Beginning at 5:30 p.m. on March 26, Seton Hall journalism and public relations students will have the opportunity to learn from Hayden Hammerling and possibly Stacy Bender, as The Bender Group comes to campus to speak in Nursing room 105.
The Bender Group is a well-respected PR firm that has been in the industry for nearly 30 years. Bender is the CEO of the group and individually, has been honored with numerous awards and accolades for her work in the field. Bender’s portfolio of clients is an impressive one, as she and the firm have represented a handful of high-profile clients over the years.
The Bender Group is coming to speak at Seton Hall on March 26.
Joining Bender at the forefront of it all is Hammerling, who specializes in the social media aspect of the company. Some of Hammerling’s work on social media including digital marking, where he promotes the company in an effort to attract new clients and grow its brand. In doing so, Hammerling has helped the group reach new heights.
In today’s climate, adaptability is key. The Bender Group started out as a traditional PR firm, but has since evolved into a multi-faceted company Bender and Hammerling have mastered audience engagement, marketing, and promoting their clients, which makes them the ideal group to speak to aspiring journalism and public relations students at Seton Hall.
Beginning at 5 p.m. on March 5, Seton Hall journalism and public relations students will have the opportunity to learn from Reuters journalists Barbara Goldberg and Gina Cherelus, as the two come to campus to speak in Nursing room 105.
Reuters is an international wire service that has about 200 offices around the world and over 2,000 journalists employed. Both Goldberg and Cherelus come from Reuters’ New York office.
Goldberg began working at Reuters in 2011 and currently serves as a national correspondent for the wire service. Before accepting a position at Reuters, Goldberg worked as a freelance writer and reporter for ABC. She has also been employed by the Associated Press and United Press International. Before getting her start in the industry in the 1980s, Goldberg studied at St. Lawrence University in New York.
Barbara Goldberg and Gina Cherelus of Reuters are coming to Seton Hall on March 5/Photo via Wikipedia
Cherelus, on the other hand, has been working at Reuters since 2016. Relatively new to the industry, she graduated from Florida A&M University with a degree in broadcast journalism.
Both Goldberg and Cherelus will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge. Some questions I will have for them include how they got their start in the journalism industry, how they value social media in their profession, how they have seen the journalism and public relations industries evolve over the years, where the two industries are trending and what are their most memorable experiences from their time working as journalists.
In today’s world, branding is everything. Businesses who have a reputable name brand and are well-respected and do better than those who do not brand themselves properly. The same applies to journalists and those looking to make it in media.
Twitter is arguably the most valuable tool in journalism today. Not only has it become the main platform for journalists to share their content, but it has become the best and most effective way for journalists to build their own brand and ascend to new heights.
Let’s face it, nobody is going to read your work if they don’t know who you are. Sure, sometimes a no-name writer publishes a great story that blows up on social media, but how often does that happen? There are plenty of “small-time” journalists who put out excellent content, but never get the proper attention or recognition for their work because they do not have their own brand.
Building your own brand is not an easy task, but it is one that can pay dividends down the road. It all starts with building a mass following of loyal readers who will not only share your content, but generate conversation stemming from the content and support you. If a random person scrolling through their Twitter sees an article published by a journalist with a decent following and a little bit of conversation, they might consider reading the article or at the very least, giving the story a click.
Want to build a brand on Twitter? Gathering a loyal following is the first step in doing so/ Photo via Forbes
Once a following is established, a sort of popularity tends to follow. Whether it be for the right or wrong reasons, journalists who establish their own brand are often the most-talked-about people in the industry. Take a look at someone like Tomi Lahren, who is essentially a household name at this point. She went from being a small-time journalist/news host to one who is known nationally simply because she branded herself in a way that was appealing (or infuriating) to a specific offense. Lahren is nowhere near universally liked, but her brand has made her one of the most popular in her field.
Want to see the true impact that self-branding through Twitter has? Look no further than sports websites such as The Athletic that value social media presence and an individual’s brand in their hiring process. It has been said that one’s Twitter following plays a major role in the company’s decision to bring in a beat writer to cover a team. Why? Because Twitter followers equate to clicks, which leads to increased revenue. Those journalists who have their own brand get the job everyone covets, while others are left out in the cold.
I can even apply the concept of using Twitter to create a brand to myself. By no means do I have my own “brand,” but I have used the platform to gain connections within the college football recruiting industry. For example, when a high school recruit picks up an offer from Boston College, the school I cover at 247 Sports, often times I am tagged in the Tweet. This leads to interview opportunities with recruits. Other widely-known analysts also tag me in Tweets related to Boston College recruiting because I have established myself as a player on that scene. It’s not much, but a certain group of people (die-hard Boston College football fans mostly) know who I am because of the content that I have published and shared on social media. Since I started at 247 Sports, my Twitter following has nearly tripled and my content is generating more buzz than ever.
