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Public Relations: Final Project and Thesis Reflection

   This month was focused on creating our final thesis paper. This paper is a culmination of all the primary and secondary research that we have done as well as market research, a SWOT analysis, and the campaign plan that we designed and implemented.  What has been rewarding about this process has been seeing my capstone thesis project come together and see it as a complete body of work.    At the beginning of the month, I downloaded and printed out the requirements for the final paper and began gathering the required sections from previous assignments in the program, the process of which, gave me a new perspective on how much work has gone into the completion of this project.    What has been most rewarding for me, in the creation of this projection, has been being able to share my research with my brand. The brand that has been the focus of my capstone thesis project is my dad’s practice where my sister runs the marketing and public relations department. Being able to share my research and knowledge with my family and see it implemented effectively has been a lesson not just in public relations but business relations. The plan that was implemented in this project was a team effort led by me with the input of both my sister and my dad. Learning the value of open communication and collaboration is not a section in my thesis paper, but it is a skillset I honed throughout this project.    As I reflect, not just on this month but on the last 12 months, I am proud of the work that I have done. It has not been an easy program, and there were many assignments that on Monday morning looked impossible but by Sunday evening were not so daunting. While I am glad to be done with my formal education, I will miss the challenges of being a student, but I look forward to what opportunities for growth in my industry as well opportunities for self-growth that lay ahead. I am grateful to my instructors who have endured phone calls and emails from an overeager perfectionist but never made me feel burdensome. I am proud to be an Alumni of this program and part of the Full Sail University community.  

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Online Media Room Reflection

This month we put together our Media Rooms for our brands. This exercise was beneficial because it required that we think about the content, the layout of the content, and the overall user experience of our Online Media Rooms.

Throughout the month, we looked at various examples of Media Rooms on the official sites of a few known brands. Before this month, when I thought about Media Rooms, I thought of them as a portal for bloggers and media alone. I did not consider them resources for publics outside of the press or those who wanted to report on that brand, however; as we examined the various Media Rooms, I saw that a Media Room should appeal universally to the Target Market and other key constituencies.

As I put together my own Media Room, I took into consideration what I learned through the assignments over the month. Through our assignments, we were not just browsing the Media Rooms, but we were looking at specific features and functions such as search capabilities, calls-to-action, navigational menus, and how easy it was to share the content. We also studied voice and tone of the brand and the website and considered how the site supported the continuity of the established brand image and identity as well as the overall aesthetics and layout.

Considering these examples, I created a Media Room for my brand that appeals to both the press and bloggers as well as key publics. I worked to ensure that the navigation was straightforward and easily understood and that the layout was clean and reflected the brand. I wanted to make sure that the layout not only supported the brand but looked clean and professional to reflect the voice and tone of Pavlik Center for Health and Wellness. Additionally, I included a market analysis feature that supports the primary and secondary research done as part of this campaign. The primary research is broken down in a way that is easily digestible by patients and the press, supported by text and infographics. The secondary research is broken down similarly and supports the professional tone of the brand and works to establish the brand as an authority in Alternative Medicine care. To supplement this information, there is a resource section that has both infographics and videos that define what Alternative Medicine is, how it works with traditional medicine, and dispels some of the common myths of this style of medicine. These features and functions are the results of what we learned this month through the lessons and examples we studied.

This month has been a great month full of helpful lessons and practical application. It gave me an opportunity to make improvements to my website while getting constructive feedback from both my instructor and peers which was helpful and appreciated.

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Reputation Management Strategies Reflection

At the beginning of the Public Relations Master of Arts (PRMA) program, we were given the course catalog for the program and asked to identify three goals for each course. Those goals were based on the course description and were presented to us before we had begun to study the practice of Public Relations in depth.

