Review the Case "Don't Mess with the Queen of Social Media" on page 221 in The Practice of Public Relations, Ch. 10, and use the questions at the end of the chapter as a basis of your discussion.Describe what PR recommendations you would have for Taylor Swift if you were her Public Relations Consultant.Incorporate the principles of PR that you have learned to date.Develop a 700- to 1,050-word recommendation as part of your response.Use two outside references to support your points. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelinesCase Study   Don’t Mess with the Queen of Social MediaIn the 21st century, record sales are depressed. Yet her albums sell by the millions. She has 60 million followers on Twitter and another 100 million friends and subscribers among Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.She is pop singer Taylor Swift, and in the second decade of the 21st century, she is the undisputed queen of social media.How she has mastered the social medium should serve as a primer for any individual or organization eager to understand and penetrate the world’s most potent communications force. Here’s how she’s done it.Building RelationshipsPublic relations begins with building relationships, and here Taylor Swift is a master. The singer may be a millionaire many times over, but she never loses sight of her “Swifties.”Answering the appeals of the Swift fan base appears to be the singer’s number one interest. She builds a relationship with her audience by responding to random appeals on Twitter and Instagram. For example: A girl named Hannah wrote to the singer that she was being bullied, so Swift decided to send a heartfelt message encouraging her to “keep walking in the sunlight.” The Instagram comment Swift posted on the girl’s fan account went viral. Another fan told the singer of her heartbreak over a lost boy friend, and Swift told her to, “Hang in there.” Again, the Instagram went viral. Swift used Instagram to wish another fan a happy 16th birthday, congratulated another on her engagement, and another on earning her driver’s license. She even commended the “sense of humor” of another teenage follower. Such interactions occasionally open Swift to attack from the some of the more cynical denizens of the Internet, but the more Swift embraces the hate, the more popular she gets. With strategic social media messages like these to individual fans, Swift has developed a reputation for caring that transcends that of any other superstar. Indeed, one Swiftie even devotes a Tumblr account to follow Swift’s likes and comments on Instagram.Keeping It RealIn the 21st century, everyone from corporate CEOs to entertainers to the President of the United States to the Queen of England communicate via social media. But how many of them have ghost writers, i.e. public relations assistants who draft the missives for them? Answer: Nearly all of them. Except for . . . Taylor Swift!While most celebrities, like Britney Spears whose manager tweets from her client’s account to the 39 million Britney followers, have social media experts writing for them round-the-clock, Swift, by all accounts, engages with fans in a raw and natural way, personalizing her social media communications.When a Swift fan tweeted her how she went “bonkers” over a particular song at a concert, the singer retweeted that the girl had “made her day!!!!” When another fan tweeted about a local dance party with all Swift songs, the singer tweeted back, “Wish I was there!!!!”The Swift social media “touch,” including the multiple!!!! exclamation marks, adds to the singer’s authenticity as a social media presence and, by extension, as a “real” person. Indeed, in her interviews and personal appearances—including the time she threw a private concert for a six-year-old Leukemia patient and her two-hour lunch with a 17-year-old girl battling cancer—Swift comes across as confident, enthusiastic, and the “real deal.”Promoting CreativelyThe fact that everybody uses social media means that just like any other medium, to really score with the new technology, one must use it creatively. Here again, Taylor Swift excels.In 2014, when the singer was about ready to drop her new album, “1989,” she enticed a larger audience by dropping clues on Instagram. In the video, an unseen person presses the 18th floor button of an elevator, followed by a screen shot of her phone, showing the time, 5 p.m. Another screen shot mysteriously showed Yahoo!’s search engine.This creative gamification strategy gave her audience an additional reason to care about what the singer was leading up to. The outgrowth: Swift would debut the album with a live stream on Yahoo at 5 p.m. on August 18.Not only did the singer leave the social media clues to entice interest in the new album, but she also proceeded to comment, favor, and retweet individual fan posts about the campaign.And beyond the social media games, Taylor Swift also is canny enough to avail herself of social media’s most fetching commodity—the cat. So when the singer walks her cats or goes shopping with them, she makes a point of posting the photo for her adoring fans. Predictably, those fans have awarded Swift’s cats, Meredith and Olivia, with numerous social profiles (Figure 10-8).Such are the initiatives that separate celebrities who merely understand and use social media from those who are true social media prodigies.Standing for SomethingTaylor Swift also distinguishes