Where Is PR Going in 2012? Twelve Emerging Developments to Watch – Part Three of Three
By Ann Voorhees Baker, CEO, Publicity Pros
As mentioned in Part One and Part Two, savvy PR professionals in 2012 will continue to cut down somewhat on their traditional role of media supplicant, entreating reporters and editors to feature their client in the next story or segment, and add more social media into the mix, advising and/or providing services for e-publishing, online community engagement, and the skillful, goal-specific use of technology. Public relations will grow more public, and operate less in the back rooms of “insider media influence.”
While Part One addressed “E-Publishing Trends” and Part Two addressed “Community Engagement Trends,” what follows addresses the use of tech tools for PR purposes in 2012:
Using Technology for PR Goals
9. Mobile apps for PR. As with video, mobile apps will move from a “discuss” to a “must do” in 2012. Mobile devices are to computers what television sets were to radio back in the day. More Americans now own mobile devices than own computers. Let me repeat that: More people in this country own mobile devices than own computers. Among the top three uses of mobile phones? You guessed it: social networking. For those whose clients can afford to scale content and presentation for mobile devices, PR pros will be telling them to do it now, because that’s where more people are than anywhere else. Even better, they’ll be encouraging their clients to create apps to streamline the public’s access to their scaled content.
10. Twitter as the new line of PR defense and offense. As we’ve seen so often in the past year, Twitter has proven capable of delivering a quick and devastating knockdown to a company’s reputation, or alternatively stepping in as an instant damage control tool in a crisis. One bad tweet can, and no doubt will, go viral if your client has a big presence and a known reputation whose ruination others would find entertaining—witness the rapid travel of the infamous Kenneth Cole “humorous” tweet that hash-tagged Cairo to draw attention to his spring fashion line.
On the other hand, Twitter can spread intentionally shared messages faster than anything. I myself received a G-chat from my daughter in New York seconds after the earthquake rattled her building last August, and when I Googled “earthquake New York” I found nothing, but when I searched on Twitter there were already scores of tweets that tracked the quake’s journey from the south upward along the east coast. I didn’t even bother to check television. When Channel 5 announced the story that night on the evening news as “news,” it seemed almost laughable; it was so old and stale.
PR professionals will consider it important to continually advise their clients on the dangers and the positive power of Twitter as a messaging tool, and will be wise to turn first to Twitter in a crisis.
11. PR consultants will increasingly advise clients to use automation and timesaving services. As much as we preach, and believe in, the need for authenticity and honest communication in social media, we as PR professionals know that in the end, our client’s participation in social media is all about establishing a positive presence for business purposes. Much of the activity will be outbound, and if they’re to be managed effectively and consistently, these activities simply can’t be done, exclusively, by Mr. Business Owner himself. Using services and automation tools to manage some of the social media and PR lead-seeking activities will become necessary, and wise, and PR professionals who learn what are the best among these will be equipped to advise their clients well.
12. “The 5 Steps, The 10 Best, The 8 Worst” headline lists will continue to catch interest. The power of a promised list continues to live on as an effective hook. “Ten Steps to…” or “5 Top Tools You Must…”—these headline teasers continue to seduce us by promising to fulfill our desires. “The 8 Steps to Total Happiness?” Joy! Life simplified! Questions answered! The best wisdom culled from the pile! PR pros will continue to use this tried and true method to catch interest when writing headlines and subject lines, tweets and updates. Hey, it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Don’t forget to click through to the first installments in this series. Part One is here, and Part Two is here.
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Ann Voorhees Baker is CEO of Publicity Pros (http://publicitypros.net), specialists in “All Things Publicity” for small business, and the creator of PR-123, WebTraffic-123, SocialMedia-123, and Premium Link Exchange. Based in Los Angeles, she is a frequent blogger and speaker on the integration of PR, social media, and search engine optimization. She can be reached at Ann@PublicityPros.net or 213-785-8835.
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Ann: I’ve enjoyed your series predicting trends, or maybe more accurately, helping many PR pros see where they need to go in 2012. I do offer some words of caution in that if we’ve learned anything, over and over, fundamentals never change. I call this the #samerules #newtools effect. In our media tracking and measurement services, invariably we see PR plans fail when they adopt the philosophy that social media represents a paradigm shift. Professionals need to view online, social and mobile as additional tools in their toolbox, while applying the fundamentals of public relations. Don’t let the shiny new tool seduce you in to thinking the other tools are less important.
In this age, the PR Pros who can identify the appropriate medium from all the options, wins the game. In other words, you must be a master of all, or have access to sub-masters to help you.
I agree, Todd. It seems to me that many in PR have lagged behind in adopting social media tools, but that has changed significantly in the last year. Those who integrate effective community engagement and self publishing via social media, with a well executed media outreach strategy will serve their clients well.