My three goals for Reputation Management Strategies where to learn the best strategies to manage a reputation in a digital world, gain an understanding of the strategic communication skills required to maintain/ repair a public reputation, and learn how social metrics can help build and maintain a public reputation (Yates, 2016). These goals were established the first month of the program and reflected a Public Relations novice. When I look at these goals I see growth, not just in the completion of these goals but the goals, themselves. For example, I have learned throughout the program that social metrics do not necessarily have an impact on a public reputation, they just infer the level of influence a brand’s social media platforms are having.

When I consider what my goals for this class would have looked like, had I written them down, at the beginning of the class my goals would have been a little different than my original goals. My goal for this class was to learn how to build and repair a reputation. Throughout the PRMA program I have learned how to create a brand, but with this course, I wanted to learn how to defend that brand should it need to be protected in a crisis.

Reflecting on what I gained from this class, I learned what is a crisis is. Through the reading by Doorley and Garcia and the instructor’s videos, I found out that a crisis is an event that can damage a reputation.  That abbreviated definition may seem simple but giving crisis a concrete definition puts other events into perspective. The word crisis is, perhaps, overused and even though reputation management is ongoing a crisis or an event tends to have a beginning and end and it should be managed as so.

Additionally, through the readings and the instructor’s instructional videos, I learned the difference between a brand’s identity and a brand’s image. Understanding that identity is what is created by the company and that image is what is determined by the public helped me to understand how a reputation is created. When you combine those two concepts, it makes how a reputation created clearer and showed why managing a reputation is so difficult.

Lastly, I learned how to create a Crisis Communication Plan. Through the creation of this plan, I learned that there is a difference between a Crisis Management Plan and a Crisis Communication Plan. When we began creating these plans, I found it difficult distinguishing between Crisis Communication and Crisis Management but as we progressed through the week and the material I learned that there is an important difference between the two. Through that project, I learned how to create an effective plan and how many details must be considered when creating such a plan.

What I gained from this course helped give me a good foundation in reputation management by building on the previous courses in the program. It also gave me tools to use in the future as a Public Relations Professional by giving me experience creating a Crisis Communication Plan and an understanding of how many details go into mitigating and managing a crisis.

References

Doorley, J. & Garcia, H.F. (2011). Reputation Management. In Reputation             Management: The Key to Successful Public Relations and Corporate        Communication (pp. 2-35). New York: Routledge. Retrieved             from: http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/doorley/data/Chapter_1_Reputatio     n_Management_2nd_Edition.pdf 

Yates, Kristen. (2016, September 25). Mastery Journey Timeline. [Video File].      Retrieved from https://youtu.be/LcMsccVl2Ps

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Events Marketing & Production Reflection

This month we created the outline for a hypothetical event and hosted a Webinar. For me, creating the hypothetical event reminded me of some of the events that I helped plan in my time as a Political Consultant. What I gained from this course was an expanded view of the event planning instead of a more up-close view that only let me see my own tasks (which was typically my role in the events I worked on). Through the planning of this event, I created a budget based on the expectations for the event whereas in the past I have been given a budget to work with. I also created an evaluation system. In politics, we always evaluated ourselves but typically that evaluation was based on polling, fundraiser dollars earned, and election outcomes. This evaluation went deeper than that and required me to determine how I would evaluate the totality of the parties involved in planning the event as well as how I would gain feedback from the audience. This process was helpful because I know I will use a similar system in the future to evaluate not just events but other projects. For me, this was a practice in creativity and organization and fit me well as I typically score equal on which side of my brain I use the most. I like creative based, organized endeavors and that is why I think that event planning has always been an interest of mine. The difficult part of the month was creating the webinar. I did my webinar on Alternative Medicine in Today’s World. I created a slide presentation, wrote a script for myself to guide me through my presentation, and presented my webinar via Google Hangout and YouTube. Creating the slides and organizing my presentation, again, appealed to my creative linear thinking style but presenting it was more nerve-wracking than I expected. I have spoken to large groups of people in a live setting on many occasions throughout my academic and professional life, but this was different. I have never done a Facebook Live or other similar platform before, and I found it intimidating in a very unexplainable way. This assignment took me outside of my comfort zone, even though I was able to hide behind my slides. In the end, I held two Webinars, and by the time I presented my second one (the one that I submitted for grading) I felt more relaxed, and my script was less a script and more of an outline. I know that these types of events will likely be a big part of my career, and from this assignment, I learned that I need to practice, not just the script, but the technology and the entire presentation with the script, slides, and technology.

