PR Connection- How to stay current in PR April 20, 2010

After taking many PR courses, I think I have accomplished the concept of staying current in PR. Here are some tips to PR professionals and college students that want to stay up to date in the topic of public relations.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA! All social media sites: PROpen Mic, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogs, etc. All of these sites have great news stories, information, job opportunities, and more that all have to do with public relations. If you follow the right people and know what to look for, you can stay up to date in the world of PR.
2. Listen to podcasts! There are PLENTY of podcasts that deal with public relations. Some examples are: For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report and Inside PR.
3. One of the biggest tips I can give to a Georgia Southern University PR student is to stay up to date with Professor Barbara Nixon’s blog and twitter. Professor Nixon always gives great posts and information regarding public relations. She also gives a list of people in PR that you should follow on twitter and other information that would help any PR major.

These tips are just a few to get someone started on how to stay current in PR. After you start off, I am sure that there will be many other options you will find on your own.

PR Connection- College and PR

As my four year college career is coming to an end, I want to look back on some of my favorite public relations courses that I took at Georgia Southern University.

My favorite PR course was PR publications. I love to create things and this course was all about PR Publications (obviously). We had the opportunity to create a brochure, business card, and letter head using Adobe InDesign. Eventually I want to go into event planning and these skills will help me when I reach that goal.

Another one of my favorite courses was International PR. It is important to know what is going on in the PR world outside of the United States. I learned a lot about PR in different countries and how it differs from the US. The course helped me to realize different aspects of PR.

A course that I wish I would have taken was PR Event Planning. The reason I did not take this course was because I would have had to take it in the same semester as PR Campaigns and I have always heard not to.If I could do it over, I would have tried to take event planning at an earlier semester because I think the course would have been very beneficial.

I hope this blog helps any up and coming PR majors. If I had one thing to tell them it would be to take what you think is interesting and take what YOU want to take. Don’t always take the easy route just to get an A.

PR Connection- After Graduation?

So I am finally graduating in May and not only do I have to worry about finishing up the work in my classes…. I have to worry about getting a job!! Public relations is a growing field and it is interesting looking for a job in the PR world.

May 24th I will start my summer internship at the American Cancer Society of Bulloch County. I will be working to plan events and also working with their marketing and advertising. I am excited for this internship because it will give me the opportunity to learn more about event planning and public relations.

But then what? I have been looking for jobs for the past couple of months and have realized how stressful it can be. I have interviews and job opportunities, but how will I know which is right? With the economy the way it is, no one can be too picky. It is important to learn as much as you can about a company or organization before going for an interview. The more you know, the better you look.

I learned some GREAT interviewing tips from my PR Practicum class, taught by Professor Barbara Nixon. Doing a mock interview for that class helped me to be more at ease during a real interview.

I hope that every one of my fellow graduates finds a job they love and has a successful life after college. Here’s to the next step in our lives!

Reading Notes- Survival Guide Ch. 11 and 12 April 18, 2010

All of the following reading notes come from the textbook A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay.

Ch. 11- More Social Tools

• Social calenders- great way to get extra exposure. They offer a convenient way for you to post yours event in one place and highligh them in many ways on many different platforms.
• Social pages- sites where, instead of creating a page about yourself, your book, or your business, you create pages about a particular topic.
• Wikis- a collaborative Website that allows anyone to update its content.
• Social search portals- offer visitors a unique search experience right from your Website or blog.

Ch. 12- Pulling It All Together

• Optimizing your Website- Can users interact with the content? Can visitors share the content easily with others? Does the site encourage collaboration?
• Web optimization plan and essential tactics are provided
• Integration plan- integrate your images, integrate your video, integrate other social media tools

Reading Notes- Survival Guide Ch. 10

All of the following reading notes come from the textbook A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay.

Ch. 10- Social Media Newsrooms

• A social media newsroom is one place where you can tell the media, prospective clients, book reviewers, or anyone who wants to know all about you, your business, or your book exactly what they need to know.
• A social media newsroom is for individuals or businesses that tend to get or want to get a lot of media coverage, or who put out news releases on a regular basis.
• To build a social media newsroom you should: install WordPress (or other CMS) and your theme, design the functionality of the theme, and set up your newsroom sections.
• You must prepare documents, images, and other multimedia items for your newsroom
• After you prepare your newsroom, you have to populate it
• Some examples of social media newsrooms are given that are very helpful in seeing what one actually looks like.

TOW Week 15- Guest Writer

The following is a description of our blogging topic of the week for my PR and Social Media class:

This week’s topic was inspired by Adam Vincenzini’s Be My Guest month: post something by a guest blogger. Connect with another blogger (it can, but doesn’t have to, be someone in your class) and exchange blog posts for the week. (You don’t have to write something new . . . share your favorite post you’ve written this semester.) In your own blog, make it really clear that the post is written by another person, and link to your guest’s blog.

The person I chose to guest blog with this week is Jessica Cameron. The following is a blog post that she wrote which can be found on her blog. I chose this post because it is one of my favorite blog posts that she has written.

Recruiter Visit from University Directories

February 12, 2010 at 5:09 pm (PR Connections, PRCA 3030, PRCA 3711)

On February 9, 2010 Maggie Woodward, a recruiter for University Directories came to the PRSSA meeting to speak. Maggie is a recruiter. This means she goes around to different college campuses and recruits interns.

One of the key ways to begin the career search in college is to build a relationship wtih the career center located on your college cmapus. They will help you with your resume, cover letters, and even getting you interviews.

