De-Influencing: Why it’s important for PR pros

We all know the world of influencers and the ascendancy they have on society, especially with the help of social media apps like TikTok and Instagram where content is spread at a rapidly fast rate. Unfortunately, that comes with content creators getting paid big bucks to advertise a product that may be no good. 

Remember the whole Olaplex scandal? When the brand’s products were being advertised all over the media through ads and influencers, just to be proven that their products are harmful, as they cause hair loss, blisters and other conditions that must be treated medically? Without de-influencing, people may have never known about the harmful effects of these very popular products.

De-influencing is an emerging trend, where influencers discourage their followers from buying certain products. Basically, the opposite of influencer marketing. 

This trend may occur through a number of reasons, like if the product is harmful, overpriced, or simply not worth the money. People who de-influence may also do so if they are naturally unhappy or unsatisfied with the product as a whole and feel as though other people do not need it.

De-Influencing is becoming more and more relevant, and it falls consistently within the line of work for PR professionals.

PR pros must recognize this trend, as they need to ensure that the products and services they pitch hold true value to their audience, along with identifying when there is a potential problem so they can avoid it and leave no room for error or crises.

Navigating this new world of de-influencing may take some trial and error for those working in the public relations or marketing field. Here are a few tips PR pros and marketers can take in order to operate this trend:

  • Work with companies that consistently and naturally align with your morals, ethics and values and pitch products that you truly believe are good and worth it.
  • Listen to feedback from influencers and take what they say into deep consideration.
  • Know what your audience wants and is interested in; keep these in mind at all times.
  • Create efficient tactics and procedures for crisis communication and reputation management.
  • When creating a paid advertisement with an influencer, ensure that they are not overly trying to sell the product, as it may come off as “fake” and receive backlash.

An individual can easily create a 30-second video talking poorly on a brand and their product(s). I’ve seen a handful of videos on my TikTok feed of people convincing the public to not buy something due to a number of reasons, such as the product being a waste of money, harmful, unnecessary, etc. Consequently, these actions can quickly cause harm to the reputation of the brands that are at stake. It is very important that PR pros and those working under influencer marketing/relations are efficient in their reputation and crisis management. They must act fast in handling the situation while using smart and efficient tactics to regain their audiences’ trust, such as releasing timely and genuine apologies regarding the situation, along with their form of action.

In a sense, de-influencing is a positive trend. People are warning the public on certain products that are not worth purchasing. PR pros must use it to their advantage while listening to their audience and feedback and act accordingly. 

Networking is your greatest asset

Networking is your greatest asset

By: Daisy Costilla-Jaimes

Connecting with others and creating chains of networks will be your best asset in the public relations workforce. Creating a database of networks amongst individuals allows you to be involved in new opportunities and allows you to make professional friendships, collaborations, and meet new people not only in your community but also within the professional world locally or globally. 

Sometimes networking with your community will open new opportunities in your career development you wouldn’t think possible. Networking is truly the most important component when becoming a successful public relations professional and progressing in the public relations industry because it allows you to connect with your client’s needs to satisfy their goals and your objectives. 

I am an Assistant Account Executive working with my team to serve our client, the Multicultural Gender Studies Program. Our job is to inform prospective students and their families of the resources and opportunities available on Chico State’s campus. It is an important objective of my client to highlight the diverse minors, programs, and available opportunities for minorities on campus. As an Assistant Account Executive, I am responsible for curating content for the African-American studies minor. Networking with the community has been a key component in establishing connections that are valuable and essential to my client’s objectives.

For instance, I networked with the Cross-Cultural Leadership Center (CCLC) which is an environment dedicated to minority students where they are able to connect with one another, develop leadership skills, share cultural values, build relationships within the community and create cultural awareness and social change. Through the CCLC I was able to network with the Black Student Union’s (BSU) president, Khalid Hurst, BSU members and members of the National Society of Black Engineers. I was able to be more informed about African-American studies’ resources on campus using networking and how they help minorities such as African Americans represent themselves at Chico State. 

Another way to expand your network is through social media such as Instagram, LinkedIn and X, formally known as Twitter. Being involved in social media and creating an engaging platform allows the ability to share information, partake in professional development conversations and create awareness of yourself and your abilities in the public relations field. Through networking with other professionals, you can have a deeper understanding of the industry and have access to resources that are at your fingertips. 

By expanding my network within the community, I was able to gain more understanding regarding my client’s needs, objectives, and goals. I not only gained more comprehension of my client’s needs, but I also made professional connections, gained knowledge that will help me better the community, and obtained awareness of the diverse programs that support minorities. 

Networking with your community, various organizations, programs, and individuals allows you to expand your web of connections. By expanding your network of people it will allow you to be informed, educated, and knowledgeable of the resources and growth opportunities available to you. Enlarging one’s network will allow public relations students to prepare themselves for the real world and achieve their career aspirations by enabling students’ understanding of how to succeed in the public relations industry.

