The Role of a Public Relations Practitioner

In chapter 15 of Share This we took a look at the role of a Public Relations Practitioner. The role of a

PR practitioner includes advising, guiding and training and is not limited to just listening to and engaging with the media.

As a PR practitioner there are a variety of areas you can focus on. "These areas are crisis management, issues management, relationship management, reputation or image management, resource management, risk management and strategic management." (Mediamiser, 2015) All of these areas have different aspects to them, but in the end the goal of the PR practitioner is to solve the problem and keep their company or client in the best light possible with the public.

As a PR practitioner it's important to make yourself known on Twitter. By becoming involved on Twitter, you are creating an active channel for yourself and making yourself known. When using Twitter it's also important to follow your current contacts, as you will want to stay in the loop with what is going on with them, especially if you're looking at pitching a story to a particular reporter and you see via Twitter a similar story has already been published by this particular reporter. While on Twitter it's important to build a strong follower base, as it will make you look more credible as a PR practitioner.

When working with clients, it's important to know what type of social media will be best suited for this particular client and their company. As a PR practitioner you may use Hootsuite or a website similar to it. Hootsuite allows you to not only look at all your social media platforms in one place, but also allows you to schedule posts in advance.

As a future PR practitioner I know that having a presence on social media will be both important to my career and my company. Being on social media won't be enough for my career, as I will need to have and maintain a credible source when handling information via social media. In my future career I may have one major area of focus or I may have a variety, at this time, I haven't decided. When working as a PR practitioner it will be important for me to maintain a good relationship with the media because I will want them to see me as a credible source of information for my company or client I am working with.

(2015). Retrieved October 11, 2015, from https://www.mediamiser.com/resources/pr-glossary/public-relations-management-roles/