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chapter 11 exercise

Donald Trump, in my opinion, has had the craziest presidency. The things that are said and the things that are posted on the internet.... are all legal and ethical issues. His media presence is something to note when looking at the following case study. He tweets things like the image below....

The case study I looked at was by Media Ethics Initiative. They talked about if Twitter should be fact checking these tweets put out by the President. I think that this should happen. As sad as it is to think that our President is posting incorrect information, it has to be done. His PR team is crazy to have let him post some of the things I’ve seen on his Twitter...

The case study says, “Twitter is potentially setting a standard for how U.S.-based tech companies will define the limits of free speech on their platforms in the face of digital misinformation.” Twitter needed to step in to do something, because how would that make them look at a media platform? Allowing the President to spread things that are not true? One of the “Shalls” of PR that the book mentions is “Conduct his/her professional life with respect for the best interest of the client or employer as well as the interest of the public relations profession, but giving even higher priority to the best interests of the public” (PG 197). Twitter should (and they already have) take this into consideration when looking at fact-checking the President. 

As someone in power, I do not believe that he has some hierarchy over the American people as to what he can and cannot say. There is a way to speak and to hold yourself as the President of the United States. I believe that somehow he believes that he has the right above the law, to do as he pleases no matter what. At the end of the day, your term will come to end and you will be just another American citizen. Why is it that someone would think just because they are President that they are above all law?

I believe that misinformation is more harmful than censorship. You don’t know what you don’t know, but if you are told the wrong thing then that is where things can get tricky. Not knowing is less harmful that knowing the wrong thing. It’s like this: you have a group of friends. These friends invited you to a birthday party, and gave you an address. You show up to the address, and no one is there. You feel upset and left out. They aren’t answering their phones, and you’re excluded. Now, what if they were all hanging out and you didn’t know? You had no idea this was going on. That doesn’t hurt as bad, does it? That’s how I feel about censorship VS misinformation. 

https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2020/10/19/putting-the-president-in-check/

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from PRSAorlando 

Chapter 12 Reflection

This infographic has been my favorite that I have found in regards to diversity in public relations. It is so important to be able to put forth things that people of all genders, races, ethnicities, etc. to relate to. 

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chapter 11 reflection

Legal and ethical considerations are just as important as the campaign itself. I believe that without taking these into consideration, your campaign and job will be at stake. Making sure that things are all good in the legal department should be one of the first steps in the campaign. The two main points that the book talks about are:

1. The practitioner’s obligation to the law always takes priority over his or her obligation to a client or employer

2. Communication between a practitioner and His or Her client is confidential in a general sense, but not privileged in a legal sense

These two principles are how public relations and the law fit together. The text then goes to talk about more principles between public relations and the law. 

The first amendment is brought up. The first amendment is freedom of speech. This is important to public relations people because of advertising. Marketing and advertising in general are very necessary in order for public relations people to “work”. They use this marketing alongside their skills of media management to create ideas for organizations. 

This reflection is going to be so short because I think that it varies between what you are trying to accomplish and how you go about that. Most of these guidelines involve code of ethics, transparency, privacy, and just making sure you are doing what’s ethically right.

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chapter 10 reflection

This chapter talks about evaluation. I think that evaluation is very important when it comes to reflecting on what you’ve done to see if you have made a significant change in the organization. The three types of evaluation that were brought up in the chapter are:

1. Ongoing evaluation- describes the methods used to adjust or fine tune the program while it is in progress, Not always possible , Planners should look for this opportunity

2. Summarize Evaluation - describes how planners will evaluate the program after its completion, Listing of the methods by which one plans to measure results 

3. Formative Evaluation - describes what was learned in the program and serves as a starting point for future programs

Ongoing evaluation is something that not a lot of people realize can happen. Being able to evaluate what you are doing during a campaign and then taking that and adjusting is what is going to help your campaign. 

Summarize evaluation talks about effectiveness. The book says that the evaluation should include “...criteria to be used to determine the success of allure of the campaign… [2] the research methods by which these criteria will be measured” (PG 174). This type of evaluation seems to be effective when looking at both the short and the long term benefits. 

