vox-popPRcareers

Notes: Indefinite Hiatus

Kagem Tibaijuka — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:19:18 +0000

It’s been a really long time since I have updated the website and I would like apologise for that.

The long and short of it is my life has kind of turned upside down. This website was done as part of my Masters project. Something went seriously wrong because now I have to redo the whole project if I want to gain the Masters in journalism.

I found out around 10 days ago or so, and it really had me shellshocked and pretty cut up about it. I really loved this website and I still do, but what this means is I have to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch.

I have to go back to where I am from, Tanzania, for a short break but I hope to restart work on the website in several weeks (hopefully before May 2010).

I would like to sincerely say sorry to my subscribers for this. It’s extremely painful for me, but what I hope to do is reboot the whole site and do the concept again. I just want to pass my Masters but I also want to keep this thing going for as long as possible.

I did not want to reveal what happened but I know that I need to use this setback to come back harder the second time round.

Please hang in there — vox-popPRcareers will be back soon.

Are some sectors of PR more high-maintenance than others?

Kagem Tibaijuka — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:42:28 +0000

I found this really interesting post about the merits of entertainment PR.

Deprived Dancer writes:

I understand that all public relations work does require professionals to be on their toes 24/7 to an extent but it seems as though this extent would be a little too high for me as entertainment PR professional.

What do you think? Are all types of PR more high-maintenance than others? I think this is an interesting point of view, and it would definitely affect any entry-level individual aspiring to work in the industry.

Chart: Are there more Senior than Junior PR jobs?

Kagem Tibaijuka — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:23:11 +0000

The key trend I have picked from this data is that senior PRs are being recruited and looked for. This is great news for veterans but what about privates wanting to jump into the PR game? I find it a little concerning because juniors being hired is always a good sign for employment, because it encourages more people to enter the industry.

Telephone: Is Following Up Necessary?

Kagem Tibaijuka — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:00:00 +0000

My friend J believes in following up by telephone. She would always encourage me to do so when I was searching frantically for a job last November. I do think following up on the telephone is a good idea. You get your answers quicker — but do people find it annoying? I’d love to get some PRs perspective on this, because I did following up when I was applying for journalism jobs.

It reminds me of Gaga’s latest single with Beyoncé, Telephone. I know it will be a smash hit. In it, both singers lament about an obsessive lover who will not stop calling their mobiles.

I wonder if this can be applied to looking for a job in PR. I would assume so if you keep calling week after week, but I still think it is necessary, even though it is not a nice feeling to do.

It feels like a cat and mouse game: calling and calling just to hear whether you have found the cheese or just the holes.

[Image credit: Retrophones/edited by me in Photoshop]

7 Questions: Kate Brindley, Head of Press at Liberty of London

Kagem Tibaijuka — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:18:11 +0000

Kate Brindley with Stephen Ayres, head of menswear buying at Liberty

1) Liberty is one of those iconic London brands that you can’t miss . How does it feel to be head of press at a place that has stellar reputation for more than 100 years?

“It feels great! One of the many things I love about Liberty is we aren’t too seeped in our heritage – more we use it as a platform for innovation so although Liberty was founded in 1875 the approach we take to things is modern and fresh not formal and outdated.”

2) Liberty has dipped its’ fingers in social media, as I saw your guest blog on the Liberty website. Do you think PR should completely embrace social media or have a ‘pick and mix’ approach to it?

“PR should absolutely embrace social media. It is imperative in retail PR that you communicate to your end consumer using their preferred media channels. Social media and retail PR go hand in hand as they are both about the right now – what’s happening at this moment that is of most interest. Social media is most successful when used by brands who take an approach of integrity – so giving people an insight into a ‘world of’ not just hammering them with unfiltered product information.”

3) The Economist recently published an article stating amongst other things a bullish outlook for PR in 2010. Do you think PR will fully bounce back from the recession this year?

