• Karen Weir-Jimerson’s Country Home blog–those of you who read home design magazines may be familiar with Country Home.  It features homes with a modern take on country design, along with recipes, tips on vintage decorating, and advice on antiquing and collectibles.  Contributor Karen Weir-Jimerson writes a one-page story in the back of every issue about her life on a farm in Iowa, as well as writing a blog on the same topic.  What I like about her article and blog is that she writes about simple, everyday happenings, like spring thunderstorms or building gingerbread houses with her sons at Christmastime.  It serves as a reminder that we don’t have to blog about only exciting or career-related topics–we can take everyday things and turn them into stories.
• SPOGG (The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar)–At the risk of sounding like a complete nerd, I really do love this blog about all things grammar-related.  Do you cringe when you see comma splices?  How about when people confuse “your” and “you’re”?  If you do, then I would recommend reading this hilarious blog.  Martha Brockenbrough highlights celebrities’, politicians’, and the media’s mistakes, mixes in a dash of humor, and turns them into opportunities to teach us how to use our language correctly.

“But college doesn’t teach you how to be a PR practioner, a marketing pro, a political scientist. It teaches you how to manage your time, how to work with people, how to meet deadlines.”

I like this quote from Cheryl Harrison’s blog, because it is very true. Yes, you do learn lots of specific things in college about the career field you want to enter, but how many of those things do you actually remember several years down the road? And what if you change career paths? A lot of what you actually take away from college is learning how to manage your time, how to work under pressure, and how to work cooperatively with other people. You don’t actually forget how to do these things. They will serve you well in whatever career you enter.

I have also discovered, through internships, that much more hands-on learning happens on the job than in the classroom. Learning about theories from textbooks will give you a good base, but only some of these will be applied in each job you hold. I have held two internships, and with both of them I have learned that actually being in a workplace is very different from learning about a job in the classroom. Internships are also probably the best way to network. My boss last summer offered me a job with them when I graduate, and has helped previous interns get jobs at other places. It just goes to show that getting a little experience helps you get your foot in the door in a lot of other places.

]]> http://ksolomo.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/the-importance-of-internships/feed/ 3 ksolomo http://ksolomo.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/examples-of-maintaining-relationships-with-organizations-and-publics/ http://ksolomo.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/examples-of-maintaining-relationships-with-organizations-and-publics/#comments Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:37:16 +0000 ksolomo http://ksolomo.wordpress.com/?p=82 ]]> I loved finding out about domino magazine’s mydecofile online community.  As a person who loves decorating and hopes to one day get a job with a home/garden/lifestyle magazine, I was especially excited to learn about this tool.  You can save and organize images of rooms you like in an online file, and you have the option of making them public so that people can view and comment on your collection.  It is neat because it helps people with their decorating dilemmas, and also helps domino magazine add to their number of active readers.

This online community is definitely a good way to get people’s attention and keep domino at the forefront in their minds.  The biggest thing in design is inspiration–you must have an idea of how you want to design a space before you can actually go about designing it.  But for people like me who have trouble visualizing things, pictures are the best way to get ideas–and all the pictures you need are right here on the website.  Sharing comments with other readers and viewing their saved images also keeps fresh ideas coming, and really gets people interacting with domino magazine.

I know this tool works because it got my attention.  I have never read domino before, but now that I know what it is, I might be more inclined to pick up a copy.

Living green is very much the new trend in home and bath design.  Let’s pretend there is a new kitchen and bath design store that focuses on eco-friendly design.  They believe this is a goal everyone should work toward, and that it is quite easy for everyone to switch to green design.  This is their niche and their angle–focusing on eco-friendly materials and spreading awareness that designing such a space will fit everyone’s budget and abilities.

1.  Listening–If this kitchen and bath store wanted to create a blog to start an online conversation about their business, I would advise them to first look at what other blogs have to say about eco-friendly design.  Do people think it is too expensive to switch their appliances to those with Energy-Star labels?  Do they think it is worth their while to redecorate a room in a more eco-friendly way?  This store should also look at what blogs are saying about the products they carry.  Do people like the teak countertops or the low-flow toilets they recommend?

