Technology is evolving faster than anyone dreamed in terms of video. TikTok was just a whisper 18 months ago but usage has flown off the charts -- and providing some very entertaining posts during the pandemic's long days, weeks and months.
PADLET is a nice app to help with online teaching the pandemic. In our PR & SM course, we use it as a Sharing Wall so we can all learn from each other. Students can post images, upload files and even record a video right on the page. Even better is that that video CAN be downloaded to be used on a resume or YouTube page. ..to prove it, that's what I did.
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It's called P-E-S-O. Working in PR and marketing today demands an integrated approach, using all of the available tools. Social media altered PR as it had been practiced for 100 years...in a good way, a really, really good way. The E in P-E-S-O stands for earned media, meaning media coverage by outlets other than your own. Gaining that attention can turn your news release or website post into valuable engagement with your key audience and sometimes even send it into 'virality.' Becoming effective in media relations relies upon a keen understanding of how journalists think, write and work. This Muck Rack course is a leap toward that understanding. (I never ask my students to do something I haven't tried myself...so this is now on track for my spring Writing for PR course in 2021.
A second team, #MentalHealth4Commonwealth, is working in concert to increase awareness of Mason resources and urge students to use them. To help with connecting, the teams used multiple tools and apps in an integrated approach, creating dedicated Instagram accounts, hosting a virtual Twitch session, a podcast, running Instagram stories, and posts directing students to campus resources. #MOTIVATE MASON for academic health #JUSTDIDIT for physical health The #MotivateMason team is addressing what the team calls “academic health issues.” “We all are having more trouble this semester than ever before staying on top of the course work and due dates,” said senior Zander Leon. His team created a LinkTree of resources and an electronic calendar to help with organization and deadlines. The #JustDidIt team addressed “physical health” to get students up and running, literally, or up and exercising. Posts challenged everyone to share personal efforts and called on others to do the same, building user-generated content. #GRADCHECKLIST, #GMUSENIORQUOTE Senior Jacob Frehn, who graduates in December 2020, led a team to help students prepare to graduate. “This year has certainly been a curveball, especially for those nearing graduation,” he said. The #GMUGradChecklist campaign reminds students to check off needed to-do items and their #GMUSeniorQuote posts share advice and farewell messages which, according to senior Sarah Proctor, “infuses some much-needed joy into these final days of our Mason career.” “At a time when we can’t connect in person, we’re encouraging seniors to share and to celebrate our achievements online,” she said.
"WE CARE, WE SHARE" Professor Mims found students’ dedication to the group projects impressive. “Group projects always present an interesting set of challenges in any course, even during the best of times. Virtual course meetings make those projects even more difficult to plan and execute but these students found some passion in their mission. It’s also part of our course lessons on why things catch on – ‘people share when they care.’”
The Public Relations and Social Media course is an elective with no prerequisites and is open to all Mason students. Offered both fall and spring semesters, the course blends theory with hands-on practice with content creation, social media management, and strategic messaging and execution. For more information on the course, contact Professor Mims at [email protected] or find her on Twitter @MimsR or https://mimspr.weebly.com/ At the beginning of the semester in our Writing for PR class, we talked about the power of words. Consider the effect of "Thou shalt not kill," "Let it be," "An apple a day..," "I do," "It was the best of times...," "I have a dream," and, of course, "I'm sorry." Perhaps, however, the most underused but overwhelmingly powerful words are "Thank you." I know because today those two little words said so much more. We are taught to say "please" and "thank you" as a child and many children apply the terms quite liberally. My grandson even says thank you in two languages. And, it usually feels pretty good to say these polite phrases. It feels even better to receive them. As a college professor, I don't expect to hear nor see "thank you" from students but I have a special folder where I tuck those missives away because they are truly meaningful. So, let me say thank you back to these same students. Thank you for working as a cohort to help each other in this class. Thank you for your patience with rewrites. (Yes, that is plural.) Thank you for trying, really trying to move the needle toward solid, competent writing. Thank you for agreeing to make strong writing a lifelong quest. Thank you for today's "thank you." You showed me that you know the power of words. I have a love-hate relationship with my PR & Social Media course. I love it because students and I journey through the latest trends and tech developments together, while mastering the mission of strategic messaging on social media. It is just so darn interesting, every day, to review what's new. To competently teach this course, however, requires significant upkeep. Any professor of a social media class has to stay abreast of social media in every aspect and has to have his or her hands in deep -- that means being online and engaged regularly, or as some call it feeding the beast. It also means that the syllabus has to be completely overhauled in order to stay current. I like students to walk out of my classroom with something tangible that will demonstrate to potential employers skills that say I can do this. This fall, students will be able to take a social media platform management course free of charge and take an exam to become Hootsuite Certified. It was only fair that I sample the course and take the exam too, which I've completed and fortunately passed. I don't go to Mason's commencement ceremonies. Or, at least I have not yet attended any since my own MA graduation (and at my age that decision was pretty much touch and go until the last moment.) It's not that I don't like the pomp and circumstance. I really like the music, the processionals, the faculty in full academic regalia and I really, really like the screams and applause from families in the bleachers. I enjoy the address, the decorated mortarboards, the handshakes on stage. What I don't like, quite honestly, is saying goodbye.
