Public Relations | Komail Mithani

Aug

The basics to finding a perfect job

By now many of you know that I am actively and vigorously searching for a career, after recently completing my degree in Public Relations. This transitional period from senior year of college to new graduate ready to enter the workforce has been a strong test of patience and optimism. My efforts have got me using every resource I can to start my career, but of course, you knew that.

Coincidentally, during this time, I started reading Tammy Erickson’s, “Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work,” which happened to be a very resourceful book. The reason her book is so helpful is because she addresses how Generation Y, my generation, should effectively communicate with other generations at work, leverage our skills and become successful in today’s workplace. One chapter that really made me think about choosing or passing on a job offer, was chapter 8, “Finding the perfect job.” To be honest, I was very naive to think I knew everything before accepting a new job or career, but I will be the first to admit, I was wrong.

In this post, I wanted to highlight what she says because I think every graduate should know this information, even if they decide to not buy her book. It’s information that can make you stand out against other candidates and information you need to pursue. Think of it like a puzzle and you are the missing piece, do you not want to make sure you are a perfect fit? (NOTE: Due to copyright issues I am only going to tell you the most important things she talks about.)

Location, Location, Location

This is more than just the physical location of the company, but also the community, environment, and surrounding areas. When she talks about location, Tammy is asking you to answer questions such as: how inviting is the community to new members, what places does it offer for social interaction outside of work, and what are the chances that you will meet and be in contact with new people. According to her book, “Two-thirds of college-educated 25 to 34-years-olds say they will first decide where to live and then where to work” (Plugged In 144). Think about how you and the community will coexist and make sure it meets your criteria.

Company

The company is the most important thing to consider when accepting or declining an offer. The following are some aspects of a company she asks us to consider before moving foward:

Culture – Ask about what kind of environment the company sets for their employees. How do co-workers interact to get things done and can you see yourself submerged in this culture? How does management promote their unique culture among their employees and are the employees happy? You may try to follow some employees on Twitter to get a feel of what it’s like to work at the company. Make sure this culture is something you can adapt to and thrive in.
Learning opportunities – Does the company provide opportunities for its employees to grow themselves both professionally and personally? What investments is the company making to grow and develop their most important asset, their employees? If you are like me, you want a position that allows you to keep learning and growing and you want a commitment from your employer to provide you an environment for that.
Approval Process – You probably may have not thought about this. What this means is how long does it take for something to get approved in the company? For example, say you had an idea for a new SEO campaign or found a new social media tool you believe your company needs to make a presence in. How long before your idea goes into implementation and how open is the company about listening and executing employee ideas? When you ask questions like this, you get a better understanding of how the company operates.
Time – This deals with all aspects of time such as: vacation time, time spend in the office completing the work required or traveling, and time spent in meetings. Something to consider is that for many companies, now a days, it is more about efficiency than how many hours spend completing a project. Any efficient organization and talented leader will understand how to match work hours spent to get a task done to those actually required.
Money – Understand all aspects of the company’s compensation package they offer you and be certain it meets your needs and priorities. In order to understand what compensation is right for your, calculate an estimated yearly cost of living. This will tell you how much you need to be earning in order to live the lifestyle you reasonable want.
Honest Feedback - Ask about their evaluation process, how often do they give feedback to their employees and what criteria do they use? Another thing to consider is how often a company follows-up on suggestions made during feedback sessions.
Reputation – This may be the most obvious, but sometimes we forget to consider it. What reputation does the company hold in the industry, community, and even amongst its employees? What values and principles do they stand for and are they something you would stand for? Think of a company as a living breathing person, just like you and I. Would you be willing to defend it in a crisis? What causes does the company stand for?

