All that group work coming in handy!
Good businesses thrive on wholesome relationships and good communication. For a company to truly succeed, each person in the business has to fulfil their own role to create coherence and eventually success.
Working in a real life business shows just how important the chain of responsibility among employees is. Each person, whether they’re the owner, manager or a barista, plays a vital role that is greatly missed when taken out of the chain.
Teamwork creates increased efficiency in the work place. When everyone is working in complete synergy, work in all aspects of the company flows with an undeniable proficiency. With everyone doing their own roles to the best of their ability whilst also helping others who are falling behind, it creates an incredible working environment to be a part of.
Working as a team also is a great way to generate new ideas. Collaboration in the workplace between departments is a great way to get new and fresh ideas for yourself and your own sector. At my placement I work in an office with the owner doing PR work, however the office is right next to the kitchen. So during my breaks I go to other sections of the café and discuss what PR ideas we have come up with, and the staff members give a new ideas and inputs from a different perspective.
Sometimes, as hard as it is, it is important to ask for help. You may feel like a weak link or that you are annoying people, but that isn’t the way they see it. Imagine if someone asked you for help, you would help them without hesitation, right? So that’s probably how they feel about you asking for help.
A good team environment also creates a support network for the people working within it. At my placement, everyone has such a close bond and cares for and encourages each other. When starting there, it was great to see such a close knit team and I hoped that I would eventually be a part of that family. From the beginning until the end of my placement, I was getting constant support, encouragement and praise from everyone for the work I was doing; which encouraged me to do my best and work my hardest every day.
My internship has taught me how important team work really is in a business. I am so grateful to be doing a placement in an environment that is so supportive and works so collaboratively as a team. I guess all that group work really was preparing us for the real world!!
Social Media Success
There is no guarantee your social media posts will go viral, and even though some people make it seem easy… It really isn’t. Social media is about posting something that people will want to share, thus making it go viral. The more people share something, the more they people it will reach. Modern day technology is so beneficial in the PR world as we can use social media as a cheap way to promote a brand or product to a worldwide audience. But how can you make a post reach further than your brands following?
An important aspect which affects the amount of shares a post will get is emotion. People are more inclined to share something that strikes emotion, whether it is inspiring, shocking, uplifting or amusing.
If a post is also identifiable and relatable by the reader, there are more reasons for them to share it. By creating a sense of “community” it is more likely a person will feel a sense of belonging and be more inclined to share the post, thus making it go viral. People share posts that define who they are, so by making relatable and relevant posts, people are more inclined to share.
An eye catching photo is also a great way to catch a user’s attention and encourage sharing. With a stand out photo, audiences are captivated and drawn in, gaining so much more attention to the post itself.
I tried to use all this information to be able to make my social media posts shine at my placement. My first post was a blog, about the dangers of matted fur on dogs. It was quite an informative piece, with a few pictures to gain attention. It had a catchy title and I thought it was the perfect balance; being informative but not boring. However, it received little to no social media reaction from our following. I was disappointed but used it as a learning experience to try create some sort of response on my next post.
The next post I created was a Facebook post, promoting the new marriage equality stickers the store was beginning to stock, in light of the announcement of the marriage equality plebiscite. The post is pictured below.
This post gained so much more attention than the previous post, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a current and ongoing issue, with it being in the news at the moment and being extremely important to many individuals. It also had a cute photo, which would entice people to want to have the image on their timeline. The topic also is an emotional, defining issue, meaning that this support can change peoples lives, encouraging even more shares.
The post had a social media reach of 12000 organic social media followers and had more comments, likes and shares on Facebook than many of the company’s previous posts. This just proves that people share things that are relevant, important and emotive.
The hardest part is putting your foot through the door!
When my mentor gave me the permission to run my very own quiz night fundraising event in partnership with the RSPCA, I was beyond excited. I was given the responsibility of organising my very own event with in my first two weeks of my placement and I couldn’t be more ready to get started with the planning.
After the initial planning and organizing of the quiz master, promotion and ticket sales came the daunting task of finding prizes and sponsors… Due to the incredible demand we received for the quiz we decided to add a silent auction to the fundraiser, which meant more prizes for me to find.
I started to try find businesses to sponsor the event through sending out many, many emails to people on media lists given to me by my boss, as well as other local companies I found on google. I felt comfortable sending these emails asking for donations because I had the computer screen to hide behind, however this did not prove to be the most successful way to get sponsors, with few replying, and even fewer donating.
Although we received a few donations through email, it was time to step it up- I had to start making phone calls. I sat staring at the phone for about 10 minutes before I had the courage to pick it up and dial the first number. I’m not sure what it was but there is something so frightening about calling up a company and asking for them to donate to our fundraiser! But I did it multiple times with multiple different companies and it was much more successful than the emails, giving me the confidence boost I needed.
Through a few emails and a few phone calls, we had all our quiz prizes sorted but still needed more for the silent auction. Which led to the next intimidating task… Going into actual stores and asking the business, face to face, to donate to our quiz.
I was prepared; I knew about the charity, I knew about my company and I knew all the details about the fundraiser. I went into the first store on my list, reminding myself of the success I had with the phone calls and faked the confidence I knew I needed to have in this position. And to my surprise, the very first store I went into donated an amazing prize! Which gave me the confidence I needed to go into the rest of the stores- finishing with a huge array of amazing prizes.
Moral of the story? Get your foot in the door and have confidence in your abilities. Because the only person who will know you are nervous or intimidated is yourself!
Below are some pictures of the prizes I managed to get through stepping out of my comfort zone!
Small Business… Big Opportunities!
When choosing my internship placement, I was skeptical in deciding whether or not to look for a big company to work with or a smaller one.
I was leaning towards a larger company, mostly due to the fact that having a big, well known name on my resume would be more inviting to future employers. However, when the opportunity arose to be the PR Intern at FurBaby Boutique and Cafe… I couldn’t resist! Who wouldn’t want to work with puppies every day?
Although I had initial hesitations about working with a small business, I was quick to go back on these hesitations. My first day consisted of creating “Welcome to FurBaby” packs for new doggy daycare members, so within my first hour of my internship, I was designing, creating and printing out different cards and flyers to put in these packs.
I then went on to edit and rewrite the entire Doggy Daycare section of my placement’s website, which was an extremely cool experience as I can go online and actually see my own writing published somewhere for hundreds of people to read, not just my tutors at Uni.
On my second day, I then went on to organise the details of a sponsorship deal, through communicating with clients, organising flyers, creating a hamper and delivering it to Celebration Homes, where my placement was sponsoring their “bring your pet to work” event.
My mentor, the director of FurBaby, has also given me full authorization to organise a networking event at the cafe for people within the animal/pet industry. I have started curating a media list, outlining those within the industry I’d like to invite, and will spend my next few weeks organising the details and specifics of the event, and eventually hosting it!
I’m so glad I decided to choose a small business to do my placement at as I am experiencing the full PR experience from the get go- not just opening mail, buying coffee and updating media lists for hours on end. Every day I am challenged to call on my knowledge and skill from my previous PR units, putting them into practice and I’m enjoying every minute of it!
Even though I am only a few days into my internship, this unit is already proving to be an even greater, hands on learning experience than any class could be! Can’t wait to see where else it takes me!