I'm a sappy, sentimental and proud professor. I give my "final words" lecture with a huge lump in my throat as I exhort these hopefuls to take charge of their destiny and in times of trouble, to simply keep putting one foot in front of the other. I'm not sad to see them graduate; I'm ecstatic. I am brimming with excitement to see the first email that comes back about an interview or even better, the "I got the job" message. It is just so rewarding. I'm tempted to attend because I know I would like their moms and dads and sisters or brothers. I'd have so much fun telling the parents about their child as a student. My tail would be wagging the whole darn day. Maybe next time, maybe next time. For 15 weeks, students in Writing for PR have been working with a client. They began with research into the basic parameters of the client's business and the environment within which he operates. This meant learning more about how soy candles are made, safe tattoo practices, electrical fires, product wrapping and shipping, frozen beer, dental prostheses, ballet instruction...and more. After careful analysis, a message strategy was crafted that guided the development of four pieces to create a family of materials for the client. Then students were asked to create a not-to-exceed four minute speech, seeking to build a relationship with a key partner organization.
Four minutes? To explain who the client is, what he does and how we might work together -- that's a challenge. To accomplish this, students packed their sentences tightly, used Cialdini's rules of influence, followed Steve Jobs' "rule of three," and closed with a specific call for action. They delivered speeches that were on message, strategic and completed in 240 seconds or less. I grew up in Fairlawn, a suburb of Akron, Ohio. It is, without a doubt, a great place to be from. It was the kind of place where kids walked to school, teens mowed lawns and babysat and parents played golf and bridge. My friends lived in houses near the country club or in an older area of spacious homes and more spacious yards; my neighborhood was quite modest by comparison. We ate dinner every night at 5:30 p.m. Many dads worked for the rubber companies, for whom the high schools were named. I went to Firestone High School, which was shiny and new and boasted not only a natatorium but a planetarium. We had a hip, young advisor for our student newspaper who stood up for us when we drizzled four-letter words in an article on gun control -- our first foray into protesting. We won changes to the dress code after a sit-in or two. That was in 1970 and Kent State was only 40 minutes away but quite near to our sensibilities. With only a few exceptions, everyone went on to college. One thing that our high school did not have was any diversity whatsoever. I recall only one person of color and no one for whom English was a second language or who had immigrated from lands far away. Our diversity was relegated to various religions, but only Jewish, Catholic, Protestant -- not Muslim nor Buddhist. I learned about dradels and bagels and lox and heard about Kennebunkport and the Hamptons and always ate corn that was only hours off the husk. Even at college, also in Ohio, my exposure to foreign countries and the people who lived there was limited to lectures and text books. Consider now the contrast with one of my fall classes at George Mason University. Thirty students spent the semester studying social media engagement and public relations. Andy was from The Netherlands, spoke four languages and was a GoPro-sponsored kite boarder. Mina was on the tennis team and would spend the Christmas holiday at home with her family in Turkey before returning for training. Sadly one student would spend the winter break in the dorm instead of with her family in South Korea. Tracy was applying for jobs at home in Beijing; Nik had already secured a summer job back home in Malaysia. One young woman was looking forward to continuing work with the youth foundation she started in Saudi Arabia. The American-born students were diverse as well, in race and geography, with students from the local area and New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and southern Virginia. Imagine just how rich, varied and deep were our discussions on Trump's call to ban Muslims, on the shootings in San Bernandino, Black Lives Matter and the SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage. With our diverse backgrounds come diverse analyses. There were so many moments when we paused because someone had said something that just made us think and re-think. As a diversity university, Mason delivers a broad world view to its students. And, to its professors. It all starts with...having something to say. Students in Mason's PR & Social Media class (@mimsPR COMM 388) have spent the semester studying social media engagement. They read a book about what makes things catch on, "Contagious" by Wharton Professor Jonah Berger. They analyzed an exemplar digital campaign, like "Dove Real Beauty: Sketches." They reviewed 30 "snapshots" of digital campaigns, like the Honda "Cheerance Event" and GoPro's "Hero" campaign. Then, students were asked to "start a conversation" about a social issue they cared about. The result? Five short videos produced using simple digital cameras or cell phone cameras. The focus of the assignment was on the clarity of the message and using traits to help it "catch on." Friends Don't Let Friends Do Stupid Things. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i8eKrWxsPo Voting Matters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd13PmL1v18 #IAmMason, #WeAreMason. Celebrating Diversity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd13PmL1v18 Let's Talk About the Elephant on Campus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ae_eiyTiCk&feature=youtu.be Think Beyond Pink. Rainbow of Ribbons. https://youtu.be/Kh4RWqeOwOg Check back December 8 for results on their social media relations tactics and how well their videos were able to start a conversation. |
Suzanne Lowery MimsTeaching PR and launching careers = best job in the world. Archives
April 2024
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