Marketing in the university setting: ONU

In Chapter 14 of Katie Delahaye Paine’s “Measure What Matters,” she discusses the measurement of public relations tactics within the higher education environment. She believes that universities are marketing to prospective students, alumni and faculty more aggressively than ever before because of all the new ways to reach people through technology.

I can attest to this, as I was a prospective Polar Bear just months ago. While Ohio Northern actually didn’t send me as much mail as some of the other schools that were on my list, they still contacted me multiple times in multiple ways. They sent me traditional mail, emails, and they did a lot of marketing when I visited the campus as well.

After I had made my decision to come to ONU, I got more emails and paper mail about different things concerning move-in day and summer orientation. On top of that, I was followed on Twitter by an account called “@ONU_18,” which was made for the class of 2018. This allowed me and other Polar Bears who had already committed to meet each other over social media and get excited about the fall.

I’m not sure who was running the @ONU_18 account, but I am guessing that it was not a freshman- it was probably an upperclassman who is on a student council that works with public relations. Regardless, this Twitter account and the interaction that I gained from it made me more excited to come to Ada in the fall and definitely served as an effective PR tool for the university.

As I have mentioned in earlier blog posts, ONU is not the best at utilizing their social media networks. I think that they could get so much more interaction out of their prospective students, current students and alumni if they would utilize them; if not all social networks, maybe just Facebook and Twitter.

They could cater their interaction with the younger Polar Bears more towards Twitter, since the younger generation uses Twitter much more than Facebook, and the alumni towards Facebook.

I think that ONU does a good job of interacting with future students and alumni through the mail; if they could figure out how to add social media into their marketing equation, they could make an even bigger impact.

SB Nation’s beautiful profile of the “Black Hills Brawl”

Recently, I read a fantastic piece of journalism. Ryan Nanni, a football writer for SB Nation, a prominent sports and pop culture blog, went to South Dakota’s “Black Hills” to write about the rivalry that is known as the “Black Hills Brawl.”

The game is between the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Hardrockers and the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets, two Division II football programs that compete for the coveted Homestake Trophy every November. This fall marked the 129th game in the series, which dates back to the start of the 20th century.

To profile the rivalry, Nanni went to the Black Hills of South Dakota and simply took it all in. He describes his experience as well as the history of the rivalry, which revolves around misconceptions, the Sioux Indians, and so much more.

What I appreciated the most was his lede; he opens the story with a photo of a ‘snake warning’ sign at the local airport and explains that the airport personnel were telling people to beware of snakes that might inhabit the parking lot because the unusually-warm weather.

This was a great opening to the story because it got my attention and it set the tone. Most of what the “Black Hills Brawl” rivalry entailed was unusual but straight-forward, and this scene was no different.

Although Nanni’s pictures were not spectacular, his coverage of the rivalry and the story behind it was fantastic. He used the location of the schools and the people currently involved in the rivalry to get a feel for it, and his description of it was beautiful.

The only thing that could have made this piece better was better photography and maybe some audio pieces, but Nanni’s writing made up for story’s lack of sensory stimuli. If you appreciate college athletics or rivalries in general, this is a must-read.

Wrapping up the semester

In less than two weeks, I will have completed my first semester of college. A lot has changed since my first weekend at Ohio Northern.

I have made a lot of new friends, and it seems like ONU is my real home now. When I went home last week, it was great to see my family, but I was also very excited to get back to campus and see my friends. It has been great getting to know so many different people from so many different backgrounds.

From an academic standpoint, this semester has went well. I have gained an understanding for how time management works in college, and how important good time management skills are.

From an athletic standpoint, my perspective on things has changed a bit since I got to college. I have now experienced a preseason conditioning program, practice, and game at the college level. What means a lot to me, though, is that I am already picking up life skills during my time as a college basketball player so far.

I am learning what it truly means to get outside of your comfort zone- physically and mentally. I am also learning what it means to bring full intensity to everything that you do, and to hold yourself to a high standard.

