Solent Students Are Putting Together Their Own Digital PR Textbook!

Hello Lovelies!

Thought I'd support my fellow PR students today and talk to you about an exciting new opportunity being brought to PR professionals all over the country!

I'm a Top 25!!

Hello Lovelies!

I'm taking a quick break from my summer hiatus to tell about my recent credentials...

Yes, Diary of a PR Girl has been featured as part of Personal Income's Top 25 Female PR Career Advice Bloggers at #12!!

I can't believe my little blog has been recognised in a Top 25, I am very honoured and humbled to be even considered!

If you want to see the article yourself please head over to Personal Income's website and give it a read!

http://www.personalincome.org/top-25-female-pr-career-advice-bloggers/

Big thanks to Lewis, the author of the Top 25, and I can't wait to start writing again regularly!

Thanks for reading,


Jx

My New Internship at LuxebyMinihaha&co.!

Hello Lovelies!

Well today has just been lovely!

I have been given the amazing opportunity to work with luxury wedding and event planning company, Luxe by Minihaha &co. as her PR & Marketing Intern!

Minihaha is a certified Wedding and Events planner based in Leeds with over 5 years of experience in planning and organisation. She works tirelessly to ensure that your wedding is the best day of your life.

I was immediately attracted to this role as I could almost feel the passion through the computer when I visited her website. I'm very interested in weddings anyway and can't wait to learn more!

So next time we speak I will doing lots of amazing stuff and learning about the ins and outs of the beautiful wedding industry!

Aren't I lucky?!

Thanks for reading!


Jx

If you're planning a wedding or are interested in the services we offer please visit the website

www.luxebyminihaha.co.uk

or follow us on Twitter - @luxebyminihaha 

How I wrote my PR CV;

Hello Lovelies!

I'm back into the swing of things at uni, and I'm ready to secure my future with a degree in Public Relations!

I'm already thinking about my dissertation and looking into PR firms for placement and I have gotta say, I cannot wait for this degree to be done and have the ability and knowledge to get a job.

Now, to get a job, you need a CV.

A CV has the task of telling your potential employer your education, skills, achievements and personality in 1-2 pieces of A4. You've also gotta make yours stand out among the crowd - another thing that's hard to do. So I've found out the perfect formula (for me) for writing a PR CV.

NB: This is not fact, this is my opinion...please don't blame me if you don't get the job.

1. Work Experience

Now, everyone knows that it's good to have work experience. But in a PR CV, work experience is what can set you apart from everyone Try and get experience in work places that are within your field of interest, for example, I enjoy lifestyle, fashion and beauty PR so that's the field I focused on.

2. Get writing

Any published work that they can look at is a great way of assessing your technique and in some cases, following up on those work experience claims. The more work you get published the better! I also think it helps you master writing skills that you need to write those all important press releases!
Another thing employers like is BLOGS! I mean, I'm biased but...my blog has gotten me so far within this industry already and I've only had it a year! Imagine the possibilities!

Also SPELLING. Please grammar and spell check your CV before you send it!

3. Summary

There is nothing worse than a long-winded, uninteresting summary. This is your chance to show your potential employers your personality and any interests you have. My boyfriend has the summary for CV's down to a science so he's influenced mine definitely, so thanks Ell for getting rid of my waffling and helping me get a CV I'm proud of!

You can check out my current CV at my LinkedIn. Connect with me if you fancy :P


So, that's what I think makes a great PR CV, and hopefully some of you have gotten some use outta this.

Again, I'm not a pro yet so please don't take my word as law!

Thanks for reading,


Jx

My Little Surprise...

Hello Lovelies!

Now if you follow me on Twitter you'll see on the 1st of February I was tweeting about 'something amazing' that had happened that day - and today I'm going to tell you what!

I have been offered the amazing opportunity to do work experience with John Lewis's Fashion Communications Team...in LONDON!

The placement is for 2 weeks and I will be living my dream of being a real Fashion PR for a while!

I'll let you know closer to the time about more details but right now I thought I would just soak it in and try and calm down, because this is the best thing I've ever been offered.

I've cried and screamed (much to the alarm of my neighbours) and can't wait to experience all that John Lewis's Head Office has to offer!


Thanks for reading!



Jx

A PR technique we shouldn't forget;

Hello Lovelies!

Today's post is about PR (I know it's been a while) as it's been brought to my attention recently that there are PR students reading my blog, and I think it's time to give them a little more information about our industry, and how easy it is to forget things.

Now, we live in a technological age where most things we do end up on a computer screen, I mean you're reading this right now on your smartphone or laptop, while watching Netflix or Skyping your mother for the fifth time today (we get it, you miss her). You can spend your day/night/life looking at the screen, learning new things, watching podcasts and sharing videos of cats doing funny things on Facebook. We all seem to be addicted to whatever the App Store has brought out this month.

