JOURNALISM
Journalism was my original subject choice to specialise in at University, however, after experiencing other areas of media, I soon realised that Journalism was not the right career path for me. I am now moving into the sector of Public Relations, although here I have some selected pieces of work completed in Journalism.
Celebrity Interview transcript with music producer Steel Banglez for artcile production
Above is an array of some of my favourite articles I have produced over three years. Some are based on entertainment, businesses and potentially emotional topics such as mental health problems. I have tried to complete articles that differ in topics and genres to gain more experience in print journalism and the way I go about getting the information, for example, writing the story on mental health was a challenge as I had to be sympathetic towards the victims I interviewed, to remain ethically correct. Creating successful articles endured a lot of talking and communicating with other individuals that the story involves, this helped me to establish my people skills and communication skills, also how I gather the significant information needed for the articles. Most of my Journalism journey revolved around article producing. Although Journalism is not where I want to continue my future career, writing and communication techniques will be applied to my PR work and used throughout my experiences within my business, for example emails and press releases.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations is where my career lies. From creating my first press release and content campaign, I knew that i wanted to develop my experience within this area of media. I have always been focused on social media and the positive effects it has upon individuals and the opportunities it can give. I use social media as a personal platform to showcase my growth and confidence and believe I can make a difference to other brands and businesses with the use of social media marketing in lifestyle PR.
Here are two press releases I have previously completed. These both were then published in professionally written articles that the clients were very happy with and showcased on their social media platforms.
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I believe for personal development purposes, I need to complete more press releases in the future
Below is a content plan I completed in second year of University. This was based on myself as a social media influencer - the focused platform was Instagram. I set out a four week plan consisting of the posts and stories; including captions, tags and hashtags, that would be uploaded to my Instagram page each day. This allowed me to put it into perspective, the frequency and consistency that it takes to be a successful digital influencer for a fashion brand. The fashion brand I worked alongside is Rebellious Fashion, a famous clothing company, who I included within the content plan as a main focal point of influencing. They gift me products each month and it is mandatory I post the products on my personal page, for promotion. This content plan is a visual plan for that.
HERE IS THE EXPLAINATION FOR THE CONTENT PLAN AND ITS OVERALL PURPOSE
WORK EXPERIENCE PLACEMENT
I undertook a social media marketing role within Little Media Agency in Birmingham , where I performed digital techniques, such as content creation and the use of several networking platforms, to help build people's businesses. I worked for Radission Blu Hotel and DFLEKT, a key-less car theft company. Both businesses were out of my comfort zone, therefore I developed my knowledge within other areas of PR. I really enjoyed the 80 hour placement and learnt a lot of new skills that have been applied to my PR career already, such as using particuler themes on social profiles and considering the insights of posting on the timeline and stories.
Here are some selected examples of the Instagram content I created for Radisson Blue Hotel using Canva. As you can see, there is a clear blue theme and font choice, this has to be incorporated in every image post and story as it is significant to the brand identity. I developed my understanding of the importance of using hashtags on every post to expose the page to more people - increasing its publicity and followers.
Content creating for DFLEKT was slightly different, this is due to the fact my focus was not just Instagram, but other social media platforms too - Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. This enabled me to learn how to make specific changes to the images or captions when uploading. A prime example being, Twitter posts are more informal and conversational, however this differs from Facebook which is more formal and informative. Also, working for a business selling key-less car theft products would not be my first choice, therefore allowing me to step out outside of lifestyle PR and experience something at the other end of the spectrum, which seemed to go very well.
ESSENC PR
MAJOR PROJECT
Essenc PR is a Lifestyle, fashion and beauty Public Relations Agency, and was launched in December 2019. It was created for our Major Project in our final year of university. We work with four clients based in Birmingham and London, gaining experience in owning a PR company and the skills you need to make it successful. We are an innovative PR agency, however we are also a platform of positivity and career motivation.
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Our aim is to build upcoming businesses and brands, encouraging and assisting them to reach their full potential and increase their success rate. We target an audience of smaller, less advanced businesses, that we can essentialy grow.
WISE WORDS WEDNESDAYS
Wise Words Wednesday is an ongoing theme throughout the Instagram Profile. Every Wednesday, we post a quote or phrase, its purpose is to uplift and inspire individuals from a business perspective. ESSENC PR is not only a PR agency but a brand that strives to encourage people to work for success and reach their aspirations.
Hashtags are always a highly important aspect of posting, it allows more Instagram users to reach the post and engage, which is the most efficient way to get noticed and increase the number of the pages followers and potention customers.
KAYBLINKS
Eyelash company
Kayblinks needed assistance with her online presence, therefore we offered her a social media management pack. We have mainly produced content creations for her Instagram page - quotes, visuals, product images and videos. We created her a 4 month content plan and arranged weekly meetings.
CLIENTS
Bangura Productions
Do's & Dont's Podcast
Working for an entertainment brand was slightly different from our businesses niche. We decided to focus on the social media platforms and expand the presence of her latest podcast. We did this by using digital marketing strategies; social media content creating, 2 month content plan and regular meetings to discuss new ideas for the future. We researched new software and made all her platform accounts from scratch, which included Spotify. Also creating her Podcast logo.
What I have learnt...
LASNAILS
Nail technician
As a newly established nail technician, LASNAILS, was a business starting from the beginning. From creating her a 4 month content plan to working hard on producing quality content for her Instagram - helping to increase her followers and potential customers. Using the social media management pack and expert knowledge on Instagram page layouts, the page has grown. We also scheduled weekly meetings for updates.
NyNailedIt
Nail technician
NyNailedIt was our most complex client. For this business, we made a 5 month content plan, social media management, content creations, weekly meetings, booking system and invoice and a launch event. She was the only client we organised an event for, which was a great experience. Using Canva to produce content and posts for Instagram, which was her main marketing platform. We also created a professional booking system and she gave us a £40 budget to put towards business cards and logo stickers.
Working for a selection of different clients has enabled me to learn about different businesses and the techniques that can be used to make each one more successful in their different ways. I noticed some brands gain a higher intensity of publicity using videos or stories, however some do better using aesthetic visuals and quotes that are relatable to their targeted audiences. A common pattern I did gain a deeper understanding of is how important innkeeping a theme is, by using the same font and colour scheme throughout a page - evoking brand identity. All of the clients needed social media assistance and management, helping me to widen my knowledge in creating useful strategies and content plans for the best outcomes and higher success rate of audience engagement, which leads to exposure and increased custom through reaching out to demographics. Creating an event plan and undertaking venue searches and visits has given me an insight to the physical sides of PR and not only the online aspect, developing my organisation and communication skills. Overall, working for more than one client at once has reflected well on my multitasking skills and established my way of taking on challenges and how to deal with work loads for particular deadlines, also being under the pressure of delivering good quality productions for outside businesses using my digital marketing and social media promotion knowledge, which I will apply to all PR work, whether this be for PR agencies or ESSENC PR in our future expansion and endeavours.