Social Media and PR: Not As Simple As You Think!

Hi Everyone! I have been undertaking my internship at The Blue Room Theatre and thought I would provide an update about the work I have done on their social media, particularly their Facebook page. 

Like most uni students in their early twenties, I would consider myself pretty social media savvy. Most of us use it everyday (sometimes it feels like I am literally on Facebook all day!). So naturally, I thought managing the social media of The Blue Room Theatre would be a breeze. What I discovered though, is that social media in the PR and business world is not as simple as what I thought. Rather, it takes a lot of thought and planning to turn a Facebook page into a strategic business tool where you can engage with stakeholders, your target audience and potential business partners.

It’s all about what you post….

Firstly, you must have content to have a strong Facebook page and social media presence. One of my weekly tasks was to surf the web and social media for any potential developments or news within the arts world that we could use. Sometimes this would be challenging, as it would feel like there was not a lot meaningful content out there! So at times it required some creativity, as you would have to search beyond the standard news websites to find content. 

when you post….

Having approximately 6-7 posts a week was the ideal amount of content at The Blue Room. It was also important to schedule these posts so they would appear at optimum times when our audience was online.  

and how you post!

It’s not as easy as you would think to craft the perfect Facebook post or Tweet! What I learnt is that it is best to make it short and sweet, use a lot of tags/hashtags and have an eye-catching image to support your post. 

Social Media can also help build relationships

The content we did use however allowed us to build relationships with other theatres and arts organisations around Perth. For example, if we posted about an event or performance that was being run by a different organisation, it was likely that in the future they would post something about us on their Facebook page. There were also occasions when I emailed other organisations and asked them to promote some of The Blue Room Shows, and in return, we promoted their work. This showed me that social media can help foster relationships with mutual benefits between organisations in the same industry. 

Engagement Is Important

Encouraging your audience to like, comment and share your posts is also crucial. Competitions and incentives is an effective way to achieve this. The Blue Room would regularly have giveaways on their Facebook page in order to promote engagement amongst their audience. 

Post on other organisation’s Facebook Page

At one point during my internship, The Blue Room was seeking applications for their Summer Nights Program, which is run during the Perth Fringe World Festival. With the goal of seeking international applicants, I posted on the Facebook walls of Fringe World Festival’s from around the world (particularly those in Europe and USA) and promoted our program. This surprisingly worked quite well, and we received a number of replies and direct messages from international applicants and the Fringe World Festivals themselves! Therefore, this is definitely a tactic I would use in the future. 

Overall, it has been very interesting to see first hand just how valuable Social Media is to organisations today and the many ways which we can use it in Public Relations. I have learnt a lot monitoring and generating content for The Blue Room Theatre’s Facebook, which I am excited to put into practice in my future career! 

Unlocking My Potential

Hello again, everyone. Is everyone adjusting well in the establishment you all are interning at? I hope everything is going smoothly and I wish everyone happy working!

This is my second blog post and it has been a week since I first started my internship in Miri Marriott Resort & Spa. Besides’ the task of media clippings as mentioned in my previous blogpost, I have been assigned to do the company’s social media monitoring. My supervisor gave me their Facebook and Twitter’s ID’s and passwords. I was trusted with their social media accounts and boy, was I excited! Handling the social media accounts of a 5-star establishment known worldwide was thrilling.

Miri Marriott’s PR department is handling Mulu Marriott’s social media accounts. Hence, I was tasked to monitor both Miri and Mulu Marriott’s accounts. My first task was to increase the likes of their Facebook page as well as increase the follower counts. When I started, Mulu Marriott’s Twitter account’s followers were merely 42 followers. As of today (7 July 2015), I managed to increase the count to 388. As for Miri Marriott’s Twitter account, it first started off at 7690 and I managed to bring the count up to 8062. My supervisor have been telling me that the Miri Marriott Twitter accounts followers have been decreasing for weeks now. After mentioning to him about the increase, he praised me on my efforts and I was proud of myself. The feeling of accomplishment truly is indescribable. Please do visit Miri Marriott's Facebook page here and Mulu Marriott's Facebook page here. You can also visit their Twitter pages: Miri Marriott & Mulu Marriott respectively.

Every morning at 8.30 am, our department team will have a morning briefing and we will go through our daily packet which includes messages from the General Manager of Cluster Director of both Miri and Mulu Marriott, birthday shoutouts, forecasts of room bookings and many more. After the briefing, we each have to mention our goals and tasks to be done on that very day. I will always update the team on the amount of followers I’ve managed to increase yesterday and hopefully increase them further that day.