After reading the before and after comparisons evaluation, I can see that it might be expensive to conduct both. Looking at the research before you have done anything and then going to look at what you have completed takes a lot of time. I personally do  not think that doing an evaluation before is even necessary, just because what are you evaluating? Unless you have done a similar project before, I do not see the purpose of competing that pre-a project evaluation. 

Formative evaluation seems to be an unexpected method of evaluation. Things that you did not expect to happen come up organically. I think that this is an interesting method of evaluation. This form of evaluation looks like it also takes the issues and problems and brings them to light. They take these issues and then apply them to future campaigns/projects, which is a very good tool to have. I think that being able to use a “sourcebook” (as the text states) and using that to make the next campaign more successful in the future. 

After reading the case studies, I think that using evaluation in turn is very helpful. Being able to look back onto the good, the bad, and the wishes that happened during the campaign can help improve the things that will happen in the future. I think that this adds value to the public relations jobs, just because not only will you be able to run a campaign, but you will be able to evaluate how things went and report that back to the client. The client may not always be able to visually see the value of public relations, but if you give them these qualitative numbers and documents that show the work and effort you put in, they are going to keep coming back for more. 

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chapter 9 reflection

This chapter holds a lot of information regarding logistics of budget planning. I think that this is an important chapter to read, just because building a team is so important in public relations.

Freelancers are important to look into just because they can complete a lot of tasks. They can belong to a multitude of organizations and can be easy to find. Their jobs could include photography, graphic design, writing, and so much more. They also could have freelance fees. These can range from about $100-$300 per hour depending on the work. Each skill costs more, and the freelancers basically set their own price. I think this is an interesting field to work in, just because you essentially make your own rules. 

Budgeting is important because one needs to know about all the resources they have available to them before they start doing anything. There has to be a plan of action before anyone does anything. I think that in public relations it is important to have an idea about what it is going to cost to do what the client wants.  Making sure that you are giving them the best methods at the best possible price is what is going to set you apart from the others. Budgeting can involve a lot of ways to get funds. The book talks about sponsors, direct and third party donations, and also grants from the government. How you receive these funds is all up to what you are trying to accomplish and what you are willing to ask for. The book talks about how budgeting has three parts:

Personal Costs

Hourly wages for workers

Salaries

Program and Production Costs

Designing and producing materials

Printing, photos, prizes, etc.

Entertainment 

catering

Administrative costs

Behind the scene costs

Hotels, food, transportation, gas

Competitive bidding is an interesting thing to read about, just because I had never heard of it. Competitive bidding is when service providers are bidding to do the project. They are submitting their plans of action and the client overall chooses the one they want. This seems like an interesting way to get people to do the work for you, but I feel like this would work for larger corporations. 

I thought that the end of this chapter did a great job of including trends and issues. This section to me is really helpful because there are typically things that I have not heard about or have not even thought about. This section talks about groups of people you could ask for help. Volunteers, college students, corporate citizenship programs, and professional organizations are all groups that would help your cause. I think that being able to include the community you are working in is sometimes the most beneficial, just because it can show your ties to it. You are helping out those in the community, and in turn they will help your cause. This plays into some propaganda from chapter 1 a little… by getting to know your audience and having them involved can overall have a positive impact on your organization. 

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chapter 7 reflection

This chapter was mostly about adapting with the future and our world as it evolves. Technology is making our world so much better and more efficient, and being able to expand our world as it is to reach those new goals. This chapter focused a lot on the history of the internet and all the working parts of it, which I found slightly interesting. 

I thought it was cool to read about the early beginnings of some of the bigger media sites like Facebook and YouTube. I think that being able to understand how these platforms were made and how they have evolved is cool to read and learn about. 

After reading this chapter, it was very difficult to write a reflection about the history of social media and the internet… I thought that reading about the stories that are at the end of the chapter were interesting to read.. Because I’ve actually heard of them! The Michael Vick story I have heard about, and it is crazy how fast social media could get this involved with a story. 

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chapter 5 reflection

This chapter was very interesting to read, as there was a lot of information about goals, objectives, and media outlets. I didn’t realize there were so many of them out there. I think that being able to pick the right one(s) for you and your organization can be helpful when looking at campaigns. One section that really stood out for me is the misconceptions. I think that a lot of people and organizations won’t see social media for what it is worth, and what it can add to the campaign. I’ve heard so many things like “you just post, don’t see what the issue is” or “why do you spend so much time on social media, it’s so easy”... It truly isn’t. Social media has so many layers that can overall have a positive impact on your organization. 

