Expert Essentials: Rebecca Wardlow

Rebecca Wardlow,  a digital marketing professional who runs her own six-figure business, spoke today at Olivet Nazarene University. During my Social Media Strategies course, her topic was: Creating a Promotional Calendar. Here is her process for creating a promo calendar:

1. Roadmap and Budget
You need to figure out how you're going to communicate with your audience and how much revenue you estimate your promotion will generate.

2. What is a Promotion?

Picking a product service + offer + scarcity = Promotion

Three Key Promotional Categories:

• Acquisition
• Activation
• Monetization

3. Step One: Acquisition

This includes areas like free giveaways where contact information is entered to win a prize and lead magnets, an irresistible bribe offering a specific chunk of value.

There is also a program called Woobox where users can enter a contest with a hashtag and once they are entered it gives the company their email address as well (to create an email list).

Goals of Acquisition: Take users from social media to becomes a lead magnet then get email subscribers

4. Step Two: Activation

This includes areas like flash sales, which are a big discount sale companies can offer and member-only specials, which can make subscribers feel special.

Goals of Activation: Move email subscribers to low dollar offer, then to a customer

5. Step Three: Monetization

This includes area like activation, which means offering the new product or core offer and high dollar sales. This is the bread of butter of the format leading into a promotional calendar.

6. Steps to Building Your Promotion

1) Determine Product/Market Fit

2) Choose a Traffic Source

3) Offer a Lead Magnet

4) Offer a Tripwire

5) Offer a Core Product

6) Offer a Profit Maximizer

7) Create a Return Path

If you don't know what a tripwire is, it's where there is a low-cost offer made to a customer that can lead to a larger purchase later on.

6. When and Who...12 Month Plan and Monthly Planning Worksheet

Things to include: month, goals, set projections, revenue goals, monetization strategy

Things to include in monthly planning: month, name of promo, goal of promo, who will receive promo emails, start date, number of emails, projected revenue, back-up promo

7. Plan Your Promotion Content

The content funnel stages are awareness, evaluation and conversion.

• Awareness Content-freely available that entertains, educates or inspires (blog, social media, videos, infographics, photos, podcasts)
• Evaluation Content-incentivized content asking readers for contact information (education resources, downloads, etc)
• Conversion Content-building a relationship with the reader to help them make an informed purchases (demo, free trial, customer story, comparison)

*Bonus Tip!: Have your company write down 100 questions they receive or are most often asked...these can be converted into blog posts!

Expert Essentials: Matt Kelly

Last Monday guest speaker Matt Kelly, a senior manager at Golin, spoke at Olivet Nazarene University. Here are some of the key things I took away from his presentation:

1. Social Media Influencers
SMI's are the people who grew to fame and influence from social media...think YouTube or Vine famous. It's important to realize not all influencers are ones you should reach out to for a campaign, especially because most of them ask for payment now. But you can use platforms like Tapinfluence (check it out) to find influencers related to the company you're working for.

Key note: It's more important to tap into a relevant following of 100 who would be interested over a huge following of 10,000 that might not care.

2. #puppymonkeybaby and McDonald's All Day Breakfast Social Media
Kelly is one of the people who was a part of Mountain Dew's PuppyMonkeyBaby initiative (that crazy SuperBowl ad, check it out here), and he was on the team who created an algorithm to message every person who had ever asked McDonald's for All Day Breakfast. Yeah, hearing about those case studies was AMAZING.

3. Know up and coming Social Media Tools
You're not expected to go into the professional world knowing EVERYTHING kid (I gotta tell myself that too). It is important to know what tools businesses are using and to at least be aware of them/how they work. Here are two more important ones to look into:

• Sprinklr
• Tapinfluence

4. Clean up social media, send a thank you card (no, seriously)
You can ace your interview over and over, but if you have a bad social media presence it doesn't matter. Yes, businesses do check those out. And many businesses look at LinkedIn first (WOW)! Also, Kelly explained how he could interview 20 equally qualified people for a position, but the one who leaves a thank-you card is the one who gets the job. Again, kind of a big deal to know.

