Katie Byrne

In early March, AE Lauren and I attended Social Media Marketing World. We participated in dozens of incredible sessions and, as second year attendees, were amazed by how much we continued to learn. If you haven’t had a chance, check out Lauren’s blog on the value in social marketing on LinkedIn. But, I’m here to discuss the infamous TikTok and what we learned. If you’re unfamiliar with it, TikTok is a video content platform that allows users to create videos of up to 60-seconds with the ability to add filters, text and music or other popular sounds. 

Nearly six months ago, I wrote a blog detailing how part of being a PR professional is constant news consumption, which has shown me both the importance of empathy in communication and that our country deeply lacks it. Ironically, as we fast forward to today, our current situation has forced us into a unique new reality where there has been an abundance of empathy – for those on the frontlines, for those who have fallen ill, for those who have lost their jobs and for anyone impacted by this virus.

When the Houston Astros won the World Series late in the fall of 2017, the country rallied around the young team that had brought home a much-needed win to a city recently devastated by Hurricane Harvey. Much like the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl win following Hurricane Katrina, the story wrote itself. It was yet another prime example of the way sports can unite us in even the toughest of times.

Fast forward to this week, just over two years later, and that story will long be forgotten, overshadowed by an electronic sign-stealing cheating scandal that is bound to rock the team and the league for years to come.

We often take informational interviews at our office and recently, I’ve had quite a few people ask what my favorite and least favorite thing about my job is. Coincidentally, the two are almost one in the same.

I love that this job requires me to constantly keep learning and reading every detail in the news to remain up to date on what is happening in the country and the world. By doing so, I know the best ways to fit my clients into moving news stories and I can identify opportunities for commentary that might not be obvious at first. That being said, my least favorite part of the job is how exhausting it can be to be exposed to everything that is going on in the world. It is dismaying to see how divided our country can feel at times and the lack of empathy people seem to have for others’ situations.

Recently, I was perusing the public relations Reddit page (as all PR nerds do) and noticed a trend. There was an influx of posts from those looking to make a transition from their current career into PR. From a vet tech to a former journalist, current careers spanned the board, but many of the questions remained the same. What skills do you need to be in PR? What exactly would a day in PR look like? Isn’t PR just about media relations?

While society often expects young adults to make difficult decisions about their career paths at the age of 18, few people openly discuss how that path is often filled with questions, doubts and challenges. While some may be lucky to know exactly what they want to do from a young age, others come out of college unsure what a career in their field really looks like, which is why changes in careers among recent graduates are so common.