The C. Pharr Team Attends PRSA Dallas UnSummit: PR Deconstructed

Qaadir Abdul-Alim Muhammad & Megan Manning, 6th grade students at St. Phillip's School & Community Center share "The Power of the St. Phillip's Creed in Our Lives" at the 2016 PRSA Dallas UnSummit.

Recently, we had the chance to attend the PRSA Dallas UnSummit at the Granada Theater in Dallas. The annual communications summit was given a bit of a revamp and instead of multiple “PR breakout sessions” throughout the day, speakers took the stage every seven minutes for thought-provoking topics from “Communicating in Cuba” to “Counteracting Violence.” Not all the topics were focused on public relations, but each topic encouraged audience members to think outside the box, look at something through a different lens and/or inspire us to make a difference. Think TEDx for communications professionals. The speeches were filled with tweetable quotes. In fact, #PRSADallasUnSummit was a trending topic on Twitter. Below are a few of the most inspiring and thought-provoking quotes that were shared.

•          “The bravest people aren't focusing on themselves. They focus on a purpose.” – Kimberly Davis, founder of OnStage Leadership, on “Unleashing Brave.”
•          "The message that I send is not always the message that is received. Communication is the negotiation of meaning." – Christopher Salinas, Ph.D., senior lecturer and director, corporate communication and public affairs at Southern Methodist University, on “How failure makes you a better communicator.”
•          “If you look at statistics about where employees want to work, they want to work for companies that do good.” – Suzanne Smith, founder and CEO of Social Impact Architects, on “CSR: Why it isn’t PR anymore.”
•          “You can’t talk yourself out of a problem you behaved your way into.” – Jamaison Schuler, APR, senior director of corporate communications at Dean Foods, speaking on reputation and employee engagement in “Shadow Management.”
•          “A river cuts through rock not because of its power, but because of its persistence. Run the mile you're in. Run your own race. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Persistence keeps us going.” – Raquel Daniels, chief strategy officer at OCGPR, on “Moving Diversity Forward.”
•          "The key to a successful communication campaign is to unlock the imaginations of others." – Stephen Patrick, lead pastor of Trinity Parish, on the “Power of Presence: Discovering the dreams of our neighbors.”

The C. Pharr Team attends the 2016 PRSA Dallas UnSummit.

This post was contributed by Krystal Morris. @KrystalNMorris

The C. Pharr Team Attends PRSA Dallas UnSummit: PR Deconstructed

Professor for a Day

I recently had the opportunity to speak with students in a social media class at the University of Texas at Arlington about finding and engaging your audience using social media. The class was attentive (they live-tweeted! Check out #PREL3320) and asked some great questions about responding to negative posts, what to post, when to post, and they even had some good questions about internships/resumes.

Whether you’re still a student or a seasoned PR pro, we could all use a little social media advice. Here are a few points I made to the class.      

Know your audience. Before you dive-in and adopt every social media tool out there, know who it is you’re trying to reach and adopt one or two platforms that your audience uses most. For example, B2B clients are likely to find their audience and influencers on LinkedIn and Google+, whereas B2C clients might find their audience on Facebook and Instagram.

Set a goal. When launching a client’s social media page, set clear goals and objectives before you make the page “live.” By having clear and measurable goals, you’ll know if you’re on the right track with your messaging and if you are effectively reaching your audience.

Use social media to tell your story. Whether you want to spotlight your corporate culture, recruit new employees, share product news and/or engage in thought leadership, social media can be a great channel to share your message. Just remember the social media “rule of thirds.” One-third of your content should focus on self-promotion, one-third should be spent commenting on trends/news/thought leadership and one-third should be personal interactions online and building your company’s brand. 

Focus on what works best. Visual content is typically the most engaging, so if your audience isn’t resonating with text-heavy messaging or links to events/articles, consider reducing your frequency of those types of posts.

For more on what we discussed, check out the #PREL3320 hashtag on Twitter.

This post was contributed by Krystal Morris. @KrystalNMorris.

Professor for a Day