8 Great Tips for Interns

8 Great Tips for Interns

1. Come to work prepared. 

Before you set our your suit the night before, prepare a binder full of examples and previous work you have done in school. Give yourself examples of blog posts, press releases and other forms of media that will become useful when you are stuck. If anything, the work in the binder will give you a boost of confidence knowing you capable of getting things done right.

2. Khakis and a polo do not qualify for a suit.

OK, so none of you would actually wear khakis and a polo to work. But keep in mind that anything other than a suit is not appropriate unless your employers have otherwise told you so. Looking professional will make you feel professional and will encourage you to demonstrate your best work ethic. Even if you decide to wear those black pants and button up, bringing a jacket will do nothing short of keeping you prepared. You never know who you will be meeting that day you decide to dress down.

3. Ask for more work.

Do this only if you can tolerate it. If you still have a PR plan and 3 press releases to finish by the end of the day, this might not be the best idea. When you can, just send an email to your supervisor or coworkers and ask them if they need someone to post on the company blog or if they have any other work that they would like assistance. Your coworkers will appreciate the help and will remember it later on when it is the end of the day and you are overwhelmed. 

4. Be open to criticism. 

We are not perfect by any means. You may think you write awesome press releases, but when the supervisor returns it with critical comments, take the time to read and fix them. When you take the criticism to heart, you will remember how to fix it before you hand the next press release in. Just remind yourself not to take the criticism personally. They are just tips on how to improve your work.

5. Eat lunch with your coworkers. 

There may be days when you want to get out by yourself, but take the time to invite your coworkers on occasion. Keep in mind that in this industry, it is important to make relationships and network. You don't have to be best friends with everyone, but getting to know people outside the office environment will help you better understand what they are about. Plus, taking a break is necessary. Why not do it with people who can give you advice and share stories about what you are interested in?

6. Try not to make the same mistake twice.

When you are surrounded by people who have been in the business for years, they have their own way of doing things. They may be stressed out some days and impatient. When they are telling you to fix the same mistakes, they may get short with you. Just remember that this is a stressful industry and don't take their frustrations to heart. You are still learning. Take notes and keep copies of corrected work so you can reference it later on. 

7. Get a Mentor.

Use your coworkers as mentors. Develop relationships with them that will become helpful later on and look up to them. Find someone who you can look to for advice and that can help you when you need it. Maybe someone stood out during your lunch date that you could see yourself keeping in touch with long after the internship.

8. Find out ways to help your place of work.

Once you have settled in and have a better idea of what your projects will be, figure out ways to help your organization. For example, start a blog. Contribute to social media efforts by posting updates on social media channels. Helping your place of work will be appreciated and gain experience. 

Taking the time to do your work efficiently and gain experience will benefit your overall relationship with the company. Never forget your primary reason for taking the internship, to learn more about the overall industry.

Tia and Abigail

Click here for the PR Daily article.

Pinterest for Businesses

What can Pinterest do for your business?

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a social media network that allows users to share their photos, interests and creations by pinning to their own boards (a collection of pins usually consisting of a common theme). Users can upload an image from their own computer or through a website. Pinterest has created a "Pin it" button for companies to post online. This button can be linked to other social media sites or a business webpage. 

How to Create an account and get   followers.

To open up an account with Pinterest, you must be invited. You can either request an invitation or be invited by someone who is already a user. As a business, if you register with the same email address as your Twitter account, you will be able to link them together. As of now, Pinterest does not offer a connection to Facebook pages. Once your account is activated, personalize your settings with your business information including your logo, description, company name and links. Users love Pinterest for the purpose of sharing and exploring the interests of themselves and others. As a company, you should find a way to incorporate your company's brand and the lifestyle your brand promotes. For example, if you are a fashion designer, pinning a few outfits will not cut it. However, pinning the outfits next to the inspiration, whether that be an object or place, will gain attention. Create pinboards that speak about the business. Also, it is important that you understand the terminology of this social media site to better enhance the quality of your pins.