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Media Relations- Reflection Post

One of my standing goals, in this program, and professionally is to better my creative and professional skills. This term, in Media Relations, I got the opportunity to work on my creative skills through the process of creating a Media Kit. While shooting and creating my Video News Release I was able to work on my skills with my video camera. I got familiar with finding shots and setting them up. I was working in cramped spaces like treatment rooms, which required me to be creative with my camera work. While getting the shots, I got to work with other elements like lighting and sound. Those two factors, outside of a studio and without professional grade equipment like lights, can be a real challenge. I also got to work on my photography skills while working on this assignment. I was able to use equipment, like my wide-angle lens on my DSLR camera, to shoot in a small space. It is always rewarding for me to be able to see a vision in my head and see it come to life with my camera. This assignment gave me the opportunity to do that. My professional skills were strengthened on many levels this term. Creating my Media Kit taught me how to create an effective and informative Press Kit. I thought about the components I’ve helped create in my previous professional work as I was tasked with producing a Media Kit alone for the first time. Through this assignment, I also got to work on my storytelling skills by making sure that the message of the brand that I am working with came through in the Video News Release and through the interviews, I conducted for this project. The assignment I enjoyed the most this term though was, the Talking Points and Frequently Asked Questions assignment. I enjoyed using what I’ve learned about Public Relations to better understand the media as well as the role of Public Relations professionals within the media ecosystem. This term went back to the basics of Public Relations and, while it used our thesis subject as a platform, it was good to get back to the core of the industry. It reestablished my passion for Public Relations.

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Market and Consumer Research Analysis Reflection Post

This month was centered on primary and secondary research as well as formally writing what was discovered in the research. For me, it has a been a few years since I’ve written a formal paper with as much depth and analysis as was required of this paper. It has also been a considerable amount of time since I’ve been required to do the amount of research that was required for this class. I struggled to find resources that I felt like I could trust for my secondary research. It is sometimes hard to determine what is a valid source and what is a well laid out blog or a professional site that is made to mimic a credible source. The topic of my research made it difficult; Alternative Medicine is a topic that a lot has been written about but is also a topic that a lot of unqualified people have shared their thoughts about on the internet. Using my formal writing skills and my research skills was an exercise that I needed, not just for my Capstone Thesis Project but my career. Public Relations requires a lot of research and analysis and the formal writing skills to write about that research and analysis. This class was a needed reminder of those two critical skill sets. Additionally, as a result of the research that I was looking at I found myself reading a lot of case studies and research reports. It can be difficult, at times, to read academic journals and reports. Reading the reports that I needed to for my research helped me write my own research findings as well as familiarized me with some of the terms and functions of the information I was gathering. I am also taking away from this class a concrete understanding of the need for having a firm understanding of the Target Market on a campaign. I also saw how a Target Market and a Buyer Persona can work hand-in-hand to help to drive the message and how the message is shaped. When I worked in politics we did Market Research and identified our “Buyer Persona”, but we so did gradually in a way that created multiple Buyer Persona’s based on a variety of factor as the campaign progressed. Through the work in this class, I saw how a Buyer Persona and Target Market work outside of the scope of politics. I know that that will be an invaluable skill in my career and as I continue cultivating my brand.

