An Educated View

There’s a big push in marketing and communications toward businesses and consumers developing a presence in social media. You’ve all heard of the numerous platforms and I’m confident that a majority of you currently participate on one, or have at least used one in the past year. However, despite all the rage to learn and experiment with SM, I think it’s important to remember to go back and touch up on some PR basics.

Like the popular saying, “Remember where you came from,” I think it’s important for a PR professional to remember the groundwork that pubic relations is built upon. With the emergence of social media, I fear that the basic skills; such as writing and research, will go to the wayside. Being able to craft a clear, concise message is vital to PR. Texting is up, face-to-face interaction is down. 140 character tweets are the “hot thing,” picking up a phone is dying. Heck, even the role of a traditional journalist is changing.

A few keys to remember if you are involved in PR:

• Writing is key. No matter the medium, a clear and concise message is the most important aspect of a successful PR campaign.

• Research. I think this is one of the more overlooked aspects of PR. Often times, people think you can simply jump and get immediate results. My question: how do you know the results you are looking for if you haven’t done any research?

• People skills. Despite the technological advancements, having the ability to develop relationships and carry out face-to-face conversations is still vital to PR. After all, isn’t that what we’re suppose to be experts at doing?

• R-A-C-E. This was the first thing I learned in PR and to this day, remains the absolute first step in any PR activity I do. Research. Action. Communication. Evaluation. Know this, use this.

While I agree that PR needs to continue to evolve and I am fascinated with the new resources communicators have, having a strong foundation is still vital to successful PR.

Labels: PR, Public Relations