1. PREMIEREPR issues, opportunities and current events
President’s WelcomePaige Garty
Dear PRSSA Members,
Hello and welcome to another year of PRSSA! I am incredibly excited to
see so many new members express enthusiasm in our chapter, as well as
numerous current members who have shown interest in becoming more
involved. Not only have we become one of the biggest organizations at
Miami, but we are also one of the largest PRSSA chapters nationally. We
will continue to use this size and prominence to our advantage.
PRSSA’s mission is to develop you into strong professionals who are
interested in the realm of public relations, as well as enhance your
education and broaden your network. The 2016-2017 Executive Board will
strive to provide you with all of the necessary resources that will help jumpstart your professional career,
no matter what your major is.
PRSSA experience. Though our organization is large in size, we want you to feel included and
appreciated. We have implemented all-club meetings this year in order achieve this, and to create more
and attend our speaker events, workshops, fundraisers and more. I also suggest exploring PRSSA at the
national level by submitting writing samples to its various publications, perusing the internship center,
and attending national events.
I strongly encourage you to make the most out of your membership with PRSSA, as I believe that the
more effort you put into this organization the more you will get out of it. Personally, PRSSA has opened
doors for me to opportunities and achievements that would not have been possible otherwise. Since
joining PRSSA two years ago, I have gained skills and experiences that have enhanced my professional
doing just that. Please remember that our entire executive board is here to help you succeed and build
your career!
It is truly an honor to serve you this year as the president of PRSSA. I’m so excited to get to know all of
you and help you on your journey to becoming a PR professional. If you ever have any questions about
PRSSA on a chapter or national level, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I am looking forward to
making your year with PRSSA the best one yet!
Best,
Paige Garty
President of PRSSA
October 2016
Committee Spotlight: Publications
Why Celebs Will Never Leave Social Media
Nicole Briganti
We’ve all heard by now that the most famous of the Kardashian clan, Kim Kardashian, was
recently robbed at gunpoint while staying in Paris. While almost every news outlet in the United
States covered the robbery within minutes, followers of the celebrity are now becoming concerned
about something much more important: her social media use. Since the incident, Kim has had zero
activity on her once very active social media accounts, such as Instagram and Twitter.
What really began the chatter surrounding
the star’s social media use was when Paris
police suggested her frequent social posting
could have played a part in attracting the
criminals. With her constant Snapchats
of designer clothes and Instagrams of
impressive jewelry, some believe Kim was
setting herself up to be a target.
Just days after the robbery, Khloe Kardashian
spoke out on “The Ellen Show” saying, “I
think it’s just a wake-up call to make a lot of
life adjustments. This is a really serious matter
for Kim.”
Of course, Kim K isn’t the only celebrity to
subject herself to the public through various
social media platforms. These days, social
media activity is expected from any celeb who desires to stay relevant. Despite the underlying fears
Kim may be experiencing, there are several reasons why the public can expect to see her resurface
online in the near future.
Almost all celebrities get paid for posting.
Celebrity endorsements are nothing new, but the explosion of social media has shifted the practice
indication that the celebrity or personality in question has been paid to promote the product. But
whether you’re Kim K or an up-and-coming YouTube personality, we all have bills to pay. According
to E! News, celebrities can make upwards of $100,000 for posting a single Instagram photo that
In the world we live in today, relevance is key.
Think of celebrity social media usage as a business. Just like any company, celebrities must strive
to stay relevant. With the constant motion of the internet, it is easy for the public to quickly forget
something (or someone) that’s not being put in front of them. Every opportunity celebrities have to
syndicate their brand and increase their visibility is valuable.
Social media made Kim (and her family) the celebs we know today.
Kim Kardashian has relied on her social media platforms to distribute herself in the same way that
media outlets like BuzzFeed have taken a distributed approach to their journalism. Despite one’s
feelings for Kim, her social media use has showed she is not only a smart businesswoman who
understands the power of mobile apps and gaming but she’s also someone who appreciates the
evolution of PR and media as well. While her Instagram and Twitter posts may never be the same, it
is important to recognize social media has made Kim the celebrity we know today.
Reddit is a social media website that combines all other major social media sites into one! Twitter,
email and username. Reddit is not as well-known as other social media sites, but the people who do use
this site have a certain connection and camaraderie.
