Karen’s Public Relations Blog

I have been a fan of Under Armour gear ever since I was a track and field athlete at the University of Florida.  I was such a fan that I wore my first Under Armour shirt when I was competing at the 2004 Olympic Trials in track and field.  I remember a lot of the other women competitors asking me about Under Armour, and I told them that it was absolutely fabulous!  I even did a project on Under Armour for one of my PR classes on implementing a campaign targeting track and field athletes back in 2004.  It is really amazing to see where the brand is going.

Recently, Under Armour has launched a new social media campaign targeting to women titled “Protect this house. I will“.  Under Armour has created their own website, Facebook page, I think that this campaign is very fabulous – it is interactive, engaging, and provides a strong online community between the brand and its publics.  I think that the use of videos and providing customers with information both in textual and visual form is absolutely key.  Putting a human face (ex. having well-known successful female athletes in commercials) with the brand is key to establishing a collaborative and engaging relationship with various audiences. 

I think that Under Armour is going to definitely be a key player for other athetlic powerhouses to be aware of, and it will be interesting to see how this campaign plays out.  Not only are they really embracing social media proactively, they do have some FABULOUS gear!  I have been a fan of the brand ever since 2004, and it is the only workout gear I buy. 

Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen

Here I am in the 2004 Olympic Trials wearing underarmour. Back in those days, I was the only one wearing Underarmour. Everyone else was wearing those lesser known brands like Puma, Adidas and Nike! Naturally, I still love their products today! Look at the Underarmour story in this post!

Here is what I am reading today!

Gamers get something new on facebook!

“Madden NFL Superstars isn’t a port of the popular console games; it’s a completely new experience that utilizes the Madden NFL brand and leverages social gaming’s strengths for a unique Madden experience. Users build a team from 1,500+ available player cards and then pit their rosters against their friends for domination of the football field. Players can even purchase player cards through Playfish’s virtual currency.”

four ways to tame the social media beast

“When used strategically, social media can maximize your chances of business success more effectively than just about anything else. But if you’re not careful, social media can eat you up and spit you out before you can say “Tweet Me.” Here’s how I keep from being thrown to the social media lions.”

apple’s incredible 6.5 BILLION ap downloads! Got iPad,yet?

 ”Unsurprisingly, the app store is also on fire. Jobs announced that 6.5 billion apps have been downloaded from the app store, and the pace of downloads is now at 200 apps per second. 25,000 of the applications in the app store are now iPad apps.”

September 1st Launch! Under Armour, Women and Social Media and Facebook!

“… the Baltimore-based leader in performance apparel, footwear, and accessories, unveiled today the new women’s “Protect This House. I Will.” campaign. Under Armour will create a multi-channel campaign and a new Facebook page – the first of its kind for the company – that will focus on delivering in-depth content to reach a broad base of female consumers.”

In the early stages of the Internet and social media, it appeared that everyone wanted to get their 15 minutes of fame and rejoice in the opportunities of global recognition and status by posting and sharing information with the online community. 

However, once these 15 minutes are up and people start recognizing that they can not only post anything that they want online, but that it is for public viewing.  Brian Solis along with Peoplebrowsr have recently posted a study that they did regarding Facebook Privacy from April 2010 to now, and some of the mentions, statitistics, and trends are a must-know for all professionals and students.  You can go directly to the Analytic.ly site from Peoplebrowsr to see all of the results from this study.

In other words, there is no privacy on the Internet or on social media – in fact, there never was.  I am surprised that people think that this privacy issue is new – but it really isn’t.  Even in the early stages of websites and the Internet, corporations and professionals were aware that what was posted online was for the world to see.  This is one of the fundamental lessons I learned early on with my website and blog as a track and field athlete, and even to this day as a public relations researcher and professional.  I know what I post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blog, and my website is for public viewing where my information will be shared. 

I do acknowledge the fact that people do have legitimate concerns about their privacy online, especially regarding geo-location applications (Facebook Places) and sites (Foursquare and Gowalla).  However, it is not the technology that is causing these privacy issues, it is the people involved.  I would say that people who are broadcasting their location every hour need to be aware of the issues and risks that come with that, but I do see this being an issue with Foursquare and Gowalla. 

However, regarding Facebook Places, where the power of checking in is not only with you, but your “friends” – what makes them not check you in somewhere when you are not there?  Or post something in addition to checking in that might damage your reputation?  There are so many ethical, legal, and reputation management considerations with this new technology, and it will only continue to be a hot topic of conversation, both offline and online.  The best thing that you can do is make sure you are aware of what is being said about you online, manage your reputation proactively, and always think before you post.  These are just some of the good online reputation management practices you can start with to reduce your uncertainty about privacy issues and challenges with social media.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen

University of Tennessee P.R. Day 2010 is coming! Friday, November 12th CLICK on the picture for more information

Here are a few readings for today:

• Facebook goes back to school

“Just in time for the back-to-school season, the company has partnered with social marketing firm Context Optional to build a Facebook Page of resources and information for new and returning students and their families. Students can find out about publicizing events, engaging with their larger campus community and distributing their own content on this page”

• what facebook PLACES really means

‘We are now a few days past the announcement of Facebook Places, and you can read about my initial reaction in “Does Facebook Places Change Anything?” A much bigger question is what it mean to you? As a person, business, or as a developer? The short answer is; it will take time before any real meaning emerge.”‘

• who do consumers trust?

Jeremiah Owyang states ,”Data is important. It helps us to guide our decisions based on facts –not just gut instinct. Lately, this data from eMarketer (thanks Scott Monty) has been floating around the web, and I want to add my own thoughts.”

• American Egg Board handles crisis

‘”With bad eggs around, you might expect something of a stink, but the American Egg Board’s smart use of social media during the US egg recall is producing the sweet smell of a PR success. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recalling vast quantities of eggs amid a large-scale salmonella outbreak in the United States, but it doesn’t seem to be causing too much negative chatter online – on Facebook and Twitter the most popular conversations are those encouraging the purchase of local eggs.”‘

Happy Birthday to my mother and collaborator in all things psychological!

Happy birthday to my mother who taught me the meaning of being ‘transdisciplinary!’

Here are a couple of readings on this special day:

• social marketing budgets are rising

“According to a June 2010 survey by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42, a remarkable 72 percent of the polled American business leaders said that they now had a social media marketing strategy.”

irony: how traditional media created social media

“Prior to conglomeration there was a time that radio, television and print were local community outlets.  At one time the big three were locally owned, and concentrated on local community.  Now most decisions that are made for communities regarding their major media are made from thousands of miles away.  What music to play, what programming to air, and all the cuts made at the print level most stories come off the wire than actually written by reporters.”