I have come to the discovery, just two weeks into my internship, that public relations in practice and by the book, are completely different. Upon being given tasks to do, at this reputable PR firm( Hotwire public relations & marketing consultancy,Botswana),I set forth to conquer all that was given to me, in mind with everything that i have learnt throughout my years of PR. I even brought along my Pr102 principles text book on my 1st day.
At the end of the day, i realized that it was'nt of much use. The definition or context of 'Media monitoring' is not just simply a method of evaluating a campaign or researching. In the professional world, 'media monitoring' is called 'media reporting', and it involves the process of keeping up to date with client activities,events, news or information out in the media, not just for us the company but for the client too.
By collecting up articles(clippings) or any news/info in newspapers etc(newspapers are more credible in botswana),& other media, concerning given clients of the company, along with an analysis of the articles which are kept of record, nothing is ever missed out on about clients. Thats what I did and learnt on my first day.
Hotwire link: http://www.hotwireprc.com/home.html
by tumelo tafila
LUCT
5 comments:
very interesting,isnt it......you get scared on your first day but when times goes on you get used to the environment and life goes on...I agree with you,theory and practical are quiet different in a working environment
Yup the PR we study has its differences and challenges when it comes to the actual practicing... i saw myself doing the same thing you did, flipping through my books...
Im so jealous you get to experience the field in Botswana, how is the pace? are people appreciative of PR as a whole in Bots? Fill me in.
Well, with me its different; I think sometimes particular key words confuse whereas its just the same thing. Most important; try to engage and learn more. In that manner, you do gain experience and get used to the companies concepts; but its ok to give them what you learned too; they can try it. But it is true that PR in class is different from when you are on the field. However, with me I wouldn't say it differs that much; our media strategy projects from PR 102 really helped; as well as 200, 250 and 300.
In my own opinion, I think Curtin gives us more practical Public Relations which is why it was very important for everyone to be involved in a team which we are doing in our department. Working together is very imperative.
Working at Hotwire is quite an experience. The company is relatively new, about 2 years old, and yet they have accomplished so much, working with really big companies in botswana as their clients, such as BTC,be Mobile, Stanbic,BEDIA and BMC just to mention a few.
What i like about the company is the way they work together in everything they do. The team consists of young people(aged 23-40),which is really interesting.we all communicate on the same level.
As for PR as a whole in botswana,so far from what im experiencing and seeing is that, Pr is still a growing commodity.
at the moment,Hotwire stands as the only Pr firm as a whole in botswana and it is doing very well.I say this looking at the fact that most companies have PR departments, of which Hotwire, is PR.
this is my second week,so im yet to see how it all goes in the long run,its really exciting.
Tumelo i think your experience is quet wider,i like the company you are working in because you are having a big organisations as your clients standing a chance to be a consultant.i must tell you that what you are experiencing is exactly what we go through as new interns,the first week tends to be harder for you because its a time to learn,look and practise.
i would like to agree with you that somehow Pr in the book is quet different,at some point i also had to browse in the book,but i came up with nothing.what i have also noticed is that Pr differ in different organisations.In one of your comments Tefo mentioned that the strategy projects we used to do in our modules helped a lot,i strongly agree with him,i am currently working on a safety campaign and it gets me back to the projects we used to do.
keep it up and work hard consultant..
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