It might not last forever, but right now, Twitter is the place for aspiring journalists to build a sustainable brand that can lead to opportunities within the industry. Again, building a brand takes a lot of work and catering to a specific audience, but it can be the difference between a small-time journalist and a household name.
As large-scale social media corporations such as Facebook run into a constant wall of problems, smaller blog websites are slowly becoming the wave of the future in journalism and public relations.
Traditionally, websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are used to build a brand. They are the most used and most viewed social media websites out there and naturally, using them is the easiest way to build a brand. Journalists use all four websites to push their content and opinions, just like people in the public relations industry use the four websites to push marketing campaigns and advertising.
The tide is beginning to turn, though, as those in both the journalism and PR industries are beginning to take notice of bloggers who may not have as big of a brand as those on bigger social media websites. As stated in Blogs as Excellent Public Relations Tools, a growing number of journalists and news editors are reading blog posts on a daily basis to find new, unique story ideas.
Coming from someone who does not work on a blog, but a smaller website, I have seen this take place first-hand. As a writer for JetsWire, a part of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group, unique column and slideshow ideas that we have used on our website have trickled down to the bigger websites, such as Bleacher Report. Likewise, there are Jets blogs and other websites that cover the team that we look at to find new story ideas of our own. It’s an effective tool to come up with “new” story ideas, especially when content is running dry.
Blogs are a new and arguably improved way for journalists and those in the Public Relations field to have their voices heard/Photo via Bizztor
None of this is possible without a little self-branding, though. The same way people try to push content on social media, bloggers must build their brand to the point where they are a reliable and recognizable name. As I mentioned before, some of the work published on Jets Wire has been attributed on Jets Wire. At times, I have been specifically name-dropped in those attributions. Those instances of acknowledgment are essentially free publicity for the Jets Wire brand and my own personal brand, as I am gaining credibility by being featured on a “bigger” site.
Bloggers have the freedom to publish individualized content and truly have their own voice — something that is not possible at times in the journalism and public relations field. Unless you’re writing a column of some sort, oftentimes journalists are required to cater to a target audience specified by their employer. For PR employees, there’s no chance to have an individual’s voice heard in a press release.
Blogs are providing a new and fresh platform for writers to get noticed. It might take a while, but it wouldn’t be much of a shock to see blogs and bloggers take over the industry before long.
As the journalism and public relations industries continue to evolve and catch up with the times, social media has been at the forefront of the evolution. Social media networks such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have made it easier than ever to get a message across to a specific audience. The days of print media serving as the dominant news source are over. Now, at the click of a button, news and advertising, among other things, are readily available.
As Forbes contributor Robert Wynne states, there are three forks in the road of the public relations industry: Traditional PR, Advocacy PR and social media. Each one has its place in the field and large PR firms have the ability to use all three, but social media has become the dominant one in recent years. It makes sense that this is the case, as it is the most cost-effective option. Why pay thousands of dollars for the services of a seasoned veteran when an intern could accomplish the same thing on essentially a minimum wage salary? Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, among others, also have a very wide reach. In 2019, social media is arguably the most impactful form of communication. It’s only fitting that PR firms start exploring social media to reach a wider audience and drive down costs in the process.
The same goes in the journalism industry. Given the nature of the business and the world’s desire to have news delivered to them almost instantaneously, social media is more prevalent than ever. Why wait to read the newspaper in the morning when the article can be posted online, Tweeted out by an individual or publication and then shared for millions to see? Numerous newspaper outlets are dying out due to the evolution of social media and the desire for a digital product. Even large media firms, such as Gannett, have focused on expanding their digital presence instead of working to save their print papers, as Clay Shirky points out.
In recent years, social media networks such have Twitter have altered the landscape of the journalism and public relations industries/Photo via Business Insider
The audience has changed. The younger generations no longer want to wait for the news to be delivered to their doorstep when all they have to do is hop on a laptop, go on Twitter, Facebook, or another social media platform, and check out the day’s latest news. Especially in the sports media industry, fans and beat writers react as the action takes place. Game recaps, analysis and columns are posted within seconds of a game ending and there is no longer a “wait to see the box score in the morning” mindset.
People no longer want to wait for their desired product. They want it as soon as possible. Public relations firms and big-time news corporations are not deaf to this and have taken the necessary strides to ensure that they remain afloat. In only a matter of years, social media has entered the two industries and have taken them by storm. Essentially, it has changed the two industries as we know them into completely different monsters.
Calvaruso's Corner 