Misconceptions of Public Relations
Photo by Sergey Zolkin at unsplash.com
In past years when I’ve been in conversations with younger peers discussing what they like about public relations or why they want to be publicists, a common answer will typically be, “I’m really good at/I enjoy social media.” I’ve kinda just sat there and thought, “well, yikes,” and moved the conversation literally anywhere else. Recently though, I’ve seen this answer become more common, and it’s struck me as slightly jarring that so many aspiring publicists are unaware of the major things that constitute the field they’re wanting to go into.
Many times, lots of us younger millennials and Gen-Z’ers will make the mistake of correlating public relations with solely social media marketing, or being an influencer. As experienced publicists and journalists already know, the job demands a lot more than that. It’s relationship building, writing a lot of press and news releases, coordinating events, and/or finding creative ways to draw awareness to your brand while connecting with potential publics, ultimately maintaining and protecting the image of your organization, business or brand. Social media marketing is only a fraction of the work, one of the tactics used to engage a targeted audience.
Kim Westwood, founder and managing director of Shopping Links, explains the differences between PR and influencer marketing aptly and succinctly on Business 2 Community blog.
When I worked as the editor of our student newspaper, the Southern Accent, the class of news reporters we worked with consisted of mostly PR majors, some of whom were disinterested in news and didn’t believe the class had anything to do with their field. They’ll soon discover that public relations and journalism will always work closely together, and it’s important for publicists to know and understand how to write and angle their news stories in a way that caters to journalists and news publications.
Relating PR to solely social media marketing isn’t the only misconception made about the field. Before I became acquainted with public relations, I always figured it was just a “group of extroverts who were really good at advertising stuff.” When picking out what I wanted to do with communication, I never saw myself in PR, especially as an introvert. It was a foreign field to me, with foreign ways of thinking and foreign customs and personalities. I placed myself in mass communication, broad enough to experience a bit of everything, but zoned into a writing and editing emphasis, my pride and joy. As I’ve taken more PR classes, learning both PR theories and principles, I’ve realized that everything around us stems from, or is directly correlated to the work of a public relations professional, and I’ve grown a greater appreciation for it.
What is PR?
infographic courtesy of iSpeakPR.
PR pros, like journalists, must also have strong writing, verbal and presentation skills; be well organized, detail oriented, and be assertive and comfortable reaching out to others. Although journalism may seem like PR’s logical, no-nonsense cousin, both fields need and benefit from each other’s work. And we relate to each other a lot more than I would’ve thought.