Repeat After Me: I am Not Afraid of Technology
As PR pros, we’d like to think we are special but the reality is that we are not unique. Virtually every industry has seen drastic changes in the last couple of decades. However, as the public voice of a company or organization, it’s important for us to stay ahead of the curve and proactively lead the pack to influence changes that are most important to our profession.
I began my career in PR in the mid-90s and remember thinking “we are going to save SO MUCH time and money when editors want press releases via email rather than fax or snail-mail!” And then it happened. Looking back, it’s amazing how much time do we save. From an agency standpoint, a major benefit of this time savings is that it allows us to spend our billable hours on strategic, value-added client work rather than administrative tasks.
However, one thing I never realized is that I would need a computer science degree to be an effective PR practitioner.
Granted, the talented people who do have CS degrees can run technical circles around me, so maybe a degree is an exaggeration. But understanding important influencing technologies has become a critical part of the PR pro’s role within a company, agency, or organization.
Of the dozens of technologies we could discuss, here are the top three I believe are most important today:
SEO (search engine optimization)
SEO is complicated. The folks who do this for a living know all the tips and tricks for organic and paid SEO. As a PR professional, simply knowing how to correctly optimize everything from a blog post to a press release is critical. It is important to have a solid understanding of what SEO is, how it works, and the pros and cons of the SEO tools available. When preparing your brief, you should ask “What key words will our target audience Google?” and use those words to help improve organic SEO.
Social Media
Social media sites can get quite technical. Blogs are customizable with widgets and analytics if you understand basic HTML. Facebook Connect is an excellent marketing tool if you aren’t afraid of APIs. Are you still trying to figure out Google Wave? Ever have an upload issue on YouTube that caused frustration? Even using a service like Ping can be technically complex.
RSS (really simple syndication)
I’m still amazed at the number of people who are not familiar with RSS. You’ll see the symbol on blog posts, news feeds, and other sites with regularly updated content. Do you conduct competitive and industry analysis? Want to track your own online media mentions and coverage? RSS is your friend. Instead of visiting dozens of websites, set up a custom RSS feed from a service like Google Alerts and have it appear in your customized reader (I’m an old school die-hard fan of Netvibes, but Google Reader or others are great too). One online portal gives you a quick glimpse at all the headlines you request. In addition to using RSS feeds, you should also know how to set up an RSS feed for your own sites.
In summary, it’s important to let technology be your friend. Be not afraid. Online tutorials are popular, so chances are someone else has asked the exact same question you have, and someone has responded with an authoritative answer. It’s all a learning process so go with the flow.
What technical skills are most important for you to do your job effectively?
Tags: PR, RSS, SEO, Social Media, technology
