Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Social Media PR Tips

Twitter. YouTube. Facebook. LinkedIn. All these new social media outlets are available for our use, but how do we use them?

One company I saw had a brilliant idea for how to use Facebook and Twitter to benefit their new product. The company was having a contest where consumers could enter to win a $25 gift card to the company's store. The only way to submit an entry was to tweet about the company, about the product, and that you were responding to the contest. If you were part of the Facebook fan page, you were allowed an extra tweet, but if you weren't you were only allowed to tweet your message at certain intervals during the day.

This is an inexpensive way for companies to get word of mouth advertising. Also, because the tweets were coming directly from consumers, their friends and family members were more likely to trust what they're saying than if the company had tweeted the message itself.

Happy tweeting!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Tis the season to sparkle

After a fantastic and long-overdue shopping trip this weekend, where I also applied for a part-time holiday job at Banana Republic (cross your fingers for me!), I saw some terrific retail items that I am sure to tell Santa about. One trend that I noticed that I wanted to point out to you was the plethora of sequins and sparkles!

Now, don't think I've been hiding under a rock or something. I know sequins and studs are hot right now, but I guess I didn't notice before how they are absolutely everywhere! I had noticed them before here and there, on a rack in one store and on display in another, but yesterday I literally saw 6 or 7 sequin pieces in each store I went into! I felt like a fish attracted to all the glittery and sparkly things. Even the displays in the store followed this glitter scheme, from glittery trees to dangling crystals, everything in the mall was giving off a wintery wonderland kind of feeling. Let's just say I'm not a huge fan of snow, but these designs got me ecstatic for winter.

Here are a variety for you to peruse:





Kate Spade NY El Morocco Lauralle Sequined long shoulder bag, $375
Badgley Mischita 3 tier crystal drop chandelier earrings, $175

Forever 21 black sequin dress, $22
J.Crew Sequin Scarf Cardigan, $138
ABS by Allen Schwarts Ombre Sequined Tunic, $360.00

All of these pieces can be found at Forever21, J.Crew, or Bloomingdales!

Enjoy your holiday shopping!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Watch out for Trends

Watches. We've been seeing them everywhere...from the multi-thousand dollar platinum blinged-out ones to the simple colorful ones in found in any department store display. It's unavoidable- watches are in. The good news is that there's a watch for everyone. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars to get a cute and trendy watch and they make great gifts for the holiday season. The best news is that not only are they trendy, but they're just so darn practical! As a previous non-watch-wearer I can tell you that I look down at my wrist all the time now to check the time or the date and when I'm not wearing my watch I feel absolutely lost!

Here are some of my moderately priced favorites:










MICHAEL Michael Kors Round Yellow Chronograph Watch, 38MM $195.00 (other fun colors available!)
MICHAEL Michael Kors Black Print Watch with black strap, 40MM, $180.00
MICHAEL Michael Kors Stainless Steel Round Face, 36MM, $150.00
MICHAEL Michael Kors Ceramic Glitzy Watch, 39MM, $495.00
Juicy Couture timepieces "BFF" Watch, $195.00
Juicy Couture timepieces "Rich Girl" Watch, $250.00
Burberry Oversized Check Watch, $325
Toy Watch "Hibiscus" Plasteramic Watch, $295

Of course all of these lovely watches can be found online at one of my FAVORITE Web sites Bloomingdales.com

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Quick Links

Good morning blog readers! (Do I have any yet, probably not.) Well quickly before I leave for class I wanted to update you with some fabulous articles about landing a fashion internship. If you don't have time to read all of them I'll summarize the important things:
*Networking is key. Join a group (PRSSA!) and make connections
*Remember people's names
*Have a firm hand shake
*Send thank you cards to people you meet
*Make sure your resume is updated with any online experience you have (HTML basics etc.)
*Look around for great internships and don't be thrown off when they are unpaid. Check out some of the links I have posted over there -->
*Be personable, outgoing, and professional. Let your passion and knowledge shine through.

The articles I read can be found here

Have a good day and P.S. check out these FABULOUS shoes.
...If i only I were not a struggling college student.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Blogging: The beginning

In this day and age the economy is clearly a very rough market. Being a student about to graduate within the next year, I have realized that I need to seriously find a way to distinguish myself from every other more-qualified individual out there looking for a job. I mean what do I have to offer? Yes I've worked for my mom's pubic relations firm since I was old enough to answer a telephone, but when looking for my own career in the field of public relations I know that I need more to stand out than just saying I can put together a media list or write a creative press release. I know that in order to even get considered for a job next year I'll have to have internships (I'm thinking 3 or 4) but to be considered for those I need to have something impressive. WHAT DO I HAVE THAT'S IMPRESSIVE?? So far nothing.

That's why this past month I've been getting creative. In my classes I've been hearing the same thing over and over: SOCIAL MEDIA! "PR these days is all online, there's little face-to-face contact, you need to have a twitter, linkedin, facebook, and blog.." blah blah blah. I get it. I know why it's important. I know why I need to have all of those things, but I was always busy and would think to myself, "I'll get around to making one of those things eventually." Well now the day has come. My LinkedIn is updated with my personal resume. My twitter follows fashion PR professionals around the country. My Facebook, which I've actually had forever, is updated so that it's more professional. And a blog...well you can see how that's going.

Right now I'm working on the design. I used to make Web sites all the time when I was in middle school and high school, and I loved designing the flashy banners that would go across the top of the page and the backgrounds that would nicely complement them. I'm hoping that by the end of this week I can have something like that done.

As for the content, I plan to write each day (okay it probably won't be every day...) about something related to either fashion or PR. As I get more experienced you can look to me for tips and tricks of the fashion PR world but for now just expect links to other fashion PR blogs, ideas about new or cool methods of PR that I've been studying, or just great fashion trends that I'm currently obsessed with.

So my first topic: Susan G. Komen's Global Race for the Cure. Yes, I know it has almost nothing to do with fashion, but I studied it for a class today and thought that the PR tactics they used were so clever! First, a little background. I'm sure most people have heard about Susan G. Komen's Race for the Cure but you may not have heard that it recently became the global race for the cure. To celebrate this change Race for the Cure held a symbolic race in Washington D.C. (wish I could have been there! It's only 20 minutes from me!). First they had Dr. Jill Biden, the second lady, thank everyone for attending and tell them that they were all "paving the way for the cure." Then they had an inspirational message by CEO of Komen's Race for the Cure Nancy G. Brinker. Nancy lost her sister, Susan, to breast cancer in 1982 and made her a promise that she would do everything she could to find a cure...and voila! A huge global organization was born! The race also featured two performances and tributes by singers/songwriters, a Prince and Princess from other countries, a parade of 3,600 breast cancer survivors including 21 survivors from 18 countries, a symbolic seven-foot pink globe, and a visit from MGM's pink panther. The event was also emceed by reporters from CBS's The early show and W*USA.

I think that Susan G. Komen's Global Walk for the Cure did an excellent job making the walk inspirational and touching for everyone who attended. Surely all of these attractions would have driven people to come to the race and donate. Readers should keep this in mind next time they're planning an event: get speakers from capitol hill, get performers and celebrities, make it touching and emotional (women love that of course) and make it fun!

Oh I know...I make it sound so easy...