Reddit is called the “front page of the internet” because it connects jokes, stories, world news, movies,
gaming, gifs, pictures, cute dogs, travel photos, and even more. All of these subjects have pages
called “subreddits.” There is a subreddit for any nearly every idea that has ever been processed and
can start endless conversations. Comments are highly encouraged, whether they are compliments or
disagreements. The comments are a big part of all the fun because they prompt most conversations.
follow to make posts. That’s about the most regulation Reddit has!
If you make a post or comment, you can either get an upvote or a downvote, which is similar to a like,
favorite, or dislike from other social media sites. Your post has to appeal to people all over the world in
order to get upvotes.
I explore Reddit every day just like my father reads the
newspaper with a cup of coffee in the morning. Reddit is just
and followers. If people remember you, it is because you have
posted some interesting things that have intrigued the minds
of others. I’ve been an avid Reddit user for about three years
now and I check it every day. The amount of information
that circulates through Reddit is endless. There is too much
information to fathom, but it is all entertaining. One of my
personal favorite subreddit is WritingPrompts. People will post
are amazing. You can only write so much, but every time I’ve read one I have wanted more. The ideas
are so unique that you can’t believe people thought of them. Subreddits like these can open doors to
foremost created to be viewed on a computer. You can subscribe to all the subreddits of your interests
page. This is a great technique to reach readers, and could be emulated elsewhere online.
Olivia Prosser
As more and more social media networks make their way into the hearts of billions, it is important
several social sites had their time in the sun. Let us take a moment to acknowledge our fallen
AIM
platforms: AIM Instant Messenger. Although developed in the
early 1990s, AIM peaked in the 2000s and, for most of us, was
a vital part of our middle school experience. Hiding behind
usernames such as horseluvr4 or soccer_star13, you could chat
with friends from your Buddy List and even update your status.
With the introduction of sites such as Facebook, AIM slowly faded
into oblivion. Although gone, AIM will forever be remembered by
grade gossip behind its chatroom doors.
Napster
Introduced in the early 2000s by Rhapsody, Napster was
created as a peer-to-peer music sharing website that
of death: legal troubles. Napster was sued in 2001 by the
2002. Napster lives on in the hearts and minds of many,
as sites such as iTunes and Spotify continue this idea of
shared music.
Friendster
Introducing one of the grandfathers of social media,
Friendster! Created in the early 2000s, Friendster had a brief
stint of success before meeting its demise in 2006 following
the introduction of Facebook. In its prime, Friendster was
an active site where members could post statuses, share
undergone some remodeling and was re-released as an
interactive gaming site in 2011. Even after its transformation,
Friendster simply could not compete with other social media
powerhouses.
MySpace
The social media network that suffered the biggest fall from grace is MySpace. The original king
of social media, MySpace’s specialty was allowing members to connect with celebrities, especially
- showing the unforgiving world of social media. Although considered gone by most, MySpace still
haunts the hallowed halls of the internet, waiting patiently to strike again.
To each of these social networks, we bid a fond farewell. These sites blazed the trail for the current
networks such as Instagram and Snapchat that we have come to know and cherish. Which social
of social media audiences, any site could join the graveyard. AIM, Friendster, Napster and MySpace
all live on in the depths of the internet, waiting to make their long anticipated return. Until that day,
may they rest in peace.
The Social Media Graveyard
Esurance Sweepstakes Offers $10,000
in Election Insurance
Front Page of the Internet: The Ins and Outs of Reddit
Alec Hoelker
Kayleigh Jackson
PRSSA Executive Board
President:
Vice President of Publications:
Vice President of Finance:
Vice President of Fundraising:
Vice President of Online Communications:
Vice President of Community Relations:
Vice President of Programming:
Vice President of PR:
Vice President of PR Visions:
Faculty Advisor:
Paige Garty
Kayleigh Jackson, Allie Prosinski
Connor O’Neill
Madison Witherell
Rosie Leuby
Carrie Ryan
Allie Palm
Dalton Ulm
Sarah Wullenweber
Shara Clark, APR
The outlandish nature of the 2016 presidential
election has resulted in complete social media
mayhem. With the election generating buzz across
nearly every major platform, businesses and
brands are seeking creative new ideas to be part
of the online conversation without committing the
potentially brand-fatal mistake of appearing biased
toward one candidate. By targeting the current
political interest of the online community, one
company has managed to neutrally leverage the (un)popularity of the upcoming election.
