From Blogging to Microblogging: the Changing Face of Public Relations
Unarguably the greatest change in how business organisations function these days is in PR – or public relations. Whereas before a corporation would rely on printed media like magazines, newspapers, and industry journals, these days there is the internet. And so this too has impacted on how corporations carry out PR. With the advent of blogging, suddenly we’re reading informal updates direct from the head chiefs instead of the usual polite, conventional editorials ordinarily found in their monthly publication. Also we’re getting more updates from corporations too, as websites are perpetually updated. With the recent advent of sites like Twitter, corporations are also microblogging too.
Also the net has made matters far less passive and far more involved. Now those browsing the web effectively vote for your advert by clicking it, or sign up to your mailing list, or enquire immediately to you via your website contact forms. We also know a lot more about target markets because of their “footprint” they leave behind with such actions. Therefore it’s vital that a company can react to the responses left by their website visitors and frame their public-facing messages based on these responses.
Since the business landscape has changed so much, does it mean companies have much more power to determine how the general public perceives them? Yes it does. Business organisations are now putting aside more and more time on public relations, since so many new “public meeting places” have opened up with new technologies. With that increased control and opportunity however, there is the increased risk of making errors too, thus we are of the opinion that it is better to employ a PR company to start with. You can learn a great deal from them. For instance, how do they utilize all the new media that is now available? They have gathered experience in understanding what works, and what isn’t successful. They can quickly pinpoint the areas you need to improve upon and bolster your strong points in terms of your relationship with the public. A great location to get started with in regards to finding a PR firm is a search engine. Just type a key phrase like public relations uk and you’ll see a list of PR organizations ready to help you.
