Leader: PR is becoming crucial to brands' digital strategy

2 September 2010 | By Justin Pearse

PR is going through a major upheaval, caused directly by digital media and social media in particularIs it time you checked the credentials of whoever’s handling your PR? While they may be perfectly happy knocking out a press release and rounding up a few journalists to buy champagne for at a product launch, are they really up to speed on how the discipline is changing? It seems not. Our report finds that, despite the growth of online PR driven directly by social media, there’s a shortage of social media skills in the PR sector.

PR is going through a major upheaval, caused directly by digital media and social media in particular. Online PR means public relations is becoming increasingly about managing a brand’s relations with its customers, not solely about brokering relationships with the press.

We’re seeing PR agencies increasingly competing for business traditionally held by a company’s digital or integrated agency. PR teams in brands are often leading the company’s strategy on social media, and new agencies are springing up dedicated to online PR and reputation management. At our regular nma Social Media Social events, the latest of which is this week, PR specialists are attending not to meet journalists or look for business, but to network with interactive agencies, media companies and brands all trying to make sense of this new channel.

The rise in importance of online PR to a brand’s digital strategy is why we launched our sister site Reputation Online. Its first awards ceremony this month, celebrating the best work in the sector, saw entries from an incredibly diverse mix of companies. Online PR is becoming critical to the success of a brand’s digital strategy and its bottom line, far removed from the fluffy, unquantifiable image of the ’PR bunny’ of old. The British Interactive Media Association has recognised this by including a PR category this year in its awards.

This shift is why new media age, in association with Reputation Online, will be reporting more closely on online PR, and why you may need to re-examine your PR strategy to ensure it’s delivering on the potential opening up via digital media. Although there’s no need to cancel that bottle of champagne.

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