Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Monday, 14 March 2011
From PR student to PR professional: the journey begins
When I first set up this blog I decided its purpose would be for the discussion of topical PR issues as well as giving an insight into the life and workings of a PR student. Well, as you might see from my previous posts I haven’t given a whole lot of insight. So here it goes.
During my second year as a PR student at Southampton Solent University I have studied a wide range of marketing disciplines, some interesting, others not so. But most have been extremely enjoyable and have done nothing but reaffirm that PR is the career for me.
I am lucky enough to share my lectures with a group of extremely smart and talented people. The entire cohort is very friendly and I am delighted to know I will be working alongside them in the PR profession in the years to come. We all get along so well that I barely even notice that I am two years older than most of them! As a course we are graced by the teaching of a couple of enormously knowledgeable lecturers with very impressive backgrounds who have given up their time to train a new breed of PR professionals. In the few years I have been studying PR they have taught me valuable lessons that I will remember for the remainder of my working life.
Through my second year assessments I have learned many skills, as well as gaining a comprehensive understanding of the PR world and its practices. For one unit I was part of a group given the challenge of crafting a one year online campaign for the Isle of Wight tourism board. This was an exciting prospect as it was a campaign with a live client that we would then ‘pitch’ to a real PR agency called Headstream. All of our hard work paid off when the agency voted our pitch as the best in the class. Another task I enjoyed was coming up with a campaign for Premier Inn as a part of my advertising unit. This assessment really invigorated my creative side and I loved every minute of it.
This year has also seen a sharp rise in my interest in corporate PR. In an assessment I carried out in December I took on the role of Investor Relations in my group as we were given the task of planning and writing Tesco's 2011 annual report. It involved a lot more maths than I would have liked but I found every aspect of it interesting and stimulating. Furthermore, In January I had to write an essay on the effects of activism on corporate reputation. Using Coca Cola and Innocent Drinks as case studies, this was probably the most challenging piece of work I have ever completed. In fact it nearly killed me. However, my immense interest in the topic and thirst for knowledge got me through it and I ended up getting the best mark I have ever received in my 4 years of university.
This semester the work load is astronomical and I am struggling to conceive how I will get everything done alongside my job and finding a new house. But I am sure I will get through it. I am looking forward to working on my corporate identity unit as it involves a lot of graphic design, and graphic design is more of a hobby than a task for me. One of the larger pieces of work is my dissertation proposal. I was one of those fooled by the misconception that we don’t need to think about our dissertation until third year. Never mind. With my ever present interest in entertainment PR I am hoping to write my dissertation on ‘the rising influence of social media on consumer engagement strategies in the film industry’. Social media is an interesting topic and it hasn’t been until the last few months that I have realised its true worth. I have finally got my head around Twitter and am using it tirelessly to promote this blog.
Lecturers have told us repeatedly this year the importantance of getting noticed and I hope this blog will eventually help me do this. But I cannot put all my eggs in the blog basket. So I must think of other ways that might make me stand out from the crowd. With that in mind I founded the Southampton Solent PR Society, with the primary aim of bringing the course together and bridging the gap between first, second and third years. This way we will all be able to increase the organisation of the course and help each other with assessments, work experience and just give general advice. As the current president of the PR Society I hope that it helps us all become closer so that we may stay in touch as our careers develop. You never know, your friends now may be key contacts for the future.
I think that brings us pretty much up to date. Although there is just one more thing I think I would like to mention. Two weeks ago my course held an event called ‘Meet the Alumni’ in which we were given the opportunity to meet previous students of our course and find out where it had taken them. After the event I followed all of them on Twitter and with the simple tweet of
“Looking for some work experience for the Easter holidays. Where should I apply?”
One of my new ‘contacts’ landed me an interview for an internship at global PR agency Ketchum. The chance of a lifetime for a PR student. This just goes to show the pure power of social media and your contacts. Whether you’re already a PR pro or just a student, they can make the difference.
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Who owns social media? The BIG debate
Over the past few weeks just about everyone has been talking about this subject so I thought it about time to add my two cents!
Presently, there is no marketing department dominating social media budgets. It seems, in fact, to be relatively spread out across PR, advertising and the new breed digital agencies.
How do you classify social media? Because it can be used in so many different ways, social media fits into many traditional departments. As a result, all three marketing disciplines have a strong claim for ownership rights. This is a loaded question with no clear-cut answer as of yet.
As a PR student it is my duty to argue for the PR corner. However, I do understand that other departments posses vital social media skills that we might not. Just as we posses skills that they may not.
So what exactly is it that puts PR in such a strong position? I believe that social media is a natural extension of PR. Its wide and distributed nature makes it the perfect platform for PR professionals to communicate their message to the masses. Moreover, PR professionals are well versed in communication, engagement and conversation, the very attributes required for a successful social media strategy. Only your PR department truly understand what the appropriate messages are for your company’s followers.
A few weeks ago, PR week published a nice little analogy which demonstrates the strengths of PR in relation to communication over social media:
Imagine you are in a restaurant and a diner on the other side of the room stands up and begins shouting and waving at you. Your most likely reaction is to ignore them.
Now imagine a fellow diner stands up, walks across to your table, sits down and asks for a quick word. In all probability, you are more likely to listen.
Unfortunately, the advertising and digital disciplines also put forward some pretty sturdy arguments. Without the creative and inspiring content that the advertising industry can bring to the table, who is going to sit up and listen? Furthermore, digital agencies command crucial technical expertise and an in depth knowledge of the sector. They have the know-how to use social media to its full potential.
If PR is to boss the social media arena it must learn what it is that these other departments do well and continue to evolve its own offering. Or perhaps it’s about time we accepted that no one department owns social media and stop viewing it like a competition, but instead as a collaborative effort towards a common objective.
Which marketing discipline do you feel is best placed to take the reins of social media? Or do you feel that it must remain an equal and collaborative effort?
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About Me
- Tom Westgate
- I am 21 and currently in my second year of a Public Relations and Communications degree at Southampton Solent University and it is awesome. I love hanging out with my friends and I enjoy playing football and rugby and I go surfing with my friends every year! I know when I'm older I definitely want to work in a big city, preferably somewhere hot and on the coast! But before I think about getting a job I want to go travelling. I just want to make the most of my life and see the world! In short...it's allll goood!
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