You don’t need to act like you’re in an episode of Ab Fab to thrive in a PR job. You’ll be promoting your company, a brand or a product to the world and trying to drum up as much publicity as possible. Are you tenacious enough not to take no for an answer?

So, what will I actually be doing?
People in PR work at making a name for whatever they’re working on, this can be anything from a big, recognisable brand through to smaller start-up projects. You’ll need to gain ‘fame’ for what you’re working on and work with the media to try and get a message out to the masses.

The nitty gritty
PR jobs are highly sought after and people often look at it as a glamorous career choice, which is can be if you end up working in entertainment or fashion. But as with anything, it’s all about what company you work for.

“If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.” – Bill Gates

In terms of your work tasks, you’re likely to do much of the following…

• Coming up with PR strategies
• Building relationships with the media
• Writing press releases and calling around whenever you’re trying to generate publicity
• Writing reports on media coverage data
• Overseeing content production (adverts, videos, social media and online PR stunts)
• Arranging press conferences and events
• Overseeing market research
• Bringing in new business opportunities
• Managing client relationships
• Overseeing social media PR strategies

However, this is by no means an exhaustive list.

Money, money, money
Actually, the salaries for PR jobs aren’t too shabby, especially for anyone with a solid understanding of social media. Of course, you won’t be in the same bracket as financiers but a £16,000 – £24,000 starting salary isn’t to be sniffed at.

The good points…
PR jobs offer a huge amount of career options; after all, most companies need some kind of PR to succeed. You can work anywhere from top fashion houses through to small charities trying to raise awareness and you can use your own personal interests to choose where you end up. Then there are the endless parties and events!

…and the bad
PR jobs are tough. You often have to work long hours and schmooze clients and the press on a regular basis – you can forget having your free time completely to yourself. It’s also a difficult, targets-driven job where clients have high expectations of how good a job you need to do for them.

Is there study involved?
There aren’t any set qualifications needed in order to become a PR; however, realistically most applicants have a degree, although the subject isn’t important. What IS important is work experience. If you can demonstrate experience of media, marketing, communications or even direct PR then you’ll be in with a much better chance of getting a great job. Time to start volunteering or apprenticeships!

OK, I’m interested… But is it really the career for me?
The most important attribute a PR needs is the ability to build relationships with people – particularly cynical journalists. The media is a powerhouse for PR opportunities but getting your product or brand into the pages of the best newspapers and magazine or on the trendiest websites can be difficult to say the least – unless you’re chummy with the editor!

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post.

From 30 March 2012 there’s going to be some significant changes; most notably to the front-end, with the new template enhancing the position of images and posts, which will dramatically alter the look and feel of pages. Essentially, Facebook is now giving brands a greater opportunity ‘to tell their story’ and engage with fans via much richer content.

In terms of the back-end and from a community management perspective, there’s been some tweaks which enable you to draft future content and more easily moderate posts, as well as the introduction of premiun ads and reach generator for larger pages.

I see the introduction of Timeline as Facebook once again laying down the gauntlet to challenge brands to do more and to do better. But, it’s not only a challenge. With more online media vying for our attention, Timeline presents a fantastic opportunity for brands to create a better, more visual and ultimately more engaging experience for their fans.

Check out the infographic for a more detailed look at what Facebook Timeline means for Brand pages.

Facebook Timeline [INFOGRAPHIC]

The reason for this post is that I often receive emails about an ‘awesome infographic’, ‘innovative Facebook app’ or ‘exciting launch’ which are all well and good, but too often there’s very little reason for me to open up the laptop and blog. Most of the time there’s nothing wrong per se with the outreach, but equally there is nothing right that compels me to respond in the way the PR would like.

However, a little more thought and care in the approach would pay dividends. PRs are untouchable at communicating news, but they need to become better at articulating benefit; all too often outreach is overly focused on client messaging. For blogger outreach to be effective there needs to be some middle-ground, to establish something that is mutually beneficial for both parties.

In its most brutal, blogger outreach can be thought of as a transaction e.g. an exchange of value between two or more parties. For instance, the blogger may have a niche audience the PR wants to reach, therefore reaching this audience has a certain value. Subsequently, the PR needs to offer something of enough perceived value to the blogger in order for them to write about the client and enable them to reach the niche audience.

