http://www.slideshare.net/guest7b059f/top-10-things-ive-learned-in-pr

I was introduced to Twitter through my PR class and have only used it when I was required to do assignments that integrated Twitter. This means that I did not voluntarily chose to create a profile or use time to get confident with Twitter. I think the reason for my slightly unenthusiastic attitude and poor experience with Twitter is primarily due to the circumstances I was introduced to it. I have experiences that the majority of social media including Twitter requires a great amount of attention and interest before you actually see the benefits of it and get confident with it. Since I was required to join Twitter as a part of my PR class and did not do it by interest, I don’t think I have benefitted the most of it.

In the first period of using Twitter, I considered it to be a useful tool for business networking. However, I have changed my opinion, especially after creating a profile in PROpenMic – http://www.propenmic.org/. I think Twitter is a forum of many different people and I find it difficult to navigate between the useful information and the information that if very useless. Most of all, I think the links etc. that people post works as an inspiration to check thing out – and aging – I think you need to be interested in using time and energy to surf in Twitter. On the other hand, if you are looking for something specific it is quite a good idea to ask questions in Twitter, because you receive replies very quickly. In contrary to PROpenMic, I still think Twitter is more superficial and less serious in a business context. I also think PROpenMic is more appropriate if you want to widen you business network.

I have been following three PR practitioners that I found on PROpenMic. These are: Timhoang- http://twitter.com/timhoang , Mary Wade – http://twitter.com/marywade , megasoto – http://twitter.com/megansoto. I think all PR practitioners posted some interesting links, but defiantly also posted some tweets that were less useful. However, they have some interesting profiles on PROpenMic that describes them in a very favorable way.

Julia Pompa very quickly responded and volunteered to give an interview.

Julia Pompa is a public relations practitioner. She has been in public relations/marketing communications for more than 20 years and has also worked as a collage instructor for 6 years (part time). Today she works at Marketing Communications Agency – Lauerer Markin Group, Maumee, Ohio. Her LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/4/4b0/99a.   

What is your educational background? Julia has a bachelor’s of science in Journalism. She is also an APR (accredited in public relations) through the Public Relations Society of America. Plus, she teaches a capstone course in Public Relations Practices at the University of Toledo (Ohio).

What is a typical week like? (If no week is typical, then what was last week like?) Juila said: “The beauty of a career in communications is that no week is the same as the one before”. She explained her week included development of communications recommendations for a prospective client, writing one news release and two feature stories, dealing with trade magazine media for two manufacturing clients, meeting with a client about a new television advertisement, making a public relations presentation to a prospective client and consulting on a potential crisis in a non-profit organization.

Which project are you especially proud of and why? Julia continued: “I’m proud of all the projects that help move the needle in achieving more public awareness and understanding of my clients’ positions”. However, she emphasized one particular project she worked on about eight years ago for the funeral industry. She developed a program for local funeral directors to implement locally – educating high school students to the dangers of drinking and driving. It started as a manual, one-on-one program and it still exists today in viral form.

How important is writing in your career? Julia said the writing issue is critical! She added: “If you were in my class, you’d know that I talk about writing skills almost every day”. She also emphasized that everything you do – from formal proposals to routine e-mails, involves a good comprehension of the written word and excellent persuasive capabilities.

What three tips would you offer someone just starting out in PR? Network (your local PRSA chapter) – make sure you’re a good writer (take additional training if necessary) – expand your capabilities to online communication

What do you do to keep current in the PR industry? Julia said: “My membership in PRSA gives me access to a great deal of good information”. Besides this, she is also involved with a wide range of online communications communities that expose her to many new technologies. She also takes classes when possible especially when she is a teacher she wants to stay up dated about what is going on in the industry.

Did your education prepare you for working in PR? How? Julia explained that since she got her degree in journalism she has taken a very serious approach to writing. This helped her both in her journalism career and in her public relations career.

What has surprised you the most about working in PR? The most surprising thing for Julia was the level of misunderstanding that exists about what public relations is and what it can do. She continued by adding:”I spend a good deal of my time with clients reinforcing that”.

What do you wish you would have known before starting your career in PR? Julia said she wished that she had known exactly how much she would love her job.

