I have noticed recently that more and more PR professionals are looking for ways to get into digital communications. I met up with an in-house PRO yesterday who told me his team has finally started using Twitter.

Many PROs believe that a PR blog is just part of an echo chamber and is only ever going to get read/noticed by other PR people. Many suggest that we do it to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate each other on how successful we are. I am not sure I agree with this – that’s not why I do it.

A recent post by Wadds, using some research which my good friend Tim Hoang collated, illustrated how social media isn’t really that social in the PR industry. He suggests we need to reach out to other audiences rather than being so insular.

However, I started my blog to increase my knowledge and to interact more with other PR people interested in a similar topic (social media). I believe it’s commonly called networking!

If you are still scratching your head wondering whether its worth starting a PR blog here are my top five reasons why you should take the time out.

  1. It gets you noticed – no matter what level you are
  2. It increases your visibility with other PR companies and often gets you new job offers – I have received several in the last few months.
  3. It can get you new clients – I have several examples.
  4. It makes you more focussed in your role and you can talk about stuff you actually want to work on
  5. It (arguably) improves your writing skills and teaches you how to interact in this space

If you are a PR student, here are Richard Bailey’s reasons why to start.

About Chris Norton

Chris Norton is the founder of Prohibition and an award winning communications consultant with more than twenty years’ experience. He was a lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and has had a varied PR career having worked both in-house and in a number of large consultancies. He is an Integrated PR and social media blogger and writes on a wide variety of blogs across a huge amount of topics from digital marketing, social media marketing right through to technology and crisis management.