The Art of Promotion


In light of this blog originating from my social media principles class at Ohio Northern University, I decided to discuss the role I play as a Public Relations "agent". Over the summer of 2019, my friends Austin, Micah, and I launched a YouTube channel we decided to call "Gideonz Army TV". This named originated from an outreach we had done together for years. There, we formed this name and since then we had been referred to as such. What an incredible journey it has been. We started out with little to no knowledge of how to shoot, edit, and ultimately produce our videos. Now, nearly 2 months in, we have neared 100 subscribers, over 2,000 watch minutes and have produced 8 videos.

While every aspect of managing a YouTube account is not easy, the greatest challenge for us was promotion. Many hours were spent in determining which social media platforms to post on, what to post, and even what times to post that would optimize our growth. It all came as a shock to me, as I thought if I simply just told someone about the channel they would go subscribe or at least check it out. Wrong! The effort and panning that it takes to simply attract viewers in a way that gets them to just click on a link requires much more than I previously thought. This opened my eyes to the world of Public Relations.

PR stretches far beyond just damage control if a individually in the public eye makes a mistake. In Public Relations you have to create a bond, or some form of familiarity between the customer/viewer and the company or entity you represent. The process was very interesting and fun for me. Figuring out what works and what doesn't, how to present our thoughts in a way that is received by an outside party, and how to connect with our viewers. Our words are tools that can be used to build up and to tear down. One wrong use of a word can end careers. I believe Public Relations agents are wordsmiths, using that tool for the benefit of who they represent and who they wish to connect with.


Until Next Time,
James

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