Roger Farina Mastery Journal Full Sail University - Public Relations Masters Campbell University - Broadcasting

Public Relations masters Course: Public Relations in a Digital World

My favorite assignment was the build-up of the press release.

Reflections on the Writing for Interactive Media

Finishing up the Writing for Interactive Media course has been the end of an adventurous journey. I have never liked writing, but I do like getting my voice and thoughts heard. Over the past month I have learned about not just writing but how to get my message across in a more efficient manner

One of the most prolific additions is not just putting the words down but adding further references to enhance the message and to further get the point shown. I had thought that just getting the interview and putting a few quotes meant I did my job and the end of the story. However, when enhanced by links and quotes to peripheral reports and data the story became fuller and robust.

As an example, I did an interview with a candidate for a congressional seat in Florida. I hit all the big points as to the who, what, where and why on why the candidate was running for this position. I could have enriched this story by adding some facts about the incumbent’s record. Also, including some basic facts regarding the district that this congressional district sits.

Another issue I discovered in another story I presented was I relied heavily upon my own personal knowledge and experience to prove a point in regards to community growth. I have been involved in my community for nearly twenty years having held several leadership positions throughout the community. On a personal level, I understand this information thoroughly. While I am proud to know all this data possibly better than many others, I need to provide verifiable references to prove my points clearly.

While my normal style of writing would be definitively matter of fact, the adding of reference points such as links to other mediums would prove my beliefs to be valid. I will further use these new techniques learned in the Writing for Interactive Media in other areas of products that I create whether it be it for personal or professional uses.

April 2021's Class Comes to an End

I just finished up a course on Legal Aspects in Media. As I become more and more active in a role online, I was excited to take this course to help me better understand some of the nuances of the legal concerns. It is a realm that I have not been exposed to before, so this course I feel is an important one for my own personal well-being.

I think my favorite course was on freedom of information. Not even knowing if the last assignment of the course would be to reflect on any aspect of the course, I sent the Professor a short blurb mentioning how much fun I had completed the FOIA project. I felt this connection because I like doing research and finding the truth behind issues. Learning how to file FOIA requests will serve me well both on a personal and professional level.

I think the least likely will be “commercial speech.” At this point in time, I do not see myself foraying down a path of corporate moguls and giants of the industry. Where my journey will lead me, I do not know as of right now, but I feel it will be much more down to earth dealing with folks on an individual basis as opposed to inter-commerce relations.

Other than the FOIA project, as mentioned before, I liked the defamation course of study. I think this topic will probably help me the most out of all the topics over the last four weeks. The FOIA project was so much fun that I found my completing the project was almost effortless. While not fun as the FOIA, the defamation topics had me focused as I feel it would be the most crucial concern that I need to watch for on a personal level as I move forward towards where I believe I may end up.

MAY 2021's Class: Innovative Public Relation Tools And Resources

Three things you learned in IPR this month?

One way the information you learned in IPR this month will help you in your professional career as a public relations professional

My reasons for pursuing this degree. In my day-to-day job I am a home-based employee that has had great success. I have plateaued with no further room for advancement. There is another branch office near my home that I could transfer if I had a public relations degree.

I like being able to share, motivate and inspire people. I hope that with new found knowledge from this course I will be able to do that on a high level.

This ambition has been shown in my progressing in the military from being a helicopter mechanic to becoming an officer and flying.

Thing is these are accomplishments I have excelled in the past. I am very excited to see what I can accomplish in Public Relations. While this seems contradictory to what I wrote above, I have found that it’s not the achievement that I get the greatest reward but sometimes the journey getting there.

When it comes right down to it, the life tasks that I consider "mine" are "the important ones." Tasks that are nearing completion or those I have already conquered.

Being a good father and having taken an oath to defend the Constitution as a warrant officer in the Army are two of those.

However, as I have chosen to move forward with an academic pathway, I am facing choices that now allow me to explore the two tasks listed above.

My life's task is to get my own personal messages out to the world and help others get their messages heard using video as the medium as much as possible.

My journey from here will be a hybrid of public relations and journalism. I had to decide on one course over the other. I chose PR because I will have opportunities to get promoted at work for my last few years before I retire.

