By Emma Stevens

Personally, I think using influencers in PR is a cop out. PR is about being a creative, quick thinker. PR is not about having another “influencer” do your job for you. 

Don’t take this the wrong way, I understand the appeal and reasoning behind it… but do I think it is stellar PR work? Not really. 

I understand that we have a tendency to trust who we follow, so why not market to a big following? My answer: the loss of authenticity. Just yesterday I read an article about celebrities who copy and post captions advertising their products that were sent to them but forget to remove the entire PR email from the caption. Whether this is laziness, lack of time, or just generally not caring that much about your followers, it seems enormously disrespectful and certainly not trustworthy.

As a consumer, when I see a post regarding a product, all I can think about is how inauthentic it is. I don’t believe Kim Kardashian really loves to eat blue gummy bears to make her hair grow longer. Then there’s the case of the Fyre Festival, which was promoted by every model imaginable but in reality left people stranded with no music, food, venue or safe place to sleep. 

I want us to seriously consider who we are trusting. Companies are continuously having to pull sponsorships after hate tweets surface from a celebrity endorser, or a scandal occurs involving someone who has sponsored a product. PR professionals are having to PUBLICLY remove themselves from the media storm and apologize for any involvement. I’m certain that this impacts a brand after the scandal, so why not pick someone trustworthy from the get go?

If we want to pitch our product by way of a famous endorser, we have to remember that everyone is human. Vet your prospect carefully. Kevin Hart lost his chance to emcee the Oscars because of homophobic tweets from years ago. It’s our responsibility to know our influencer, to avoid costly and embarrassing mistakes.

One more point: PR is centered around having a key message and promoting it to the best of your ability. How can I take a message seriously when the post before it was about your dog’s new sweater or you in a swimsuit? I respect people who post these photos if it’s their personal account. What I have a hard time with is mixing business with personal profiles. 

A company that I believe has found the happy medium in PR practices is Patagonia. They don’t search for content, instead they promote authentic content that has developed naturally. Patagonia honors its customers and their real life stories, which often relate to their products.

Recently, Patagonia promoted public figure DeRay McKesson, who has become known for always wearing his favorite blue patagonia. DeRay has an incredible voice and message, and he luckily really loves his patagonia vest. Patagonia highlighted this on their account with a lengthy post about DeRay without asking to tag him in every photo or to endorse the brand. Instead they let DeRay post about Patagonia’s new campaign, “wornwear,” and highlighted it on their instagram a couple days later. This is TASTEFUL and authentic. 

My opinion on influencers? Let the story come to you. Let the product and your campaign create a conversation. 

1. I will produce weekly content with up-to-date information. 
2. What I write will be my personal opinion; please remember this when reading the blog.
3. I will always tell the truth, and will fact check any statistical data I present. 
4. I encourage critique and will take feedback into consideration. This being said I will delete any comments that use offensive or violent language.
5. I will produce content without spelling and grammar errors to the best of my ability. Please remember I am a human being and I will make mistakes. That being said, feel free to correct me in the comments so I can edit/learn from mistakes. 
6. I will be producing content related to public relations.
7. I will cite all sources and link to any article I reference.
8. I encourage engagement and will respond to comments to the best of my ability. 
9. I will give background information for topics addressed in my blog when necessary. 
10. I encourage feedback from readers on topics they would like to read about within the scope of public relations. 
11. I will respond to any questions or emails if appropriate and relevant. 
12. I understand my opinion may differ from yours and I encourage open discussion.

Referenced: http://prosintraining.com/code-of-ethics/

Code of Ethics

By, Emma Stevens

If you have a Twitter account, or you are a big fan of fast food, you are no doubt aware of the epic Twitter battles between Wendy’s and many of the other fast food outlets. These sassy Twitter exchanges have skyrocketed Wendy’s profile, and the publicity about them has hit every angle of media. Blogs and news articles have spread the message and retweets abound. Wendy’s brassy 240 character tweets have become a PR professional’s dream. 

Because of the very clever Amy Brown behind the tweets, Wendy’s has become famous for its quick comebacks and engagement with consumers and competitors. People are engaging with the company in a way that PR professionals can only dream about, because Wendy’s has been humanized. The fast food restaurant has morphed from just another fast food outlet into a strong, fiery character who isn’t afraid to roast anyone. Wendy’s is using genius public relations work and crushing the twittersphere. 

Forbes Agency Council published an article titled, “Eight unique PR tactics that are sure to grab your attention.” The company emphasizes creativity and “out of the box” thinking, which I believe Wendy’s has accomplished with its twitter campaign. 

Number 1 on Forbes’ list is “Ban something.” In other words, participate in cancel culture. Wendy’s uses its bold tone to throw shade at their competitors, as well as anyone who asks to be roasted. An example of this is when a twitter account tweeted “@Wendys can you find me the nearest Mcdonalds.” Wendy replied with a photo of a trash can, implying McDonalds was trash. Users loved it. As Forbes states, “users love controversy,” and Wendy’s is stirring the pot. 

Additionally, Forbes advises, “Create a signature move.” Wendy’s understands that every corporation has a twitter account posting very similar content. Consumers tend to only follow a business account if they are a HUGE fan of the company or that company is posting interesting and engaging content. Anyone can post a stagnant tweet about upcoming products, but not everyone can come up with witty comebacks consistently…and Wendy’s does! For instance, I don’t eat fast food, but I follow Wendy’s because it makes me laugh. I tell other people about the twitter war, people who do eat fast food, and I have no doubt this very successful campaign influences their choices.

Forbes suggests, “Don’t do things to scale. Do something personal that takes time.” Thinking up creative, shocking and up-to-date tweets is a time-consuming task, but the payoff has been astronomical. Wendy’s now has 3.5 million followers and its best engagement resulted from its aggressive and amusing reply tweets. By comparison, Burger King has only 1.8 million followers. 

Lastly, Forbe highlights “create a debate.” Forbes states, “when you’re doing PR, it’s most important to create controversy around the story you are telling.” You need to create the “perfect storm” (Forbes) for your company. Wendy’s accomplished this. Nobody is safe from Wendy’s twitter wrath and consumers love it. Whether it is a debate over whether their meat is frozen or not, or a snappy call out, each tweet is expected to get thousands of likes and retweets. 

My opinion is to begin with research: get to know your target audience for the campaign you are working on and use the media that will work the most effectively. Wendy’s has fully grasped how to use Twitter. The company has found its niche, which is roasting other tweets and posting “savage” tweets. Although I would not recommend this precise strategy to every PR professional, it’s a great example of the out-of-the-box thinking required by today’s PR work. 

Referenced in the article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/05/13/eight-unique-pr-tactics-that-are-sure-to-grab-your-audiences-attention/#6a8dddd120c1