TOW 9
Blogging is such a big part of this PR writing class and it is very important to know how to use and navigate through not only your own blog, but others’ as well. Here’s my top ten list for future PR students who are new to blogging:
- Make sure your blog stays current! Do something every week and check your account everyday to allow yourself time to make sure everything is correct and turned in on time.
- ALWAYS use the spelling and grammar check tool, it is there for a reason! Believe me, the small mistakes add up and they will come back to haunt you during your blog check points.
- Make your posts interesting; using audio, video, and graphics make it more appealing to everyone and your blog will not only look better, but it will seem more professional if you use them the right way.
- Make sure to comment on the blogs that belong to your classmates. This will help you out in the long run because you can learn from them and your feedback helps others see what you think of their posts.
- Make sure to add appropriate links to your posts! This allows other people to look further in to the topics you blog about if they choose to.
- Use bullets and numbers for ordered and unordered lists; this will make your posts more visually appealing and organized.
- Choose a theme for your blog that somewhat reflects you! This makes it more fun to look at and different from everyone else’s.
- Use the blog for personal posts as well. This gives your audience a chance to get to know you a little better; post pictures or even videos of things that are interesting to you or perhaps some interesting things you have done such as artwork or photography.
- Remain professional but have fun while doing so. You don’t want your blog to be uptight and boring but at the same time you don’t want to post anything inaproppriate.
- This is perhaps the most important: DON’T PROCRASTINATE!! I am the queen of procrastination, so learn from my mistakes and don’t leave everything until the last minute!
I hope this helps you out, future bloggers!! Have fun and enjoy the class 
TOW 8
Journalists and public relations professionals often but heads in various areas of media relations. Whether it’s about the content of a news release, the ways in which we communicate with them, or even about the structure of stories, it is inevitable that sometimes these two professions just don’t see eye-to-eye about certain issues.
Even though it is tough to avoid this contradiction of opinions, PR people must try to maintain a stable relationship with the journalists in order to remain professional. This week I have compiled a list of ten ways in which public relations professionals can sometimes drive journalists crazy:
1. Problem: Using too many hype words can irritate the journalist and make the publicist/PR professional seem incompetent.
Solution: State the facts without using fluff; just be straightforward and get your point across without adding unnecessary words that seem to be there only to take up space.
2. Problem: Sending gimmicks along with a news release or media kit can annoy a journalist. According to the textbook, “T=shirts, coasters, caps, paperweights, pens, and mugs have historically been the most popular items, but PR Week columnist Benedict Carver says these items are dull and overdone: ‘Everyone has 50 mugs and T-shirts.’”
Solution: Try and avoid sending promotional items along with your news release, but if you do decide to include some makes sure there is a clear connection between the promotional item and the news you are announcing.
3. Problem: PR professionals sometimes submit sloppy or biased writing in the news releases they send to journalists.
Solution: Don’t let your opinion show in your writing unless that is the basis of the piece; remain neutral and just state the facts.
4. Problem: Some PR writing can fall into the category of “tabloid journalism” and this may seem unprofessional to journalists looking for different types of stories.
Solution: Our textbook tells us not to “paint all media with the same brush” which basically means that service should be given to responsible journalists and proper information should be provided.
5. Problem: PR professionals can sometimes bombard journalists with too many follow ups.
Solution: It is important to follow-up on a media alert or news release once, but don’t over-do it! Call and briefly follow-up or leave a message if you get their voicemail; don’t leave to many messages just like you would for any other personal instance. If they see you made an effort, they will respond if they need to speak with you.
6. Problem: Do not submit late work!
Solution: Make sure to turn everything in on time and journalists will appreciate your professionalism.
7. Problem: Do not try to tell the journalists how they should do their job.
Solution: The journalists have training in what their job entails; let them stick to what they know best and do the same yourself.
8. Problem: PR people are sometimes unavailable to answer questions from the journalists.
Solution: Be ready to answer any questions they may have about your story; availability is the key if you want your story published the way in which you intended for it to come across.
9. Problem: PR professionals can sometimes get mad if their story is not chosen for publication.
Solution: You must understand that journalists have a lot to do and many stories to cover so if yours is not chosen this time, maybe next time around will be your shot. Try not to have any hard feelings or hold any grudges.
10. Problem: Sometimes journalists are annoyed with stories that are not newsworthy.
Solution: Always give the best news that you possibly can; do not submit stories that are boring and do not pick any topics that are not newsworthy.
TOW 7
This week I took Poynter News University’s Five Steps to MultiMedia Storytelling and for our seventh topic of the week I will explain what I learned from this class. I am very glad to have taken this class because now I feel more comfortable choosing a story, creating a storyboard, editing the story, reporting with multimedia and producing the story as well.
I think it is very important for a PR writer to be able to effectively use tools such as video, audio, and graphics because our society is becoming more technologically advanced with each day and stories are always more interesting, to me, when they include one or more of these elements. This course went a lot more in-depth than I expected it to and I am very glad that it did because, before taking the class, I had no idea that so much went in to creating a good story.
I now feel very comfortable using multimedia to create a story that will attract the attention of my target audience. The most valuable things that I took away from this course include:
- Identifying the elements in a multimedia story such as audio, video, and graphics.
- Being able to identify which stories are more appropriate for multimedia use.
- Sketching a concept for a story, or creating a storyboard.
- Identifying the tools needed to gather content in the field.
Using audio, video, and graphics really gives the audience a sense that they are there as the story is happening. The story becomes a lot more interactive and is much more appealing to the eyes and ears of the viewers.
I would still like to go further in-depth with the type of information I learned in this course and maybe this time have someone with me so we can learn from each other. I am a very hands-on learner and I think it would be easier for me to work with someone so we can answer each other’s questions and help each other with any bumps in the road that we may come across.
