By Talia Moses
When I began my first semester at The Ohio State University, I was completely unaware of the roles Microsoft Excel played in the academic and professional world. Up until that point, I had only used Excel to create organized lists of who was invited to my birthday party or to format in-depth research on the colleges I was applying to. I had only been familiar with “hard-coding,” which is directly entering the information you would like to display within the cell (each unit on a spreadsheet).
As communication majors, we are not often exposed to the business side of the industry, despite the opportunities available post-grad. At Ohio State, comm majors are required to take either Comm 3160: Communication Research Methods or Comm 3163: Communication Industry Methods. These classes allow students to dip their toes into the world of Microsoft Excel. While taking Comm 3163 allowed me to understand Excel through a communications lense, I was truly able to dive into the functions and capabilities of Excel in CSE 2111: Modeling and Problem Solving with Spreadsheets and Databases. I took this course my freshman year in compliance with Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business Capital Program requirements and it completely optimized the way I use Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and any similar platforms.
To help you prepare for professional opportunities and summer internship applications, I want to share the job functions that will require you to use these tools and provide a solid foundation of Microsoft Excel to know as a communications major.
Professional Uses
Now you may be wondering, how can these functions factor into your professional career? As communication majors, our work often crosses over with business and marketing, yet we are not always equipped with the skills necessary to complete those tasks. By practicing and using Excel, you can give yourself a great advantage in the professional industry without having a business degree.
Excel’s functions and features can be used to:
- Create content calendars
- Organize outreach
- Understand target audiences and demographics
- Analyze data and analytics
- Plan events
- Manage budgets and financial planning
- Track engagement and performance
In my role as a Student Communications Assistant within OSU’s Department of English, I have used the SUM and AVERAGE functions to add up social media analytics across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. This data helps our team understand how large the audience we are reaching is and how our audience varies between each post, week, or month.
Terminology
Before we begin, I want to refer any Excel newbies (like I was) to this article from TechTarget that explains the basic terminology of Microsoft Excel. This is going to be a useful guide while reading this blog and while reading and executing the instructions of your assignments in your communication research courses.
Functions
One of the greatest capabilities of Microsoft Excel is the ability to input equations into a cell and have the software solve them for you. On my first day of class, the equal sign (=) was my biggest enemy but it quickly became my best friend because it is used to start all formulas in a cell. While there are several more advanced formulas that I would recommend looking into in the future, here are the three that have fundamentally changed the way I use Excel.
When reading my examples, please refer to this image:
- =SUM(number 1, [number 2])
- This function will add up all of the numbers or cells within a range and display the result.
Example: To calculate the total cost of “Property Taxes”, “Office”, “Warehouse” and “Merchandise” for Store #11,001, use the formula: =SUM(B5:E5)
- =AVERAGE(number 1, [number 2])
- This function will return the value of the average between the numbers within the cells or ranges that you’ve selected.
Example: To calculate the average cost for “Property Taxes” for all stores, use the formula: =AVERAGE(B5:B9)
- =COUNT(value 1, [value 2])
- This function will return the number of cells within the range that contain numbers.
Example: To calculate the number of stores being researched, use the formula: =COUNT(A5:A9)
With a basic understanding of these three formulas, you will be able to understand how formulas work when placed in a cell and the formatting to use once the equations start getting longer. If you are looking to dive even further into the world of Excel formulas, I recommend checking out this article from the Top 30 Excel Formulas and Functions You Should Know from SimpliLearn published in August 2023.
While applying and interviewing for professional opportunities, a strong understanding of excel can set you apart from other students and job candidates.
If you’re looking to learn more about how Excel can help you as an aspiring PR Professional, I recommend you check out this article from Communique PR, and if you are interested in pursuing a specialization in Marketing, I recommend looking into the Capital Program through the College of Arts and Sciences.