So you wanna blog…MORE?

I’ll admit, having a WordPress blog is pretty cool. But, having two WordPress blogs is even cooler. If you’re looking into adding a blog to your account, here are the steps to becoming a blogging extraordinaire:

• Log into your current wordpress account.
• Once logged in, move your cursor to the top of the screen and click “My Dashboards.”
• When the drop down menu appears, click “Manage Blogs.”
• A list of your current blogs will appear. At the bottom of that list, you will find a button labeled “Register Another Blog.” Click this button.
• This page, “Get another WordPress.com blog in seconds,” will appear. You will find 4 blue boxes.
• In the first blue box begin typing the title of your new blog’s domain. For example, meshae.wordpress.com * Note: This box will not allow you click inside of it. Just start typing.*
• If you’d like, in the second blue box, you can name your blog. This can be changed at any time, so don’t worry about finding the perfect name at first.
• In the third box, you may set the language you;d like your blog to be published in.
• The last(fourth) box allows you to make settings on how private you’d like your blog to be.
• Once you’ve completed all 4 boxes, you just click “Create blog” and like MAGIC…

You have created another blog within your WordPress account. Having the ability to add blogs to your one account makes managing your different blogs a lot more convenient.

HAPPY BLOGGING!

Who cares about the PUBLIC?

In my PR Publications class, Professor Nixon divided us up into work groups. The objective of each group is to discuss a characteristic by which “publics” are segmented.

Now you may be thinking, what exactly is a “public?” I like to say a public is the “bull’s eye” on a PR professional’s dartboard.

As PR professionals, we have to determine which publics our organizations are targeting. Target publics, according to Morton’s Strategic Publications, refer to specific groups of people that you need to reach with a specific message about your organization. The most obvious reason for segmenting publics involves the use of resources.

Organizations segment their publics to save their resources. If a particular group of people are not affected by an organization’s operations, then there is no need to try and reach them.

By segmenting publics, an organization can be sure that their publications reach their target. An organization’s publications should cater to a specific group. As we all know, an ad that appeals to an 18 year-old may not be successful for reaching an 80 year-old.

So the question of the hour is, who cares about the public?

PR practitioners and the organizations they work for do.

Without establishing a target public, an organization can not establish a consistent, effective marketing plan.

All About MeeSH

As a Public Relations major in my senior year, I have grown a lot since entering Georgia Southern University. From being a peer mentor to being an orientation leader for 2 years, to now being the 2009-2010 Traditions Council president, I’ve been able to gain tons of leadership experience and meet so many amazing people.

Affectionately known to my friends as MeeSH, I am a woman of great character and integrity. I consider myself a leader and a role model and learned at an early age that decisions we make can build us up or tear us down. Fortunately, the guidance my parents and mentors have given me make that decision-making process a lot easier.

Although I hold myself to very high standards, I’m still a very fun person. I love cartoons. I love to laugh. I love spending quality time with my family and friends. And I absolutely…positively….love experiencing new things. College has truly made me a lot more open-minded and willing to try new things.

You dunno CRAP!

I will never forget the day I walked into my INTRO to PR class and my professor, Barbara Nixon, said we’d be talking about CRAP!

That was months ago, but I realized that day, that CRAP was not going to go away. As a matter of fact, I had been using it for years. I’ve used CRAP in yearbook design, newspaper design, ad design and a host of other publications. Now that I’m in Professor Nixon’s PR Publications class, CRAP is BACK!

C.R.A.P., which stands for contrast, repetition, alignment and priximity, is a tool used to bring attention to what’s important in a publication. CRAP combines all the above aspects of design to make sure you understand a publication and focus on its purpose.

Contrast is important in design because it highlights the important things and mutes the not-so-important things in a publication. The next element, repetition, creates a sense of togetherness for your publication. Repeating certain elements in a publication adds uniformity to it. The third element, alignment, makes the publication easy on the eyes. Alignment “connects the dots” for you to grasp the whole concept of the publication. Lastly, proximity groups the elements that belong together and separates those that don’t.

