#mastryjournal

[tckelly78-blog]

Public Relations Thesis

In the famous words of Boys II Men, “It’s the end of the road.” November 20th makes it official, I will be a second time graduate from Full Sail University with a MA in Public Relations. One year has gone by fast and I have learned a lot of new skills and techniques that will assist me in launching my business.

This month I prepared my Capstone Project Thesis with the help of Dr. Dobry. Her expertise aided in strengthening my thesis with advice on grammar and structure. Not only was her advice helpful for my project, but I learned small grammar things that will help me professionally. The lessons this month were of great assistance also.

November was not just preparing my thesis (although that was the major part), it was also about learning more about social media branding and SEO. In public relations these skills are essential. I’ve learned that although social media is for connecting with friends and family, it is now one of the biggest tools used by employers to screen candidates. Therefore, at all times ALL profiles need to maintain a level of professionalism. It can be hard to avoid the temptation to post personal views on hot topics, but it has to be done. The world is big, but small at the same time; big brother and sister are always watching and you never know who is checking out your profile.

I also learned that to be found more easily, I need to keep my profiles up-to-date and use keywords. I don’t use YouTube frequently or Pinterest, but those tools are a valuable resource that I will start to use to build my personal and professional brands. I am thankful for all the positive feedback and advice given by Dr. Dobry. I will take the information provided, especially in regard to my website, and implement necessary changes. Over the past year, I have grown professionally and I will use all the information I received to continue to grow personally and professionally.

[tckelly78-blog]

Public Relations in the Digital Age:

In the month of January I took this class. I really didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out to be a class and I did somethings I thought I couldn’t do. Those things turned out to be one of my favorite assignments during the class. That assignment was creating a PSA video. 

At first, I thought we just had to write the script until I reread and reread and reread (lol) the actual description that stated the following week we would create the audio and video to our script. Needless to say, I was scared out of my pants! I never created and edited a “professional” or anywhere near a professional video. I didn’t think I could do it. 

I reached out to a friend of mine that does this for a living in hopes that he could help me. Well, he gave me some tips that helped, but it was all on me. It took me a week to create, shoot, reshoot, edit, edit, and edit the video. It went from 2 mins to 1:30 mins down to the required 30 seconds. I loved this assignment because it challenged me. It is also the assignment that taught me the most. I learned how to shoot a video for a nonprofit with a voiceover. This is a lesson I will use over and over as I move further in my career because it taught me about digital messaging.

Of the topics, social media strategy helped me the most. To be successful in this day in age, you have to know how to leverage social media to your and your clients’ advantage. Everything is instantaneous now and if you’re not on the pulse, you will get left behind.

The knowledge I acquired will help me to sustain viability via social media and better my chances and catching the eye of a potential employer. I am now aware of what it means to be successful in the digital age. I have started to create a website and now know how to create a PSA video. This knowledge along with the reading concepts has definitely given me a head start!