5 reasons for PR pros to be thankful
A close friend recently was diagnosed with hypertension. This is surprising because he’s 39, fit, works out every day, eats healthy, doesn’t drink or smoke, and has no family history of hypertension. His physician concluded that the likely cause of his high blood pressure was stress at work.
With PR being one of the most stressful jobs in America, a lot has been written about how to reduce stress on the job. One strategy that I find the most helpful is to practice gratitude. When I’m stressed at work, I take a break to think about what I am most grateful for in my job.
In the interest of everyone’s arterial health, here are five things PR professionals can be thankful for:
1. We have the world’s information at our fingertips.
I’m old enough to remember a time when you had to go to the library to do research. (Microfiche, anyone?)
In 2015, we have access to unlimited online resources that make our jobs easier. Think about websites you access every day and how life would be if they were no longer available.
2. Social media channels let us distribute far and wide.
We can take one pitch or story and turn into a video, podcast, presentation deck, blog post, social media post, webinar or photo essay. We can broadcast our own live videos. We can set up Google Hangouts. Then we can curate, repurpose and re-send or re-post that content.
How did we distribute our stories before social media? By fax, phone and mail.
3. We can measure like never before.
Though measurement can be a gift and a curse, we can track our content’s success in real time.
For a typical social media post or blog post, we know how many people clicked, when they clicked, how long they spent with the content and where they went after reading the content. We can measure, make changes and measure again.
4. Content continues its reign.
Content feeds the beast. Although the way people interact with our content has changed, content ultimately is what connects our clients with their with customers and prospects. PR professionals who are skilled in messaging, content planning, social media and promotion are able to meet these content needs.
5. More opportunities to pitch clients as sources.
Journalists are using social media and online communities to ask for sources, subject matter experts and information.
Services and websites such as Help a Reporter Out feature posts from journalists and media outlets requesting specific information. Through this type of crowdsourcing, it’s easier to connect with reporters and become a resource for them.
Although we all still experience aggravations at work, it’s always good to take a step back and think about what’s going well.
PR Daily readers, what about your jobs makes you feel grateful?
This post was first published on Ragan Communication’s PR Daily.
