Fall Break: The Perfect Time To Catch Up

Temple University has finally joined the Fall Break bandwagon and added five extra days to the Thanksgiving holiday students look forward to every year. For most, those extra days mean lazy days in bed, scouring the refrigerator for as many home cooked meals as we can eat and Netflix. A lot of Netflix. However, without any classes, internships or other commitments to attend to, everyone should take a few hours to do a little bit of housekeeping on the professional aspect of your life.

Update your LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the social media site that often gets overlooked after we have exhausted through our five other websites. Update your LinkedIn profile, add your most recent internships and work experience, and connect with people you met during the semester.  Staying on top of your LinkedIn can help you create new connections and networks.

 Research Internship or Job Opportunities

Fall Break is a great time to begin looking for spring internships, or, for seniors, jobs for post graduation. Applying for work can be time consuming, so leave the Netflix on in the background and start researching potential opportunities. Making a list and applying to a few per day is a great way to space out the applications without overwhelming yourself.

 Update your Resume

Take the time to revise your resume. Add new experiences, take out old ones that don’t relate to your goals, and proofread for mistakes. Taking a fresh look at your resume after some time can help make it sound and look better.

 Network

Reach out to professionals in the field who interest you and set up a coffee date. Sitting down with someone for even a half hour can give a lot of insight about the PR world. Many times, a meeting can lead to internships and other job opportunities.

All these helpful tips will only take a few hours to do and can be beneficial a long way from now. So grab some warm apple cider and start catching up!  

This guest blog was written by PRowl staff member Hiya Ray.

Back to School, Back to Chaos

After over 3 months of sweet summertime, it is finally time to let go of the carefree days and fall back into the semester’s grind. For most students, back to school does not just mean classes, but also a large list of extracurricular activities and a social life. Don’t let the stressful semester take over your life. Rather, plan ahead and you’ll find that balancing all aspects of your life is a lot easier than you thought.

       Buy an agenda

Writing down your classes, meetings, due dates, appointments and all other busy times of your week will help you plan your days accordingly. Missing a homework assignment or a doctor’s appointment because you simply forgot will only set you back further in the future.

 Only take on what you can handle

The beginning of the semester is an exciting time and is the perfect opportunity to join clubs and take on leadership positions. However, it is important to make sure you have enough hours in a day to handle it. Rather than joining many different activities, choose one or two you feel is the most beneficial and try to excel.

 Communicate with your professors and bosses

If you are taking a difficult class or are worried about a hectic work schedule, it is better to communicate your concerns with your professors and bosses ahead of time. Letting them know of any problems early on will allow them to help and accommodate you the best that they can while giving you some peace of mind.

Take time for yourself 

The back to school chaos can often leave students with little to no time for themselves. Make sure to take a proper lunch and dinner break and let yourself unwind after a busy day. Go on a bike ride or visit a new place in the city to allow some rest and relaxation after a long week. 

Welcome back to Temple! Have a great fall semester! 

This guest blog post was written by PRowl staff member Hiya Ray. 

Los Angeles: The City of Dreams, Hope and The Ultimate Facade

Whether looking to make it big, meet the most famous celebrities or vacation on the beautiful West Coast beaches, Los Angeles has been a prime destination for young faces to find a home for a week or for life. For over a hundred years LA has been known as the hometown of the rich and famous, where big dreams come true and life is unlike anywhere else. However, this dreamy idea of a fantasy-like world ends as you walk off your plane at LAX.

Recently, I took a trip to California to explore a new and unfamiliar place, in hopes of finding a place I might want to call home in my post-grad years. I would not say that I was surprised, but rather disappointed at how different the city is compared to what is portrayed in the news and media. Most of Los Angeles is made up of smaller towns, many of which are not much better than the surrounding areas of our beloved Temple University. The “LA” that we know and admire through the media makes up a very small percentage of the entire city, hidden away in the hills, trying to stay away from the average lifestyle of the real Los Angeles.

There’s a lot that PR professionals can learn from the media’s depiction of LA. By bringing forth the assets of a city, tourists from all around the world come to visit the city that offers them fame, fortune and a chance to fulfill their dreams. However, as a consumer, it is important to understand all of LA, not just the glamourized Hollywood and Beverly Hills area. By researching ahead of time and making a plan, I was able to see the highlights of LA in one day. Had I planned the whole vacation in LA, I would have been incredibly disappointed in the lack of activities the city offered aside from the cliché celebrity tours and bus rides. So the next time you’re planning a vacation to an esteemed city, remember to find out what the city actually has to offer, not just what the media taught you. 

This guest blog post was written by PRowl staff member Hiya Ray. 

