Jimmy Fallon takes over the Tonight Show and social media

The long awaited Tonight Show takeover by Jimmy Fallon took place on Monday, and Jimmy proved to the world exactly why he is the perfect host. His infectious personality raked in about 11.3 million people for the premiere episode. The whole week he has had incredible guests and musical performances, including Will Smith, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Many people may ask what exactly he has to offer coming in to the Tonight Show, and the answer to that would be his ability to connect with his audience, especially through social media.

On his previous show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy would do weekly hashtag contests about either a funny topic or something to do with holiday seasons. Since this gave him the ability to engage directly with his fans, he decided to carry over the weekly hashtag tradition to the Tonight Show. Through his weekly hashtag segment, he is able to utilize Twitter to the best of his ability and get fans excited about his new show.

Picture received from: latenightwithjimmyfallon.com

Jimmy Fallon is very active on Twitter, with a whopping 8.5 million followers. Part of his success on the social media site is due to the fact that it is actually Jimmy Fallon tweeting. It’s possible that his audience can read his tweets and picture the comedian saying these funny bits on television. It feels as though he is having a one-on-one conversation with you personally, which is what makes his interaction so special. He is constantly being true to himself, on television and social media, and that is why he has such a huge fan following.

The Tonight Show host also likes to pay homage to his favorite social media site through his funny #Hashtag sketches. The skit, which he has done twice with Justin Timberlake and Jonah Hill, feature the comedian and his famous friends talking in hashtags. It is so true to real life situations, because people that are a part of this social media generation actually interact like that. Jimmy Fallon is able to take something that is such a big part of our social world, and make it funny and relatable to an audience of all ages.

Picture retrieved from: ibtimes.com

In the months leading up to his long awaited Tonight Show debut, Jimmy took to Twitter and Instagram to tease what was to be expected on his new show. Viewers of the previous Tonight Show with Jay Leno were not engaging on social media, so Jimmy Fallon and his team positioned the show for social media dominance. According to RelishMIX, Fallon’s team increased Tonight Show engagement in the seven days following Leno’s departure by 12.3 times.

It is even rumored that Fallon’s ability to connect with his audience on social media is one of the reasons he replaced Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. With Jimmy Fallon on board at the Tonight Show, NBC can still keep its traditional media roots while incorporating a new, younger audience that is engrossed in the world of social media. Jimmy Fallon has definitely proven that he deserves to be the new Tonight Show host, and is planning to stick around for a while. The comedian, actor, dancer and singer has been captivating his audience since Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and plans to captivate a new one on the Tonight Show. The man is a legend on television and social media, which is a great combination for the generation that we live in today. I look forward to seeing what else Jimmy Fallon has to offer.

Sources:

• Bloom, D. (2014, February 17). Jimmy Fallon Seizing Social Media Ahead Of 'Tonight Show' Takeover. In Deadline. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/jimmy-fallon-social-media-surge-tonight-show-debut 
•  Faughnder, R. (2014, February 18). Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show' debut draws 11.3-million viewers. In Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-jimmy-fallons-tonight-show-debut-draws-113-million-viewers-20140218,0,3321196.story#axzz2tp3DQfHP
•  Kerpen, C. (2013, April 24). What Jimmy Fallon Can Teach You About Social Media. In Inc. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.inc.com/carrie-kerpen/jimmy-fallon-social-media-lessons.html

Public relations for the win at Super Bowl XLVIII

Is anyone even talking about the Seattle Seahawks win over the Denver Broncos at Sunday night’s Super Bowl XLVIII? If you’re like me, you only tuned in to the game for two reasons: the commercials and Bruno Mars’ half-time performance. Bruno Mars didn’t disappoint, while the commercials left me bored and in need of more entertainment. This year the excitement was on Twitter, where brands took their public relations and marketing strategies instead of forking out millions of dollars for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl.

Public relations professionals knew it was time to play and step their game up during Super Bowl Sunday, and that is exactly what they did. They knew precisely where the audience was that they wanted to reach for their brands. They knew it was their job to make the brand stand out and be a slightly controversial so people would talk about it long after the game had ended. Public relations professionals knew the audience they needed to reach was on Twitter, so they came up with creative ways to get their brand out to the public on one of the biggest nights of the year. Social media, specifically Twitter, is where the buzz was this year, so brands that capitalized on it this year are seeing it pay off. While people have forgotten about the score of the game, everyone is still talking about what their favorite companies were doing on Twitter.

Let us just take a second and bow down to J.C. Penney for their Twitter “controversy.” The popular retail company had its Twitter followers concerned after posting two tweets that seemed odd for the brand.

Picture retrieved from: http://www.thewire.com/technology/2014/02/jcpenneys-drunk-super-bowl-tweets-were-really-just-mitten-selling-stunt/357652/

This prompted Kia Motors, Doritos and Snickers to join in on the fun and offer J.C. Penney’s some assistance during their obvious time of need. These companies were able to react and respond quickly to J.C. Penney’s “drunk tweets” and take advantage of the Twitter publicity. I bet that if Kia, Doritos and Snickers knew that the biggest buzz of the night was going to be surrounding Twitter, they wouldn’t have paid for a commercial during the Super Bowl. It was later revealed that J.C. Penney’s strange tweets were to promote their Go USA mittens for the Olympics.

Some argue that the stunt wasn’t planned and the individual on the end of the tweets was in fact drunk. For a company like J.C. Penney’s who hasn’t been a contender on social media, this was a huge gain. No, people probably aren’t going to go out and by a pair of mittens, but at least J.C. Penney’s is attempting to engage with a younger demographic through humorous Twitter ideas. #TweetingWithMittens was a social media success for the night and a genius idea on the public relations end of the brand.

