As mentioned above, I was immediately assigned to manage the Social Media as well as coming up with a couple of New Web 2.0 strategies to promote the upcoming events. This was a new realm that the organization is venturing into and I’ll say, it is quite a privilege to be part of it and especially coming up with some of the strategies for the first time.
After taking considerable amount time to go through certain evaluation skills acquired from PR 300 (Consultancy) last semester, I was able to identify the various problems and barriers that the company is facing at the moment. One thing I’ve learnt is that there are so many things that an organization can be lacking even though it being established or well known, there is always something that can be improved and I encourage you that this is when you come in! You can do it guys…
Well sorry for the slight deviation, coming back to it now…
Some of the questions addressed were like ‘Where We Are Now’, ‘Where Do We Need To be?’, and ‘How do we Get There’. All those lengthy and ‘boring’ PR lectures all of a sudden became alive to me and of course going through the notes again has helped me remember them. Application. Utilizing some of the Evaluation methods like the 5-step PRE process and identifying target audience with specific intended messages are one of the more prominent ones.
Soon enough, I was able to devise a couple of ideas that were welcomed with open arms by my supervisor as well as my Head of Dept, HOD – Fundraising & Public Affairs Department.
Some of the main ones are:
1. Advertisements for Memory Walk 2009 (print + social media)
This event will be held at Curtin University! With the location being the Edinburgh Oval. It is aimed at raising the awareness of dementia in WA and also a fundraising initiative. I took up the task of coming up with an advertisement that will be in the GROK magazine as well as a promotional video (which I’m working on at the moment – fingers crossed!) I had to also get the quotation and update submission deadlines in our timeline and etc.
2. Facebook page
As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, not only did I launch the facebook page but was also given the opportunity to come up with a social media policy that will be used as a guideline to govern the internal members whenever they post photos, comments and videos etc. It was tough of course doing it for the first time and had to take some time to think through them thoroughly to encourage staff involvement without inhibiting their freedom to post. Well, I had to go through my supervisor of course, and only after he’d approved them only it will go public.
These are all pretty new initiatives and it is very exciting times now as we anticipate there will be a good response. Have you ever been asked to do some New Media initiatives?
Below are a couple of reflections that I got from the week as well…
Coming back to a more orthodox PR related work, I was also assigned to write up 2 media releases on the Transforming Lives 2009 Symposium. This is a free to public event that will feature speakers to talk about ways to tackle dementia after Access Economics has given dementia a theme for the year ‘Facing the Epidemic’. Ironic isn’t it, I thought it was H1N1…
This week couldn’t get more eventful when I was asked to join my supervisor to photograph nurses who participated in our dementia courses. All these photos would be included in our newsletter both monthly and quarterly issue. The next day, I was asked to go (without my supervisor this time) all the way up to Fremantle Hospital to take another similar participating nurse. It was great fun and quite unexpectedly friendly they were. Due to my amateurish photography skills and after my hundredth attempt, the nurses felt like they were movie stars…
For the whole time of this 2nd week, I found myself generating more and more ideas. I found out that as a student, and also as a first time working experience in Australia is very different. I am able to freely discuss issues and ideas with my supervisor freely. This brings me to the point that I would like to make is based on the 5 Hofstede Cultural Dimensions – Power Distance. There weren’t much of an issue when it came to approaching the HOD or even the CEO was very convivial and warm which is different from my home-country and I’ve concluded that this is my ideal preference of a working environment in the future. I would love to work in Australia after I graduate!
1 comment:
Hello Sam,
I also have recently been asked to start a facebook for my placement which is Sarawak River Cruise in Kuching and also to assist in the content of their webpage. What I believe is that before even thinking about being active in Social Media, the organization first have to improve and upgrade the computers in the office itself. The computers at my placement are not only old models but also slow because budget for I.T. is not a priority but these could effect the productivity and efficiency of the time spent on the computer. It became such a nuisance that I ended up bringing my own laptop to work. Hmm, maybe I should propose bringing in at least a iMac to do the designs needed for flyers, posters, banners and even articles instead of depending on outside designers to do the job.
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