PR Internship Blog #1

I'm almost halfway through my 20 days (although it's looking like it might be longer than that!) and I'm only just getting onto my first blog!
I'm doing my internship at the Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR) in Leederville, conveniently located walking distance from my house. I've been given my own project which is part of a bigger project the DSR has taken on as a result of increased funding, but funding someone to do the job I'm doing wasn't part of the budget.
So I'm basically working on a social media marketing project, which most importantly means I get to use Facebook and Twitter at work, while it's blocked on all the other computers. Although what I'm supposed to be doing is writing up a series of documents aimed at state sports associations AND grassroots sports clubs about how to use social media and how it can be beneficial for marketing sports clubs. It also involves talking to clubs that have been using social media well and doing up a few case studies, which is what I'm onto now.
I understand what I'm doing isn't a direct PR role, but what I liked about it was the opportunity to work with social media, because as we all now, social media is an incredibly important emerging tool for PR practitioners. After all the reading I've done on social media marketing I feel like an expert (and I was shocked to find a company that charged $1000 to make Like pages on Facebook for companies) and I have been working with the Comms team here, and will do so more as what I've written up goes to be formatted and published.

On the social side of things everyone I've met at the office is has been really welcoming and it's been easy to fit in, especially since I work Fridays when people tend to knock off a bit earlier and go for drinks and/or having a business lunch (which I've discovered just means taking an extra hour for lunch).

That's all for now, cheers guys.
Tom Jockel.
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