| The
monthly newsletter for the Hampton Roads Virginia Chapter
of PRSA |
August 2008 |
 From
the President by
Emma A. Inman, APR
Getting
on the new media bandwagon
PRSA is getting on the new media bandwagon. Within the last
few months, we've added RSS to our Web
site and we've launched a Facebook page.
The new media savvy members of our chapter (and dare I say,
in my case, YOUNGER members of our chapter), are moving
us into the 21st century.
As the experts on disseminating information and with so
many people getting their news through blogs, RSS feeds,
on social media sites and the like, it's good that we're
joining the online conversation.
Taking my own tiny steps, I've re-launched the PRSA Prez
blog that Becky Lawson started last year. Check it
out at http://prsahr.org/wordpress/.
I'd welcome your comments and feedback. (One of the
posts is about a New York Times article with kudos
to a company with local ties. Teased your interest? Read
the blog.)
If you're like me, and you need to know more about social
media, how to use it, when to use it, what to use. . .PRSA
has some great things happening to reduce your learning
curve.
First, read the rest of this newsletter. Our members have
developed some great tips. Second, save the date for our
professional development conference, October 1. We're
bringing in internationally recognized new media expert,
Eric Schwartman. Eric conducts the two-day
New Media Boot Camps offered by PRSA National,
which are always a sellout. He's skinnying the boot camp
down for us. You will not want to miss this.
We'll also hear from Larry Hincker,
associate vice president for university relations at Virginia
Tech, as our keynote luncheon speaker. Larry will
talk about the crisis communications management and lessons
learned during the shooting at Virginia Tech. The Internet
played a key role in helping the university tell the world
what was happening, and he'll be sharing his story with
us.
In conjunction with the professional development conference,
we're also partnering with the PRSSA chapters of Hampton
University and Norfolk State University to hold a student
career fair. Sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation,
the career fair is designed to provide HU and NSU students
an opportunity to interview with recruiters from various
public relations firms for internships and entry-level positions.
Watch your email boxes and PRSA HR's Web site for more information
on this exciting event!
And don't forget - July 18 is the deadline
for Pinnacle Awards submissions. Get those entries in!
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Pinnacle
Awards 2008 - Entries are due this FRIDAY!
Remember, the deadline for the Pinnacle Awards is fast
approaching. All entries are due by Friday,
July 18!
As you know, the Pinnacle Awards recognize outstanding
work in public relations, featuring the creative and effective
ways in which public relations impact our lives and our
communities. Nominations are also being accepted for the
Practitioner of the Year and Rising Star awards.
You can be a winner, but only if you enter! This year,
our awards are being judged by the Hoosier Chapter of
PRSA.
We will announce and salute our winners September 10 at
a location to be announced. Mark your calendars now for
this festive event and, best of luck to all entrants!
Anyone willing to lend a helping hand to the Awards committee
please contact Meredith
Mobley at (757) 351-7366.
Click here
for more information and to download an entry form.
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 Give
Yourself a Career Boost! Join PRSA during
July and Chapter dues are FREE for
one year. During the month of July, join PRSA National
during this special offer at the regular member rate
of $290, and you'll recieve PRSA Hampton Roads Chapter
membership FREE for one year!
As the world's largest organization for public relations
professionals, PRSA gives you ready access to everything
you need to stay informed and enhance your career.
For more information regarding membership or to join, click
here.
Be sure to enter promotion code CHAP2008
on your application to receive this special offer. |
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New
Service Links Reporters & PR Professionals
As
PR practitioners, we've been connecting businesses with the
media for more than 25 years. As former news reporters, we
know how frustrating it can be to find the right source to
interview for a story - especially on deadline.
Hampton Roads Media Connectionz is a FREE
service to help reporters and sources find each other.
Here's how it works. If you are a reporter, you fill out a
simple online form with your contact info, deadline and story
query.
If you're a PR pro or business owner, you'll receive an email
every weekday with queries from reporters who cover Hampton
Roads, Virginia. If you can offer a source matching a reporter's
specific request, then shoot the reporter a quick email and
explain how you are qualified to provide information about
the topic.
That's it! Go to www.HRMediaConnectionz.com
to sign up. Spread the word to your friends and colleagues!
Service begins AUGUST 1, 2008!
Hampton Roads Media Connectionz is sponsored
by The Buzz Factory. For more information, contact Gail
Kent.
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PRSA HR Enters the world of Facebook
by
Carissa Frasca Cutrell
Over the past few years,
Web 2.0 tools have grown in both size and importance,
and they're quickly changing the way public relations
professionals do business. The days of sending a news
release to a group of reporters are long gone. Now,
public relations practitioners must sift through the
blogosphere, social media sites, and video sharing
platforms to get their message across in both the
real world and virtual ones.
