Career Advice for the PR Rookie

The PR industry is very broad and can cover just about every industry. Since the PR field is so diverse, anyone who is looking for employment in PR needs to have certain skills. They need to be confident, proactive, able to talk to clients, be able to hand tight deadlines, work hard, but most importantly, communication.

Here are some tips on how to stand out and last in the PR world. 

CONFIDENCE. 

When appropriate, don't be hesitant to voice your opinions and ideas. But do not be arrogant. Sometimes new employees can be so certain in their abilities that they can come off arrogant. That can damage relationships with fellow workers and employers. The trick is to provide thoughtful information but not coming off as a smarty-pants. 

MISTAKES WILL BE MADE. BUT DON'T MAKE THE SAME ONE TWICE.

Learn from your mistakes when you make them the first time and be sure not to repeat the same error again. Handle your first-time mistake with professionalism and grace. That will show your maturity and you will gain respect. 

KNOW THERE IS MUCH TO LEARN.

Although the ones who are fresh out of college have gained academic knowledge, but there is still the education that comes from actually joining the industry. You will gain humility and the will to gain as much experience as possible. 

BE PROACTIVE AND USEFUL.

Being proactive and useful will help with the relationships with media, clients and co-workers. The more you're useful, the more trusted you will be. 

KNOW YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA. 

Properly know how to work different social media channels, such as blogging, Twitter and Facebook.

And lastly... 

L.E.A.D.

According to Jody Koehler of Coopr, she says to L.E.A.D. which stands for, "Listen, Experience, Ask and Dare." 

Starting a new job in PR is definitely very intimidating. But, there are definitely certain ways to get through it smoothly. Have confidence, learn from your mistakes, learn as much as you can, be proactive and useful, know your social media and L.E.A.D. 

Social Media Expert...Or Not?

Have you ever visited a website that looked somewhat professional? But when you took a good look at it, you noticed it hasn't been updated in weeks, if not months? This is definitely a sign that someone isn't really a social media expert. It is easy to tell once you know the signs. Here are a few clues on how not to be fooled. 

CLUES: 

1. There are social media icons in their email signature or website, but when you click on the links they have, they haven't been updated for weeks or months. 

2. They can't give you a straight answer when you ask them if they have actually used the tools they're recommending. 

3. Their idea of social media is promoting a company's service or key message without speaking with the users. 

4. Their program proposals talk about big ideas. BUT they don't mention how they will measure the success. 

5. As soon as something new comes out, they suggest you include it into your program. 

6. When consider using MySpace as a social media channel to consider. 

7. They guarantee immediate results. 

8. On their Twitter or Facebook or any other social media device it says: "Social media expert." 

These different clues may seem very obvious to some, but if you really think about it, it would be easy to get caught up into believing these things. Now that I am aware of what real social media experts do NOT do, I will know when it is a scam. 

#twitterchats

I have had a Twitter account for the past three years, and I have never once heard of a twitter chat. I have always wondered why people were always hashtagging things that I had never heard of multiple times in a row. Now that question has been answered. Twitter chats.

I participated in a Twitter chat for the first time tonight called #journchat. I had never done a Twitter chat before. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I sat watching my computer screen while all these different tweeters were commenting. Finally, I visited the #journchat Twitter page. They had tweeted four simple rules.

            1.     Quick introduction. For example, “Hi! I’m a Senior PR major at Baylor University 

                  and this is my first #journchat!”

            2.     Play nice.

            3.     Submit questions to @prsarahevans without hashtagging.

            4.     No pitching.

So I got started. #journchat tweeted different questions. The first question said, “Kenneth Starr recently spoke out about camera use in the Supreme Court. In your op, are they overdue?” There was also an article attached to the tweet for everyone to read. I tweeted back and was able to give my opinion on the issue. But what was more exciting is that I got to see what others thought about it!

Live Twitter chats are becoming more popular and they are an easy way to talk about topics online. It is live, fast, and many people participate. There are different Twitter chats that take place every single day, which gives many people the chance to participate and state their opinion over different issues from politics to fashion. It is a great way to form different opinions on things or even learn about something you never thought would interest you. Twitter chats are a great form of social media.