As a PR professional I am glad that the PR Industry as a whole has come of age. PR is now looked upon as more of a strategic function and it definitely goes beyond the tactical media relations program which companies used to hire PR agencies to do. PR now encompasses corporate reputation management, Brand management, crisis, issue and change management and other important stake holder communication.
With the growth of PR Industry in India, true blue PR professionals working in PR agencies have been very caught up with managing the increase in scale of operations that has come with growth in new businesses. The explosive growth of the media industry has further compounded their challenges. While they have managed to keep abreast with the fast changing traditional media industry, they have largely turned a blind eye to the rise of new media, often according it step motherly treatment.
I believe the problem lies in not understanding and appreciating the real value the medium has to offer. Both companies and PR agencies, fail to see the value in new media.
Companies in India largely continue to approach to PR the old fashioned way, where PR agencies simply get them visibility in leading business magazines, the pink papers and TV channels. For them PR continues to be thought of as an offline optimization of the brand.
PR agencies’ continues to follow the traditional method of engagement even with the bloggers and their interactions with bloggers remains limited to an Email Id and random follow up calls for press releases.
In a scenario where the Internet is the only medium used to research or to find any information about a company, product or brand; the approach of refraining from this user driver medium is counter productive. As a strategic communication partner, the onus truly lies with PR consultants and corporate communication professionals to master this emerging medium and showcase how one can truly leverage the new media in a professional manner.
There is a definite shift amongst several consumer technology companies and entertainment firms, who are asking their PR agencies to include internet and social media in their PR plans. We see PR agencies running ad-hoc experiments with bloggers, on you-tube and on social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut, without truly understanding the merits of the tools available on the Internet. The know-how required in managing and maintaining conversation in new media is seen as outside the scope of PR.
A few PR agencies now offer Digital PR or PR 2.0 as a separate offering at an extra cost to their clients by outsourcing it to third parties. And this is where I think they are really missing the bus. I believe the demand for these services will continue to grow, and agencies that outsource will in the longer run render their own assets (staff) obsolete.
PR agencies should, in my opinion, look at pro-actively training their staff to understand the new media and offer their clients an integrated strategy and media plan to leverage it to its full potential. Having had exposure to digital media, I can tell you its not very difficult. The rules of engagement with independent bloggers (although there is a very thin line which differentiates them from journalists) remains the same as engaging with any professional journalist - be professional in your approach, know the person you are engaging with, understand what he/she writes about, understand their readership and accordingly offer them what he/she wants. The rest is merely a question of understanding the tools and using them innovatively.
There are many questions being raised about the measurability of the output and outcome of new media initiatives. Such questions are not new to PR. Just as we now have many established ways of measuring output and ROI when it comes to the traditional media, a variety of tools are also available to measure the output of our efforts in the digital media; these will continue to evolve and develop with time in much the same way as is the case with traditional media tools.
What it finally boils down to is a question of mindsets. We need to re-look at the scope of public relations on the whole, and take ownership in redefining our existing standards. We need to train ourselves to innovatively use social media tools and plan integrated campaigns to really add value to our offerings.
And finally, I would like to hazard predictions on social media PR, here are my top 5:
• The scope of work of PR agencies will become increasingly complex, as will the billing process.
• Twitter will become the preferred social networking platform for PR professionals, journalists and bloggers at least in key metros.
• Social Media Press Release will become a reality in India.
• Multimedia, photos, audio & video, will become a critical part of press kits.
• Professional independent bloggers will continue to grow
With the growth of PR Industry in India, true blue PR professionals working in PR agencies have been very caught up with managing the increase in scale of operations that has come with growth in new businesses. The explosive growth of the media industry has further compounded their challenges. While they have managed to keep abreast with the fast changing traditional media industry, they have largely turned a blind eye to the rise of new media, often according it step motherly treatment.
I believe the problem lies in not understanding and appreciating the real value the medium has to offer. Both companies and PR agencies, fail to see the value in new media.
Companies in India largely continue to approach to PR the old fashioned way, where PR agencies simply get them visibility in leading business magazines, the pink papers and TV channels. For them PR continues to be thought of as an offline optimization of the brand.
PR agencies’ continues to follow the traditional method of engagement even with the bloggers and their interactions with bloggers remains limited to an Email Id and random follow up calls for press releases.
In a scenario where the Internet is the only medium used to research or to find any information about a company, product or brand; the approach of refraining from this user driver medium is counter productive. As a strategic communication partner, the onus truly lies with PR consultants and corporate communication professionals to master this emerging medium and showcase how one can truly leverage the new media in a professional manner.
There is a definite shift amongst several consumer technology companies and entertainment firms, who are asking their PR agencies to include internet and social media in their PR plans. We see PR agencies running ad-hoc experiments with bloggers, on you-tube and on social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut, without truly understanding the merits of the tools available on the Internet. The know-how required in managing and maintaining conversation in new media is seen as outside the scope of PR.
A few PR agencies now offer Digital PR or PR 2.0 as a separate offering at an extra cost to their clients by outsourcing it to third parties. And this is where I think they are really missing the bus. I believe the demand for these services will continue to grow, and agencies that outsource will in the longer run render their own assets (staff) obsolete.
PR agencies should, in my opinion, look at pro-actively training their staff to understand the new media and offer their clients an integrated strategy and media plan to leverage it to its full potential. Having had exposure to digital media, I can tell you its not very difficult. The rules of engagement with independent bloggers (although there is a very thin line which differentiates them from journalists) remains the same as engaging with any professional journalist - be professional in your approach, know the person you are engaging with, understand what he/she writes about, understand their readership and accordingly offer them what he/she wants. The rest is merely a question of understanding the tools and using them innovatively.
There are many questions being raised about the measurability of the output and outcome of new media initiatives. Such questions are not new to PR. Just as we now have many established ways of measuring output and ROI when it comes to the traditional media, a variety of tools are also available to measure the output of our efforts in the digital media; these will continue to evolve and develop with time in much the same way as is the case with traditional media tools.
What it finally boils down to is a question of mindsets. We need to re-look at the scope of public relations on the whole, and take ownership in redefining our existing standards. We need to train ourselves to innovatively use social media tools and plan integrated campaigns to really add value to our offerings.
And finally, I would like to hazard predictions on social media PR, here are my top 5:
• The scope of work of PR agencies will become increasingly complex, as will the billing process.
• Twitter will become the preferred social networking platform for PR professionals, journalists and bloggers at least in key metros.
• Social Media Press Release will become a reality in India.
• Multimedia, photos, audio & video, will become a critical part of press kits.
• Professional independent bloggers will continue to grow