Facebook originally began as a site for college students
to keep in touch with one another - almost like a
virtual yearbook. Since then, the site has morphed
into a social network of business professionals, students
and organizations. Members log on and create a personal
profile. The profiles can be made public or private.
From there, members can join groups that cater to
their interests. For instance, if you want to converse
with marathon runners, you can join a group on Facebook
that allows you to do so. Or if you want to receive
news from your alma mater, you can join your university's
Facebook page.
To provide local PRSA members with a first-hand look
at social media, we've launched a Facebook group specifically
for PRSA members and students. There, PRSA members
can converse with each other about issues they're
facing, bounce ideas off colleagues, network and see
who's going to the next "Hap-PRSA" social. We encourage
you to extend your PRSA membership into the virtual
realm.
Follow these easy steps to join the PRSA Hampton Roads
Chapter's Facebook group:
1. Go to www.facebook.com
2.
Enter your information into the "Sign Up for Facebook" box
on the home page and click "Sign Up"
3.
Complete Your Profile Information
4.
Click on the Groups Tab
5.
Search for "PRSA Hampton Roads"
6.
Click on "Join this Group"
In
an attempt to help local practitioners wade through the
next generation of communication, look for a monthly column
in News & Views that focuses
on Web 2.0 tools.
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 PRSA
HR's Web site now features RSS!
by Ed Novi, APR
RSS (Real Simple
Syndication) is an easy way to be alerted when new content
appears on your favorite Web sites.
In other words,
as new information appears on a favorite site, it will now
come to you rather than you having to look for it.
You spend less time searching for content, and more time
enjoying it.
RSS enabled sites have
files called "RSS feeds" or "news feeds" that describe the
latest updates to the site.
The orange button is what
lets you know that such a feed is available on that site,
and you can subscribe to it.
Here's how to easily subscribe:
1. From the Internet,
download a compatible news and feed reader, also called
an RSS Aggregator. (You can find a list of these readers
when you type "RSS Feed Readers" through any search engine.
These are often offered as free services. Google and
Yahoo also provide this service).
2. Come back to www.prsahr.org
and click on the feed logo. Cut and paste this site's
URL into your reader.
3. That's it! Now,
whenever you visit your RSS feed reader, you can enjoy the
latest information from PRSA Hampton Roads Virginia Chapter.
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 Ethel
the Ethics Evangelist
by Gail Kent, ABC, Ethics Chair
Contest Extended!
Since
I received NO responses
to this contest and we ran out of time
at the last meeting, I'm rerunning this
column. All you have to do it go to www.prsa.org
under the "ethics" topics and find the
answers - it's no sweat! The purpose of
this exercise is to acquaint you with
the resources at our organization's Web
site.
The first two members submitting four
correct answers will win either a hardback
copy of "The New Rules of Marketing and
PR" by David Meerman Scott, donated by
The Buzz Factory, or a basket of healthcare
goodies donated by Sentara Healthcare.
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS COPY AND
PASTE! Come on, you can do that!
Here are five
situations presenting ethical decision-making
opportunities. Send your answers to
Ethel.
1. You
work for a fruit association. The focus of a promotional
campaign is to encourage a lifelong healthy habit of eating
fruit every day. The audience is families of preschoolers,
children ages three to five. A strategy you're working on
is to form an organization of parents to be spokespeople
for healthy eating habits.
What would make this organization a front group?
What would ensure that this organization is not a front
group?
2. You work for a public relations firm. A client
requests that your firm dedicates a person to their account.
You are assigned for six months to this client and will
work in their office fulltime.
How do you introduce yourself to a local reporter
doing a business story on the company?
3. You
work in a corporate communications division for a manufacturer.
Management decides the company needs a new, fresh logo.
As a member of the team assigned this task, you are asked
to propose three concepts. You do research on the Internet
and identify three promising ideas.
How can you ethically use research as inspiration
for a creative idea?
Describe when using research is plagiarism.
4. You work in the communications department of
a local hospital. A major car accident, involving 25 people,
occurred about 2 a.m. last night. A neighbor calls you and
says that her 17-year-old high school son has not come home
from visiting a friend in the neighborhood of the accident.
You know that the accident involved adults; no teenagers
or children have been admitted.
What can you
ethically and legally tell your friend?
5. You
are working on an announcement of a new product. The client
expects international and national media publicity. Your
persistence and ingenuity paid off and the client is very
pleased with the results. You did not anticipate, however,
the amount of time on the phone this project required. The
international phone cost was triple the amount you had budgeted.
What is a
proper way to bill for this expense?