5. He's a RAPPER
No caption necessary. Check this link out here.

4 More Things I Learned from Hootsuite (refer to previous post)

7. Four Things to Include in a Social Media Policy

1) How employees use social media
2) What kind of use is discouraged
3) Process to follow if unsure of what is appropriate
4) Consequences of social media misuse

Remember to state who they contact if they have any questions in this policy as well as have correct and incorrect examples they can reference.

8. Four Steps to a Critical Response Plan

1) Social listening protocol (how to look for and find negative feedback, you can use Hootsuite for this too!)
2) List of designated decision makers
3) Step by step action plan (what to do if an emergency happens)
4) Pre-approved messages (based on what emergency happened)

9. Difference Between Quantitive and Qualitative Data for PR

Quantitative=numerical values. Qualitative=collect insight and best when used on a post by post basis. The four areas of measurement for quantitive data are base, reach, engagement, and conversion. Some of the ways you can measure this is follow growth, engagement rate, conversions, email sign-ups, qualified leads, sales transactions, etc. The best advice for qualitative measurement is looking at the posts that didn't perform successfully and analyzing why.

10. What the heck are KPIs?

ANSWER-Key Performance Indicators! This is the measurable value or person once your campaign has started you want to evaluate.

*Bonus Info*
Hootsuite has a bomb analytics area where you can customize what you want to see on a function called Boards. This is useful if you have certain data you need to show your employer or client.

6 Things I Learned from Hootsuite Academy (after just taking three classes!)

This week as an assignment we had to go to Hootsuite Academy and take a few of their free online training courses (highly recommend). One is focused on the benefits of Hootsuite itself while the other is a social media training. Little naive college Rachel did not expect to learn as much as I did from just going three three of the many lessons....but wow was I wrong! Here I'm going to share some of the tops tips I picked up or things I did not know yet.

1. If you're a small business or organization check out Hootsuite Campaigns

For those who don't know what Hootsuite is, it is a social media management platform. If you want more information, check it out here. Hootsuite Campaigns are tools businesses can use to basically to help launch their own PR/Marketing campaigns for their businesses without involving outside help (which costs extra $). For example, if you are doing a giveaway, you can host a campaign for it through Hootsuite and then your audience can go to your unique URL for it and sign-up. You could change what kind of information you collect based on your preferences...it's all very customizable.

2. Download Hootlet

Hootlet is a program you can download on your computer where if you find an amazing article you want to share on one of your platforms connected to Hootsuite you can click a button near your bookmarks to share it directly from there (and of course, you can customize what you say and where you're sending it). How convenient!

3. When you create a content calendar...highlight KEY DATES!

Remember these dates and work with them! Nuff said here.

4. Three Steps to a Social Media Audit

This is so important to figure out what the voice your brand or self is on social media. What value is your social media adding to your audience? What are your competitors doing and what can you learn from them? Remember to meet your audience where they're at when it comes to what platforms you are using. Here are the three steps:

 -Create an itemized list of current social media networks and their activity rates

-Follower counts per social networks

-Competitive analysis (refer to question above)

5. SMART Goals people!!!

If you are trying to figure out where you want your company to go or what you want to do for a client, make sure your goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. Ask yourself if you would be able to tell when your goal was half complete. If you can't answer this, it's probably not a SMART goal.

6. Create a document for your business or business you are working with that defines the brand's voice.

Ask yourself, what adjectives describe "x" brand? Let your social media voice reflect that. Is ione of those adjectives "quirky?" Well then play around with humor. If it's something like "reliable," then maybe keep your tone more professional.

Periscope, Meerkat...Houseparty?

Hopefully by now you've heard of Periscope. You know, the app where you can live-stream from anywhere, anytime, literally to anyone who wants to watch.

For those who don't know, Periscope was named the "iPhone App of the Year" in 2015 by Apple. It was created by Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein who saw the need for a live-streaming app while traveling in Istanbul in 2013. A protest broke out, and Beykpour wanted to see what was happening so he turned to Twitter...but he could only READ about it there. He wanted to SEE it.

Fast forward a few years and Twitter bought-out their app with a relaunch in March 2015. After just four months, Periscope had passed 10 million accounts with around "40 years per day" of video being streamed.