Besides’ that, today, I was given the task of writing a press release on Mulu Marriott’s “Spirit To Serve” (STS) program. STS program is Marriott’s community relations program where they support the communities where we live and work. Marriott International focuses on five global social issues: poverty alleviation, the environment, community workforce development, the wellbeing of children, and global diversity and inclusion. The program helps to create goodwill by supporting special causes. This program is a way for Marriott to “give something back” to the community. Besides that, it helps to garner valuable media attention as well as developing close working relationships with local businesses and community groups. Through the program, the company can build partnerships with other corporate sponsors and develop rapport with them.

You can read more on Marriott's Spirit To Serve here.

Press release format:

Be sure to indicate right at the top that this document is a news release. The words, “News for Immediate Release,” should be bold as possible in the upper left-hand of the page.

Be sure to:

• Use the full name of the property;
• Type the release in Times New Roman font, 12 point type;
• Use an informative or catchy headline in all caps, on two single-spaced lines. Position the headline flush left, not centered;
• Double-space after the headline, and double space between lines of a release. Triple space between paragraphs. Do not break paragraphs between pages;
• Do not indent paragraphs;
• If a release is longer than one page, put the word “more: at the end of each page. At the end of the release, put a “30” and “###) to signal the end;
• Number all pages but the first one. Include a shortened version of the headline at the upper left-hand corner of subsequent pages and the appropriate page numbers, including the word “page”;
• Only capitalize executive titles when they come before the person’s name. Do not use courtesy titles (Mr., Ms.) on the first reference on an individual. Use the full name instead, Use courtesy titles on all subsequent references; and
• Spell out numbers from one to nine, use numerals for numbers from 10 and up. Always spell out numbers that begin a sentence.

Media Monitoring Do's & Don'ts

Media Monitoring Do’s

• DO complete your profiles

Make sure your profiles are branded, and that they explain what service you provide. Include a link to your website or how people can get in touch with you.

• DO engage with your audience

Make sure your posts are interesting for your audience, respond to questions and comments as timely as possible, and keep your messages consistent with your brand’s identity.

• DO plan ahead

Creating a monthly calendar of any special days or content you want to distribute can help to keep your social channels timely and fresh.

• DO consider timing when posting

Ensure your posts have a good chance to be seen by your target audience by posting at the most effective times to achieve higher levels of social engagements

• DO use links and hashtags

Links can be used to direct traffic back to your website and hashtags help to get your posts seen. Breanded, unique hashtags can help users find your content faster and more easily, as well as establishing your brand.

• DO reshare content

Social media is all about community so reshare and engage with the content of others that is relevant to your audience. It’s a great way to build connections and show support to the business community you’re a part of.

• DO make your content stand out

Variety is key when it comes to types of content being shared. Include a mix of images, blogposts, infographics, tips, authoritative content and video.

• DO respect your audience

You’ve worked hard to build your audience so don’t let it go to waste by being rude or aggressive. Respond to people who have taken the time to get in touch-always be positive and emphasize your strengths rather than highlighting any weaknesses.

 Media Monitoring Don’ts

• DON’T spread yourself too thin

Don’t waste time signing up to every social media platform going if you’re not going to have time to update each one regularly. Think about what’s important and will work for your business.

• DON’T spam your feeds

Social media should be used to inform and show your expertise, not just to hard sell. Don’t overwhelm your feeds with too much information though; carefully consider the content you’re sharing.

• DON’T forget to monitor

You should be monitoring your channels daily for comments, compliments and complaints so that you can respond to them effectively.

• DON’T skimp on resources

Don’t underestimate what is required when running social media channels for your business. Fresh content must be created and be up to date with the industry news and changes, while someone should be responsible for regular posting and interacting with any customer comments or queries

• DON’T overdo it

No one likes a post with a thousand hashtags in it. Limit yourself to 2-3 key phrases and try to use them naturally within sentences instead of lumping them at the end.

• DON’T plagiarize content

Resharing is one thing, copying content and branding it as your own is another. Always give credit when credit is due.

• DON’T forget about the visuals

From infographics to videos, posting visual-based content drives interaction. Time is short so having content that is easy on the eye and quick to digest is key.

• DON’T share or interact with questionable content

There’s a delicate line on social media as to what should be shared and what shouldn’t. think carefully about your business and what it stands for before you interact with controversial or questionable content.

If you would like to read more on the Do's & Don'ts, please visit the website here 

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”
– Jimmy Johnson

That's all for my second blog post. Stay tuned for my next one. 

Till then, happy working!

Jasmine Alyssa Epui
Miri Campus
Curtin Sarawak University

17143743

Time to say goodbye

Hi everyone,

I have been extremely busy the last few weeks preparing MSWA's social media launch which was today. MSWA is now present on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Blogger. To launch Facebook, I had to come up with an interesting way to get people to like the Facebook page, and what better way then a give-a-way. Taryn (my supervisor) allowed me to design a competition with the prize of an iPad mini! People must share, like and comment on their experience of MS.

