The big PR study: 14 takeaways for the PR professional

USC’s public relations center released its annual study of executive-level communicators. Here’s what you need to know.

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That’s one of the big conclusions from a study by the USC Annenberg Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center. This year’s Communication and Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices (GAP VII) study, the biggest to date, surveyed 620 senior-level corporate communicators.

“[The study’s findings] indicate an industry in transition from ‘old school’ to ‘new school’ approaches to managing the PR/Comm function,” the report said. “Companies that embrace ‘new school’ best practices are more likely to be associated with success variables.”

The so-called new school approach includes social media and measurement.

“As expected, social media monitoring and participation have significantly increased and can now be considered a mainstream responsibility of [PR and communications],” the study noted.

Among respondents, 30 percent are from public companies and 25 percent are from private companies. The remaining participants are from nonprofits (21 percent), military/government organizations (17 percent), and the “other” category (7 percent).

You can download and read the full study here.

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