PR is no exception. Since we are in the promotional business, PR in this modern age seems to be following the technology train and launching all their campaigns on social media. Everywhere I look recently is promotion and, whether it's through Twitter or Instagram, we can all admit that it seems to be working.

However it really troubles me to no end when I hear of bright-eyed first years, glued to their iPhones, discussing how they would plan a campaign for middle-aged labourers in Merseyside, by running a hashtag on Twitter.

Of course, they aren't addressing their audience correctly and sadly seem to be forgetting that social media isn't the only way of getting to an audience and I am here to say, dear readers, do not forget the traditional press outlets!

Newspapers!
Advertising!
Radio!

In small campaigns, traditional press can be used to entice local consumers to an event or towards a product - and even in national campaigns, newspapers are still used, so don't forget it when planning your campaign.

All of these outlets are still valid in this day and age, but it seems that younger PR practitioners are deciding to throw all their promotional eggs into the social media baskets as it were. I am guilty of forgetting about these traditional outlets and I am here to stop you lovely students making the same mistakes. Traditional press is still very helpful and can still reach your audience.

So here's your homework;

• Learn the difference between tabloids and broadsheets.
• Think about life outside the social media bubble - I know it's hard!
• Research other techniques on how to promote products!
• Don't forget about social media, but don't use it for everything!

Hope this helps you all!

Thanks for reading, 

Jx

Week of Women: In my PR lecture | Q&A

Hello Lovelies!

Today's post in written by Faridah, PR & Marketing student and blogger at fuchsiafleurblog.blogspot.co.uk . She's going to tell you all what it's really like in the PR Room at our university and some brilliant questions that most fresher's want answered before they start their degree...Over to you Faridah!

Week of Women: If Twitter extends its word count, what will it mean for PR?

Hello Lovelies!

Today's post is written by Holly Worsley, another PR colleague and friend, who impressed us all in 1st year because she'd actually worked in a PR firm before (oooooh!) She's a brainy little so-and-so, and I couldn't wait to read her post on social media platform, Twitter.

Hope you all enjoy!

If Twitter extends its 140 character limit, what will it mean for PR?

The 140 character limit imposed on tweets is one of Twitter’s biggest trade marks. No other mainstream social media site has such restrictions on content and it’s one of the reasons it sets it apart from other competitors like Facebook.

But with this unique character limitation comes problems. For example, it can be difficult to convey messages as the user may have to condense characters and sentences to fit the limit as well as the problem with how different languages use more characters per word making forming sentences harder.

Twitter is no stranger to experimenting with changing their site. Only recently did it add an update where you could retweet an article and add comments giving the user more room to share their opinions with the rest of the Twitter community. They also took away the character limitation on direct messages.

With a society that now relies on constant updates to improve services, Twitter is trying to stay ahead of the game and keep shaking things up to stay fresh and relevant.

Some people disagree with the suggested changes however and the hash tag #standwith140 has already started circulating to petition against the possible changes.

But from a PR perspective, is this potential change a good or bad thing?

When writing tweets I always dread the minus red icon figure at the bottom where it says I’ve gone over the limit. I’ve got my message just right and now I’ll need to spend time cutting words out and changing it up to fit and make sense.

As annoying as this is however I still think the limit is a good thing and shouldn’t be changed. This is because it keeps messages short and sweet; keeping the audience interested and more likely to read and be engaged.

If long sentences or even paragraphs were to be introduced, the effectiveness of the message you originally wanted to convey could get lost.

Famous quotes like “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” by Winston Churchill and “Creativity is contagious, pass it on.” by Albert Einstein are effective as messages as they are short, to the point, easily understood and would fit within 140 characters, whereas longer messages like a government policy wouldn’t fit and their message would be harder to understand and be communicated, especially via social media. Having a limit forces you to think about what to write, what’s most important and how it will come across to your audience.

Due to technological advancements the PR industry is always changing and social media is no different.

But if longer characters tweets are introduced will Twitter still be unique? And more importantly, will users still be active in reading and sharing longer messages?

Thank you to Joanna and all of the other contributors! Keep reading! 

Holly Worsley 

2nd Year Public Relations

Edge Hill University 

How to become a social media wizard;

Hello Lovelies!

As I've recently been named as one of  Behind the Spin's frontrunners for PR Blog of the year, I decided I need to have a crack at giving you, my readers, some business tips and PR tricks that I have learnt over my time as a student at Edge Hill.

I thought about this long and hard. What can I teach people that would help them in business? What element of a business do I know like the back of my hand? At this time I was scrolling through Twitter...and that's when it hit me.

Being a child of the social media age, I know way too much about the positives and negatives of using social media for an event or promoting a product. So now I'm going to pass my knowledge onto you in my favourite form, a 'do' and 'don't' column.

