A couple of years ago, I thought media relations and public relations were the same thing - an effort by PR practitioners (like myself) at sending our client's messages to the public via various media channels. The use of the term "media" or "public" was a potatoe/ potato debate, they were one and the same.
Today it seems the terms merge and distort depending on whose definition you look at. For me, PR (and I use the "public" here on purpose) professionals now need to understand that they’re dealing with the ‘media’ on one hand and the ‘public’ on the other, and traditional definitions no longer suffice.
PR services in the digital age involve more than dealing just with the media via the standard press release... it means dealing with the public using public relations and web 2.0. Traditional PR focused on print coverage, radio spots and features, and the strategic communications plan would focus on articles written in magazines, interviews and press conferences....PR 2.0 means social media, email, blogs, internet marketing, instant messaging, search engine optimisation, the iPad and more.
During the recent global recession client budgets were drastically cut and even PR budgets (which was deemed the only good investment) were well below par. The big losers in PR companies however were those specialising in traditional public relations only, neglecting the vast benefits afforded by online. And my job was suddenly very interesting... web 2.0 was suddenly sexy and alluring for clients, where the cost was minimal and the benefits seems to outweigh the risk.
With rapidly investment in online tools like pay-per-click advertising, SEO, online display advertising and social media profiles, I could finally interact directly with the public, without going through traditional media avenues. I cut out the middle man (to quote Outsurance) and began to explore the benefits of specialising as a public relations practitioner, not just a person working in media relations. The terms were no longer potatoey, and I was on a new path towards mastering the PR online space.
With online, content is king and we have the ability to create, share and spread multimedia content whenever we like, in a multitude of forms, without traditional press release restrictions like aerial font, size 10, catchy headline, introductory paragraph , the 5 “w”’s and an “h”. As a PR 2.0 gal, I was able to create viral magic, user-generated video, pictures and audio in addition to the standard written content for my clients... I like!
Now, this may not be new or even revolutionary, but it can takes some convincing to perpetuate my belief in PR 2.0 to all my clients, many of whom still see traditional PR as the only sure-fire way of gaining measurable coverage, and achieving measurable results and ROO *return on objectives. I’m not advocating the loss of traditional PR totally, but why not move towards PR 2.0 where the scalability of your content is immeasurable? And, thanks to intelligent use of technology like Google Analytics, you know exactly how many people view your online content, how they interact with your content and more.
Full-service PR agencies are becoming increasingly irrelevant as they lose their status as the gatekeepers to effective publicity and promotion – and the benefits of the PR social media strategist become paramount. Creating effective online communications no longer requires the traditional PR mix, and reputable agencies in South Africa are scrambling to develop online PR managers within their organisations to keep up with current trends.
For too long, us PR practitioners have been putting the horse before the cart – it’s time now to put the cart before the horse... take a leap forward and do things backwards... Measuring traditional PR is complicated and the benefits not entirely quantifiable, whether you multiply AVE by 3 or not. If you use PR 2.0 and issue an online press release, with keywords or hash tags, links, RSS feeds and viral content, you can measure exactly how many readers visit your content. With the benefits of the Facebook “I like” feature, the Digg and Twitter re-tweet options, your network increases exponentially and your message reaches thousands more than the mention in your daily paper.
This doesn’t mean that traditional PR is dead... but the gatekeeper traditional PR agency is. Companies need to generate an online PR 2.0 presence where the public can receive information, interact and learn about them their products and even their personal reputation in a fun, information and quirky way that ultimately extends to loyalty and re-tweets!
The PR agencies to watch out for in future will therefore be the ones that are already making the move towards PR 2.0... I'm therefore intent on calling myself a PR person from now on...
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