2.  Next, they should respond to these blogs when necessary.  For someone who is hesitant to redesign a whole kitchen or bath, maybe they can recommend smaller ways to redesign, all the while encouraging bloggers that green living is worth pursuing.

3.  Blogger Relations–Perhaps this store carries a certain type of low-VOC paint that has been a hit with their customers, but comes in few colors.  They could recommend (through the paint company’s blog) that they (the paint company) develop new colors, so that more people will buy the paint.  By telling them about their experience with customers wanting more colors, it provides value to the paint company, which always likes to know about what people think of their product.

4.  Finally, the kitchen and bath store will need a conversation space of its own.  A blog could be like an online version of a magazine, where new ideas and noteworthy kitchens or baths are featured periodically.  This could be a space where they share ideas about how to use old things in new ways, creative ways to recyle, or other suggestions for sustainable living, and allow the blog’s readers to comment and share their own ideas.

Don’t just blog about your company and how great it is, and don’t just write about your product and how everyone should go out and buy it.  This will turn people away from your site.  Instead, make sure that you are writing about something that is of value and interest to your fellow bloggers and blog readers.  Also, many fail to recognize the importance of the “About” page.  Besides telling readers what your blog is about, this page should include your full name, a photo, some basic contact information, and other relevant details.

Creating and running an organizational blog

Keep up-to-date with what is happening in the news–some of it might just affect your organization.  Post news releases and other relevant information that will keep your audience informed.  When it comes to appearance, streamlined and professional is best.  Have clean and simple lines, and get rid of extra widgets and ads that clutter up the space and make it difficult to read.  With each post, remember the inverted pyramid.  Come up with a catchy but informative title, and put the most pertinent information first.

Things to avoid like the plague

Before entering the blogosphere, it is helpful if you first follow some other blogs that are related to your area of interest.  If you don’t read their posts, learn about the creators or organizations behind them, or comment on them, you risk exposing yourself as a novice.  Don’t just let your blog be another medium for advertising your products–really engage in online conversations, and include links to other websites that might be of use to readers.  And while keeping your blog’s appearance clean and streamlined is good, be careful not to let it be too bland.  Don’t just accept all of the default settings.  Have a graphic artist design your own logo, or do something to make it stand out from all the other gazillion blogs out there.

But writing this one from scratch is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.  Tiffany Sellers and I decided that our topic would be the Clemson PRSSA chapter.  Since neither of us is in that organization, we must look up information about it, and decide on an angle for the news release.  I guess this is one major difference between working for a PR firm and being the PR person for a particular organization.  When you work as an employee of only one company, you know it like the back of your hand.  But when you work for a PR firm, you have many different clients and must know all about them, their background, and their goals and values before you can know how to promote them.

I chose the ESPN Battle of the Bands campaign for my third PR example because I think it is unique on a couple of levels.  FIrst, not many companies, especially companies like Paramount or Lucasfilm, will start a PR campaign with college marching bands.  So I thought it was good that they chose a creative route, and in the process probably reached a bigger audience.  Second, it is really interesting how this PR campaign became the perfect opportunity for the bands to do some public relations for themselves.  With the help of Facebook, TIger Band got to spread awareness about some of the things they do.

There were at least a few others on the list that I had heard of, but never thought of as social networking.  Pandora is one example.  I am on this site quite often, because you’re not as limited as you are when you listen to music on your iPod.  And you can share your “stations” with other listeners.

Picnik looks like a fun site, too.  I enjoy photography and often wish I could edit my pictures without having to buy something expensive like Photoshop.  This is definitely one I will keep in mind.

I was super-excited to find LibraryThing!  I could (and sometimes do) spend hours in bookstores just trying to decide which book to buy next.  But occasionally I will spend my money on a book that turns out to be not so good, so maybe with LibraryThing I can read more reviews than those that are on the book jacket.

One more thought:  I really liked twittering in class today, because it lets everyone share their thoughts in real time–just one more thing to make technology a little more personal.