 35 women posted YouTube videos of themselves driving on the streets of Saudi Arabia today.

I think this campaign was remarkable and extremely brave. Several women were issued warnings by local police and had to sign a pledge promising they would not drive again, but I think they were successful in raising awareness and support for the lifting of the ban. The number of women who actually drove today may have been small, but the social media activity was obviously enough to grab the attention of Saudi Arabia officials as well as international media. I believe these women have sparked a necessary conversation around the globe, which is the first step to initiating reform. 

#ONUPRSSA Storified

The Ohio Northern University Public Relations Student Society of America is a pre-professional organization for college students interested in pursuing careers in public relations and communications. Our organization encourages students to gain a greater understanding of the field and practices of public relations by attending weekly chapter meetings, which usually involve a guest speaker or a workshop of some sort.

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of live tweeting our meeting. Madison Bender came to speak about integrated marketing and her role as the social media specialist for an agency in Cleveland called thunder::tech. As an ONU alumna, Madison also offered a lot of valuable advice for her fellow PR polar bears. I tweeted the highlights of Madison's speech with the hashtag #ONUPRSSA so followers could keep up with the event in real-time. After the meeting, I used a site called Storify to compile all the #ONUPRSSA tweets and make a story out of the event. Check out my Storify here!

In addition to my live tweeting, I looked at how the official ONU PRSSA social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook and Blogger) promoted the meeting. The night before our meeting, ONU PRSSA posted promotional messages on the Facebook and Twitter pages, but the accounts did not post during or after the meeting to recap for those who couldn't make it. The blog has not yet posted a recap either. 

Live tweeting was a little difficult for me because I was constantly torn between giving Madison my full attention and giving my Twitter followers an update on what Madison was telling us. I was ONU PRSSA's social media director last year, so I know what a challenge it is to keep our followers up to date in real-time. As we've learned from Groundswell, Share This and Madison Bender last Thursday, effectively running social media accounts for any organization takes a great deal of time, effort and commitment. We've also learned from Real-Time Marketing & PR that social media users want their information instantly. The longer we wait to relay information to followers the less relevant that information becomes.

Taking all of this information into consideration, I think it would be beneficial for ONU PRSSA to try to live tweet our Thursday meetings more often. ONU PRSSA could then recap the meeting and live-tweet session by creating a Storify for those who weren't able to follow the live tweeting.

Is Anybody Out There... who can help Maroon 5 and Coca-Cola come up with a new song?

Wikipedia, one of the greatest examples of a crowdsourced project, defines crowdsourcing as "the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers."

Crowdsourcing is an excellent tactic in real-time PR because it allows publics to contribute to projects that would normally be handled by a handful of company executives: for example, having fans vote on their favorite name for a new product via social media. Crowdsourcing is beneficial to both the company and the publics because it eliminates the extra work for executives and allows the community to get involved.

In 2011, Coca-Cola partnered with Maroon 5 to successfully crowdsource material for a new song. Fans were able to weigh in on the composition of the song by sending in comments, lyrics and pictures via interactive technology, Facebook and Twitter. The recording session was streamed live and fans were able to constantly chime in on the project conversation and ask Maroon 5 questions. Here is the final product:

For the first 100,000 downloads of the song, "Is Anybody Out There", Coca-Cola made a donation to the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation's Replenish Africa Initiative with the hopes of providing clean water to thousands of people in Africa. This was just another way for Coca-Cola to make participants feel like they were making a positive difference. 

By getting their fans involved in this project, Maroon 5 and Coca-Cola created a surprisingly catchy song in just 24 hours. More importantly, they connected with their fans on a new level and allowed them to feel like they were a part of something big. According to Chapter 9 of Real-Time Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott, "When people help you answer a question via crowdsourcing they feel a sense of ownership. Participation turns spectators into supporters" (p. 102). This was especially true for the Coca-Cola and Maroon 5 project. People didn't want to just watch the live feed, they wanted to support Coca-Cola and Maroon 5 and help them create a new song by providing input via social media.

At the end of the day, crowdsourcing is a win-win for real-time marketers and PR people because it allows companies to speed up the pace of business and connect with customers in real-time.

Happy birthday B!

My little sister celebrated her 17th birthday this Thursday on October 18, so this is going to be a corny post about how cool I think she is (even though I don't tell her that very often).

