Stepping into the PR world

Once you sign up and register for all the conferences and leadership conventions. You know it is time to get serious and put that game face on and network your life away. On a personal note, when I went various conferences and conventions I was a whole new person together to get the contact information that I was able to get. Going to the Biz Bash Idea Fest, the amount of contacts I was able to get was a new experience. Although you have be yourself.. you have to be a different side of yourself. The professional side with a slight of humor that the public can open up to you and get a warm feeling with you right away that they want to do business with you.

The amount of emails I have received wanted to do business with me and my partner was mind blowing.

Because of this event, it pushed and motivated to actually open up my own business. I kept all contacts personal and told them I was an freshly about to be new graduate willing to open up my own event planning company.

The best part of networking is the end result. At the end of the conferences, I was offered an internship in Washington, D.C. for Pixe Photography. They travel around the world taking photos for Fashion Week Internationally major events in New York City. For conveniece I was able to the another internship at Manilla. com a subcompany apart of Heart Corporation.

5 Instagram's You Can't Ignore

There’s no denying that Instagram seems to have become the fashion industry’s social media platform of choice when it comes to visually engaging with followers.  Here are a few of the our top picks for PR and creative agencies creating compelling stories about themselves and their clients on Instagram.

1. Jess3 : Entertainment and Humor

This creative interactive agency, specializing in what they call “the art of data visualization”, offers a range of services from animation, content creation and digital PR to developing large-scale installations, social strategies, data visualizations and infographics. The firm uses a variety of images and content to appeal to its diverse community of designers, researchers, animators, strategists and developers across multiple cities and countries. How does it do this specifically? Its posts reinforce the clever, tongue and cheek humor of the agency’s brand, and are simultaneously entertaining and resourceful.

2. Digital Royalty : Culture and Community

Founded in 2010 by young and entrepreneurial rock star Amy Jo Martin, Digital Royalty (dR) develops digital integration and social media strategies globally for corporate and entertainment brands, professional athletes, sports teams and leagues. From photo’s of company retreats to employee gags and creative poses with client products, dR’s Instagram content creates a sense community. All posted content speaks to the firm’s creative culture which helps establish its trustworthiness amongst a variety of perspectives.

3. MRY : Expertise and Success Stories

Both a creative services and technology agency, MRY works with its clients to convert consumer-led brand conversations into measurable business results. MRY takes a slightly different approach to  a sampling of campaigns featuring clients like Coca Cola, Puma, and Sony, to its own in-house sponsored MYR Media Week, visitor’s to MRY’s Instagram will be left with no doubts about the firm’s success.

4. SkirtPR : Fashion PR Girl Inspiration

This boutique Chicago-based PR firm is one of Crosby’s favorites. The agency’s Instagram speaks directly to its fashionista and fashion brand clients with content such as “outfit of the day” posts, style suggestions, and images that play with color and texture. If your clients are fashion brands targeting younger women, SkirtPR’s Instagram should be a great source of both aesthetic and content inspiration.

5. Edelman : Education

 Edelman’s Instagram account is an exceptional model due to its incorporation of a variety of content that is educational while maintaining a consistent brand voice. At any given time, it’s feed includes images of the day-to-day activities in one of the many global offices, PR and digital marketing infographics, in addition to advice and tips for PR professionals.

Final Thoughts

Keep in mind when you are building your agency or your individual PR Instagram account that there is no single formula for content. Depending upon your clients and their needs you will want to pull from each of these examples in a way that best demonstrates who you are as an agency/professional and what makes your brand unique.

Network your life away

As you become more and more outgoing for this type of job in the PR and event planning area. You will need to brand yourself to the point where you can start your networking connections. The earlier you start the better it will benefit you. Networking is the one of the most powerful marketing tactic to accelerate and sustain success for anyone. It is about making connections and building mutual relationships. Consider it as expanding your circle of influence that will motivate you in the long run.

Why Network?

• Learn dynamics within your industry
• Establish your business contacts
• Get “plugged in” to your community
• Seek new career opportunities
• Facilitate win-win relationships
• Create your referral networks
• Accelerate your professional development
• Develop knowledge resources

Resources:

Importance of Networking

Prepare to meet the Officials

When you are out in public especially at event where you will meet people. Try to be prepared at all costs. When I say prepared I mean carry yourself professional and classy and I do not mean be boring and stiff. Just be yourself, but in a way where people are attracted to get to know you more.

