PR WITH A HINT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Kadeisha Powell-Graham. Student. Athlete. Aspiring PR Professional.

[talkprtome]

[talkprtome]

[talkprtome]

#BeautyTalk

Throughout many business, the false idea of community engagement is that if you build your brand, then the community will follow. This is a common error when brands are focusing on outreach. What businesses should do, is engineer the community FIRST and this will lead to a strong brand! Community engagement is often difficult because things are in constant motion! Popular social topics, videos, and challenges are steadily and rapidly changing! In the last two months, the social video challenge changed from #FlipBottleChallenge to #JujuOnThatBeat to #MannequinChallenge! Businesses have to keep up with these creative times in order to constantly engage consumers. The idea to uphold is that once a business initially develops a brand community, it doesn’t end there. The business must continue to perform outreach programs to their current community and developing community.

An organization that has peaked in the talent of brand community is Sephora! If you’re a makeup lover, like myself, you will want to follow up on Sephora’s #BeautyTalk communication platform. Sephora has created a platform on their website, targeted towards all questions one may have! On this page, customers can engage in conversation with beauty experts, as well with other customers about makeup, skin care, fragrance and hair. This page also allows customers to share their reviews of products and generally “hang out” in the Lounge section. Sephora’s threads engage so many customers, one top thread titled, “What Are You Wearing Today?” has a over 57,000 replies as customers return each day to talk about their #FaceOfTheDay!

In the world of many cosmetics retailers, Sephora has done a good job at establishing its business as a customer benefit! Through Sephora’s membership loyalty programs, the brand continues to develop customer loyalty. Sephora offers three levels of its membership, each accommodating three different types of shoppers, and each providing benefits to those shoppers. Listed below are the memberships loyalty programs, qualifications and benefits:

Beauty Insider “Feed Your Obsession”

This is the beginners level, which encourages customers to buy their way to the top! The membership is free and every dollar a customer spends he/she earns a point towards a reward!  This membership level also offers a free birthday gift!

Very Important Beauty (VIB) “Take It to the Next Level”

To reach this status of the Sephora membership, the customer must rack up 350 points ($350). With this level, the member receives a free birthday gift, one free 45 minute makeover, one time 10% card, and access to seasonal savings and handpicked gift suggestions.

Very Important Beauty ROUGE (VIB ROUGE) “See the View From the Top”

To reach the highest status for the Sephora membership, customers must achieve 1000 points ($1000). This package has it all and more! Picture everything we listed above, PLUS access to a Private Hotline and invitations to exclusive events!! imagine being able to purchase items in a sale, many days before everyone else! You get the first pick of products and don’t have to worry about it not being in stock! The VIB ROUGE membership is the level many beauty shoppers dream of reaching.

Sephora understands the importance of strengthening customer relationships and brand loyalty and using it to increase brand awareness. Sephora’s brand community allows its customers to follow the lifestyle, activities and ethos of its brand.

[talkprtome]

Why Should You Choose Centennial College? This is why. 

Kate Perkins and Kadeisha Powell-Graham 

[talkprtome]

Hats off to Hyatt

With every organization, business, or corporation, stakeholders are viewed as priorities. This includes a long list of customers, employees, suppliers, and so on. However, some organizations lack in this area because they choose to prioritize certain stakeholders instead of treating all of their needs with the same focus and intensity. Organizations need to realize that the consumers who buy from you are just as important as the citizens who work for you.

Employee engagement represents the relationship between an organization and its employees. Engaged employees are fully involved with their work and are committed to their place of work. An engaged employee wants their organization to succeed as much as the CEO does.

As hard as employees may work, research shows that they are often distressed regarding job security, corporate change, and opportunities for growth and development. Having employees who are stressed over these aspects of their jobs can be detrimental to the progress of their work and the organization’s overall success.

Many organizations utilize different strategies to engage their employees. Factors that influence employee engagement are the following:

Leadership

Quality of the work experience

Relationships with team members, superiors and subordinates

Career advancement opportunities

Rewards and recognition

Development opportunities

Organizational values

An organization that is especially known for good employee engagement is Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Initially, Hyatt shows that they truly value their employees by addressing their staff as “associates”. Also, on the “Our Workplace” page on their website, Associate Experience is their first feature. Thus displaying that they view their employees as a priority. In this feature, the key message is clear; employee satisfaction = corporation success. The writeup establishes that Hyatt employees are long-term (10 years +) supporters because they create career advancement opportunities from within the organization. This is a method to attract and retain employees, and it seems to be working.

Hyatt also made it a priority to build a strong and productive culture within their organization. They went as far as to conduct research to develop transparent and two-way communication between colleagues and consumers. Their new approach focuses on empathetic listening. It allows for their employees to listen intently to their colleagues and the guests of the hotel. This process exhibits employees as brand ambassadors, and allows them to create a brand experience for customers. Hyatt determined that this approach generated new levels of engagement throughout their work teams and which, as a result, has broadened employee and customer loyalty, increased guest service scores, and strengthened retention.

