This semester, you’ve learned a lot about social media. One of my favorite things about social media, specifically Twitter, is that you can put a question out there and get feedback from all over. On April 19th, I tweeted this:

Working on blog post for @BarbaraNixon to share with her freshman class. What are your best tips for getting ready for final exams? #FYE1220

Here are some of the tips I got in return:

Create an outline & write down content that will be on exam. Eat a piece of dark choc. to help w/ short term memory before exam

Make a fake exam with the material that will be on the test

Don’t forget the value of sleeping and drinking water. Don’t rely on energy drinks!

See, if you ask a question on Twitter you can learn new things. Who knew dark chocolate helps with your memory?! But, being a senor, I couldn’t leave it all up to Twitter. I have learned a few things through my years at Georgia Southern. Here is my top five things to do to prepare for final exams:

1. Study Ahead: Finals cover everything and should be approached in that mind-frame. Don’t wait until the night before and try to cram; it can’t be done.

2. Review The Things You Think You Know: Don’t just study what you don’t know. Sometimes you can be so focused on what you don’t know that you can confuse yourself about what you do know…or what you thought you knew.

3. Flashcards Help: You probably don’t believe me but making flashcards can really help you study. Make the cards and go through them over and over. The repetition helps lock it in your brain.

4. Don’t Over Analyze: Like the saying goes, always go with your first choice. Read exam questions for what they are. Don’t try to read into them because you will only confuse yourself more.

And lastly, the big one…

5. Remember To Breathe: As dumb as that sounds, you would be surprised how many times we forget it. Yes, finals are big. In fact, they’re huge. But you can’t blow it out of proportion. Typically, finals are only a small portion of your final grade. Truth is, if you have attended class and kept up with assignments, you should do fine. Keep in mind, professors can only test you over what they’ve taught you. So, that being said, don’t pull an all-nighter before the exam. Don’t skip meals. And don’t have a panic attack when that exam is put in front of you. It’s just a TEST.

GOOD LUCK!!! : )

The last assignment for my Social Media and PR class was to create a social media resume. At first I was a little unsure about having my business all over the web but the more I thought about it, with me being active in social media, my business is already out there. Having a social media resume is beneficial to me because it allows potential employers to find me. It is more than a LinkedIn profile because my social media resume has portfolio elements included. Potential employers can now see me through social media and be able to see my resume and a few portfolio items.

There are several sites that are easy and free, such as: Wix, Weebly, VisualCV or Google Sites. I created my social media resume by simply creating another blog. That way, it is easy to track and edit. I can also link it to my real blog so employers can see more writing samples and my involvement in social media. If you are involved in social media and haven’t created a social media resume, I encourage you to create one now!

What is PRSSA?

PRSSA stands for Public Relations Student Society of America. PRSSA is a national run student organization. PRSSA operates under its parent organization Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The purpose of PRSSA is “to cultivate a favorable and mutually advantageous relationship between students and professional public relations practitioners.”

According to the National PRSSA website, PRSSA aims to foster the following:

• Understanding of current theories and procedures of the profession
• Appreciation of the highest ethical ideals and principles
• Awareness of an appropriate professional attitude
• Appreciation of Associate Membership in PRSA and eventually accredited membership

Why do I love PRSSA?

I have been a member of PRSSA for three years and served on executive board for one year. During that time, PRSSA has offered me many opportunities that I would never have received otherwise. I have attended conferences, networking events, shadow days, regional activities and most recently; I served as the Georgia Southern Delegate to PRSSA National Assembly. I consider each of the experiences irreplaceable in my life.

I look forward to every PRSSA meeting we have and all of the bi-weekly e-mails from headquarters. But more importantly than all of the many places I’ve gotten to go and things I’ve gotten to experience, I think what I’ve enjoyed the most and gained the most from are the people I have gotten to meet.

If you haven’t heard it before, let me tell you. PR is all about networking. Introduce yourself, shake a hand, smile, exchange business cards and repeat. Through networking at PRSSA events, I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with some amazing professionals in the field. I have received advice from corporate executives. I have had conference calls with CEOs. And I have even traded business cards with individuals starting their own firms.

(Please remember that networking isn’t about handing out resumes and getting a job. Networking is about getting your name out there and making an impression.)

PRSSA has benefited me in more ways than I can explain. Just by being a member, I can access a job and internship center, apply for scholarships and awards, participate in national competitions and chat with professionals. PRSSA is a great thing to have on your resume but if that is all you join for, I pity you. If all you want is a name on a resume then you’ve missed the entire point of PRSSA. PRSSA is about networking, building relationships and learning about PR first hand. Like I said at the beginning, go join PRSSA but if you join just for the sake of your resume…you’re the one missing out.

Yes, it has been a pain for journalists to have to make the transition from old journalism to new but it seems women are making that transition easier than men.   Jessica Pressler, a writer-editor at the New York magazine blog Daily Intel, was quoted in the article saying, “Women are good at multitasking, they can move copy quickly. Male writers are more egotistical about their prose and won’t stand for the demands of these jobs. They think they are too good for this.”

Is that true? Do men really believe blogging is beneath them? If so, I hate to be the one to say it, but get over it.  This is the direction PR and journalism is going in and if you can’t accept that, you’re going to get left out.  The article goes on to talk about how when men first came into this profession, they were the bright ones, the go-getters, but now the media is changing and more and more women are joining. These men who have been around aren’t on top of their game like they once were. And with them, these women are bringing new ideas and new approaches to social media.