Coach Byrne always preaches “holding yourself to a high standard,” and I have come to realize that this mindset applies to life off the court as well. It means that once you know your full potential, never settle for less. I now think about this every day.

I am looking forward to the second semester. I hope to write more for the Northern Review, who I wrote ten articles for this semester. I also hope to become better at time management and develop better eating habits; although I am doing alright now, I know that I can do better. Go Bears!

Thanksgiving break with the squad (and my family)

While seemingly everyone in the freshman dorms packed up and went home on Friday afternoon, the basketball team went to practice. We had a home game on Saturday afternoon against Adrian College (Mich.) which we won 72-60.

Although the basketball players were the only people in the dorms, we had a fun time and it was a great team bonding experience.

On Friday night, we were visiting the freshman girls basketball players, who were also here over break, when we realized that Mac and White Bear would not be open over break. Luckily, our coach gave us each 60 dollars to spend over the break (from Saturday until Tuesday), so we ended up going to Applebees (twice), Subway (twice), China Buffet and Padrone’s over the next few days.

On Saturday, we beat Adrian and went out to eat afterwards. The next morning, we had practice and then we went to China Buffet in Lima, where you can get as much food as you want for nine dollars- it was quite the steal. After that, we played ball tag in the freshman dorms for three hours and then saw “Mockingjay,” the new “Hunger Games” movie, at the Ada movie theater; we then played more ball tag after we got back, this time with the girls basketball team.

On Monday, we had practice and then ate lunch. Most of the freshman hoopers who dress for the varsity games but don’t usually play much (like myself) played against Defiance College in a JV game that night- we won 87-67. It was great to get lots of playing experience and my mom also came to watch, which was fun.

On Tuesday, we played Defiance. It was a rivalry game against a good team, a team that we hadn’t beat in a long time. We won by two points and I was very happy for the seniors, as that was their last chance to beat Defiance. It also kept the train rolling; we advanced to 4-0, heading into conference play undefeated.

That night, I rode home with my mom and my close childhood friend, Dalton Davis, who plays for Defiance. It was good to catch up with him and share a couple of laughs.

Over the next few days at home, I ran in our local Turkey Trot, which was five miles through the city of Miamisburg, OH. I spent lots of time with my immediate family and got some good workouts in. It was good to get back to the Downtown Dayton YMCA, my second home during the summer, a couple of times while I was in Dayton.

I came back to campus on Sunday afternoon feeling good physically and mentally, ready for a good week of school and practice. Otterbein comes to town on Wednesday, which is our first OAC game. I will also be playing in the JV game against Bluffton at home on Thursday night.

After a good week of basketball and family, I am ready to get back at it. Go Bears!

Why I play the game

It’s funny how some things bring back memories. I shot a basketball while wearing gloves the other day and it reminded me of winters as a kid, playing basketball in my driveway with gloves and a hat on. The cloth finger tips would eventually wear off after a few days, and that was just the way I liked them.

However, when the cloth tips wore off, I usually got cuts on my fingers from shooting the ball during the cold, dry winter. I still get those cuts, but not as bad as I used to.

I also used to simulate gameplay in my backyard by myself. I would pretend that there was a game that I was participating in, and I played the role of every player on both teams, as well as the game’s auditory aspects- the announcers and the home crowd.

Yeah, I was a weird kid. But I loved the game, and I would do whatever it took to play.

At the same time, I was also a student of the game from an early age. By the time I started playing basketball, which was around the year 2006, I was able to use the Internet and watch YouTube. I watched tons of highlight mixes on the internet, many of which were of my favorite player growing up, Carmelo Anthony (I even named my pet snake after him).

I took some of the aspects of Carmelo’s game and put them into mine- the reverse pivot, face-up mid-range jumper, for example. I also watched ESPN whenever I could. For a couple of years, I only had cable at my dad’s house; because of that, I would get up at 5 a.m. and watch SportsCenter because I knew that it might be the only time that I got to see ESPN that week.

