Diamonds (and pearls) Are a Girl's Best Friend

The most exciting day of my internship so far was when the graphic designer asked me to help with a social media photo shoot. The shoot was for one of their key jewellery clients and I was to be the hand model. It was 5pm in the afternoon on a Tuesday when was I asked to make my modelling debut and as I enthusiastically said yes, I looked down at my non-manicured nails and thought, crap. Not wanting to let the team down I organised a manicurist to come to my house at 7am the next morning to fix me up. I had also been asked to bring along any fashion-related props that could be used in the shoot. I scoured my house for all I could find and packed all my designer bags, perfumes, Vogue magazines, candles and fashion coffee table books into my car boot, ready for the next morning. I gave myself a little pat on the back for being so committed and organised.

The next day, the shoot location was at the client’s stunning showroom. As I walked through a shop assistant pointed me toward the back wall. I looked up and saw two glass doors covered in cascading waterfalls, which led to a space usually reserved for celebrities to personal shop.  I walked through the doors with a huge smile on my face and saw a rather famous chef chatting with the head jewellery designer, as they looked over some new pearls. Trying not to get too distracted I found the graphic designer and we got to work.

The first thing we had to do was look at the creative brief. It told us what type of images we needed, how many, what essence they wanted us to capture and the objectives the client wanted to achieve through the images. After we discussed our approach it was show time.

While she set up her camera, the graphic designer asked if I would like to style some flat-lay images. I love social media and, having had my own blog for some time, I know how to style an eye-catching flat-lay. I made two flat-lay scenes; the first was using soft pink hues and textures and the second using earth tones and rougher textures. She came over the check on me and was really happy with my styling! She stated I was the exact right person to bring along and, given that social and digital media is the area I want to specialise in, this was welcome feedback. We added some beautiful pearl pieces to my flat-lay and the photo shoot began. The images looked gorgeous! I styled about five more flat-lays and then it was my turn to model.

I picked up the first bracelet I was to wear and took the price tag off, which was marked at $33,000. I slid the piece over my arm and, as the pearls and diamonds caught the sunlight that was gleaming through the glass roof, I thought, please God don’t let me break it. Throughout the afternoon I put on over $300,000 worth of pearls and diamonds and it may have been the best afternoon of my life.

I feel the graphic designer and I made a great team. She was great to work with and really collaborative. She let me have a lot of creative control over the styling and we got some beautiful shots. They will all be published on social media over the coming months and I’m really excited to see the final results.

Making Your Client Insta-Famous

I have just completed two weeks of my internship with a small boutique PR consultancy. The majority of the work I have been given is social media based, which is excellent as I get to combine my web communications and my PR skills.

The knowledge of how to create an engaging and meaningful online presence is an essential component in a PR professional’s tool kit. Social media can have a hugely positive effect on a business, if its use aligns with client objectives and branding strategies. If used strategically social media can achieve the following:

• ·    Increase the client’s audience and reach of messages
• ·      Direct online traffic to desired domains
• ·      Increase the sell through of product or services
• ·      Increase ability to actively engage with consumers/users/viewers
• ·      Allow consumers/users to see transparency in business operations (gain trust)
• ·      Allow for a deeper perception of brand through consistent publishing of on-brand content
• ·      Allow messages to be sent instantaneously to a large, relevant audience
• ·      Break geographical restrictions of traditional media

Since its creation in 2010, some businesses have solely used Instagram to drive sales and communicate with target audiences. A great example of this is hair mask company Oh Hello Hair. This company sells a small collection of hair masks exclusively through its website. The only communication tool the company used initially, to amass an active audience of 371,000, was Instagram.

Image via @ohhellohair 

Through Instagram alone Oh Hello Hair were able to establish a brand identity, direct consumers to the website to purchase products, communicate and inform followers/consumers and engage with brand ambassadors, as part of a third party endorsement strategy. Utilising the platform in this way enabled the brand to thrive and it quickly began turning a handsome profit.

Image via @ohhellohair

For the past two weeks I have been creating social media plans, specifically for Instagram, for several different clients. The clients already have Instagram accounts but need assistance in making them more meaningful and on-brand. The clients are all from different industries making the objectives of their Instagram pages differ also.

https://www.instagram.com/ohhellohair/

The following is an overview of the five stages needed to create an engaging and effective Instagram presence.

