Blog Transcript (2010): 'Digital skills: views from the PR industry

8/14/2019 Blog Transcript (2010): 'Digital skills: views from the PR industry'

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For my blog post ‘Digital skills: views from the PR industry’ I carried out

a Q&A via email with a group of PR professionals who agreed to be

interviewed. Below are the answers in full. I have also included two

academics who made valuable contributions to the debate.

Interviewees

Marshall Manson, Director of Digital Strategy, Edelman

Stephen Waddington, Managing Director, Speed Communications

Andy Barr, Owner, 10 Yetis

Simon Wakeman, Head of Communications & Marketing, Medway Council

Comments

Paul Simpson, PR Lecturer and Consultant, Dutch PR

Karen Russell, Associate Professor of Public Relations, University of Georgia

1. Who should be teaching digital skills?

Marshall said:

‘In my experience, academics are good at teaching principles and lousy at

teaching practicalities. So most of the training is going to have to be done by

employers in a professional setting. Mostly though, PRs need to take the time

to build experience. That's what I'm always looking for nowadays.’

Stephen said:

‘The digital PR industry is too immature for formal teaching courses to have

been developed. The rules have yet to be written. But there are plenty of good

books and lots of materials online. And the tools are free are readily available

for anyone to experiment.’

Andy said:

‘I think there needs to be a combined effort that starts with the Universities

giving their students a basic understanding of social media and Search

Engine Optimisation that the student is then encouraged to take further

themselves. Finally, internships and on-job training can polish those skills to

make them relevant to the role.’

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http://socialwebthing.com/2010/01/21/digital-skills-views-from-the-pr-industry/

http://socialwebthing.com/2010/01/21/digital-skills-views-from-the-pr-industry/



‘I think many in the media and PR community accept that social media is still

relatively new to university courses but I personally believe that it should be

taught in the same way that traditional media methods are communicated, as

in, give students a level of understanding that a recruiter will need, and then

let the employer further develop and hone those skills as needed.’

Simon said:

‘Academic teaching is important as digital skills need theoretical underpinning

as well as "knowing how to use the tools". However I think given the speed

that social media evolves, it's important that PRs have an ability to self-teach

as they go along - as there will always be new tools that change the way

social media works in PR and people have to be able to adapt to that.’

2. Specifically, what digital skills and knowledge would you like to see in

a candidate?

Marshall said:

‘Experience. Real depth. Understanding of how the platforms really work. And

increasingly (especially at senior levels), real insight into how to build

strategies and work with the platforms to undertake successful campaigns

built on conversation. Also critical: Ability to listen to the conversation and

discern insights.’

Stephen said:

‘If you're new to PR you need to build your own social networks on Facebook,

LinkedIn and Twitter. And you need to develop content on a blog platform,

Flickr and YouTube. Likewise if you're in PR and want to stay in PR you

equally need to learn how to use digital techniques to create and seed

content.’

Andy said:

‘We would like students to have a basic grasp of search engine optimisation,

vital in today's web-savvy age, along with being able to demonstrate more

social media awareness than just rocking up and saying "I'm on Twitter". We




want people to be able to identify what social media campaigns have

historically worked and an understanding as to why, we want them to have

ideas and suggestions in mind and most of all, try and bring something new to

the business.’

Simon said:

‘A strategic understanding of the impact of social media on communications,

as well as a working knowledge of the key tools and an understanding about

how to manage the reputational risks from social media. Ideally candidates

will also be able to articulate how social media can be incorporated effectively

into a multi-channel campaign.’

3. How can people demonstrate digital skills to an employer?

Marshall said:

‘Talk the talk. And back it with real examples.’

Stephen said:

‘It’s the old adage. Show me what you've done don't tell me what you could

do. Build out your own social networks and use a blog platform, Flickr or

YouTube. I am constantly astonished at the number of PR and journalism

students that aren't sufficiently motivated to experiment with these new forms

of media. I would always choose someone that had made the effort versus

someone that had not.’

Andy said:

‘We love it when we see people who engage outside of their normal social

networks using social media. We love seeing examples of thought provoking

comment and conversations that they have instigated or took part in.

Being able to communicate basic search engine optimisation knowledge is

also handy and in my experience would put potential employees above their

competitors in the job-market.’




‘We would never discourage people from talking about their Twitter and

Blogger experiences, but if you do, make sure they are filled with interesting

content rather than a hastily drawn up account to try and tick an interview

box.’

‘Finally, and on a very basic level, a really good starting point for people

looking to demonstrate their understanding of social media is to check around

the web to make sure there is nothing damaging written about yourself on the

web. Many recruiters I speak to check out potential employees on Twitter,

Facebook, and community forums.’

Simon said:

‘By managing their own personal digital PR well! The best demonstration of

digital skills is by having an effective web presence of their own - this is so

much more powerful than just saying on a CV that they can "do digital".’

Further Comments

Karen said:

‘Social media skills can’t be taught in a day, or in a class. The tools are

always changing, and we all have to respond — or in some cases, we have to

change the tools.’

‘My point is that professionals, educators and students are all responsible for

teaching, and learning, social media skills. Every day.’

Paul said:

‘I could not put it better than Karen. We all have a responsibility for teaching

and learning. I went into academia to help prepare the next generation of

PRs, but also because I wanted to have some space to reflect, research, and

if appropriate, challenge the way things are done.’

‘I haven’t stopped being a practitioner and recognise much of what Marshall

and Stephen recommend in my teaching, and that of other lecturers. Having

said that, I agree with Richard, and think there is much more scope to develop




PR education where the balance is in favour of being led in the professional

setting, rather than the institutional context.’

‘One final thought. My own experience tells me that the digital skills gap within

existing PR practice seems to be such that it further underlines how useful

such a profession-led, higher education offer might be, providing opportunities

for existing practitioners to dip in, and share their experiences of PR with

students while they brush-up on social media skills they may have fallen

behind on.’


Documents

Blog Transcript (2010): 'Digital skills: views from the PR industry