Now, I have access to so much more technology and basketball facilities. I can see game film whenever I want, and can go to an indoor gym most hours of the day. But my love for the game has yet to change.

When I came home for Thanksgiving break this week, I stopped by one of my old high school basketball team’s practices to see how they were doing. My coach asked me about college basketball and what it’s like for me right now, and he asked if it seems more like a ‘job’ now.

I replied, “No, because it’s still fun.” It made me think about the reason why I play the game. I believe that when I start to question whether or not I am having fun playing the sport, or whether or not I still love the game the way I used to, I will need to reconsider playing. I play because I love the game, and I play because it is fun- that will always remain the same.

Establishing social media benchmarks in the news industry

As I discussed last week, Katie Delahaye explains the six steps to measuring internal and external communications within a corporation in chapter 10 of “Measure What Matters.” While last week I talked about “setting the tone” in internal communications, this week I am going to talk about Delahaye’s ‘third step,’ which deals with establishing benchmarks.

Although the book mainly discusses benchmarks from a marketing standpoint, I think that corporations can also use benchmarks to measure their own successes with social media as well.

For example, take news organizations. Major news organizations are competing with each other every day to get the best stories and to cover the biggest events; however, they also compete on social media. If CNN has specialized reporters in the field who are tweeting the newest, hottest information, then the New York Times needs to make sure that they are right there with them.

If CNN is using new social networks to share information, or links to their website, then the New York Times needs to do the same. If CNN is finding new ways to use Twitter to reach their followers, or their “community,” then the New York Times needs to follow suit.

While Delahaye says that most companies measure once or twice per year, news organizations in today’s world of ever-changing media need to measure almost daily. As news breaks by the minute, if competitor A is ahead of competitor B then competitor A will possibly steal some of competitor B’s following.

Social media measurement is also relatively easy to measure; not only can you see what kinds of things your competitor is covering, but you can also see how many followers they have and what kind of feedback they get from followers. The news organizations who are best at using social media are the ones that stay ahead of the curve and have a responsive audience, because as we know, social media is only effective if your audience is engaged.

The bad side of ‘instant technology’

Last week, there was a shooting at Florida State University. It occurred in the library in the middle of the night, and it was all over the Internet within a matter of minutes. There was the video of the warning calls in the library, the desperate texts and tweets between a father and daughter, and more.

After reading David Cullen’s “Columbine,” an extremely detailed account of the 1999 Columbine school shooting and the story surrounding it, last week’s shooting seems almost like a completely different kind of situation (aside from the magnitude of the incident).

Although the Columbine shooting was only 15 years ago, I can only imagine how different it would have been if the students then had the technology that we have today. Students at Columbine were trapped inside the school for hours- what would they have been tweeting and texting that could have saved lives?

Also, another issue (probably the biggest) surrounding the Columbine story was the fact that many authoritative media sources just could not get the story right. In the heat of the moment, they sacrificed accuracy for speed, and many sources got the facts wrong many times. I believe that this problem would be even worse if a situation like the Columbine shooting happened today.

There were so many details that surrounded the incident that were crucial to the story, and many of these details were not known until the day (or even months) after the shooting occurred. With social media, these crucial details would be left in the dust for the immediate reaction- much of which would be rash and too emotional to analyze.

We saw this sort of reaction following the bombings that occurred last spring at the Boston Marathon. While law enforcement spent the week tracking down the bombers, social media blew up with conspiracy theories and myths about who the bombers were and where they were hiding. Sorting through mediums like Twitter to find true statements was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

In general, I believe that social media is great for communication in many ways. However, it hurts communication when disasters occur- specifically ones that induce panic and leave the public thirsty for information. In a society that has increasingly-short attention spans and needs the facts now, social media doesn’t help during times of crisis; if anything, it pours salt in the wound.

