As you all would have heard, Haiti was victim to a vicious earthquake on Tuesday 13th January. This was said to be the strongest earthquake in more than two centuries to rock this Caribbean nation. Words cannot begin to describe the shock in the wake of last week’s tragic events in Haiti.
Across Haiti, dozens of buildings have collapsed and thousands of people are feared dead. This catastrophe has left residents shaken, with some unable to cope.
Moreover, some Haitians have expressed feeling very abandoned and alone at the moment, which is mainly due to a lack of aid supplies. The rescue effort and the promised help are now desperately needed, but so far the fresh supplies of water, food and medical equipment are still in short supply.
Little do they know that there are major relief efforts in progress. But I am not only referring to those massive relief efforts by governments and international authorities, but I must highlight the massive efforts being launched on social media sites like facebook and twitter, to name a few.
Social media platforms have been overloaded since last Tuesday with some groups formed to make donations of food and clothes, others to help overseas family members searching for missing relatives and some for condolence postings. These groups also provide members with up-to-date information on the situation in Haiti.
Unfortunately, communication is down in Haiti, so residents would not be privy to these efforts, but they will be extremely beneficial to them later. So as much as residents may feel alone at this point, they are being heavily supported!
I would suggest paying a visit to these groups to see the worldwide concern and support for victims of this tragedy. It reinforces the practicality of using social media platforms in wide scale public relations plans. Furthermore, it demonstrates the rapid acceleration of social media as a fundamental communications strategy in any situation.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Monday, 18 January 2010
Goodbye from Raj!
My two weeks are now over and my work experience has come to an end. The question is though, “Have I actually done anything and have I learnt anything?” Most people who do work experience will probably answer this question by saying, “Yes, I now know how to make a great cup of tea!” The whole time I have been here I have only made the tea about four times, not bad for two weeks!
So, what have I done then? Well, since being here I have done a wide range of different jobs, from doing mail-outs to writing press releases. I have also written newsletters, news posts, blog posts and letters to clients. I have created media lists, phoned companies to persuade them to take part in a client’s charity event and suggested possible podcast and vodcast opportunities for the agency.
I would be lying if I said I have enjoyed every single minute of it, putting letters in envelopes isn’t the highlight of my day! But that’s how it is in PR and although one day you might be planning the world’s most exciting campaign, the next day you may have a never-ending pile of mail-outs to do. Has this put me off though? No way!
If I had to pick one thing that I feel I have improved on the most through my work experience, it would have to be my writing. When I wrote the first draft of my first blog post for the Message Merchants, it was the sort of writing style that would get me a good mark in an essay at university, but not what is needed for a good blog post. If I were to still be using this writing style now, this blog post would have bored you to death and you wouldn’t have even got this far in reading it!
From the whole experience I feel I am now in a better position to get a job within PR. Any previous doubts I had about working in PR have now gone as I am sure that this is the career for me. Although it has only been two weeks that I have worked here it feels a lot longer, within the two weeks I have learnt far more than I could have ever learnt in two weeks of my PR course.
Now I have some experience of working in PR, will I be able to get a job in the profession after I finish university? Only time will tell, but fingers crossed!
So, what have I done then? Well, since being here I have done a wide range of different jobs, from doing mail-outs to writing press releases. I have also written newsletters, news posts, blog posts and letters to clients. I have created media lists, phoned companies to persuade them to take part in a client’s charity event and suggested possible podcast and vodcast opportunities for the agency.
I would be lying if I said I have enjoyed every single minute of it, putting letters in envelopes isn’t the highlight of my day! But that’s how it is in PR and although one day you might be planning the world’s most exciting campaign, the next day you may have a never-ending pile of mail-outs to do. Has this put me off though? No way!
If I had to pick one thing that I feel I have improved on the most through my work experience, it would have to be my writing. When I wrote the first draft of my first blog post for the Message Merchants, it was the sort of writing style that would get me a good mark in an essay at university, but not what is needed for a good blog post. If I were to still be using this writing style now, this blog post would have bored you to death and you wouldn’t have even got this far in reading it!
From the whole experience I feel I am now in a better position to get a job within PR. Any previous doubts I had about working in PR have now gone as I am sure that this is the career for me. Although it has only been two weeks that I have worked here it feels a lot longer, within the two weeks I have learnt far more than I could have ever learnt in two weeks of my PR course.
