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SEO News Release Assignment

Image Credit: "scrabble" by ren_reyes

The Assignment: Optimized News Release

As we have seen, news releases and the messages they contain increasingly end up on the Internet where they get indexed by search engines. Since these messages have become searchable, it is important to include words and phrases Internet users would use intuitively when searching for content related to that message. Having read Edelman’s position paper on the issue and having discussed search engine and message optimization in your blog, it is now your turn to take a news release and optimize it.

For this assignment, you will need to identify a set of keywords/keyword phrases for use in your optimized news release. Use free tools such as Wordtracker, Google Insights, Google Adwords, or Microsoft’s AdCenter Labs to do so, or use your Radian6 or CustonScoop account. You may also want to check  Twitter Search to get a sense for the natural words and phrases people use to talk about your type of topic.

  1. Accurately reflect how people talk & search (natural language)
  2. Face little competition from other keywords

Once you’ve decided on your keywords, strategically incorporate them into your news release (see the Edelman position paper for tips on how to do so).

Deliverables (in one file):

  1. The original news release (that you wrote in a previous course or as part of an internship)
  2. Your revised & optimized news release with the keywords highlighted in bold print
  3. A short paper listing the keywords/keyword phrases you decided on and explaining why you chose them and how they fit the two keyword requirements outlined above. Include screenshots of the visuals generated by tools such as Google Insights to back up your argument.
  4. A Twitter pitch for your news release of no more than 140 characters. Use a separate page for this pitch. Your pitch should incorporate at least one of your keywords. Since this is not an official news release, do not send it out over Twitter. For tips on writing effective Twitter copy, check out this example.

NOTE: Many, many thanks to Corinne Weisgerber at St. Andrews University, who gave me permission to use her assignment for my class. I have made only minor tweaks to her original assignment (which appears at her Social Media for PR Class blog).

UPDATED INFO BELOW (as of 2-22-2010)

FAQ About the SEO News Release

  • How do you create a SEO release?
    • A SEO news release is just a “regular” news release, but with keywords chosen & used in the headline/lead/body to help ensure that search engines can index it easily, which leads to making it easier for people to find it. For this class assignment, be sure to put the keywords in bold so that I can see what they are.
  • What do you use to get a higher rank?
    • Choose good keywords.
  • What topic can we do?
    • Use any topic you want. As the assignment stated, you can reuse an news release you wrote for a previous class. The key here is that the news release needs to be one that you actually wrote, not one that you have found online.
  • How do I use Google Insights?
  • How do I make a screenshot?
  • How do you want us to submit the assignment?
    • Make ONE document using Word (or PDF), with multiple pages. Name the file with the following naming convention: YourLastName SEO NR (for example, Nixon SEO NR.docx.) Southeastern U students should submit the assignment in BlackBoard.
  • This is all so confusing to me. Help!
    • Follow the directions and do your best. This assignment is a small one, as far as points go (50 of our 1000 in the class). It’s designed to give you a taste of SEO, not a deep dive into all of its nuances.
  • Do you have anything else that will help me?
    • Yes. See the presentation below by Corinne Weisgerber.

    • News Release Optimization
    View more presentations from Corinne Weisgerber.

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Social Media Trade Book Review

21:365 :: Stack of Social Media Trade Books
Image Credit: "21:365 :: Stack of Social Media Trade Books" by Barbara B. Nixon

For my COMM 4633 & SPC 4350 Students

One of our assignments this semester is for you to read and review a trade book on social media. In class, you’ve already been assigned to a Public Relations Trade Book. Your book review is due in class during Week 10.

Your book review will take the form of a five-minute presentation in class. For your presentation, create a professional-looking PowerPoint presentation of no more than ten slides. Rely more on images to tell your story than bullet points. (We’ll discuss more in class about how not to create a “Death by PowerPoint” slidedeck.)

Your presentation should include:

  • Opening slide should include an image of the book’s cover
  • Short bio of the author(s) of the book (perhaps with a photo of the author)
  • What did you learn by reading this book?
  • What surprised you in this book?
  • What do you want to learn more about, now that this book has piqued your interest?
  • Would you recommend other students to also read this book? Why or why not?

