What does a media relations specialist do?
A media relations specialist's role is to help a company maintain good public relations through various forms of media, ensuring to convey their brand's purpose and message. Their responsibilities typically revolve around developing strategies and opportunities, producing newsletters and press releases, remaining updated with the latest trends, and even managing the company's social media platforms. A media relations specialist may also delegate tasks to writers and graphic designers, arrange schedules, and ensure that all goals are met within the expected deadline and budget.
Media relations specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real media relations specialist resumes:
- Lead the charge in creating an athletic department Instagram account that has increase Belmont s social media reach and exposure.
- Develop and manage proprietary PPC support material.
- Develop and launch Einstein's Facebook strategy and presence.
- Serve as liaison for regulatory and contract communications with CMS.
- Create social media campaigns and awareness with Facebook, Google ads.
- Proofread and edit corrections of grammatical errors for senior staff members.
- Assemble detail athlete biographies, game day releases, recaps and blog posts.
- Edit and proofread English and French versions of documents disseminate to external audiences.
- Implement and maintain company's twitter account; responsible for all corporate social media interactions.
- Create internal communications to reinforce best practices for, and success stories of, salesforce.
- Develop and maintain all affiliate websites and web pages using valid, standards-compliant HTML and CSS.
- Film district events -creat titles, graphics, and videos for web -manage YouTube page and post videos
- Follow HIPPA and CMS guidelines when maintaining multiple phone lines and visitor requests for the ICU and CICU units.
- Develop rapport with university alumni regarding current initiatives.
- Maintain and process weekly payroll including sick/vacation time usage.
Media relations specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 29% of Media Relations Specialists are proficient in Patients, Compassion, and Press Releases. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Organizational skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Media Relations Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 29%
Coordinated scheduling of appointments, registering patients, facilitating financial estimates and booking travel requests i.e., hotel and transportation.
- Compassion, 10%
Facilitate information, communication, and service to Compassion's constituents in a contact center environment.
- Press Releases, 8%
Drafted original press releases and promoted information conferences while serving as a public relations liaison.
- PowerPoint, 5%
Coordinate, organize and conduct PowerPoint presentations at education fairs, information meetings, education tables, seminars and employee surveys.
- Data Entry, 4%
Generated constituency reports and ensured timely and accurate data entry on Donor Perfect the database program for all monetary contributions.
- Phone Calls, 3%
Conduct follow up phone calls to residents to ensure that the work was completed to the resident's satisfaction.
"patients," "compassion," and "press releases" are among the most common skills that media relations specialists use at work. You can find even more media relations specialist responsibilities below, including:
Interpersonal skills. The most essential soft skill for a media relations specialist to carry out their responsibilities is interpersonal skills. This skill is important for the role because "public relations specialists deal with the public and the media regularly." Additionally, a media relations specialist resume shows how their duties depend on interpersonal skills: "developed lasting client relationships by applying effective communication and interpersonal skills in resolving problems and responding to customer inquiries. "
Organizational skills. Many media relations specialist duties rely on organizational skills. "public relations specialists are often in charge of managing several events or communications at the same time, which requires excellent skills in coordinating arrangements.," so a media relations specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways media relations specialist responsibilities rely on organizational skills: "utilize organizational skills to maintain records, archival and donor databases, and execute administrative duties. "
Problem-solving skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of media relations specialists is problem-solving skills. This skill is critical to many everyday media relations specialist duties, as "public relations specialists sometimes must explain how a company or client is handling sensitive issues." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "capitalize on important data entry, communication, file organizing, planning, problem-solving, and beating deadlines. "
Speaking skills. A big part of what media relations specialists do relies on "speaking skills." You can see how essential it is to media relations specialist responsibilities because "public relations specialists regularly speak on behalf of clients or their organization." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical media relations specialist tasks: "analyzed data, presented recommendations, and influenced business and senior hr leaders. "
Writing skills. A commonly-found skill in media relations specialist job descriptions, "writing skills" is essential to what media relations specialists do. Media relations specialist responsibilities rely on this skill because "public relations specialists must be able to write well-organized and clear press releases, speeches, and social media posts." You can also see how media relations specialist duties rely on writing skills in this resume example: "specialized in writing press releases and marketing collateral for both high-tech and low-tech clients. "
The three companies that hire the most media relations specialists are:
- Northeastern University19 media relations specialists jobs
- Deloitte13 media relations specialists jobs
