I’m new to this business. Throughout my studies here at Centennial, I’ve learned about how PR is changing, and how we as bright and shiny new practioners will participate in a whole new way in building key relationships.
But is it really a significant? Or are tactics adapting to a new medium?
In short, people are getting their information from a wide range of sources. Newspaper readership is dropping and TV viewership is significantly down and does not seem to be improving. As we’ve all heard before, the old broadcast model is not influencing the public in way it did before.
There’s more to public relations than simply relying on the media to broadcast key messages to target audiences. There’s building trust with the public and other audiences, and trust is something that is absolutely crucial in an online media environment where (however where your point of view is) everyone is a publisher.
Ross Mayfield of Socialtext talked with Voce about the “big shift” in PR:
I think we are shifting from a world of exclusives to inclusives. In the old days, you only had people like John Markoff that had the ability to publish. So, you would pay way too much money to PR firms, such as your own, that had these trusted, expert relationships with the only publishers in town. They would give the executives some media training and you could hone the perfect pitch for the short window you had with the big broadcaster.
Now it’s changed to where everyone has the ability to publish. The number of relationships with publishers went for a few to thousands, if not millions. As a result, it is much more difficult to determine what PR firm you want to work with to get your story published. At the same time, that has become a new opportunity for PR firms—to understand the more complex media landscape. It also means that it’s not just one executive that is the originator of the message—it could be anybody in the company.
Edleman’s Trust Barometer reported that in 6 out of 10 countries surveyed, individuals trust peers over institutions, such as media institutions. And, 50% said they trust a rank-and-file employee over an executive. The new PR challenge is how to enable and trust your rank-and-file employees not just to carry a message, but for them to engage in conversation
The media hasn’t so much changed, but it has become much more complex and the public has responded to these new habits. To maintain trust with the public, it then starts at the source: the company or organization.
I don’t think the notion of trust is a new idea in public relations, but in an increasingly complex media environment, a bad public relations story becomes more than a bad news day, but a viral conversation throughout blogs, and consumer networks like Get Satisfaction. Bad things do happen, negative stories get published, but if you’re already conversing with consumers, the labyrinth of online communications could be easier to navigate.
I don’t think there is a quick way to learn about or to get involved with the right people online. And it’s important not to forget about those who want their news and information from traditional and authoritative sources. But silence in the online sphere is not an option when younger audiences simply turn to the internet and their peers for sources of information.