These misconceptions in my opinion are things that your average person might think. It can seem simple to just post about something, hope people see it, and expect things to come your way. Using social media may seem like an easy way to grow your business, but being able to use it effectively is what is going to boost your organization. By understanding the platforms, knowing what your audience wants to see, and when they typically see things, this can all aid in the success of your campaign.

I think that news interests and trends was an interesting section to read. This talks about the worthiness of the stories that they promote. I think that this is a good guide when it comes to thinking about what to promote, just because sometimes people don’t care. Sounds harsh, but I think that the audience is the most important thing right now. For example, conflict is a big thing in the media. All the drama, allegations, and stories that surround conflict typically are what people enjoy. People also tend to love stories about organizations doing bigger things for the community. It tugs at the heartstrings and people love that. People also love hearing about things others are doing that haven’t been done before. An example would be opening a new business, doing something for the community, or just their life and what they are doing with their platform. Being able to cater those things towards your audience is what makes the story worth writing, and the audience will find it worth reading. 

Some examples of this are:

Self Interest - articles written to help readers benefit their lives/health

Ex. fitness blogs or magazines, cooking magazines

Other People - articles written about something someone did that requires skills (?)

Facebook stories about someone that saved a cat from a tree

Conflict - articles written about drama

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian and Jeffree Star. Enough said!

Progress - articles about what someone is doing to make a difference

How some millionaire donated a billion dollars to education in a foreign country

Novelty - articles that show different goods/services something has

How a brand has expanded during the pandemic to manufacture masks for COVID-19

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chapter 4 reflection

This reflection is a little harder for me to write just because I feel like I know a lot about focus groups and primary researching. This is all stuff I have used and learned in Intro to PR and Professional Presentations. This relates back to chapter three, in being able to find those resources and apply them to your research. Chapter four talks a lot about qualitative research, which is important when it comes to campaigns. Focus groups can be effective if used the right way… Which brings me to the important part of one. Questions.

Asking the right questions in the right order can help one get the answers they need. If you want to find out about roles within an organization and how people are feeling about the new CEO, you would want to start by asking them where they fit into the organizations. A new hire might not feel as strongly as someone who was right below the last CEO. The secretary you brought in might not like how the CEO treats the office members, but a janitor might not see that and think the person in charge is doing just fine. So beginning with simple “get to know you” questions can help understand where everyone else is coming from, and how they fit into the organization. Focus groups seem very similar to interviews, except you can be more blunt. From those simple warm up questions, we move into detailed questions. This is the meat of what you want to be talking about. The organization wants to know more. You can write questions down beforehand, but then move into ones based on their answers. Being able to generate those questions quickly to keep the flow of conversation moving is key to having a successful focus group. This follows into the probing questions. You typically do not come up with these before the focus group. These questions are used to get deeper into the responses. You want to know more, possibly asking for examples, deeper explanation, similar experiences, and various other things. This part may be just as important as the detail questions. Then, looking into the wrap up questions, one may signal that these will be the last few and leave some space for the participants to give feedback that they were not asked about. Giving them room to speak about their experiences and thoughts may give you the information you need to make changes. Giving those participants their time to speak makes them feel like they are being heard, giving them the little boost of happiness there. 

I think an important part about this chapter is looking at the other types of research you can do for primary research. This chapter brought more ideas and ways to find information when conducting a campaign. I have only thought about quantitative research, and not as much about qualitative. I think that it was interesting to see the various things you can do to get those answers. I think that qualitative research is a lot about the questions and surveys. Overall, I think that this chapter was eye opening in terms of other ways to research.

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chapter 3 reflection

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chapter 2 reflection

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chapter 1 reflection

Persuasive campaigns are something that I have heard about. More specifically I have heard about this in government class while talking about WWII propaganda. They talked about ways of recruiting people to fight in the war. We use these same terms and ideas to get people to interact with an organization or company. I thought it was interesting to read about all the various categories of campaigns, just because I didn’t know that these existed. The descriptions of the campaigns are things I have heard of before, but did not know that there were terms for them!

