The Public Relations industry has faced dramatic changes in the past few years in terms of new technology and media channels as well as new opportunities for communicating with clients and businesses. The main reason for this is the emergence of social media networking which enabled customers to easily and quickly engage in a two-way communication process with companies. For businesses on the other hand this represents a huge challenge of how to effectively handle the new forms of engagement so that they now realize the increasing importance of public relations as an organisational function. However, social media is still a big challenge for the PR industry itself.
The age of ‘we talk, you listen’ style of company communication is gone; the dialogue with stakeholders is the only way forward, because the emergence of social media has changed the way consumers form opinions and make decisions. Therefore, many PR specialists believe that we are now at the peak of a magnificent era for the PR practice. It also means that there are new tools and new techniques needed to meet client’s needs and requirements. It also mentioned that the rise of digital media has transformed our channels of communication and the journalism practice (closely linked to PR), which in turn has had and will continue having an enormous impact on public relations.
Thanks to the Internet communication is now possible anytime, anywhere, no more just face-to-face. It is instantaneous and the importance of the geographical location is highly reduced. The Internet has now become primary information source.
In the Traditional Marketing Mix (Advertising, PR, Sales Promotions, Personal Selling and Direct Marketing), PR was considered as a support for marketing through media coverage and seen as ‘free advertising’ to encourage sales. However, the current shift from one-way towards two-way conversations and the increasing customer demands for constant interactions has given PR a considerable advantage over marketing, advertising etc. because it not only focuses on establishing relationships with the end users, but with all other stakeholders and therefore plays a huge role in reputation management.
According to Richard Edelman, CEO of the world’s largest independent PR consultancy Edelman, social media has altered “the nature of how we do what we do”. It is a ‘shift from pitching to participating, from selling a story to telling a story’
Social media changed the “dynamics of influence” and put the power in the hands of ordinary people. Therefore, PROs must now engage in the conversation through the various new channels and tools. In this sense, in the world of Web 2.0, content is no longer king, but conversation is.
Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian professor in English literature and a philosopher, once proclaimed: ‘the medium is the message’. Nowadays, the medium has become the message because SM provides PR with additional channels to instantaneously communicate with target publics.
PR used to be almost only about media relations – if you had a good story, you had to pitch it to a reporter; then if he/she liked it, he/she would write about it and so people would find out what is happening with organisations. Today, companies can directly and in real time communicate with buyers and other influencers on multiple social media platforms. Reaching target audiences has become easier not only locally, but also globally. Furthermore, many journalists do not just wait to receive press releases, but find these on their own on the Social Web.
