PR skills need a digital reboot
Do you know your metadata from your MarTech? UK practitioners must adapt for the AI, social and fragmented media age
If we are in a golden age of PR, as some claim, then it is one built on creative destruction. The job of positively influencing reputation now means shaping it across fragmented audiences, social platforms, AI-mediated search and crisis moments that can erupt entirely outside the traditional news cycle.
This will likely come as no surprise to readers of Influence. Core tenets of the profession remain: understanding story, identifying news hooks, managing client and journalist relationships. But there is a significant say-do gap around the skills needed for PR excellence in 2026 and beyond.
The evolving PR operating environment
Vuelio's UK survey found that more than two thirds of PR professionals use social media daily as an integral part of their work. Yet few receive specific training on social media best practice, on how MarTech [marketing technology] can ease workload burden, or on the role social listening plays in understanding public narratives and preparing for crisis.
The Reuters Institute's 2025 Digital News Report shows how dramatically the media environment has changed. Social media and video platforms are now dominant news sources, particularly among 18–24-year-olds. Around a third of the global sample uses Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news weekly, followed by Instagram (19%), WhatsApp (19%) and TikTok (16%).
For PR professionals, this changes the core job.
Understanding how a message travels across X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp and Reddit, to and from traditional media, is now foundational. Earned media remains vital, but it is one part of a much larger attention system. Consider Channel 4 News alone: podcasts, YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Broadcast, Substack. The job of communications is broader and more nuanced than it has ever been.
What skills do PR professionals need now?
We must consider both human stakeholders and algorithmic stakeholders in our communications, with an adapted approach, tone, platform and medium for each.
In my view, these are the essential skills every PR professional should have in their toolkit:
Experience planning PR campaigns across multiple channels and media types, repurposing content for different audiences rather than simply redistributing it.
Working knowledge of the major social media platforms and their distinct audiences and content styles.
Intermediate experience applying best practice to an organisation's own social channels and corporate blog, including basic metadata.
Advanced understanding of key marketing and PR data and metrics.
Ability to accurately identify misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes and other digital reputation threats.
Basic understanding of data analytics relevant to the client sector.
Basic understanding of search engine optimisation (SEO).
Basic understanding of generative engine optimisation, particularly the role of earned media and how it interacts with owned and shared media.
Of course there is a need for specialists in social and digital, who can enhance the work of the wider team or be called upon for complex use cases, challenging crises or for client counsel. I would expect their skillset to include:
Advanced MarTech tools knowledge and the ability to build a MarTech stack.
Advanced analytics and social listening, including an understanding of tool limitations.
Digital risk frameworks for managing serious social media-ignited PR crises.
Knowledge and frameworks to handle misinformation and disinformation campaigns.
Generative AI, including simple bot-building and vibe coding.
Agentic AI in an organisational context and the associated reputation risks.
The silo problem is prevalent across both agency and in-house teams. SEO and AI are not IT's problem alone. Social media should not be limited to marketing messaging; it is a reputation and trust-building tool. Meaningful communications reporting is only possible through collaboration across PR, marketing, IT, sales and beyond.
The PR leadership challenge
Against a backdrop of often overwhelming daily workloads, that list may feel daunting. According to the CIPR's 2024 State of the Profession survey, 47% of agency PR professionals and 36% of in-house PRs had training requests refused. Training suffers the same reputation challenge as PR itself: it is too often viewed as an outgoing rather than a long-term investment.
Few PR leaders would consider cutting their journalist database subscription or coverage monitoring tools, because these are seen as integral to doing the job. Upskilling the team through a mix of internal knowledge-sharing and structured, professionally accredited training should be no different. With the pace of digital advancement, particularly in AI, the operational risk of failing to adapt is, at the extreme, professional irrelevance.
The opportunity is just as significant. PR teams that adapt well become more valuable to the business, moving faster, understanding audiences more deeply and anticipating risks earlier.
The competitive advantage will belong to those who combine power-user command of available technology with exceptional human judgement and the media relationships no algorithm can replicate.
For UK PR, this demands the same clarity of purpose the profession has always brought to its craft, and a genuine willingness to invest in the skills to match it.
Anna Lawlor is director, head of digital and social media at Greentarget.
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