When executed well, CRAP delivers a visually-stimulating, audience pleasing product.

Reflections of a PR Student…chapter.eight

In chapter eight of my Intro to Public Relations book, the final step in the public relations process is discussed.

Evaluation is the final step in executing a PR campaign. In the evaluation stage, the results of the campaign are compared to the established objectives set in the planning stage.

According to my Intro to PR book, the evaluation stage is implemented because of a desire to do a better job next time. Any respectable establishment should strive to improve its customer satisfaction and overall performance. By making an evaluation of what was done and how, PR agency’s can find out what works and what doesn’t.

In order to complete an evaluation, there must be a set of objectives from the beginning. Also, those  must be measurable.

There are several different ways to evaluate an agency’s performance, including measurements of the message exposure, audience awareness, audience action, and audience attitudes. Another way to evaluate performance is through the measurement of supplemental activities.

The books states that 4 or 5 percent of a typical public relations budget is allocated to evaluations and measurement. Although seemingly small, this is a very large amount spent on ensuring that the job done is well.

Reflections of a PR student…chapter.seven

The third step in the RACE or the public relations process is “communication.” Communication as a whole is in my opinion the most important concept involved in Public Relations.

However, in this case communication is the stage of the process where the decisions made in steps one and two are implemented.

According to my Intro to Public Relations book, the communication process is used to inform, persuade, motivate, and achieve mutual understanding. When creating a message for a client, it is important to make sure it is appropriate, meaningful, memorable, understandable and believable to their targeted audience.

Several communication models show how an audience receives a message and although they all vary, most contain four main elements. Those elements include a sender (encoder), a message, a channel and a receiver (decoder). Some models include a fifth element, feedback. Feedback provides PR researchers and clients alike, the information they need. Feedback is essentially two-way communication. It is a dialogue between the sender and receiver. Once the receiver receives a message from the sender, the receiver switches roles and becomes the sender by sending a message back.

I found this really cool diagram that illustrated the 2 way communication concept…

http://digitalworship.blogspot.com/2008/05/communication-explained-part-2-of-5.html.

In creating a message, the PR practitioner should strive to grab the attention of the audience it targets. Audiences have different behaviors that determine whether or not they will pay attention to a message or not. Understanding the audience’s mental tendencies, the PR agency can tailor the message and its concepts to reach that particular audience.

PR campaign shold be able to be understood across cultures. PR agencies should consider cultural barriers of their audience, including language and literacy.

 Communication is successful based on the actions of the audience. If the audience reacts positively then the campaign was executed well.

Relections of a PR student…chapter.six

Proper planning is very important in the Public Relations process and is actually the second step in the process.

My Intro to Public Relations book gives an acronym for the Public Relations process. RACE stands for Research, Action, Communication and Evaluation. Planning is the equivalent of “action.”

In order to successfully complete a campaign or satisfy a client, a PR practitioner must be able to plan out a campaign after identifying the problem/challenge. To accomplish the company’s goals, the PR agency must put great thought into a sequence of tasks that will give the best result.

Having “strategy” is the key to an accurate plan. Planning also involves the use of several different media tools, like news releases, media kits and press conferences.

The book’s text compares the task of planning a PR campaign to putting together pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Once research is done, the pieces of the puzzle are ready to be put together. There are two approaches the planning stage.

The first approach mentioned in the text is Management by objective (MBO). This approach is very specific and focuses on the organization’s set objectives. The second approach is a strategic planning model. These building blocks provide a clear background for clients and PR agents by asking detailed questions.

A PR plan identifies what needs to be done, why it needs to be done and how to accomplish it. Though some vary, most PR plans are structured by the following 8 elements:

1. Situation
2. Objectives
3. Audience
4. Strategy
5. Tactics
6. Calendar/timetable
7. Budget
8. Evaluation

To finalize the planning stage, the listed elements must be included and thoroughly investigated.

1 Semester Down…A LIFELONG CAREER to Go: The top 10 things I learned in Intro to PR

I remember the first day I walked into my Introduction to Public Relations class. It was only a few short months ago, but it seems like that day was such a long time ago. From Twitter to WordPress to “Wait don’t tell me,” Professor Barbara Nixon took me, a novice in the PR game, and ignited my passion for PUBLIC RELATIONS.