I’ve mentioned value as it is a deliberately broad term, but its one PRs should be thinking more about. Monetary value is easy to understand, but PRs can offer value to bloggers in many different forms.

I’ve designed this list to help PRs make their proposition more valuable, so I will be more likely to write about their client; then everyone can benefit and achieve the desired outcome. Whilst, I would never claim to speak for anyone but myself, I’m sure many of these tips will ring true for other bloggers.

1. Content co-creation
I frequently receive outreach describing in great detail an initiative, milestone or other good news story and whilst, news is interesting, I blog as a hobby and want something more exciting than that. The opportunity to co-create content has much greater appeal than simply receiving a press release. By this I mean, instead of emailing about the appointment of a new Marketing Director, let me have a Q&A session with them or even better let my readers submit questions.

2. Exclusivity
If you want me to write about a new product, launch or event etc, let me or my readers have some form of exclusive access. It surprises me the number emails I get from PRs who blindly hope I will write about their client with absolutely no exchange of value mentioned. A more effective approach would be to give readers something exclusive, such as a money off voucher for the product, beta access to the app or discounted tickets to the event. All of this is more valuable and engaging than receiving a news release.

3. Competition prizes
Competitions have always been an effective tool to get people reading and talking about your clients and raising awareness. From my own experience bloggers are normally receptive to hosting a competition and writing about your client if the prize is valuable enough. The exchange of value when hosting a competition is easy to understand as they often have monetary value. Quite simply, if you’re launching a new product, you will increase the chances of someone blogging about it if there is a prize to give away too.

4. Product trials
In my opinion, a press releases on its own is probably one of the least effective tools to get bloggers talking and writing about your client. Instead wherever possible try and get your client’s product into the hands of bloggers. This can be expensive and time-consuming, but will undoubtedly add serious value to your outreach proposition and they will feel more compelled to blog; resulting in a greater chance of the desired outcome.

5. Experiences and events 
Finally, if you are serious about enticing bloggers to write about your client, offer them a fantastic, unique and exclusive blogger experience they will want to share with their readers as soon as possible. Over the years I’ve been involved in ‘money can’t buy’ experiences for bloggers including whiskey tasting hosted by a master distiller, the opportunity for bloggers to learn fuel efficiency tips from a cricket legend and arranged behind the scenes access at a major leisure brand.

Experiences and events are expensive to manage, but they have a high perceived value and will strengthen any outreach proposition. If you genuinely want to build long-term relationships with bloggers it’s an investment worth making.

I’d be interested to hear what ingredients are more likely to compel you to write about a pitch. Skilled PRs can fashion and add value to opportunities, but all too often I’m left thinking PRs need to think and work a little bit harder for their earned media.

The past 12 months will undoubtedly be remembered for the Fukushima disaster, occupy Wall Street movement, Euro zone crisis and phone-hacking scandal, all of which have impacted upon trust in government, business, NGOs and media. These major incidents have resulted in a historic fall in the trust of government and business, creating a leadership vacuum that has being ably filled by the quality, not tabloid media, whilst employees, have replaced CEOs as a credible spokesman.

In addition, this years Trust Barometer has its largest ever sample, having surveyed 30,000 people from both the general public and opinion forming elite.

Whilst there is a lot of data to digest, the following points are what I think will have the biggest impact on my role in 2012.

The team is looking for someone with a qualification in Media, PR, Marketing or a related discipline, but are more than happy to talk to bright people with other qualifications too. The ideal candidate will have a solid grasp of digital, social media and Web 2.0 tools, as well as superior research (qualitative and quantitative), writing and editing skills.

They need somebody who can work effectively with team members and clients, and who is highly organised, detail-oriented and a self-starter with the ability to efficiently manage multiple deadlines. The candidate will also have experience in using tools such as MS Word, Powerpoint and Excel, as well as an understanding of other digital tools.

Also, in an era where unpaid internships are unfortunately all too common, I’m proud to say that my employer has publicly committed to pay the minimum wage to interns and subsequently, this internship pays £15k per year.