How One PR Major Found Their PR Passion

How One PR Major Found Their PR Passion by Jessica Delgado

By Jessica Delgado

Before I switched my major, I had no idea what public relations was. I believe that is how it is for a lot of individuals when they first discover or hear the word “public relations.” It wasn’t until one Zoom call with Professor Susan Weisinger who informed me of all the job possibilities within this major. Everything I was describing to her that intrigued me or I was passionate about what I wanted to do for a career was all leading to working in PR. I loved the idea of being able to work in all types of PR. If you wanted to branch out after one type of PR you could. Fashion, entertainment, and crisis management were all the types of PR I’ve always been interested in but didn’t exactly know would lead me to major in Journalism and Public Relations. 

The following semester after I switched my major I was enrolled in JOUR 344: Public Relations Strategy, Jour 444: Job Hunting & Professional Skills for News & PR. Not only were the professors amazing but the knowledge and possibilities I learned from these classes made me realize public relations was perfect for me. It was also that semester that I was enrolled in Jour 344 a.k.a “TGC.” Where I was able to get real hands-on experience in PR working with clients. 

“It’s PR not ER” 

Now in my second semester in Tehama Group Communications at Chico State and four client accounts later. Being in TGC helped educate and strengthen my knowledge in public relations. From working with real-life clients, learning how to create strategy briefs, media lists, social media calendars, guide weekly meetings with my teams and clients, to site visits to visit real public relations agencies.  The guidance and skills I’ve learned while being in this internship really has set me up for post-grad. 

This semester (Spring 2023) I was an account executive for one of our clients, Krood and an assistant account executive for our Asian American Studies account. For Krood, one of our main goals was to grow our social media platforms by creating new content for our client. We posted 5x a week on our Instagram and Facebook and made a TikTok account. We also worked on influencer outreach, small boutique outreach, merchandise, and candle campaigns for new candle releases. The Asian American Studies account was started from the ground up. Our team designed their logo, created their Instagram account, tabling points for on-campus events, designed their future website copy, and we were also able to get our client into Chico State’s newspaper, The Orion, which highlighted the importance of Asian American Heritage Month.  

From taking journalism classes to being in TGC, my time has been filled with so much growth, knowledge and amazing education. I would not be where I am today without my peers and mentors. Being in TGC, I have made so many lasting connections that have allowed me to gain opportunities that I don’t think I would have gained elsewhere. 

Tools To Make PR Less Like ER

Tools To Make PR Less Like ER by Gabriela Rudolph

By Gabriela Rudolph

As someone working in public relations, keeping up with social media and tasks can be a heavy lift. What if I were to tell you that there are online tools that can make your job just a bit easier? I’ve decided to compile this list for different areas of PR: 

Social Media

  1. Canva

Canva can make just about anyone a graphic designer. Even with the free version, users can create visually appealing social media graphics for every platform. It’s very easy to use and also includes templates to make the designing process even easier. Canva graphics can also be shared with others, which is great when collaborating with your team. The general version of Canva is free and Canva Pro is $119/year.

  1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a social media management tool that allows you to schedule social media posts ahead of time and analyze results. Hootsuite starts off at $49 and allows you to manage up to 10 social media accounts.

  1. Buffer

If you want a more simple social media management tool, Buffer is a great start and offers a free plan that allows you to manage up to three accounts. What I like about Buffer is that you can design a free “Start Page” that combines all your social media accounts in one place. This is similar to LinkTree, but what makes it better is that it does the work for you.

Media Relations/Outreach

  1. Muck Rack

Muck Rack is your best friend when it comes to building a media list and finding journalists’ contact information. Simply type in the reporter’s name and Muck Rack will provide you with their contact information, their current position, a list of news outlets they’ve written for and their latest articles. Journalists sometimes will include times that they prefer to receive pitches, or how long they prefer pitches. Muck Rack is the best for young PR professionals because of its free tools.

  1. Cision

Similar to Muck Rack, Cision is media monitoring software with a large media database and PR analytical tools. The drawback to Cision is that it is a bit more complex to use rather than Muck Rack. However, it’s worth looking into because of its many features.

  1. HARO

Part of Cision, HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out. This tool matches journalists and PR practitioners together. How it works is that journalists will send out an inquiry and PR practitioners have the opportunity to answer their questions and send a pitch to them.  

  1. Prowly

Prowly is another media database and is one of the most user-friendly of them all. Along with helping you find media contacts, Prowly can organize press releases, create online newsrooms and more. The platform is on the pricier side and starts off at $189/month, however Prowly does offer a 7-day free trial.

Project Management

  1. Asana

When working with a team, you need a place to put all your work in one place. Asana is a “work management” platform that organizes tasks and shows the teams progress over time. It also has a social media calendar built into the platform that is accessible to everyone in the team. Team members can add their content in and create subtasks for other members of the team to collaborate and approve. My favorite part about it is that you can see how projects improve over time and when you complete a project, a unicorn flies over the screen.