Now as I reflect on all that I’ve learned, I can’t help but think of the top 10 things I learned in PRCA 2330…Introduction to Public Relations.

And the COUNTDOWN begins…

10. One thing I know now for sure is that PR is more than just writing press releases and facilitating press conferences, it has UNLIMITED opportunities that surpass many other careers.

9. As I continue to update my resume’, I can stress less about keeping it all on one page. As long as the material is relevant…go for it!

8. SOCIAL MEDIA is here to stay…Facebook, Linked-In, MySpace, TWITTER…they’re not going anywhere any time soon.

7. Public Relations professionals don’t get paid to “lie.” INTEGRITY and ETHICAL BEHAVIOR go hand-in-hand. We’re held to a standard and should strive to live up to it.

6. To survive in the Public Relations field, you have to be open to change and humble enough to start at the “bottom.” Working your way up will help you gain experience that you’ll need in the long run.

5. EMBARGO in the PR world means releasing a press/news release at the discretion of the news source it is submitted to. In this case, IMMEDIATE RELEASE doesn’t apply. I never knew this.

4. Blogging is actually a lot of fun once you get started. It’s also a great way to network and get your name out among more experienced professionals. And for all my friends that didn’t believe me, BLOG is a VERB!

3. TWITTER is the best thing since Facebook. As a matter of fact, I like to think of it as a FB chat for a more “mature” audience. I was not a fan of it at first.

2. To be a PR professional, you can’t just be a talker, you have to be a listener too! Your client needs you to promote their name, product, etc., but you have to know their name, product, etc. first.

1. And FINALLY, I learned that Public Relations is the gateway to many other professions. WIth my degree, I can work practically anywhere.

Thank you Professor Nixon for confirming that Public Relations really is the BEST major ever!

Though the class has come to an end, my life as a pre-PR professional has just begun.

1 Semester DOWN…a Lifelong Career to GO!!!

12+12+24 = 48 hours of “Twitter”

So I must say again that I was really weirded out, when Professor Nixon said that we needed to make an account on this new media network…”Twitter.”
At first, I only really tweeted when I had to. Fortunately, more of my friends got on. And being who I am, I felt left out. So, I decided to give it another try.

I can honestly say … I love Twitter!

I’ve had so much fun chatting with my friends, following prospective employers and just being involved in new media. The last 48 hours have been interesting to say the least. I have learned so much. If you wanna know what I’m doing…bypass Facebook, check Twitter. I call Twitter my personal instant messenger.

Twitter is a really cool concept. As the phenomenon spreads across the campus of Georgia Southern University, I’ve heard mixed reviews. I’ve heard people say “I don’t understand.” …”What is it?” …”What does it do?” And thinking about it now, I asked those same questions just a few short weeks ago.

Twitter is borderline addictive for me now. I find myself checking it every 5 minutes, especially now that I added “Twitterberry” to my phone. Twitter really is like Facebook for adults!

And I just read this really cool blog about “Twitter” and how to incorporate it into your personal blog: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/twitter-widget/.

With Twitter, the possibilities are endless.

In the FIELD: An interview with a real-life PR pro

In my Intro to Public Relations class, Professor Nixon gave us a really cool assignment. The assignment was to interview a PR professional and reflect on their experiences in the field.

As a current student in the PR program at Georgia Southern, I thought it would be interesting to ask someone who was actually in my shoes at some point, a former GSU PR student.

I decided to interview my sorority sister, Robbyn Ingram, Georgia Southern Class of 2008. She’s fresh out of college and can really identify with my experiences.

Robbyn currently works as an account assistant for KC Public Relations in Atlanta, Georgia. You’ll find below my interview with a real-life PR pro!