Around the same time Periscope came out, so did a similar rival: Meerkat. This was also a live-streaming app that had its "15 seconds of fame" at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in March 2015. Users here had the option to connect their Twitter and Facebook accounts to stream to their followers and friends, but after Twitter purchased Periscope, well, things changed for Meerkat.

Twitter focused a majority of their attention of pushing Periscope to its followers and limited Meerkat's access to it's social graph, no longer allowing users to connect Meerkat to Twitter. Meerkat beat Periscope by becoming an Android app first, but once Facebook Live was launched, Meerkat's chances of growth became slim to none.

On October 4, 2016, Meerkat was shut down.

But wait...you don't want to miss this part.

The company who owned Meerkat has been in the process of developing a new app called Houseparty. With this, users can create or join video chat rooms of up to eight people. Participants can also switch between "rooms" (name of the chats) with just a swipe of the finger. Remember the days when you wanted to talk to all your friends at once but didn't want to pay Skype (video chat) to do it? Well now there is a specific app for iOS and Andoid in the works that could change the game in just my own life.

As a young PR professional, how this app can benefit my life ranges from having conversations with my team out of my university's student-run firm, Inspired Strategies Agency, to just being able to chat with my friends all over the United States.

Keep your eyes out for Houseparty friends...and if you haven't checked out Periscope, get a feel for what live-streaming is all about.

The Internet is Unforgiving

Take a second and think about the title of this blog. Can you remember something you may have posted when you first created a Facebook account (hello "OMG sooooooo excited to go to the movies xoxoxo <333" from 2009)? What about that crazy embarrassing photo of you your mom posted of you friends seem to find five years later?

Let's get more serious...think about all the stories of celebrity nudes or sex tapes getting released because they were somehow hacked or sent over Snapchat. There have been companies where employees accidentally tweeted inappropriate things on their accounts, quotes from politicians being brought up during this debate from months ago, and company reputations with PR campaigns going down the drain from public criticism. Truly, the Internet is unforgiving.

We recently had guest speaker Debra Bethard-Caplick speak to our social media strategies class at my university, and this is one of the main points that stuck with me. We are all too lenient these days with what we post on social media, especially my generation (Gen Z), and we continually see others face the consequences (yet think we're still untouchable ourselves).

Another key point she made related to this idea was: ”Somebody has to be the adult in the room and unfortunately too many people on social media are not."

Wow. Let that one sink in and just TRY to tell me it's not 100 percent accurate.

Even if you are not attempting to be "professional" on social media, it is ESSENTIAL to remember it is not made to be a platform of vulgarity, arguments, or post every area of your life for the entire world to have access to. Just because you may think marijuana should be legalized doesn't mean it's appropriate to post a picture of yourself smoking online.

Let me leave you with three things (LOOK HERE BEFORE YOU LEAVE) if you have zoned out for most of this blog:

1. The benefit and PROBLEM with social media is that it's instantaneous
2. Somebody has to be the adult in the room and unfortunately too many people on social media are not
3. THE INTERNET IS UNFORGIVING

Trump vs. Clinton Debate 2016-Round 1

*Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to round one of the 2016 presidential debates! In this corner we have Republican candidate Donald Trump...and in this corner we have Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton! Let the battle begin!*

If you needed a metaphor comparing how the first presidential debate went last Tuesday, look no further. But this post isn't about politics or picking a side, this post is about the public relations aspect to this debate. Specifically let's discuss Twitter and how Trump and Clinton's teams handled their social media account.

Again, taking the politics out of this blog post, Clinton's team was more impressive on Twitter during the campaign while Trump was mentioned more on social media throughout the debate.

One significant thing I learned about political PR teams during this debate was that they have multiple tweets set up and prepared throughout the night with cues to send them when key topics are brought up/phrases said. I'm sure I "knew" the candidates in debates have specific content prepped out to discuss, but actually seeing that happen live on screen then a tweet going out a second later relating perfectly made my lightbulb go off.