  1. Basecamp

Basecamp is a great platform for file and project management. Just like Asana, Basecamp allows team members to assign tasks to other members of the team. A feature that I really like about Basecamp is that it allows you to “ping” someone, which essentially is a direct message. Basecamp also has something called “campfire” where someone from the group can send a message and it notifies everyone in the team. This eliminates having to use outside forms of communication like Slack, or email.

Top 3 Essentials For Managing A Social Media Account

Top 3 Essentials For Managing A Social Media Account By Lauren Shannon

By Lauren Shannon

It can be tough to start and manage a successful social media account. If you want to reach people and build a solid following there’s a lot you have to do, which can be overwhelming. Here are the top three essential ways to stay on top of your social media accounts. 

  1. Know what message you want to send to your audience

Social media is a great tool used to promote your business but only if you are strategic with what you are posting.

The content you post should send a strong message to your audience about who your company/you are.

Before creating a social media account for your brand, you need to set goals. Do you want to teach your audience something? Do you want them to buy your product? Or do you want them to engage in contests and campaigns?  

Tehama Group Communications’ social media account showcases the work our agency produces and the strengths of our team members. It sends the message that we are a hardworking, successful agency and aims to generate engagement with past, current and future clients. TGC communicates this by highlighting three main ideas; the projects we’re currently working on, the clients we work with and our stellar staff. When prospective clients visit our social media pages they are shown reasons why they should choose us for their public relations needs. 

  1. Know what type of content you’re posting

The most successful social media pages are ones that follow a cohesive theme and pattern. The easiest way to create a theme is to follow a branding kit. A branding kit is a collection of specific colors, fonts and logos that make up a business’s visual identity. For example, Google only uses specific green, yellow, red and blue for all of their logos. When you apply brand guidelines to your social media, it makes your brand identifiable and consistent. According to WeIgniteGrowth.com, this consistency “is vital for building brand recognition and trust” with both consumers and investors.

After you have your branding kit in place, it’s time to think about what posts you want to create. A social media page should be filled with a mix of hard and soft posts. A hard post is important, relevant and timely, such as announcements for new products and projects or introductions for new team members. Soft posts on the other hand are evergreen, easy to create in advance and can be posted at any time. Industry tips and tricks and general posts about what your company does are just two examples of soft posts. 

  1. Create a schedule 

Now that you know what message you want to send to your audience, and what content you want to share, it’s almost time to start posting! Before uploading content to your channels, it is good practice to create a schedule. Without a schedule, it becomes easy to lose track of what you’re sharing causing odd posting patterns, and rushed or unproofed posts. No one wants to follow a page that’s littered with typos and random content circulations. 

One of the easiest ways to schedule posts would be to create a table with three columns: date to be posted, caption and graphic to be used. This allows you to visualize what your feed will look like. Another way to manage posts is to invest in a social media management tool such as Sprout Social or Hootsuite These tools allow users to monitor and schedule content to all social media accounts at one time. They also offer several other features such as campaign planners, analytic tools and performance trackers to save time and improve “the effectiveness of your social campaigns,” according to Forbes

Now that you have a message you want to send to your audience, know how your content is going to communicate it and have created a schedule, you are ready to become a social media manager! 

How to create a social media strategy to impress your client

Photo by Tracy Le Blanc on Pexels

By Val Sanchez

You have an assignment due tomorrow but instead of doing the assignment you fill your time mindlessly scrolling through your Instagram  feed. You tell yourself, “It’s just a 15-minute  break” but that 15-minute  break quickly turns into an hour of scrolling through makeup tutorials on Instagram. Use of social media sites can often cause more harm than good but if used to a company’s advantage it can be a good tool to increase visibility and connections with their audience. This semester I got the opportunity to run social media, specifically Facebook, for my client. It wasn’t an easy task but here are some tips I learned along the way.

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The Rise of TikTok

Photo by Canva, logo by TikTok

By: Tiana Pena

With more and more individuals being forced to quarantine at home. Tiktok has started to rise it’s numbers of downloads and engagements in the past 3 months! As a PR specialist it’s important to keep up with these new apps that are being developed. It is also important to be conscious on how to use them. I decided to download the app and see for myself. Within 2 weeks I gained 3,000 followers. Here are some things I learned along the way!

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Tips On Social Media Analytics

How important it is to track social media analytics to develop, grow and extend your brands reach.

Photo by by Fauxels on Pexels

By: Kelsi Taylor

Public relations revolves around social media. This is why it is vital to have a strategy so that you can build that picture perfect page. Create attractive posts, gain followers and receive the highest number of likes, shares, reposts, and retweets. The secret to increase any of those numbers starts with analytics.

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