The Dos and Don’ts of Public Relations Writing

Because professional writing is changing with the idea of the current, digital workplace age, a growing professional writing field is public relations.  The field of public relations is all about a company or organization attempting to create a positive bond with their consumers or audiences.

 Although not all public relations work is done through writing, a huge portion of it is.  Some types of public relations writing include social media, press releases, profile stories and media kits.  The following are some general dos and don’ts concerning public relation writing for an organization.

The Dos

·      Be timely.  This means make sure that what you are writing about is current, quick, and either in progress or in the future.

·      Keep it relevant.  Ensure that your writing is important, appropriate, and applicable to what your particular audience is interested in.

·      Take advantage of new technology.  Reach out to your audience using different types of mediums.  These could be social media websites, smart phone apps, text messaging, or email.

·      Be clear and concise.  It is extremely important with public relations writing, along with all professional writing fields, that you can be clearly understood by your audience.

·      Keep it simple.  You want your writing to be easily taken in by your audience in a convenient matter.  Make sure that you don’t over-complicate things.

The Don’ts

·      Do not offend people: Avoid writing anything that attacks any particular person or group of people.

·      Do not use politically incorrect language.  Going along with the point above, people can be easily offended, so it is best to keep your language politically correct for the purpose of public relations writing.

·      Do not use jargon. As stated above, keep things simple.  Avoid the use of jargon completely, and explain things simply the first time.

With these guidelines in place, the execution of successful public relations practices should run much more smoothly.  The world of public relations, which is growing as a professional writing field, takes these guidelines very seriously.  When trying to relate to an audience of people, you must be clear, understandable, respectful, and accessible in all that you do in order to get the best reception.  

Check out these other tips for effective writing.

Remembering Steve Jobs

(computerhistory.org)

Today is the first anniversary of the passing of Steve Jobs.  Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, Inc. has had a huge influence on the way that people think about technology in everyday life.  He innovated so many devices that I would be lost without in today's society, such as my Macbook and iPhone.  Today, Apple featured a video dedication to Jobs on the front page of Apple.com.   

The video showed photos of Jobs from various events when he first introduced different Apple products.  Playing along these photos were recordings of his voice explaining each product and saying various inspirational quotes.  The video also included a clip from Jobs's introduction of the iPhone, in which he demoed the device by prank calling a coffee shop and jokingly ordering 4,000 lattes to-go.  This clip spoke to me, because it showed the playful, relatable side of Jobs in a very heartfelt manner.


The current CEO of Apple, Tim Cook posted the following message on the homepage along with the video:

Steve’s passing one year ago today was a sad and difficult time for all of us. I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.

One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world is Apple. No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the great privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we are doing, delivering products that our customers love and dreaming up new ones that will delight them down the road. It’s a wonderful tribute to Steve’s memory and everything he stood for.
- Tim

You can view the video Here at theverge.com.

Apple now has a permanent webpage on their site dedicated to Jobs at www.apple.com/stevejobs.  Here, there is a scrolling list of messages that have been sent in via email from people worldwide, sharing their thoughts about Jobs. 

Company Twitter Mistakes and Social Media Policies

The first presidential debate of this election took place on Wednesday, October 3, 2012.  During the election, an off-putting tweet was posted on the KitchenAid twitter account, a well-known brand of home appliances.
The following is a screenshot of said tweet:

(simplymeasured.com)

The tweet was seen by many, because of the popularity of the KitchenAid brand, and caused quite a few people to be offended and upset.  During Wednesday's debate, the president spoke about his grandmother in the context of Social Security and Medicare.  The president explained that his late Grandmother was hardworking and was able to be successful and independent with only a high school diploma, with the help of Social Security and Medicare.

Later Wednesday evening, the tweet was deleted and Cynthia Soledad, the senior director of marketing for KitchenAid, apologized by posting the following tweets:

(madamenoire.com)

I believe that Soledad did the right thing by posting apologies to the public and directly to the president's twitter.  She effectively managed the negative situation using good crisis communication skills.   

As mentioned in the tweets above, the employee who wrote the tweet will no longer be writing tweets for the KitchenAid brand (which implies that he or she has been fired).  I also believe that this is the best decision that the company could have made, because the way that a company represents itself through social media such as Twitter is extremely important, and it is crucial that all members of a company's PR team realize this, especially if they have control over the company's social media account(s).

(wizmarketings.com)

This brings me to the point of social media policies.  There are various opinions held by people concerning whether or not companies should have policies about social media use by employees.  Whether employees are using the company's twitter account or their own, when they speak about the company it's important that the things they say are sensible and well thought through before being posted.  Some companies have strict rules or policies about things that employees can and cannot do while using social media websites.  To learn more about social media policies, check out this article written by Amber Naslund.

