5 Public Relations Twitter Tips

By Annie Beard

Internal ImPRessions Account

There is always room for improvement when it comes to using social media for Public Relations, and knowing a few tips and tricks can help you get ahead of the game. Here are five tips that will put you on your way to becoming a Twitter expert:

 1.    Be relevant
In order to be relevant, you must know your audience. Be sure to know your company’s specialization and focus your tweets around it. It is helpful to hashtag main subject words so that your audience can easily search Twitter for your tweets. 

 2.    Have two accounts
Do not mix your personal tweets with your professional tweets. Be sure to have separate accounts: one giving helpful business information and one for your own personal interests. Make sure that your usernames are very different so that your audience does not get them confused.

 3.    Do your homework
Know what is happening in the news and revolving around your company’s specialties. Bring the news to your audience, instead of letting the news come to you. Retweet or link any news that you may find.

 4.    Follow the right people
Follow Twitter accounts that are relevant to your business. That ensures you will get the right kind of news as quickly as possible, and you will stay up to date with any sudden changes.

 5.    Have fun
Twitter is a place for entertainment, and humor will go a long way with your audience. Although business is a serious subject, your audience will enjoy reading a tweet with a light mood that is still on topic and relevant to your business. This tip will ensure that you receive more followers and create a name for yourself.

If you follow those tips you are sure to be successful on Twitter. A few simple changes will go a long way! 

Final #AskOUrPRos of the year: another success!

Whether our members were interning in a new city, starting a job in the “real world” or having some fun at home this summer, it’s always good to keep in contact with the networks they’ve built and learn how to create new ones even with a busy summer schedule. For the final #AskOUrPRos Twitter chat of the school year, professionals and students connected to talk about how to best network this summer. Please check out our recap of the chat on Storify!

Strategies for Crisis Management

By Ali Fortney
ImPRessions Internal Account

Crisis management public relations: limiting damages and rebuilding reputations since the beginning of time.  Businesses, celebrities, and political figures in the public eye often find themselves in the middle of very public scandals.  The glitz, glam, and fame of celebrity, unfortunately make it common for issues many working class people deal with regularly, to be enhanced and spread on the covers of tabloids.  Fraudulent businesses, drug dependent celebrities, and adulterous politicians work cautiously to avoid harming their well-known reputations.   When crisis strikes, one must hire an excellent public relations firm to limit and control the damage to their way of making a living.

Whether the scandal is in the form of a cheating politician or corrupt business, crisis management public relations firms mainly handle each case with the same basic strategies:

1.  Obtain the facts – even if the client doesn’t want the public knowing every dirty detail, it is the firm’s duty to have knowledge of exactly what they are up against.
2. Be prepared for public press conferences – before releasing any information, have a basic plan and outline exactly what will be said.
3. Do not speak from multiple outlets – the last thing that the client needs in a time of crisis are different versions of the same story spreading like wildfire.
4. Do not be afraid to apologize – make sure the client knows that the best way to retain their reputation is to show sincere remorse to their fans and/or devoted consumers if they are indeed in the wrong.
5. Update the media – the public will be more likely to forgive and forget scandalous events of a business or celebrity if they are provided with immediate information and not left to assume the worst.

Most people can name many events where a celebrity or business has fallen from the good graces of fame and fortune.  In almost every case a representative agent with a strong background in crisis management public relations comes to the rescue.  Celebrities, businesses, and politicians all fall upon hard times and usually regroup and emerge stronger from the situation with the aid of great public relations strategies.

Last #AskOUrPRos Twitter Chat of the Year

By Tori Carras

Associate, ImPRessions Internal Account 

Make sure to join in on our last #AskOurPros Twitter chat, taking place on Tuesday, May 22 from 7-8 p.m.  Feeling lazy?  No worries, because you don’t even have to leave your couch in order to participate!  All you have to do is log onto Twitter at 7 p.m. and use the hashtag #AskOUrPRos to follow along and contribute to the conversation.  This is the last opportunity to participate in the #AskOurPros chat for the year so make sure you that you don’t miss out!The topic for the chat will be networking. Whether you’re traveling, working at home, interning in a new city or starting your first job, continue to network this summer is key. Learn how to best network in and out of the office. You never know when a new opportunity might present itself, so take advantage of the summer to build on networks no matter where you are.  Sometimes it is not “WHAT you know, but WHO you know.”

Last Professional Development Workshop of the year

Come learn from the Amanda J. Cunningham Leadership Center about professional development this Tuesday May 8 from 6-7:30 p.m. in Scripps 212. It is our LAST workshop of the year, so take advantage of this great resource before we leave for summer!

Topic: Budgeting and Event Planning

The best ideas can wilt and die if the details are not all accounted for and executed properly. This workshop will cover the ins and outs of student organization budgeting at Ohio University and address the nitty gritty of how to plan a successful event. Participants will walk away with a better understanding of how to budget and plan for events and will get a chance to hear success stories from seasoned veterans.

Send any questions you have to ouimpressions@gmail.com and we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

ImPRessions accepting 2012-2013 exec board applications

The 2012-2013 ImPRessions administration has been very busy in preparation for next year. Heather Bartman as CEO, Sienna Tomko as VP of Operations and Dan Mulvey as VP of Administration recently announced that ImPRessions is accepting applications for their 2012-2013 executive board!

Those interested in applying for account supervisor or account executive should submit the application, a resume and a cover letter to the PRSSA mailbox behind Scripps 111 by May 17 at 5 p.m. Electronic submissions will not be accepted.

Next year’s clientele promise great opportunities for upcoming executive board members and associates. Although they will not be announcing their official client list until the ImPRessions banquet on May 31, they have hinted at a few new clients.

“I said this coming into the VP of Administration position:  improving on what ImPRessions has already done won’t be easy,” Bartman said. “But this year was full of learning experiences and Nicole [Bersani, current CEO] and Rachel [Csaszar, current VP of Operations] have taught me well.”

Bartman, Tomko and Mulvey are also excited for a beginning-of-the-year kick-off meeting with new executives, supervisors and members, as well as professional advisor, M.J. Clark. There, members will learn more about their roles in ImPRessions and begin brainstorming for the year. More information will be released at the end of the quarter.

“Being a part of ImPRessions has opened a lot of opportunities for me,” Tomko said. “Anyone interested should definitely apply for executive board and take advantage of what ImPRessions has to offer.”

College Bookstore lends a hand

by: Devon Pine

This spring, College Bookstore teamed up the Ohio University’s Habitat for Humanity. The girls on the College Bookstore account set up a table on the corner of Court Street, across from the actual bookstore. Along with the table, they also had a huge Plunkit game set up with options for prizes at the bottom. Students would sign into Facebook with the computer and simply “like” the College Bookstore page (facebook.com/bobcatgear). With every like, one dollar would be donated to habitat for humanity. After liking the page, students would be able to drop a coin into the Plunkit game and would receive a prize depending on the space in which the coin landed. Many of the prizes included coupons to the bookstore; the biggest prize today was a $50 dollar gift card. One of the most popularly landed on spaces was extra five dollar donation that would be in addition to dollar from the like. Others last week included a $100 gift card for itunes. Account executive Kristin Yerecic said that it was really great to have people from Habitat for Humanity there to help with the fundraising and hand out flyers and other information about the organization.