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Social Media Metrics and ROI Reflection

This month has been the most challenging month for me in my PRMA program thus far. I came in with very little experience with metrics and/ or ROI for Social Media Campaigns. In the past, academically and professionally, I was in charge of curating and creating the content with very little interaction with what those efforts yielded. I am also not mathematically inclined, and even though we weren’t doing the math, the concept of metrics of any kind was off-putting to me because of my relationship with math and numbers. I learned though that it isn’t as intimidating at I had feared. Another challenge for me this month was that I had previously relied on the metrics that were available with my site host, Squarespace. Those numbers are useful, and they serve a purpose but the industry standard is Google Analytics, and it is the system that employers want people in these roles to use. I now feel like I have a working knowledge of the essential metrics that companies want to be measured along with some ways to get the desired results, beyond simply creating good content. In the last two months, I have learned a wealth of information about Google Analytics which has, in turn, given me a pathway to follow in my website. It has highlighted where I need to improve on my website regarding keywords, content, and SEO. Before this class, I was simply writing and creating content that I thought was interesting and that I thought would showcase my varied abilities. Those abilities, however, are useless when no one can find you to hire you to utilize them. This month also verified that my interest is in messaging and not in the numerical result of the messaging. The numbers that accompany messaging campaigns are critical, and I am appreciative of the skill set and those that possess the passion for it. I am also grateful to have a much better understanding of the subject, and I know that my future work will be greatly benefitted by understanding how metrics and ROI integrate into campaigns.

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Innovative Public Relations Tools and Resources- Reflection

This month has been my best month in my Public Relations, M.A. program.

This month I pushed myself creatively with my Brand Story video. Instead of letting myself rely on iMovie because I know it so well, I pushed myself and edited the entire video on Final Cut Pro. The wealth of knowledge I got from that exercise was rewarding, refreshing and motivating. It gave me the courage to start making some new content for myself, and I look forward to seeing the results of those efforts in the coming weeks.

At the beginning of the second week of this course, I interviewed for a job as a Social Media Manager for a company. From that interview, I learned a lot of things that I need to work on before I put myself out there like that. As I got into that week's work for the course, I found that the course was the perfect parallel to that revelation. Our work in Hootsuite and Later went from being just an assignment for class but a weekly habit. I’m seeking out content to post and studying the most effective ways to use my Social Media. Ultimately, my Social Media platforms and my website will become my portfolio as I start to look for jobs and I had been taking a very hands-off approach to building my brand.

I also had another big “win” this month, and I was able to see the fruits of that through our work with Google Analytics. For the last two years, I’ve been relying only on the analytics that I get from my hosting platform, Squarespace. In week three of the course, one of my blog posts got the attention of Jenna Wolfe who has a successful Facebook Live show. She reposted my blog and pinned it to the top of all of her Social Media platforms. Through Google Analytics I was able to see the amount of traffic that that exposure was bringing to my website, and I’ve been working to build on that momentum.

This class came at the exact moment I lacked motivation, and perhaps, ideally at the start of a new year. I’m looking forward to building on this motivation and momentum academically and professionally in the coming weeks and months.

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Legal Aspects of Media Review

I took a similar class to this in my undergrad program but what the reinforcement of the activities in this class was a good refresher on this critically important topic.

The assignment that I got the most out of was the week two assignment on defamation. Defamation is such an important topic because the implications do not just impact us professionally but personally. What I liked about this assignment was that it did not just give me the knowledge to protect myself as an industry professional but also personally. I now have a very concrete understanding of what libel and slander are and know what my rights are if I am ever a victim to either and also learned how to avoid being guilty of either in my professional life as well.

All the topics that were covered this month were beneficial to someone who is going into a communications field, but I think that the two most important topics were defamation and copyright law. I think these two issues are likely the most common violations because they easy topics to come in contact with. Also, we learned that ignorance of the wrongdoing doesn’t justify the action legally which makes these issues even more important and valuable.

By understanding not just the law regarding the issues but seeing them applied to a real-life case will prove to be a tremendous help in the future. It will give me not just rules to apply to situations I may encounter but also circumstances to compare what I’m working to. The applicability to things that have happened is a helpful way to cement these topics into my consciousness.