STAGE ONE: RESEARCH

 To create a strong social media presence you have to know the following:

• Who is the current audience?
• Are they active or inactive?
• Who is the target audience? Know the demographic and sociographic and be specific.
•  When is the target audience most likely to be active online, so the posts get maximum exposure?
• Complete a statistical analysis of current posts. Which were successful, which were not? Why? 
•  Are all social media platforms branded and cohesive and do they tell the same story?
• Are they linked together?
•  Are the existing social media platforms a true reflection of the client? If not, why?
• SWAT analysis of current usage

STAGE TWO: PLAN

What are the key objectives of the Instagram page? Which of the following does the client want to achieve:

• ·      Generate sales or use of services
• ·      Increase active audience/ consumer/ client base
• ·      Inform
• ·      Educate
• ·      Entertain
• ·      Inspire

Different objectives on social media channels require different tones and voices. Unless you fully understand the objectives of the content you are posting, it won't be meaningful and will result in no objectives being reached.

Once the branding and objectives are understood, you should have an idea of what type of content to generate. As a guide, aim to post no more than twice per day. Any more and the meaningfulness of the posts are reduced and you risk flooding the feeds of active users. *Exception is live streaming/updates of exciting events or relevant breaking news.

• ·      Create a social media content plan for each month. Identify any upcoming significant dates, events and promotions that align with the brand or business. If you are working in-house, then it is this point you would be working closely with other departments in order to gain maximum exposure for the brand and its upcoming activities.

• Choose images to post and create copy to go with them. Images should be high quality and the copy should be snappy, with one point per sentence. Nothing should take up more than a few seconds of users time on social media, or it becomes obsolete. Use the few seconds of audience interest you have wisely. 

• Find relevant, popular and niche hashtags to go with images in order to make the image easily searchable.

State Three: Design

Each social media platform is suitable for different content types. Instagram is a visual medium, making the aesthetics of the page highly important. Plan how the client’s page will look, remembering to ensure it remains on brand. The best and most successful Instagram pages are consistent and tell a story or convey a theme just by one glance. Consider one of the following:

• ·      A colour scheme
• ·      To use the same border on each image
• ·      To use the same filter on each image
• ·      To use colour groupings

Stage Four: Generate Unique Content

Online audiences respond well to unique content.

• ·      Organise a photo shoot with the client and their products/services
• ·      Use props and environments that align with the client’s branding

Stage Five: Engage

It is crucial to engage and be responsive with followers:

• ·      Ask questions
• ·      Reply to comments and queries in a timely manner
• ·      Be interested in what the followers add to the presence
• ·      Engage with other relevant businesses in a similar field (steer clear of direct competitors)

Once the above is complete, the initial Instagram page should be up and running. The steps then repeat as a continuous cycle. Quantitative and qualitative research needs to be routinely gathered and analysed to ensure the Instagram page is effectively adding value to the client’s business and achieving desired objectives.

In addition to the above, social media strategies and campaigns can be planned using the Instagram page as the communication medium. Also, ambassadorships can be sourced to increase exposure. These act as second layer tactics to an already established Instagram page.

I'd love to hear anyone's tips on how they increase social media followings.

From 367 pairs of jeans to a 630am start full of raw treats...never a dull moment!

A BTS photo taken by myself of the raw goodies made for the Channel 9 segment

I have now officially been at my internship with Detail for 6 weeks. Not too sure where the time has gone but I am happy to say that it has been a wonderful experience thus far. I am assigned to one project, the Garage Sale Trail. A fantastic, not-for-profit event that occurs simultaneously across Australia. The aim of Garage Sale Trail is to encourage reuse, recycling while having fun, socialising and meeting the neighbours. This year, the event occurs on Saturday 24th October and the Detail team are assigned as the WA PR Team as well as overseeing all other state PR's and looking after media and PR opportunities on a national scale.