An interesting part I read about was the generalizations about persuasion and opinion change. These are important notes to think about when running a persuasive campaign. The theories that were presented in this chapter also gave me more perspective on what kinds of things I can use when brainstorming for my campaign. My personal favorite of these theories in the social learning theory. This theory basically means that people learn from what they see others do. Kind of similar to the monkey see, monkey do behavior. They learn best from seeing what someone gets out of it and maybe they will get the same reward. 

I was kind of overloaded with a lot of these theories, just because there are so many in this chapter. I think that these are all important to be able to run a campaign. You need to be able to not only understand what you want to achieve, but the people you are working with. Making sure that they are accounted for and understand what their needs are as well can help your campaign be successful. This kind of relates to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. As an organization, one needs to understand the basics of what people need in order for them to be able to do what you ask of them. This can play a significant part when combined with the theories mentioned in this chapter to get people to want to solve your cause and overall run a successful campaign. 

The issues section of this campaign is something that I think is huge when it comes to persuasion. You can have really great ideas, but if not thought about the correct way, your plan could backfire. I think that the most important one listed is timing. If your campaign is posted during the “wrong” time, it will be over before you know it. For example, you would not want to run a campaign about animal cruelty during the presidential election, because not a lot of people are going to focus their time on that. It is not that animal cruelty is not an issue, but running it while there is a bigger campaign battle already going… seems difficult to get people to want to participate and hear what you have to say. 

I think another important issue is stereotyping. I have heard so many various stereotypes in the few years that I’ve been alive, and I don’t think people want to hear those played into. Not only can they be offensive, but they can drive people away from your organization. This is not what you want to do! We want to create an inclusive environment, so that people want to be someone to your organization. 

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chapter 12

As the world continues to evolve, more and more things are changing. The workforce is changing from predominantly white to a more blended pot of races and genders. More and more races and ethnicities are joining in, as well as females bringing themselves to the table. With more and more of new people coming in, brands and organizations need to make sure that they are respectful of diversity and include them. 

Everyone has their own life story, their own thoughts and ideas, and come from different backgrounds. PR campaigns can use these diversities in their campaigns to reach out to new audiences. But while doing this, you need to make sure that you are respectful of them. 

Making sure that people are taken care of and accommodated for and feel important to the organization is something that could get people involved in their companies. I know that I’m supposed to be talking about campaigns and how the outside world perceives these things, but I think that the internal groups have to want to participate as well. Keeping those within your organization that have those experiences and knowledge can help make your campaigns successful and inclusive. You want to make sure that those within your company are happy and satisfied with the organization as a whole before they go and create a campaign that is diverse and inclusive... if that makes sense. 

This graphic above is from the Diversity Council Australia. This does a great job of talking about some steps to making sure that we are being respectful, no matter what issue we are trying to avoid. One way that I think could solve a lot of this is to have a diversity team. Checking in on campaigns and projects that the organization is working on and making sure that it is acceptable could prevent these issues from happening. 

Some things that the book brought up that I hadn’t really thought of were: considering employee’s backgrounds (holidays, religious days, etc.), publishing in other languages, and monitoring company publications and advertising. I think that this is very important when trying to make sure that you are not only inclusive with your organization, but accurate and respectful (just like the graphic). 

Using these three steps, I think that it can be very simple to check your organization to ensure that the content is not only inclusive, but not offensive to anyone. 

This graphic made by qmunity.ca gives a great visual to being gender neutral. In this generation, I feel as if it is more important to be gender neutral. Being inclusive and not assuming what someone is can make them more comfortable, and if used correctly, that person may return back to your organization. Gender equality between males and females has been a big issue for as long as I can remember, but the equality between all other genders is even bigger. It can be hard for those that “only know two genders” and are not as open to accepting others for who they are. This is something that those people will have to learn. 

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chapter 10 evaluation

How to Evaluate Your Success

This image from PennStrategies does a great job of creating a list of tasks that should be looked at while working on a campaign evaluation. It can be difficult to prepare things like this and be able to measure your success, but with these steps it can help make things easier. 

It is important to measure success not only because you can reflect on what went right, but also went wrong. Evaluations are great at fixing those loose ends on the campaign, so if you were to run it again you wouldn’t make those mistakes again. It is a good way to get feedback from others too; to see what they thought what was right/wrong, effective or not. It can also be beneficial to have a tangible sense of “success’ because often times it can be hard to see what an effect public relations can have on an organization. 

