The PR Internship Debate

Here at onechocolate we believe that interns are a valuable commodity and they should be paid and treated fairly. Most of us have done our fair share of internships and I have to say that mine were an invaluable insight into the industry and helped me realise that PR was the career for me. I was always treated fairly (though not always paid) and since joining this agency I’ve loved our interns –they tell me this is reciprocated. They help us and we try our best to impart our pearls of wisdom whilst letting them experience what it’s like to be in a busy and bustling agency. PR is not always the glamorous ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ world portrayed in some TV sitcoms, and there is a lot of hard work which goes into the smooth running and maintaining momentum of campaigns and brand building. Granted, a lot of an intern’s work will be administrative but, if they show aptitude they are very often allowed more responsibility and help with anything from placing competitions and writing copy to product placement and talking to media. Obviously, interns do have to prove that their ability before being unleashed onto the big wide world of media first.

Sadly, there isn’t always the opportunity to offer interns a permanent job once they’ve finished, but it does help wannabe PR peeps get their foot on the job ladder by giving them experience and a taste of what it’s like. It’s not just that, they also build contacts (I still have some great ones from my time as an intern) and, more often than not, receive lots of help, advice and support for their next move. If you’re an intern reading this, don’t be despondent if you don’t get a permanent job after your first couple of internships, trying out a few different agencies will let you experience different types of PR, whether it’s consumer facing or B2B, and also shows your determination to potential employers (everyone knows now’s a tough time to get a job, anyway).

Whilst there are many fantastic internship programmes out there, what is disturbing is that some companies take advantage of interns, not only financially, but also by treating them poorly. Companies that do not pay their interns, and give them a poor learning experience, really ought to hang their heads in shame. It devalues the valuable contribution that interns can make and is also, potentially, illegal. It’s unfair to expect someone to work for months for free and it also means potential PR stars of the future are being priced out of the market or put off by the few companies that, quite frankly, aren’t behaving as they should. This, to us, is something that should never happen. In fact, we’ve signed the PRCA intern charter which means that we commit to paying our interns at least minimum wage – as we have always done – and we fully support the PR Week campaign launched in October of last year. There are quite a few agencies who have signed the charter and we hope very much that all companies across all industries come together to eradicate this practice.

Social Media: Friend or Foe to the Job Seeker?

From being caught out whilst pulling a ‘sickie’ to posting negative comments about your employer, there has been a plethora of example where social media use has proved to be detrimental to the career prospects of the social media savvy.

According to a recent survey by social media monitoring service Reppler, 90% of recruiters and hiring managers have visited a potential candidate’s profile on a social network as part of the screening process. Whilst many may put this down to natural curiosity, an alarming 69% of recruiters admit rejecting a candidate based on content found on his or her social networking profiles.

However, it’s not all bad news for the next generation of workers, that same survey found an equal proportion of recruiters (68%) have hired a candidate based on his or her presence on those networks.

Profiles on business social networks, such as LinkedIn and Xing for example, have a variety of tools that support the recruitment process from both sides of the table. However, it’s not just these professional sites that appear to be getting people into interview room.

A recent article from Mashable.com showed that approximately 18,400,000 Americans say that they have got their current through Facebook. This is in fact more than both Twitter and LinkedIn combined, with 8 million and 10.2 Americans, respectively, stating they have gotten their jobs through social platforms.

There are also other fantastic examples of the creative use of social media being used to grab the attention of potential employers, from social CVs to entire campaigns.

Whilst social media contains pitfalls for the potential job seeker, and potentially employers as well, it has also allowed people to break the pen and paper CV mould, fostered creativity and opened up global opportunities to the next generation of workers.

Unsure of whether your online persona matches your professional ambitions, check out this article on jobsearch.com for some helpful hints.

One to Watch for 2012: The Social TV Convergence

There was a time, a long long time ago before the internet, The X Factor and Pringles existed, when the phase ‘water-cooler moment’ was coined. This was a moment of community and shared experience, where the tele-visual event of last night was watched by the majority so they could be involved in the conversation. Then, as time passed, the number of channels grew and digital recorders such as Sky Plus and online catch-up sites like 4oD and iPlayer evolved, and the relevance of the event diminished to a point where advertisers withdrew and ratings dropped.

Now, however, an online revolution is changing all that, it’s no longer the water cooler but the social media moment, and it happens live, as the programme is broadcast. Suddenly a two screen revolution is under-way as internet access and multi-platform applications such as Twitter and Facebook are used in unison with the television to analyse, discuss and ridicule the exploits of soap characters, reality ‘stars’ and world events. No longer does it take any great effort to access the social media platforms for the average viewer, of a certain demographic, has mobile phones, tablets and laptops at their sides while they watch TV. There are even services like Zeebox springing up that embrace this trend and give users a one stop social media stop.

