That First Connection
Starting my career as a public relations
specialist, I quickly learned one of the most important aspects of being a
publicist was the importance of connection and building relationships. This is
something they don’t teach you through your post-secondary education, but I
assure you if this is the field you want to go into it will be a vital part of
the job. In today’s society the concept of communicating and building relations
with others goes beyond aiming to get the next “big client”. Once you have
completed school and you are out in the “real world” you will quickly find that
you will throw out all those extensive hours of theory out the door and your
practical skills in terms of how you network with others, how to create the
best pitch, how to make your PR firm stand out from the rest, will be questions that you will ask yourself on a daily
basis. Don’t get me wrong education through theoretical studies is very
beneficial but once coming out of school you will slowly start to find that you
will be tested in various situations that are beyond what you have learned
through a textbook.
Although, today with the great advantage of social
media building relationships have been a lot simpler to create! No longer do we
need to feel a sense of uneasiness when it comes to trying to connect with
others within our field. You don’t have to necessarily pick up the phone or
approach a publicist you may not know but whom you idol. Now you are able to
easily use sites such a Linked-in, Twitter, Facebook, Google Circle and Blogs
to connect with whomever it is you like. Having the advantage of all these
social network sites allows you to not
feel any “build up” or signs of
nervousness when communicating with them, it will also help you to build your
confidence as a new PR person starting
up to get a feel of where you see yourself fitting in. You may start your
career out in the exciting world of fashion and lifestyles marketing and PR and
as you grow into your career you may find that you want to try another aspect
such as marketing for a tech or corporate company.
I highly recommend you do not hide behind social
media, it is crucial that you step out behind that laptop or tablet at some
point and connect with the individual in-person: not
only are you able to get a feel of the person and see if you can relate to
them, you are now able to get a sense of how your conversation flows that aura
you feel around them (hopefully it’s a positive one) and also where do they fit
in your career path or business. Talking
in –person will create a different atmosphere, as you are now able to
analyze the individual in relations to their body and facial expression, tone
of voice and so forth.
I know as you start out in your career this will be
a little overwhelming at first, but remember you are the one who decided to
embrace this wonder field of Public relations, so you must make this step as
building relations and network is what majority of your career is based upon. Starting at the prime of your career will give you advantage
down the road, you may find that completing this simple task of networking with
other, will most likely grant you many rewards down the road in terms of your
career opportunities, exposure to the industry as well as other various paths
you may choose. Pulling these meaningful connections, in your favor will
create an environment of connections that suits the needs of your constituents.
