TRUMP NEEDS TO CHILL, PRONTO

Posted on July 8, 2015 by zcommunications

By Risë Birnbaum

Call me nearsighted (I am), but I just do not see how anyone believes a word Donald Trump says. The latest kerfuffle happened today (it’s a daily thing now), and involves the new luxury hotel he’s building in downtown DC.

The Washington Post recently stated there are illegal immigrants working on the hotel, so Anderson Cooper decided to ask Trump directly about the allegations. Trump’s answer: “I can’t guarantee that all the workers I employ have legal status in the United States, but if I were to discover any illegal immigrants…we’d get rid of them immediately.”

I guess the same illegal immigrants that Trump believes are “raping our women” are OK to have around as long as they help him put up his luxury hotels. Remember, this is the same guy who re-tweeted that “Jeb Bush has to like Mexican illegals because of his wife.” Where does this guy come off? And he doesn’t regret a word. Nope. Not one, single word of his nonsensical rants. He also called conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer a “rodeo clown.” Now, Krauthammer is not my favorite guy in town and maybe he should cut down on the hair dye, too, but he sure doesn’t deserve what Trump dished out. Neither does Jeb.

Really, folks, can anyone out there actually take their precious vote and pull the lever for this guy? If anyone’s a clown, it’s Trump, and if our country is going to get through this election cycle, he either better take some xanax, or we should. Some noise-cancelling headphones would help, too.

BYE BYE BRUCE, HELLO CAITLYN

Posted on June 1, 2015 by zcommunications

It’s Trans-Jenner Time

Risë Birnbaum

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Caitlyn Looking Coy

Just when you think you’ve heard and seen it all…there’s more. World — meet Caitlyn. Caitlyn is gracing the July cover of Vanity Fair and, yes, Caitlyn used to be Bruce. Annie Leibovitz captured Caitlyn for a cover that will go down in history about a his-to-her story.

No, this is not a still from Ex Machina, it’s formerly Bruce Jenner, the worlds’ greatest Olympian, who is looking pretty hot in some lingerie. I’m not sure she’ll be the next Victoria’s Secret model, wait — strike that. I think Victoria’s Secret might jump all over this opp.

Remember, this is the same testosterone-fueled person who jumped higher and ran faster than any other Olympian in the world (though hormone levels have probably changed). And now this javelin-tossing athlete is striking a pose like a 1950’s pin-up girl.

Bruce Jenner wins the Decathlon

As the red blooded all American woman that I am, I still drool over pics of Bruce when he won Gold. That said, I guess Bruce-turned-Caitlyn still looks pretty fetching.

I could crack jokes all day. It’s too easy. This is an amazing story that will hopefully liberate men and women who believe they were born the wrong sex and are determined to do something about it. If Bruce had not become Caitlyn, he might have died. He and his family admit that.

So, Caitlyn is waaaay out of the closet, way beyond that box of Wheaties and way beyond the limits that we place on ourselves.

Bruce was amazing at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. But, mon dieux, Caitlyn is even more amazing on the cover of Vanity Fair in 2015.

CRACKING THE BLOGGER CODE

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BY: JASMINE WALTON

In the world of PR, blogger outreach is one of the sharpest, new arrows in our quiver. Why? More laser-targeted impressions, which means the right reach. And it’s only natural that followers are more likely to trust a blogger’s word over a branded ad.

Our zcomm team taps into the blogger world, in addition to other digital marketing tactics, to target specific audiences in industries including health, beauty, food, consumer and non-profits.

One of our key partner bloggers is Kimberly Vetrano, the founder of “She Scribes.” Kimberly doubles as a mother, wife, photographer and freelance writer. She decided to become a blogger because she loves to write, and blogging was a way to write about her life.

Kimberly prides herself on blogging about a variety of topics for a diverse readership. Her tag line is “A little bit of this, a little bit of that.” In fact, her blog topics are heavily influenced by her readers. She makes sure to read her fans’ comments, and even does yearly “polling” to find the topics that her readers find most interesting. In addition to blogging about her life, she also tracks and writes about what’s trending — crafts, recipes and style posts are all hot topics now.

When asked how she keeps her blog so active, Kimberly says her blog is her business, and she treats it that way. Kimberly says, “I make it a priority to post at least once a day, 7 days a week. If I have something planned on the weekend, I’ll write a post ahead of time and schedule it on the weekend.”

Kimberly tries to engage her followers through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. “Social media influences my blog in a big way…there are plenty of readers who share the same interests and can engage with you about them on social media channels or via comments on the blog posts.”

Kimberly’s favorite social media outlet is Facebook. “I feel like I can connect with readers more on that platform. I can scroll down and read comments and reply to them when I have a chance. I feel like Facebook is more personal.”