This is a sign of the future where all forms of media channel (YouTube, ITVPlayer and Sky TV) are viewed within a web environment that is not confined to the window of that company. So what does this mean? Well, for the consumer it means more feedback which could lead to better programming but also more power to those who air their views. For the businesses involved, the broadcasters lose control over image but have more metrics by which to show value to advertisers and these advertisers will no doubt be the target of the social media platforms collecting opinions.

Google+ for Business: Exploring the opportunities

Google+ now offers a social networking service for brands prompting  thousands of businesses to set up profiles. However, to optimise brand exposure, businesses need to understand what differentiates Google+ from its competitors and tap into its full potential.

Although it looks quite similar to Facebook, there are some features which really set Google+ apart. One of the greatest advantages of the new social networking service is its integration with Google Search. Google Search provides brands with exposure to a search base allowing access to reportedly 50% of global websites. Furthermore Google+ enables brands to streamline social media content easily across multiple platforms including Android, Google Chrome and YouTube. This could offer exciting opportunities to businesses to improve audience engagement and explore innovative ways to create and distribute marketing content.

To make its service more appealing to brands, Google+ launched its Direct Connect feature, which makes it simple for users to find and follow brands on Google+ by just typing a “+” sign in front of the name of the brand on Google Search. Another step towards strengthening the integration with Google’s search engine is the brand verification procedure at the initial registration stage. As Google+ permits the registration of multiple users with one brand name, it allows organisations to appear at the top of the search results by verifying their brand identity and linking their profiles to the company website.

As Google+ is looking to further integrate with the rest of Google’s products, the appearance of the website and its features are going to change. At the CrushIQ conference this week, Google’s spokespeople announced that they were planning to integrate Google+ with AdWords and enable multiple administrators to handle the brand pages on the website.

A further integration with products like Google Shopping and Places could open exciting opportunities for brands and advertisers to deliver micro targeted campaigns based on users’ interests, location and shopping habits. This has huge potential for brands. Furthermore they will be able to tap into Google+ features such as Circles and Hangouts to segment their Google+ followers and create targeted campaigns for engagement.

However, as social networking websites emerge almost on daily basis, a question is beckoning of how many social media profiles users can tolerate? With 40 million users worldwide Google+ is still far behind Facebook and Twitter in terms of popularity among brands and consumers.

To expand its reach, Google+ have to differentiate itself from its competitors and get the most of its integration with Google’s products to create an innovative, intelligent and pervasive social media product.

An Infographic Is Worth a Million Words

One of the biggest challenges faced by both B2B journalist and PROs alike is making a story visually compelling. It’s relatively easy for consumer products, you often have a plethora of choices, ranging from lifestyle shots, to celebrity endorsements to something a little more artistic. However with B2B products, regardless how cool the technology or service is, you often only have access to pictures of either a big black box, a screen shot or of course your resident spokesperson.

If you take a minute right now and look through a traditional trade publication I am confident that you’ll see that in 99% of cases this is true. There might be some pictures that break this mould, perhaps someone sat at a computer or people huddled around a desk, but in most of the cases the image adds little ‘value’ to the article and was probably courtesy of Getty images rather than the company itself.

So what can we do? Do we start asking celebrities to lay across aforementioned black boxes to add some additional appeal?

Or do we start doing things differently and providing images that not only add value to the journalist but also to our clients?

Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. They allow “viewers” to quickly consume and understand complex information, and apart from that they are damn cool as well. They also have media appeal for both print and online publications, as well as being highly shareable via social media, and so they are quickly becoming an essential part of our PR tool kit.

However, one of the biggest challenges remains educating both PROs and their clients on how best to visually represent this information. So, here are top 5 tips from our experience:

• Think about the big picture. Just like any other PR activity, think about what you want to communicate and the action you want the “viewer” to take.
• Tell a story. Create a storyboard which outlines the story and messages you want to communicate and then start thinking about how you want to visualise this.
• Fit for Purpose. Just like lifestyle shots it’s important to consider how you want your Infographic to be used and how much branding you should allow. It’s better to be subtle and suitable for purpose, than overt and sat on the company’s website.
• Think like ‘Mad Men’. Pithy text that add value to the images and quickly communicate the point are essential to creating a good Infographic. Remember it’s a graphic visualisation and not a short story with pictures.
• Don’t just tag it on. Think about how your Infographic fits into the overall campaign and ties in with the story that the press release and other supporting materials communicate. The Infographic should support the story – not tell a completely different one.

The creation of an Infographic is obviously much easier when you have research to support it, but it can also be used to support product launches and thought leadership in my opinion. For instance, a new hardware product that is 100 times faster than the previous model could be graphically represented by a sports car vs. a rocket ship…..well you get the idea.

If you are interested in learning more about Infographics, I would definitely suggest checking out Mashable.com who are a great resource of innovative takes on the medium.