One of the best tweets of the night was when Clinton's team pulled up something Trump said regarding China and then his team preceded to delete the tweet. There were multiple jokes about how Clinton's team had fact checkers while Trump's had tweet deleters.

I was left with truly one question after the debate: why wasn't Hillary Clinton wearing a flag pin but Trump was?

From a PR standpoint, will there or have there been repercussions from this small incident?

Expert Essentials: Brian Basilico

Last Wednesday in one of my college courses, Social Media Strategies, we had social media expert and published author Brian Basilico speak to our class over Skype about his new book,  Bacon Business, Sizzling Hot Recipes to Grow Your Business. His book is a 12-step process and is divided also into three parts: marketing trifecta, content creation tools and content distribution/delivery. Here are some of the best tips and takeaways I got from his presentation:

1. Businesses Can Have More Than One Audience

It is critical to identify who the target audience is and if there is more than one. The example Basilico gave was looking at a nonprofit. There are two main audiences who they really have to market too besides just those the organization may be trying to reach. The first is donors, and the second is volunteers. Each audience will be wanting different ways of communication and what is being communicated to them.

2. There Are Three Questions Being Asked When Looking at a Website

• Why am I here?
• What should I do?
• Why should I do it?

If you keep these three questions in mind, the entire layout of your website will be easier to determine because your goal will be to answer all three of these. Your content should answer these fairly quickly, and it is also important to remember to have a "call to action" on your site to make visitors interact. This can be anything from downloading a free sample to calling for a free (emphasis usually on free) consultation. 

3. Don't Underestimate How Important Analytics Are

According to Basilico, analytics are the "lifeblood" of understanding this whole system and how it works. You can't run a business without understanding numbers, and there are so many unique and new ways you can analyze your website or online platforms. One of the main ways is that they can help you measure what pages people are visiting on your website and how long they are even staying on the page.

To learn more about Brain Basilico, check out his website here: http://www.b2b-im.com 

Three Reasons Why You Should Participate in Twitter Chats as a Young Professional

It's easy to get involved with others on Twitter whether it's replying to someone's tweet or tagging them in a picture, but have you ever participated in a Twitter Chat as a young professional?

For those who don't know what a Twitter Chat is, it's a conversation revolving around a hashtag typically between a company and its followers. With the hashtag, you can follow the conversation and participate with both the company and others during the time the "chat" is happening.

Here's three reasons why you need to start participating in Twitter Chats as a young professional:

1. It Gets Your Name Out There

Your Twitter should represent your personality through your tweets, favorites, pictures, bio, picture, and FOLLOWERS!!! Follow those big companies you love that hold Twitter Chats then participate! You will slowly but surely get your name out there in the professional world and potential gain some followers along the way (hello fellow colleagues or employers)! Someone could also retweet something you say and allow for MORE people to see your name and professional insight.

2. You Can Learn A LOT

Most companies hold chats that answers some great questions or allow their followers to voice their feedback on certain things. For example, I follow the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) on Twitter and have followed many of their chats. I have already learned so much regarding the PR world or PRSSA just through reading these tweets from others and PRSSA.

3. Your Profile Will Look More Professional

I love to showcase my personality on Twitter through things like pictures from my life, Bible verses, funny jokes, you get the picture. But I also include retweets, favorites, and mentions all to people or companies within my profession to showcase my professional side on my personal account. It becomes difficult to take care of multiple accounts at a time, so don't be afraid to merge both your personal and professional world together a bit online. If you're worried about someone being irritated about you posting a link to a great PR article you found, you're probably following or being followed by the wrong type of people anyways.

Personal Social Media Strategy

The idea of digging into my social media accounts or maybe even social media past (hello embarrassing posts from 2009) is a bit of a scary thought, but a refreshing social media analysis is just what every person could probably use.

This blog is going to look at three different social media platforms I use consistently in my life (and all three are somewhat connected to one another): Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

1) Twitter
Tweets as of today: 18.8k
Following: 509
Followers: 897

Twitter is probably the platform I use the most often. Most of my followers are friends from all my areas of life (high school, college, church, ect.) but more recently includes some professionals and PR colleagues. I debated using this account more "professionally," but I showcase my humor and personality on here with some witty comments or retweeting things that may showcase who I am.

