4 Must have skills for the “NEW” PR person

No one can deny the power of social media. PR professionals can benefit from it more than anyone. However, there are a few skills I think will aid in the “NEW” PR persons success more than others. Below are four skills that every pr person should know.

1. Headline Writing

With the growth of Social Media microblogging sites like Twitter, public relations professionals must be able to convey their thoughts and messages in short and sweet phrases. Though we can use these platforms to our advantage, there are millions of other messages being “tweeted” or published and your message has to have panache and the wow factor to be heard.

Also, journalists are not growing more patient by the day! They look at their inbox and scan the titles of their thousands of emails from other PR people like you. You have to be able to stand out from the crowd and catch the journalists’ attention quickly.

2. Proving what you know you are

Proving our worth has been a long standing challenge—however, it is easier than ever to show how an increased web presence has led to increased website traffic which in turn leads to increased sales. Just because we hand off the content to marketers and programmers—doesn’t mean we should forget where it all started—with us!

Creating content online is easy to track and analyze. Using the right technology to document the success of any content that’s published is essential. Programs like Vocus and Cisco put it all in a nice easy to read format.

3. SEO

Though most would disagree with me—any PR professional operating in the world today should know at least the basics of SEO and SMO. If we create the content we should be able to perfect the channels through which they are received. With that said we should also be able to work with the digital and marketing facets within our agencies to make sure these resources are working and doing the job we want them to do. Part of being a great PR person is knowing when to outsource. You may not handle the SEO exclusively—but you should know what goes into it because it affects your content.

4. Social Media and the New Ethics

Ethics with social media and blogging is, for some, a gray area and it doesn’t need to be. Setting out with a social media ethics policy is a good place to start. Also, just because bloggers interact with us more than reporters don’t mean that they can be bribed or tricked into marketing our product or client. Many of the ethics we practice now convert to online-but being clear on your company’s guidelines is a great place to start.

Of course this is all my opinon. What do you think are skills that PR people should have as relating to Social Media?

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