Today was an interesting day, as we were not sure on the response we would receive on the first day of launching the social media platforms. The first few hours we had 3 likes, all within the organisation. This was really starting to worry me as I didn't want the launch to be a fail. More hours had passed and amazingly, people were liking and sharing the page, and posting their story of MS! The response was great. Every time I pressed refresh a new notification would come up. By close of business we had received 250 likes, which was beyond our expectations. 

I thought it would be a good idea to track all the likes and posts for the whole month of April, and then once it has settled down, keep track 1-2 times a week. This will allow MSWA to see what people are responding to, and if the numbers will continue to increase. I also thought it would be beneficial to create a spreadsheet with a year plan on potential ideas for FB posts. This is only to give a rough guide, but there is nothing worse than having presence for one month and then nothing, or overloading people's news feed that they eventually unlike you!

This was the last day of my 20 day internship at MSWA and was the most exciting. I am glad to say that I will not be saying goodbye to MSWA. I have been offered a position in the Communications Department which I start in a few weeks. I am so grateful to be offered this position, as I was definitely not ready to leave. This 20 day internship has been such an amazing growth opportunity for me in PR and I wish everyone good luck for the rest of their placement!

Thanks for reading my blogs!

Gabby

Experienced the real world!

My final days

As my internship now comes to a close, it’s sad to think I will no longer get to spend my Mondays and Fridays with the people from the office.

I like to think that I have really settled into the work place and become a lot more confortable than my first few days. From the range of jobs and challenges I have been faced with, it has truly given me a real insight into what PR is all about. Although not having to always deal with ‘typical’ public relations work, by doing my placement in a small organisation, it has given me the opportunity to see all things you may have to deal with. Ranging from photocopying, media contact list updates, spreadsheets, editing, photo shoots and agricultural shows, I believe I have been exposed to a lot more areas than you would have to undertake in a larger organisation’s public relations field.

My final day with Bauxite Alumina Joint Venture was just tying up the loose ends, we finished facebook to a manageable level for rest of the staff and I handed over notes about what to do regarding it. We also had a meeting with Clarity Communication to sort out and start planning what social media tools to use. All in all it was a wonderful last day and it’s been fantastic working with BAJV to gain some real world experience!

Here are some photos from the Ag shows and my day as a photographer!

 

The Two Week Event – A Colosoul* Endeavour

*Mind the pun, I do mean colossal.

When I first entered the office of Colosoul Group Inc, the brain-child of Tricia “Trish” Ray, I didn’t know what to make of the group of 20 people crowded into the room with eager faces. I nestled into a chair of my own up very the front as my face morphed to mimic the group of other potential volunteers.  Trish opened by discussing the company, and the mission she has endeavoured towards since it was first established.

Colosoul Group has an somewhat unusual internal working, which in my eyes seems to work to benefit the productivity of Colosoul, as there is a strong sense of team work and co-operation between departments in order to get work done by people who are passionate about the projects. This is as opposed to forcing people into a role they wont enjoy and end up putting little effort into – which I’m sure we are all guilty of in those first few jobs, the ones we needed as stepping stones into desirable employment.

Colosoul has ongoing, permanent projects that include 8 publications, all for different demographics and to help promote awareness and gain charity for other not-for-profits such as Extinction Sucks, FTP, PMH and the Esther Foundation.  While people where allocated roles for particular publications (print and online magazines), they also have departments dedicated to particular focuses such as film, fashion, design, journalism, human relations, public relations and more! I found the harmony in the spread of people and relaxed nature of Colosoul – motivational messages line the walls of the small office, and it is a very close-knit environment. With people available as “general” Colosoul staff who have different specialties, we are encouraged to seek out the help of others by the means of a Colosoul Facebook Group, or just face-to-face to see who is interested in helping with projects here and there.

Having already spoken with Venus the company director, the publication I was handed the reigns to was Greta Photo Book, which has a message to promote awareness and to erase the stigma regarding Mental Health – which is a cause I couldn’t have been happier to be involved with. It also aims to help photographers Australia wide (starting locally) to have a chance at being published and getting their name out there – which also gives the publication a theme. Overjoyed, but overwhelmed I took in the news, excited for this new stage in my life while feeling butterflies in my stomach at the idea of taking on a virtually abandoned publication by myself.

I had a lot of brainstorming to do, a lot of phone calls to make, and Mental Health Week fast approaching. Given the cause, this seemed like a fantastic opportunity to re-invigorate Greta with an exhibition. Unfortunately with only two weeks to plan and put together it was time to say good-bye to my friends and hello to technology, as I research; plan; call; email; beg; and organise. My new friends are my phone, the Greta facebook account which I hastily revamped (**picture below), and email.

**Greta Photo Book Facebook www.facebook.com/gretaphotobook

I cannot wait to let you know how this unfolds!

Until then,

Imogen Clark

Curtin Bentley Campus