Just because we lack experience, doesn't mean we can't make a difference

I am doing my internship with a marketing organisation that I have worked with for about five years now. I have worked with them as a sales demonstrator as one of their very low-line employees. When I was given the opportunity to do my PR internship with them I was quite excited. It is quite a unique position to be in- having such an in-depth knowledge of an organisation and then being able to apply your degree to make changes that can benefit you.

When I started my internship I was very keen to be at their beck and call. I was prepared to do any job  they wanted me to do. I was ready to start at the bottom and be free labour essentially. Early into the internship I was given the chance to voice my own ideas about how I could use PR to benefit myself as an employee and my peers. Having the opportunity to improve your own working conditions with your new skills is quite a cool thing! At first I was a bit reluctant. I thought, I am a 21-year-old university student- what could I possibly offer a successful national organisation? It turns out I can offer them a new fresh perspective! 

Feedback from employees is critical to a successful business as employees are the most important stakeholder group. Managers can often get caught up on the overall picture of an organisation and can lose sight of the smaller details. By receiving feedback from those who are immersed in the organisation and it's daily interactions with the outside world, you can learn a lot on how to become more efficient and effective.

My organisation is based in Sydney with no head offices in Perth. It is quite a common joke amongst WA employees that we are forgotten about and we can get away with so much more. We only receive visits from managers around four times a year and often I feel that communication is more targeted towards the Eastern states. We may not be another country with a different culture but the relaxed suburban shopping centres of Perth are definitely different to upmarket Sydney shopping strips!

As I am writing this, I am currently creating a Western Australian employees Intranet where we can share thoughts, solutions to tricky customer interactions and receive up to date information on our client company. I am also writing a bible targeted specifically at Western Australian in-mall activation events. My knowledge from being an employee has allowed me to get really personal with what I am writing and add information and experience that managers may not have.

So even though I am a university student working at the bottom of this organisation my thoughts are important. Have any of you experienced similar situations? Have you been with an employer a long time and thought- I have ideas on how we could become better? 

Dealing With Negative Comments

Hi everyone!

This is my second blog post for my internship so far.

This week I was posed with a real challenge! In my previous post I mentioned that I will be shouldering some of the responsibility for the monitoring and content production for my businesses social media platforms.

Things were going well until I was faced with a  social media crisis. The business that I am interning for is a real estate firm. Apart of the service they provide is rental property management. The firm essentially is an agent for the owner of the property and deals with the day to day management of the property and its tenants.

Unfortunately, tenants can feel frustrated by the administration of this process. This week a disgruntled present tenant took to the firm's social media to vent their frustrations over a delay in repairs to the property they were renting. I was told this is a common grievance among tenants.

My first thought was to delete the comment! After all, it was very negative and aggressive so that can only be bad right? Wrong! I thought about it carefully, consulted my supervisor and proceeded with the following strategy: take the conversation offline. (all those readings in contemporary practice came in handy!).

I replied to the person, as the business, and asked them to please call the relevant property manager on a direct number. I could not speak to the person myself because I am not trained in property management, and I didn’t have the full background of the property and the discussions on the issue. I let the property manager know the person would be calling and that it was important that the conversation was productive.

I was happy and thought the issue would be neutralised within the next 24 hours. I was wrong. The tenant chose to reply aggressively. The comment included profanity and personal attack on a staff member at the firm. Both professionally and ethically I felt out of my depth. Keeping in mind that the businesses reputation was on the line I decided to consult the Frist National Head office. I spoke to their communications team, they took over the matter from there and after another failed attempt had to remove the comments that contained the offensive language and blocked the user. The head office explained to me that they only do this where there is offensive language involved.

I was disappointed that I could not handle the situation myself, but it got me thinking about the ethics surrounding social media censorship. More specifically, the question: when is it ok to delete a negative comment about your business?

I did some reading on the issue both on online blogs and the few peer-reviewed articles I could find (“How large companies react to negative Facebook comments” by Sam H Dekay was interesting!). The consensus was that when comments contain derogatory, threatening, racist or other unacceptable language it is ok to remove them. However, if they do not the organization should not delete them. They should instead view it as constructive criticism and try and resolve the issue with the person offline.

After doing this research, I felt better about the choices I had made, and I feel like I learnt a lot from the experience.

Hello, I just wanted to add an edit to this post. upon reflection I feel as though this was actually more in the realm of an issue, rather than what we would as a full-blown crisis. 

Thanks,

Sarah

Started From The Bottom Now We're Here

Hello Fellow Intern Bloggers!

This is my first blog post about my internship, I have been a bit snowed under with my internship days and University studies.

I am interning at a small family owned real estate business and completing my final semester at Curtin. I have been helping out with the firm on and off all year and began my official internship back in the semester break.

Unlike many of you, the firm I am working for does not have a PR department, or a marketing one, or anything really. There is one designated marketing position in the entire office. Her time is mainly taken up by preparing the adds for homes that are available for rent or purchase. This involves putting the add for the house together and then distributing it to the relevant outlets (print media, electronic sites etc).

Previously, I had only completed internships in a specific PR departments, so this entering a business that didn’t not have that framework was a bit of a shock. Initially I wasn’t sure where to begin, but luckily my supervisor has been great at providing me with direction.

At this point you may be wondering what I actually do if I’m not in a PR department. The answer is that basically I am steering my own ship. With no established systems or projects to work on I started from the bottom. I suggested to the firm’s management team that I give them a PR education. This so far has entailed me briefing them on the differences of PR and Marketing and preparing’s a report that explains their current situation (situational analysis). I am now in the process of preparing recommendations, I am hoping that the management team will green light some of my ideas and I will get to start working on setting them up.

Aside from this, there are a number of upcoming community events that I am going to have a hand in running. I am really excited about this because event management is something I love doing.

I am also active on the firm’s social media and have input into our other external communications. Social media has proven to be a very useful tool for the firm in selling so there is an emphasis on ensuring it is always engaging and moving forward.

So far, coming into a firm with no PR set up has been a bit daunting. Although it has been a challenge, I believe I am gaining very valuable experience. Having to go back to the basics has reminded me what PR is all about and why I decided to study it in the first place!

Is anyone else interning in a small business or an organisation with no established PR practises?

Thanks,

Sarah