In the past 10 years, public relations professionals have discovered that when it comes to measuring public relations strategy and tactics, volume metrics alone don’t tell the full story. The problem with relying solely on volume metrics is that they don’t tell you whether your program is delivering the right message, bringing the right kind of audience or compelling anyone to action. Fast forward to the arrival of social networks, and it’s suddenly possible to measure whether people have seen your content or shared it with others. Today’s measurement tools make it possible to track every click a communications program inspires, and helps determine the source of the traffic, its context and sometimes, even the point of interest within a piece of content.

In this week’s PRSA “Friday Five” post — an analysis of the week’s biggest public relations and business news and commentary — we take a closer look at how public relations professionals are using measurement tools to make better business decisions, eliminate spam from skewing the results, add value that clients can see and establish industry standards. We also look at how speaking measurement as a second language and understanding what measurement terms mean can increase the validity of your analysis.

Continue reading " Friday Five: Measurement as a Second Language "

One way to engage in PRSA, advance the profession and guide future professionals is to offer internship programs at your place of business. Internships provide a real-life educational opportunity to students who are interested in public relations, enhance community relations with your local colleges and universities, and deliver meaningful contributions to your office.

While employed in the hospitality industry, I was able to provide more than 450 internships to students from three major universities. I still hear from many of them as they make significant career decisions. It’s been a mutually rewarding experience, both personally and professionally.

Continue reading " Education and Enrichment: Internships that Benefit Organizations and Students "

Like many in our profession, I remember my early days in public relations fondly. I was a wide-eyed, high school sophomore when I first started working with the sports information staff in the athletic department at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss to anyone from the South). At home football games each fall, the press box at Hemingway Stadium was packed with sportswriters and columnists representing many of the major newspapers in the South — The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to name a few. Those writers were rock stars in my eyes and handing play-by-play sheets and halftime statistics to such legends as Furman Bisher and Hubert Mizell was truly a thrill.

Fast forward 35 years to today, when the 2010 college football season unofficially begins with the convening of Southeastern Conference (SEC) Football Media Days outside Birmingham. Ala. There are still many newspapers represented at Media Days, but the cast of characters has definitely changed. More than 850 media outlets, ranging from local newspapers and radio stations to television networks and bloggers, attend this three-day feeding frenzy for interviews with coaches and players from the 12 member schools. My good friend, Charles Bloom (who currently serves as president of the PRSA Alabama Chapter), is associate commissioner for the Southeastern Conference, and he has the daunting responsibility of wrangling the media circus that follows “southern fried football” from Gainesville, Fla., to Fayetteville, Ark. Contrasted with those laid back teenage years in the Ole Miss press box, today’s media horde covers SEC football with fervor once reserved for political conventions or natural disasters.

Continue reading " The Shrinking Newsroom: Frustration or Opportunity? "

As a public relations professional, I was impressed by the very strategic outreach to persuade citizens to respond to the 2010 Census. This year’s campaign exemplified a formula for fool-proof communications — prepare the audience, make a connection, be brief,  remind them and, if you still don’t get a response, go out and find them.

Much has been written about the extensive, integrated communications campaign built around the Census. The campaign engaged a full spectrum of tactics, including paid media, earned media, partnerships, a host of special initiatives and a persistent workforce. And yet, the Census is a case study of good old fashioned communications — getting a compelling sender to meet a receptive receiver, resulting in targeted results. 

Continue reading " Lessons from the 2010 Census Communications Campaign "

My teaching experience goes back to the third grade — that is, when I was in the third grade. My teacher, Mrs. Draves, had to run to the principal’s office, and she put me in charge of the class.

As I read from the book Mrs. Draves left for me, I thought, “What a heavy experience this is.” And, even with the sea of faces in front of me, I immediately said to myself, “Wow, I really like this!”

For many years, though, my “sister” passion, communications, took priority. Sparked by an internship at my college’s communications office as an undergraduate, I launched a career in public relations. To me, the business offered exhilarating professional challenges, whether creating a strategic communication plan, writing copy for a brochure or supervising interns.

And yet, the bug to teach was still with me. Intrigued by the thought of combining my dual passions as a college professor of public relations, I earned a doctorate while continuing to pursue my public relations career. As assistant to the university president, Bill Greiner, I wrote his speeches and his columns in university publications, as well as supervised a staff of writers. While working with Greiner, though, I daydreamed about the professors and students we saw outside his window.

Continue reading " Help Wanted: Public Relations Professors "