This week I attended two BurrellesLuce sponsored awards events, Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) Washington PR Woman of the Year Award luncheon and PR News’s PR People Awards. Both were great opportunities to hear from seasoned professionals on why they have succeeded and what they see as the future of the industry.
At least two of the new PR News Hall of Fame members commented on the future of the industry being in new social mediums. Ron Culp, Ketchum, plugged his blog in his video introduction. Hall of Fame inductee Matt Gonring, Gagen MacDonald, commented on PR’s unique position to lead the way for all of marketing communications. The reasoning: we all need to be able to communicate appropriately with our new interactive environment. This is my third PR People awards, and the first time I’ve heard Hall of Fame inductees promoting social media.
Kathleen Matthews, Marriott International, keynote at the WWPR event, defends public relations to her former colleagues in journalism, who say she has gone to the “dark side.” She says it is just storytelling, which is really no different from what she did as an anchor and reporter. She went on to tout the success of Marriott’s social media outreach. From Bill Marriott’s blog, more than 5 million reservations have been made at Marriott hotels from the link on the blog page, which goes a long way in proving to executives the success of blogging.
I’d like to hear your thoughts. What direction do you see the PR industry moving? How are you using social media to promote your organization?
Social media has been a rallying cry for PR practitioners over the past several years and it continues to become the “strategy de jour” many F1000 companies who are being told they need to be in this marketing space. But like any social gathering, where many discussions occur simultaneously, these companies and their PR firms must continue to develop more authentic reasons to be in this social media universe. Without a legitimate reason be having a voice in this space through strategically sound PR programs they risk alienating their loyal audiences and the strong ROI that a sound social media programs can produce.
I believe the next generation of successful PR firms in this arena will be those that can pick apart the overly-crowded social media landscape and create engaging PR programs that add a legitimate new dimension to their client’s marketing programs in a way that not only bring new messages to intended audiences but also new meaning. Otherwise, why be in this space in the first place.
In our current troublesome economy, PR is one of the first expenditures to be cut from the budget, and I have seen many lay-offs in the PR world lately. Traditional PR firms need to focus on and build strong online campaigns for their clients, utilizing blogs and social media to their full advantage. A good PR rep will build strong relationships with key bloggers, just as they have with editors. You have to offer todays consumer info they can actually use and benefit from- they know when they are being sold.
The traditional PR firms will thrive again if they put a strong focus on social media and all that the oline world can offer. Be on the lookout for emerging PR companies that are online based.
Nice post u have here
Added to my RSS reader