Once completed, I can take on a role, whereas I believe my heart will take me. If I can build a consistent PR empire that allows me to walk away from my real job when the time is right. However, my real job right now provides stable, consistent income with incredible benefits.

I look forward to the day when I can indeed do this with little worries about other higher priority responsibilities right now.

In this month’s class I have learned that my original expectation of the way I originally viewed or perceived things has change. From understanding the way personal branding is accomplished to the way you market of social media pages. I have always avoided certain social media platforms for a varied number of reasons; however, I have learned that Instagram is a totally different style of media than I had originally thought. I never used it before and probably never would unless challenged by the IPR course.

Two other things I also learned was the use of pre-planned media. I have always thought that I had to be “chained” to my computer to be able to distribute media every night. Now I can better plan my work schedule and accomplish media blitzes all at the same time. This is an incredible tool that I did not know existed. It will save me a lot of time and resources.

In conjunction with this dynamic of pre-planned distribution of media, the different applications that we used were incredible. In fact, I forgot I set them up but there was a notification sent to me reminding me they were sent out.

This course has lifted my social media knowledge. I cannot wait to flex this newfound power to help get the messages of my clients out more efficiently.

Light Years Away by Ryan Dunson

Had an impromptu pick up session of capturing Ryan play one of his favorites songs from his playlist. I was so happy that I had my camera and tripod in the car.

We're Half Way There

As Bon Jovi’s song states, “We are halfway there.”

Halfway to the end of the course completion, that is.

It seems like yesterday I was reading through Robert Greene’s book on Mastery.

This month was one of the learning areas in public relations that I had never been exposed. I have heard about SEOs, KPIs, and ROIs but learning them and applying them to a campaign was a different element.

Before continuing looking back to January, I hoped to continue being of service to the community. I hope the campaign and my capstone project for this course will help enlighten people and give them the ability to share their ideas.

Right now, I feel the extra work we put in place on learning about building a campaign and working with a company has added to acting like a professional. Professionalism is not so difficult but doing it with a level of knowledge and experience is something different. The last two classes we have had have increased both of them.

Lastly, in regards to what I set forth to accomplish in January was to be challenged. These classes have done that and then some. Many of the challenges came from not seeing a task from a particular viewpoint. Several times over the past few months, I completed a project, but upon review once again, I realized I went in the wrong direction. As tedious as it was, redoing the project gave me a new view on some idea I previously mistook for something else. Challenging is definitely what some of these courses and projects have been.

I look forward to the growth I have gained. I can not wait to finish this course and see how I can apply what I have learned in the real marketing world.

One way the information learned in this class can be used is by backing up the ideas of the campaign created and then following through with proving whether they did work. The “web-grader” sites we reviewed as to whether certain websites met primary SEO criteria were eye-opening. In fact, one website that I thought was built well, wasn’t and another that was created not so well was. I believe this is the essence of being a true public relations marketer.

As Bon Jovi’s song states, “We are halfway there.”

The first try at creating my capstone project.

July 2021: Market and Consumer Analysis

One of my original course objectives was to “Learn how to use the right tool for the right job.” Over the past month, I found using a multitude of various resources to be effective means to gain answers to the research being considered. Initially, I thought seeking answers in textbooks would have been the end answer. As the month progressed, seeing data come to life in various other formats was an eye-opener that was never expected. The very nature of my client is the nature of the research. It does mean there was plenty of research to draw from in a variety of mediums.

I have learned from the course content that you should “Measure twice, cut once.” Initially, my thought on this statement was to ensure the measure of data received was clear and concise. As the month progressed, I learned that it was not just a single source of data to rely on but looking in several different locales to crosscheck and verify the initial data.

“Strive for facts and truth in all aspects of research” is a concept I strive for and apply in both personal and professional settings. This goes without setting. As a retired US Army warrant officer, a motto I have lived by is not to lie, cheat or steal. Applying this to this topic means taking the data at face value and record the results as they are without manipulating them to achieve a particular agenda.

A fun way to show this is one might say a pond of water is blue. However, Kermit, the Frog, might tell you it appears to him to be blue-green. As we know, it is not easy being green, and Kermit has a leaning toward all things green. So, his response may be tainted.

A similar thing could occur when considering data for the social media platform company. Ensuring data that places another social media company in a bad light may not be the best answer if not scrutinized with further research. As one may want to disparage another company, it is always better to reveal all details and aspects as truthful in the long run.

