13 Aug Does PR Still Work in the Age of Social Media?
PR strategies do still work—as long as they are targeted.
Ten years ago, PR and marketing professionals could easily locate their target audience. Every morning, people would read the morning newspaper—the New York Times on the East Coast, the Los Angeles Times on the West Coast, and USA Today for anyone in a hotel.
This made it fairly easy to create a PR strategy that would reach its intended targets. Simple.
But obviously, times have changed.
Digital and social media have everyone’s attention now, and it’s harder to know what people are watching or reading.
According to a Pew Research survey published in 2018, 68% of respondents said they get their news from social media at least some of the time, and 43% said they most commonly use Facebook for news.
“Fake news” muddies matters even further: more than half (57%) of the Pew survey respondents said they expect the news they read to be largely inaccurate, which makes developing a PR strategy more complicated.
The question is: with so many sources sending out so many messages, is there still room for PR in the mix—and does it still work?
The answer is yes, with one clear caveat: you must reach your target audience where they are.
There are some PR pros who say, “all press is good press.” The truth is, it doesn’t make sense for companies to achieve press in places where their target audience isn’t going.
Instead, today’s marketing professionals must identify the platforms and media outlets that are most trusted by the audience they need to reach.
Some important questions to ask yourself:
• Who are my most profitable customers? What do they read, watch, or listen to?
• What channels are already covering the topics that are most important to my target audience?
• How can I leverage those channels to ensure my company’s messages are seen by the right targets?
One emerging trend is an increased focus on trade media in the B2B PR mix.
The massive changes in media and publishing over the past decade have made industry trade publications even more powerful.
Why? Because we know relevant people are reading them.
For example, if you asked 10 people in the commercial real estate industry what news they read this morning, you’d likely get a smattering of answers, from CNN to Facebook to Flipbook. If you asked those same 10 people if they also read GlobeSt.com today, likely 90% of them would say yes.
Each industry has these news outlets – trusted publications that are read by everyone in that sector.
For Business-to-Business marketers, these trade or vertical publications can often be the key to a PR strategy in the age of social media.
Bottom line: PR still works, as long as it reaches the right targets, and aligns with your company’s business objectives.
Interested in learning more about how strategic PR strategies can drive bottom-line results for your firm? Contact us at 949.438.6262 or jbrower@brower-group.com.
Posted on August 13, 2019