In today’s digital world, the lines now blur between formerly sharply defined job roles. No longer is a press officer just a press officer; in 2018, they might find themselves advising on social media ad strategy or digital branding. A PR, therefore, must invest time in getting genned up on digital, and not simply for their clients’ benefit; in our digital-first landscape, social media know-how makes you more employable. Why wouldn’t you want to increase your value to your employer, future employer, or client/s?
PR and social media aren’t mutually exclusive. In order to build a winning 360 campaign, you’ll need to have a decent grasp on which social media channels you ought to be including, and the best practices for each, as well as how to run paid ad campaigns, and navigate the often dizzying world of native analytics and reporting. You may employ a PPC agency to manage Google Adwords, but you could have SEO (search engine optimisation) covered simply by optimising the client’s social channels.
I often talk about personal branding in my PRCA webinars and with good reason; a strong (carefully curated) online presence pays dividends for both you and your company. Firstly and most importantly, it makes you (and by association, your agency) more searchable. Google yourself (after all, that’s what every potential client or employer is going to do); do you like what appears on the first couple of pages? Is it relevant? If not, you can change that by optimising your personal social media profiles with up-to-date information, frequent updates and key words. Hopefully, you wouldn’t neglect your clients’ branding on and offline, so it’s worth doing the same for your personal brand.
Still not convinced? 15% of people believe what a company has to say, while 90% will trust the word of a peer, family member or friend. Build on your digital network, if not for personal gain, for the benefit of your company or agency. When I started my agency, The Fashion Digital, posting to my personal social media accounts (in addition to the company pages) was paramount in growing our client base.
Want more tips? There’s an abundance of them in my PRCA webinars, which focus on everything from Facebook for PRs to how to master personal branding.