My sister Britnee and I are four years apart and we are complete opposites. I have curly blonde hair and hers is straight and brown. She's tall and darker-complected like my dad and I am short and pasty like my mom. I care about school and she cares about sports. I am a perfectionist and Britnee is happy-go-lucky. I am often quiet and reserved and I care about what other people think of me. Britnee has always been the wild child who tells people how she feels. She doesn't hold back... ever.

Britnee is loyal; she is the first person to defend the people she loves. Britnee is hardworking; she has such a strong passion for volleyball and softball and I've loved watching her become a superstar the past couple years. Britnee is strong and independent; she's never been one of those girls who acts superficial to fit in with a certain crowd. She stands her ground, even if she is standing alone, and for that I admire her.

Living at home, Britnee and I argue quite a bit. She leaves the bathroom a mess, steals my clothes without asking and for some reason still has not grasped the concept of cleaning up after herself. But the older I get, the more I realize Britnee is one of the few people I know I can always count on to listen to me, stand up for me and make me feel better when I'm sad.

God has blessed me with a beautiful sister and I don't tell her often enough how thankful I am for her support and friendship. 

Happy birthday, Britnee! I love you.

Real Simple makes Pinterest look real simple

Pinterest has easily become my favorite social media platform. The pin-sharing website allows me to collect and organize photos I like and links I find helpful all in one place. I think Pinterest was initially geared more toward personal use, but with the site's growth in popularity more and more businesses are beginning to utilize the social media platform.

Real Simple, the magazine and online source for "creative, practical, and inspiring solutions that make life easier" has become a popular brand on Pinterest and one of my favorites to follow for a couple reasons.

Real Simple obviously understands how to reach their target audience. The same people reading Real Simple's monthly magazine are the people who visit Pinterest daily: women. Real Simple tends to their audience by pinning recipes, hair styles, fashion trends, inspiring quotes and tips on organization, cleaning and decorating. Real Simple focuses on pinning content that interests women and they pin a lot of it. Real Simple currently has 113 different boards with 7,200 pins. They've added three new pins since I started this blog post. By consistently updating content, Real Simple keeps followers engaged and looking forward to new content. Real Simple also attracts Pinterest followers by pinning sharp visually appealing photos. High quality photos and links compel users to click through the page and engage.

It is important for organizations to carefully consider their audience and their messages before they decide which social media platforms to dive into. In my opinion, the decision to utilize Pinterest was a no-brainer for Real Simple. Living up to their name, Real Simple successfully uses Pinterest to share daily finds, tips and solutions that help simplify women's lives.

In a real-time media world, silence is not golden

PR people used to have days, a week even, to research, craft responses, meet with senior executives, make final decisions and respond to threatening situations or crises involving their organization.

Not anymore. According to Chapter 7 of Real-Time Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott, "In the real-time media world, a week is the same as a century. The moment is lost. You've completely blown it! #Fail" (pg. 54).

Amazon.com provides a great example of a company that took too long to respond to a threatening situation. In the summer of 2009, George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm were for sale as Kindle e-books even though the publisher did not have copyrights to these titles. When this was found out, Amazon.com decided to remove all copies of these books from users' Kindle accounts and refund customers' money, without notifying them in any way. Kindle users around the globe were upset when they realized their e-books had simply vanished with no warning or explanation from Amazon.com and they took to Kindle forums, Twitter, blogs and other forms of social media to express their complaints. 

The story was eventually picked up by mainstream media outlets, still with no comment from Amazon.com. Kindle users were upset that the company could take away these books without user permission or without offering any kind of explanation. The company also failed to timely respond to forum discussions, social media activity or customer service related emails, which infuriated the Kindle community. Finally, a week after the news story broke, the CEO of Amazon.com posted an apologetic statement on the Kindle forum. He accepted full responsibility for the issue and promised to make better decisions moving forward.

This simple apology was all Kindle users wanted. The tone of the real-time conversation about Amazon.com and Kindle changed as soon as CEO Jeff Bezos commented on the issue. Had the apology happened a week earlier, as soon as the issue arose, Amazon.com could have prevented a great deal of negative dialogue from customers and the negative story in the mainstream news. 