“I really hope so. I’m bored of people using the recession as an excuse to be lazy or not pay you! I think 2010 will see good PRs hone their skills and develop and widen their knowledge of niche and special markets be it a specific international market or the aforementioned social media.”

4) When you were starting out on your career in PR, how important was it for you to network?

“Incredibly important. it still is now! I never understand when juniors PRs complain about doing appointments, how do you think your boss established their press contacts? PR is all about who you know and how you leverage that”

5) With competition so fierce for junior press jobs, some people are looking at tools like LinkedIn to get started. Do you think the Internet has changed how people apply for jobs in PR or does who you know still matter?

“Personal recommendations are still imperative for me. I hired my whole team that way.”

6) Working in a team is essential to the running of a good press office. What advice would you give graduates starting out in PR to be good team-players?

“Be prepared to graft. Nothing impresses people more than good old fashion hard work. Be creative and inspiring by suggesting ideas, sharing information you have and things of interest like new bands you’ve seen, clubs and exhibitions you’ve just visited.”

7) What elements do you think make a good CV for graduates, i.e. should we be putting education at the top or bottom?

Work experience, hobbies and interests are more relevant to me than education on a CV. I also like succinct but clear CVs…. Don’t be too formulaic with your layout but also don’t go too overboard with the creativity – its important that the person receiving it can ascertain all the relevant information straight away

To follow Kate & the whole team at Liberty on Twitter, please check out @LibertyLondon and @Liberty_Chloe. You can view Liberty’s online store here.

[Image credits: Kate Brindley]

LinkedIn is a hub of Finding Out Information

Kagem Tibaijuka — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:58:11 +0000

LinkedIn can cook you lots of nice treats. I have warmed up to it a lot since I started using it. I do not have hundreds of connections, but a steady number which I am thrilled with.

Here is what sugar that LinkedIn adds: it allows you to get the names of key contacts you may have had a hard time trying to pin down.

Example: There was a name of a press contact I really wanted to get my hands on for a well-known brand, for the website. What I did was I searched and searched and eventually found a LinkedIn result for the exact person with the right work history. It was great, because from there, I worked out the email format and sent my request in.

I think the social network allows you to be a career detective. You won’t need to live at Baker Street to do this, you just need to have a laser focus on what you are trying to achieve with your strategy. There is a danger of spamming people, but I think if you use it every now and then to try and get introduced to the right people, it could really help you.

I think aspiring PRs could benefit from this, especially in creative industries where who you know is paramount.

Thank You Cards as Personal PR

Kagem Tibaijuka — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:46:04 +0000

I think this post about personal branding is onto something.

Sending thank you cards is so important. I did this in the zygote days of this website to most of the people who helped me out and there are still thank yous that I need to send.

I think sending a thank you card to someone who interviewed you or helped you in any way is definitely a way of being a more personable candidate.

It is good personal PR which is something we could all look at more for ourselves.

What is the most important thing a website can do to PR itself?

Kagem Tibaijuka — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:52:57 +0000

I am asking this question rather selfishly in fact because I would like to know what you think start-up websites such as this can do to be better at PR.

I don’t want to make excuses but I think it is rather difficult especially when you have a full-time job on the side.

I would say the most important thing a website can do to PR itself is try and update as much as possible. This is something that I need to improve on.

The Cream of Content: Whipping Up 4 Ideas for Digital Dessert

Kagem Tibaijuka — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:46:05 +0000

The Cream of Content: Whipping Up 4 Ideas for Digital Dessert

[Image source: Bonnie @ Flickr]

vox-popPRcareers is my baby. Since I have started it, I realised I do not have an outlet to think through my ideas on content in general. This post will be four ideas I have on improving content, but I do think aspiring ideas can take some of these ideas and mix them into their career approach.

Double cream: Look at the sites or blogs that you like. I refer to my favourite ones as ‘double cream’, because they are satisfying to my cerebral tastebuds. One feature popular slices of content have is structure.