In addition, Hyatt creates open spaces for their employees to share their experiences. For their corporate social responsibility platform, Hyatt Thrive, they use an interface similar to Facebook for employees to post photos, questions, and/or presentations.

Every business should make it a responsibility to improve their employee engagement. It will improve business outcomes, and will provide sustainable growth. At the same time employee engagement is not solely the responsibility of the business leaders, each person has a duty to increase his/her level of engagement. Employees must have that drive for success, just as much as the board.

[talkprtome]

Unique; Unlike Anything Else

“I am a woman. I am my mother’s daughter. I am my best friend’s, best friend. And I help her make important decisions in her life.” Decisions like whether or not to go clubbing the weekend before a midterm. The answer is no….right? If she goes out anyway, well that’s because although we are best friends, we are still different. We are still unique, separate entities. As goes the message of PANDORA.

Every business is required to have a distinctive brand voice. They need to convey a message that gets through to their audience. This message should be short, clear and concise. Many businesses have brand messages that have become so popular that they are used in everyday conversations. For example, Nike’s Just Do It is so popular it’s used as a common hashtag on social media. Some businesses also convey messages that tie directly to their brand. Thus, PANDORA’s key message in most of their campaign videos. Their advertisements aim to provoke many emotions from their viewers. This is due to the fact that the audience may not remember exactly what happened in the video, but they will remember how it made them feel. Visual and emotional stimulation is how businesses get their viewers to follow up on the advertisement instead of skim over it. 

PANDORA’s current key message is likely to reside with their target market because it is relatable. The key message is, “Women are Unique”. Businesses are likely to appeal to their audience through the advocacy of their competitive advantages. For PANDORA, this would be that their products are affordable and very unique. Each piece of PANDORA jewelry is actually handcrafted. As a result, every item is different from the other. This gives PANDORA the benefit of being able to say, “Like you women, our PANDORA jewelry is completely unique. Shop with us, we are relatable.” Just like that, all PANDORA consumers feel special in their own way. PANDORA offers over 700 charms, so people already feel like they will never have the same bracelet detail as someone else, and if by a slim chance that ever happened, they can still say that it’s not exactly the same because they are all made uniquely.

PANDORA uses their “Women are Unique” key message throughout many of their campaign videos. This message is conveyed through both sight and hearing senses. PANDORA shows the audience that women are unique by using a diverse selection of women. Then they tell you that women are unique. Their campaign titled, “Celebrating the Uniqueness of Every Woman”, exhibits the following speech, 

“I am a woman. I am my mother’s daughter. I am my best friend’s, best friend, and I help her make important decisions in her life. I fight for what I want and sometimes I regret it. I care about all the little things in life, but it’s the big things that really rock my world. I’m a woman. I laugh, I cry, and I forgive. We are women. We are unique, together. PANDORA, celebrating the uniqueness of every woman.”

In the video, one woman was fighting with her spouse, a different woman was always on time, while another was constantly late and kept leaving things behind, and a different woman was preparing for her wedding, which they were all gathering for. This is visually displaying the diversity amongst the women, all in different situations, but still engaging together.

It is important that a brand’s key message is delivered in a way that the audience can quickly grasp, and remember. The message will help build their brand overall. It will get people to associate their name with unique jewelry that is also valuable and affordable. Thus, people will become familiar with the brand, and with its products. What better way to reach female consumers than to tell them that they’re each special, so they shouldn’t settle for anything less than jewelry that compliments their uniqueness? Talk about Pride and Prejudice...

[talkprtome]

Pixel: The Takeover

This week, Google shared details on its new and yet to be released smartphone, Pixel. The phone is set to include a battery that lasts all day, unlimited storage of media, and Google Assistant. Although Google is a well-established brand, their new phone is not. Pixel will be entering a market that is already heavily influenced by popular brands, such as Apple. Businesses in these situations are likely to create plans to differentiate their brand. These plans include all kinds of strategies and tactics that outline specific actions that will be used to carry out the business objectives. A strategy that every organization should incorporate is a social media strategy. Social media platforms have greatly enhanced the world of communication, thus making it a powerful tool for businesses to expand their public outreach.

To begin, Google should start by further building their brand. This is to get people to recognize their name and associate it with their new phone and cellular services. People are familiar with Google as a brand itself, so now they have to get familiar with Google’s products. Having an established brand image is very important because it will help develop trust with consumers. If they acknowledge and trust the brand, they will do the same with the brand’s products.