Maggie says to begin your resume with an objective that stands out among others. An objective typically appears near the top of your resume, so it will be part of the first impression your resume gives off. Cover letters are also another way to give off a good first impression and stand out among others.

Make sure you have a professional e-mail account set up. You may even want to consider creating a separate e-mail account that is just for your job search. A professional e-mail typically contains either your first or last name or both, so the recipient can easily identify you. You will also want to keep your voicemail on your cell phone professional. Either have a professional greeting created or use the standard “You have reached…(insert name here).” Be aware of what song you choose for a ringback tone, if you choose to have one. You need the ringback tone to be professional if you are going to have one.

Tips on how to succeed in career fair:

• Look up the list your college will post about which companies ill be in attendance at the career fair.
• Research the companies that will be at the career fair, especially the ones you are interested in.
• Practice on the companies you are less interested in, before going to meet with the companies you are really interested in.
• Remember career fairs are the first impression you will make on a company so act eager.

Maggie Woodward had some great advice on using the career center on your college campus.

“Fake it til you make it!”

TOW Week 14- Guest Blogger

The following is a description of our blogging topic of the week for my PR and Social Media class:

This week’s topic was inspired by Adam Vincenzini’s Be My Guest month: post something by a guest blogger. Connect with another blogger (it can, but doesn’t have to, be someone in your class) and exchange blog posts for the week. (You don’t have to write something new . . . share your favorite post you’ve written this semester.) In your own blog, make it really clear that the post is written by another person, and link to your guest’s blog.

The guest blogger that I chose for this week is Haley Higgs. The blog post below is from her blog and was one of my favorite posts that she has written:

Does PR have a PR Problem? February 2, 2010

Filed under: PR Connections — hhiggs87 @ 10:49 pm

PR has been shown in several ways. To one extreme, all PR professionals live like Carrie Bradshaw. To another PR is nothing more than lies and spin. PR has never really found its happy medium in society because on one other than those in the business actually understand what it is.

Over the last year, PR has had to make a shift. Social media is becoming huge and PR has to change in order to keep up. In an article written by Ross Dawson, he discusses the future of PR. He provides six facets of future PR:

1. Clients Expect More
2. Media is Transformed
3. Business is a Conversation
4. Information Flows in Every Direction
5. Transparency is a Given
6. Influence Networks are at the Heart

I’ll let you read what he has to say. But from my point of view, PR professionals don’t conform to this method of thinking and realization then there will be no place for them. Social media is the chance for people to finally see what PR is all about. The promoting, the designing, the layouts, the aiding of clients, the constant flow of information, it is all available in social media.

I really liked the way Dawson closed his article. He said, “We are entering a world in which the flow of information and perceptions will drive much of the value creation in a highly networked global economy. The PR industry should be looking forward to a time of massive prosperity, in which it extends itself to play in entirely new fields of media and communication.”

http://www.rossdawsonblog.com/FutureofPR_Dawson.pdf

PR Connection- Viral Video April 14, 2010

For my PR and Social Media class at Georgia Southern University, we were to create our own video with the potential to become “viral.” The client we chose was the Public Relations Student Society of America. Below is the video that we made. It is at a fundraiser at Bruster’s the PRSSA put on to raise money for their Relay for Life team.

TOW Week 13- Viral Video April 13, 2010

For this topic of the week, we are talking about viral videos. According to Wikipedia.com, a viral video is, “One that becomes popular through the process of internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites and email.” Videos become viral when it increases in popularity and more and more people start to look at the video. Many viral videos are humorous in content and are entertaining for the viewer to watch.

With the increasing popularity of the internet, viral videos are also becoming more popular. Videos that becoming viral often have a great amount of views and sometimes can even be seen on news channels and various television channels. Many people that are in viral videos become known as “internet celebrities” and are well known throughout the world just because of one little video. Some viral videos are great for advertisements within companies and organizations and have brought success to some as well.

According to Wikipedia.com, “Humor is often a characteristic of viral videos, but not a defining one. A viral video is any video that’s passed electronically, from person to person, regardless of its content.” There is not necessarily one certain thing that makes a video become viral, it just depends on how the people accept it.

On Viralvideochart.com, there is a list of the top 20 viral videos. If you aren’t exactly sure what a viral video is, this would be a good site to look at. I guarantee you will have at least seen one of these videos!

For my PR and Social Media course, we have to create our own viral video. I am doing mine on the topic of PRSSA. To help me with my video, I had to look at many viral videos that have already been successful on the internet. Here are my two favorite viral videos:

Reading Notes- Survival Guide Ch. 8 and 9 April 8, 2010

All of the following reading notes come from the textbook A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay.

Ch.8- Media Communities

• Media communities are social sites where you can save, share, and comment on multimedia items
• Image sharing sites are a way for you to get some serious mileage out of your photos and other images
• A popular image sharing site is Flickr.com– Flickr offers a place for you to share your images with others
• On Flickr.com, you can tag images, comment on images, upload images, and more
• Image sharing strategy- get an account with the image community of your choice and fill out your profile completely, gather images you can upload right away, prepare a main key term list, use a form (like the one in the book) so you will be prepared when uploading images
• Video sharing sites are the same as image sharing, except with videos
• Youtube.com is an example of a video sharing site

Ch. 9- Widgets and Badges

• A widget is a snippet of code, usually displayed graphically, that can be used to syndicate content, for example RSS feeds, or to add interactive features that users can drop onto their own blogs or Websites
• Widgets come in different styles and levels of complexity
• You can create your own widget or add them into a variety of Websites