An increased distaste for the election has driven people to threaten such extreme measures as moving
out of the country. Esurance, an online insurance company, decided to acknowledge that reaction. They
recently announced a contest in which the winner will be awarded $10,000 to test out an international
destination of their choosing. Before the contest was announced, a tweet was sent during the second
presidential debate, asking viewers to respond with where in the world they would go if unhappy
with the election’s results. The overwhelming number of responses the tweet received created an
opportunity for the contest.
down? Tweet #MakeYourEscapeSweeps for a shot at winning $10K to test-drive a new (international)
locale.” For three days following the announcement, viewers used the contest hashtag to tweet the
location of where they would go in the world if their desired candidate lost the upcoming election.
Esurance understands the value of cultural relevancy in enhancing a consumer’s connection to the
brand. Consumers’ desires of getting away presented an opportunity for the company to poke fun at
the current, culturally relevant election while, more importantly, promoting and drawing attention to the
company’s homeowner’s insurance product.
The “#MakeYourEscapeSweeps” contest was the revitalization of a larger campaign for Esurance
to promote their once-new homeowner’s insurance product. The campaign launched in April with a
commercial announcing a new insurance product offered by Esurance: Election Insurance. This insurance
upcoming presidential election. Election insurance was offered at varying levels of protection, including
options for weekly home maintenance, lawn care services, outrageous displays of holiday decorations,
or even feature a simulated teenage breakup on the front lawn.
P.T.Barnum once said “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”— and certainly, this seems like a
message that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has taken to heart. Since Trump entered
the presidential race in June 2015, his public relations campaign has been a mash-up of showmanship
has a bit more in common with P.T. Barnum’s (very successful) strategies than most would guess, and
understanding these common ties can help PR professionals better grasp Trump’s success on the
political stage.
People want a show.
When P.T. Barnum began his traveling circus, he was capitalizing on the human need for entertainment.
His circus success was largely due to the novel and unique attractions that his show offered to the
public in an era when television, telephones and mass media didn’t exist. People wanted to witness
the incredible, the mythical, and the unreal that Barnum
offered — not only to escape the repetitiveness of
everyday life, but also to bond more closely with friends
and family who shared in the experience.
In the modern technological age, where we are
constantly overwhelmed by endless news cycles of
war and violence, Donald Trump’s celebrity status and
outlandish comments (about everything from his penis
size to how he was down at the World Trade Center on
9/11) transformed this election’s political stage into pure,
reality TV-esque entertainment, with Trump as the main
attraction. Just like Barnum, Americans are being drawn
into the show because they are jaded with everyday life. Trump’s character completely throws away the
expected behavior of a presidential candidate and becomes a novelty on the stage.
Publicity trumps truth.
Barnum’s circus claimed to showcase the strange and unexplained (such as the “Fiji Mermaid”), but
role in his path to success, as it was his ability to weave stories and generate press out of nothing — to
create mystical narratives that people want to be a part of. And the more unbelievable his claims, the
more free press Barnum was able to generate on all sides of the issue. He would even anonymously
send letters to newspaper editors outing his hoaxes for the sake of creating more publicity!
Trump has also maintained a tenuous relationship with the truth throughout his campaign. He will
whole-heartedly deny tweeting certain comments, and according to PolitiFact 71 percent of Trump’s
complete disregard for political correctness and his constant accusations that the media is rigged
against him, none of his supporters seem to care about the facts once he’s made a statement. Those
who do report on Trump’s falsehoods are merely feeding into the publicity stream, pushing Trump to
the forefront of campaign discourse. For any other candidate, even one of his unreal statements could
have been a disaster for their future careers; but for Trump, it merely adds to his “charm” of saying
whatever he wants, whenever he wants.
Control the conversation.
Barnum was always one step ahead of the media when planning his events. To return to the “Fiji
Mermaid” example, Barnum covered his bases in every aspect of convincing the public of the mermaid’s
authenticity: he had hired a phony naturalist to “verify” the mermaid’s legitimacy; he had organized
for fake letters sent over a period of months to convince the media of this momentous discovery; and
possession of the mermaid. Everything was staged just the way Barnum wanted, ensuring the best angle
and perfect setup for more publicity when the mermaid was placed in a museum.
Trump is also a master at controlling the direction he
wants in interviews, debates and speeches. He uses very
simple, repetitive, unscripted language to appear more
authentic and to nail down the rhetoric he wants to be
associated with. He makes unsupported claims about
how much better he will be at this or that, he draws on
indeterminable sources to make indirect attacks against
opponents without putting himself directly in the line of
him look bad by either waiting them out or completely
changing topics (such as when he switched from
discussing his lewd comments on women to talking about ISIS). Trump is completely on the offensive,
and his opponents have mostly had to shape their arguments in response to his.