Following this step, Google needs to attract new customers. Businesses can depend on their loyal customers to support their new products, but what about the people who are not talking about the brand? They need to grow their customer base beyond what they currently have. Google can do this by driving traffic to their social media pages and company websites where they can sign up for products or services. They need to use their social channels as a basis to extend the conversation and share additional content.

People will only talk about the new Pixel phone if Google gives them a reason to do so. Google needs to engage with fans and market influencers to encourage them to support and promote their new product. This is organized by creating customer evangelists and managing influencers who will add credibility to the new smartphone. Businesses use borrowed interest and endorsements at their benefit all the time.

Furthermore, Google must establish thought leadership within their organization. Google is known as an popular industry expert for many things, but not necessarily cell phones. This will change once they start promoting their employees as key experts in cellular devices and consumer values. This is a very tough industry because many people already own smartphones. Google has to support their sales by showing why their new smartphone outshines others. They have to adhere to consumer inquiries, and get them to believe that Pixel will be very beneficial to their lives. Apple is currently the leading cell phone manufacturer, mostly for the iPhone’s social impact, and not necessarily for its functions. If Google can emulate the social environment surrounding the iPhone, then they can be very successful in the industry.

[talkprtome]

Story Time - Avoid the Black Hole

I’ll begin by saying that due to legal reasons, I can’t name my previous place of work. In replacement, the organization will be called Black Hole. You will understand why by the end of my story.

I started working for Black Hole in 2012. At the time, I was an active student in high school who needed a sufficient income for basic necessities. Black Hole seemed perfect. It was close to home and close to my school, making it easy for my commute. It paid student wage, which is lower than minimum wage, but it offered fantastic free perks and incentives. That’s how Black Hole sucks you in. The management team seemed decent, some strict, some laid back, like any workplace. Black Hole wasn’t a walk in the park. It was very fast-paced and intense. With a job like this, it was incredibly important that I utilize my time. This meaning that if I was busy one day, I would have to reserve that day plenty of weeks ahead. Keep this in mind.

So I’ve been playing volleyball since I was 11, about nine years. I played for the Ontario Volleyball Association and for my high school. It only makes sense that as I continued on to play during college. In 2014, Centennial College had just brought varsity volleyball back to its athletic department in 20 years. Since it was a brand new program, the first year was recreational instead of competitive. Our coach still made sure we got experience with game play. He took initiative to set up two matches with other schools. My coach provided our training and match schedule way in advance. Immediately following, I provided Black Hole with my training and match schedule way in advance. Pay close attention to the "way in advance" part.

Flash forward a couple months, it's the day of my home opener game. While I should be excited and preparing for the game, instead I'm on the phone with my manager from Black Hole. Can you guess what the conversation is about?

A SHIFT!!!!!

So a week prior, I was originally scheduled with a shift on my game day. I quickly reminded them that I have a game and can’t work that day. I then found someone to take my shift, problem solved. Or so I thought. On the phone, my manager says "You're not allowed to trade your shift with *********. Or anyone for that matter. This is your shift." So I reply, "But I got it covered and I shouldn't have been scheduled to begin with because I told you I had a game."

My manager concludes, "If you don't come in then you know what happens..." Following this matter-of-fact statement was the sound of a click. My manager actually hung up on me.

At this point I'm frustrated and bawling. My job or my volleyball game? To my mom, the choice was obvious. To me, it was a crisis. I had been waiting for that game all year, and my job wasn’t great. The conversation with my manager should tell you just how well I was treated. You don’t know how sad I was when I called my coach to let him know I wouldn’t be at the game. It was a terrible feeling and I didn’t just let my coach down, I also let my teammates down. At work that day, I told myself I deserved better. That I would go somewhere better. Soon enough, I did. 

To prevent the issue from recurring, at the interview, I told my soon-to-be manager that I play varsity volleyball, and am in school so I can’t have any conflicting shifts. She explained all I had to do was set my availability and hand in a list of my games, no problem. It’s been more than a year, and I’ve never had a conflict with my games. I can trust my manager to have my best interest at heart. This puts mine and my coach’s minds at ease. I can depend on my manager and my coach can depend on me.

To be honest, I believe I handled my crisis well. I tried to fight Black Hole, but in the end I just could not win. 

Like the name signifies, there is no winning against a black hole, you either get sucked in or you avoid it. 

I made sure that I contacted my coach right away, apologized, and told him it would never happen again. I went to the next practice and said a formal apology to my teammates. Finally, I backed up my promise by finding a job that recognized that I have a life outside part-time work. This situation could have easily damaged my reputation. I was seen as unreliable and unorganized. It took a while for me to rebuild my personal brand. I can never make up for missing the game, but I can make sure it never happens again.

[talkprtome]

Anyone else once fail the fall and catch trust exercise? Same.