I make sure I NEVER retweet or favorite something with any foul language and/or images, and I tend to block accounts like that or unfollow friends who retweet vulgar things. One thing I stay keenly aware of is that even the tweet I favorite can be seen, and I'm even pretty specific on what tweets I continue to make public I like.

I do like the way I currently utilize Twitter to show bit and pieces of my personality, passions, and pictures I specifically choose to post. I try to post at least once or twice a day on here because of the fact Twitter won't always show tweets on newsfeed that were just tweeted but by popularity of the tweet or if that person tends to view your tweets I've noticed. I think it is professional enough to where I would not be embarrassed if a company was viewing my profile either.

2) Instagram

Posts: 308
Followers: 1,081
Following: 1, 013

I love that my Instagram connects to both my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I specifically chose certain pictures and filters to go on here and want to represent myself as genuinely as I can. One tone I choose to set is having a white border around all my pictures to make my background look sleeker on my profile page. I try to showcase my faith when I can and post many pictures with my friends and family usually with something positive or thankful to say. I also believe this account showcases my personality and warmth, and I would not mind a company viewing it.

I typically do not post on Instagram too often, but when the semester goes back in session I will probably post around twice a week. If I were a more well-known individual with more followers I'd probably stay more up to date, but for now I don't want to over-post.

3) Facebook

Friends: 1,442

Facebook is the platform I have used the longest. I created an account back in middle school, and I think it's best I don't dig back that far for some of the posts or pictures I may have put up. Looking at how I use it today, it's pretty much the same as Twitter to me. My cover photo is my family who's very important to me, and I try to stay on top of posting pictures while I'm away at school often (mostly for my mom).

Like Twitter, I make sure to re-share things that represent who I am, but with Facebook I will tend to add my two cents even if it's just a small comment. I do have a lot of old "friends" I could probably weed out who's content I don't like or agree with, but I typically don't post on Facebook "status" wise very often. I do go on at least to browse and like my friends' content on the daily and post some kind of picture once a week (even if that's just my Instagram one going through to Facebook or being tagged).

Introducing My Top Five Strengths

As junior year of college finally closes in on me, that means it's also time to reignite my blogging flame!

In my first post EVER, I introduced myself as a human and described a bit of what public relations means to me. Since the beginning of sophomore year, my life has RADICALLY changed (for the better thank goodness)!

I thought instead of re-introducing myself again on here I would describe myself through my top five Gallups StrengthsFinder results. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a paid test you can take where it will describe what your top strengths are in detail to help you better understand who you are and what you should do.

1. Woo
"Winning Others Over" is what WOO stands for. I'd like to think of this as the gift of persuasion. I love to talk to others especially new people CONSTANTLY...it actually gives me a bit of a rush. This also means I love to charm and get people to believe in what I believe in or be persuasive about pretty much anything really. The secret behind this strength though is that do those who have it use it for good, or for evil?

2. Futuristic
I love thinking about the future! I know, that sounds a bit weird to a lot of people, but thinking of what the future holds is almost like my "happy place." Encouraging others to have a better future and reach for their goals is really my main motivation behind this strength, and it also helps keep me motivated in the present working towards my goals in the future.

3. Achiever
Lists, goals, charts, bullet points, notepads, checkmarks. I am a woman who likes to get things DONE. Not only do I want complete multiple task a day and reach goals on a consistent basis, but it can actually drive me NUTS if I don't stay busy. Oh, and if I do something, it is ALWAYS done well. Which leads to my next strength...

4. Competition
So, this strength doesn't necessary mean I just like to compete in things and win (although yes, I do like that). To me, competition is more with myself in the fact that if I'm doing something, it will be done to its FULLEST potential and be the BEST quality. If you don't want to hire me already then my last strength will win you over for sure.

5. Communication
Not only am I a COMM major, but communication both from me to others and from others to me is something I thrive on! Clearly looking back at WOO I love to talk to people, but with this strength I really value the QUALITY of how I communicate. Whether this means having intentional conversations, making others feel good or just speaking properly, it's a big deal to me. This also means I really value others who value this strength and communicate well back with me.