When relevant brands come to zcomm for blogger outreach, we call Kimberly (and lots of other bloggers) with the kind of content that she loves. Because we know what she likes. So, when reaching out to bloggers, take time to read the blog on a regular basis BEFORE you contact them so you know exactly what they write about and the content that floats their boat. That’s the key to cracking the blogger code.

Social Media and the Election

Posted on November 6, 2012 by zcommunications

This post is part of a series written by zcomm interns. Be sure to check back each week for their take on the latest in the public relations industry. This week, Hailey discusses the upcoming election and the role social media plays.

For months now, the internet has been flooded with political news and opinions. I’ve seen countless Facebook posts and tweets about the upcoming election and its candidates, but are all of these social media users actually planning to vote? Anyone can sit on the internet and rant and rave about candidates, but I hope that those who truly care will take their opinions to the polls.

During the third presidential debate, my roommate and I noticed that if we were to base the election results on candidate popularity, Barack Obama would win by a landslide. However, I saw someone post about the same concept, except that Mitt Romney would be the victor. Initially I thought my Facebook friend must be blind, but it makes sense. The majority of my Facebook friends and Twitter followers grew up near me, went to college with me, or were in my sorority, so it’s likely that we share similar views. You can’t really get a glimpse of the majority when you’re surrounded by others much like yourself.

To get a better idea of candidate popularity on social media, I was going to compare the exact amount of Facebook “likes” both Obama and Romney have, but in the past five minutes alone Obama has gained more than 2,000 likes. Each time I refresh the page, the number continues to grow. The same goes for Romney. Although both are seeing increasing numbers, Obama has nearly 32 million “likes,” while Romney has just over 12 million (as of 11:10 a.m. EST).

There’s a huge gap here, but is social media support in any way indicative of election results? I guess only time will tell.

Twitter Bowl

Posted on September 10, 2012 by zcommunications

This post is part of a series written by zcomm interns. Be sure to check back each week for their take on the latest in the public relations industry. This week, Hailey discusses the Twitter bowl and who would be winning if it was up to social media.

It’s that time of year again. Football season is back and everyone’s excited, especially Washington Redskins fans following Robert Griffin III’s impressive NFL debut. Maybe this really will be their year… The Redskins have built up so much hype surrounding RG3, and his face and name seem to be everywhere. There’s no escaping him. His Subway commercial aired what seemed like 300 times during the Eagles/Browns game, and my entire Twitter feed on Sunday was filled with “Hail Yeah RG3” and pictures of people “griffing.”

It’s clear that RG3 is a fan favorite, both on and off the field. He only has one regular season game under his belt and he’s already up to more than 340,000 Twitter followers. His remarkable talent is what brought him to the DC area and turned him into a celebrity, but what if it were the other way around? What if popularity determined success?

If the NFL playoffs were based on popularity alone, who would be the Super Bowl champion? Don’t get too excited Redskins Fans. You still wouldn’t even make it to playoffs. Behold Super Bowl – Twitter style. If the NFL playoffs were based solely on the amount of Twitter followers each team has, the post season would look like this.

Based on the bracket, it’s obvious that the amount of followers each team has is not based on success alone. The New York Jets have only been to the Super Bowl once, yet they are the Twitter Bowl champions with 449,151 followers, more than the entire AFC South Division combined. The Dallas Cowboys have been to eight Super Bowls, but they have a ton of bandwagon fans so it’s not surprising that they also have more than 400,000 followers.

The Indianapolis Colts, the Tennessee Titans, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals would be the five worst teams in this fictional league with 354,977 combined followers. With only 26,061 followers Cardinals would be absolutely horrible. Their extremely low amount of followers is surprising considering their star wide receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, has the fourth highest number of followers (1,355,554) of all NFL players. He falls only behind Reggie Bush (2,577,903), Tim Tebow (1,863,891), and Michael Vick (1,486,843).

Chad Johnson, a.k.a. Ochocinco, was the NFL player with the most followers with 3,752,474. Now that he is a free agent, that title goes to Reggie Bush, who probably wouldn’t have that many followers if it weren’t for his relationship with social media savvy Kim Kardashian.

Although the primary goal of professional sports teams is to win, they too are organizations that need to work toward having a strong social media presence. This bracket may not reflect upon the teams’ success, but it does reflect upon their social media efforts. Perhaps a little public relations training camp could do them well.

Twitter followers each NFL team has (as of Sept. 10, 2012)

AFC East

New England Patriots – 412,931

New York Jets – 449,151

Miami Dolphins – 157,929

Buffalo Bills – 112,242

AFC West

Oakland Raiders – 187,214

Denver Broncos – 182,899

San Diego Chargers – 155,173

Kansas City Chiefs – 107,369

AFC North