So Much to Learn, So Little Time.

By Molly Brown

My time at Alexander G Public Relations has come to a close. Wait…didn’t I just get here? Yes. A week and a half ago I began my internship here and today I will walk away with so much knowledge about Public Relations. But unfortunately, duty calls – that duty being college – so I must get back to K-State to continue furthering my education. Don’t get me wrong, I love Manhattan, my friends, the Wildcats, and everything about K-State, but there is so much to learn right here (the best part is that there are no exams and a minimum amount of homework). Jokes aside, I’d like to share with you the top 10 lessons I learned during my internship here at Alexander G Public Relations.

1. I’m where I want to be. Being here has made me realize I made a good decision choosing Public Relations as my major. I’ve loved the work I’ve done here and can easily see myself making this my lifelong career.
2. Blogging is spectacular. Last week I wrote my first blog post on Paul Medina, I loved seeing it online. I also wrote another post during this week and yesterday I even started my own Wordpress blog.
3. There are secrets to social media. A magician never reveals their secrets, but I’m sure that what I learned will be very beneficial.
4. Creativity is key. Just because you’re writing a press release, that doesn’t mean it has to be boring, don’t be afraid to use creativity in your writing. Also, catchy and original headlines are a MUST. If you are writing about appliance repair in Vancouver, find the most interesting thing about it and lead with that.
5. It’s OK to tweet a lot. Building your Twitter following is actually important because sharing online is a big part of the job. Having a lot of followers and tweets shows that you have a good idea of what you’re doing.

6. PR includes lots of writing. My love of writing is the reason I chose journalism. If I’m being honest, when I switched to PR, I kind of thought I was saying goodbye to writing, but that’s not true. Writing is a big part of PR.

7. I (mostly) understand LinkedIn now. I may only be at 37 connections, but thanks to Alex, I was able to spiff up my profile. I’m making it my goal to regularly check my LinkedIn and continue to learn.
8. I love being behind the scenes. Going to KCTV5 was such a cool experience. Although I’m not the type of person to jump in front of the camera, I love seeing what goes on in order to broadcast the news on TV.
9. It is acceptable to conduct an e-mail interview. Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but sometimes face-to-face interviews are not my favorite. It’s impossible to write down everything the person is saying. What I learned is that sometimes e-mail interviews are okay and to me, they can be just as informative as face-to-face. It also gives the interviewee more time to think about what they want to say.
10. Interns can break records. I’m not typically one to brag, but I was informed this morning that my second blog post for the website broke the record for number of hits in one day. The previous record was 103 and I shattered that record with 127 hits in one day. Of course, when I first wrote the blog I thought – Oh this is dumb; I doubt anyone will read it. – So, I am very proud of myself!

Thank you Alex, Noah, and Erica for teaching me and letting me join your team for such a short amount of time. I’ve loved my experience here and I can’t wait to get back to school and share what I’ve learned with all of my PR friends.

 Find me on Twitter! @mollzz94

Molly, it was our pleasure! Come back and see us on your way to the top!–Alex