The changing contours of public relations
The way people consume news has completely changed since the advent of social media. From being the main source of news and considered opinions, mainstream media comprising newspapers, magazines, television and radio are now mentioned after the news has been consumed online in real time, mainly from social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Therefore, the primacy of traditional media is fading before our eyes.
In the case of India, things are a bit different, as the growth of literacy accompanied by the growth of purchasing power has seen an explosive growth in vernacular print media. However, when it comes to urban centers, online and social media are beginning to dominate the roost as in other parts of the world. With a gargantuan telecom subscriber base of 933 million, 117 million of whom are smartphone users, the reach of online and social media is nothing to scoff at. Internet connectivity as a whole is available to a mammoth of 300 million Indians.
However, it seems that India’s PR practitioners have not yet woken up and smelled the coffee, as they still deploy most of their resources to go after journalists who represent the traditional media. With background pressures affecting much of traditional media, objectivity and a professional approach to news feeds are often not fully visible. How many traditional journalists want to attend press conferences these days? Also, even in the case of one-on-ones and interactions, there is no guarantee that the story will see the light of day.
Instead of continuing to do things the old-fashioned way, PR professionals should educate their clients about the benefits of online and social PR. Journalists and bloggers from online news portals are generally not only more accessible, but in many cases are better able to understand the nuances of the story and can better represent it. In addition, they always reach the right target audience. In my opinion, the ultimate public relations vehicles are social media with its enormous reach that can be targeted with infinite precision.
There are a whopping 112 million Facebook users in India, 33 million Twitter users, 26 million LinkedIn users, and 5.5 million people on Pinterest. Circulation and readership figures for most newspapers and magazines pale in comparison. The key to leveraging these outlets lies not in cultivating indifferent and sometimes ignorant journalists, but in the ability to create and publish relevant content on behalf of clients.
This makes the task of public relations professionals much less thankless, and they no longer have to simultaneously deal with capricious clients and journalists. Social Media PR requires the regular creation of relevant content, precisely aimed at the right target audience. There are tools that allow you to publish simultaneously and quickly on multiple sites, while others help you boost the publications. Results are not long in coming and can be easily tracked and analyzed.
This type of outreach is much more dynamic and allows the client to interact with their target audience in real time and in a personal and intimate way. In comparison, the reach obtained by traditional media is very vague and scattered and one has no idea how the message is perceived by the target audience. Online PR is truly the not too distant future.