• How long have you been in the field?
  “I have been working in the field for about 15 months (this includes coursework experience—PR Campaigns and Event Management, summer internship and current position).”
• Do you feel like college prepared you for your current position?
  “Somewhat. The courses I took during my undergraduate career were definitely beneficial in that I absorbed a substantial amount of general information about the public relations industry; however I feel my internship at the Averitt Center for the Arts better prepared me for real world challenges that I will encounter as a public relations practitioner. I was given the opportunity to spear-head different projects, participate in brainstorming sessions for new PR efforts and tactics, interact with local media personalities, and was instrumental in launching several campaigns for the Averitt Center. The hands-on experience from my internship helped to build my confidence as a public relations professional, and in my opinion, better prepared me for my current position than any college course.”
• In your workplace, are your co-workers at or above your age bracket?
  “The three Account Assistants I work with are in my age bracket (18-24) and the Account Executives are above it (25-31).”
• Is there anything you wish you would’ve learned prior to graduating?
  “Seeing as public relations is multi-faceted, it is my suggestion that Georgia Southern’s PR degree curriculum be updated to include mandatory copy editing and design courses as these are two very important elements in the field. Students should be exposed to all aspects of their career—not just writing and research—making them more versatile and adequately equipped to deliver innovative concepts, strategic communication efforts, and measurable results.”
• How often do you utilize media sites, such as Twitter or Linked-In?
  “With the demise of larger papers as a source for news, I find that our firm is looking into utilizing social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook as a means to communicate with target audiences. We are still learning and navigating these different media sites in attempts to develop more creative and effective ways to reach our markets.”
• Are you happy in your current position?
  “Yes and no. I am, of course, very happy and appreciative for the opportunity to work for KC Public Relations to expand my knowledge and enhance my skills. I have found that I am developing an interest to get involved in hospitality/retail public relations when my initial objective was to head in the corporate PR direction. I am also very grateful for the projects I have been able to contribute to—drafting media releases and advisories, assembling media kits, attending client meetings, pitching to media, coordinating and working events, corresponding with media personnel, and several other tasks. There are instances, however, where I become frustrated with assignments I am given or get overwhelmed with multiple projects. Overall, I am very thankful and proud to have a position directly out of college in my career field.”
• What particular area of PR are you interested in working in?
  “There are so many different avenues available to public relations students! As I mentioned, I was initially interested in corporate PR, but now after working in the field and being exposed to a variety of public relations functions, I am considering non-profit, hospitality (hotel and restaurant), entertainment and fashion PR.”
• Do you feel your current salary fits the amount of work you produce?
  “Not at all. My current position is entry-level, but I feel as if the work I produce is of the same quality as a seasoned professional.”
• Is writing as important in the industry as your college professors made it out to be?
  “Absolutely! Every aspect of public relations involves some sort of writing—whether it’s drafting/editing a press release, pitching a story to media, or responding to an office e-mail. Therefore, excellent writing skills are essential to any aspiring public relations professional.”
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
  “In five years, I hope to be preparing for graduation from the University of Georgia’s dual degree program with a Masters of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication (emphasis in Public Relations) and my Juris Doctor. My ultimate career objective is to be the Public Relations Director/Legal Consultant for the Walt Disney Corporation. After graduation, I will be working towards that goal.”
• What is one piece of advice you’d give to an up and coming PR professional?
  “Be prepared to start your career off at the bottom. It is very rare that you will be offered an upper-level position after graduation. In most cases, you will have to work your way up—so work hard! Also know that PR tasks are not always creative and exciting. Sometimes you will have to generate media lists or search the internet for a single piece of information that seems impossible to find. Remember to stay motivated, practice professionalism and do the very best you can. Absorb all the information you can and keep in mind that any work you do adds to your experience as an effective public relations practitioner.”

At first, I was reluctant to interview Robbyn because I knew she hadn’t been “in the field” that long, but after it, I was so glad that I did. Robbyn was very honest with me and encouraged me to explore my options. After asking a couple of the questions, I was surprised at the answers I got. Robbyn made me realize several different things…1. I can’t graduate expecting my “dream” job – bummer; 2. It’s important to make the most of your internships and experiences; 3. PR is multi-facetred, so be open-minded!