Putting Plans Into Action

After over two months of planning, getting information and feedback from internal stakeholders, and deciding on the best ways to reach external stakeholders, things are finally (and slowly) starting to happen.

My placement was initially supposed to end once most of the planning had been put in place, but I've been fortunate enough to be able to stay on longer for the beginning of the implementation of the plan.

My last post was about how the main targeted stakeholders for the plan I've been developing, a education campaign to improve safety and registration compliance for owners of off-road bikes, had been changed. Late last week this changed again, and now the focus is on junior riders and males between 18 and 35. It's definitely not the easiest group to try and pitch safety to, but hopefully there will be some success.

Also late last week, content I had developed for the Department of Local Government & Communities website went live. It's such a good feeling to know that the work I've been doing hasn't all been for nothing, and now I have something to show for it other than just a written plan of things to happen.

Plans for social media are also coming into place, so hopefully posts will be up in the next couple of weeks. Whilst this sounds like a long time, it being a government department means that there are a number of procedures that have to be followed before content can be posted to a Facebook page.

If someone asked me at the beginning of my internship if I'd be willing to extend it, I don't think I would have said yes. Now I'm definitely glad to still be there, getting to see something come from the plan has made the experience all the more worthwhile.

That's all for now,
Zoe

It’s all about the journey… not the destination

Hi everyone, I am writing to you my final blog post for my internship, and I have to say this is quite surreal. The time has gone so fast, and it’s incredible to see how much I have grown and changed over the three months I have been doing my internship. I have been involved with so many different aspects of the company I am working for and have gained so many valuable opportunities and experiences.

 

Whilst I have been an intern at NXT Enterprise I have had the opportunity to contribute to some very important projects and tasks specifically:

 

·         Communications Plan

·         Market Research

·         News and Social Media Scheduling

·         Website Management and Content

·         Report and Formal Writing

 

Being involved with all of these tasks and more has helped to contribute to my skills and knowledge base as a PR professional. I now am ready to enter the world of Public Relations, and feel as though I would be able to make a valuable contribution to any organisation.

 

However this journey hasn’t always been easy, there have been many difficult times as well. Managing a part-time job, as well as university, as well as an internship and then trying to find time for a personal life was not an easy task! However, this was a REAL insight into life beyond university and what I can expect going into a public relations role.

 

My final piece of advice for anyone entering their internship now, is to be observant, and learn as much as you can! This might seem strange, however I found that being observant and attentive in my role helped me a lot. I also now realise at the end of my internship, how important it is to learn as much as you can, so you can take this knowledge into your next role.

 

Being observant helps you to learn much quicker, it allows you to take more initiative on the job and anticipate your boss’s needs, as well as determine the correct and incorrect way of doing things. Trust me, by being an observant and prepared impressed my supervisor a lot, as I was able to determine what needed to be done without having to be asked, and use my initiative to achieve tasks.

 

I wish the best of luck to everyone still completing their internships, and hope that my blog posts have been a learning experience for others.

 

Good luck!

 

Sam

 

Building An Online Community

A community is made up of individuals and groups of people who all have a common interest, as either a stakeholder or general public.  A group of people with a common interest in a not-for-profit organisation are:

• Committed to the cause of the not-for-profit organisation;
• Believe in the core values of the not-for-profit organisation;
• Wanting to be more socially responsible; and
• Wanting to give back to their community. 

This is why it is crucial as public relations practitioners to be able to create an online community in today's digital world. Whether its through social media, its own website, phone apps and digital newspaper publications. 

In my second week interning at Global Hand Charity (GHC), I was going through the website looking for information on a media release that I was preparing, when I noticed it had "NO HISTORY SECTION. " 

I was quite shocked by this discovery. 

How are stakeholders and the general public supposed to know the origins of Global Hand Charity and why the charity was established in the first place...

So I made it my mission to create a History page for GHC. 

After having a meeting with the Founder and Vice Chairperson, and asking a load of questions about the history of Global Hand Charity.  I took a couple of  hours to look at the content and style of the site, as well as competitor website's to grasp an idea of what should be included in the section. Being in charge of creating a new page for the site was a new learning skill for me. So it take me a few days to fiddle around with until I was happy with the final product. 

Global Hand Charity History

The page is brief, but enough for any one to understand the origins of GHC. The charity has not been around for six years, so they do not have a longer history compared to other not-for-profit organisations with similar services. As time goes by and the years pass, more content will be added to the page. 

