“Monitor the conversations”, “engage with your publics”, “determine who your advocates and vigilantes are” etc. Sooo 2005. You’re on the internet now which means every year online is the equivalent to seven years offline. Or is that dog years? Anyway, while the above quotes are true, there’s so much more to online PR; meaning there are so many (dare I say it) ‘tactics’ to consider. I think Antony Mayfield feels this way in his most recent blog post where he says:

“Just a thought: Is the problem that PR faces that it is taking a (much abused) model from the channel world: media relations, and trying to graft it on to the world of open networks? It seems to me that “blogger relations” is going to do a lot more damage than it does good for the reputation of PR. Why not ditch it as an approach altogether?”

He adds:

“Here’s a golden rule for comms in the age of networks: if in doubt: pull don’t push… Make your content better, more attractive, findable and shareable.”

And I agree partly with what he says. Not everything though. This is how I see it.

Blogger relations/blogger outreach/WhatEverTheNewNameIs

This, to me, is a viable part of online PR. HOWEVER, as long as it’s done in a non media relations way. I.e. DON’T SPAM press releases and respect 100% those that don’t want to have any contact with you at all. No, make that 110%.

Respect 100% those that don’t want to have any contact with you

I realise by writing this I could set myself up for a fall but this is the standard I’ve set for myself. If that standard drops and I make a mistake, then I take full responsibility. But I honestly believe no PR blogger would ever get so careless and am willing to hedge my bets that the ones have taken a scatter gun approach don’t have a grasp of the nature of the social media space.

What about Web1.0?

You know what? There are many thousands of (shock, horror) websites with (wait for it) real journalists that provide excellent editorial to a large global audience of readers. The ‘traditional’ online media is a thriving medium but one that’s often overlooked by us PR bloggers because we all (myself probably more than most) like to be seen as embracing the new. But, whatever you do, don’t forget about the tried and tested model that’s still working. They even accept press releases too.

The ‘traditional’ online media is a thriving medium

Content creators

Keeping an eye on what’s been said about your brand, company etc is still very important. At the same time though, it’s not the be all and end all. This time last year (in the UK at least) organisations wanted to know “what’s been said online” about their brand. It was a toe in the water stuff, if you will. But time’s moving fast and there are new blog monitoring companies appearing all the time.

With abundance and scale comes significantly lower barriers to entry

What was once a fairly exclusive area has now blossomed into a mini industry itself. And with abundance and scale comes significantly lower barriers to entry. And anyway, it’s not the role of the PR person to find the data, their role is to make sense of the data.

Organisations have at their disposal the means to be content creators themselves. Making a video or producing a podcast, for example, isn’t expensive and this is why I believe PR has to become more multimedia/digital-thinking.

Why is WPP buying up digital agencies? Or why did Vocus buy PRWeb? What’s the rational behind PR Week’s research findings that discovered three out of four journalists (subs reqd) prefer multimedia alongside a standard release? Everyone’s becoming digitally minded.

So while the written word has always and will always (probably) be the most useful tool to people in the industry, some Big Picture PR is increasingly needed.

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I knew it! As soon as I wrote Big Picture PR in the headline, I knew there would be an ageny out there with that name. Disclosure: This has nothing to do with that agency.