At the End of the Day, It's All About Public Relationships

There's been a lot of talk recently about how PR is more crucial to companies in tough economic times and the strategies PR companies can undertake to make sure they don't get the ax by their clients - see a white paper on the topic posted by @sallyfalkow here. The one thing I'm not seeing though is at the heart of PR and that's "relations."

In an industry that is now being driven so much by social media, the art of actual relationships is going by the wayside. Companies want to see their names in print at all costs, and agencies for years have been selling the magic Kool-Aid that they have the tools to get the clients there. Tools like Twitter, Friend Feed and even Instant Messenger are the "secret ingredients" we use to connect with the media on behalf of our clients, but where does that get us? At the end of the day, it still comes down to relationships.

Using Twitter will only do so much with a reporter if you lack the skills to build a relationship with the person. I can honestly say that some of my best relationships with reporters started when I called them for the first time and found a connection with them before even jumping into my pitch. Oftentimes it was something so simple like they were based in Texas, and having just moved out of Texas where I spent my entire life, we chatted for 10 minutes about our favorite BBQ joints.

It's these relationships that drive what we do as PR practitioners. We have to remember that the "tools" are just that - a device to help get us in the door; it's up to us as individuals to cultivate and grow the relationship. Only then can we say we're truly good at what we do.

Obama Brings "Fireside" Chats to YouTube

About a month ago, I wrote a post on the Racetalk blog about how Barack Obama was the first Presidential candidate to use in-game advertising to reach young voters - you can read that post here - and it appears the tech-savvy President-elect plans to use technology to deliver modern day "fireside chats."

An article featured in Friday's Washington Post discusses Obama's plans to bring his weekly updates to the masses via sites like YouTube. Currently Obama is taping his weekly democratic addresses and uploading the video to his Change site in an effort to make the upcoming Presidency as transparent as possible.

It will be interesting to see in the upcoming months, and especially over the next four years, how transparent Obama makes the Presidency, and whether he plans to use social media to just push his content out, or to create a dialogue between himself, his administration and the American public.

Will Social Media Kill the PR Star?

A recent post by Jennifer Leggio at ZDNet discussed the recent Horn Group-sponsored panel "Is Social Media Killing PR?".

According to Jennifer, while she doesn't think social media is killing PR, she believes it exposes a weakness in the industry that has always been there: "too much focus on dialing for dollars and not enough focus on making PR stretch to support real business initiatives." She, along with the panel who presented, believes that PR should not just be about editorial calendars and award applications, but about the client's business model. I agree with this sentiment.

When I graduated with my BA in PR back in 2002, we didn't have the social tools prevalent today, but we also didn't have to take any business classes outside of marketing. In fact, the College of Communications was on the opposite side of campus from the business college. If PR is going to adapt and become an extension of the business model, it needs to grow organically, beginning with colleges. Communications students need to understand how business models work, much the same way business students need to understand how to be an effective communicator.

So if PR is going to evolve and maximize the benefits of social media, practitioners are going to have to look beyond the traditional facets of PR and into a holistic blend of business and communications. Jennifer discussed some good tactics including asking clients about their revenue model, sales structure and market share. I'd add that practitioners should take a proactive approach to learning general business. Take classes at your local community college just to get the basics, so that when you really understand your client's business model.