One way of measurement is to look at the analytics off of media sites. This can be helpful in terms of the visual numbers. You can see how many likes/comments/shares a post has, but also how many people interacted with it. There are so many things you can look at with those analytics that often are free on the sire to manage. This analytic option is on various platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The article written by WalkerSands looks at some of the quantitative data one can use to measure if “PR works”. They included things like press clippings, media impressions, website traffic, content analysis, lead sourcing, and social media mentions. Each of these tools can be used to measure the ROI (return on investment), giving your client visual numbers to see results. 

In the Public Relations Journal written by Dr. David Michaelson, Dr. Donald K. Wright, and Dr. Don W. Stacks, one can see in a more verbal format how you can track success in communication programming. The three doctors put this method into three steps: developmental, refinement, and evaluation. These stages give some guidance as how to proceed. The developmental phase “... established the baseline... that benchmarks will be set to ascertain that at key points in the programming the campaign is on phase and target or whether objectives and tactics must be re-evaluated if not.” (PG 4). This phase is important to measuring success because at the beginning you are setting goals for yourself. The organization can plan what they do around these goals, making success more visual. The refinement stage is after the program has already started, and it is more focused on the feedback. One is adjusting the program by looking at its success thus far, while another is continuing to work on the project. I think that this stage is interesting when it comes to measuring success, because you are adapting and changing throughout the campaign before it ceases. The evaluation stage is self-explanatory... this gives a better view on how the campaign actually went and relates the results back to the initial goals set from the beginning of the campaign. This model can be used in various ways; to look back on previous campaigns, to look at faults and improve on those, or to provide physical data when sharing information with a client. 

https://www.walkersands.com/does-pr-work-7-ways-to-measure-its-impact/

https://www.instituteforpr.org/wp-content/uploads/Michaelson-Wright-Stacks-PR-Journal-2012-Vol-6-No-5.pdf

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chapter 9 work

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Chapter 7

You need to know how to use these sites for the right reasons when it comes to personal and professional media usage. Personal media is more about the fun things, photos of you and your circle, and maybe some other images/posts you enjoy. Professional is not about that at all. Maybe once or twice they post about something personal, but even that isn’t really “personal”.

Being able to differentiate and “code switch” for these media outlets will be beneficial to your success in the media realm. 

You can use social media in campaigns; posting about what is going on, creating awareness, and spreading the word about anything. Social media is beautiful in that aspect... a quick, cost effective (sometimes), and simple way to connect with your audience.. Especially during a pandemic!

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chapter 5 goals

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ch4 - lungs for sarah

research phase

- change US policy about donor order

- got in touch with a producer and PR practicioner to get the story out there

- looked at supply/demand of donated lungs

- connected with groups of people (that ultimately created Team Sarah)

planning phase

- to change the policy about who gets lungs first

- wanted to use the emotional aspect of her losing her life because she was not able to get a lung transplant

implementation phase

- worked on raising awareness about the policy

- sent out information about Sarah and her needs

- pitched the idea to anyone and everyone

- used video of Sarah in the hospital and her talking about being "normal" as the emotional connection

- included quotes from her mom talking about the situation

- created a petition to change the policy

- saw people trying to reframe the story in a way Team Sarah did not want

- had to work to make sure they were "patrolling" the media and making sure journalists knew the right information

The implementation of this seems very hard. There was a lot of things that popped up in the implementation phase that made things a little harder, but the team worked fast and effectively to handle it. To me, this seems somewhat similar to a crisis management team. Everyone is doing their own part to ensure that the right information gets out and that they have the public's support. They accomplished what they wanted and even more.

reflection

I was more focused on how they were going to change this policy. It is not easy as a "normal citizen" to get the govenment to listen to you. I'm not even sure if I would know where to start. To be honest I wasn't really focused on her condition... sounds harsh and I know that it's sad that her lungs were like that. What I learned from this is that there is so much to a campaign.. and being able to execute it in such a short time frame... you need to have a team that is able to do that. It can be difficult to find those people, but when you do, it can help your campaign team in so many ways! I do not have any questions at this time.