5 emerging PR trends—and the skills they require

The advent of social media and the ever-increasing role of digital media in our lives means there are a number of opportunities for public relations. There are new ways to find audiences, new media through which to convey messages, tons of opportunities to connect with your brand’s fans, and so on.

Best of all, digital campaigns can be measured.

However, there seems to be some disagreement about the skill set PR pros need to succeed in today’s environment, and there are three points of view emerging:

• The traditionalist, who values the ability to write, build relationships, isolate and convey key messages and build publicity strategy above all else.
• The digital enthusiast, who values social media acuity, digital content production and editing and coding skills highly.
• The quant, which focuses on data, analytics and how PR integrates with business processes.

Let’s look at the trends in the PR business to help determine which skills we really need:

1. Storytelling (and “story selling”)