You will never know who has already made it to the top and what things you may have in common with them.

To Be or Not To Be

Is PR what you really WANT?

For those looking to get into public relations may not be 100% sure that is the right career for them, this may help decide to see if it fits your personality.

1. Communicating with people all day is a must & is enjoyable
2. Taking no for a answer, rejection doesn't bother you
3. Work well under pressure 
4. Organization, How well are you organized
5. Planning & Attending events has always been a dream
6. Being on the computer all day doesn't bother you
7. Social Media Obsession
8. Breaking News? Be the first to know everything that is going on
9. Working on the weekends
10. Writing is a key to communicate. Grammatically correct, of course

Believe it or not, anyone can become a PR person with hard-work, dedication and drive. There’s no step-by-step guide, but starting off with an internship or entry-level position to get hands on experience will help determine whether or not it’s the  industry for you.

Brand Yourself

One way to brand yourself is through many social media websites. You may think that I am talking about Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, but it is much more than that. The way to brand yourself is to find internship social media pages that can help you get scouted by some of the most well known companies in the media advertising and entertainment businesses are easy to search.  There are a few websites that just help you simply find an internship and apply with your resume and cover letters, while others want much more. Let's list the resources I have used to nail my interviews and have being scouted for.

LinkedIn
Many students and professional companies use LinkedIn as an online discussion and an online resume to view your experiences. LinkedIn was founded in 2003 and it now has over 224 million users. Any type of company you are looking for and want to see a professional profiles of that particular person is on there. They are able to view your page at any moment if they are looking for someone in particular for their company. It is a social networking page on a professional level versus Facebook. Personally, I have a LinkedIn, but I used it for profile uses only and discussion updates from companies that I like to follow.

Intern Queen
Lauren Berger, founder of Intern Queen is an young educated women who help lead young students help find that internship and blogs about what many people think about when they are lost when it comes to Internships. She updates her webpage daily with the companies who are hiring for interns. She travels around the nation to speak as various universities and companies to help lead the young generation.

Intern Sushi
Creating a profile about yourself with video and media. It is the BEST webpage that has benefitted me in searching for an internship. All you have to do is set up your profile with photos and detailed job descriptions and experiences you have had. Various companies all over the United States come on this page to look for students who are looking for internships and scout you out. When scouted, you are notified with an email that you have been scouted and can then can apply and set up an interview. About once a week I see companies who have scouted me and it makes it a lot easier for students with busy schedules who do not have the time to look for an internship. It is a free application and webpage you can sign up for and if you want to take that extra step, you can upgrade to premium that allows you to see more features of the webpage, such as who and what companies have viewed your profile and feedback on what they are looking for.

Brand yourself to where companies notice you have confidence in what you want to do with you career goals and experiences. Don't forget in the this type of industry you can't sit on the sidelines and expect people to come to you. Put yourself out there and see the opportunities that await.

Nailing that Interview

It usually takes me five minutes and two questions to know how an interview will likely turn out.
You need to go in with a confident mind set. Make sure you do research on what your will be interviewing for. Whether it is an phone interview or an in-person interview you have that first impression to nail it!.

Here's what you need when you go in:

• Smile: Key - Personally, being bubbly helps all the time ladies
• Agenda : Must have an agenda of questions & background of company
• Availability: They want to know you have time for them & you can give it your all
• Confidence: Being shy will not help you be outspoken, say what you believe. Don't doubt yourself
• Time Management: Learning to juggle so many tasks at one, you need to know what is priorities
• Organization: 
• Humor: Doing business, while having fun & still getting the job done.

Experience is everything in PR world. Many companies are willing to hire newbies to go into their business so they can teach them slowly, but many want those with experiences. Try to get as many internships as you can, especially while you are in school. Utilize the credits and back ground experience in classes or work (if any).

Best of Luck!

Always Smile

That feeling when you feel like you are on top of the world.

PRs must always be confident & smile regardless what is going on.

Laugh & Smile.