What's Happening This Week?

For this post, I will be identifying three stories in the news this week and how PR is impacting them.

One big story this week is how the first U.S. cruise ship since the ‘70s sailed to Cuba on Monday with around 700 passengers. This is a monumental event for both governments since there have been so many issues in the past, and there was even a protest from exiles of Cuba that almost delayed the cruise. There had been a Cuban rule that people born in Cuba are forbidden from leaving the country as well as others entering, but Cuba finally has agreed to lift the ban.

I think with this event it’s pretty clear PR is flowing in and out of it. This is such a historical moment for both countries, and it needs to be covered and handled quite carefully since it is a sensitive topic to some. Even in the article I read, it focused more on the positives of those entering Cuba then revealing details of the protest that happened and almost delayed the cruise from leaving.

The second story I read was about how Johnson & Johnson have just ordered to pay a woman $55 million who said that using the company’s talc-powdered products for her feminine hygiene caused her to develop ovarian cancer. The company is actually facing 1,200 lawsuits regarding this issue, and they continue to plan to fight these trials.

In my eyes, this is definitely heading in the direction of crisis communication. The fact that the woman won the trial and that there are 1,200 other claims against this specific issue is going to hurt the company’s image severely if not managed well. The article even said after this trial J&J’s stock decreased 18 cents…just from publicity of this one trial.

The final story I saw was extremely interesting to me, it covered how on the fifth anniversary of bin Ladin’s death, the CIA actually live-tweeted the events in “real-time.” Yes, I’m not kidding. To celebrate this anniversary, the official CIA Twitter had someone tweet little known details of the raid on bin Ladin in the “real-time” that it happened five years ago. Crazy, innovative, and interesting.

This definitely has PR all over it. Utilizing social media alone ties into the facet of PR, but this was almost like a mini-campaign idea used to regenerate talk about this historic event and interact with Twitter users online. It was very innovative and a unique idea that generated a ton of buzz…I wonder who that PR person was.

What is PR?...Round 2

Many weeks ago I wrote a post titled, "What Does Public Relations Mean to Me?" and I explained how I came to know and breathe the world of PR.

Now, after a full year of devotion to this major and some course specifically teaching me the ins and outs of this industry, I could probably recite what public relations is whether it's regarding its benefits to businesses or the difference between PR and marketing in my sleep.

I still strongly stand by my original, basic definition of PR I wrote in my first post, "Public relations is a career field that can include so many different personalities and skills while expanding into so many other interests from medical to sports to non-profit to government. If asked to define PR, I would simply state that pubic relations is promoting your passion."

This semester specifically, I have learned a lot more about the technical sides of PR in my course PR Writing than anything else. I feel like I could whip out a press release, social media content calendar, ghost quotes, speech, boilerplate, media pitch or all of the above pretty well. It's been exciting to learn just how essential PR is in client relations not just to the public but internally or to different media sources as well.

One of the best things I love about public relations is that it is EVERYWHERE!!! There are many instances the public does not realize how PR weaves in and out of almost every area of business. Even when there is a crisis like an inappropriate tweet from a worker or a sexist poster at a university that causes a student outrage...it all involves PR and maintaining the company's image...the brand.

I will close with this: let's just say once you put on the PR goggles...there's no taking them off.

Senior Speeches

This evening I attended my university's communication department's senior speeches. This is where all senior Comm majors are required to give an eight to ten minute speech on around a certain theme with no notecards or visual aids. This is my second time I attended senior speeches; I once went the fall semester of my freshman year...it was terrifying. 

The idea of giving a memorized speech with scholarly citations on not-so-easy topics at 17...welcome to college Rach. 

However, after almost completing now two years of college and taking a higher level communication course called Professional Communication (you have to give 5000 speeches, some memorized) I feel like I can do anything. The memorized speeches don't seem so scary any more, I actually feel a bit excited. You see, this school year I have given tons of speeches, presentations, introductions, conclusions, awards, ran meetings...you name it. I would also say that 90 percent of these occasions were pretty much memorized...so ten minutes my senior year with a whole semester to practice? As Michelle Tanner would say, you got it dude. 