I came into this class expecting to gain and improve upon my understanding of the law as it applies to creative industries. I felt like I had a good working knowledge of the topic having earned a Course Directors Award in a similar class while working on my bachelor’s degree but this class showed me how much I had forgotten then presented the same information in a new way that I think has actually helped me have much more firm grasp on the topic and in a way that I think will be easier to hang on to for future use. This class met and exceeded my expectations.

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Writing for Interactive Media Reflection

For as long as I can remember I have loved to write. I remember it started when I was just learning how to read. I would sit in the back office of my dad’s clinic and watch my mom type up patient charts on an electric typewriter, I loved the sound that the keys made as the words formed on the page and my mom’s long manicured nails clicking the keys. One day, to entertain me while she worked, she put in a blank sheet of typing paper in the typewriter and let me click out my own assortment of letters and characters. At five years old I fell in love for the first time, at that point with the sounds and excitement of the keyboard but eventually with telling stories through words. Every time I went to my parent’s office I couldn’t wait to get to play on the typewriter. I eventually realized that I could start making words out the letters I was learning at school and I started putting those words into sentences on the pages when I got to play on the typewriter. That is how I became a writer.

However, somewhere in the midst of learning the myriad of other ways that there are to tell stories in the modern age of technology, I stopped writing. This month, I remembered why I fell in love with writing. I remember how it led me to Full Sail University and the Media Communications program and now to my master degree in Public Relations. More than anything in this world my passion is the written word. This month I fell back in love with the strategy of putting the right words in the right places and the complexity putting the puzzle of a story together.

The stories I wrote were not profound by any means but they reconnected me with my passion and love for writing.

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Public Relations in a Digital World Review

I was fortunate enough to do my undergrad at Full Sail in the Media Communications program. Much of what we did this month was a review for me in that I had been previously exposed to aspects of Public Relations through the Media Communications program. What I gained this month, however, was a hyper-focused look at these concepts. Instead of looking at the Asch Conformity Experiment, Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and Cialdini’s Principles of Influence from the 1,000-foot view that applies to all communications (an understatedly large and ever expanding umbrella) but through the narrowed funnel of Public Relations. For me, it was not redundancy but another look at these concepts that gave me a closer look at my field of study. It also showed me that I do not just have a passive interest in the subject of Public Relations but I truly have a passion for the profession.  

Another aspect of this class that was a welcomed refresher for me was writing press releases. I learned how to write press releases at The Leadership Institute in Claredon, Virginia where I studied Campaign Management. When I learned to write press releases we were learning to write them for distribution to news outlets to then write stories from. In the modern world of communications press releases are now often self-contained and all the attention the story gets. Press Releases are posted online without any additional information contributed by a journalist so they must be brief but thorough. In writing my Press Release for this class I focused on putting all the detail into the Press Release so that someone who reads it does not need supplemental information.

The Press Release assignment was also an exercise in versatility for me. For five years I wrote Press Releases almost exclusively for political events and for candidates. This assignment took me completely out my comfort zone in that regard. In the Press Release that I wrote for this class, I was representing two merging companies and had to preserve the integrity of both.

This class met my expectations and I gained a wealth of information and the benefit of practice. I look forward to adding to my skill set in the coming months as I progress through my graduate program.

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This is a photo that I took this weekend. I have been struggling with my photography and searching for inspiration through other people’s pictures. This weekend, after seeing some photos similar to this one, I decided to combine what I’ve learned recently about photography with what I’ve gained in inspiration and this was the outcome. I’m proud of this photo but I still have a long ways to go before I am comfortable removing the “amateur” from photographer when I describe myself as a photographer. 

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Mastery Journey Timeline

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LinkedIn

One of the best networking tools for professionals is LinkedIn. Below is a link to my LinkedIn profile. Please connect with me. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hellokristen

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This is the logo that I use to represent myself as a Media Creative in my field.

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Above some PR blogs to help me to stay up to date with trends in Public Relations. This is a screenshot of my Feedly account. 

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Blogs to Follow- Paply

https://papaly.com/4/tIUr