When I first began studying and practicing public relations tweeting was strictly for birds. Facebook was a few years away from having its first friend. Search engines existed, but they were primarily used as a research tool or for finding static brochureware sites.
Of course, much has changed in 10 years – particularly in the field of public relations. For example, when I took my first PR writing class, I learned how to write press releases, newsletters and financial reports that I expected would eventually reach my audience in a tangible form. Since I was a bit tech savvy, I did think that my press releases would be uploaded to an organization’s Web site, but that’s where my online vision ended.
But, in this fast-paced world of social media buzz, search engine rankings and viral videos, it’s no longer enough to expect that simply uploading content will get your organization noticed. It’s also no longer sufficient to pitch only traditional media – we’ve all heard the stories lamenting the death of newspapers (although I think this prediction oversimplifies the situation). Today online information sources, such as search engines and social media sites, have the potential to impart the third party credibility once reserved for and provided by traditional media outlets.
In this sense, “new media,” which I’m pretty sure is a passé term, has spawned tons of new opportunities for PR practitioners. From enabling us to interact with key publics more directly to enhancing our ability to evaluate our effectiveness to providing opportunities to produce truly integrated marketing communications campaigns – digital/new/convergence media has opened the door for a more sophisticated, comprehensive, attentive, responsive, proactive form of public relations. Now it’s up to PR practitioners to walk through that door.
But, enough with the metaphors, what does this changing digital environment really mean for public relations practitioners? It means we have an exciting opportunity to stake our claim as digital communication gurus. PR practitioners should be the ones crafting online messages and managing relationships with and within these online outlets. After all, who else is better prepared to effectively communicate with a wide variety of publics through a proliferating number of communication channels?
In the next few posts I’ll be talking about the role of PR practitioners in the digital era – from search engine optimization and formulating a content development strategy to fighting content with content and engaging with publics on social media networks. I’ll also dissect some of the jargon so you too can sound like a guru.
But, for now I’d like to leave you with a video that one of my students recommended. Marinate on this:
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | new media, PR, public relations, social media