Social Media Spring Cleaning – 5 Steps to a Better Online Presence

With the increasingly overwhelming amounts of social media platforms surrounding us today, it is easy to get lost in an ocean of hashtags, pictures and online lingo. So what is it that many of those “cool” social media geniuses you follow have in common? The answer is a lot simpler than it seems.

1. Create an impressionable “About Me” or descriptionIn order to build your own brand in a simple and affective way it is extremely important to utilize your “About Me” correctly. Find a way to make your description stand out even by incorporating something as simple as a unique cover picture.

2. Post once a dayYou have numerous social media platforms, but do you use them regularly? Posting at least once a day ensures that your followers are reading about what you have to say and staying interested. Letting an account just sit idle without any activity will lead to loss of followers and lack of interest when you do post.

3. Quality over quantityRemember that posting an aggressive amount will have the same consequences as not posting at all. No one wants to scroll down his or her Facebook feed and see the same person promoting an event over and over again. Stay away from repetitive posts and focus on sending quality messages.

4. Using hashtagsThe purpose of a hashtag is to bring people together who have a certain idea in common. It makes it easier to search for pictures, apps, news and current events. Before becoming a hashtag fiend, remember that the following you bring in using those hashtags are a reflection of quantity not quality. Use hashtags only when relevant and you’ll find yourself building a reputable online presence.

5. Post as it happensTimeliness is a factor of social media that is often overlooked. The use of #TBT (throwback Thursdays), #FBF (flashback Fridays) and #latergrams have made it increasingly easy to make an old picture or memory relevant. However, posting about an event right when it happens creates urgency, stirs a buzz and allows your content to not get lost in a sea of throwbacks. 

Kick-start your social media spring cleaning with these 5 tips and you’ll be on your way to a reputable online presence in no time.

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Hiya Ray.

Top 3 Blog Posts of Fall 2013

As 2013 comes to an end, I always love reflecting on the most interesting and most popular blog posts of the semester. This past fall, each of the blog posts below have reached over 100 plus views, and for good reason. Each blog post embodies all of the elements that make a blog post outstanding; well-written, newsworthy, timely as well as unusual.

1. The Scandalous Side of PR

Written by Lauren Bentley 

The most read blog post of fall 2013 takes a look at ABC's hit drama, Scandal. This is a must read for all of the Olivia Pope fanatics out there!

http://prowlpublicrelations.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-scandalous-side-of-pr.html

2. How Introverts Can Succeed in PR

Written by Cara Graeff

Not everyone in PR has to be aggressive and loud! Take a peak at the second most read blog post of fall 2013 to find out why introverts can have amazing careers in PR. 

http://prowlpublicrelations.blogspot.com/2013/10/how-introverts-can-succeed-in-pr.html

3. Miley Cyrus, PR Pro?

Written by Hiya Ray

Oh Miley. If she hasn't ruled 2013, I am not sure who has. Be sure to check out this blog post to see how Miley's antics are truly just good PR work at the end of the day. 

http://prowlpublicrelations.blogspot.com/2013/11/miley-cyrus-pr-pro.html

These top three posts were written by PRowl Public Relations staff members who all happen to be strategic communication majors in their junior year at Temple University. We cannot wait to see what our staff members produce in 2014! Cheers to 2013, Happy New Year!

Miley Cyrus, PR Pro?

It has been over a month since Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance, yet she is still making it into every magazine, newspaper and website we can get our hands on. Whether it’s twerking with a foam finger to a national audience, breaking off her engagement with fiancé, Liam Hemsworth, or hitting No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 charts, Miley is everywhere.

What’s her secret? Great PR.

Miley has brilliantly utilized her fame to gain even more recognition. While most might think of Miley as a child star who has gone off the deep end, there is no doubt that she can still capture our attention.

Rethinking Miley’s moves:

• About a year ago, Miley’s long, brown hair slowly transformed into a short, blonde and bold cut. She had been out of the limelight for a while, so what better way to create a buzz than to tweet a picture and keep the audience in suspense about her new look.
• Four months ago, Miley dropped a music video for her first single “We Can’t Stop,” from her new album. While everyone was in shock at how different this was from anything she had done before, Miley got to sit back and let the video do its work.  She had successfully rebranded herself. No longer were her fans expecting her to cater to the pre-teen crowd.
• After the drop of her music video, everyone wondered what Miley would do next. Her VMA performance not only brought about an array of reactions, it sent the audience a very clear message: she was here to stay.
• Left in the dark about her new look, style and voice, Miley fans celebrated the release of her MTV documentary in early October. The documentary offered viewers a new perspective on her life and created a connection that fans were missing since her 2013 “debut”. Without realizing it, fans across the world had reconnected with their childhood idol, and could once again relate to her new sound.

The next time you see Miley pull another one of her crazy stunts, you’ll know that it isn’t Miley being like every other superstar, but rather Miley being a PR genius.

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Hiya Ray.