In this episode, Holly Bishop joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss why your company's social media isn’t working.

Tune in to learn more!

Guest:

Holly is a seasoned social media and marketing professional with over 10 years of diverse experience spanning medical practices, retail/e-commerce, and non-profit sectors.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Understanding the role of social media professionals

2. How to manage a work/life balance as a social media professional

3. Why your company’s social media isn’t working

4. How trust and flexibility with your social media team can improve your content

5. The importance of community engagement

Quotables

“There’s a lot of misconception that social media managers can do all of these things and that they’re experts at every single social media platform, and that is just not the case.” - Holly Bishop

“Companies either don’t prioritize social media or they don’t have the resources to make it an entire team. Yet, social media is a powerful tool with a global audience.” - Jason Mudd

“One person can’t do something great alone. They need others around them.” - Jason Mudd

“I'm seeing a huge shift in social media managers embracing the fact that our screen time is probably triple what a normal person’s would be by Wednesday afternoon. It just is what is, but also knowing when to turn things off and when to be unavailable.” - Holly Bishop

“This is the kind of role that you wouldn’t be doing unless you were genuinely passionate about it.” - Holly Bishop

“We also have our own social media too, which are almost always suffering and looking terrible because we're always so focused on the brands that we run.” - Holly Bishop

“They also don’t realize that what got them there doesn’t get them to be successful in social media. What I mean by that is they may be really good with their own social media, but what they don’t realize is that the expectation for professional social media is way higher. They can get away with typos and incomplete sentences on their own socials, but when you get to the corporate side, there’s not going to be a lot of patience or forgiveness when it comes to that kind of stuff.” - Jason Mudd

“Even for serious brands, it’s important to have fun with the things that are being put out with social media because at the end of the day, as a consumer for your audience that you are speaking to, if it's boring or it's not giving a hook or not interesting or providing that value why would they want to read what you put out anyways?” - Holly Bishop

“Having a really good professional working for your brand is so important because they are able to take that fun side but still utilize the important brand messaging and standards that you have for that specific brand but just making it their own, being able to speak in a way to that brand’s audience that captures their attention but still follows those rules of professionality.” - Holly Bishop

“If there isn’t that support to give for that professional to be able to do those things with having that creative team in their corner, then they won’t be able to have that fun aspect in it

Support the Show.

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

In this episode, Linda Rutherford joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss her take on current airline crises and go into depth about Southwest’s crisis communication plan and how they’ve managed their past crises.

Guest:

Linda Rutherford is the Chief Administration Officer for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, the nation's largest airline in terms of domestic Customer boardings. Linda is known for creating and leading powerful teams that equip, empower, and engage the business to serve its people and customers.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Linda’s take on current airline crises

2. Southwest’s communications department and response plan

3. How Southwest has responded to past crises

4. How to manage the media and consumers’ perception of a crisis

5. How to balance your message post-national crisis

Quotables

“Today, communications represent the pace of media. Before, it might’ve seemed a little slower and more leisurely, and today, I would also say that public relations represents a lot more responsibility for brand reputation and issues management.” - Linda Rutherford

“Certainly, the role of journalists has changed significantly, much like our roles in communications have.” - Linda Rutherford

“Obviously, first and foremost, it is the safety of our passengers and employees on the affected flight. It is what do we need to do to get them safely on the ground, and then what do we need to do to understand what happened so we can go about learning how we prevent it from happening in the future.” - Linda Rutherford

“We like to say that we're in a deregulated environment, but we're regulated in the air and on the ground.” - Linda Rutherford

“I also like to say that we operate, we fly the general public, and we operate in weather. So what could possibly go wrong daily? That's why you spend a lot of time preparing and understanding what your contingencies are.” - Linda Rutherford

“My analogy is when Taylor Swift tickets went on sale, and Ticketmaster had a brownout, that's basically what happened.” - Linda Rutherford

“We did have a union, which we were negotiating with at the time that was perpetuating the story by calling crew, scheduling technology, antiquated. So that storyline was out there, and a lot of media were picking that up.” - Linda Rutherford

“There's a lot of demand to say everything at once, but we didn't necessarily have the credibility to say everything at once.” - Linda Rutherford

“We did tell the whole story. We had our chief operating officer give congressional testimony before a Senate subcommittee and told the whole story like I'm telling you.” - Linda Rutherford

“I tell people all the time that PR is about building up that equity so that when you have an issue, people already know that you're trustworthy and honorable and that you do the right thing.” - Jason Mudd

“The first thing you need to do is respond to what's right in front of you, and then you can begin to build on the story as you go and as you learn more, admit mistakes, be honest, and then be very transparent about what you're doing to fix things.” - Linda Rutherford

“Culture is not throwing a party

Support the Show.

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

In this episode, John Hewitt joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss three ways franchisors can use PR to grow their company.

Guest:

John Hewitt is a renowned entrepreneur who has made a significant impact in the business world through his innovative ideas and strategic thinking. He is best known for his success in the tax preparation industry, having founded two of the largest tax preparation companies in the U.S.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. How to use PR to build your credibility

2. How PR efforts can MAKE you money

3. The mindset needed to take advantage of PR opportunities

4. Where to start when looking for PR opportunities

5. Why maintaining relationships with journalists is important

Quotables

“Part of what a leader has to do is have a somewhat rational goal and be able to sell that goal.” - John Hewitt

“You need a rival to inspire people and show them the path that you’re on.” - Jason Mudd

“PR creates that brand name, and it creates support from the local community.” - John Hewitt

“We often call this newsjacking. That’s the term we use for when something’s happening in the news, and you twist it or position it to your benefit.” - Jason Mudd

“If you get to start all over again and you don’t do it much better, then you’re an idiot.” - John Hewitt

“Building relationships with people and not rushing into relationships but just building them slowly over time is important to public relations.” - Jason Mudd

“I’ve gotten more comments when I’ve provided substantive commentary and expert, helpful advice when I’m quoted in the news.” - Jason Mudd

“How can someone do business with you if they’ve never heard of you.” - Jason Mudd

“Happy successful franchisees, that’s our mantra. If franchisees are happy and successful, you can’t stop growing by leaps and bounds. If they’re not, you can’t grow.” - John Hewitt

“There’s nothing more fun than changing and improving lives.” - John Hewitt

If you enjoyed this episode, would you please share it with others and leave us a review?

About John Hewitt

John T. Hewitt is an American entrepreneur and founder of Jackson Hewitt, Liberty Tax Service, and Loyalty Brands. Together these companies account for approximately 10,000 tax preparation and business services franchises in the USA and Canada. In addition, Hewitt is a pioneer in the development and use of specialized tax-preparation software, which is now the industry’s standard practice.

After leaving Jackson Hewitt in 1996, John decided to launch a new company that would be the vehicle for further marketing and brand development innovations, Liberty Tax Service. The new company initially focused its operations in Canada. Liberty Tax Service was launched there when Hewitt purchased a Canadian tax company on September 1, 1997. The new concern achieved a huge measure of success by opening more than 4,000 offices in North America by 2012 which made it the fastest-growing major tax-preparation company in history. Liberty Tax Service is best known for the costumed "wavers" dressed as the Statue of Liberty used in front of offices across the country. Hewitt left Liberty Tax Service in 2018 and found

Support the Show.

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.