- Morgan Stanley4 media relations specialists jobs
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Compare different media relations specialists
Media relations specialist vs. Publicist
Public Relations Supervisors are responsible for implementing the media and public relations strategy of an organization. Their duties include developing public relations campaigns, organize public relations events, assist in emergency response planning, updating documentation, monitoring media, improve management of press office, and manage media databases. They are responsible for assisting with journalistic content writing, refine internal processes, and track public relations activity performance. They help prepare reports as well as undertake competitor and market research.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, media relations specialist responsibilities require skills like "patients," "compassion," "excellent interpersonal," and "data entry." Meanwhile a typical publicist has skills in areas such as "public relations campaigns," "photo shoots," "publicity materials," and "press coverage." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Publicists earn the highest salaries when working in the media industry, with an average yearly salary of $52,774. On the other hand, media relations specialists are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $65,925.The education levels that publicists earn slightly differ from media relations specialists. In particular, publicists are 1.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a media relations specialist. Additionally, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Media relations specialist vs. Social media editor
A social media editor is in charge of handling and maintaining the social media platforms of a company or brand, ensuring to produce and develop engaging content for a target audience. Their responsibilities often revolve around editing relevant content for posting, engaging with clients professionally and promptly, and addressing issues and concerns, resolving them according to a set of given responses. One must also coordinate with graphic designers and other writers, devise strategies to identify marketing opportunities, develop online campaigns, and keep abreast of the latest trends.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real media relations specialist resumes. While media relations specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "patients," "compassion," "excellent interpersonal," and "data entry," social media editors use skills like "social platforms," "social content," "video content," and "blog posts."
On average, social media editors earn a higher salary than media relations specialists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, social media editors earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $55,515. Whereas media relations specialists have higher pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $65,925.In general, social media editors achieve similar levels of education than media relations specialists. They're 0.4% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for media relations specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Kim Smith Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, St. Norbert College
Media relations specialist vs. Social media internship
In a social media internship, the primary role is to take part in managing a brand's social media platforms for public relations. One of their primary duties is to craft informative and captivating content while under the supervision and guidelines of a manager or supervisor. Furthermore, there may also be instances where an intern must participate in devising strategies that would bring more public recognition to the brand, such as social media campaigns to boost sales and improve client base.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from media relations specialist resumes include skills like "patients," "compassion," "excellent interpersonal," and "data entry," whereas a social media internship is more likely to list skills in "facebook insights," "social media marketing," "linkedin," and "pinterest. "
Social media interns earn the highest salary when working in the education industry, where they receive an average salary of $33,136. Comparatively, media relations specialists have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $65,925.When it comes to education, social media interns tend to earn similar degree levels compared to media relations specialists. In fact, they're 4.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Media relations specialist vs. Communications coordinator
A communications coordinator is responsible for overseeing the communications department's operations, developing the brand image, and monitoring press releases, company articles, and other related marketing materials for business promotion and visibility. Communications coordinators actively interact with existing and potential clients, negotiate contracts, and build profitable partnerships. They also develop strategic procedures for creating the business' online presence, organizing promotional events, and media conferences. A communications coordinator must have excellent communication and organization skills to maintain a good reputation and customer satisfaction.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between media relations specialists and communications coordinators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a media relations specialist might have more use for skills like "compassion," "excellent interpersonal," "data entry," and "phone calls." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of communications coordinators require skills like "web content," "community outreach," "community engagement," and "community relations. "
Communications coordinators enjoy the best pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $46,362. For comparison, media relations specialists earn the highest salary in the finance industry.In general, communications coordinators hold similar degree levels compared to media relations specialists. Communications coordinators are 3.5% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of media relations specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
