The point is, having as wide and varied a skill set is becoming increasingly important to both set yourself apart as a business owner, or as a potential employee for a company.

I come from a traditional marketing background and over the years I’ve incorporated PR and social media into my skill sets. Yet I have a bunch of others that, while I don’t advertise them, I need to do my job. HTML or CSS coding for client websites, for example, and search engine optimization for client visibility being just two.

The single title job description has been redundant for a while; now you need a bunch of skills. Saying that an “expert” social media pro can’t come from a traditional background (PR, marketing, whatever) is kinda like saying you can’t be a teacher unless you went to a certain school. We all have fantastic learning abilities built in from birth; all you have to do is want to learn.

To clarify my own stance – I don’t believe a PR person is the only person who can contribute to a social media strategy. Certainly some of my greatest mentors don’t have a background in PR. I was responding directly to one line from Peter and Sarah’s post that suggested people with traditional PR training shouldn’t consult on social media. I believe traditional PR training can be a great stepping stone to overall communication strategy that includes social media – given that the practitioner has become well versed in the nuances of online conversation.

A lot of that involves basic tenets of good communication, no matter what field you work in: being open, honest, well-spoken and constantly intrigued to learn more from others. I take all of these and try to use that to help shape better social media initiatives for clients. From my sports background, I also try to instill a lot of enthusiasm and passion into my social media work. I really think you can’t take that for granted. I’ve seen far too many people in the business go through the motions with initiatives, and from my perspective, that does little to engage others via social media. You have to become an advocate and a fan of your clients and their work (to a degree … you obviously don’t want to go overboard), so that comes out in the social media (and traditional PR) work you do for them.

@KeithTrivitt

Like you (and many others who have commented), I come from a PR background so I like to fight for us PR pros to have a chance in the social media game. However, like Heather said, it needs to be the right PR people. Not all of us are suited for social media. And, I agree with Lauren that it shouldn’t always be PR people doing social media…especially when people from other backgrounds are more suited.

Social media is so new, so no one can truly say they come from a social media background (thus why I don’t think anyone can call themselves an “expert” yet). Maybe once colleges start offering social media majors, and social media is around for a little longer, people will have it as a background, but not right now.

It’s really a matter of who is able to use, understand, and apply all the tools the best (while still staying on the cutting edge of everything new that comes out) – and I think Sarah is a good example of a person like this.

I would agree with Arik in regards to have a blended skillset…it will always be kinda hard to determine who’s ‘best suited’ for any one gig…HOWEVER, I believe that (more ofthen than not), a simple ‘college try’ in a variety of things can help untap some unknown attributes and talents. You just have to give yourself some time, patience and diligence…and some help along the way!

Which is how anyone like myself could possibly get into PR & Social Media with an Acting degree! And, like Sarah said (and you nailed earlier) — “…a practitioner needs to demonstrate an understanding of the tools, of the nuances of social media conversation and have experience in putting those tools into play.”

Narciso Tovar
@Narciso17

@arikhanson