Now I have some experience of working in PR, will I be able to get a job in the profession after I finish university? Only time will tell, but fingers crossed!
Monday, 11 January 2010
Christmas No.1?
The whole nation was shocked when it was announced that Rage Against The Machine’s single ‘Killing In The Name’ was Christmas Number One. They released the single back in 1992 and my question is “How come 17 years later after release it becomes Christmas number one?” If someone gave you a one word answer and said ‘Facebook’ you would have thought they were joking, but essentially they would have been right. It’s all down to the increasing power and effectiveness which social media has on influencing people.
A man named Jon Morter started a Facebook group called ‘Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No.1.’ The Facebook group asked the question, “Fed up of Simon Cowell's latest karaoke act being Christmas No.1? Me too... So who's up for a mass-purchase of the track 'KILLING IN THE NAME' from December 13th (DON'T BUY IT YET!) as a protest to the X-Factor monotony?” The group attracted widespread attention from Facebook users and had over 500,000 members. One of the bands members, Tom Morello heard about the group and then used his Twitter page to encourage fans to purchase the single. The use of social media prompted traditional media involvement and a word of mouth campaign then ensued. The single achieved the coveted Christmas number one spot.
I actually remember coming across the group on Facebook when I was invited by several of my friends to join. When I saw it I just thought of it as one of the many groups on Facebook that is a load of rubbish, and here I tend to hit the ‘reject’ button. I regarded it in the same category as the types of group which you see that are called ‘If 100,000 members join I will get The Phoenix Partners tattooed on my head!’ or ‘I will run around Leicester city centre naked if 50,000 people join!’ When I saw people on my Facebook posting comments about how the single has become Christmas number one I couldn’t believe it. Maybe if I had joined all the other groups then those people would have got The Phoenix Partners tattooed on their head or run around Leicester city centre naked!
Along with the rest of the country I expected X-Factor winner, Joe McElderry’s single to become number one. For the past four years the winners of The X-Factor have released cover songs which have made it to Christmas number one, partly due to the final being held just before Christmas. Maybe if Simon Cowell and the rest of The X-Factor crew had worked harder on promoting Joe’s single then it may have beaten off competition from Rage Against The Machine. Instead they relied on the show’s popularity to make the single a success. A poor decision by Simon Cowell and for once Cheryl Cole won’t be laughing!
This is an example of social networking used in exactly the right way. It has worked well because along with the campaign having a clear goal, Facebook and Twitter were both used to speak to fans directly to create a massive buzz and this in turn has created media hype. It has been proven once again that social media is becoming more and more powerful in influencing people’s decisions. If Rage Against The Machines success story doesn’t encourage more businesses to start using Twitter and Facebook then what will? Maybe next year we could make Take That Christmas number one, or would that be taking it too far?
A man named Jon Morter started a Facebook group called ‘Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No.1.’ The Facebook group asked the question, “Fed up of Simon Cowell's latest karaoke act being Christmas No.1? Me too... So who's up for a mass-purchase of the track 'KILLING IN THE NAME' from December 13th (DON'T BUY IT YET!) as a protest to the X-Factor monotony?” The group attracted widespread attention from Facebook users and had over 500,000 members. One of the bands members, Tom Morello heard about the group and then used his Twitter page to encourage fans to purchase the single. The use of social media prompted traditional media involvement and a word of mouth campaign then ensued. The single achieved the coveted Christmas number one spot.
I actually remember coming across the group on Facebook when I was invited by several of my friends to join. When I saw it I just thought of it as one of the many groups on Facebook that is a load of rubbish, and here I tend to hit the ‘reject’ button. I regarded it in the same category as the types of group which you see that are called ‘If 100,000 members join I will get The Phoenix Partners tattooed on my head!’ or ‘I will run around Leicester city centre naked if 50,000 people join!’ When I saw people on my Facebook posting comments about how the single has become Christmas number one I couldn’t believe it. Maybe if I had joined all the other groups then those people would have got The Phoenix Partners tattooed on their head or run around Leicester city centre naked!
Along with the rest of the country I expected X-Factor winner, Joe McElderry’s single to become number one. For the past four years the winners of The X-Factor have released cover songs which have made it to Christmas number one, partly due to the final being held just before Christmas. Maybe if Simon Cowell and the rest of The X-Factor crew had worked harder on promoting Joe’s single then it may have beaten off competition from Rage Against The Machine. Instead they relied on the show’s popularity to make the single a success. A poor decision by Simon Cowell and for once Cheryl Cole won’t be laughing!