‘Setting the tone’ in internal communications

In chapter 10 of Katie Delahaye Paine’s “Measure What Matters,” she explains the six steps detailing how to measure your company’s internal communications program. Within the first step, Paine talks about how it is important to ‘set the tone’ when it comes to the kind of communication relationship that will exist between the communications department and rest of the employees.

What she means by this is that the communications department needs to let the company’s employees know what modes of communications will be used for internal communication. If the communications department thinks that it will be a good idea to use email as the most dominant form of internal communication, then communications needs to alert the employees to check their emails frequently.

In setting the tone, the communications department can also determine what kind of information they will provide the employees with. Will employees be allowed to see important company details, such as financial information? Or will most internal communication deal with general issues and public relations? This question of information exposure is important, especially if the company is changing upper-management.

However, regardless of how a company usually communicates internally, I think that communications departments should start to incorporate social media into their internal communications strategy. By using social media and creating ‘friend groups,’ not only is the company showing a presence on social networks, but they are also creating a link between themselves and their employees through a very popular medium.

By ‘setting the tone’ when it comes to internal communication, a company’s communications department can help its employees become aware of how their system of internal communication will work. And by using modern mediums of internal communication, companies are more likely to keep in touch with their employees and also gain a deeper online presence.

PR practicum program provides real-world experiences

For those who are interested in a career in the public relations sector, Ohio Northern University has a practicum program for PR students that gives them real-world experiences.

These students are a part of the university’s PR practicum firm, which is a student-run firm. The firm is recognized as a national affiliate of the PRSSA, which means that they must meet several yearly requirements to maintain their status. Students are given opportunities to work in the real world, which gives them invaluable experience when heading into their first day at a job after college.

The firm meets every Monday night at 5 p.m. in the computer lab located inside the Freed Performing Arts Center.

In the video below, I talk to Firm President Hannah Peterson and Firm Director Julie Eley about the benefits of not only having a nationally-recognized practicum program, but also of having a student-run firm. We discuss the types of partnerships that the firm develops through the real-world experiences mentioned above, and the reasons why real-world experiences are important during the student's’ college career.

Successful business trip to Milwaukee

This weekend, the basketball team went to Milwaukee to play in the All-Engineers Classic at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. We stayed at a hotel about 20 minutes from the gym and every meal was paid for. But what made the weekend even more enjoyable was the fact that we won both games.

In our first game, we faced Claremont Mudd-Scripps, a 20-win team last season who had everyone but their point guard returning. They had an All-American guard in Tyler Gaffney, who we kept under wraps by using quick guards Devon Allen, Isaiah Roux and Joey Hurless to stay in front of him. We won the game by two, and I played my first seconds as a college basketball player.

That night, we went out to eat at Buca di Beppo’s, an Italian restaurant. However, the restaurant that we had originally had reservations for was over-booked, so we couldn’t find a seat. Instead, we drove 45 minutes across town to another Buca di Beppo’s, where we ate great Italian food and had some good laughs.

Sunday’s game was a little different; the game was close until the last few minutes, when we started to pull away. We faced the Milwaukee School of Engineering (also a 20-win team last year, with everyone returning) and their preseason first-team All-American forward Austin Stueck. Stueck scored 25 points, but he also took many contested shots in the process. We eventually won by 12, and won the tournament.

It was an interesting experience for me; I’m used to playing the majority of the game, but this weekend I hardly played at all. However, I didn’t even care. It is such a great feeling to be part of a winning team that also has great chemistry.

We really bond well as a team, and the fact that we don’t have one ‘star player’ makes it easier to compete truly as a team. The bus ride home was fun because we knew that we were bringing a trophy back to Ada. I can’t remember the last time that I started a season 2-0, but it has been a long time, and it feels pretty good right now.

What’s important for us is that we keep our focus. Our out-of-conference schedule is a tough one, and we host two tough teams in Adrian and Defiance in the coming week that will test our resilience. I am looking forward to a great season with this team; we made a big step this weekend, for us and the OAC, and I can’t wait to see what more we can accomplish.