Media Relations Course & 112 Days until Graduation

We worked on creating lists of contacts for multiple mediums available across the journalistic spectrum. Traditionally, one might think that press releases and contacting journalists would only pertain to newspapers, radio or tv. In today’s age, you have online contacts to help spread the message as well. Video bloggers, podcasters, online news services and quite simply an individual with web access can all help promote the voice of your client.

Because of this dichotomy of efforts by so many different people, your message not only can be sent to the masses but sent to specific audiences to gain maximum exposure with the greatest impact. If you are marketing gardening, reaching out to a blogger or podcaster that focuses solely on gardening will garner you great contact as opposed to sending a general message out to the general public. However, in many markets, certain dynamics are flooded and saturate the topic. Conducting the proper research on the specific journalist is also paramount in a public relation specialists’ effort. Whether the online entity is your own personal favorite, research will help guide whether or not that entity is the best for the message trying to be shared with that marketplace.

Sometimes a hand-written postcard or card can make the difference between catching one of these journalists’ attention or not. In fact, just the other day, I got a hand-written thank you card for someone that I supported. It had a huge impact because it was heart-felt and made an extra connection with the person that sent it. In the future, I will be more likely to show added support to this person because of her follow through written card.

A carefully worded and timed press release can mean the difference between failure and success in a campaign if it is shared. In the past, I have gotten a cause of mine promoted so that it ended on the cover of USA Today

Events Marketing & Production - 12 Weeks to Graduate

I am very excited about the class this month. I felt this month gave a chance for me to flex my public relation chops on organizing events to help promote my clients.

The themed event was going to be an ice cream social. After the excitement of the choice of event was selected it seemingly led to more challenges than one would expect for just ice cream. The first thing we wanted to do had a local dairy deliver the ice cream as fresh and creamy as it could be. We found out that the venue does not allow for outside food products. The manager at the facility let us know they were a non-unionized shop and anything brought from off-site would have posed sever problems for them.

While the pricing for the local dairy was reasonable the venue hall was costly by itself, but the offset of the inexpensive ice cream would have kept the program within budget. Now, because of the on-site food use requirement expenses went through the roof. There was no way to afford $18 a head ice cream for tw0-hundred people, a 25% service charge, and then the room charge on top of it all. The cost went from about $1,000 to almost $5,000.

If we were to continue to have moved forward with the project, we may have moved it to a different venue. It was a learning experience for us all.

Initial goals of keeping events costly and using imagination were executed during this month’s projects. While they may have fallen short of our goals, the learning curve for the future was definitive.

We are down to 12 weeks (83-days) until graduation for this master’s degree in Public Relations. An incredible educational journey that began just after the new year is almost complete.

https://tinyurl.com/rfempfsu

Reputation Management & The Last 2 Months

My expectations for this course from ten months ago were not perfect in retrospect but were on the right track. With the first issue of the “Happy Birthday Holly” email fiasco that occurred to Wells Fargo, preplanning for such an event in ways discussed this month will lessen the impact of an event like this. While this event was not overly terrible, it just wished someone birthday wishes; it gave the company a great look at working through a more impactful crisis in the future.

As stated in the second expectation, making lemonade out of lemons you are dealt in a crisis is a light and breezy way to illustrate one way to resolve an issue. Overall, what was discovered during this class is that a company needs to take ownership of the occurrence. Depending upon the nature of the severity of the event will depend upon the resolution to be undertaken in the public’s eyes.

Lastly, during this class, a close acquaintance is a sitting member of the local county commissioners. There was an issue with industrial zoning and the land purchase by an asphalt company, and when he, as a commissioner, knew about it. A small group of locals came out against the concrete plant for a myriad of reasons. While it is still determined when the commissioner knew what was happening, the group of people berated him in public meetings and social media. This is a small group of people whom I call NIMBYs (Not in my backyard). The overall good for the county economy may be a more significant concern. While this was being played out in the court of public opinion, actions by the commissioner, such as taking down his social media accounts, could have proved detrimental if not for the advice of an excellent public relations representative.

The one issue I learned from this course is understanding how constituent groups can enhance or ruin a client’s reputation. It is not necessarily how the company can use the constituent group but how the constituent could, on a grander scale, affect your client’s perception.