The writer of this article phrases it perfectly saying, “The choice is this: Join the new media revolution and change a whole way of doing things, or stay out in the cold.”

The Columbine Massacre occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO. Two gunmen, who were students, walked into Columbine High School and opened fire in students, faculty and staff. They had explosives in place and had every intention of blowing up the school. The massacre lasted less than an hour but left 15 people dead including the two gunmen who committed suicide and another 24 injured.

The following is a slide show that a friend and I created that looks at this crisis from a PR perspective.

At the time of the crisis, officials and administrators handled it the best way they could but looking back in it, there were positives and negatives. Before this massacre ever occurred, the school district had put crisis plans into place. Some schools even ran mock crisis drills to prepare themselves for a crisis, although a drill was never performed at Columbine. The school also had a crisis plan but in the haste of the crisis the plan was never followed through. Administrators did designate specific areas for parents and media as a way to keep order. They did what they knew to do but failed to do what had been planned.

After the Columbine Massacre, the school district implemented several programs to help prevent something like this from ever happening again. They also made changes to their “emergency box” as well as updated their crisis plans. The school also focused in on rebuilding, not only their school but also their image. They worked to restore a positive image to parents, friends and the nation. There concern now was to present an image to the public of a school that band together during hard times and rose to meet those challenges head on.

This is why we are always taught in PR to set measurable goal. So, what were your goals? Some examples the author uses are: monitoring brand awareness, managing reputation, increasing website traffic and many more. Your goals should be directly related to you (or your business) and the things you are doing. Like the goals the author lists for us, these goals should be measurable.

The last thing the author does is a quick definitions run-through provided by Peter Kim of BeingPeterKim. This reference looks at four key terms: attention, participation, authority and influence. These are all key players in measuring you effectiveness in social media.

If you want more Survival Tips or if you just want more depth to your tips, I highly suggest purchasing A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization by Deltina Hay.

• Wikis: these are websites that are created through a collaborative effort. Anyone can add content to the website and all you have to do is monitor it.
• Social Calendars: a convenient way for you or your business to post upcoming events or news.

In the next chapter, the author talks about pulling everything together. If you are going to put the effort into creating all of this, you need to capitalize on it. Make it user friendly. Make the websites interactive. Use images, videos and audio to engage your audience. There are millions of websites out there vying for the attention of your audience and you have to be able to compete. Above all else, have a plan. All you have created up to this point is no good if you don’t have a plan of action.

Once again, in my Social Media and PR class, we were asked to have a guest writer featured on our blog. So, the following blog post was written by James Kicklighter. I hope you enjoy!

Unpaid Internships and Ethics

Written by: James Kicklighter

PROpenMic posted an interesting blog on the emerging controversy regarding unpaid internships, gracing The New York Times and TIME Magazine. Of course, anyone who is a college student knows that there are many internships that are not paid, and finding one that is proves to be quite difficult.

According to The New York Times article:

“The Labor Department says it is cracking down on firms that fail to pay interns properly and expanding efforts to educate companies, colleges and students on the law regarding internships.

“If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law,” said Nancy J. Leppink, the acting director of the department’s wage and hour division.

Ms. Leppink said many employers failed to pay even though their internships did not comply with the six federal legal criteria that must be satisfied for internships to be unpaid.”

These criteria are:

1. The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school;
2. The training is for the benefit of the trainees or students;
3. The trainees or students do not displace regular employees, but work under close supervision;
4. The employer that provides the training receives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees or students and, on occasion, his operations may even be impeded;
5. The trainees or students are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period; and
6. The employer and the trainees or students understand that the trainees or students are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.

Just reading those regulations, I can think of many friends who have worked tirelessly for organizations who do not follow these guidelines.

Now, I can understand the challenges of hiring in a bad economy, but this doesn’t mean that individuals, companies, or organizations should take advantage of gullible, young college students looking to build their resume or portfolio.

They have bills to pay too, and it’s about time that we start looking into this matter.

Certainly, this could be a difficult Public Relations challenge for any organization who has unpaid interns. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t change their operations. Cutting available internship positions to pay interns might be a viable solution. Sure, it doesn’t present as much opportunity, but it also makes students work harder to get the spot.

I’ve always found a little competition makes people work harder; at least, that motivates me.

All of that said, what do you think?

]]> http://hhiggs.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/guest-blogger/feed/ 0 hhiggs87 http://hhiggs.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/survival-tips-7/ http://hhiggs.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/survival-tips-7/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:46:32 +0000 hhiggs87 http://hhiggs.wordpress.com/?p=213 ]]> Want a lot of media coverage for yourself or your business? Well, a social media newsroom (SMNR) is the place to be, according to A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization by Deltina Hay. Here is some more information that the author focuses on:

• Social media newsrooms are great for businesses that put out a large number on press releases.
• Social media newsrooms can serve as a central location of all information pertaining to you or your business.
• Social media newsrooms can be created using WordPress.

I bet you’re wondering what you can do and put in a social media newsroom. You can include:

• Press releases
• Hyper Links
• Videos (viral or not)
• Podcasts
• Reviews
• Company/Employee Biographies
• Up Coming Events
• Recap of Past Events
• And anything else you want to include…

A social media newsroom is a business’ way of getting their name out there. It is a way to gain media attention and publicity for yourself or your business. By putting the information out there, people (including the media) will be more apt to pick it up and run with it. A social media newsroom acts as a way to keep the public informed as you keep your name in the public’s mind.