Different levels of engagement

In chapter five of Katie Delahaye Paine’s Measure What Matters, Paine discusses the different levels of brand engagement that are involved with customers. She describes the five levels, from least to most engaged, as “lurkers, casual, active, committed and loyalist.”

This made me think about my level of engagement with different brands, especially on social media. Here are some of the brands that I engage with at different levels:

1. Nike: Lurker

Although I follow Nike’s brand on most social media sites and pay attention to coupons that they advertise, I mostly only like their posts. I don’t actually comment or engage with Nike, and I don’t shop there very often to begin with. I am definitely more of a ‘looker’ and less of a ‘buyer’ when it comes to Nike products.

2. The Onion: Casual

I follow The Onion on most social media sites, and I read their website on a regular basis. I am a repeat visitor, but I rarely promote their content. I will follow them and read their content, but I do not engage further than that.

3. Ten Thousand Hours (#ShiftTeam): Active

I not only follow the ‘Shift Team’ movement on all social networks, but I also promote their content. I am a big fan of the movement and I am concerned with the growth of the project. I have watched the movement grow and feel proud that I have helped the growth in some way. I promote the Ten Thousand Hours videos and posts on social media using specific hashtags, such as #ShiftTeam.

4. New York Times: Committed

I follow the Times on all social networks and I also am a registered member. I subscribe to their website for a monthly fee in order to see unlimited content, and I also engage with the publication by commenting on social media posts and online articles. In many ways, I am fully engaged with them.

5. Grantland: Loyalist

I follow the blog on all social networks and promote their content. I also comment and engage with Grantland writers, as well as those who run their social media. I also usually read most of their content, and check it twice daily. I would consider myself a ‘loyalist’ for Grantland.com.

Using technology differently: Dakota Swisher

Being at Ohio Northern has allowed me to meet new people, many of which have interests that are different than my own. One of my better friends since I have come here has been Dakota Swisher, a freshman soccer player who lives across the hall from me.

Dakota is unique in many ways, but the one that stands out the most to me is the fact that he seems to not rely on technology whatsoever. He uses an old flip-phone, an iPod nano, and does not participate in any social networks.

When I ask him about what his life is like without the technology that seemingly defines our generation, he usually doesn’t have a great answer; he has always lived without it, so how could he compare lifestyles? It’s interesting how I immediately reacted to Dakota’s habits; at first, I thought, “How can he live like that?” Then I thought, “Wow, I’m jealous of that.”

Sometimes I wish that I lived without most of the technological ‘must-haves’ that those in my generation all seem to use. Life would be simpler. There could be some potential downsides to not using social networks and participating in smartphone-mania, however.

When it comes to social media trends, Dakota does seem to be behind sometimes. Also, I usually turn to Twitter to get most of my breaking news- Dakota does not have that luxury.

In the end, however, I think that I would trade in instant news and awareness of social media trends for a simpler, smartphone-free life. While I know that I can’t do this because I am a journalist, and social media/instant messaging is rather important in my field, it is nice to think about.

From a technological standpoint, Dakota represents the teenager of 2004, living in the year 2014. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Winn produces brilliant longform piece on the Sabonis stories

As the college basketball season approaches, a new batch of ‘freshman phenoms’ enter the ring and become a part of the everchanging college basketball landscape. One of this year’s ‘freshman phenoms’ is Domantas Sabonis, of Gonzaga University.

In a longform piece done by Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn, Sabonis’s recruitment from Spain and his father’s long-lasting legacy are revealed in a riveting story that not only kept my attention, but also made me want to learn more about the Sabonis family.

Winn told the story of Domantas and Arvydas Sabonis (Domantas’s father) in a parallel structure; he alternated between stories of the two by section, and did so in a way that allowed the reader to fully understand the similarities and differences between the stories.