Optional:

  • Consider uploading your book review to SlideShare and embedding the slides in your blog.
  • If you’re using Twitter, search for the authors of your book there and connect with them. You may be surprised how willing most of them are to reply to you when you @ them.
  • Leave a comment about your thoughts on the book on the author’s blog.
  • Post a review of the book on the book’s page at Amazon.com.
Tips on Creating Your PowerPoint:

Questions about this assignment?

barbara_is_listening

(PS: If you prefer to listen to your book, rather than read it, you may be able to choose your title as a free option at the Audible website.)

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Social Media Monitoring Report

Image Credit: "Prospector" by Tony Oliver

For COMM 4633 and SPC 4350 Classes


This assignment gives you an opportunity to learn how to monitor blog and other social media content in a way that provides similar insight offered by more traditional environmental scanning methods.

Many people will discuss your client or organization and its products/services on their own web sites or on social media sites, outside of realm traditional media. Just as it is important for you to know what the media and your community are saying about your organization and its products/services, it is important to know what is being said in social media sites like blogs, social networks, and message boards. For this assignment, you will

  1. monitor the online conversation that has occurred about an organization or brand of your choosing since February 1, 2011,
  2. create a table for your data, and
  3. write an analysis of the conversation with suggestions for action.

You might find bloggers who are blogging about your client organization or brand, people who are creating Web sites about it, message board members who are discussing it in forums, Twitter users who are twittering about it, social networking users who are commenting about it, or online video producers who are posting YouTube videos about it.

Let me know by Week 4 how you choose to complete the project (individual or teams) and which organization you are choosing in class. Teams will collect much more data, but write one cohesive report. NOTE: The first person (or team) to “claim” a Fortune 500 company or large non-profit organization “gets” the company. No duplicates, please.

Step One: Complete Background Reading

See these resources for advice on social media monitoring.

Steps Two-Four

See the complete assignment below:

Social Media Monitoring Report

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Webinars for Social Media for PR

For my Social Media for PR classes (COMM 4633 and SPC 4350)

In addition to our in-class meetings, we will learn from professionals in the social media space each week this semester. Be sure to view or listen to the webinar by Saturday at midnight each week; we’ll discuss the webinars during the following week in class. For many of the weeks, the webinars dovetail nicely with our theme for the week. A vast majority of the webinars will come from Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing University.

Week 1: Social Media and Building Community | Inbound Marketing University

Week 2: How to Blog Effectively for Business | Inbound Marketing University

Week 3: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Crash Course to Get Found | Inbound Marketing University

Week 4: Twitter for Business | Inbound Marketing University

Week 5: Business Uses for Facebook & LinkedIn | Inbound Marketing University

Week 6: Viral Marketing & World Wide Raves | Inbound Marketing University

Week 7: Passion-Inspired Video & Other Creative Content

Week 8 & 9 Social Media Time Management:

TBA

Week 10: PR for Inbound Marketing | Inbound Marketing University

Week 11: Social Media for Big Business | Inbound Marketing University

Week 12-15: TBA

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SPC 4350 Social Media for PR & Adv Student Blogs, Spring 2011

Students in my SPC 4350 Social Media for PR & Adv course at Florida Southern College have started blogging. They will be adding to their blogs weekly throughout the Spring semester.

If you are a student in this class and your name does not show up on this list, please be sure you have at least one post on your blog, then complete this Google Form; it’s a manual process to build the blogroll, so your name will not show up immediately.

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News University: A Rich & Cost-Effective Resource for Journalists & PR Writers

News University

For this semester’s public relations and journalism courses that I’m teaching for Southeastern University, I am again augmenting my own content and our textbooks with several courses offered by Poynter’s NewsU.

First, create a free account at NewsU. (NOTE: When you enroll in NewsU, the form will ask you for a course code. We do not have a code for your course, so just leave it blank.) Then come back to this blog post.

Next, it’s smart to enroll in all the courses you will need for the semester.  It will make your life easier later on. To enroll, first click on the name of the course(s) below, then click on  Enroll Now under Course Overview.