 The main responsibilities are:

• Assist with in basic community management and updating to Facebook pages and Twitter channels
• Involvement in every aspect of creating and implementing innovative content plans and campaigns
• Prepare and/or review all client reports, including but not limited to activity reports, monthly reports and status reports, incorporating audience and sentiment analysis
• Assist with content plan
• Develop understanding of client’s internal organisation, business and sector
• Work with client on day-to-day basis
• Manage work process, supporting senior account team members as appropriate
• Keep account team abreast of timelines and deadlines
• Analyse key word research
• Exhibit effective project management working closely with account teams
• Analyse market research including using online services

I know and have worked with the team during my time at Edelman and can vouch that it’s a fun, exciting, challenging and fast-paced environment; a great way to cut your teeth in the world of digital and work with some fantastic clients.

If you’re interested in the internship, drop Eamonn Carey an email at Eamonn.Carey@edelman.com

For those of you who know Young PR Pro of the Year, Ben Matthews or have read Behind the Spin recently you may be familiar with Bright One – the volunteer-run agency for the third sector which Ben founded and runs in his spare time with a trusty band of dedicated volunteers.

I interviewed Ben last year, shortly after he was announced Young PR Pro of the Year and was very impressed in the way in which Ben has developed Bright One and the fantastic results the team has delivered for a range of charities. I was so impressed that I promised to share the story of Bright One and more importantly, how to become one, through my network around the time when students begin to finish their final year at university.

So here goes…

Background
Bright One was started by Ben in September 2008 due to frustration that people and third sector organisations  were doing some amazing work and helping a lot of people, but for some reason – whether it is through a lack of expertise, time or resources – these organisations were not  able to communicate what they do as effectively as other charitable organisations.

How it works
As fund-raising is becoming increasingly competitive, third sector organisations need to communicate their contributions to society in an effective and efficient manner. A good communications strategy helps create multiple opportunities, from raising funds to recruiting volunteers, and from increasing awareness to standing out amongst other similar organisations.

C&M is looking for a Social SEO Executive to work with Hackett, IBM, Continental, Rightmove, TomTom amongst others. They are an online PR agency specialising in social media PR and social SEO, based in Lewes, East Sussex.

It sounds like a fantastic role and for me, encapsulates the two key PR battlegrounds for the future – search and content. I’ve followed the fortunes of C&M since I interviewed Roger back in 2009 when they were a fledgling agency and having caught up with him at the recent Social Media Week panel event, it’s good see the agency doing so well.

Likely candidates will be those who:

• Have been working as an SEO for the past few years

• Understand that their world is changing and want a new role where Social wizardry is the name of the game

• Read SEOMoz and the like on a daily basis

• Enjoy a good Whiteboard Friday

Desired skills and experience:

• Research, create and deliver game-changing Search and Social programs

• Deliver on all the traditional SEO basics – programs for linkbuilding, content syndication and so forth

• Understand how Content and Social Media strategies are fundamentally changing the nature of SEO– and can implement programs to exploit new opportunities

• Deliver research, insight, analysis and action plans that opens up new traffic acquisition (and engagement) possibilities via Social Media

• Establish strong links between Search and Social Media Marketing – and back this up with data and analysis

• Pick out a Search and Social trend at 30 paces

• Specify, plan and deliver projects on time and on quality

• Flip a brilliant piece of insight into a working program with more élan than Eric Cantona lobbed goalkeepers

• Deliver a winning client service experience

• Work collaboratively across internal work groups to deliver out of the park programs and solutions

For more information about the role, please click here.

The ASA previously stated the remit will cover “advertisements and other marketing communications by or from companies, organisations or sole traders on their own websites, or in other non-paid-for space online under their control, that are directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods, services, opportunities and gifts, or which consist of direct solicitations of donations as part of their own fund-raising activities.”

One of the key takeaways for me is user generated content. As soon as a company is seen to respond to UGC, for instance a post on its Facebook page or Twitter account this is viewed as ‘official’ marketing communication and comes under the CAP code.  Any claims made (even by users) within that content will have to be accurate and agencies need to be aware of their new responsibilities.

In addition, the ASA has added a number of possible sanctions for those falling foul of the new ruling:

• Enhanced name and shame policy - providing details of an advertiser and the non-compliant marketing communication on a special part of the ASA website
• Removal of paid-for search advertising – ads that link to the page hosting the non-compliant marketing communication may be removed with the agreement of the search engines
• ASA paid-for search advertisements – the ASA could place advertisements online highlighting an advertiser’s continued non-compliance.