Another remarkable aspect of the piece is Winn’s reporting. The amount of people that he had to talk to, especially those in different regions of the world, is remarkable. He had to track down everyone from Arvydas, an introvert legend living humbly in Spain, to Rima Janulevicius, who is currently a U.S. Department of State public affairs officer in Lithuania.

Not only did he track these sources down, but he also got great information from them. I would imagine that some of these sources would not want to talk about some of the topics covered in the piece, especially because of how long ago most of the events occurred. Yet, somehow, Winn got them to open up, and it made for a fantastic story.

Given that Arvydas (a legend in his day) played most of his career in Russia, I would imagine that research on his career is also very difficult. Winn figured out how to extract enough information about Arvydas’s career so that the reader understood some of his playing background, which is an important element to the story.

I do not know how long it took for Winn to compile this piece, as it is not mentioned. However, the amount of information and stories that he gained to write this story is almost unimaginable. The effort that Winn put into making this piece makes it worth reading alone.

Add to that the fact that the story is told in a compelling way, filled with anecdotes and parallel structure, and the reader realizes that this piece is important to journalism. It is important because of its storytelling and its longform nature- it is important because it tells the story in a way that makes the reader feel as if they were a part of the story itself.

Scotts’ effective marketing campaign

After reading chapter two of Katie Delahaye Paine’s Measure What Matters, I found something relatable to our speaker from Scotts Lawn Care (pardon me for forgetting his name) last week.

Paine discusses how there are “ten questions every communications professional should answer,” with one of them being, “what motivates them to buy your products?” This question reminded me of last week’s speaker because of the way that Scotts Lawn Care markets to its customers.

Scotts Lawn Care uses social networks such as Pinterest and Tumblr to engage with their target audience, which is the younger, up-and-coming gardeners that are into home-grown gardens and veganism and are generally stereotyped as ‘hipsters.’

Their marketing campaign seems to cater towards these kinds of customers, as they use sleek and simple advertising that appeals to a ‘clean living’ sort of audience. This applies to Paine’s question because Scotts is clearly using this sort of advertising to motivate customers to buy their products.

When potential customers are looking at Scotts Lawn Care’s marketing campaign, they are likely to be persuaded to buy from Scotts because of their marketing techniques. By creating an effective ad campaign for their audience, Scotts has achieved in responding to the question, “what motivates them to buy your products?”

In doing this, Scotts has also answered the question “what is important to your audience?” They understand the kind of values that are important to their customers, and they have created an ad campaign that serves the aesthetic needs that are tied to these values.

Scotts has developed an ad campaign that answers both of the questions previously stated, which makes it an effective one that appeals to the desired customer base.

Bradburd tells the more important story

Sometimes, some of the best stories aren’t taken by big-name publications such as Sports Illustrated and Time Magazine. In lieu of the start of the 2014-15 college basketball season, SLAM Magazine’s Rus Bradburd wrote an exceptional feature on Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky III.

 

What made the piece special was the angle that Bradburd took. Bradburd told Kaminsky’s story around his father, Frank Kaminsky II, who was a playground legend in Chicago’s south side during the 1980s and 1990s. By doing this, Bradburd took what was likely the most interesting aspect of Kaminsky III’s personal journey and centered the story around that.

Bradburd was not afraid to sacrifice the immediate purpose of telling Kaminsky III’s story to wait and instead give the audience a more satisfying backstory. Giving the audience this backstory gave the reader more perspective on the story’s main character, Kaminsky III.

Bradburd also wrote the piece in a way that gave the reader a sense of the ‘Kaminsky family values,’ as well as the values of Chicago’s south side. He used quotes from the Kaminsky family and certain phrases that made the reader feel like they were in the Kaminsky’s living room listening to them speak.

Through alternative storytelling form and a way of making the story sound authentic, Bradburd gave the reader a creative story that reads well. He let the reader see Kaminsky III’s story through an alternative lense, which in turn will allow the reader to better understand his story.