The PR people at Amazon.com did not have a week or even a few days to craft a response to this situation because Kindle users were posting complaints to the Kindle forum, Twitter and blogs as soon as their books were removed. The week of no comment by Amazon.com gave the impression that the company didn't care about users' frustrations. In a real-time media world, companies have to realize the importance of getting the first word in every conversation with customers. Regardless of whether the conversation is good or bad, companies must learn to respond to customers in real-time, because if they don't someone else will. 

ONU faculty: Caring, supportive and friendly people

The past couple weeks I've realized just how blessed I am to attend a school where my professors, bosses and other ONU faculty truly want the best for me. Going to school at ONU, I am surrounded by friendly people all day long who know me by name. I don't know many college students at other universities who can say the same.

Last week the bosses of my work-study job on campus took me out to lunch at El Campo for my birthday. They even surprised me and invited a few of my co-workers who were excited to help me celebrate my 21st birthday. I am very thankful for the opportunity to work on campus, but I am even more thankful for the people I've met because of this job. David and Kirstin (my bosses) and the rest of my co-workers went out of their way to treat me to lunch and it made my birthday so much more special. 

A few days ago I went to visit one of my professors with a few questions about courses for next semester. I wound up sitting in her office for nearly an hour chatting with her and two of my other professors. My visit quickly went from a talk about academics to a friendly conversation about family, friends and life after college. My professors shared some pretty entertaining stories and provided a few good laughs. I respect my professors both inside and outside the classroom, and I know they genuinely care about my success after graduation.

Tonight while I was working at the McIntosh information desk I had two very special visitors; both knew me by name. (I like to think this has everything to do with my memorable friendly face and nothing to do with the nameplate I have to keep on display while I work.) The first visitor was a custodial worker who really likes to talk. I can usually count on him stopping by at some point during my Thursday night shift and telling me a story about how he and his wife met or about his recent vacation to Montana. The second visitor was the President of the University. He was on his way to the ballroom to address students about the Ohio Northern Promise (a recently announced initiative to keep an ONU education affordable). I told him I was sorry I would be missing the meeting so he took a few minutes to talk to me about what he thinks the Ohio Northern Promise will do for students at our university. Both of these men could have smiled, waved and gone on with their jobs, but instead they took the time to stop by and say hello. When they asked how I was doing, I felt like they really cared.

Because I've never attended another university I can't say for certain that ONU faculty are better than the faculty at other schools, but I certainly feel like they are special. I'm so glad I go to a school where I am a name and not a number. It is a blessing to know that I have professors, bosses and many other ONU acquaintances rooting for my success during and after my time here at Northern.

"Mr. Obama, tear down this website!"

HealthCare.gov, the online health insurance marketplace implemented as a result of the Affordable Care Act, went live last week on October 1. The website is still experiencing many glitches and the unhappy customers have taken to HealthCare.gov’s social media pages to ask questions and express complaints.

Through Facebook posts and tweets this past week, HealthCare.gov has been thanking users for their patience and assuring them that website improvements are on the way. All the while, users continue to complain about blank screens, trouble with login information and a lack of assistance from the HealthCare.gov chat application or Twitter page. However, I did notice HealthCare.gov began responding to certain comments on the Facebook page earlier today.

According to an article from the Washington Post, White House officials were warned about the website’s flaws and technical problems, but the administration launched the site anyway and assured people there was no reason to be alarmed.

In my opinion, the technical difficulties of the website have weakened the image of the entire Obamacare system. Many potential Obamacare consumers are frustrated with the website glitches and have taken to social media to voice their concerns, but have received little assistance. As far as I can tell by HealthCare.gov’s social media, the customer service skills of Obamacare officials are lacking.

How can President Obama and his administration force Americans to purchase health insurance from the government (or face a penalty fee) when they can’t even get their website to function properly? Officials had hundreds of millions of dollars and over three years to prepare for the implementation of this website, yet Americans are still struggling to figure out how to successfully apply for Obamacare via HealthCare.gov.  

What is your opinion? Do you think the technical glitches on HealthCare.gov will negatively influence people’s perception of the Obamacare system?

Hard work pays off

In the spring semester of my sophomore year I began working on a research paper titled "Attribute Agenda Setting and the Framing of Political Messages: A Comparison of the News Media and Presidential Responses to School Shootings" for a PR Research class. At this point, I had never conducted my own research and the task of writing a research paper longer than 15 pages sounded daunting. PR Research was a stressful course and resulted in many late nights and random texts, calls and emails to Dr. Aggie with questions (and complaints) about my research. After receiving my final grade in the class and attending the Ohio Northern Student Research Colloquium, Dr. Aggie and I decided it would be worth it to submit my paper to the Ohio Communication Association Conference.