One of my favorite moments of this event actually surprised myself though. It was the moments when I student giving their speech got hung up on a word or may have forgotten their next word, but then they took a second, got back on track, and finished strong! That moment of struggle, fight, then overcoming and being successful made me want to stand up and cheer after each speech. And you know what? Just by the looks on the faces around the room during these moments, I believe my peers and those attending felt the same way. I couldn't be prouder to be in this department.

I Cannot Tweet a Lie...But You Did

In a previous post I discussed the PRSA Member Code of Ethics and how they apply to our industry, especially as a Christian. One key area of ethics that has been booming in our field is the discussion of honesty and transparency as a public relations professional representing a company.

One verse that really sticks out to me regarding this topic is Proverbs 19:1, “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.”(ESV)

One great example of this is the recent issue that happened with Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Basically, Lewandowski has been charged with simple battery this past Tuesday.

The charge came in Florida after Trump was finished speaking at an event when a woman reporter tried to get a statement from him. Lewandowski pulled her back after she supposedly put grabbed his arm.

Here’s the kicker…Lewandowski tweeted that he never touched this reporter, he didn’t know who she was and that she was delusional. BUT THEN a video came out from a security camera showing the interaction between the two.

There are many factors I could talk about here, but I want to focus in on Lewandowski lying on Twitter. His ethics, transparency and ability to be a successful campaign manager for someone who could potentially be in the White House are being brought into question.

No matter how successful Lewandowski has been with Trump’s campaign, the minute you’re “crooked in speech” instead of having integrity is the potential start of a deadly downfall.

This recent incident has really brought into perspective how important honestly and transparency all across the board is, especially when it happened on a social media platform such as Twitter.

Three Networking Event Tips That Are Overlooked All Too Often

1. Dress to Impress

How you present yourself at a networking event is CRUCIAL, even just as a first impression. Yes, those terrifying “first impressions” can have the potential to make or break you. Don’t be afraid to look great, chances are it will help boost your confidence if you’re feeling nervous about talking to basically strangers.

2. Keep Your Business Cards in a Convenient Location

All to often you will see some people shuffle around their bags or check multiple pockets to find their business cards to exchange with someone. This can actually come off a bit unprofessional and unorganized to the person your talking with, and it also doesn’t help with good impression you want to make as mentioned above. Keep your cards is an easy to access place like the front pocket of your purse or chest pocket on your shirt fellas. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.

3. Don’t be Afraid to Not Talk All Business

One of the key ideas that can be forgotten at networking events is the fact it is all about relationship building. This is such a key area, especially in the field of communications, to build your network through the relationship you BUILD. Everyone there is there to talk business and expand their horizons and contacts, so it’s okay to touch on interests or subjects to stand out a bit too. You may be surprised at the way you connect with someone, or the topic you might discuss that has your future employer remembering who you are.

What's More Common: Dust or Ads?

This week in one of my public relations courses, we were asked to do a “communications audit” of our lives. This includes looking over how many brands we see in 24 hours, how many ads on social media, how much time spent on our phone and things like this. What I can say is that my results were somewhat expected…but still surprising.

One of the main things I didn’t realize until this audit is just how many advertisements are on major social media sites nowadays. Facebook and Twitter have TONS of sponsored ads consistently throughout scrolling on the home pages…I’m talking you can’t go ten statuses or tweets without seeing one. Also it seems like all the video and music site or apps, like YouTube and Pandora/Spotify, are full of commercials consistently as well. If I wanted to see commercials, I’d watch TV y’all.

When it came to checking out brands, I thought it would be funny to peek in the closet my roommate and I share. What an idea that was! There are so many unique brands within my own clothing I wasn’t even aware of! Well over 50 in our closet total. Yes, there were the basics like American Eagle, Urban Outfitters, Victoria Secret, Nike…. you get the picture. Yet I also own all these brands I haven’t even heard of! This may be because I am addicted to thrifting at stores like Plato’s Closet or even Salvation Army, but it was still pretty eye opening just how much we are surrounded by advertisements through all different avenues.

So now the real question is, what is more common around us: dust or ads?