Entering PR in the digital age: Media relations agency shares the top digital skills you need

The technological revolution has changed everything. From traditional industries being disrupted in unexpected ways to emerging sectors experiencing rapid transformations. But no one has felt the shock of digital innovation quite like the media industry.

What was once an industry defined by newspaper headlines and broadcast news is now adapting to an ever-evolving digital landscape, where content is consumed on a multitude of platforms and speed is everything.

With so much change happening so fast, industry teachings often do not keep up with the rapid changes the industry is experiencing leaving many media students unprepared when they enter the office.

With over two decades of experience in the public relations sector, leading UK Media relations agency, Holyrood PR have witnessed the rise of technology in the industry adapting to these changes as they unfold and harnessing new skills to conquer these new challenges.

That's why we want to help students get a head start, so they’re not caught off guard when they step into their graduate jobs and give them a chance to stay ahead with our list of the top digital skills, they need to succeed in today’s media landscape.

Understand social media

When discussing skills with students, understanding social media seems like preaching to the converted. Stereotypes for their generation and digital natives, who better to run a social media campaign than the ultimate social media users.

However, strategic social media goes deeper than simply posting a TikTok to the newest tending sound.

But the real challenge lies in crafting a targeted strategy that resonates with diverse audiences, balancing creativity with analytics, and leveraging social media as a tool for long-term brand building rather than fleeting trends.

This requires a few things:

• An understanding of where each audience lies

Whilst jumping on the latest trends often results in a short-term visibility boost, it’s vital to understand who this audience is and whether they are impactful in producing real-world business results.

If your target audience is teenage girls, then TikTok may be the way to go. But if you are trying to share an exciting new piece of technology to potential businesses, you may have to think more strategically about where these potential customers may be.

LinkedIn is often considered the ultimate hub for businesses trying to connect with other businesses, so it is critical you understand LinkedIn, its algorithm, and what audiences on the site want to see.

In a similar way, if you are trying to target middle-aged people in a specific region, then perhaps local Facebook groups may be a more effective space to share your news.

Even interest forums such as Mumsnet can be useful if you are targeting a specific demographic, helping your message reach the correct people.

• Leverage Analytics to Measure Success

In the age of social media, platforms are flooded with an overwhelming amount of content, making it harder for your messages to break through the noise and reach your target audience.

This oversaturation makes it critical for media studies students to understand social media metrics and leverage the available analytics tools to measure the effectiveness of their social media campaigns.

From engagement rates to click-through metrics, understanding key units of measurement is crucial to creating campaigns with real impact and having information to inform your next campaign.

Conversion tracking is essential, allowing you to adjust your strategy in real time, ensuring that content is resonating with the right audience and meeting specific business objectives.

• Master SEO for Digital Visibility

Social media is one element of creating digital success, but to turn these digital wins into tangible business results requires an understanding of SEO.

Put simply SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to the process of improving your website's content and structure to increase its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages like Google. 

The primary aim of this is to improve organic traffic, which ultimately attracts more potential customers to your website. As more people discover your site through search engines, you increase your chances of converting visitors into leads or sales, thereby boosting your business growth.

That is why it is so crucial to understand SEO and how to optimize your posts. You can do this by researching relevant keywords, optimizing your content for those terms, and ensuring your site is user-friendly and fast-loading to improve both rankings and user experience.

Get behind the AI revolution

After four years university AI feels like a dirty word for most media and journalism students. But in office life, AI has become an essential tool in completing routine tasks, allowing staff to get on with the work they value, delivering people-led stories to the media.

That is why it is critical that you not only know how to use common AI models such as Gemini, Claude and chatGPT but can harness them in a smart way to create tangible business results.

By learning how AI works, how it picks up on data and how it recognises patterns you can use these models in incredible way. With the right prompts and bit of clever training you can take the tasks you hate and turn them into a simple click of a button.

Within our agency we have been successful in creating custom AI models that understand our reporting systems and can turn around reports in minutes.

UK Government trials have even highlighted the vital impact AI has had on workspaces, finding that AI could save civil servants nearly two weeks a year on routine tasks.

Getting behind the technology and learning how to use it to your advantage is critical to entering PR in the modern age, saving you time on the routine tasks and giving you time to focus on creating the next award-winning campaign.

Final Thoughts

The ever-chaning landscape of the media industry in the digital age has left many students scared as university lectures struggle to keep up with rapid technological growth. But there is no reason to fear.

By mastering the key digital skills such as social media strategy, analytics, SEO, and AI, students can better equip themselves for the challenges ahead.

Understanding these tools isn’t just about keeping pace with the industry—it’s about gaining a competitive edge in a fast-evolving market getting ahead of the other graduates when the time comes to search for job opportunities, positioning yourself as an asset to employers.

Our experts are dedicated to helping the next generation of media professionals thrive in this digital-first world. By learning these skills before you dawn the cap and gown you can ensure you have the knowledge you need to stay ahead of the curve.