Picture retrieved from: https://twitter.com/jcpenney

Sources:

• Maheshwari, S. (2014, February 2). J.C. Penney Planned Fake Drunk Super Bowl Tweets To "Create Own Narrative". In Buzzfeed Business. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from

http://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/jc-penney-planned-fake-drunk-super-bowl-tweets-to-create-own

• Garcia, T. (2014, February 3). PR Plays a Role on Super Bowl Sunday and Beyond. In PRNewser. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from

http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/pr-plays-a-role-on-super-bowl-sunday-and-beyond_b33439

• Wiener-Bronner, D. (2014, February 3). JCPenney's 'Drunk' Super Bowl Tweets Were Really Just a Mitten-Selling Stunt. In The Wire. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from

http://www.thewire.com/technology/2014/02/jcpenneys-drunk-super-bowl-tweets-were-really-just-mitten-selling-stunt/357652/

Building Your Brand as a PR Student

By Kelcey Blanks

This week I thought about public relations in general and what it means to me. I’m rounding out my last semester of college in May and I feel as though it’s really important to take as much out of these last few months as possible. Finding a job after college is a scary thought and I want to be as prepared as possible. But in a room full of 10 to 15 qualified public relations graduates, how am I going to differentiate myself?

In my time as a PR student, I have learned that a company’s brand sets them a part from competition and is perceived in various ways in the minds of consumers. Branding makes one company more unique than another. It solidifies the position of one company over another. When purchasing new shoes, I always have that one brand that is more prominent in my head compared to the rest. I want to be that shoe brand that sticks out to employers. I want to be the last one on their minds after a dozen interviews for a job position.

As public relations students, it is important to build our own brand professionally and personally before we are able to start a career in helping companies build their own. It is important to start thinking of yourself as a brand so that you can set yourself a part from future job competition. It is predicted that the public relations industry will experience major growth in the next few years, so stand out in a group of public relations students.

Don’t leave your image to chance. After all, we are public relations students. We should know how to manage a brand. I started thinking, if I were a brand, how would people perceive me? How would the “Kelcey Blanks brand” stand out in a group of 100 other graduates all vying for the same job?

Manage your presence on social media websites: And no, this doesn’t consist of updating your Facebook status to tell the world about the bar you went to last night. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are all there for you to network and build relationships. Don’t just be on social media – engage in it. I started Twitter last year and frequently use it to communicate with public relations professionals. In the social media age that we currently live in, it is almost guaranteed that a future employer will look at your social media pages. Stand out from your competition by posting information that is relevant to a career in public relations.

Using social media as part of your branding strategy

Start a blog: Show employers that you are passionate about something. Update and post to your blog as often as possible so that you can stay ahead of the game professionally. This shows employers your writing skills and that you are capable of forming an opinion about a topic. Blogging can allow you to network with other professionals and can even lead to a career.

Develop your brand statement: So this may sound a little cheesy, but you need to think about how you see yourself before anything else. Come up with some adjectives and incorporate your career field. The Kelcey Blanks brand statement would be a “funny, fashionable and hardworking public relations student.”

Create a portfolio: I started creating my portfolio last year, and not only is it a reference for me to be able to look back on one day, it is something employers will be able remember you by. Emphasize the work that you believe will impress an employer. By simply updating your portfolio with present work and accomplishments, you already have a leg up on other competition that didn’t show up to the job interview with one. This will also show employers that you are organized and well managed.

In developing yourself as a brand, you have to decide what is most important and relevant to you and your career. What is valuable to me may not work for someone else. Branding is about finding out what works for you and what you believe will make you stand out in a sea full of other graduates. Make a list of your brand essentials and continue to update it when professional situations arise. Always remember to stand out. 

The black rhino auction and the involvement of public relations

by Kelcey Blanks

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the Dallas Safari Club selling a rare hunt for a black rhino. The topic of involvement of public relations in the ordeal was brought up in my nonprofit class earlier this week, so I began thinking how a public relations professional could’ve helped the situation.

Dallas Safari Club’s mission statement on its website claims to be all about the conservation of animals, yet the organization wants to help protect hunter’s rights. Any person in the PR industry can clearly see that the two are completely conflicting with each other.

Along with the obvious conflicting ideas, the DSC announces in a press release that they will be auctioning off a black rhino hunt at their convention that will in fact preserve the species. If you’re like me, you probably sat in utter disbelief while reading the press release. I’m sure the DSC was not expecting this press release to be read by anyone without a stake in the organization, but it went viral fast.

As someone learning about PR, this taught me a pretty big lesson. First of all, I am not aware if a PR professional was involved in creating the DSC mission statement, but it certainly did not seem like it. A mission statement is everything your organization stands for. It could’ve been worded and shaped better to create a sense of what the DSC is really about.

Second of all, the way this press release and the dozens of press releases after it were handled was embarrassing. If the organization you represent is about to auction off a black rhino hunt, you might expect some backlash. Therefore, it could’ve been better handled by creating a press release about the event and creating a separate backgrounder or position paper about the facts of the black rhino that many people may not be aware of. Instead of creating these dozens of press releases about what was said in the news about the DCS, they should have responded directly to the source to help get their side of the event across.

Since the beginning of the press release, the DSC has received numerous amounts of death threats. People around the world feel really strongly about preserving the 5,000 black rhinos that are still in existence and not sacrificing one for the greater good. The black rhino hunt was auctioned off at the event for $350,000, which was not as much as expected.

If the Dallas Safari Club’s goal was to gain publicity for the organization, they certainly achieved that. The black rhino auction was even joked about on an episode of the Colbert Report. 

If the goal was to gain support in preserving a species, I think the DSC has a long way to go and a lot of edges to smooth over. From here on out I think they should focus on reminding people why they are a nonprofit organization in the first place. Hopefully this has taught the DSC and other nonprofits what not to do.