According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Public Relations is defined as a strategic communications process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. An organization can refer to a brand, company or an individual. PR can broadly be divided into two segments:
1.Traditional PR
2.Digital PR
Traditional PR consists of diverse work responsibilities such as Event Management, Crisis Management, Reputation Management, conducting trade shows to the distribution of press releases. However, Traditional PR persons limit themselves within the boundaries of Television and Newspaper. But the fact remains that the number of people who read contents on these traditional media is limited.
This is where digital pr campaigns step in. The way digital media is beating all other media and soaring higher and higher, this is the perfect time to switch our focus to online content. Communications are now shifted to the digital space, managed by digital pr tools and hence digital public relation is the need of the hour. The responsibilities of a Digital PR person is very similar to that of a traditional PR person, handling events, crisis, the reputation of the company, etc. However, digital pr plan has an added benefit of impacting SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Since Digital Marketing is booming, the Digital PR person has the scope of developing a relationship with influential people on the web. They can build and maintain a friendly relation with influential bloggers or content writers with best pr strategies. By keeping a good liaison with them, the PR person often gets his work done when the bloggers write about the company or its events.
Developing a public relations strategy
It may look and seem to be easy, but developing and compiling the right Digital PR strategy is never easy. The usual elements of traditional PR campaign, i.e.; planning, research, and execution, are merged within Digital PR qualities. Only then your campaign can breathe in the online world, as well as relate to the brands and your target audience. It is indeed a tricky thing to do.
Let’s have a look at the strategies that you need to implement to conduct a successful digital media campaign.
Research and Analyzation
Research is the fundamental requirement of building up a strategy. A thorough analyzation of your competitor’s branding and PR campaign will unveil the way they did it to promote their brand. That doesn’t mean you will copy your competitor’s ideas and put it into your campaign. Rather you should check what was missing from their branding and see the opportunities available to you. This will take you one step ahead of your competitor.
Build up Relationships with Content Writers and Bloggers
As the name goes, an integral part of a PR person is to develop and maintain a relationship with influential content writers, marketing influencers, and bloggers. The reason for this is that quite often these bloggers and content writers promote the work of the companies due to the good relationship they share with the PR persons.
Regularly check Google Analytics
Check Google Analytics on a regular basis to check how many people have actually gone through the posts you have shared online. This helps to figure out if there is something wrong in the content and also gives a hint about the consumer preferences.
Make sure you have a high Domain Authority
Domain authority is the measure of the power of a domain name and is one of many search engine ranking factors. Domain authority is based on three factors: Age, Popularity, and Size. A high Domain Authority means that your page will appear on the top of the search results.
Give the right Content
You may have the best of contacts or the best of products. But if you cannot provide a good supporting content, then all of the above is as good as nothing. You need to provide interesting contents to trigger your campaign. Think outside the box, innovate and create enthralling contents for your target audience to get their attraction. Today, value-added content is the basis of a long lasting relationship.
Check the Calendar correctly
Before starting a PR campaign, you must check the calendar and the year planner. I am sure you wouldn’t want to start a campaign on a national holiday when no influential person would be beside you. A good marketing calendar will have a perfect note of launch dates, new campaigns, or an overview of all the events that the clients will attend. Make it the basis of your PR campaign.
Final Thoughts
Digital PR though being different from Traditional PR in many aspects, the former must work hand in hand with the latter one. Both should complement each other and not as replacements. A Digital PR must work in unison with the traditional PR campaigns, and not at as adversary.
However, in this new world of speed and virtual space, we can predict who’s the winner in the race. Because Digital PR is the millennial who grew with iPhone, Android, AI and AR; while Traditional PR is the older generation who learned to program the DVR and DVD. And why Digital PR is more potent, because it has learned everything from its traditional counterpart, as well as grew up with technology.
Feel free to comment and share your views on Digital PR and Traditional PR, and which one has proved to be more productive and result-oriented for your brand. Let’s keep the communication going.