In this case, the employee on KitchenAid's twitter team could have been using a program such as HootSuite,where multiple twitter accounts can be managed in one place.  The employee could have intended to post the offensive tweet to his personal twitter, and mistakenly posted it to the company twitter account instead.

What is your opinion on social media policies for companies?  Is it a necessity?  Do some companies need a policy more than others?  Post a comment below. 

The "Background Television" Impact

It seems that there has been an ongoing conversation in today's society about the effects of excessive television viewing, especially in young people.  Studies have been done to investigate the negative effects on children's academic achievement, weight and sleep habits. There have been conclusions made that televisions should be removed from children's bedrooms because of these possible negative effects.

(californiaschildren.typepad.com)

Recently, there have been various studies conducted concerning television viewing in youth.  One of which is evaluating the prevalence of "background" or "secondhand" television.

What is "background television"?
According to This Health Magazine article on CNN.com about background television, background television is defined as "television that's on in the background while [children are] doing other activities." (Health 2011)

Background television is beginning to be brought more attention to as the world of television is changing in our society.  The most recent study, Background Television in the Homes of US Children, looked into a nationwide sample size of 1,454 children in order to estimate the background television exposure of children of different demographic groups.  The study found that on average, US children are exposed to about 232 minutes of background television a day. (Lapierre 2012)

In my opinion, television exposure to children should be somewhat limited by parents, depending on their personal belief system.  This is because past studies have observed so many of the negative effects that television can have on children.  What is your opinion on the topic?  Leave a comment below.

Smartphone Apps, Dating and Stranger Danger

As technology is evolving everyday, the way people interact with each other is also changing drastically.  It's possible to find out personal information about someone you don't even know just by quickly looking up their name on a social media app on your smartphone.  While some people use social media apps solely to interact with friends/people that they know personally, many others are beginning to use them to get to know people that they've never met before.  

(forbes.com)

An article was posted to CNN.com on Friday, September 21, 2012 called "How Smartphones are the New Wingman."  This article explains how young people (mostly in their early 20s) are using smartphone apps to meet people new people for friendship and even dating purposes.  The article explains the ways that a 23-year-old woman named Malia uses an app called Blendr to meet people.  Blendr is used to show users a list of singles who are nearby and available to meet in their vicinity using location detection services.  The original version of this app is called Grindr.  Grindr is actually made specifically for singles who are homosexual.

 Some say they use these location-based social apps just to meet friends or network.  However I have trouble seeing past the risks and dangers that come with joining these networks.  Certain location-based social apps like these have already banned access to minors because of cases in which men were accused of sexual assault.

(arstechnica.com)

Because of my field,  I always try my best to adapt as as social media technology changes and grows.  However, I have a hard time finding the desire to join networks such as these.  There are certain things that scare me when it comes to social media, and quite frankly, location-based services are one of them.  I am fine with using networks like Instagram or Facebook to post a photo with a location tag attached to it after I've left the place where I took the picture, but that's about the extent of my comfort zone when it comes to location services. 

I am a private person (and maybe a bit paranoid as well), and I wouldn't even alert close friends on my private Facebook profile about my current location.  Social media "privacy" is only as private as you believe it is, and everything shared is still being permanently published to the World Wide Web whether your profiles are private or not.  When I think of using apps that share my information and location with complete strangers, I can't help but think that most of the strangers are at least one of these three things:

1. Sex offenders
2. Murderers
3. Stalkers

I realize that we are living in what is becoming the age of sharing, but in my opinion, there are certain things that just should be kept private.  What is your opinion?  Can location-based networking apps like these be safe?  Would you ever use one?  Am I just paranoid?  Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

My Introductory Post: About me

Who am I?

My name is Crystal Jordan.  I am a rank-four third-year at The Ohio State University, and I am studying strategic communication and pursuing a minor in professional writing. This is the first post of my new blog, which will be dedicated to the field of strategic communication.  I have an especially strong curiosity for persuasive communication and the use of communication in order to market a product or idea.

My Career Interest Background

I decided to purse a bachelor’s degree in strategic communication, because I realized in high school that I had a strong interest in advertisements, specifically the science behind the production of advertisements.  My dream job is one that includes me writing and designing advertisements for fashion and/or lifestyle products, whether the medium is print, commercials or web.  When I first enrolled at Ohio State, I was pre-business with a specialization in marketing, thinking that marketing and advertising would go hand in hand.  After taking a few prerequisites for the major, I was directed toward the strategic communication major.  I took a course about the principles of strategic communication and was immediately engaged to the field since then.

The way in which we as a society use media to communicate a message to mass audiences has always been the root of my interest in the field of communication.  I am always curious about changes and advancements with media and technology, especially in relation to advertisements and marketing.

Thanks for reading my first post!  I am looking forward to writing more soon.

Crystal