• Pin- image added to Pinterest
• Pinboard- set of theme-based pins
• Pinning- the act of visually sharing content
• Repin- reposting someone else's pin
• Pin it button- button that can be placed on websites to facilitate sharing on Pinterest. Pins added to Pinterest from the Pin it button an be linked back to the URL it came from.
• Pinner- the person who does the sharing 

As a Pinterest user, you can gain followers of your pins and followers of your pinboards. So how can you incorporate gaining an audience of both for your company?

Use Pinterest for Marketing.

Pinterest can help your company gain brand recognition and drive traffic to your website or other social media pages. People will better recognize your brand and associate it with their interests, which is positive. Many big businesses have taken advantage of the visual content for marketing which has enabled real businesses to leverage photos as an inbound marketing mechanism. Many companies who are wanting to use Pinterest as a marketing channel are making the mistake of using minimal pictures. While not all companies are promoting a product, there are ways to incorporate a picture to get users to visit your page.

Use visuals you already have. Surely you and your coworkers have snagged a few photos from the last office party. Linking these photos of the atmosphere of your company can seem welcoming, yet professional. Link some executive head shots to a pinboard and have those photos linked to a bio of each person. 

Use strong visuals from a blog post. Having a company blog with photos to enhance the articles. Make sure to pin visuals that reflect the written content. People will want to click on the picture so they can view the URL in which the image came from. 

Info graphics and data charts are in. They are a strong industry visual that provides all the data a user needs on one picture. These can also be done in Excel, however, don't make the image too complicated because the user will not want to spend the time to figure it out. 

Use the company's ebook. Post a screenshot of the ebook cover your company recently released to establish your thought leadership on Pinterest. 

Post photos of your customers. Seeing your customers walk away satisfied is not only satisfying for you, but for other potential customers. Encourage your customers to send you photos at your upcoming event or using your product or service. Create a pinboard of their smiling faces.

Try also creating a user generated pinboard in order to involve fans and customers in your marketing. Also, check out the followers and fans you have generated through your Pinterest and find out what they are interested in. This may help brainstorm possible new products or services your company could launch. Be the go-to Pinboard for your services or products. Explore ways to incorporate your company with the uses and gratifications of the services or products your company has to offer. For example, if you are a paper company, you could create a pinboard based off of posting pictures of recycling, and visually showing the changes your followers can make. As long as they are interesting and mixed in with real life style photos, they are visually appealing and will gain an audience. 

Your company is unique, so make your Pinterest unique. There is no one way to create a successful account. As an employee trying to drive traffic to your company's website, social media pages, products or services, you must figure out a way to incorporate good quality visuals with your products or services, as well as the company itself.

Pinterest takes time, but it is so worth it!

-Tia & Abigail


Information and Photo from hubspot.com

Having fun with LinkedIn

Most people think that LinkedIn is only a professional network, full of boring résumés, recommendations and dull discussions. But, we are here to tell you that LinkedIn is the place where you can intermingle work and play like nobody’s business!

1. Make connections with old classmates: Have you ever wondered what your old high school sweetheart is up to? There's a good chance that you can find his or her profile on LinkedIn. Reconnect and catch up!
2. Meet people with similar interests: LinkedIn offers thousands of discussion groups. This makes it possible to find other people who may share similar or even quirky hobbies and interests. Like skydiving? Well there’s a group for that!  Bowling? They’ve got a group for that, too!
3. Learn a new skill: These same discussion groups also feature millions of knowledgeable people who can provide advice, instruction and details on the innovations surrounding your particular areas of interest. Most have instructors you can connect with in your geographic region making it easier than ever to find new hobbies and connections. 
4. Games: There are more fun aspects to LinkedIn, including “who am I connected to?”, a game. If you search hard enough you can connect with business celebrities like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

LinkedIn may at first appear a bit straight-laced on the surface, but once you try out different features, you can use the professional network to pursue both your personal and business dreams.

Stay connected!

Kelly & Mandy