Collegues

A third thing she asks for us to consider, are the people and the managers you will be working with, since you will spend most of your time with them. Here the “About Us” section of a company’s website may be beneficial. In addition, as one of my well-respected PR professor’s, Terry Hemeyer told me, ‘The best way to understand who you are going to be working with is to be interviewed by at least three people from the company.” Make sure you pay attention if one of the interviewer’s will be your boss to understand a little about their management style. You could also use Glassdoor.com, where past and present employees write reviews about the company and positions they hold. In addition, if the company you applied for is adoptive to social media and transparent, you could read employee bios, Twitter streams, or even Linkedin profiles.

The work

The final thing to consider and maybe the most obvious, is the actual work and responsibilites you will have. Does the work concide with your skills, talents and what you want to do everyday? Is the work challenging or something that is boring to you? Remember you will be spending 40+ hours, so make sure the work is something you enjoy and want to do.

In the end, make sure you know your passions, desires, and goals are aligned with whatever career path you decide to choose. This criteria has helped me in my current decision process and I hope it will help you as well. Make sure to check out Tammy’s book for more of her insights for thriving in today’s workplace. Trust me, it was meant for us!

Jul

Five things Old Spice reminds digital PR people

This past week, we witnessed one of the most popular viral campaign’s in history. Old Spice and their new advertising gem, Isaiah Mustafa, have turned a lot of heads and set a new precedent for future viral ad campaigns. You may have noticed that every popular social network. news aggregator or Twitter feed was talking about the Old Spice guy and the humorous videos he was in that responded to various Twitter replies. People were posting these videos on what it seemed like every network. The video below was by far my favorite:

The best part about the campaign is that Old Spice knew exactly when to quit, on a high note of course, which sometimes is hard to determine. This well orchestrated and executed plan was developed by Old Spice’s agency, Wieden + Kennedy. Read Write Web had a great blog post covering how the agency executed this campaign.

But, I think as digital PR and social media strategists start dissecting the Old Spice campaign, they’ll begin to understand that this campaign was very basic. As Iain Tait, Global Interactive Creative Director at Wieden, said, “In a way there’s nothing magical that we’ve done here. We just brought a character to life using the social channels we all [social media geeks] use every day.” If you think about it, Ian is absolutely correct.

The reason for my blog post, is to uncover five things all digital PR and social media strategists should be reminded by from this historical campaign. These fundamentals are basics we may take for granted, like the air we breath in this industry, but I think they are important and the reasons for Old Spice’s recent success.

Content, content and content - We all know one of the most fundamental things to driving traffic, creating links and potential new sales is content. Whether it’s breaking news about your company or competitor, industry trends, professional advice or some unrelated topic that gets picked up. Content is what I like to call the bait, which attracts new visitors and generates exposure for your company. In this case, Old Spice decided to create and distribute content in real-time, in the form of short HD commercials seen on Youtube. It was astonishing they reached close to 6 million views and 22,500 comments with their content.
All channels of social media are important – When social media strategists for this campaign were releasing these videos and trying to get as much exposure as possible, they attacked nearly every network and posted and shared their videos. They even used 4chan, an aggregator I had never heard of till this campaign started being covered. This just goes to show you that every network can become a gem for your content. But, since the nature of the commercials appealed to such a board target, this strategy was most appropriate. I guess what I’m trying to say is picking and choosing the right network to broadcast your content is as important as the content itself.
Personalization is a key factor to driving attention – You may have noticed by watching a few videos of Isaiah, that they were first humorous and second personal. Even though he was directing his witty comments to a specific Twitter user, you felt as if he was talking and addressing you. Old Spice crafted their videos, as if the 5.9 million that viewed them, felt a connection with Isaiah. Maybe this is why so many people shared their videos so rapidly and without hesitation.
Capitalizing on your client’s strengths – Instead of trying to change something or add something that doesn’t reflect Old Spice’s brand, Wieden + Kennedy capitalized on what Old Spice already had, Isaiah. They capitalized at the right moment and seized the opportunity of something that was right in front of their eyes. I’m sure they did some research on consumer reactions/attitudes, which showed Isaiah and Old Spice had a positive correlation between him and the brand.
KISS IT - (Keep it simple stupid) This may be the most obvious, but sometimes we forget this simple phrase. Old Spice and their agency did exactly this, they kept it simple. They created short and funny HD videos, uploaded them on Youtube, and integrated them in high traffic networks in order to earn exposure. Youtube was probably the best choice because of the simplicity they allow their users to share videos online. In addition, realizing the short attention span their target market has when it comes to online videos, they created videos no longer than a minute, some even 30 seconds in length.

