Topic of the Week (Week 8)

When I was taking the lead lab course at News University I learned many things.  The major thing I learned was how to write an effective lead.  This course went through the necessary steps that needed to be taken while writing a lead.  The thing that the course stressed on was to find the tension in the story.  Generally in a story there are two competing forces, so the lead should be focused around them.

I was surprised that there were multiple kinds of leads that someone could write.  The leads consisted of direct leads and delayed leads.  The direct leads are the ones most people are familiar with because it is the one when all the important facts are said in the first sentence.  The delayed lead is designed to tell a story because the lead generally starts off in the middle of something and the audience finds out the important facts later.  The kind of lead chosen really depends on the audience that will read that lead and the organization that the lead is being written for.

The thing I would like to learn more about is how to write the delayed leads better.  I have not written a delayed lead before taking this course because when I learned leads I was taught the five W’s and a H, so all my leads were written in this format, so I am not used to writing in the delayed format.

Topic of the Week (Week 15)

Social media news releases are a useful tool for public relations practitioners.  The reason they are a good idea is because there are more items on it than on a traditional news release.  There are high definition photographs that are enclosed in the news release.  This makes the news release more appealing.  There are also usually video and audio embedded in the SMNR.  It aids in making the news release more appealing to the online world.

The reason a PR practitioner would need to use a SMNR is to make there news releases more appealing to bloggers.  The blogging community would rather read something that is visually appealing, so they can use it for their website.  Another thing the person who creates the SMNR should make sure to use a lot of links.  The links will make the SMNR more likely to appear in a search engine, so the SMNR will get more readers because of it.  The website realwire explains what an SMNR is in depth and it includes an embedded video.

Also good websites for SMNRs are pitchengine and prxbuilder. These are good websites because there already is a template for the SMNR the only thing the practitioner has to do is fill it in.

Topic of the Week (Week 16)

If you are a new PR student you will have to engage in blogging.  I think it will helpful to you if you follow these ten guidelines.

1. Find good topics to write about.
   1. A good blogger wants to have readers and in order to have readers you need to come up with interesting topics.
2. Learn how to write good comments.
   1. Bloggers are expected to comment on other blogs so it is a good idea to write constructive comments that use correct grammar.
3. Link to other blogs.
   1. If you create hyperlinks to other blogs while you are blogging than you will have more of an audience at your blog.
4. Make your blog have a nice appearance.
   1. If your blog looks nice more people will like to visit it.
5. Try to make posts often.
   1. If you want people to read your blog you must continually make posts to it.
6. Look at other blogs.
   1. If you look get at other blogs the style and format of blog will come to you so you would know how to write one.
7. Write a blog post like you are talking to someone.
   1. When people visit a blog they want to communicate with the blogger so it is best to write in that style.
8. Make sure posts are not too long.
   1. People have short attention spans, so if you want people to read keep the posts short.
9. Use video or other visual aids.
   1. These items make the blog more interesting.

10.  Lastly, if you have to do a blog as an assignment for your class, do not wait until the last minute to finish it because you will feel better in the long run.

The Bad Side of Twitter.

I just read this article by Lawrence Perry about how here is also a bad side to using twitter.  He stated that many famous people do not realize who is on twitter and give out information that really needs to be private.  I still think there is a bigger upside to twitter than ther is a downside.

Product Placement, A Good Idea?

I came across this 2007 video that makes a case why it is a good idea to be against product placement. I personally am ok with product placement because I don’t think I buy something because it was placed into my favorite television show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwTIxgQXWFM&feature=fvst

I would like to know if anyone has strong feelings one way towards product placement.

How Hard is it to Fix a PR Nightmare?

I was reading this article by Harvey Rice about how the eviction of the humane society from an unused building turned into a PR nightmare and I was wondering how to actually fix bad PR when something like that happens.  I don’t know if it is possible to get the public to believe you again.

I would like to know if anyone has any thoughts on the subject.

Why Twitter is Important?

Here is a nice post by Todd Defren that explains why twitter is a useful and needed tool for public relations practitioners.

http://www.pr-squared.com/2008/04/get_into_twitter_or_get_outta.html

Web 2.0 Tutorial

This is a quick explanation of what is Web 2.0.  As a PR practitioner web 2.0 is the main tool that will be used so it is good idea to know what Web 2.0 is all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iVj0upwymk

From ikeepsafeorg

Information on Writing an SMNR and its Benefits

Social media news releases were a breakthrough in the form of public relations.  The reason it is considered a breakthrough for news releases is because there are multiple add-ons that can be put on a SMNR that was not on the traditional news release.  How we would define a SMNR comes from the website realwire.  The news release portion is written like a traditional news release, but there is information that is used for other people in online entities so it can be shared in social bookmarking, microblogging and social networking communities.  What this means is that there are other elements in the SMNR that other people in the internet media would find appealing.  Some these things consist of:

1. A high resolution photograph
2. Embedded audio
3. Embedded video
4. Access to major search engines

The useful tips that would be helpful for someone who wants to create a SMNR are listed in the Wilcox Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques and the website Writing Matters by O’Flahavan and Marilynne

1. Make each section of the SMNR stand alone
2. Use many hyperlinks, so you would have search engine visibility
3. Write short lists with bullets because the audience is an online one
4. Make the SMNR interactive
5. Use multiple Visuals
6. Put key terms in headlines and first paragraphs

As stated on Brian Solis, A public relations practitioner might want to use a SMNR because they want to get their news releases exposed to more people.  In a SMNR key words are put in headlines so there is more accessibility to search engines, and then more people have access to the news release.  Another reason is since the SMNRs are interactive more people will want to read them because they can respond to them and on a regular news release people cannot respond to them instantly.

There are many advantages of making a SMNR which consists of:

1. The journalists and bloggers want to see them because there is a lot of information in one place.
2. A PR practitioner can bypass the middleman and the right person could read it at the beginning.
3. More people will read them
4. It plays to the web which is a growing medium and the newspaper is declining

There are also some disadvantages of using a SMNR which consists of:

1. Too many links will confuse the journalists
2. Using low resolution images can look bad on the website.

An example of a SMNR is one produced by Converseon: http://blogit.realwire.com/?ReleaseID=6166

There are templates on particular websites, so it will be easy to produce a social media news release:

http://www.pitchengine.com/

http://www.prxbuilder.com/x2/

Chapter 6 Notes

1. A media kit is something that is put together before a big event in order to give reporters information on it so it would be easier for them to write stories on it.

2. A fact sheet is a one page sheet with facts about an organization, event, or product.

3. A pitch is very important for a public relations practitioner because a pitch is what gatekeepers look at to see whether this story is newsworthy or not.

4. And a public relations practitioner should always follow up on their pitch.

From Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques

Dennis L. Wilcox