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.
- 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.
- 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.
- There are secrets to social media. A magician never reveals their secrets, but I’m sure that what I learned will be very beneficial.
- 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.
- 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.
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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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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