COMM 2322: Public Relations Applications

COMM 4333: Writing for Public Relations & Advertising

COMM 3333: Journalism

When you have finished with each course, you will need to do two things to earn credit for finishing the course:

  1. Complete the NewsU Course Completion Form.
  2. Send me your Course Report to my Southeastern University e-mail address. The short screencast below shows you now.  Have the report come to my university e-mail address. (NOTE: This screencast was recorded earlier this year, so some of the dates are old, though the process remains the same.)

I’ve created this short screencast to walk you through the process.

For some courses, you’ll blog about what you learned as a Topic of the Week. For the ones that are not required as TOWs, you can choose to have them be PR Connections, if you wish.

[NOTE: In order to get credit for completing the a NewsU Course, you need to complete the course, fill out the form & send me the course report — by Saturday midnight during the week it’s assigned.]

Questions?

barbara_is_listening.

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PR Scavenger Hunt for COMM 4333, Spring 2011

Image Credit: "Myst Telescope" by Brapke

For our first “real” day of class, we’ll have a short scavenger hunt to find useful sites for public relations writers.

In pairs, look up your assigned site(s) below. (I have intentionally NOT hyperlinked to the sites in this post, to encourage independent searching skills.) Take specific note of the following:

  • Name of site
  • Types/categories of information you found there
  • One specific topic that you found interesting
  • How this site might be useful for PR Writing students

Reply/respond to this blog post with what you have found. Then, if you wish, you can use what you found as the basis for one of your PR Connections on your own blog later.

PR News Sites

  • PR Week
  • PR Tactics
  • Ragan Report
  • PR Daily

Public Relations Organizations

  • Public Relations Society of America
  • International Association of Business Communicators
  • International Public Relations Association
  • Florida Public Relations Association

Public Relations Blogs

  • Communication Overtones by Kami Huyse
  • PR 2.0 by Brian Solis
  • PRos in Training by Kelli Matthews
  • PR Communications by John Cass
  • Bad Pitch Blog by Kevin Dugan and Richard Laermer
  • PR Squared by Todd Defren
  • Waxing Unlyrical by Shonali Burke
  • Social Media Explorer

Podcasts on Public Relations, Writing and/or Public Speaking

  • For Immediate Release
  • Inside PR
  • Quick & Dirty Tips: Grammar Girl
  • Quick & Dirty Tips: The Public Speaker

Additional Resources

  • AP Stylebook
  • The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.

(Though this post is written specifically for my COMM 4333, PR Writing, students at Southeastern University, others — especially PR professors — might find it useful. Please feel free to adapt as needed for your own use.)

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Topics of the Week :: COMM 2322 PR Applications

Image Credit: "Scania R500 Wrecker" by RiceCracker

Spring 2011

In our PR Applications classes (COMM 2322 at Southeastern University), we’ll all blog about the same general topic each week during the semester. Your TOWs of 300 words or longershould be posted by Saturday at midnight at the end of each week, unless otherwise notified in class. (Posts that appear past the deadline may not earn any credit, so be sure to stay on top of your blogging deadlines.)

If you are unsure how to get started writing these TOWs, many times you can use this three-pronged approach:

  1. What did you learn?
  2. What surprised you?
  3. What do you want to know more about?

WEEK ONE

  • Using the three-pronged approach (above), what are your reactions to the NewsU Course you took on Understanding Media: Processes and Principles? (NOTE: You can post this week’s entry as late as Week Three, as you will not be creating your blogs until that time.)

WEEK TWO

  • What is a “public”? Which publics are you a member of? How did you choose to become a member of those publics? (Choose and discuss at least three.) (NOTE: You can post this week’s entry as late as Week Three, as you will not be creating your blogs until that time.)

WEEK THREE

WEEK FOUR

  • If you could work in an era of PR history (from a time before you were born), which one would it be? What interests you most about this era and why?

WEEK FIVE

  • Complete NewsU course of your choice (other than the three that are required) that you think would be beneficial for a public relations practitioner. What are your reactions to this course? Would you recommend it to other Journalism/PR students at Southeastern University? Why or why not? (Remember to name and link to the specific course you took. Also, submit your Course Report for the course.)

