For my blog post‘Digital skills: views from the PR industry’I carried outa Q&A via email with a group of PR professionals who agreed to beinterviewed. Below are the answers in full. I have also included twoacademics who made valuable contributions to the debate.Interviewees

Marshall Manson, Director of Digital Strategy, EdelmanStephen Waddington, Managing Director, Speed CommunicationsAndy Barr, Owner, 10 YetisSimon Wakeman, Head of Communications & Marketing, Medway Council

Comments

Paul Simpson, PR Lecturer and Consultant, Dutch PRKaren 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 atteaching practicalities. So most of the training is going to have to be done byemployers in a professional setting. Mostly though, PRs need to take the timeto 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 havebeen developed. The rules have yet to be written. But there are plenty of goodbooks and lots of materials online. And the tools are free are readily availablefor anyone to experiment.’

Andy said:

‘I think there needs to be a combined effort that starts with the Universitiesgiving their students a basic understanding of social media and SearchEngine Optimisation that the student is then encouraged to take further themselves. Finally, internships and on-job training can polish those skills tomake them relevant to the role.’

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‘I think many in the media and PR community accept that social media is stillrelatively new to university courses but I personally believe that it should betaught in the same way that traditional media methods are communicated, asin, give students a level of understanding that a recruiter will need, and thenlet the employer further develop and hone those skills as needed.’

Simon said:

‘Academic teaching is important as digital skills need theoretical underpinningas well as "knowing how to use the tools". However I think given the speedthat social media evolves, it's important that PRs have an ability to self-teachas they go along - as there will always be new tools that change the waysocial 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 ina candidate?Marshall said:

‘Experience. Real depth. Understanding of how the platforms really work. Andincreasingly (especially at senior levels), real insight into how to buildstrategies and work with the platforms to undertake successful campaignsbuilt on conversation. Also critical: Ability to listen to the conversation anddiscern 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 youequally need to learn how to use digital techniques to create and seedcontent.’

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

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want people to be able to identify what social media campaigns havehistorically worked and an understanding as to why, we want them to haveideas and suggestions in mind and most of all, try and bring something new tothe 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 abouthow to manage the reputational risks from social media. Ideally candidateswill also be able to articulate how social media can be incorporated effectivelyinto 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 coulddo. Build out your own social networks and use a blog platform, Flickr or YouTube. I am constantly astonished at the number of PR and journalismstudents that aren't sufficiently motivated to experiment with these new formsof media. I would always choose someone that had made the effort versussomeone that had not.’

Andy said:

‘We love it when we see people who engage outside of their normal socialnetworks using social media. We love seeing examples of thought provokingcomment and conversations that they have instigated or took part in. Being able to communicate basic search engine optimisation knowledge isalso handy and in my experience would put potential employees above their competitors in the job-market.’