What is an
improper way to bill for this expense?
To help us with our ethical
issues, our chapter has enlisted the help of Ethel, the
Ethics Evangelist (a.k.a. Gail Kent, Ethics Chair)!
In future issues of News & Views, Ethel will bring you ethics
articles, including guidelines for decision-making, quizzes
and case studies ripped from the headlines. If you
have a particular issue you would like to see Ethel tackle,
please contact her!
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 PR
Marvels & Miscues
Who Stepped In It: Damage Control Techniques
When the United Food and Commercial Workers
Union failed twice in the last decade to unionize Smithfield
Foods' meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, N.C., they should
have recognized the brick wall ahead. But, they didn't.
Instead, according to a damage control article
by Mary Worrell of Inside Business, the union took its public
relations battle to the Washington, D.C., area and flooded
buses, billboards, and local television and radio airwaves
with a negative ad campaign aimed at Smithfield products
-- a roundabout way of influencing North Carolina families
to unionize.
This public relations campaign is a waste
of the union's effort and money, which brings into question
their leadership and vision. People the union could
have persuaded may now feel alienated by a big media campaign
out of D.C., which does not resemble the grassroots audience
the union claims to represent.
If your company or organization
comes under attack, here are some helpful damage control
PR tips:
- Write, distribute and post on your website
a news release or news releases that dissect the misinformation
and present the facts.
- Cite incorrect statements.
The union is saying a Smithfield worker sliced "thousands
of hams a minute" which translates to a few dozen hams a
second. That's impossible, and it calls into question
the credibility of the complaints. No one likes unfounded
attacks.
- Present the information on a well-designed, well-written
website. Every business that has the potential to
end up on page one should have an off-line website that
covers a variety of crisis scenarios and can be tweaked
and on-line quickly. Speed is the name of the game
in our Internet-driven society. If you are not proud
of your website, you need to be before a crisis hits.
- Inform employees quickly of high-level anti-company public
relations campaigns so they hear it from you first.
Let them be your ambassadors who knock down the attacks
through their social networks and lend public relations
help.
- Coordinate interviews with reporters covering the issue.
If the issue is important, reporters should talk with senior
organizational leaders -- not only the PR team. The
public relations team should prepare the battlefield, but
leadership should be the on-the-record voices.
- Communicate openly with reporters, meet deadlines and
always be accessible to address follow-up questions.
- Talk positives as often as possible, but address rumors,
innuendo and misinformation. Take the high ground
as often as possible and focus on your organization's strengths.
- Understand every element of the story. Try to know
all the people who will be sourced in the reporter's coverage
of the story. Make sure you understand what each source
is likely to contribute to the story.
- Invite reporters to your company to give them a firsthand
look.
- Have a strategy to engage in new media like blogs and
YouTube. Be prepared to provide responses in multiple
venues. Communication opportunities are abundant and more
people can enter the conversation. Protect your brand and
use the situation to strengthen it.
- Realize when you need public relations help.
What you should not do when attacked
- Do not ignore the attack. If you've been targeted
by smear specialists you'll need to take them on to either
hold your ground or grain ground at their cost.
- Do not assume people will automatically dismiss the attacker.
Just because you've successfully developed a brand for years
or decades, doesn't mean you can rest on your laurels.
- Do not repeat the negative. If they accuse you of
"employee abuse" do not say, "We do not abuse our employees,"
which repeats the charge you haven't committed. Better
to say, "The relationship between our company and employees
is strong and our record shows it."
If your company's 15 minutes of fame turns out to be damage
control against absurd charges, are you prepared to successfully
handle it and turn it to your advantage?
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New Members
Kelly J.
Buffaloe
Chesapeake
Mishawn Jackson
Donor Relations Coordinator
Riverside Health System Foundations, Newport News
Monica Leftwich
Newport News
Beverly Shephard
Marketing Manager
The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk
Member Milestones
Erin Dunn, APR is now the
Education Manager for the Joint Public Affairs Support Element
(Suffolk), U.S. Joint Forces Command. She was formerly
the lead exercise media planner at the "World News Network,"
Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk. In her new position,
Erin is bridging gaps between Public Affairs military education
and training and what is happening in military operations
around the world.
Jessica Kraft was
recently promoted to director of public relations for BCF.
Beck Lawson, APR
recently joined Optima Health as communications/public
relations consultant.
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Mark
your calendar for these important dates!
July
18
August
20
September
10
October
1
November
5
November
19
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June 2008
Treasurer's Report
Mindy
Hughes, APR, Treasurer
June income:
$1,802.27
June
expenses: $116.24
YTD
income: $13,692.86
YTD
expenses: $8,045.24
Total
assets:
$21,390.52
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