Karen’s PR & Social Media Blog

I had the pleasure of participating in the 2012 American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual meeting this past week.  Not only was this a fabulous event, but this marked my first ever virtual conference presentation.

My friend Gina Eosco (who I met a few years ago at AEJMC and is an amazing weather/risk communication professional with AMS and studying her doctoral studies at Cornell) introduced me for my presentation focusing on how to use social media for weather professionals operating in risk and crisis communications.

Presenting virtually was a really fun experience for me – I was able to multitask by having my PowerPoint presentation on my MacBook and then use my iPhone to call and present virtually, and I used my iMac to look at the Twitter feed for the conference (the conference hashtag was #AMS2012).  Gina and Nate both mentioned that I would be able to take virtual questions from the audience if they used my Twitter name (@kfreberg) and the assigned conference hashtag.  It was fun for me to see the comments emerge when I was speaking and getting asked some great and insightful questions!

I thoroughly enjoyed presenting at the AMS Annual meeting – what a great group of professionals working together and sharing their insights with the community around so many timely and significant topics.  It was exciting for me to read all of the updates from the event through Twitter – I felt like I was there!

I have to give out a big thanks to my friend Gina – I really appreciated her reaching out to me to present at the AMS meeting and she did a tremendous and fabulous job with the social media activities during the conference.  Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and many more social media platforms were used during this event in New Orleans.  Very fabulous. I also have to give big thanks for her friend Nate for letting us use his iPhone to call me for my presentation.  Thanks Nate and way to go, Gina!

Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

Best Wishes,

Karen

Click on the above picture for the BOBCATSSS 2012 conference in Amsterdam! Congrats to first Monica Colon-Aguirre and the team!

Here is what I am reading today!:

• going viral!

“If you’ve ever been watching a movie or attending a concert and someone’s ringtone interrupts the proceedings, you’ll appreciate this video that’s recently gone viral on YouTube. As Slovakian musician Lukáš Kmit played a beautiful piece on his viola, suddenly the obnoxious Nokia ringtone blasted through the reverie. What a wonderful reaction he had!”

• predicting 2012

“Here’s what your life in PR and social media measurement will be like this year.

#1. You will adapt or you will die, part one.

Flexibility will win out over price of measurement vendors. The ability to adapt to changing influencer lists, media lists, etc., will become a primary differentiator for which companies win contracts.”

• augmented reality and nestle’

“Nestle has made a major change to its market research budget, putting a major focus on contests and games. The famed food company is preparing to launch a new crowdsourced campaign that will help it find four new flavors for their popular Kit Kat brand of candy. The new campaign will reflect the change in Nestle’s marketing focus as it will task consumers with determining what these four flavors will be. To accomplish this, the company is adopting augmented reality.”

• paper business cards? how 2010!

“If you’ve ever returned from a business trip with a stack of business cards, you’ve no doubt wondered — as you’re manually typing in all those names, phone numbers and email addresses — if there’s a better way.”

• mobile aps for entrepreneurs

“Today, mobile apps enable a business owner to manage his entire operation from the palm of his hand. They also allow consumers to interact, communicate and purchase products with ease, something app developers should certainly take note of when developing around trends and needs.”

• social media nightmare for LA Fitness

“Gym brand LA Fitness has suffered a torrid night in the social media-verse after adverse publicity surrounding unwanted membership contracts.”

• the local web

“Today’s infographic emphasizes how a localized online presence affects a business’s growth, suggesting that utilizing social media, businesses are able to cultivate greater customer loyalty”

• a social media command center at the super bowl!

“Super Bowl XLVI host city Indianapolis has concocted a new way to deal with the madness that comes with managing the world’s biggest annual sporting event.

The solution? The Super Bowl’s first-ever social media command center.”

• facebook check ins on Air China!

“Here is a nice social integration campaign from Air China. In order to increase consumer awareness about the airline’s flight services to Sweden and throughout the extended Asian region, Air China launched a campaign around Facebook check-ins.”

• SIGN: “will blog for food”

“Have you ever considered the ways a blog can help you get a job? I meet lots of young people entering the work force and I always recommend blogging as a way to get ahead—in almost any career. Here’s why:”

• how important are bloggers? short answer: VERY!!

Did you know that there are 143 million bloggers on the internet

One of the activities academics are required to do along with teaching courses and providing service to the university / profession is to publish their research into various publications.  These publications can range from academic research journals within the discipline you are researching in (ex. Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Journal, etc), or the broader scope of Communications (Journal of Communication, Communication Monographs, etc).  However, we are also encouraged to publish books or participate in edited books where we contribute a book chapter.

My first book chapter has been published!

I am excited to announce that my first book chapter has recently been published along with my former advisor Michael Palenchar (Ph.D., University of Tennessee) in the book titled “PreCrisis Planning, Communication, and Management:  Preparing for the Inevitable.”  The book chapter we wrote for this book focused on emergency management and preparedness with social media in risk and crisis communications.  This chapter focuses on not just social media technologies being implemented, but we also explored the various trends and considerations involving new media and mobile media within current crisis and risk communication practices.

