What Public Relation Practitioner should do with New Media

What Public Relation Practitioner should do with New Media

Due to the development and emergence of new media, the Public Relation Practitioners must know how they will deal with this development in order to get the advantage of it for the success of their organizations.

Some of the things PR practitioners have to do are;

To build Online Communities or Audiences:Through Google, Yahoo! and other search engines rank content based on its relevancy and popularity. These search engines also judge that by how much is going on within social media channels: sharing, liking and commenting on content that is placed on social media channels (via media and blogger outreach). PR professionals must now support clients to build deep online audiences for their content to be shared. Media outreach now includes blogger and digital media professionals as well as audience relations within social media networks including LinkedIn, Twitter, Face book, Google+, and among others.

To manage Online Audiences, Digital Media Relations and Public Reputations: PR professionals must now do more than media relations; we also need to handle online audiences as well as digital media relations and manage our clients’ online public reputations. It used to be that clients relied on a PR agency to find an intermediary (i.e., journalist) to get their stories out, but now that “middleman” is not as necessary. It also used to be that our only job was to manage what our clients said to the media. As clients have more ability to write and say what they want online, PR professionals now need to help clients develop, produce and publicize good multimedia content, such as videos, podcasts and blogs to get as many impressions and as much engagement activity as possible. We also need to ensure that what our clients write and say is appropriate and on point with their personal and business brand's reputations within the digital media space.

Enhance Digital Visibility and Target Audience Reach: Even then, stories are not usually archived or that “findable” as the years go by. Targeting a story in a smaller niche blog is likely to convert better and provide a much greater reach, especially if it is optimized with the right keywords and back links. Obviously, the best media coverage must land in both mainstream and new media (remember media are media). Many stories that may never have had a chance of being picked up or placed in the big mainstream channels now have a chance “to be seen and read” because of new media.

Search Engine and Social Media Network News Placement: Most of our news and information world now also takes place on the Internet – from discovery and research to relationship- and business-building, Publicists are now charged with getting our clients’ information and news on the Internet alongside or not alongside traditional print and media channels like TV, radio or print. This means we also must know how to work/understand search engine optimization. The days of hiring a PR firm to write a news release and get you in your favourite magazine are over. Spreading word of mouth via content, social and targeted audiences is far more effective – and all of that is what PR professionals must handle. News releases now also have to “be found” online and be written a certain way. Press releases must be relevant and interesting, and include natural links and keywords so the content can earn a search engine’s vote of confidence.

By Tamba Philip 42679