The Changing Face of Public Relations
Social media (an oxymoron when you think about it) is changing the face of traditional media relations and the role of the public relations (PR) professional in securing media coverage for clients.
I have come from the old school of PR, where press kits and releases were sent out via snail mail and clients were presented with proposals by a live professional. Stories were researched to learn what a reporter was looking for, followed by an eloquent, compelling telephone pitch ~ the 10-second elevator pitch. And the value of PR was tracked by the client based on the number of hits a story received in the print and electronic media.
No longer ~ the use of social media via sites like Linkedin and Facebook has provided a vast venue for connecting people, the media and business without ever meeting face to face. With the arrival of the term, Web 2.0, a trend in using the World Wide Web, a new concept was created expanding the world of information sharing and collaboration on the internet. Evolving from this trend, the social networking became a hot item and weblogs, wikis, podcasts and RSS feeds were born.
The traditional publicist, as I was, had to fast forward to learn the lingo, research numerous sites and join social-networking sites. This also meant relearning how to reach out to the appropriate media and how to pitch that all-important story to maximize exposure, not only with major newspapers, magazines and electronic media, but with internet wire services, e.g. as www.businesswire.com. It is all happening ~ sadly, the print news industry is suffering, as a result. More and more people are getting their news online, updated as it happens.
I guess this whole trend was summed up best by an old friend of mine when I was visiting her in Vermont. With The Sunday New York Times spread out all over the breakfast table, I told her how I only read the Times online. She quickly replied, “I like to feel the newspaper in my hands.”
Article Tags: blogs | business | podcasts | social media | wikis
Filed under: Interactive PR
I’m old school too, but have to admit to being grateful for the new school of social media. The time it’s taken for me to learn how to navigate it has been worth its investment b/c my work time has been cut tremendously. Most importantly, I can see the outcome a lot faster than in the traditional form. But I’m like your friend, I don’t know what I’d do without feeling the newspaper in my hands or sprawling out on the floor on Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and my news. You can have the best of both worlds, beside social media needs the old heads like us to keep them focused and honest. Old has its place too.