Although Old Spice opened up the doors for new innovative marketing, that I’m sure we will see again very soon, they really didn’t do anything new. Yes, the whole real-time response commercials to Twitter questions was a great idea, but if you think about it, they stuck to the fundamentals. The idea was genuinely new, however the foundations and principles have always been the same. Maybe that is exactly what we forget sometimes as social media strategists? Maybe we forget to stick to the basics when building exposure and campaigns to our brand’s or client.

My guess is that Domino’s new “Show us your pizza” campaign will be highly praised by social media strategists for their high customer involvement, yet simplistic marketing idea. What do you think?

Jun

How PR practices can help change BP’s perception

Lets take a step back and examine a severe global public relations crisis unfolding infront of our eyes. I’m talking about BP’s contiously spreading oil spill in our Gulf Coast. The whole world is yearning to see and hear developments, while reporters are secoudaring on executives every move. But first, take a minute and think about the first words that come to mind when you hear “BP.”

Most likely you start heavily associated this company with greed, corruption, stupidity, lack of integrity or moral etc. Namely associations that draw negatives about the company, which intale your perception about the company. Your perception is something that has a huge influence on the way you live your life. It is the emotional association we as individuals create between objects around us and the knowledge we obtain about them, but of course, you already knew that. As public relations practitioners we help clients create this perception in the mind of a consumer, usually a positive direction toward a company or brand.

However, what happens when a company messes up? How do public relations practitioners help influence or realign this perception, so that we are all satisfied on some level? It’s hard work, but as public relations partitioners it is what we live for!

But, before I move on, I must clarify something. I am a recent graduate with a Public Relations degree, so the next observations and opinions I bring up are in no way expert advice. My goal is to present to you several steps BP could implement or philiosphies it needs to utilize to possibly turn their perception around. Please be aware I am basing this off class discussions, my own analysis, and prinicples I believe every executive should implement on a daily basis. I believe with these strategies and principles BP has the opportunity to change their reputation while teaching how important public relations is to a company’s bottom line.

So to get started, what should have BP done differently?

Be honest – BP’s crisis is one that involves so many parties, including our environment. They need to be honest with everyone about their plans to stop the spill, exactly how many barrels are being deposited, and what effects are directly and indirectly resulting from their mishap. Having a proactive rather than a reactive approach will make it appear that BP genuinely cares that it messed up and they are genuinely trying to use all its resources possible to stop the spill.
Pick one spokesperson to speak to the media – BP has been juggling with different stories on what to tell and not tell the media. This issue has gone so out of control that the New York Times had an article about BP’s need to control what their CEO is saying. At one moment, Tony Hayward was reported saying, “I’d like my life back.” In a crisis like this, BP needs to have one or a few people addressing the media daily and with one voice. Their spokesman or woman needsbe in cohesion with the company’s philosophy and address the media promptly with updates and events.
Stop talking about dividends – I understand as being a publicly traded company, you have a great deal of pressure toaddress the needs and expectations of your investors. But, when dealing with such a mishap as BP has caused, dividends should be the last thing on anyone’s mind, in my opinion. In fact, it has been reported by MSNBC that BP will be paying out $2.63 billion in dividends to its shareholders on June 21st. Nothing yells greed and irresponsibility than that! I don’t think BP understands the example they are making for future executives and MBAs eager to run multi-billion dollar corporations. I bet you and I can list tons of ways that money could be used to help fix this problem. Especially some out of work fisherman that need that help right now.
Don’t run manipulative advertising – Recently, BP starting running this ad, which to me appears like a poor excuse for an apology. Although, I understand Tony Hayward is trying to reassure me BP is doing all it can to bring things back to normal. But, I continually lose focus of this after coming across articles in the NYT about limiting reporter access and other such problems. The ad makes it seem BP treats Americans as uninformed citizens, who believe everything is perfect in the Gulf. It would have been beneficial for BP to create ads interviewing workers helping with the spill or an explanation of what happened and what is being done to stop the spill. This premature apology is exactly what BP doesn’t need, especially since the oil is still gushing into the Gulf.
Stop lying – There maybe one thing worse than cheating, and to me that is blatantly lying. Americans hate lairs and are quick to pick up when someone is telling us a bold face lie. All we ask for is the honest truth. BP is only hurting their perception not helping it. This principle goes hand in hand with my first point, which I hold near and dear to my heart.