This is an example of social networking used in exactly the right way. It has worked well because along with the campaign having a clear goal, Facebook and Twitter were both used to speak to fans directly to create a massive buzz and this in turn has created media hype. It has been proven once again that social media is becoming more and more powerful in influencing people’s decisions. If Rage Against The Machines success story doesn’t encourage more businesses to start using Twitter and Facebook then what will? Maybe next year we could make Take That Christmas number one, or would that be taking it too far?
Friday, 8 January 2010
The Latest Talent
Hello!
My name is Raj and I am currently studying MA Public Relations at De Montfort University, Leicester. I am a big football fan and I support Newcastle United. About a year and a half ago when Newcastle’s owner was faced with a backlash from the fans he stopped communicating with us and this is when I first took an interest in PR. If I could choose my career it would be to work within Sports PR as I have a big interest in this and it would be great if I could work in a sector which I have a huge passion for. If only it was that easy to pick and choose your job!
Yesterday I started my two week work experience placement at The Phoenix Partners. The Phoenix Partners is a fully integrated communications agency and although I will be getting involved with all aspects of the business I will mainly be focusing on the PR side of things. From this work experience I hope to gain some hands on experience and put into practice the skills and knowledge that I have learnt from my course. Hopefully this will put me in a good position to get a job in the PR industry when I finish University.
One of the main projects I will be working on is the Vantis Corporate Challenge. This is held by Vantis, who are a Financial Services company based nationwide but with an active office in Leicester. Now in its third year the Challenge is simple. Vantis give £50 to 100 local businesses who must then use this money to raise as much as possible. The only rule is that whatever they do must be legal and ethical. All the money which is raised is going to be donated to two local charities, Rainbow’s Hospice for Children and Young People and LOROS. Part of what I will be doing is to find and motivate local businesses to take part in the Challenge as well as creating media attention for their efforts. From this my communication skills will be developed when talking to businesses and the media.
In my Public Relations course I have been learning about things such as blogging, writing press releases, contacting the media and preparing PR proposals. I hope to get involved with as many of these things as possible as there is only so much you can learn in a classroom environment, and more of the learning comes from actually putting the knowledge into practice. I am grateful to The Phoenix Partners for allowing me the opportunity to learn more about PR by undertaking my work experience with them and I hope I can give something back by making a good contribution to their agency.
My name is Raj and I am currently studying MA Public Relations at De Montfort University, Leicester. I am a big football fan and I support Newcastle United. About a year and a half ago when Newcastle’s owner was faced with a backlash from the fans he stopped communicating with us and this is when I first took an interest in PR. If I could choose my career it would be to work within Sports PR as I have a big interest in this and it would be great if I could work in a sector which I have a huge passion for. If only it was that easy to pick and choose your job!
Yesterday I started my two week work experience placement at The Phoenix Partners. The Phoenix Partners is a fully integrated communications agency and although I will be getting involved with all aspects of the business I will mainly be focusing on the PR side of things. From this work experience I hope to gain some hands on experience and put into practice the skills and knowledge that I have learnt from my course. Hopefully this will put me in a good position to get a job in the PR industry when I finish University.
One of the main projects I will be working on is the Vantis Corporate Challenge. This is held by Vantis, who are a Financial Services company based nationwide but with an active office in Leicester. Now in its third year the Challenge is simple. Vantis give £50 to 100 local businesses who must then use this money to raise as much as possible. The only rule is that whatever they do must be legal and ethical. All the money which is raised is going to be donated to two local charities, Rainbow’s Hospice for Children and Young People and LOROS. Part of what I will be doing is to find and motivate local businesses to take part in the Challenge as well as creating media attention for their efforts. From this my communication skills will be developed when talking to businesses and the media.
In my Public Relations course I have been learning about things such as blogging, writing press releases, contacting the media and preparing PR proposals. I hope to get involved with as many of these things as possible as there is only so much you can learn in a classroom environment, and more of the learning comes from actually putting the knowledge into practice. I am grateful to The Phoenix Partners for allowing me the opportunity to learn more about PR by undertaking my work experience with them and I hope I can give something back by making a good contribution to their agency.
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