During the feedback of discussion about what makes a bad reputation, I was able to draw that portraying the company’s good reputation so that most people automatically assume that a given company is good over the course of time can limit the need for acute crisis management should the need arise. A great statement that could be heard from the public would be, “Oh, that company? That is so unlike them.” This is because the public relations elements of a company have done a great job before the crisis.

Having been in the military, I assumed the causal event was where reputation management needed to occur. I discovered that it is not the event itself but the after-effects that befall the company that the genuine need for reputation management happens.

In the grand scheme of things, I believe that reputation management is the epitome of what public relations aspire to be. While the promotion and branding of a company are what most people believe public relations to be day to day, reputation management happens during the most critical periods of a company due to an unfortunate incident. It will be paramount to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances to react quickly to return the company back to its normal day-to-day operating mode with minor damage to the company in any manner.

Overall, the general theme of learning is perspective and where the action engages with reality. In some way, it is where the needle touches the record or where a public relation expert takes action on a timeline of events.

We are down to the last two months of this class, only one month of classwork before moving on to the capstone project.

Citation:

Duke, E. (2021, October 5). Asphalt plant opposers demand commissioners’ resignation. The Daily Record. https://www.mydailyrecord.com/stories/asphalt-plant-opposers-demand-commissioners-resignation,98956?

Next Month is the Final Month!

It is time to look beyond Facebook and Twitter. Learn how to use other mediums while remaining engaged with the clients and customers.

“25-years ago, when I signed up with AOL, I thought it would be king of the internet forever.”

Only constant is change in the online world. Stay adept in all developing modes.

Help create new modes of communications to keep my clients on the cutting edge of their fields.

At the start of this program, I did not know what to expect, especially regarding the capstone project and the client I eventually chose. I mentioned that I would like to learn how to use other mediums on social media platforms as alternatives to Facebook and Twitter. I decided to work with a company called Pure Social Network, which has developed its platforms for use by its members.

As I also made mention that the only constant is change in the online world. When you look at all that has happened in the last year since the start of class with all the changes in social media platforms and apps, I found it an incredible learning opportunity to have partaken of the growth of Pure Social Network.

I am still a member of the AOL world, after all this time going on 26-years. Thinking back to when AOL first came out with the constant inflow of CDs and other ways to receive 100 free hours of log-in time, AOL went through significant changes over the last three decades. What was once the giant in the industry is now viable but with little impact.

Watching the rise and fall of giants like AOL, Napster and Myspace show that no one is ever safe in any environment.

I am proud to bring Pure Social’s coder to the table as they expand their platforms into other markets and technologies, so I set a goal in January. I have been able to accomplish that goal too. The software appears to set it’s the expenses of the hardware that is the latest hurdle. Think of being the first guy with the telephone.

This being the last reflection of our timeline goals, I found that this last set of goals, were the closest aligned with what we learned in class. I believe that to be a good thing to happen along the journey that I will complete with the capstone project.

Graduation Is Upon Us

Here we are at month 12. I wasn’t sure what to write because it has been an emotional year. Too many things are going through my head about what a long year it has been.

I took a moment to search for Full Sail University Masters of Public Relations Mastery Journal Final entries. There were several examples I found for inspiration. They all seem to start with a refining statement of how they can not believe they are finally here.

What is funny is I feel the same way. Not to sound too cliché, I can not believe we are here.

Last January, I was excited to start this course. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with great anticipation. I could not wait to finish the course and increase my potential for better opportunities in my community.

Working with my chosen client has been challenging on a few levels. First, the actual work I accomplished. The second was overcoming some intense personal hurdles twice during the year.

The most significant part in dealing with these issues was having the right instructor at the right time to show patience and compassion in both instances. I am very grateful.

The best part of the class is where I gained the most knowledge from learning to put together press releases. I think press releases are a great way to add enhancements to a marketing campaign. Adding earned media credit to help defer costs for a client is a great benefit. Simply put, I have always been fascinated by the power a well-timed press release can have on a business.

As for the future, I do not know what it holds for me in the realm of marketing and public relations. Perhaps teaching will be in my future. Whatever it is, I know I will have a lot of fun doing it.

Journal Entry Reboot

In August 2022, I decided to continue learning about media and enrolled locally at Campbell University in the Broadcast program. While I now have four degrees, I want to continue forward, focusing on hands experience.

