About Me

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A recent graduate of Ohio Northern University, I picked up my entire life 3 weeks after graduation and moved to Louisville, Kentucky to begin my professional career and new life.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Peace Out

Its finally here, week 10 of my very last quarter at ONU.  This week is filled with various awards banquets, end of the year parties and various other commitments.  Along with all of this comes a sense of finality.  The last time I will be heading to a 10 am class, my last University Singers rehearsal and my last Thursday night dinner creation. I've had a great experience at ONU, but I feel completely prepared to head into the real world on my own.  Bring it on!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

I Got a Job!

As it comes down to the final weeks before graduation, I am proud to say that I have a job! Woohoo!  After sending out at least 75 job applications, I got the call on Tuesday from the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.  I was so determined to know what I was going to be doing after May 22 that I set a goal for myself of one application a day.  This turned into about five a day.  I got a call from the Kentucky Center three weeks ago for a phone interview the next week, then they called me down to Louisville the following week for an in person interview and then offered me the position a week later.  I will be working as an event services coordinator doing contract writing, bookings and other odds and ends.  I am so excited and happy that I have a path set out after graduation.  Now, I just need to find an apartment, but that the fun part!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Think Before You Act

In the book The New Influencers, Gillin talks about a point that I felt was very important.  He says that strategy needs to drive technology.  I think all too often the reverse order happens.  All too quickly organizations and companies are looking to jump onto the newest and most hip technology in order to reach their customers, but sometimes this will not fit the bill. Think about a company like the Walking Company.  This is a shoe chain  that is mainly directed at middle-aged people.  Therefore, if this company was to jump on the twitter bandwagon to try to get recognition they would probably fail.  While some middle-aged people are on twitter, most are not.  The message of tweets from the Walking Company would be completely lost.  Instead, the Walking Company should look at different forms of social media to reach their customers.  Perhaps a class reunion website would be a better place to advertise.

Another topic that Gillin discusses is del.icio.us.  He says that this is the most powerful search engine site.  Having never really taken the time to explore this site, I decided to give it a go. It seems very navigable to me and like it would be a very helpful tool for social media experts.  The key to this site is tagging.  I understand now the importance of tagging in the social media world.  If you want to get noticed by important figures in the social media world, you need to tag properly so that they can track you down quickly on a site like del.icio.us.  While, I probably don't think this site is the most powerful search engine for me, I can see why it is so important to social media as a whole.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Twitter Mania

In the wake of the announcement that Osama Bin Ladin was dead twitter and facebook exploded!  I was not at home when the news broke but my roommate texted me to give me a heads up.  Can I say now how glad I am that I have a smart phone?  I immediately turned on the CNN app as well as my mobile twitter app.  Twitter was having at least 20 new posts every 10 seconds it seemed.  I was getting all the latest information, including a tracking of how long it would be until the President spoke.  Facebook was just as lively.  People first were simply declaring the information, then came the jokes and the puns.  It was an entertaining as well as a history making night for social media.  So, how did you hear the news?  Were you watching your TV at home when the news casters broke into regular programming, or were you on twitter or facebook?  There is no denying that social media has completely changed the way we view our world and the way we relate to it.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Twitter Assignment

The two people I chose to follow were Gretchen Rossi and Geoff Living. I felt these two people were very different in their reasons for using twitter as well as they type of person that would follow them. Gretchen is from the Real Housewives of Orange County and uses her twitter as a self-promotion tool, as well as a social tool. Mr. Living uses twitter as a self-promotional tool, social tool, but also as an informational tool. For example, this tweet from him "SF Chronicle video prompts White House threat http://t.co/pMh476p censorship from @whitehouse." This is a way of him connecting with his followers and letting them know about issues he feels are important.  On the contrast, Gretchen tweets "Just finished dinner with friends, On way to Blackfin now! Look forward to meeting everyone!"  This is her using twitter as a social tool. Gretchen tweeted 16 times on April 27, while Geoff tweeted almost 40 times on the same day.  Gretchen does not use hashtags much, Geoff does not use them often, but more than Gretchen does.  Geoff posts more links then hashtags.  I feel like both of these people are using twitter to connect with their followers and promote themselves, but Mr. Living uses it as an awareness tool, as well.

The two companies I chose to follow were St. Jude, a nonprofit, and Sharpie, a for profit company.  Both organizations use hashtags fairly frequently. In addition, both companies use twitter as a way to promote their products, and pretty much only for that purpose.  Sharpie played into pop culture more, by connecting many tweets to the royal wedding and ways the British could use sharpies.  St. Jude simply promotes their organization and gives hints of ways to donate to the organization.  Sharpie typically tweets under 10 times a day, while St. Jude only tweets about one or two times per day.  Both organizations use twitter in my opinion.  There is only so much that can be said about childhood cancer a day or a marker. 

Make a Plan

According to The New Rules of Marketing & PR, the most important thing your company can do when creating a marketing and PR plan is to focus on the buyers.  In the world we live in with so much access to our clients, there is no excuse for not doing your very best to satisfy the needs and wants of your clients. While your product may be great, there is nothing for you to benefit from unless your clients are getting what they want.

I think a great example of this concept if Ohio Northern. Who are the clients of this organization?  Parents and students, right?  Do you think ONU does a good job of satisfying the needs and wants of the clients?  Yes ONU has a beautiful campus and a great reputation for an excellent education, but would that matter to a parent if they really want their child to be safe on campus?  No.  It is important for the University to focus on the different and unique desires of each student and their family when marketing ONU to them.  ONU was marketed to me as a great place to continue the legacy of my family members who had also gone here.  This was important to me, but this would not have mattered to another student who was the first person in their family to go to college.

Each customer is unique, and while not every customer's needs and wants can be completely satisfied, it is part of the job of a PR professional to make a marketing plan that will create a sense of satisfaction for a customer.