Global Hand Charity does not have a strong online presence in regards to its social media. They do have a Facebook page with more than 300 likes. One third of all their posts are reached but each like is most likely to receive less than 10 likes. GHC post content at least twice a month, depending on current projects taking place in Laos. The challenge as a PR practitioner is to figure out how to engage those who are aware of GHC to like and share the post. Thus, creating more buzz and awareness among the Perth community. 

It is crucial for the Global Hand Charity to be able to create and maintain an engaging online community.  If an organisation wants to increase its brand awareness and knowledge among its intended audience, this is a must. It may take a while and carefully thought out strategic communication, but it will pay off in the end. 

Hanging out with the Pirates

Hi all! My name is Emma and I am in my final semester at Curtin. In just a few short months I will have completed my Commerce degree and will (hopefully) be ready to step into the big wide "real world" as a graduate.

I am currently interning at a local music station in Fremantle - Pirate 88FM. Having been there since the last week of the mid-semester break, I’ll be the first to admit I am a bit late to write my first my blog post. Nevertheless, I now have plenty to tell. 

I was pretty intimidated by the whole experience at first. Having not done much in the way of work experience relevant to my degree, I came into the PR Internship unit with a slight “I’m not good enough” mentality. You know the one – where you feel like you’ll be at uni studying forever, then all of a sudden the end of your degree is near and it’s time to put theory into practice. Determined to be organised, I began searching for a placement a couple of weeks into the semester break. I googled, I applied, I rang, I waited. After weeks of no response, I started to freak out. Maybe I really wasn’t good enough? Was there something wrong with my CV? Did I apply for positions wrong? I was starting to get desperate.

As it turns out, I was just being impatient. I woke up a couple of days later with two offers waiting for me in my email inbox (that’s right, not one, but two!). One I had applied for weeks prior, and another I had found in a desperate attempt on Gumtree. After a bit of thought and consideration, I accepted the role at Pirate as I felt it offered more relevant and valuable experience. Plus it's a radio station - how fun is that?!

I have no doubt I made the right choice. The next day I threw together the most professional looking outfit I could find and made my way to the Pirate 88FM office in O’Connor, putting on a confident façade to hide my nerves.  As I sat with my supervisor my nerves flooded out the door within minutes and excitement set in. I already had so many ideas.

Pirate is a very young business. Founded in 2010, the station has very limited awareness and operates on a very limited budget (which, as it turns out, works out great for myself as it gives me lots of freedom to play around with ideas). For those who are unaware (and unfortunately I’m sure many of you are), Pirate 88FM is a local music station that is passionate about supporting the local music scene, giving local musicians as much exposure as they can. 70% of the music played on air is local music, and there is hardly any talkback. They are very community focused and consider themselves “the Fremantle sound”. Due to having a restricted license, the station is only broadcast in the Fremantle area, however can be streamed globally online.

I have only been with Pirate for a short time but I have already been tasked with, and accomplished so much. On my first day, I was asked to do a short write-up on that week’s 'Featured artist of the week', 'The Seals'. I was a bit daunted by the task at first. Having limited musical knowledge and no clue how to even describe an unfamiliar band, I had no idea how to start (although, I guess it is a music station - what else should I expect?). I jumped into some research and after reading a few online reviews, listening to a few songs and reading their bio, I found myself completing the write-up in less than half an hour. After showing it to my supervisor and getting the all clear, I was asked to put it up on their website, and I now do a write-up on a different band each week.

My first band write-up at Pirate

I’ve also been given the responsibility of updating Pirate’s website (as well as helping update their social media pages). If you have a visit, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s no secret the website needs a bit of work. After refreshing my memory on Wordpress and navigating my way around the confusing settings they currently have in place, I took some initiative and volunteered to redo the whole look and feel of their website (very cautiously I may add, I didn’t want to offend anyone!). They agreed the website needs a makeover and were happy for me to take on the task, so I’ve since been working on this as a “major” project at home. I will admit that I slightly underestimated the amount of work that goes into completely redesigning a website, but it’s a project I’m really excited about, and I can’t wait to see the new website go live. 

There is so much more for me to tell - events I’ve been able to help run and promote, bands I’ve helped interview, promotional material i've created, radio advertising I’ve helped produce (and voiced!) - but if I keep going this blog post will never end. I’ve made a very stern mental note to myself to not wait weeks before my next blog post! I will share some of the exciting things I've been up to soon.

Until then,
Emma.