YOGYAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – According to Nila Marita, Chief Corporate Affairs of Gojek, there are two skills that PR practitioners must-have in the midst of the digital era like today. The first is agility, especially in terms of managing the flow of communications as experienced by Gojek, the Decacorn SuperApp company.

Nila and her team are required to always be ready to adjust to changes in communication plans that can occur anytime. “PR must be agile, able to use momentum and be sensitive,” said Nila in front of the participants of the 2019 National Public Relations Convention in Yogyakarta on Tuesday (17/12/2019).

Second, PR must be able to communicate in an integrated manner. For example, when Gojek were rebranding in the middle of 2019. One of the giant ride-hailing companies was trying to create an integrated concept of a new logo launch. The move began with the launch of a teaser on social media, giving letters to all driver-partners written directly by Nadiem Makarim– the CEO of Gojek at the time, installing billboards on outdoor media, and promoting interesting slogans.

“This is a good news for PR. Big data allows our content to be more reach because it can be personalized. We can also engage and appreciate the consumers more personally,” she said.

Be the Answer

Nurlaela Arif, the Director of Communication and Alumni Relations of the School of Business and Development of Bandung Institute of Technology agreed. She considered big data and artificial intelligence to be the answer in the midst of information uncertainty.

Based on research that she has conducted over the past year, the result showed that there are many potentials of big data and AI that can be optimized to help the work of PR. “Artificial intelligence has the ability, one of which is personalization,” said Nurlaela while speaking at the same event.

Nurlaela who is the former Head of Corporate Communications of PT Bio Farma (Persero) concluded that PR can easily adjust the interests of the industry to the needs of its target audience. In addition, AI and big data are also considered capable of simplifying contents, automating, to managing issues as well as monitoring issues before a crisis occurs. In fact, both of them are able to predict what issue will develop in the future.

The competencies that must be owned by PR are also growing. Besides basic skills (writing, content production, and public speaking), PR must be able to analyze data such as programming in art, python, and SAS programming. Basic knowledge about data processing is important so that PR can give an explanation to the CEO/leadership/stakeholders more easily.

In addition, the ability to become an influencer as well as a content creator. Based on Neilsen's research, more than 92 percent of respondents trust information delivered by individuals rather than content produced by companies. Another fact, internal influencers with fewer than one thousand followers considered to be more effective, authentic, solid, and genuine compared to external influencers. “With a note, they still have given direction from the corporate communications as the command center,” she concluded.  (ais)