How has PR changed since you entered the field? She emphasized that the level of technology that is at our disposal today is dramatically different from what people imagined five years ago. The technology means that you have to be prepared to counsel and react on an instantaneous basis today. She explained that PR practitioners have to be skilled in many more technologies than ever before, so they can provide the most useful and cost-effective counsel possible to the clients.

When your company is hiring for an entry-level PR position, what makes a candidate stand out? A candidate’s writing ability will be the factor for awarding the position. Beyond that, overall maturity and an understanding of what happens in an agency environment, but also enthusiasm for the work of communications is important.

What professional organizations are you involved in? (For example, PRSA, IABC, etc.) She is a member of the PRSA – an APR and currently on the board of the Northwest Ohio chapter (previously its president). She was also a member of the Detroit chapter and in the national Counselors’ Academy of PRSA.

Whether it is your first time searching for a job or you are an experienced job searcher, you have to pay attention to the work that follows with getting of changing jobs.

All ready very early in the process, it is important too keep eyes and ears open. There are constantly published new job advertisements and it is of vital importance to be at the right place at the rigth time to make sure you do not miss a good job oppotunity.

The Internet is the most obvious place to start your job research. There are many homepages that provide useful information both on where to get information about available jobs, how to make a resume and how to prepare for a job interviews. This is one example of a homepage with a wide range of useful information about job searching

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/findajob/u/findajob.htm

Another place to find job advertisements is in newspapers, trade journals, job postings

Last but not least you should take advantages of your network.

Resume

The goal of your resume is to be chosen for an interview. The resume should include following points:
• Contact information
• Career objectives
• Education
• Experiences
• Awards
• References

Job interview

The job interview is your last chance to make the employer want you. Therefore it is important to be well prepared when you come to the interview. The following points are ways to prepare yourself:
• Research the company
• Find out what kind of interview it will be; 2 persons or panel interview
• Be aware of behavioral interviews( what have you done in stead of what would you do)
• Find out if the interview will be over phone or webcam
• Be aware of appearance, hand shake and body language
• Prepare some possible questions and think of how to handle the situation if anything goes wrong.
• Remember to follow up with a thank you mail

·         Public relations played a role in the American independence. The Boston Tea Party, which PRWeek called “..the greatest and best-known publicity stunt off all time..”

·         “Spreading Christianity through the known world in the first century A.D. as one og the great public relations accomplished of history” by Todd Hunt & James Grunig.

·         An early example of promotion in the New World was Sir Walter Raeigh’s attempts to convince settlers to move to Virginia.

The Age of Pioneers

·         Some of the important relations pioneers are:

·         Samuel Insull – Created a monthly customer magazine with a constant stream of news releases. He also used films for public relations purposes.

·         Henry Ford – Was among the first to position the idea that credit and publicity always go to those who do something first and the second idea was to be accessible to the press.

·         Theodore Roosevelt – Was the first president to make extensive use of news conference and press interviews to drum up public support when Congress was often critical of nonsupportive.

·         Ivy Lee – The first public relations counselor.

·         George Creel – Created the Creel Committee.

·         Edward L. Bernays – Is called the “father of public relations”

The most interesting thing in chapter two was to read about the Four Classic Models of Public Relations.

·         The Press Agentry/Publicity

·         Public Information

·         Two-way Asymmetric

·         Two-way Symmetric

The most surprising thing in chapter two was that public relations has transformed from being a male-dominated field to being dominated by women (70%).

My experience with Twitter is ambivalent. I think it is a very useful and easy tool for communicating in short terms with people from all over the world. However, I would never use it to follow or get in touch with strangers just to be friends with them. It seems too superficial and nosy, and I prefer making friends “in real life” where you have other than the use of an online media in common.
On the other hand, I think Twitter is very appropriate in a business and educational matter. It is favorable in terms of exchanging knowledge by sending links and directions and especially useful to establish a broad business network consisting of people with individual expertise.

Our society is becoming a place where the old-fashioned and important interaction face to face between people is decreasing. I think this is alarming and I prefer not to support the tendency. This is one of the main reasons why I do not favour Twitter.