If you are a public relations manager, marketing communications manager or otherwise engaged in creating content for your company, client or social media site, you probably consider yourself a “good” writer. But are you, really?
After reading today’s “Writing: The No. 1 skill for PR pros” in PR Daily, I found myself wondering if, as a PR pro, I have adequately maintained or improved my own writing skills. As the article eloquently points out, the field of public relations is a melting pot of industries – business, journalism, social media, media relations – and so on. So whether you create content for your company’s publications or generate press releases for a small start-up or you write blog material, the common element we all share is, of course, strong writing skills.
As the PR landscape evolves and we adapt to the emerging trends and languages of social media (twitter – 140 characters or less, text messaging and condensed website content), I’m afraid we run the risk of abbreviating and condensing our content too easily – often at the expense of “good writing”.
As I learned long ago, from my first communications mentor (Ralph Long, former Editor of the Boston Herald), there is no substitute for exceptional writing. Now engaged in a new role managing the communications channels (PR, marketing, social media, magazine and website content) for a Boston non-profit organization it has become even more critical to produce superb writing.
The article further reminded me to refer to (what many PR pros have dubbed the “bible for writers”) The Associated Press Stylebook when searching for strict grammar guidelines. I found my copy dusty and hidden in a remote corner of my office bookcase. It now stands prominently on my desk right next to my computer – a proper place for a proper resource.
So, as I embrace the new world of social media and the tools for which it provides, I am also happy and comforted with the knowledge that my journey into the wild west of social media, as it relates to PR, began with exceptional writing skills.
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