Example: Content marketing blog Junta42’s posts are written where each word is needed, as opposed to adding extra words for the sake of it. This is what makes content appetising. Readers want more of good content and less of the bad types. As content creators, we need to look at what we can do to make our work ‘good’. This could include:

Incisive quotes
Videos embedded in our posts with a short paragraph explaining what the video is
Monthly e-books on a popular topic

Should we be add lashings of the above to our blogs to thicken the content? I think so, because it is part of creating reader loyalty.

Stabilisers: Cream needs stabiliser agents to be digested by us. For content, this is frequency. We are not writing novellas at the same time, but serialising our work for our readers. For my website, I have not figured our what the equilibrium should be. There are different opinions on how often you should update your work. I like to make my point clear: You cannot ‘stabilise’ cream that does not have any fat in it. In terms of content, you have to have something there in order to choose what frequency you update. I believe that content creators must endeavour to update as much as possible, but obviously this is not always ideal or the case. Especially if you are doing all the work on the website yourself. I struggled to update vox-popPRcareers in its’ early months, but I realised that in order to grow it, I have to update it as often as I can.

Single cream: Sourcing other points of view is a mainstay of a journalist-imbibed work. But how can you do this if you are working full-time, want a social life and update your blog at the same time? I suggest sending introductory emails to contacts who are relevant to your niche.

Example: If you are an aspiring fashion blogger but work full-time as an engineer, think of your local charity shops. You could always pop in there on a Sunday afternoon and ask to speak to the manager of the shop. In 10 minutes, you could find out what the people in your local area of your city/town are buying. That is already a blog post metres above the rest for one reason: it has original research which is 100 per cent your own. I wish I could do more of this for my website; It is something I must do more of, and we all should because it makes your content smooth.

Crème fraîche: In one vintage episode of ‘Sex and the City’, Carrie Bradshaw tells her female friends that she believes her relationship has the shelf life of a dairy product. ‘It will start to curdle in about a week’, she quips. I think the same can be applied to content. Ideas matter – so coming up with alternative ways of presenting your writing is how we should be looking at someone. As an avid blog reader, I want to read posts that present issues in an original way. One key to this, in my opinion, is reading a lot of traditional media such as trade magazines along with digital. I think the so-called divide between the two is hype.

Example: If you love sweets and you want to write a blog about vintage sweets, I think you should be focusing on Kraft’s successful hostile takeover of Cadburys, an icon of 186 years’ of confectionery. By mixing in a different approach to tell your readers about your sweet obsession, you will make your content stand out.

I had success with this on my personal blog. When I came up with a list format post on the top 10 natural hair styles, someone put the post on Digg. I used a variety of sources to create that post (and naturally credited all of them).

Whip and Whisk: Like the different varieties of cream, content is diverse. The ideas I have discussed in this e-book are not for everyone. But I do think as content creators/writers/bloggers, we need to think of how we write and present our work to people. It’s fantastic to get high numbers of page views but we need to think of how we can make readers engage with our content. And then come back for seconds.

The cat only gets the cream if she goes after it herself. That is how we need to think as digital content creators.

3 Things Lady Gaga Can Teach Aspiring PRs

Kagem Tibaijuka — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:53:41 +0000

[Image Source]

1) Persevere: Gaga is a grafter. I was intrigued to hear that she worked hard for many years like writing songs for other artists before she got her big break. I think this can be applied to aspiring PRs by continuing to write job applications even when you feel like it isn’t happening.

2) Perfect Your Look: Gaga’s image is original and distinctive. I think this could be related to people who want to work in the PR industry. As aspiring career heads, we need to think about how we look and what potential vibes this gives to clients.

3) Demand The Best: I watched some clips of Gaga on Oprah. She had a backstage segment and she showed some drawings of the types of looks she does for her concerts. The amount of detail from those pictures proves that only those willing to work hard get far in this life. I hope I can apply this ethic to what I do.