The Changing Contours of Public Relations

The way people consume news has completely changed since the advent of social media. From being the primary source of news and opinion considered, mainstream media comprising of newspapers, magazines, television and radio is now mentioned after news has been consumed online in real time, primarily 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 in literacy accompanied by the growth in purchasing power has seen explosive growth in vernacular print media. However, as far as urban centers are concerned, online and social media are beginning to dominate the roost as in other parts of the world. With a mammoth 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 India’s PR practitioners have yet to wake up and smell the coffee, as they still deploy most of their resources to go after journalists representing traditional media. With background pressures affecting much of the mainstream media, the objectivity and professional approach of news entries is 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 on the benefits of online and social PR. Online news portal journalists and bloggers are generally not only more approachable, but in many cases are better able to understand the nuances of the story and are better able to represent it. Plus, they always reach the right target audience. In my opinion, the ultimate PR 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. The 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 deal simultaneously with wayward clients and journalists. Social Media PR requires the regular creation of relevant content, precisely targeted to the right target audience. There are tools that allow you to post simultaneously and quickly on multiple sites, while others help you boost posts. Results are fast in coming and can be easily tracked and analysed.

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. By comparison, the reach achieved by traditional media is very vague and scattered, and one has no idea how the target audience perceives the message. Online PR is truly the not too distant future.