Uh, all of us marketers do. They say there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. I’d like to think one more should be added: marketing using social media. Its meteoric rise as a targeted marketing channel is changing the marketing landscape so rapidly that marketers are constantly catching up to its development. For public relations professionals, we must now think as everyone as a potential source for disseminating information about companies and their products and services. The traditional PR model is no more and a new one is developing. Here are Fantail Communications’ observations on the biggest media trends affecting the planning of a PR program.
What do consumers, celebrities, bloggers, reporters, publicists and Flickr.com have in common? They are now all news sources. Once upon a not so long ago, PR professionals spoke with editors and reporters of media outlets to pitch stories. Now the list of people who can talk about your company, and be heard, has expanded. Anyone with a computer, an internet hook-up and a desire to be read/seen/heard, can. Because news sources are greater in number today, companies must be that much more aware of what is being said and where, so they can leverage the conversations to benefit their messages and positioning in the marketplace.
As there are so many communication mediums available to the public, the popularity of the usual suspects, TV networks and the daily newspapers, as targets for PR news releases, are on the wane. There is a media sea change in that news is truly 24/7. We are seeing an increase in entertainment news, the death of real celebrity (as anyone can be one) and that news is now whenever the consumer is ready for it (or not). The rise of citizen journalism has added being part of a two-way conversation to the priority of landing a story on a big news network.
The explosive growth of wireless mobility has Paul E Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, saying that your mobile phone can become a remote control for your digital life. I really like his analogy. The mobile phone will be your guide through a world that is increasingly blurring the line between the physical and cyber world. At any given place it can tell you if there is content or services available to you. No longer will it be limited to kids or Twitter, but across all platforms. Once the prices for data become dirt cheap as in Europe, this thought can become a reality.
So where does this lead us? It all leads us to the place where all the news and information content propagates: online social media. The lines are blurred, and we’re all journalists, commenting on what’s new. We all make “news” as it is newly-defined. All the various social media places on the internet serve as sites where companies can engage targeted consumers in an ongoing conversation to deliver products and services that fill their need. Is this marketing evolution or revolution?
The last trend is actually a demonstration of the first four trends. When orchestrated properly, a web swarm can be created. A piece of news permeating the internet in real time and enabling the public, as well as the media, to fully report on the story, creating a flurry of information buzzing around cyberspace through push and pull PR techniques engaging many more people is called a web swarm. Highly effective, it engages not just the public, but more traditional media too. The World Wildlife Fund, with whom we have worked, orchestrated a masterful web swarm around their ìSave Our Climateî campaign. So wonderful a job in fact, that the CBC built and reported their story from what information was available online and not walking out their front door to Front Street in Toronto to investigate the story first hand where the actual event was taking place. This swarm generated such attention that it is considered a gold standard in ìthe newî PR.
Therefore, to summarize the big 5 media trends, it is safe to say there are new audiences, content and patterns of news consumption to address. A company’s PR program must have integrity and be customizable to reach targeted audiences because the freedom of media requires that they rely on complete strangers for content, which cannot be vetted. Messages communicated in future will have to be carefully thought out as public scrutiny is at an all time high.
This was a snapshot of what PR professionals are dealing with today. Later this month, Fantail will outline our insights of how to leverage these trends and maximize PR returns.
Thank you for reading!
Robert Landsmann
Account Director
Fantail Communications Inc., Toronto
rob@fantailinc.com
