Facebook helps companies seem more personable and easy to reach.

The world is fast changing and developing. As people often say, it is becoming a "global village." Several trends and practices stand out to me in today's worlds especially in the field of marketing, advertising and public relations. One trend that stands out to me especially is social media whether it be Facebook, Twitter, You tube, or blogs.

According the Facebook Web site under "press room," there are more than 400 million active users worldwide. Companies often use Facebook groups to generate friends and a public to target. On a smaller scale, campus organizations use Facebook groups and events to promote an event, and It also helps to estimate the amount of people that will attend the event.

Facebook helps companies seem more personable and easy to reach.

Another social media tool that I think is becoming more and more efficient is Twitter. It is amazing how status updates create awareness about an issue and motivate people to do a certain thing. Just like most social media aspect, status updates are really personable which is an important aspect in getting people to take action.

Another aspect of social media that can help a PR professional with a successful campaign is its flexibility. Social media messages can easily be changed if need be without worry of any confusion or miscommunication. More information can always be added if needed. An example is if a company releases a new product, and announces the wrong date, it can always go back to announce a change in the product release date if needed.

Another trend I am seeing more and more of lately is the videos on You Tube specifically make up and apparel videos. Companies are hiring young and energetic individuals to make videos talking about their products. I think the videos are very effective judging from the feedback and comments that people leave in the "comment section." Its is important for PR professionals to know how to use social media to a specific target public.

Viral Marketing and Public Relations

By: Leslie Koch

With the internet seemingly taking over the world, it is no surprise that most public relations practitioners are turning to the “world wide web” for campaign strategies. Websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the popularity of blogs have helped PR campaigns all over the world reach an entirely new spectrum of target audiences. These new campaign tactics are commonly referred to as viral marketing.

YouTube, a website that features millions of different videos from as many users all over the world, was created by employees of PayPal and bought out by Google in 2006. The website was originally launched in 2005 and the website’s popularity took off in the next few years. The website has been successful because users can create, upload, view and respond to different videos. YouTube has created thousands of “YouTube celebrities” and even caused controversies because of its high-paced messaging. Because of this, YouTube is a great way to use for messaging and to spread messages easily. Even one of our current class clients, Big Brothers Big Sisters, utilizes YouTube in its current PR campaign. An Oklahoma public relations firm recently used YouTube to publicize a job opening with the firm, the agency is looking for a new social media director. The video currently has 884 hits and it has been up for around five weeks.

Another new fad in viral marketing is the website Twitter. Twitter has gained lots of popularity in the past few months and especially in early 2009. Numerous celebrities use twitter and now it has become a great way for companies to send short messages to their followers. The University of Wisconsin has started utilizing a Twitter account to promote the university’s different sports teams and athletics events.

I think it is extremely important for PR agencies and teams to utilize these various types of viral marketing, because it reaches a wide range of people and is extremely time efficient. However, I think campaigns should mix these “modern” strategies with more “traditional” strategies, because it could be difficult to reach a specific target audience through the internet.

Got Effective Public Relations?

(Photo from http://www.prsatulsa.com/images/index_04.gif)

By Brittany Atwood

In Tulsa, the second largest city in Oklahoma, Schnake Turnbo Frank (STFPR) is a well known public relations agency. They have received many awards for their campaigns including a Bronze Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America for a campaign created for the Benedictine Sisters of St. Joseph Monastery. This campaign exceeded the Monastery's goals of increasing awareness. STFPR is known for their innovative ways to provide effective public relations for all of their clients. Account Executive Lucinda Rojas said she loves her job because she has the opportunity to help her clients achieve their goals.

"It is rewarding to be able to help people," Rojas said.

Rojas graduated from the University of Tulsa with a B.A. in Communications with an emphasis in public relations. She said her education has prepared her for many things in her career as a public relations practitioner. In some of her classes she was given real clients to prepare a public relations campaign for.

"Being able to get feedback from my professor and professionals has been really helpful to my overall preparation," Rojas said.

Who would have ever thought about posting a video classified ad? Well STFPR recently announced a job opening via a YouTube clip. Rojas said social media and online communication are very important aspects to the future of public relations.

In today's time there is much discussion about the current economic recession. It is a good thing to be optimistic during this situation because people never know when times may turn around.

"I think this situation means that recent grads need to work hard to find a way to differentiate in an extremely competitive and limited job market," Rojas said.

Some advice Rojas said was to get as much experience as possible during your time in college and also develop knowledge of the future of public relations