You can't be a PR professional without noticing the facts.
1.Traditional publications have already moved online, many of them exclusively online.
2.Publications are merging.
3.Web-based publications are not going anywhere and is fast becoming a major outlet for telling your story.
Everyone and their dog has a blog. SEO is common place in the business world and your constantly hearing about YouTube, Myspace, and Digg. A strong social networking campaign can set you apart from your competition and expand the reach of your business. PR specialists can utilize social media.
Lets take a look at the blogosphere. Blogs websites posting regular article, photo, or video entries, often on a specific subject. Technorati, the largest search engine for blogs, is tracking well over a 100 million blogs. Google even has a specialized blog search. The fact is blogging has become mainstream and it’s here to stay. But what does this have to do with public relations? Everything.
Bloggers are like citizen journalists and report a wide variety of information to targeted audiences. Some of these blogs describe personal experiences, others feature specialized industry news. The goal for a public relations professional is to reach the blogs that bring your audience the added value that can come from these outlets.
The PR specialist is usually also in charge of the corporate blog ensuring that it remains relevant, addresses market trends, reaches out to other influential blogs in your market. Many times the public relations professional will also focus on other online public relationsstrategies, such as social networking and social booking marking.
Another popular social media strategies is podcasting. Podcasting includes online streaming and broadcasting of video or audio messages. Both types can be used to promote problems and suggest solutions. Unlike most traditional public relations tactics, podcasting is measurable. You can easily tell how many people are downloading your podcasts.
By capitalizing on these new media outlets, your public relations professional can improve your online presence and maximize the effectiveness of your company’s communications.
