How to be a Social Media Guru on Twitter

By: Jackie Sears

Photo

Social media has taken the public relations world by storm. It has opened many doors to creative opportunities and has made two-way communication instant between an organization and its public.

Twitter is one of the most used platforms for public relations professionals and journalists according to Cision's 2015 Global Social Journalism Study. This is because it is instant, easily interactive and is an easy way to stay current with news and current trends. It serves as a way for PR professionals to manage timely responses to reporters and followers as well as accumulate new news stories from tweets that mention your client or organization. 


Here are some of the best ways to take the reins on Twitter as a PR professional:

1. Get to know your public. This may sound like an easy task, but you have to know how to market and personalize posts to the following and promote future outreach to potential followers. By doing this, your organization will become more transparent and personable with its public. It is important to respond to criticism, whether good or bad. By responding to tweets and re-tweeting notable tweets about your business or organizations you support, your organization's Twitter will become well rounded and will most importantly listen and react accordingly to its following.

2. Become familiar with useful tools for Twitter. If you don't want to spend your time searching and waiting for the perfect time to press send on a tweet, it is important to familiarize yourself with helpful tools like Hootsuite and TweetDeck. These tools will help by the ability to time tweet postings, organize your Twitter and allow you to follow updated posts about your organization or hashtag. These platforms make it easier to interact and gain engagement throughout your posts and track what the public is posting about your organization.

3. Twitter has a profound number of journalists who are active and responsive. With this said, it is important to interact and become acquainted with journalists who have a beat that fits in with your organization. This way your organization can tweet newsworthy information in an intriguing way by including links to an infographic, backgrounder, press releases or the organization's website to reporters that will gladly write about your posting. This will promote more news outlets and bloggers to write about the content that you are trying to share to the public and will promote a mutual beneficial relationship between both your organization and the journalist themselves.

4. Have your organization's Twitter page posts be interactive and have a variety of formats of posts. This includes photos, videos, plain text, links or a mix of these components that relate to the organization's theme and following. This will keep it interesting for the viewers and positive feedback to entice potential followers.

These are only a few but useful components to using Twitter for PR to keep your organization top-of-mind by staying interactive, intriguing and transparent. This what keeps your organization trustworthy and notable, differing you from competition.





Works Cited
Cision. (2015, July 22). 2015 Global Social Journalism Study Finds Journalists Increasingly Rely on Social Media to Complete Daily Activities and Improve Productivity | Cision. Retrieved from http://www.cision.com/us/about/news/2015-press-releases/2015-global-social-journalism-study-finds-journalists-increasingly-rely-on-social-media-to-complete-daily-activities-and-improve-productivity/


Grinavich, A. (2014, February 07). Here's Why PR Pros Should Use Twitter - SHIFT Communications. Retrieved  from http://www.shiftcomm.com/blog/why-pr-pros-should-use-twitter/

Whaling, H. (2011, April 14). The PR Pro's Guide to Twitter. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/04/14/pr-pro-twitter-guide/#VBQB9vSnagqX

What Public Relations Organizations Are Looking for in a College Graduate

Photo

Graduation lurks around the corner and all public relations undergraduates can think about is, "How can I get my dream PR path started?". Once graduation hits, each student will pursue a particular interest and will begin to follow the path it sets out. In order to get started on your path, here are a few things to keep in mind on what PR firms and organizations are looking for:
 

First thing is first, strong communication skills is an absolute requirement. Communication drives the public relations world, but in order to communicate efficiently, you must have listening skills to know your organization, clients and public. These skills apply through all communication: face-to-face, social media, telephone and in writing. 

Photo

Public relations is defined by Public Relations Society of America, as a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. Along with communication skills, a new college graduate should have vigorous research skills. This is an important skill that companies look for in a potential candidate because you must  have a constant knowledge about your particular or potential clients and their needs to be able create a platform of mutually beneficial relationships between the select organization and its publics. Not only do you need to create this platform, you must be well informed on current affairs.

By now, every public relations student should have writing skills that will set them apart from other applicants. As many should know, writing is what brings together verbal communication and the research skills that you have acquired throughout your efforts. In order to sustain the title of a compelling writer, you must pay attention to detail and be able to write a wide range of content. A good writer can respond efficiently, even under pressure.

Photo

In order to be interview-ready, it is important to polish a wide variety of writing samples including press release samples, articles, blog posts and fact sheets among others. If you have blogged or have been active in social media for an organization, it is critical that you include these media-writing samples to show your writing in action. With a bachelor of arts in journalism, internship experience is a requirement for an impressionable interview to present what work you are capable of, as well as its results.

No matter what direction your public relation path takes you, make sure to constantly update your professional portfolio, social media and networking sites with new content, publications and work experience.

By: Jackie Sears

Works Cited:

Porter, J. (2013, December 29). 4 skills PR newbies should possess (if they want a job).         Retrieved from http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/
4_skills_PR_newbies_should_possess_if_they_want_a_13983.aspx

Public Relations Society of America. (2011-12). About Public Relations. Retrieved from https://www.prsa.org/aboutprsa/publicrelationsdefined/#.VqJ4Q_EyIQ0 

Turner, A. (2013, January 16). Five must-have skills for a career in PR. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/careers/pr-five-must-have-skills