I have been assisting with a variety of public relations strategies and tools for the Garage Sale Trail event, and we recently worked on a pitch to the Community Newspaper Group in relation to a story on factoids about reusing and recycling. The factoid related to the recycling of jeans, being: if people recycled 367 pairs of jeans rather than throwing them out, it would effectively save enough water to fill an Olympic swimming pool. My Account Manager had the idea of creating a story around the factoid, involving a Garage Sale Trail ambassador, the Waste Authority WA Chairman, an Olympic sized swimming pool and 367 pairs of jeans. Community Newspaper loved the idea and we were set to run the story. We had locked in Beatty Park for the use of their swimming pool, as well as the Waste Authority Chairman and our ambassador, however the challenge was in sourcing 367 pairs of jeans for the photo opportunity. We approached a variety of op-shops in Fremantle, all who were willing to help but did not have a large enough capacity of jeans to assist us. 5pm the day before the shoot, we managed to get Good Sammy's head office on board. It was then my task to go to Good Sammy's the following morning, bag up 367 pairs of jeans, fit said jeans into my Yaris and transport them to the shoot at Beatty Park. Safe to say that was my exercise for the day! We had a beautiful day and the shot ended up looking great, definitely proving it is worth the extra effort and persistence to make for a great story and piece of publicity for the client. To view the final article, click the link below:

http://www.communitynews.com.au/news/Garage-Sale-Trail-open-for-business/7673885

Two days later, we had a media opportunity for a client with the Today Show for Perth Channel 9. This involved being at the location at 6:30am for a 7am live filming start. The client was re-branding and also launching a new product - a Vitamix. Our story involved a lady by the name of Chriswho runs her own raw, health food company 'RawbyChris'. Chris uses the vitamix to make delicious raw treats, so she was the perfect ambassador for the launch of the new Vitamix. While it was an early start, I managed to snap a great pic for Instagram and had way too many raw treats for breakfast (albeit healthy so it makes it okay)! Getting a first hand encounter of behind the scenes of a live TV cross was a fantastic experience and certainly gave me an insight into the many different hats a PR practitioner is required to wear!

Social Media is on Song

My internship has been keeping me on my toes with new and exciting ways of thinking about communication and social media, and how these differ between the worlds of personal and professional.

One of my ongoing tasks here at Zaccaria has been updating the company's social media sites, namely Facebook and Twitter. In the live music and entertainment industry, these two communication platforms are imperative - customers and fans want information that is interesting and timely, and they want it often! As Zaccaria manages several events simultaneously, there are a number of things to consider when managing Zaccaria Events Presents Facebook and Twitter Pages. I will use any time I get (which is not often!) to scan the internet for music news and anything that might be relevant to our upcoming concerts or events.

On the Zaccaria Facebook page, my access as an "admin" allows me to see how many people our posts are reaching, the percentage of people engaged in our posts, the location of people who like our posts and our page, our most popular posts and the trends of our online marketing activity over time. This data allows me to strategise future posts - we are able to determine, before we post them, which updates are going to appeal to our target audience. One particularly important aspect of using social media as a marketing/PR/communications platform is ensuring the content is relevant. For example, if we announce the pre-sale of say The Presets tickets one morning through an eDM to our entire Zaccaria e-mail database - we then follow this activity up with a Facebook post with similar information in the eDM. I have realised the importance of, and how effective it is, to strengthen one medium by backing it up with a complimentary form of communication. Here is the Facebook post I released after the announce of The Presets on-sale.

This post reached 600 people after the first two hours of posting - a figure which is consistent with the fact that we announced through eDM the on-sale that morning.

While on the topic of being timely and relevant, another tour Zaccaria is promoting is Human Nature: The Christmas Tour. Zaccaria has been organising a number of publicity events to promote the tour, one of which was an TV appearance by Human Nature on Better Homes and Gardens. Following this appearance on a Friday night, I posted on Zaccaria's Facebook and Twitter pages to remind the public and our target audience of the tour. The idea is to keep people thinking about the event - it doesn't have to always be about announcing tickets on sale, but rather keeping our audience in the loop with the latest news and happenings of Zaccaria and the talent we are currently representing. Below is my Twitter post from this morning, which I was excited to see was "favourited" by Human Nature - meaning the word is getting out.

So there is my brief reflection on the importance of social media and how it can be utilised in a more effective way to maximise publicity by supporting another form of communication. My experience at Zaccaria has taught me that as PR professionals we cannot rely on one form of communication - we need to focus on creating a diverse, integrated marketing communication technique in order to resonate well with our stakeholders.

Is anyone else using social media at their internship, and what insights have you noticed from using it in a professional manner as oppose to just generally stalking people?

Hope to hear from some of you!

Delta