Read, Read, Read!
August 4th, 2009 by Katelyn D'Eramo
One of the most important lessons from any internship and public relations class I had during college was the importance of reading in PR. Now being at Topaz, I can’t stress enough how important it really is in every day public relations.
Starting my day off with the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Boston Globe is a must. I am able to see not only what is happening in the world but who is writing what and how often they write about what topic. This is a key in relationship building and how you should pitch an editor in the future.
After reading those newspapers, I switch to my Google alerts. Google alerts are easy to set up and really can help you get a grasp on who is talking about what. For all of my clients, I set up Google alerts to understand the trends in their space, who is saying what and how my clients can fit into the picture. This is a great way to start to “trendjack” or introduce yourself to an editor.
My RSS feeds (Google Reader, Bloglines or even email RSS feeds and newsletters) are also part of my daily routine – at 89 subscriptions; it’s a great variety of blogs, news and other items. Although some of my blog are personal favorites—celebrity gossip, jokes, finance tips, dinner recipes and Boston restaurants reviews—most are centered around the various technology blogs as well as social media and public relations blogs. This is a great way to learn new ideas, pick up new tricks and be well informed in various areas.
Many people ask me why I’m on Twitter. The answer is to read more. There are great links that other people provide on Twitter than you may not otherwise see unless you followed them. My greatest tip about Twitter is to follow people in your industry- you’ll learn from what they have to say and offer in their 140 character tweets.
I start my day off with reading and read even more after work. It’s a great way to stay informed and a daily part of public relations life.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Media Relations, PR, Social Media, Social Networks, Tech, Tips & Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
August 9th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I am a graduate student in public relations and I found this post very helpful. After reading it, I decided to subscribe to google alerts. Can you recommend some insightful or helpful topics to follow for a student in public relations?
Thanks,
Marki
August 14th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Thanks Marki for the comment!
I would start looking at PR blogs (see our blog roll for a few ideas) and subscribe to the RSS feeds. I would use use such topics as simple as “public relations” “PR” and “social media”.
You’ll have a better idea once you start reading more blogs. They are very helpful! One of my favorite blogs for student is Culpwrit- http://www.culpwrit.com/
Hope this helps!
Best,
Katelyn