Introduction

 To begin the first blog post of many, I would like to introduce myself! I am Vanilla Ice and I am a junior public relations major, marketing minor at Fairfield University. I am a passionate, driven student leader and I always chase my goals, no matter how big or small. This semester I have the amazing opportunity to intern for a non-profit organization, The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Connecticut. There is a special place in my heart for non-profit organizations, especially Make-A-Wish, as I have admired it since I was eight years old. I don’t know if I want to work in non-profit or corporate public relations, but hopefully between the corporate PR class I’m taking as well as my internship at a non-profit, I will be able to narrow it down.

The company I’ve decided to blog about over the course of this semester is Target. 

I chose Target because I am a loyal customer to this store and often find myself wandering in their aisles for what could be hours when I only came in for one thing. I may only come in to buy milk, vitamins, and shampoo, but I know I’ll walk out with those items, clothes, earrings, snacks, notebooks, and approximately another $35 worth of unnecessary purchases.

Target is currently one of the largest discount retailers in the United States. Target was founded in 1902 by George Draper Dayton and was first known as Dayton Dry Goods Company. The first "real" Target was opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota with a focus on convenient shopping at competitive, discounted prices. Today, there are 1,795 Target retail stores and 38 distribution centers in the United States. There are also a few stores in Canada as well as a Target headquarter in India. Consumers can shop online at Target.com and can get their products shipped internationally. Target's current CEO is Brian Cornell, Jason Goldberger is the president of Target.com and the Chief Digital Designer, and the Chief Operating Officer is John J Mulligan.

Target's brand promise is for customers to "expect more, pay less". Since 1946, the corporation has given 5 percent of its income to communities through grants and a variety of programs, which equates to approximately $4 million per week, and also offers a store credit card where customers save 5% on every purchase at Target. The retailer sells a wide arrangement of products to its' loyal customers; ranging from food to toiletries to clothes to electronics to furniture to books to toys and everything in between.

Target has a reputation for being a "classier" Walmart, which is the largest discount retailer in the United States. People find that Target has better options, is a cleaner store, has better employees, and is classier than it's largest competitor. One event that has damaged the corporation's reputation was during 2013 holiday season when Target suffered a major hack. The hacker stole credit and debit card data from over 40 million accounts.Target said it would offer affected customers a free credit monitoring service and set up a telephone hotline. They also offered a store-wide 10% discount the weekend after the event took place. Target took action as soon as they were aware of what had happened. However, in 2015, two years after the incident, Target announced they would pay up to $10,000 to each customer who was affected by the hack. They did this to help boost their reputation and to let customers know how truly sorry they are for the incident in hopes to regain trust by shoppers.

Target uses social media websites, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to communicate with customers and inform them about new deals or promotions. On their official Twitter, @Target, employees respond to tweets that are addressed to their account in a friendly, personable way. No matter if the original comment is positive or negative, they try to make the response positive and help the original user the best they can if needed. On Instagram, fun graphics are posted to inform people about certain brands at the store as well as certain product promotions. On Facebook, the official Target page posts many photos or videos to inform about promotions the stores may be having. For example, in the middle of August, they posted a quick graphic about back to school shopping. When Facebook users comment on their posts with questions, concerns, or comments about their experiences or anything else, a representative will reply to the original comment with feedback and support to help the person. They do this to build a relationship with the customers and to let the customers know that their concerns are important to the corporation, whether their comments are positive or negative.

Overall, Target seems to have pretty good PR, especially on their social media. Their personable approach reminds customers that they are a friendly corporation. However, they may want to be a little more mature on some of their social media, and could consider taking away "emojis" from their responses on Twitter if they are deemed unnecessary. To boost their reputation, they could post a little more often as their social media presence isn't as apparent as some of their competitors.