WEEK SIX

  • Based on what you read in Chapter 4 of your Public Relations Strategies & Tactics book, do you think it’s more beneficial for a new PR practitioner to begin his/her career in a PR department or in a PR firm? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

WEEK SEVEN

  • What advice would you offer to a student who is working on a resume or preparing for a job interview? Be sure to share links to three or more sites / blog posts that would be helpful for a PR student.

WEEK EIGHT

WEEK NINE

  • This week’s topic was inspired by Adam Vincenzini’s Be My Guest month: post something by a guest blogger. Connect with another blogger (it can, but doesn’t have to, be someone in your class) and exchange blog posts for the week. (You don’t have to write something new for the other blogger . . . share your favorite post you’ve written this semester.) In your own blog, make it really clear that the post is written by another person, and link to your guest’s blog.

WEEK TEN

OR

WEEK ELEVEN

  • TBA

WEEK 12

  • Write a post about the aspect of public relations that you have chosen for your presentation this semester. If you have created a PowerPoint or Prezi, embed it into your post.

WEEK 13

  • Create a list of the top ten things you have learned about public relations this semester. (Remember that the post still needs to be 300 words minimum, so you will need to elaborate on your choices for the list.)
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Topics of the Week :: COMM 4333 PR Writing

Old Ford Tow Truck 1 by Cramit.
Image Credit: "Old Ford Tow Truck 1" by Cramit

Spring 2011

In our PR Writing class, we’ll all blog about the same general topic each week during the semester. Your TOWs of 300 words or longer should be posted by Saturday at midnight at the end of each week, unless otherwise notified in class. (Posts that appear past the deadline may not earn any credit, so be sure to stay on top of your blogging deadlines.)

If you are unsure how to get started writing these TOWs, many times you can use this three-pronged approach:

  1. What did you learn?
  2. What surprised you?
  3. What do you want to know more about?

WEEK ONE

  • Which types of social media do you currently participate in (such as blogging, podcasting, social networking, etc.), which platforms you use, and why? [NOTE: Since you are creating your blog after after Week One, you will go back and add this post in.]

WEEK TWO

  • Visit Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl’s website. Either read three of her blog posts or listen to three of her podcasts on areas of grammar that are troublesome to you. Write about what you learned (using the three-pronged approach above.) Remember to link back to Grammar Girl’s site.

WEEK THREE

  • Why are comments such an integral part of blogs? What advice would you offer on writing effective blog comments? Be sure to link to at least three sources.

WEEK FOUR

  • What is Associated Press Style and why is it so important for public relations writers? Also, what are some of the trickier parts of using AP Style for you?

WEEK FIVE

  • Imagine you are working in public relations for an organization, and you discover that someone has scraped/copied content from your organization’s blog. What approach would you take to remedy this situation?

WEEK SIX

  • In our class, we use News University courses from Poynter quite frequently. But NewsU is not all that the Poynter Institute has to offer public relations practitioners and journalists. How can Poynter’s resources aid you as you begin your career? Describe and link to at least three beneficial areas in the Poynter website.

WEEK SEVEN

WEEK EIGHT

  • Using the three-pronged approach described above, describe your reactions to one of the News University courses you have completed. Remember to include a  hyperlink to the course, too.

WEEK NINE

  • This week’s topic was inspired by Adam Vincenzini’s Be My Guest month: post something by a guest blogger. Connect with another blogger (it can, but doesn’t have to, be someone in your class) and exchange blog posts for the week. (You don’t have to write something new for the other blogger . . . share your favorite post you’ve written this semester.) In your own blog, make it really clear that the post is written by another person, and link to your guest’s blog.

WEEK TEN

  • Peter Shankman started a service called HARO: Help A Reporter Out. Briefly describe (and link) to this service. As a PR practitioner, how can you and your client(s) benefit from HARO?

WEEK ELEVEN

  • Address several of the following questions about infographics. What are they? How could one be useful in a story for your client? How do you go about creating one? Create one if you can, and embed it in your blog post this week.

WEEK 12

WEEK 13

  • What advice would you offer PR students who are new to blogging? Come up with your own Top 10 list.