By Emily Barber
What a busy evening for PRSSA’ers! Once again, the seats of Scripps 111 were filled with people – notebooks open, laptops ready, eager to learn.
However, what’s a meeting without a few announcements? If you’re interested in being on the Dave Rave Halloween PR team, don’t forget to sign up. Dues-paying members must have their $75 paid by October 14th. Also, an internship at an independent PR firm is open, so be on the lookout for more info! Finally, the team who will be attending National Conference was announced – congratulations everybody!
After the updates, we started off with a brief visit from Ryan Lombardi, VP of student affairs here at OU, who provided a bit of encouragement by saying he is “continually impressed” with the work of PRSSA. He also admitted he is quick to turn to us for Twitter tips – after all, we are the social media pros!
To keep with the theme of Twitter, we welcomed experienced marketing strategist and OU professor Nate Riggs as our keynote speaker of the night. Aside from working with multiple Fortune 500 companies, Nate is nothing less than a Twitter guru. He began right off the bat by declaring his main message, “the secret to winning as a business on Twitter” is to “build new cultural habits.”
Nate went on to share the advice of some of his favorite authors, including Jonah Berger, the man behind the book “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.” One of Berger’s main explanations for his book title is explained in his S.T.E.P.P.S. acronym – Social currency, Triggers, Emotions, Public, Practical value, and Stories. Nate also shared some habits to form that can help in mastering effective Twitter and marketing strategies, including, “be clear about your intentions” and “consistently take calculated risks.”
A lot of useful information was shared at tonight’s meeting. Not only is the journalism industry changing, the world of marketing is as well. Nate predicted that in ten years, the majority of people will know how to use Twitter effectively, and social media campaign committees will no longer be necessary. However, a firm grasp and lots of experience can only make us more prepared for all of the other exciting opportunities to come!
If you want to learn more about Nate Riggs, head over to his website. Or if you’re interested in his marketing class “Special Topics”, or as he likes to call it, “Content Marketing Habits”, you can check out their blog at ohiomarketingstudents.com. You’ll find the course under MKTG 4900 in the catalog.
Thanks again to Nate, and we’ll see the rest of you tonight at 6 p.m. in Scripps 111!