pr, social media

10 practical next steps for future-thinking PRs

I was speaking earlier this week at the #futurecomms14 conference on a panel looking at how technology is changing/will change PR. During the session I was asked what I thought PR professionals needed to do to make the most of technological change. My answer was to ‘be curious’. Experiment, try things out, always be on the look out for something that could transform your business or your client’s business. At the drinks afterwards I was asked about some of the practical steps that ‘curious’ PRs should take. Here are ten for starters – all of them either free or very low cost with low barriers to entry – thanks to John and Max for their input. I’d love to hear your thoughts too.

  1. Start creating some Google Analytics custom dashboards
  2. This one was mentioned at the conference – start playing with IFTTT and Yahoo Pipes
  3. Investigate quantified self and wearables – download the Moves app for free or buy yourself a wearable
  4. Use Google TrendsGoogle Dashboard and Data Wrapper to investigate data and how to present it
  5. Play with social networks – especially those outside the big 5 – e.g. Vine, SnapchatVkontakte, Path, Jelly, Yo
  6. Advanced Twitter – use Twitter lists, Buffer, personalised URLs and Tweetdeck if you don’t already. Set up a Twitter card and run some promoted tweets or accounts
  7. Advanced Facebook – get to grips with Facebook Insights and run a promoted posts campaign
  8. SEO – read moz.com’s guide to SEO, set up a Google Adwords campaign and get used to using Keyword Planner
  9. Get to grips with Google Authorship mark-up
  10. Read the newly released AMEC guide to social media measurement and use the framework when planning your next campaign
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