Readings for Feb. 12: The Bender Group PR guest speakers/ In-class Social Media Task 5: Scavenger Hunt

Here is your blog post assignment for Feb. 12.

Research our guest speakers, Stacey Bender, CEO of The Bender Group Public Relations in Montclair, and her social media expert, Hayden Hammerling, and write about them and the company.  You should look beyond the website for the company.  The post should include the fact that they are speaking to our social media class at Seton Hall on Feb. 12 at 5:30 pm in Nursing, Rm. 105.  You should also Tweet about The Bender Group coming to speak and post it on Instagram, mentioning that it’s open to all journalism and PR students at SHU. Start tweeting and posting this week, and be sure to Tweet and/or post at least three times before the event. Don’t forget to use the class hashtag — #social3422.  (Let’s see how many people read your tweets and see your Instagram posts!)  Invite your friends to come and listen, too. We want a full classroom.

Also, please come to class on Tuesday with at least five questions to ask the speakers. Try to think of questions your classmates won’t ask so that your questions don’t get used.

In-class Social Media Task 5:  Twitter Scavenger Hunt

This task should be conducted during class time during two classes.  Part 1, the scavenger hunt and tweets, should be started on Feb. 12 and is due at the start of class on Feb. 19.  Part 2, the blog post, should be completed in class on Feb. 19.  It’s due at the end of class on Feb. 19.

Winning Team(s):  The first team to complete the Scavenger Hunt, posting all 10 tweets, wins 5 extra bonus points, which is 25% of your possible grade.   (I’ll know the winning team by the date and time on the tweets.)  The team with the best tweets — who took initiative and went out of their way to be creative  —  will also earn 5 additional bonus points.

Grading:  The task is worth 20 points, plus the possible bonus points.

Get Started:

• Work in teams of 2
• Before you start, make sure you are following the class Twitter — @BollShu — and all of your classmates on Twitter.
• Send out an introductory tweet or two explaining what you are doing and introducing yourself and your partner (each of you must post an introductory tweet.)
• Post tweets for each one of the 10 items listed below (See “Topics for the tweets”).  Work together as a team to answer the 10 items.  When posting your tweets, divide them equally between your Twitter accounts (you’ll post 5 of them to your Twitter account, and your partner will post 5).  Don’t number the tweets.  It should be clear from the content of the tweet which of 10 items it is.
• Respond to at least two of your classmates participating in the scavenger hunt.
• All tweets MUST contain two hashtags — #social3422, and another hashtag that is relevant to the content.  Any tweets that do not contain the hashtags won’t count.  Yes, this limits the number of characters available for your tweets, but that’s part of the challenge.  If necessary, you may use more than one tweet for an item.

Topics for the Tweets:

1. School spirit!  Photo and quote from someone (not you or your partner or anyone else in the class) revealing school spirit.  (What that means is up to you.  Be creative.)
2. Eating spot or watering hole. Photo and quote (not you or your partner or anyone else in the class) from your favorite eating spot or watering hole on or near campus.
3. Professor on campus.  Photo and quote from a professor on campus.  Ask the professor what role he/she thinks social media plays in our society today.  Be sure you include the professor’s name and department.
4. Student on the street.  Photo and quote from a student (not you or your partner or anyone else in class).  Ask where the student gets his or her news and if he/she uses social media to keep up with news.  Be sure you include the student’s full name, year in school, and major.  (You may have to do this one in two tweets.)
5. Academic excellence.  Photo and quote that reveals (you are going to have to be creative) how Seton Hall contributes to cutting-edge research and/or learning.
6. Scenic spot.  Photo and quote (not you or your partner) of your favorite scenic spot on or near campus.
7. Little-known fact.  Photo and quote of something you think many people might not know about our school or campus or city.
8. Fanatic fans.  Photo/quote from somebody being asked about the remainder of the men’s or women’s basketball season, or other sport of your choice.  Be sure to include the person’s full name.
9. Extracurricular extravaganza.  Photo and quote that exemplifies some of the huge variety of clubs, organizations, etc. available to students at Seton Hall.
10. Freestyle.  Your very own final unique tidbit of information/photo about our campus or city.  Be creative.

Part 2:  In-class assignment for Feb. 19:

• Create a blog post that contains the following items:
•  1.  All 10 of your tweets in order of the items listed below.  Embed the tweets within your blog post.  You must follow the instructions for embedding tweets within a blog post located here .  If you follow the instructions correctly, your tweets should look like actual tweets in the blog post.
• 2. The top five tweets from other teams (in your opinion).
• 3. At least one response you sent to another team.
• 4. Introductory and explanatory text within the blog post to make it clear what’s what.
• 5. A brief reflection on the scavenger hunt.  What were the highlights or challenges of this assignment?
• Be sure to tweet a link to your blog post.
• This assignment is due at the end of class on Feb. 19.

Tips:

• Think like a reporter.  Search for the interesting, the important, the relevant, the unique, and the immediate.  Double check your facts.  You must get people’s real FULL names (first and last) and spell them correctly.
• Think like a public relations spokesperson.  Show the world what is great about Seton Hall.  Promote the college brand.
• Don’t limit yourself to Fahy Hall and College of Communication and the Arts students.  The goal of this assignment is to publicize the university, not just COAR.  Show some initiative and creativity.
• You may use more than one tweet for an item if necessary.  Don’t overdo it.  Less is more.
• You may use common abbreviations to stay under 140 characters (e.g., “dept.” for “department” or “prof” for “professor” or using “&” in place of “and”).  But no “text speak” (no LOLs, OMGs, etc.).  And avoid exclamation points.  Use proper grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.
• Photo advice:  When taking photos, try to “fill the frame.”  Don’t be afraid to get in close.  Avoid taking all vertical photos, unless the scene lends itself to a vertical photo.  And no sideways photos.  Don’t make the reader have to turn their head to see your photos.