DON'T

Rely on one social media platform: Facebook is used by over ... people a year and Twitter is used by ... a year but if you really want to promote a product both platforms and sometimes even more are needed. Each platform is designed to convey a certain message and audience. Some people prefer the layout of Facebook, some people prefer tweeting about a product. As long as you update both, you're already starting to get the word out about the thing you're promoting.

Forget your image: I have learnt this all too well. Image is everything to what you're promoting, you have to ensure your brand/company stays within a certain frame of mind. You want them to seem positive and no slip ups can be allowed. I know, I know, some trolls on the internet deserve a few choices words, but in order to keep yourself pleasant the eyes of the consumer, rise above them. Just because fighting back works for Piers Morgan, doesn't mean it will work for you.

Rite like dis: You are not a chavvy teenager, or an adult thinking they are cool. You are a business, and unless that form of spelling is essential to your brand, I'd scrap it and pull out the thesaurus.

Use other people's posts: Imitation may be a form of flattery but can end nastily if you're not lucky. Images will have copyright and even quotes from people must be used with their permission in some cases. Just make sure you stick to the legal side of social media and everything will be rosy!

DO

Make sure you update your platforms: I am the worst for this I know. I try not to go on hiatus but sometimes I have way too much work to do (lame excuse - slap on the wrist for me). Keep yourself in the know, like any good PR does. Read the newspaper and learn about any awareness days coming up in the calendar, for example, if you are promoting a vegetable grater, vegetarian day might be one of the days you circle! As long as you keep active, people will become invested in your social media and eventually the product. If you can't be at the computer 24/7, many people use scheduling websites such as Hootesuite to schedule their posts for different times during the day.

Communicate: Communication with consumers is a huge part of being a platform online. Nowadays nobody wants to wait hours on the phone to customer service when they have an app that can take you right to the source's Twitter page. Your job will become 50% promotion and 50% customer service and you need to deal with them quickly and quietly. Most online companies, e.g. Cadbury's offer their customers the option to DM (direct message) which causes less mess on the Twitter feed. Although, communication is not all negative. People love it when a celebrity or a product favourite's or replies to them, (I went into a panic when Kim Catrall favourited a tweet of mine last year) so try to people engaging and friendly.

Network: Participating in #FF (Follow Friday) is something I have noticed that small businesses around Liverpool tend to do, as a way of showing support for one another and also creating networking/collaboration potential. Growing your business might mean getting promoted by a bigger company or a magazine, everyone helps each other a little on their way to the top.


So there are some of my do's and don't's about social media. If you're unsure still about how to go about it, I also suggest hiring a social media manager or perhaps reading up online. Twitter also send out emails entitled 'Twitter for business' which is a helpful tool for anyone struggling in that department. Hope this post has helped some of you and if you're thinking of creating a Twitter account for your business, don't forget to follow me! @joanna22x


Thanks for reading,


Jx


To view the Frontrunners list for PR Blog of the Year visit Behind the Spin's website: http://t.co/6oiPWbZUz2

Does this offend you? A PR perspective;

Hello Lovelies!

As I was perusing over my Twitter feed, I came across the story about Ymre Stekiema and a 'controversial' photograph of her using the Bugaboo running stroller while running with her daughter.

This photograph has started a huge debate on line ranging from 'put some clothes on' to 'you go girl!', with each comment sparking new debate about the fact that she is slim and has a child.

Some claim that the negative comments come from jealous women who are not working out after having their children, and some claim that the photographs are not helping the 'target demographic' who may have softer bodies due to carrying a child.

In my opinion, the comments are not looking at all the facts here.

Firstly, her background. Stekiema is a model, which means genetically she will going to be slimmer than the average woman. She needs to look slim for her career. Her partner is also a personal trainer meaning he probably, alike most PT's in couples, encourages her to train with him. Her father is also a marathon runner and she describes herself as an avid runner.

Secondly, her daughter is two! She has probably been working out a lot over those two years post- natal and got herself back into shape. She is not trying to say 'I just had a baby and I now look like this!' because that's simply not true.

From a PR perspective, this photograph may go either way. It may inspire some mothers to start jogging and buy the product (Bugaboo running stroller) in order to run with their children. Celebrity endorsement can sometimes increase product sales because people want to become better or more like their admired celebrity for example, the sales of MAC lip liner sky-rocketed when Kylie Jenner began lining her lips. However this also may start a negative appeal, worst case scenario starting a boycott of the product until they find a 'suitable' spokesperson.

In my opinion, these photos are not offensive at all, and people need to look at the bigger picture before they start mocking and posting when they do not have the facts. All I see is a mother running with her child, but what do you see?

Thanks for reading,


Jx