It was a fun project to be part and I learned a great deal about the writing process, editing, and of course the final revision process that goes into creating and publishing a book chapter.  This book in particular, which is edited by David E. Williams, Bolanie A. Olaniran, and W.T. Coombs, focuses on the pre-crisis communication planning and management stages that are necessary to take into consideration for emergency responders and crisis communicators.  Various topics are covered in the book like of course social media in pre-crisis planning (:)), considering multicultural and diverse audiences in pre-crisis planning, ethical principles and pre-crisis planning, and discussion on the overall theoretical foundations that will be applied in pre-crisis communication planning and management practices.

You can order this book via Amazon or even Barnes & Noble. I am excited about this new publication not only because it was a very enlightening research project to work on – but it was very cool to see my name in print for a published piece of work.  Both of my parents have teased me about when I would be getting involved in the textbook business, and I then have to recite a quote from one of our family favorite movies, “Romancing the Stone.”  All I have to say is “Soon, Ralph – real soon! ”

Hope you all are having a wonderful day.

Best Wishes,

Karen

One of the emerging trends we have to be aware of for the upcoming year in 2012 in PR and Advertising campaigns is with augmented reality.  Many global and domestic brands are getting on board with the augmented reality app bandwagon – similar to what we have been seeing with the consistency in using QR Codes in magazines, billboards, flyers, and even for business cards.

Who are some of the major brands implementing augmented reality application focused campaigns for the upcoming year?  Well there are several, and here are just a few to show to you all.

• Volkswagon:  The established automobile company is not new to the emergence of new media in their marketing and PR campaigns, but they are looking at implementing this particular campaign in Singapore.  The AR app allows user to interact with the various Volkswagon models on their mobile devices.
• Nestle: The chocolate company is branching out with a new augmented reality application and crowd sourcing campaign focusing on asking fans of the brand for ideas regarding new flavors for their KitKat bar.  Once they have found their new flavors, they will allow users to use their phone (and the AR application Blippar) to vote which flavor they like the best.  The campaign will launch later this month.
• Domino’s:  The pizza brand is launching a new AR campaign in the UK that allows the users to experience the pictures and visuals of the various pizza products on posters in a new way while also being able to order through Blippar.
• Mercedes-Benz:  Another car company is getting involved with AR in accessories – instead of focusing on a specific campaign, this is another app where people can get a glimpse of a car from multiple angles.
• Lacta Chocolate:  This is a favorite AR campaign which allows users to be able to create and personalize their messages to their loved ones to appear on Lacta chocolate bars.  This will definitely be a successful campaign especially for Valentine’s Day.

What is key to remember with AR campaigns and new technology in campaigns is to determine if this would be appropriate for reaching a target audience with this new tool, if this new tool is viewed as reliable or credible for the intended audiences, and what would be some of the metrics associated with evaluating the success of this campaign and new tool for the brand.  These points need to be explored and discussed further in the PR community in both research and in practice.

Hope you all are having a great day.

Best Wishes,

Karen

The Costa Concordia crisis that is currently ongoing in Italy is becoming a crisis where many of the best practices are not being implemented by the organization or parties involved.  Many within the situation are blaming the captain, Francesco Schettino, for steering the ship too close to land and hitting the rocks which initiated the crisis to trigger.  The brand is not only having to deal with reputation issues, but they are also seeing the impact of the mishandling of this crisis financially as well, but some have investors have mentioned the fact that they have been in these similar waters before with this company.

View of the Costa Concordia Crisis from Space

Several professionals have commented about the actions that the parent company of the cruise line, Carnival, need to implement to handle this crisis immediately.  Being visibly, present at the scene, and show empathy are just a few suggestions being raised in an article posted on Forbes. Being transparent, having one spokesperson, and choosing what tone you want to present your messages in are other suggestions by PR and crisis communication professionals during this crisis.  What the company is also not doing proactively is handling the various messages and comments arising and appearing in the global traditional and social media outlets.  Reports are emerging from those who were on the ship that the personnel on board did not respond quickly to the fact that there was a severe issue with the boat.  The issue of not having anyone in charge or knowing how to respond to the crisis was also another angle that was being presented through the media as well by these reports.  The fact that others are discussing the behavior and actions of the captain during the crisis and how he left the ship were also called into question.  Others have been expecting the Italian government to intervene and make a stand towards the tour cruise line company and the situation, but so far their actions in this matter have been low key.

In regards to how social media is being used, Radian6 had a great blog post discussing how people were turning to Facebook and Twitter to get updates during the crisis involving the cruise line as well as going on Twitter and using the hashtag #cruise to follow these conversations.  Here is a slideshare presentation by Brendon Hodgson regarding the crisis and his analysis of the event during the first 48 hours – this gives you a great view of how others and even Costa Concordia were using social media to communicate, share, and disseminate their messages during this crisis situation in Italy.

There are many stakeholders and victims from this crisis that need to be considered.  We need to first take into consideration the victims of those who lost loved ones during this terrible crisis and those family members who are still hoping for those who are still missing.  This crisis is not only damaging towards the cruise line company, but this situation will impact the tourism industry (particular for cruise lines) in a very negative way.  There are many key crisis communication issues that are making this crisis escalate for Costa Cruises.  The inconsistency of messaging and reporting coming about with what happened during the time that the ship hit the rocks to the behavior of the captain and crew on board – these are just a few of the issues fueling this crisis even more.  We will have to review this case as more information develops to determine what will be some of the lessons learned from this terrible event.  My thoughts and prayers go out to those individuals and families who have been impacted by this traumatic event.

Hope you all are having a great day.

Best Wishes,

Karen