Are you ok, PR?
Update: 10/29/14
Check out this Whitepaper from Vocus that talks about how to combine traditional PR tactics with Content Marketing: How to Use Content Marketing to Generate Engagement and Coverage.
I’m no doctor, but I’ve been in the PR industry for a few years and from what I can tell the prognosis is not great.
There are a bunch of jobs specifically for people who work solely online who do the same things PR folks are supposed to do. Content Marketers, SEO Specialists, Community Managers, all of them are writing, managing influencers and stakeholders, monitoring, and putting out fires.
Ironically within agencies and large companies the social media and PR specialists are often in different departments entirely, completely forgetting about each other except to tweet out a release or manage an issue that is already out of control.
It’s like social media and public relations are soulmates but just can’t/won’t get together.
Part of the problem is many people still don’t understand PR and relegate it to the ‘press release and translation’ department. Another part of the problem is PR is like that bad kid in school that’s always doing something bad. No one pays attention when that kid behaves but everyone talks about every bad thing that kid does. And then there’s this.
While the PR industry tries to figure its shit out, those of us in the trenches have to navigate our own careers if we want to move forward with the rest of the world. Luckily if you have or are starting a career in the PR industry, there are lots of resources… online… that can help sharpen your skills, covering everything between web and content development, to social media strategy and community management. Here are a few that have helped me and a few I found for this post:
Last but definitely-not least, full disclosure I’m a student at this place so it’s special to me: HackerYou.
So what do you think? Is the PR / communications industry in danger of falling through the gap?
*Jennifer Aniston image from allure.com, John Stamos image from accessatlanta.com