Big Data: Five Essential Skills for Public Relations to Master

@Jmanolakos http://t.co/Wc1wGfcn

@stampedecon Our pleasure. Love the cartoon!

Good tips RT @Easyleads: PR people becoming #analytics cracks? Five Essential Skills for #Public elations to Master http://t.co/iZBHGR2O

Excellent tips and skills for any PR pro (and marketer) to learn and master. I heart Excel and the power that it holds, so by my nature, I guess I'm a geek. :) However, there is ALWAYS more to learn. To sit idly and watch it go by while we think we "have it" or that we know enough to do what we have to do will leave us sitting in park and not moving forward. 

Thanks also for the tools you brought to the post - quite a few are not on my radar and should be!

@roncallari Thanks Ron for the RT

@dorylanenter Thankyou so much for the RT!

I DO think I need to brush up on my Excel skills and might do just that this spring. But the key to surviving this transition to Big Data is to be open-minded and willing to learn. It's so refreshing that we don't have to rely on some of those crazy equivalent advertising value formulas from the Wizard of Oz days. We gain more respect when we are data driven.

Oh - and I used @kdpaine's first measurement book when I taught at Georgetown. A must read.

I remember going to grad school in the mid 1990s and trying to figure out stats on the DOS version of SPSS. Excel? Meh I am not by nature a numbers person, but back in my agency daysI would sometimes play with client data to see what it told me. And then figure out a way to try to tell the story to the client.

Great post, @kamichat - I'm a huge Excel/spreadsheet geek and always surprise people with the gusto with which I dive into statistics and charts. It's often given me a leg up, whether as a consultant or a journalist, because people don't expect it. You can speak a LOT more intelligently if you have even a basic knowledge - and people are a lot more willing to answer questions if they see that you'll understand the answer.

Love this!

Aww @Shonali will love that you mentioned Excel. She was the one that opened my eyes to how awesome and useful it is and now I will never go back! 

Great points, Kami.  Understanding how to query, read, map and manipulate data -- not what the typical PR or marketing person signed up for, but so critical.  I look at it the same way I look at programming:  I don't need to know exactly how to do it, but I need to understand enough about it so I can ask the right questions and use the tools that are built by the programmers. Does that make sense?

Thanks for sharing some of the tools available to accomplish each of your points, @kamichat  (a couple are new to me)! I got on the data bandwagon a couple years ago when Katie Paine told me the top PR university programs are requiring statistics. As @allenmireles notes, it's part of our required skillset now, and it's time the veterans (ahem) in our field hop on the bandwagon -- it's actually a great opportunity!

I love how we just keep learning and adding to our skill sets. This post highlights the need for both. I tend to come at things from GenJones perspective: that is, someone who has come up without many of these skills and is feverishly learning any and all things to improve what I do. You make a compelling case and I appreciate the information. But then I think you rock (can't help it. Truth.).

Great post Kami - There is a ton of data that people can get their heads around and gain valuable insights with a few simple tools.  Learning excel is a great example of DIY analytics.  You can gain a ton of insights from doing that.  Where it gets complex is when you get to relationships and groups of relationships around specific subjects that form communities.  We have tons of data points today but most of us end up putting a mental model of how it all fits together in our head.  I think over the coming months people will see new accessible applications that allow them to visualize and understand what they have only pieced together in the past. 

Analyzing and collecting data? Learning Excel? Understanding the methodology of data tools? Being a PR person sounds like fun! *trying but failing to keep a straight face* 

Nicely written, I guess ;)

Very good points all. it takes some of us with the more creative mindsets to Get into our analytical sides - I used to hate poring over data. But then I noticed how some of my more creative friends interpret data into usable information. And I realize -- both perspectives are valuable. And now I think of it as building stories out of data. Which is to say playing. Which is fun.

@stenkula Re: Learn excel. Love it in a good way or bad way? ;-)

Such an excellent post, Kami. Part of me is so excited by the potential of big data, and the other part of me is sitting in the corner with my fingers in my ears saying "Lalalalala" because I am one of the ones who fears the math.  You've given me a confidence boost and laid out great ideas for embracing it rather than ignoring it (or simply going through the motions of collecting the data and not using it wisely or effectively).  Thank you. 

You know I love this post, Kami! All of these steps are critical in our industry, but I would suggest taking a statistics course, so you can ask better questions, understand data you need to obtain and how to glean insights. A place to start...Khan Academy! Start each day with a statistics refresher from Khan.

Yes!! Numbers aren't something to be afraid of. This is brilliant Kami, thanks! There's no reason PR people can't make data work for themselves and these are some fabulous starting points.

One other tip: You don't  have to be a data geek, or marry one, you just need to make friends with one. Include them in your meetings, and on your emails. Ask for their help, and buy them a margarita or three.  I've had two meetings lately that defined measurement success in half the time because the data geeks were in the room!

What a terrific post, Kami - and I would expect no less from a measurement maven!

I particularly like that you say, "Ask questions." That's the key, isn't it? "Why" is ___ happening? "Why" should we do ___ ? "What" do we change to achieve ___ ? 

@belllindsay @SpinSucks @ginidietrich I have to agree Lindsay, Spin Sucks always has great info!

I really, really like this post. I just finished a training in Google Analytics to help me make sense of all the data we get from the site -- and how to find it for that matter. These tips will help me build on that data analysis and measurement I have already learned.

P.S. I bet this is a post that @ginidietrich really got excited about when you sent it to her.

@btrounson Nice RT!

 @AmyVernon Really good point here, Amy! Knowledge is power.

 @rachaelseda  @Shonali Yes, she and I are both geeks like that, glad you are, too!

 @tonia_ries It's true Tonia. You have to know enough to be able to pass teh smell test. With more data tools cropping up, this will be more important than ever. It's the same reason many are asking lots of questions about Klout and its methodology for calculating influence. 

 @KellyeCrane  @allenmireles Yes, our skill set is shifting and sometimes it seems overwhelming to keep up, but I believe this is an area that is non negotiable.

 @allenmireles In truth, the constant change is what I love about PR. I like learning new things.

 @matthixson As you know, I am super excited about what you and others are putting together.

 @danperezfilms What, you don't want to bend the tools to your will? LOL. Let me take you back to school, Perez!

 @Tinu Exactly, this is exactly how I think of it. How did you get into my brain Tinu?

@kamichat back to basics, in a good way. It's still fundamental to know if you want answers to "what I wish I knew"

 @mickeygomez It is challenging for sure, but you can do it.

 @LaurenVargas Great idea, here is the link http://www.khanacademy.org/search?page_search_query=statistics

 @LucretiaPruitt Exactly!

 @kdpaine Too late, I married one. But you make a great point. If you don't know how to do something, find someone who can and follow them.

 @Shonali Critical thinking skills are at the core of what we need to be teaching new PRs. 

 @Anthony_Rodriguez I hope she got excited, but she is in London, so she might be sleeping right now :-) Good for you in getting that GA course under your belt! We need to make sure we don't say that we are just "not good" at these things and write them off. It is time to do the work and get good at them.

 @kamichat @kdpaine HAHAHA. I'd rather marry one, but since I did not... I'll have to resort to having one on the team!

 @kamichat @Anthony_Rodriguez I'm sure she geeked out somewhere over the Atlantic!

 @Lisa Gerber  @kdpaine It's actually more fun to marry one, from experience.