BP’s “strategic” public relations approach to this devastating disaster in the Gulf, reminds me of what we saw in Alaska and Exxon Valdez. Although I must note, they have taken more efforts than Exxon ever did to reassure us they are working on this problem. Honestly, what we see in front of our eyes is an example of greed overpowering common sense and the willingness “to do the right thing.” I’ve put this phrase in quotes because the right thing is always different to everyone.

It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds, because BP has tons of work to do in the next decade to recover, if they can, their perception of the company. I hope with this disaster, they approach their public relations in a different manner and maybe their philosophy of the company.

Apr

Why you should take care of your interns

A couple of weeks ago an interesting article in the American Express Open Forum discussed guidelines for how to get the most out of your interns. I completely agree with all the points presented in the argument because having a well planned structure in place for both your interns and the company will surely benefit both parties.

However, I am a firm believer in giving your interns some sort of compensation. Whether it be a stipend to pay for gas, free stuff meant to recognize the intern for his/her hard work, or ideally an hourly or weekly set amount. During my college career, I’ve been very thankful to have had several internship opportunities. Some came with notable compensation plans and others were unpaid. Before I move on, I want to make something clear, I am not saying an unpaid internship didn’t give me any valuable experience or shouldn’t be the main reason you chose not to take on a new challenge. My argument is for those businesses looking into an intern program to clearly examine the risks of not compensating their interns. The following is why you should have some money set aside for your interns:

We need the money

College students have bills to pay also. We are giving our time and energy to gain valuable experience/learn from the best in our industry. Unfortunately, this dedication hurts our wallets if no compensation is involved. We have lives outside of your company and bills our parents do not cover.

Your interns are adding to your bottom line

Many companies are asking interns to complete tasks in the executionary stage of a project. Many would agree these tasks are adding to a company’s profit margins and bottom-line as a company moves forward in the market. Isn’t that sufficient enough to say that your interns deserve something in return? Your business would probably not be where it is today without those passionate and hard-working interns executing strategies from long drawn board meetings and conference calls.

NO FREE WORK

You don’t offer any of your services/expertise for free, so why should your interns feel they should offer their services for free? You don’t make money by giving away the essence that makes your company profitable. Whether we like to admit it or not, nothing is for free unless it is going to make someone rich someday.

Your interns are your PR

Think about all the things interns (college students) talk about publicly. Now think about where you go to recruit for new interns? If any intern is not happy with how your company treats them or doesn’t believe you are fully utilizing the intern’s time and passion, what makes you think they will speak well about your company? This is especially painful for a company that has hired an intern with a prominent online identity. Think about the repercussions one tweet, Facebook status update or blog post relating to your company’s intern program will reflect on your company as a whole and your reputation. (Hopefully this will not discourage a company from hiring an intern well versed in social media!)

Although, I understand it is a rough economy, it is also important to understand that your interns are a valuable asset. I’m not asking for unreasonable compensation plans, but something set aside so that it shows you appreciate your intern. They are as valuable as any other full-time employee you bring on board.