The remit covers all marketing activity from organisations operating in the UK regardless of top level domain (co.uk, .com, .net). However, it does not cover classified private advertisements, press releases and other public relations material, editorial content, political advertisements, corporate reports or investor relations activity.

You can find out more information from the ASA’s website.

2010 will be remembered for some huge corporate crisis situations, such as the BP oil spill, Toyota product recall, as well as bank bail outs and other misdemeanours in the financial sector. Given such a roller-coaster 12 months it was interesting to hear that if you go into a crisis as a distrusted company, it takes only 1-2 negative stories for a person to believe negative news. However, if you go in as a trusted company, it takes only 1-2 positive stories for you to achieve belief.

Whilst there is a lot of data to digest, the following points are what I think will have the biggest impact on my work in 2011.

1. The importance of search
Most PRs are beginning to appreciate the importance of search and the barometer confirmed this, with search engines ranked as the first place people look for information. This is really important as an understanding of SEO is not within the traditional skills set of many PRs – something that will have to change. The key point to stress is how important it is to ensure content about your client can be easily found online. Some simple solutions include having information that people want on an optimized website, blog and digital embassies, such as a Facebook Group, Twitter stream and YouTube channel. I expect search and content to be key battlegrounds in 2011.

2. Get your CEO or expert to talk
Given the economic uncertainty over the last 12 months, it is perhaps unsurprising that credible spokespeople such as CEOs or experts are the most trusted people to speak during a crisis. People are looking for expertise, knowledge and reassurance as we emerge from the financial crisis into an age of information obesity. The key insight for me is which expert should do the talking during a crisis. The barometer found that if a crisis is related to a product recall issue a company expert or the CEO should do the talking. However, if the issue is to do with the environment or a community issue, it has to be the CEO. Generally speaking, trust in the CEO is actually rising and I believe there is an expectation that bad CEOs have left their posts, whilst good leaders have successfully guided their organisations through tough economic times and remained.

3. Engage NGOs
One of the standout findings from the barometer is that for the first time, trust in NGOs in key developing markets is equivalent to that of business, a fantastic increase over the past five years, which has been attributed to the evolution of local civil society brands and rising prosperity. Importantly NGOs continue to be the most trusted institution in Western economies. Subsequently, serious consideration has to be given to NGOs and the role they could play in any communications programme. NGOs have far more credibility, trust and influence than many give them credit for.

4. The media are less trusted
Trust in the UK media is falling, which no doubt can be attributed to the march towards infotainment from hard news and the phone hacking saga which shows no signs of relenting. As PR professionals this is hugely significant. Although, a double page spread in a red top is often deemed a huge success in terms of ‘coverage’ and ‘AVE’, if the publication is not viewed as credible or trustworthy you are going to struggle to transfer this ‘success’ into action. Action is the important word here. Communications activity needs to transfer into actions that have business outcomes. This finding should also get us thinking beyond the traditional PR model that targets journalists and towards the stakeholder universe model. PR is about engaging communities that matter to companies rather than gaining column inches.

5. Decrease in trust in ‘people like me’
The barometer found that people over the last year have been turning to experts rather then ‘people like me’. This is interesting for anybody working in social media and could impact how we approach communications, but it may also be something to do with the maturing of the definition of ‘people like me’ which Mark Hanson, Deputy Managing Director of Wolfstar also picked up on. Personally, my Facebook friends and Linked In connections are people I know or have down business with, but a much smaller number I consider to be ‘people like me’ or those I would trust for a recommendation. The report notes:

“This may be a result of changing attitudes about what constitutes “a person like me” rather than an indication of a significant decrease in the actual credibility of peer-to-peer communication. With some estimates indicating that the average Facebook user does not know one-fifth of the 500 people typically listed as friends on his or her page, it is reasonable to ask whether the meaning of the word “friend” and by association “a person like me” has become devalued.”

You can check out the #Trust2011 hashtag to see other people’s thoughts on this years findings. It’s always insightful to see what the Edelman Trust Barometer discovers and I would be interested to hear what your key takeaways from this years findings are.