I was accepted to present shortly after I submitted my paper this summer and I attended the OCA's 77th Annual Conference this past weekend at Marietta College. I presented my research in a panel session alongside a graduate student from the University of Akron and a communication professor from the University of Toledo. I started the session quite intimidated and nervous, but it turned out to be an extremely rewarding experience. For 15 minutes, I was the expert in the room. I was grateful to be able to share my research results and hard work with students, professionals and researchers from all over the state of Ohio. I was even more grateful when OCA President Tim Pollock announced my name as the winner of the top undergraduate research paper.

Not only am I thankful for this opportunity from the Ohio Communication Association, but I am also thankful for the help and encouragement of both Dr. Aggie and Dr. Fleck throughout the entire process. I am proud of my research and this accomplishment and I can't wait to see where my research takes me in the future.

She's gone... but they're hiring!

Marina Shifrin, a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, left her job as a viral video marketer at the Taiwanese Animation Company this past week. She did so via YouTube and the video went viral.

This video paints a negative picture of the Taiwanese Animation Company, a company best known for comedic news videos. In the video subtitles, Marina notes she was working at 4:30 a.m. She says for two years she sacrificed relationships, time and energy for a boss who cared very much about video views and very little about video content. At the end of the video Marina turns out the lights and leaves for good. “I QUIT! I’m gone,” she says.

Marina Shifrin’s video, entitled “An Interpretive Dance for My Boss Set to Kanye West’s Gone,” currently has over 9 million views on YouTube. The video could have generated a lot of negative PR for the Taiwanese Animation Company, but they weren't going to let Shifrin have the last word…

The company’s response is clearly poking fun at Marina’s video, but instead of angrily firing back at her complaints and accusations, the Taiwanese Animation Company wishes her the best and playfully announces, “We’re hiring!”

The Taiwanese Animation Company turned a potentially threatening viral video from a disgruntled ex-employee into positive PR for their own company. Posting a humorous yet tasteful frame-by-frame rebuttal to Marina’s initial video completely flipped the script and restored the Taiwanese Animation Company’s positive image. 

Modernizing public affairs for the digital world

I've said it before and I'll say it again: technology is changing the way we communicate and interact with one another. This holds true for public affairs practices as well. Public affairs professionals are constantly influenced by user-generated content and social media.

According to Chapter 14 of Share This, the old model for public affairs involves pushing policy messages out to stakeholders in hopes of influencing them to adopt your policy agenda. The new model of public affairs is two-way symmetrical (this is what PR is all about!). The new model involves pushing your messages out and pulling stakeholders in at the same time by creating engaging content that compels them to participate in your policy agenda.

For example, President Obama has been heavily pushing his messages supporting Obamacare via Twitter for the past several months. And thanks to the social media site, the American people have been able to engage with this content, share their opinions, and directly respond to the president's messages. Rather than solely pushing his Obamacare messages via traditional media outlets, President Obama is modernizing his public affairs practices with the two-way symmetric model and digital communication. This is effective because people spend more time on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media outlets than they do on mainstream media sites like CNN, Fox and MSNBC.

The private policy meetings, networking meetings and lobbying efforts of the past have all become truly public information thanks to citizen journalism and the transparency of social media. Public affairs professionals can now easily research potential supporters and opponents via the Internet. Public officials and the general public alike can easily monitor conversations or create new conversations regarding public policy issues. Social media also provides a platform where public officials can easily respond to crises or controversial issues and reach a large number of their target publics.

The greatest argument against the integration of social media into public affairs is the importance of face-to-face communication and grassroots public policy efforts. Face-to-face relationships are crucial to  public affairs success, but social media can allow public officials to strengthen these relationships and promote more frequent engagement with stakeholders. Social media also has the potential to help public affairs professionals reach much larger audiences than they would by grassroots efforts alone.

Both the National Rifle Association and the Human Rights Campaign are examples of grassroots organizations that have successfully integrated social media into their public relations plans. Check out these links to their Facebook pages:

National Rifle Association

Human Rights Campaign