The End.

The Capstone board presentations went well I think. I'm thrilled with how my board turned out. The poster quality was on-point! I suppose the only issue I had with the presentations was that we just had way too many people. There definitely needs to be some adjustments made just in case the same problem happens next year, like 20+ people taking the class... Personally, I felt like I couldn't stand by my project because I was so cramped by the people on either side of me. Besides that, the event was fun and it was great to see the fantastic work done by my peers.

As for my project, I feel like I failed miserably. I took too long to really figure out what I wanted to do and my execution was poor. I think my idea was fun, but I could've done more to promote and get the word out around campus. I think my planning was the best part about my project. The design seemed to work well. I just didn't get the participation I had hoped for, but it's hard to get people to do something without some serious incentive. I learned that you can't rely on people to do something for you. I should've done all the promotion myself because my little spies didn't do anything. But, again, hindsight is 20/20.

All in all, I think I did an okay job with my project. I definitely learned what NOT to do and I believe I can pass that along to future Capstone students.

Cultural Event: Relay for Life

April 10th, 2015

At midnight Friday night/Saturday morning, I chopped 11 inches of my hair off. I had decided about six months ago that I wanted to donate my hair to Beautiful Lengths but I felt as if that wasn't enough. Sure, I was excited that my hair could go on to be a wig for a special person, but I also wanted to raise money for cancer research. So I chose to cut my hair at Relay for Life.

I had originally planned to donate eight or nine inches, but once I saw how little hair that was I decided to go all out. I got up on stage and just like that, almost a foot of hair, gone in a flash! It was so refreshing!

The event itself was pretty fun! Unfortunately, there wasn't as big of a turn out as there have been in previous years. The event was also shortened this year from ending at 6 a.m. to 4 a.m. but who's complaining?!

According to the Shepherd University event page on the American Cancer Society's site, SU raised a total of $40,424 + some change!

Right after it was cut! ^^

And after I got it evened out at my salon :)

Almost there...

My meeting with the faculty went very well! Monica, Jason and Kevin all enjoyed the direction that I took with my project. Monica had one suggestion that everyone agreed upon and that was to go around to the businesses and see if they'd be willing to participate. I have done so but no responses as of yet. Its usually an answer of "let me think about it." But despite that, I have gained some followers, but no participation. I feel that as I continue over the next couple weeks more people will participate.

I will continue monitoring progress and hopefully the project will be a little more successful!

Final Progress Update!

I can't believe the semester is almost over...

I still have plenty of work to do on my Capstone, but things are starting to come together.

Though my project hasn't exactly gone in the direction I had originally wanted, I think it has ended up being a much more interesting project in the long run. I would have to say I'm about 85% done as of this point. The faculty review is upon us and I believe I am getting to a point where I can present what I have, though not fully completed, but I will still have a few weeks to let my project do the talking.

My scavenger hunt will take place in the weeks following the review. I think I have finally decided to utilize a new social media platform called "Sip", an anonymous photo sharing application. I have planted the seed of interest with quite a few people, especially those who will be aiding in getting this going full speed.

I am still unsure of what the motivation will be for people to actually participate. I had wanted to purchase some kind of prize or gift for whoever participated in the event and completed it, but I'm starting to think that will not work after all, seeing as this is almost completely anonymous.

Even though I have a lot to consider this week (and thank goodness I have this whole week to do so) I am excited to launch this project and see where it goes!

Photo Credit

Another Progress Update!

It's that time of the week again!

So, I checked out a project that University of Idaho created on Instagram that Dr. Kushin told me about. I LOVED IT. That's almost exactly what I plan to do with my project, but with little fun facts tacked on.

This week, I will be getting my designated people to help me subtly promote my scavenger hunt. I will be writing a spot for my boyfriend to air on his show on WSHC as well.

The plan as of now is to spread the scavenger hunt out over a few weeks to maximize participation. I will launch the hunt the week after spring break and it will continue until projects are being finalized. I am hoping to have a content calendar completely finished no later than Wednesday this week.

I suppose I don't have much of an update this week, but I will be making a lot of progress this week!

Progress Update

This week I will be discussing with Dr. Kushin what the framework for my project will be. I am still working on the objectives, strategies and tactics, however they will be complete by the time we meet tomorrow.

I am hoping to finish gathering information and designing graphics for the project no later than the end of this week. I would like to have everything planned out to the point where all I will have to do after the faculty review is begin the actual scavenger hunt via social media.

One last major thing I have to get done before faculty review is find out what prize I will be getting from the bookstore or if I can purchase a gift card instead for a prize.

Participation will be a key factor to wether or not this project will be successful. It relies a lot on me for putting in the design work, but I believe that participation will be a good gauge to how well I did with planning.

I'm still also working on a unique hashtag for this... 

Any suggestions would be fantastic!

Photo Credit

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Progress Update!