herself from other social media users by demonstrating, through social media postings, that she stands for something.This gutsiness was amply demonstrated in the summer of 2015 when Apple announced that it didn’t plan to pay artists royalties during a free, three-month trial of its new streaming music service.Immediately after the Apple announcement, Swift posted an online announcement of her own, saying she would withhold her latest album from the service because Apple wasn’t planning to pay artists and labels directly for the use of their music. In part, the singer posted on her Tumblr page:To Apple, Love Taylor“We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.”She closed by expressing hope that the company might change its policy and “change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this.”And within hours, that’s exactly what the most powerful tech company in the world decided to do. Said Apple’s senior vice president, “When I woke up this morning and I saw Taylor’s note that she had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change.” And so Apple did, gently brought to its knees by the Queen of Social Media (Figure 10-8

Instructions One of the biggest challenges for new managers is leading on the first day. Nerves are often short, but managers have to be able to overcome those feelings to project an aura of confidence that will encourage others to follow them. This journal assignment is designed to reflect your skills in being able to take this premise and showcase what you believe to be the most important elements into a brief assignment. This exploration will be the first step into the world of evaluating effective communication and leadership strategies for a company, which is a key component of the final project. Compose an assignment that shares the challenges people have when becoming managers, as discussed in Being the Boss from the module resources. You may also draw upon your own experiences as both a leader and follower in this environment. Share some ways that a new manager might impact the system in place, as discussed in the Almaney readings. GUIDELINES ATTACHED SOURCES BELOW Textbook: Business Communication: Developing Leaders for a Networked World, Chapter 1 Before you can lead, you first have to establish credibility. How can you get it? Video: Jerry Kramer Talks About the Greatness of Vince Lombardi (1:57) This video provides an overview of the coaching philosophies of NFL Hall of Fame coach, Vince Lombardi. Library Article: The Leader's Playbook; Take a Page—No, Several Pages—From This Guide to Transforming Your Team This article further defines Lombardi’s strategies by providing a peek into his playbook. eBook: Being the Boss by Linda Hill (Introduction) Credibility can be a challenge for a person who is promoted and now in charge of directing his or her former peers. Library Article: Communication and the Systems Theory of Organization This article provides a foundation for effective organizational leadership as it explores systems theory. You will also learn the impact of communications on the process.

Discussion One: Review the material presented in the course about how to conduct a job analysis, the various methods for collecting data, and the pros and cons of the various methods. Then, develop a plan to gather data for a job analysis. You will need to a) select the position (a job) to analyze; b) use at least two methods for collecting data; c) collect the data using the methods selected and d) summarize your findings in a short job description and job specification. If you do not have a position in a typical office, retail establishment or production facility you can use, seek out a position from elsewhere. The opportunities could include a server at a restaurant, a service provider in your home, your hair stylist, a sales assistant, the receptionist at your doctor's office or perhaps your child's teacher.  Include the following: 1. The position you selected to analyze 2. The methods you selected for gathering data 3. The rationale for why you selected the methods you did 4.  A discussion of your experience in collecting this data 5.  A short sample position description and job specification you were able to design based on the data you gathered. You may use a word document if you like or provide your proposal in the content of your response window. Be sure to provide the references for the sources of the information you used to inform your analysis including the material provided in the classroom. Discussion Two: Complete the following: a) Summarize and explain the major EEOC laws related to the recruiting process. How can recruiters and hiring managers reduce the risk of adverse impact? b) Discuss three methods of recruiting to obtain a diverse group of applicants and explain why they are effective. c) Explain the concept of employment at will.  What are the risks and benefits of employment at will doctrine? How is the employment at will doctrine influenced by EEOC laws? d) Application: Read the Module 2 Case and in-depth scenario 1. Draft a short memo to the founders of HSS to address the issues with the hiring practices. Specifically, address what laws or regulations may apply, organizational risks and discuss suggestions for how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified. You may use a word document if you like or provide your proposal in the content of your response window.