It is so exciting learning new skills and ideas.

This journal reboot is in line with the still photography class I am taking this semester. Updates will occur weekly as opposed to the monthly reflections from my last Full Sail University class.

I am looking forward to using the camera with an instructor omnipresent to help in my learning goals. I have always been more of a hands-on learner than a distance or online learner. I believe this stems from being under the hood of a car holding a flashlight, and getting the tools for my father when I was a kid.

I believe that my schooling in video making will be an added bonus as I learn to specifically take still photographs.

When Two Worlds Collide

I am taking three classes at Campbell University. Theater appreciation, video production, and photography classes. Each class is different in itself but similar in the fact that it references pioneers in the field that pertain to each individual course.

Last week in photography class the professor introduced us to Alfred Stieglitz, a pioneer in the realm of photography. She mentioned that Stieglitz was married to Georgia O’Keeffe. While I never have spent much time learning about O’Keeffe in the past, I did vaguely know who she was as a pioneer unto herself. I found that she spent time in the southwest to include New Mexico where she eventually passed away in 1986.

Over the past few weeks, I have been watching “Better Call Saul” and “Breaking Bad.” Both shows, which take place along different timelines have mentioned Georgia O’Keeffe on two occasions. Interesting enough, both shows take place in New Mexico.

I found it very fascinating that two different mediums came together and had such a strong connection. I would never have paid any attention to the fact that both stories mentioned O’Keeffe if it was not for taking this photography class.

I first thought, what a small world. I then thought this woman born in 1887, would have such an impact on one of the most popular television anthologies ever.

1984 versus 2023

My folks gave me a Nikon FG for my 16th birthday. I used the camera all the time, mostly for fun. To this day I still enjoy reminiscing over the pictures that I took of my old friends and the things we did.

I remember I taught myself how to use the camera. I could make it do whatever I wanted even though I had no idea what the terms like 'depth of field' actually meant. I just did it. I understood how all the settings played into each other from learning on my own.

Contemporarily, I have found that even though I have had many classes, I have yet to gain that trust in my ability to understand all of the concepts. One revelation I had in photography class was having brought in my Nikon FG and my Nikon D3200 and learning a subtle difference between the two. With the film camera, the ISO is set when you load the film in and can not be changed until you buy a new roll of film. Remembering this, ISO 400 film was always my favorite when out and about taking pictures of nothing in particular.

What I learned was that back then, there were only two settings to worry about, as the ISO was a constant. Now with the DSLR camera, you have to understand the interaction of three settings, which until last Tuesday's class, I had not comprehended.

The First Photos From Class

I have been taking photographs since I was a teenager. Many of these photos have been for the memory of a family event or to a far-off land I traveled to around the world. In the photography class, I am accomplishing what I set out to do by getting hands-on experience versus learning online.

With my budding photography skills, I would like to present two photos from class and a powerful image I took in Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago.

The first two images captured moments in time using blur and depth of field. The one image is a shot of a water fountain in the late afternoon sun. Looking at this image, I feel like drinking from a cold water fountain on a hot summer day. The second image is of a black Corvette. And hey, it’s a Corvette. While not exposed correctly, I feel I got the essence of the project.

The last image speaks for itself as a primarily lonely street looking upon the Capital Building.

Vertical Lines and Cookies

My mother was in town for a visit. The last day is challenging because you never know what to do because the trip to the airport is always looming. Since I needed to take photos for class to do with framing and vertical lines, I thought visits to some interesting locations around Raleigh would kill two birds with one stone.

The requirements were to have different compositions of photos. One of which was framing. After we parked the car and headed to the Boylan Bridge, there was a bag of cookies just sitting there, almost posed for me. I liked the way the railing and the cement framed the rectangle-shaped bag, while the diagonal line from behind and the circular nature of the cookie inside the bag offset the framing.

I also worked with Photoshop's Perspective Warp to make the Wells Fargo Building stand straight and tall. Then a trip to the local bakery to capture some of the items on the shelves. The first try of Perspective Warp did not come out the right way.

The panoramic view of the five photos of the airport came out nice too.

Needless to say, I got my homework completed, took mom on a tour of Raleigh, and got some delicious fresh bread.