Public Relations and the Internet

In this modernised, technology oriented world, it is god for an organisation to have connection to new media, especially social media. This will benefit the organisation to monitor public opinion and understand their perceptions and expectations; therefore the organisation can improve in areas where needed.

Also, during crisis and other controversial issues, an organisation can use social media as its communication mode to reach the masses globally without boundary limits. During my internship tenure, I witnessed social media helping the organisation to communicate with its publics across boarders through social media, during crisis. This helps an organisation to respond to comments posted about them, therefore, leaving no room for speculation as they respond promptly.

Moreover, social media  is a platform to build relationships with publics especially the general public and journalists. It is place to receive information and give feedback. The organisation I was placed at had more stakeholders whom they liaised with on business ventures. Some of these stakeholders started their relationship with the organisation on social media, tweeter especially, and once they found information they required, they developed interest to do business with the organisation.

From my internship placement, I learnt that as the social media account administrator on behalf of the organisation, one ought to be professional in responding to comments. They should not personalise responses and put emotions into what is written as comments. Also,employees should understand that the organisation's social media page is not meant for internal employee relations. 

No employee should discuss office matters in the page, it is not an employee complaints page. Also, the page administrator should understand that social media page is not like the organisation's website; it should not be stacked corporate brochures, info packs, annual reports etc. The administrator should always remember to be culturally sensitive with the right use of language and understanding of the target audience.

In conclusion, social media provides PR professionals with various tools to engage with stakeholders , but it should always be used together with other options from the PR tool/kit.   

The Power Of Negotiation

The ability of manipulating negotiation power is a critical part of negotiating professionally and successfully; and taking over the control to shift one side to the other through effective negotiation skills will lead to desire outcomes.

The dilemma involved a recent negotiation with a large global event ticketing organisation. In order to increase the number of ticket sales for the coming annual charity event - Men in Black Ball, it was decided that it would be more efficient to promote ticket sales on a better well-known event ticketing company simultaneously with Momentum's website ticket sales.

The ticketing company wants to charge an initial fee of $1,000, on top of the agreed price of $50 for each ticket sold, which a non-for-profit and charity-based organisation like Momentum would be struggling to pay off. In fact, charities do not usually get charged initial payments; not even mention about it being a relatively large amount.

Charity event organisations survive based on sponsorship founding and the excess profit gained from events to supporting charities. Barbara, who is a very confident and assertive negotiator, effectively used her perceived power to win the deal. She first disagreed with the initial payment and acknowledged the financial situation of our organization. In fact, Momentum was offering many benefits to the ticketing company include prime position, promotion of organization names and logo on associated activities and shows. The deal encourages a win-win situation which the ticketing company should not be greedy about the extra payment. Barbara requested to negotiate with a higher level positioned manager. It was like a fighting competition, which Barbara was absolutely a stronger fighter. I was staring at her with an admire look in the eyes listening to the conversation; she has turned the other party speechless a numerous times.

Two minutes later a manager called back from the ticketing company and offered a lowed initial payment of $500, which can be paid after the deal. Barbara smiled and agreed. She did her little calculation and acknowledged that if she can sell three tickets that would cover the payment.

‘Have you learnt how to negotiate?’ with a confident smile Barbara asked. I kept on nodding my head.

Work experience, WASO and what it's all about.

It is hard to believe that in three weeks time I will have completed my university degree and this therefore brings with it the looming realisation that the ‘real world’ of full-time work awaits.

When thinking about the topic for my final blog post it seems necessary to reflect upon not only my time at the West Australian Symphony Orchestra but also what I have learned from the various internships I have undertaken throughout my course.

Having started at WASO as an intern and eventually coming into my part-time role that I have currently, has made me appreciate hard work and the diverse nature required of their marketing department. With hundreds of concerts per year to organise promotion and ticketing for, alongside the constant planning ahead for the next season saying that time management is a requirement for working in this type of environment is an understatement. Despite this the WASO team are always more than willing to answer questions I have or show me when I have trouble with something (usually this involves the printer which seems to desperately hate me) and they are genuinely lovely people to work alongside.

From working here I have definitely gotten a taste of what goes into the weekly running of the marketing department and concert preparations. A few other opportunities that I think have definitely aided in my understanding of a marketing/PR role have included coordinating the volunteers for WASO’s Symphony in the City event which is an annual free concert with around 20,000 attendees and organising rates incentive prize schemes with the city councils.

I think it goes without saying that the best thing someone studying in the communications field (whether it be public relations, marketing or journalism) can do is volunteer for as much work experience and networking as possible. In my experience I have learned so much from observing how ideas originate, the processes it takes to put these into reality and also what is involved with monitoring press coverage and its results. Seeing how everyone communicates, PR and journalists alike, and the conduct of an office environment is extremely helpful too and certainly makes entering the work force a lot less daunting on a graduate.

Interning is a great deal about attitude too. You can be the most efficient and well spoken and written person but unless you want to be there giving up your time isn’t worth the while of either you or the employer. It can be really intimidating walking into an office as an inexperienced student who doesn’t know anyone but taking the time to smile and talk to people shows your interested (even if you are seriously intimidated sometimes!) and want to be there.*

I have learned that there really is no job too small, sure it can be frustrating when you have to update media lists, searching long and hard for contact details, or are asked to package and mail out 500 letters by hand but they really are important to the company and contribute to its profitability- otherwise these tasks wouldn’t exist.

As my other major is Journalism I have interned across a few media companies in Perth and feel I have an understanding of the relationship between the industry and public relations. Knowing what journalists need from PR professionals, the main of which is prompt and accurate information when requested to meet their strict deadlines, is imperative. In addition to this establishing good relationships with the media is paramount to being successful in PR- a journalist will never forget unsatisfactory behavior made by PR consultants!

If I could go back and do anything from the beginning of my degree over it would have been not to wait until second year to start interning. I think a lot of students hesitate to start volunteering, even for one day events, because they are afraid they don’t know enough yet but I don’t believe this should be the case. I know personally I have learned just as much from being emerged in an organisation as I have from my course.

Being a member of the PRSC has contributed also to my learning and through organising events with PR professionals you really get an appreciation of the fact that Perth is small and everyone really does know pretty much everyone else in the industry. That being said, I look forward to seeing most of you inevitably out there in it!

Vanessa Costanzo. 

*For anyone interested there is a blog called My Interning Life which was started by a La Trobe University media studies student. It is dedicated to getting varying opinions and insights into interning in the media/communications field. It’s nice to get an Australian view, as a lot of similar sites tend to be American or English.