50 not-very-technical things that every PR person should know
I’ve been tagged by Becky McMichael (whose blog has had a lovely new redesign) for Ged Carroll’s fantastic ‘29 not-very-technical things that every PR person should know‘ meme. The meme was born out of the post ‘25 Not-Very-Technical Things Journalists Should Understand in 2008‘ and has now (including my rather stretched ideas) reached 50 not-very-technical things! I think that given the recent conversations regarding the skills that PR hopefuls should have before they enter the industry, this should really act as a checklist for candidates (not necessarily my ideas, but certainly Becky’s and Ged’s).
Here’s the (check)list of things that every PR person should know;
1. How to manage your email inbox: this article from The Times is a good place to start
2. How to touch type – if you can’t manage your email box or have to do hunt-and-peck typing how are you going to find the time to think about working smarter?
3. How to create a link. Look at the source code of this blog post or Google it if you don’t know how.
4. How to embed photos and videos
5. How to buy a domain name
6. How to set up a flickr account
7. How to buy an ad on Google AdWords
8. How to use an RSS reader
9. How to set up Google Alerts
10. How to do some advanced searches such as phrase matches, Boolean search terms, and site specific searches
11. How to conduct research efficiently and effectively using online tools
12. How to understand the nature of a community and assess a blogs authority
13. How Wikipedia works and how to get involved in the process for having a post changed
14. Understand the nature of conversations and their appropriateness for your client
15. How to upload photos and video to the web
16. Understand the basics of how to record audio
17. How to take interesting photos and the basic operation of a digital SLR
18. Understand the basics of shooting video
19. Understand the simple data of web analytics tools
20. How to use social networks, beyond Facebook and LinkedIn
21. How to use Twitter
22. Understand the basics of community management.
23. How to use free online survey tools
24. How to use tags
25. How to use social bookmarking tools and have a collection of useful and interesting resources
26. How to share a presentation online
27. How to use FTP software to move large files about (I can’t believe that PR people often don’t know this, especially when many picture desks have made use of FTP servers for a good while)
28. How to use online calendar services
29. How to use event registration management systems
30. How to source, use and reference photos for presentations, documents, blog posts using flickr and other image sites
31. How to set up a PR community online using Huddle or similar
32. How to edit a short video clip
33. What dpi a publication requires (cringe if I see people send over crappy little images)
34. How to pdf a document (using primopdf or other)
35. How not to rely on social networking as the only tool to build their contact book #reallifeandallthat
36. How to set up a blog
37. How to write for the web
38. How to set up their Blackberry/phone with useful mobile apps
39. How to take a screen grab
40. How to manage a quality online filing system so stuff doesn’t go wrong/get lost/piss clients off
I would like to add the following;
41. How to alter basic HTML and an understanding of CSS (and the only reason that I’ve mentioned this is because I recently learnt bits)
42. How to use social networking to network with others in your industry as well as potential clients
43. An understanding of the use of music social networks such as Favtape and Last.fm for actually client use rather than time wasting and procrastination
44. How to use Microsoft Office applications effectively (See Stuart’s post on this)
45. How to synchronise contacts, calendars and emails across desktop, laptop, iPod and phone – and probably also a service like DropBox
46. How to concisely explain social media to non-savvy clients
47. How to make good coffee (coffee, then milk, then sugar, stir, then hot water)
48. How to rank blogs using a cross section of tools
49. An understanding of online word of mouth and the positive and negative potential
50. How to set-up, promote and maintain a wiki
Jonathan Hopkins, Jonny Rosemont, Stephen Davies and Stephen Waddington have all been tagged too, so keep your eyes peeled for their lists and I’ll update my list accordingly!
I’m going to tag Stuart Bruce and Paul Fabretti.
#UPDATE#
After Ged pointed a typo, I’ve changed the numbering! Bloody typos…