New Begginings and Final Thoughts

So I have completed my internship and I can’t help but feel both excited and sad. Most of all I feel grateful that I got to work in such a great organization where I have learned so much. There are also some lessons which I have taken away from my experience which I would love to share.

Firstly, it was lovely to be apart of the small team of five at the Blue Room. Everyone was friendly and supportive, and I was lucky to be included in a number of Blue Room traditions, such as Cake Fridays and enjoying a few rounds of Trivial Pursuit (honestly, what more could you want from internship!)

I have been able to be involved in a number of great tasks and initiatives, such as fundraising campaigns, sustainability programs, media release writing, social media management and event planning. I have also gotten a taste of the necessary, yet not as fun tasks such as database and CRM management, media monitoring, brochure distribution and a few other jobs which I’m sure all interns are familiar with (coffee runs, licking envelopes, all though I didn’t mind!)

Managing the publicity for a small organisation with a tight budget has a number of challenges, which is something I have come to learn first-hand at my internship.

Working at The Blue Room Theatre, a small, independent theatre in Northbridge, I am constantly amazed at how they are able to achieve such great coverage and promotional material on a small budget. A lot of our time is spent brainstorming creative ideas, including a Hawaiian-wedding-themed season launch (which was a lot of fun to be part of!), then brainstorming ways to pull this off while spending as little as possible.

Because of this tight budget, both the marketing a public relations responsibilities are combined within the organisation. Therefore, a challenge of mine was to differentiate between the two and to determine exactly how PR can impact an organisation.

The most crucial tasks which I have been involved in, including media relations, social media management, sponsorship, website development and event management, can be considered to be PR roles. Furthermore, the success of the organisation is largely dependent on these tasks being carried out effectively.

My experience has allowed me to see first hand just how valuable PR is to The Blue Room, and I would be extremely interested to discover how this can change in larger organisations, something I hopefully can find out in my future career.

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! 

Fundraising Campaigns: Tips for Success

I am completing my internship at The Blue Room Theatre, a small, independent theatre which relies heavily on the support and donations of its members. Recently, the theatre ran a campaign with the goal of raising $21,000, allowing them to install solar panels. Not only did they reach this goal, they actually exceeded it, with funds totalling $22,935. Being involved with the campaign and witnessing the work of The Blue Room team allowed me to learn a number of valuable lessons which I hope to incorporate in my future studies and career. These include:

1. Find a great spokesperson

Finding a spokesperson who is well-known, liked, and relevant to the cause is vital. The Blue Room was able to achieve this by having comedian Tim Minchin as their spokesperson. Not only is he a well-known figure, but he has previously performed his work at The Blue Room in his early career. He therefore had a personal connection with the theatre and was able to help generate support from the community.

Tim Minchin in The Blue Room Theatre's campaign video

2. Integrate all communication channels

Promoting the campaign across all communication channels is vital to ensure consistency and that the word is spread. Making sure that the campaign is promoted on the organisation’s website and social media channels is obviously able to achieve exposure, however The Blue Room also had links to donate on their e-mail signatures and gave people the opportunity to donate whenever they purchased tickets. These extra initiates can only assist the cause, and were responsible for a number of donations which The Blue Room received. 

3. Use your networks

There’s no better time than during a fundraising campaign to use any networks and relationships you have developed! The Blue Room was able to do this and in particular, was able to secure a lot of big donations by reaching out to some of their networks. 

4. Thank your donors

Thanking and recognising your supporters is an important aspect to implementing a successful campaign. This allows donors to feel valued and more inclined to donate again in the future. The Blue Room did this be acknowledging donors on their website, via email and through personalised phone calls if the donation was above $250. 

5. Be prepared

Having a clear plan and schedule is the foundation of a successful campaign. Furthermore, having contingencies in place if the campaign appears to be falling short of meeting its objectives is also extremely useful. 

PR and Journalism: A Rocky Relationship

One of the very first things we learn in our Public Relations degree is the importance of media relations and media coverage. How to correctly write media releases is practically drilled into our brains, and a whole unit is devoted to managing and creating relationships with media and journalists. It is one of the most important tasks that any PR professional must master. So I was truly excited when I was given the opportunity to dive into media release writing recently at my internship.

I am completing my internship at a theatre, and was asked by my supervisor to produce a media release announcing the AUSLAN interpreted performances of two of the plays featured in the upcoming season. I was ready to apply the skills I picked up in PR Techniques and create the best media release I have ever produced. 

Once I was happy with it, my supervisor looked over it and gave her approval. We sent out the media release and then all we could do was simply wait.

I was anxious, yet excited when it came to performing my media monitoring duties the next week. My supervisor told me the article had some interest and I began checking some local papers. And there it was! A half-page news story based on the media release I had written! It was my first time actually experiencing what it was like to gain some media coverage, however when I read the article my excitement slowly went away. 

Firstly, the name of the play was spelt incorrectly. What was supposed to be ‘Armour’ was spelt ‘Amour’ and on top of that, the date of the performance in the article was also incorrect. Although the article was there and we gained some coverage, all of the vital information was incorrect. I was extremely disappointed and there wasn’t anything we could do to correct the mistake at this point. 

In spite of the fact that this was extremely frustrating for both myself and my supervisor, it has taught me some vital lessons. Firstly, that PR professionals don’t have total control over the media coverage produced. Despite a media release with the correct information and a follow-up phone call with the journalist, the mistakes were still published. Therefore, it is vital to have contingencies in place if things don’t always go to plan. 

Secondly, the relationship between journalists and PR professionals is a vital one. PR professionals can do all they can to generate coverage, however it is the journalist that produces the final piece. Therefore, relationships with journalists must be managed and open communication throughout the media release distribution process is crucial. 

Thirdly, you must be able to bounce back. Although this was unfortunate situation and left me feeling down, PR professionals must be able to move on a do their best to let the public know the correct information. We continued to promote the AUSLAN performance through social media and our website before discovering that another article about the performances was published on ArtsHub, a national publication. This was extremely gratifying, as this article was more likely to reach a larger audience.  

Overall, my first time writing a media release in a professional context has been a huge learning experience for me, illustrating that even when you have the best intentions, it doesn’t always go to plan. However, there’s always next time, and something even better may be waiting around the corner!