My Capstone project is coming along. I definitely have more than enough work to fill up the next few weeks. It has taken me a while to really figure out what this project consists of and how I would be executing it.

An idea I had discussed with Dr. Kushin was a sort of "bucket list" for Shepherdstown. I have been a student at Shepherd for 3 years and have lived on campus for half of that time, yet I still haven't seen or done all of the things I have wanted to within the town itself.

I am still in the planning phase of the actual social media campaign. I plan to incorporate Instagram as well as Twitter. I will engage students to participate and interact with them on the accounts.

This week, I will be focusing on creating the clues for the scavenger hunt and probably also coming up with some kind of prize.

The Ever-Evolving Capstone Project

Over the last few weeks my Capstone has taken on a new direction than I had originally conceived. The most recent development, as I have discussed with Dr. Kushin, is a sort of Shepherdstown-based scavenger hunt. The challenge I am facing right now is how to essentially create a viral social media campaign.

The fourth and final source I have found is the basis for this post. The article comes from www.prsa.org and is titled "How Blogs and Social Media are Changing Public Relations and the Way it is Practiced" written by Donald K. Wright & Michelle D. Hinson.

This article was of particular interest to me because it discusses how public relations is evolving thanks to social media. David Meerman Scott is quoted in the article saying "“one of the coolest things about the Web is that when an idea takes off it can propel a brand or a company to seemingly instant fame and fortune.” I believe that public relations relies mostly on social media completely in this era of technology and microblogging.

The article discusses how social media is changing the ballgame for how companies and businesses tend to their people; whether it be people invested in the brand or people who work for them.

Wright and Hinson bring up blogging a lot in their text. As ironic as it is, while I sit here writing this, I can't help but think, "Is blogging really still a big thing?" I have a tendency to see blogging take a back seat to other platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, but I suppose I could see how blogging would still be relevant in some cases.

When considering how social media will affect my project (other than being the sole basis for the project), I am confident that this article will help me with figuring out how to get the appropriate feedback during my social media campaign and hopefully aide in going viral.

Photo Credit

3 Down, 1 To Go

The third source to be featured on my blog is one from a very helpful site that has been a fantastic source of information during my last few years in college. The PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) website hosts some great features for PR students, instructors and professionals.

Through PRSA, I have found what brought me to my final source -- a virtual database of scholarly articles and studies based around public relations. After scanning through a few of the volumes, I landed on a study called "A Qualitative Examination of the Impact of Social Media on Media
Relations Practice" conducted by Dustin Supa.

This report discusses "the impact of social media has been on the practitioner-journalist
relationship". I believe this text will help me to gain some insight as to why social media is something that is omnipotent. Social media is more than just impactful; it is engrained in our everyday lives. We eat, breathe, and live for this stuff, and with that comes change and some differences in our lives.

Photo Cred: Flikr

Under the Influence

At the advisement of my Capstone director, I decided to pick a text titled "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" written by Robert Cialdini.

This book will be very informative and will help me to better understand the psychology of why people say "yes".

Cialdini discusses many reasons why people say "yes" such as "reciprocation and the theory of "liking". Reciprocation is quite simply returning the action. The example that Cialdini cites is when sending Christmas cards to friends and family the typical reaction is to send one back.

Liking is when you say "yes" so that people's feelings don't get hurt. His example for this theory is a Tupperware party. You might feel it is necessary to purchase something to be polite.

He features many other reasons why people say "yes" and I believe they will all be great sources for furthering my research during my campaign.

Photo Cred: me

"The Public Relations Bible"

How to Win Friends & Influence People

After citing my previous Public Relations textbooks as four of my academic sources I will be using for my Capstone project, I decided to look for one last source that would be unique compared to the rest. I stumbled upon a Business Insider online article entitled, "10 Must-Read Public Relations And Marketing Books".

Topping the list (though not in truly ranked order) was Dale Carnegie's hugely successful 1936 text. The small amount I have read so far has been very helpful in understanding how simple it is to influence ideas.

I believe this text will aide me in achieving the results I hope to get with this project. The success of this book attributes to how helpful it really is in the world of public relations.

Photo Credit

Statement of Intent: Capstone Campaign

The main intent for my project is to create a social media campaign for businesses in Shepherdstown. Throughout the process, Matt Kushin will be my Director. After taking the Strategic Campaigns class and working with the Charles Town Now/Discover Downtown Charles Town team, I thought Shepherdstown could use the same kind of exposure for their small businesses.

This project will be quite an undertaking for one person, but I plan to start small. My plan is to start with one business, track how the campaign progresses over a maybe couple weeks while also branching out to other willing businesses.

I will create a campaign featuring background research, goals and objectives, key messages and support, channels and opinion leaders, strategies and tactics, and a finalized project based on all information. I will also create physical media for actual use.

There are many different texts I will be able to reference along the way. Some texts we have used in Dr. Kushin’s classes will be very helpful. Also, the campaign for CTN/DDCT last semester will be an excellent source of information.