Social scientists now use celebrity PR campaigns as a means to study the changing nature of social mores and beliefs. While it might have been controversial forty or fifty years ago to see your favorite single female celebrity on a topless beach, today that would barely raise an eyebrow or draw interest. Mitigating factors like a particular physical condition, such as pregnancy or enormous weight gain, or a celebrity that promotes a strict moral code could still make that type of image interesting. Understanding whether a video of a tv star having intimate relations will draw attention or be ignored is the science and art of celebrity PR.

Many people believe that any recognition is better than none at all. A perfect example of this in recent memory is Charlie Sheen and maybe even Mel Gibson. Both of these stars behaved in extremely disturbing fashions and the videos of their tirades caused an enormous negative sensation. Many people anticipated that their outburst would end their careers and cause them to disappear into notoriety. However, with proper attention from their professional PR representatives, they are both working to recover and could possibly go on to greater heights of fame. It is the follow up to controversial situations that determines the outcome and consequences to them.

Being able to turn the worst possible image into a positive situation requires expert and experience PR professionals. They also know how to get the right type of positive press coverage to build a reputation from scratch. Most people don’t have the resources to hire these types of professionals to create and protect their reputations and public image. However, celebrity PR representatives are aware of all the dynamics and social perspectives built into this world of paparazzi, entertainment news programs, and gossip websites. Top celebrity handlers know whether to get their client a story on NPR or an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel.

Celebrity PR is a post from: Elixir Interactive

Public Relations theories can be built into effective marketing strategies, though in a large corporation, the two are divided in separate departments with different goals. Interaction with the public begins with broad concepts like how to design quality customer service practices and extends to specific tasks like structuring a press conference or news interview. PR perspectives are part of creating a newsworthy press release and other media literature. A unified PR strategy is essential to creating presentations that further a company’s, or individual’s, reputation and social identity and is also the bedrock behind communication and direct exchanges with the consumer.

Successful PR professionals know that a certain amount of controversy can propel a company or product image to greater heights, but they understand that there is a science to understanding which controversies to use and how to control them. The core intention driving the vast majority of public relations campaigns is to establish and maintain a positive image for the brand with the media, consumer base, and public at large. Depending on the exact field and type of company involved, these practices take on many forms. The internet has multiplied the tools available to savvy PR operatives while also fragmenting the places that need to be monitored for negative or questionable feedback regarding a brand. With the growing popularity of personal comment posting on blogs, review sites, and social media, public relations has taken on new levels of responsibility and must adapt new techniques to identify and respond to items that could damage or even destroy a company’s image or reputation.

Regardless of the function, size, or type of business , positive PR strategies and processes are necessary to develop and maintain a solid reputation and identity.

What is PR is a post from: Elixir Interactive

Even those managers who understand the importance of a solid web footprint may not understand how to establish an online presence for their business. They instinctively understand that the web makes marketing both cheaper and more immediate, but they don’t know where to start. It is actually much easier than they think. Whether starting a new business or managing an existing company, here are some guidelines to establishing a basic online portfolio to use for marketing and public relations.

Start by creating a website for the company, product or service. You can do this before you even establish yourself as an LLC or alternative corporation status. It’s easy, and in many cases extremely affordable. Visit various hosting sites, such as GoDaddy, Bluehost, Ipage and others. Some sites include free email, website templates and greater storage capacities. Depending on the size and resources of your company, you’ll want to compare price options accordingly. The site doesn’t have to win an award to be the best for your company, though that does testify to their quality. Depending on the size of your business, you may decide to design and maintain the site yourself or hire a professional designer and website manager. Make sure that the resulting design projects the image you want for your company.

In addition to creating a website for your company, you’ll want to establish your name, and associated product or service, with various social media sites. This is actually a great benefit to public relations in addition to another source of marketing. You can create a strong positive reputation based on your various postings and comments. Just be sure to keep your Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other pages professional in both appearance and content. It’s extremely important, especially for small businesses and freelance contractors to maintain the distinction between personal and professional site modes. If you’re planning to have both a personal and professional page, remember that they’re both available to the public and whatever you post can have an impact on your overall public image.

Public relations in 2012 means interacting with the public. Social media sites such as the ones mentioned, as well as Twitter and others are excellent ways to communicate directly with your consumer and maintain a connection with them. You can respond immediately and directly to questions, requests and even complaints. Remember that the manner in which you handle these situations will be publicly displayed and available in internet archives potentially forever. This makes dealing efficiently and appropriately with a complaint an opportunity to display your ethics and professionalism.

The internet is providing greater opportunities for both marketing and public relations than most people ever imagined. If you’re a business owner, manager or independent professional, you’ll want to make the most of these opportunities.

PR and Marketing is a post from: Elixir Interactive

Regardless of whether or not you want to promote your new handy man business or establish your name and talent as a musician, the web has more than one avenue that will put you in front of potential clients. YouTube is one of the most popular online sites, easily accessed and free to use. And while it originated as a place for fun, informal and personal self expression and sharing, it has become an excellent avenue for professional identity development. In addition to the obvious promotional benefits that are associated with having a video on YouTube, it can serve as part of a portfolio of web properties on which you control the content and can therefore use to manage your online reputation.

Choosing one or two social sites were you can share videos, slide shows, white papers, music files, or whatever media is best suited to showcase your talents and products, is an essential step to marketing your business. Tying these channels back to your main website and/or blog will create even more opportunities for you to attract customers and close sales. Building a strong portfolio of information and content that establishes you as an expert in your field will help you grow a reputation as an expert that will lead to you being “liked” and “plused,” “shared” and “recommended” across the web.

The connectedness of communication and people is the appeal of the worldwide web. The more sites, social media profiles, and individual comments and posts that mention, or even better, link to you, the stronger your pull will be in search engines and the more traffic will come your way. If you write a “top 10″ blog post or create a “how to” video that appeals to a wide range of people and achieves viral status, then you’ll have tons of customers lined up. Even if you don’t achieve viral celebrity, having content in multiple places will increase the chance that you will be found by those people who could benefit from your services and products.

Marketing is essentially making yourself visible. A simple formula for promoting yourself and your business is to establish a quality web page or piece of media, connect it to your Facebook page or Twitter account, then build additional social connections, and you are well on your way to creating a solid marketing campaign for whatever your business or creative project is offering.

How to Market Yourself is a post from: Elixir Interactive

Downhill brings nearly a decade of experience in search engine optimization (SEO) and online reputation management (ORM) to a panel that will include other industry experts such as David Naylor and Dana Todd. The discussion will center on the question of whether SEO still matters as an online marketing tool.

The panel, “SEO is Dead. Long Live SEO!” will be held from 4:45 pm – 5:45 pm on Day Two of the Conference.  Downhill will also be participating in the “Meet the Speakers” event during lunch on Wednesday.

SES is being held at the Moscone West in San Francisco on August 15-19, 2011.

Fionn Downhill, Elixir CEO, Speaking at SES San Francisco is a post from: Elixir Interactive