Digital and social media has been a main area of interest for a number of industries, but it is PR that has been transformed to an unrecognisable state thanks to these new developments. For over a decade now PR professionals have experienced firsthand how social media has affected the practice, but it seems they still haven’t got to grips with it. PR specialists seem to still struggle with this new communications channel.

I didn’t make this conclusion on my own just like that; it was something I discovered while doing proper primary and secondary research for my dissertation about social media’s impact on the PR industry. And as it turns out, a brand new research confirms this lack of digital skills among comms specialists.

A study performed by PR Academy shows that digital communications is the top skills gap amongst PR professionals. Both past and present students from PR Academy participated in the research.

52% of respondents identified digital communications as the top knowledge and skills gap, followed by strategic planning (46%) and measurement (44%).

68% of participants also admitted that they would be most interested into acquiring specialist qualifications in digital communications, followed by measurement (56%) and project communications (56%).

The findings are indeed interesting, however not that surprising. Similar results can also be seen in the European Communications Monitor 2012 – the largest and most comprehensive transnational strategic communication study worldwide.

Analysing the study, it is obvious that practitioners show a growing awareness of how important social media is for their work, but apparently they still struggle to gain the necessary skills in this area. Is this only due to lack of time? Or maybe unwillingness to learn? Because frankly, social media has been here for a very long time now; saying that you don’t have time to learn more about how to implement it is in my opinion just an excuse; an excuse that can cost many their jobs, because social media isn’t going away, it is here to stay and it is the future.

It’s time to jump on the bandwagon with full power, because this lack of knowledge and skills is what makes clients look for the services of agencies from other sectors, such as advertising for example. These have recognised the power of social media and have made some serious efforts into utilising it creatively and effectively.

Is digital communications really still such a new, emerging practice area?

Yes, social media is always changing; you need to keep up and learn new things all the time. It’s good that PR professionals recognise this and admit that they have more to learn ahead of them. Now it’s time for action, not just talk.

You can read the full paper here.

In your opinion, what are the reasons for the lack of digital skills and knowledge among PR practitioners?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net