Tag: #PR

PR Freedom

Press releases are great way for the public to get informed about topics and understand what is going on in the world. If you have a client or customer who needs some PR a press release is a great way to get information out about what they are doing. Now typically press releases are sent to media companies and the media gets to decided what actually makes it into the news. Press releases were written in a specific way that would make the story appealing to media. The PR person would obviously spin the story in the clients favor, but they’d make it look as close to a media story as possible. The journalist would then decide if the story should go public and if they felt it was good enough they’d write their own story after doing some research.

            Recently, the way PR people go about press releases has changed drastically. In the story “Traditional Press Release- out- Online News Release IN” they talk about exactly how it has changed. PR people no longer need the media as much as they have in the past. Due to the creation of the internet and news sharing platforms. It is so easy for a PR person to upload a press release on the web and just have it go viral. Obviously the release still has to be professional and attention grabbing, but it no longer needs to go through the media. Of course PR people want a journalist to see this story and have them write their own stories for their papers. However, if they do not pick the story up the PR person has already posted it to several online sources.

            This is a major change for PR people and while the media is still important to them they have almost obtained this freedom to just release their stories. Before the internet if the media did not pick up your press release no one would see it. This allows PR companies to just get the story out regardless. I think there is a plus and a minus to this because on one hand it’s great that PR companies get this freedom. However, it allows them to post stories that will obviously be one sided. People will just glance over it and assume that is the truth. The media has no opinion one way or the other so they will work hard to find the unbiased story. PR has a great new tool; however, it is one that may lead to some very biased stories.

https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/09/how-to-write-a-press-release.html

Click to access OnlineNewsReleaseIN.pdf

https://www.thechannelco.com/content/how-the-internet-has-changed-public-relations

New Tools for Pros

When looking at Twitter it may seem as though it is just a silly social media platform where people can post nonsense that happens to them. While this may have been the case when Twitter has evolved I believe it has become so much more. It has become a powerful resource for PR professionals and journalists to use. We talk about social media and the effects it has on both these fields a lot and perhaps the best example of how effective it is, is Twitter. In 160 characters or less you can reach such a large and wide audience that it is unbelievable. If a journalist needs to take a poll they can upload to Twitter and have such a large variety of people interact with it. As a PR professional you can post about your press releases or any updates you have about your client and instantly millions will see it.

            Forbes points out that while Twitter can be useful it can also be difficult to manage. While this statement is not incorrect I do not think it is difficult enough to wave off. Keeping track of a twitter and making sure all the posts are up to date can be time consuming like Forbes says. However, I think the payoff can be huge because of the large number of people you can reach and how quickly it can be done. There is a lot of work to be done around a Twitter account, but it is such a good tool and to write it off the way Forbes does is not giving it enough credit.

            A better point I think was had by Columbia Journalism Review in which they say that it can be difficult to write stories without consulting Twitter. There is so much traffic on Twitter that if you want to write an article about pop culture you would almost fail if you did not use Twitter. As a journalist you also need to keep a profile and Columbia says Twitter is a great place to keep that. You show your interests on Twitter and this can be a sign to potential employers. This article really spoke to me because I view Twitter in the same exact light. It can do so many things with such little effort and not using this tool is almost detrimental.

            With times changing so does PR and Journalism and in order to keep up professionals must use these new tools, like Twitter, in order to survive.

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2014/09/22/twitter-for-public-relations-fact-and-fantasy/#7bc68c7483b3 https://archives.cjr.org/realtalk/journalists_using_twitter.php https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/journalists-on-twitter-study.php