In short, there are a lot of parallels between P.T. Barnum’s “press agentry” approach to publicity and
Donald Trump’s current persona and PR tactics. Trump is certainly a force to contend with in this
election because he’s bringing novelty and outlandish statements into a forum that had previously
done its best to conceal this sort of behavior. But as long as Trump keeps providing this type of
you’re on his side, you have to concede the mastery of his PR team.
Abi Mechley
What P.T. Barnum Can Teach Us About
Donald Trump’s PR
The Publications Committee’s main objective is writing and putting together the very newsletter
you’re reading right now: PRemiere! It’s a fantastic way to get experience in succinct writing and to
month! Not only does that look good on resumes, but it’s also a great talking point to show that you
have really made an effort above and beyond just being a member of PRSSA.
I’ve been a member of the Publications Committee since my sophomore year, and I’m now a senior and
one of the two vice presidents of the committee. Looking back, I can really see how my own writing has
developed along with the style of the newsletter itself. We’re always making efforts to get our members
are using social media, are combined with important career strategies and news within the industry.
Writing for our committee can also give you a leg up with designing your articles and press releases
down the road, and we’re working with our new members to teach them what really makes publications
tick.
Keep an eye out for our new and improved PRemiere issues once every month!
Social Media News
Election News
Damian Hughes
Public Relations News
Wtime for. However, with summer internship applications opening up and Spring Ice looming in the
competition. Here are 10 dos and don’ts for the upcoming application season.
Resume Dos and Don’ts
Karen Augenstein
What To DO:
1.DO utilize white space. An employer will look
at a resume for an average of six seconds before
either reading it thoroughly or moving on to the
next applicant. If your resume is cluttered with
unnecessary words, the employer will not waste
time trying to weed through the information.
inch of space: take advantage!
2. DO make your contact information
big. Again, it’s unlikely an employer will go
excavating through your resume, and if they are
considering contacting you, you don’t want to
best place to put it is at the top of the page in
big, bold letters.
3. If
you decide you are applying for a marketing
internship and mention your fraternity on your
resume, you will want mention the recruitment
marketing you did before being the fraternity’s
social chair. Employers want to see what you do
outside your academics, but make sure it relates
back to what you are applying for.
4. DO keep your resume on one page. I know,
it’s hard. We are constantly told to build our
resumes and when the time comes to make one,
you have too much info and not enough space.
Keep it short, sweet, and to the point.
5. DO know what you’re applying for. This
might sound obvious, but it can be harder
than you think. If you’re applying for a graphic
design internship, you’re going to have graphics,
images, and you will want to promote using
PhotoShop, InDesign and other programs. While
you want to stand out, you still want to appear
the particular position. Use
templates relevant to your
What NOT To Do:
1.Do NOT include high school experience.
Unless you are a freshman, you should not be
including the fact that you were class president
in high school. Not only is this no longer relevant
and a waste of valuable space, but it can also
be concerning to an employer. Have you really
done nothing in your college career that was
more impressive than what you did in high
school?
2. Do NOT go overboard with details. This
can be the main perpetrator of the two-page
resume. Use powerful verbs that capture the
essence of what you did at that great internship.
Remember: the resume gets you the interview,
the interview gets you the job. Intrigue the
employer, but save some conversation for the
interview.
3. Do NOT be vague or generic with your
skills. Don’t be vague when discussing your
strengths by saying ‘leadership skills’ or ‘team
player’ unless you have shown this throughout
your resume. Specify what you can do: instead
of saying you have skills in software, specify what
software, especially if it’s relevant. Don’t leave
your employer guessing.
4. Do NOT use distracting fonts or colors.
While this can vary somewhat depending on
the job you’re applying for, you do not want to
distract the employer. You are the main subject
of your resume: the layout should be easy to
navigate through, not distracting or frustrating.
5. Do NOT submit without proofreading. An
employer is only looking at one page with a little
writing on it. If there is a typo, they will notice
and they will take it into account. Get anyone
and everyone to read your
resume before you apply. You
do not want an accidental typo
Upcoming PRSSA Events
Oct. 27: Miami alumnae Marni Goldberg and Emily Siedlak will be part of a panel hosted by the MJF
Department in the TV Studio. Come learn more about the journalism industry and ask about what it
takes to succeed!
Nov. 1: All-chapter meeting in Kreger 319. Chapter updates, committee meetings, and PR workshops in
one convenient package! Check in with your committee leader.
Nov. 15: PR pro and former editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer Michael Perry will be speaking to PRSSA in
Kreger 319. Be there!