Jess Greco
Twitter isn’t the answer for everyone
In this age of social media, there are a few situations that every PR pro prays will never happen to them. One of the most dreaded inquiries that one can get from a client is:
“I was at a networking event the other night and I met a social media consultant. She said that we should really be on Twitter and that she would give us a session on using it for $2,000. Why haven’t you built us a Twitter page yet?” (Ok, so that’s probably second to “I want a viral video… you know, like the inmates performing Thriller.”) Read the rest of this entry »
Is Your Favorite Celeb Giving You a Headache on Twitter?
It’s hard to remember a time when there were no celebrities on Twitter. We used to get all of our juicy gossip from the entertainment rags (or Perez, of course), but now we can hear almost any actor, musician, or athletes innermost thoughts and their impulsive commentary just by following them. While this new system is great for the fans, the problem is that celebrity publicists no longer have any control over what their clients are saying through their feeds. With the media being able to access anything they write, celebrities are having to become their own representation; their personal brand can be affected positively or negatively by each Tweet they send out. Read the rest of this entry »
Pitch Yourself
As soon as we decided that #PRBC would be making the move from a hash-tag on Twitter to a daily blog, I knew I wanted my column to be all about starting out in the PR industry, since that’s the point where I’m at in my professional life. Through Flack In Training, I’ve tried my best to help all you amazing readers navigate your way through the job search and the beginning of your exciting careers. Now I (and all the other PRBC’ers of course) want to continue to help, only in a completely different way.
Starting today, we’re launching our brand new “Pitch Yourself” feature. If sending out dozens of resumes and networking your butt off hasn’t helped you land the PR job you’ve been looking for, then maybe your very own post on PR Breakfast Club will. But it won’t be that simple. I mean, we’re not just going to WRITE about you, that would be way too easy. Here’s how it works: Read the rest of this entry »
Flack in Training Vol. 5 – The Interview
So you’ve sent your resume to all the agencies in your area that are hiring (and hopefully some that aren’t, just in case!) and you’ve landed your first interview. Getting a potential employer to take that step from having your resume to actually calling you and scheduling a time to speak is difficult, but the biggest hurdle of the entire job search process is getting through your interview alive. Ok, so I may be exaggerating slightly, but going on your first PR interview and not knowing what to expect can be pretty terrifying. Since I spent the entire summer going on all sorts of interviews, I’ve picked up on some tips and things that you should know to help you shine, stand out, and hopefully get that coveted first job offer. Read the rest of this entry »
FIT Vol 4: Big Agency vs. Small Agency
(CC) flickr // Javier Kohen
If you’re currently looking for a job in PR, you probably don’t have the luxury of choosing exactly where you want to work. And if you only have one or two internships under your belt, you might not have enough experience to know the differences between a large and a small agency, which means you don’t know which environment suits you. That being said, I think it’s important to know what you’ll be getting yourself into when you land your first position. Since I’ve worked for both a large (close to 50 people and multiple departments) and a small (less than 10 executives working on a handful of accounts) agency, I’ve formed my own opinions on the pros and cons of each situation, based on what I’ve observed and experienced. And since we all come from different walks of life, I’ve consulted my fellow #prbc-ers to get their take on the situation so that I can give all the other entry-level flacks out there a heads up. Read the rest of this entry »
Flack In Training — Vol. 3
(CC) photo credit: andinarvaez // flickr
For the year that I spent at my internship/part time job, I was the “social media girl”. The agency I was at hadn’t previously spent much time delving into the world of online public relations, so they hired me for that specific task. For my first few months with the company, I spent my time researching the tools, following thought leaders on Twitter, reading their blogs, and figuring out how I could use social media to help our clients. Once I actually started implementing some of these tactics, I realized how much I absolutely loved working with digital media (this isn’t too surprising considering my generation can say with honesty that we’ve been using the internet for the majority of our lives). I also decided that I always wanted to do that, no matter where I was working.
Flack In Training – Volume II
After I was “laid-off” from the job that never was, I dove right into my search for a new position. Begrudgingly, of course, since I hadn’t thought I would need to do one in the first place. I was surprisingly optimistic about it, thinking that my experience would help get me a job relatively fast. I couldn’t have been more wrong. After countless interviews and nothing but unexpected disappointments, I came to my senses. As confident as I was in my potential to be an awesome entry-level candidate, I was literally competing for jobs with every other person my age who had graduated with a degree in PR (okay, my degree is in Communications, but that’s besides the point) and lived in the tri-state area. How was I going to make myself stand out and shine?
Flack In Training – Volume I
By now, it goes without saying: The college graduates of 2009 had the extreme misfortune of graduating into the worst economy in decades. Not only are they competing with their fellow classmates for jobs, they’re also going up against professionals who should be further along in their careers, but are being forced to apply for entry-level jobs due to lack of anything else. This recession has taken the image of starry-eyed post-grads with their entire, exciting lives ahead of them and turned it into a picture of desperate young adults taking on part-time positions just to make some money. It’s incredibly scary and disheartening.
