Thursday, October 11, 2012

Overall knowledge acquisition at Watermelon Communications



Hi everyone,

This will be my last post about my internship at Watermelon Communications. I will be reflecting on my experience during my internship placement. I observed and learn a lot during this internship as it gave me an opportunity to be take my first step out to the working world.  The experience I gained is too much to written in just one blog. I shall touch on the most basic PR activity.

The most basic job scope – media monitoring. In Curtin, I learnt that media monitoring is to monitor newspapers, magazines and online for coverage. Although I knew that was for evaluation purpose, I thought all these evaluation methods are written “for the sake of the report”.

However, during my internship at Watermelon Communications, I learnt that media monitoring is actually a very important aspect in public relations. Other than monitoring coverage, screenshots have to be made and compiled into a coverage report to be sent to the client. The success and failure of the each PR initiative, be it traditional PR or digital PR depends on the numbers and type of coverage.

In depth discussions will revolve around the coverage report, to decide on the next direction and requirements of upcoming campaign. The objectives and methods will be amended according to it. Clients learnt from the procedure and results of the coverage report. Other than it, the coverage also allow client to see a balance and clear picture of their positioning in the industry.

From just media monitoring, I learnt to look at different aspects of PR activities in different perspectives. Every activity plays a different role and each of it is impactful to PR initiatives. Other than that, I have also learnt how to work better in a team.

I mentioned in my first blog post that corporate culture is very important in a company. The corporate culture in Watermelon Communications also allows me to speak out comfortably whenever my opinions differ from my colleagues. The comfortable working environment allows me perform and learn. I believe that the experience I have gained in Watermelon Communication will assist me to be prepared for the PR industry when I graduate from Curtin Singapore.

All in all, besides dreading to wake up early everyday for work, i LOVE my internship placement at Watermelon Communications.

SONG XINYING
15646570
CURTIN SINGAPORE

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Song,

Thank you for sharing this. I agree that the corporate culture is an fundamental nature that defines the internal and external environment. This is what define the image, reputation, atmosphere and ambiance of a company.

The positioning, philossophy and values of the company characterizes the business.

Glad to hear that you have been enjoying your internship.

Regards,

Karen Ithier

Unknown said...

Hi Xinying,

Thanks for sharing!

I too came to see the importance of media monitoring and clippings only after doing it for three months daily.

I realise these media clippings constitute as money and value not just to the client but also the PR agency to measure the results of their effort, contributing to the supposed PR targets/ KPIs to be achieved.

Once again, thanks for sharing and I'm glad you truly enjoyed your internship!

Cheers,
Grace Ong
15230928
Curtin Singapore



Dawn Ng said...

Hi Xin Ying!

Media research is indeed one of the most important aspects in the PR profession and I'm sure media monitoring falls under the umbrella.

I actually took more than two weeks to clean up my company's database of media clippings and refined the search terms after pushing my supervisors to heed my suggestions.

Best Regards
Dawn Ng