From the time we’re born, we learn the importance of trust. We learn to trust Daddy when he says there are no monsters under the bed. We learn to Mommy when we’re riding a bike and she says she won’t let go. Then we also learn that sometimes we shouldn’t trust, because, of course, she let go. Trust is one of the core values when developing a relationship. Be it with your sexual partner, or with your business partner.

Organizations are well aware that they need to share a certain level of trust with their consumers to maintain the relationship. Providing goods and services isn’t enough. Anyone can provide a good pair of jeans. However, how the consumers feel about the brand of jeans, and what they can expect from the jeans, makes the difference. For example, although American Eagle jeans are expensive, from experience I can trust that their jean colour will never wash out, and the jeans will remain smooth and soft for many years. American Eagle can guarantee their customers good and lasting jeans, and that right there is the trust factor.

At the same time, trust is primarily a communication-based concept. American Eagle could tell their customers their jeans are great, so the customers could take a chance and make a purchase. If it turns out that the pants are great, then that sale builds a positive reputation for American Eagle. Now if Apple told their customers that their phones are great, but after the customer makes a purchase it starts glitching, and freezing when opening apps, and says there’s no space but they can’t delete the Health, Stocks, Wallet, Compass, Tips, and Podcast apps, and gets worse every time there’s a new update, and ― sorry, got carried away there. You get the point. Every customer has an impact on the reputation and identity of an organization, and both these values can make or break your business.

Trust between the organization and the consumer isn’t the only thing that needs to be valued. There also has to be a high level of trust between the organization and its employees. Research studies indicate that trust is the foundation for cooperation and stability in the workplace. Trust throughout the organization maintains employee satisfaction. This is important because if the employee is satisfied with their place of work, then they will be motivated to do the work, besides the fact that they’re getting paid.

Trust between any relationship must be nurtured and maintained to be effective. Whether you wish to establish trust between you and your dog that she won’t pee on your new shoes, or between you and your employer that he won’t schedule you on your day off.

[talkprtome]

At the end of the day, I can always count on my newsfeed..

If you’re like me, you use many social media platforms. So many, that you use the same username to keep up with them all. I ask myself all the time, “When did this happen?” But the question shouldn’t be when, it should be how. As in, “How did I go from playing with my Tamagotchi and skipping rope, to joining Myspace, MSN, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, and so on.” Social media is like that light snowfall that starts while you’re asleep at night, but then gives you a snow day in the morning. Except it’s here to stay.

Some see social media as a distraction, and some see it as the best thing since sliced bread.  Either way, social media platforms have undeniably given us the opportunity to converse whatever we want, whenever we want, with whomever we want. Although, social media doesn’t just give us a platform to speak, it also gives us a platform to be heard. It engages in two-way communication. Feedback now comes in instantaneous forms. Companies don’t have to run focus groups to get inside consumer’s heads. Feedback is as instant and simple as a “like” on YouTube, and “retweet” on Twitter. For example, Snapchat has taken a lot of heat lately over their filters. They recently had a filter that users claimed was a stereotypical representation of people of Asian descent. The filter gave users pale skin, also slanted and barely visible eyes. Users took advantage of social media platforms, such as Instagram and Twitter, to express their disapproval. Snapchat removed the filter ASAP, and apologized for having offended anyone. Simple and instant.

Since social media has improved two-way communication, there is no limitation to the height of engagement. Media can easily go viral because of the global range of social media users. It’s quite captivating. This type of behaviour is what encouraged users to participate in the #IceBucketChallenge, and to donate towards Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) research and cure. The #IceBucketChallenge for ALS took the world by storm in 2015 when it became a social media phenomenon. Videos were shared online of people dumping ice colder water on themselves to bring awareness to the progressive disease as well as encourage donations to fund research for finding a cure. ALS is a disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It weakens a person’s muscles and renders them unable to control their physical functions. In total, the challenge raised approximately $220 million for research which resulted in the discovery of an ALS gene known as NEK1 by The Project MinE. This gene is one of the most common genetic contributors of ALS. Knowing this information means that researchers can focus on how to combat or prevent the gene.

The influence of the challenge didn’t just end there. It got so popular, that celebrity actor and activist, Leonardo DiCaprio, used the acclamation to draw attention to the Fort Chipewyan First Nations people of Alberta, Ontario. As a group, they performed the challenge, and DiCaprio even challenged former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to address the issues of the Canadian Tar Sands that affect their land, water, and health. Social media gave this challenge the power to make a serious change in the world. The challenge targeted everyone because it had a low barrier entry; anyone could dump ice water on themselves. Some users went to the extreme by using a loader construction truck in replacement of the bucket. Once people hear the word “challenge”, it’s on.

Social media platforms are very powerful tools. The internet can either make or break you. The same people behind the memes that made Alex from Target a viral sensation, are the same people behind the memes that ruined Heidi Yeh’s career. Social media can be a dark force, so tread lightly.

- Kadeisha Powell-Graham